Planet Zoo Building Tips, Understanding Construction System

Learn all about the various features of building in Planet Zoo and get an insight into some handy tips that will make your zoo unique

Planet Zoo, a management simulation video game by Frontier Developments (Microsoft) is finally out. In Planet Zoo, you build your dream park by managing your assets. Today we’re going to focus on the construction system for the game, and give building tips on how you can effectively make your Planet Zoo park the eye-candy it deserves to be.

Planet Zoo Building Tips

Paths and Plazas
The path system in Planet Zoo is a little clunky, with a few hiccups. Open up paths system, and you can place paths by simply clicking and placing paths consecutively. By holding down plus and minus you can extend paths to your desired length and use curly braces to increase your paths’ width. Hold the CTRL key to prevent your paths from snapping together. Hold space for smoother path curving instead of a 15-degree angle.

You can select “Use T-Junction when joining Path”, which will force a 90 degrees angle when you connect your paths. In order to ascend or descend a path, simply use the U and J keys for elevation and slopes respectively. You can show path supports when you lift up your paths and make railings on the sides of your paths (Each path pattern has a different railing).

If an edge looks too rough, simply just place a path at that corner and remove it to smooth it out. Use all of this knowledge to create junctions and natural-looking plazas.

Shelters and Caves
You get basic Shelters at the start of the game and using them is fine, but if you want to get fancy, let’s not waste any more time.

Your animals in Planet Zoo require a habitat, and you can simply make a pretty normal one and the game will work all good, but if you want to make your zoo stand out, then what you want to do is experiment with everything. You can use in-game pieces to create stunning imagery and not just that. Pick up the terrain tool and shape the land to BE the Shelter. As long as your construction has walls and a roof, it classifies as a Shelter.

Power and Water
Manage water and power well. For power, you will get a power circle at the start along with your gates, and it’s better that you start building your zoo around the center of this so as to maximize your efficiency.

To better monitor your resources in Planet Zoo, click the circle at the bottom left and you will open your Heat Map from where you can check up on very specific resources of yours, which means that you can check where you have water and power supply; once you select one of these items you will see them marked with a circle of influence.

You can place power facilities to create power circles and further expand your zoo. Same implies to your water resources. Place them keeping in mind the radius of the circle and line everything up parallel with the expansion of your zoo.

Constructing Buildings
Whatever you make, first make it in the world grid so you can build faster, and just move it into position later. Use pillars and slopes for a better aesthetic to your builds and prevent them from looking bland. You can press X for precise movements along each axis, and press X again for rotating it around.

You can use Z to rotate your buildings and M to move them in Planet Zoo. Make the most of each decorative item to make your buildings stand out.

Once you’ve mastered all of these elements about the construction system in Planet Zoo, you can add your own complexity to everything you put into your zoo, focus on beautifying small areas and then moving on. Select a specific theme for everything and stick to it.

Usman's enthusiasm for gaming started with a RuneScape addiction, and he employs the linguistic skills he acquired from the MMORPG at SegmentNext.