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View Full Version : Most Efficient Way to Earn GOLD, from ATTRACTIONS



rionkimchi
01-01-12, 09:05 PM
First, assume you can collect from attractions on average only every so many hours.
Here is an example...
- wake up, collect
- school or work, 8 hours, then collect
- after school / evening hours = 6 x 1 hour intervals
- go to sleep, 10 hours, repeat
Then this would be an average of (8,1,1,1,1,1,1,10) = 3 hours. This is 180 minutes. You can use your own schedule to figure out your own average but it won't change the results below very much. I have found that as I played the game longer and longer I am less attentive to the schedule and so I collect more like every 6 hours on average now.

Next, here are the attractions, how much space they occupy, what they cost & earn, and how long it takes (everything is in minutes). I do not know how to post a table so this will be a bit messy.

Item Squares Cost Time Delay B4 Reset "Gold Earned" "Gold/Hr/Sq wo. delay" "Gold/Hr/Sq w. delay" "Bonus XP" "Gold/ Bonus XP"

Cotton Candy 4 3 gem 120 360 33 4.13 1.38 6 0.5 gem

Ice Cream 4 35 60 360 16 4.00 0.67 2 17.5

Gift Shop 16 40 360 360 46 0.48 0.48 5 8.0

Sandwich 8 45 60 360 21 2.63 0.44 2 22.5

Botanical 16 300 360 360 38 0.40 0.40 47 6.4

Hot Dog 4 35 15 360 8 8.00 0.33 1 35.0

Popcorn 4 35 15 360 8 8.00 0.33 1 35.0

Pizza 16 7 gem 360 360 29 0.30 0.30 42 0.2 gem

Caf? 16 220 180 360 23 0.48 0.24 29 7.6

First Aid 16 150 180 360 21 0.44 0.22 21 7.1

Recycle 16 60 360 360 21 0.22 0.22 17 3.5

Nursery 16 149 gem 1,440 1,440 74 0.19 0.19 21 7.1 gem

Ferris Wheel 36 33 gem 360 360 23 0.11 0.11 10 3.3 gem

Carousel 36 500 120 360 10 0.14 0.05 62 8.1


The table is sorted in descending order of Gold per Hour Per Square with the "delay" meaning use the average collection time.

As you can see the best item is the Cotton Candy stand but it costs gems. The next best items are the Ice Cream shop and the Gift Shop.

The Ice Cream Shop is small, so you pack more of them in your zoo. It earns 16 gold in the first hour but then just sits there until you collect, so the gold per hour declines if you have a delay, as I have factored in. Ice Cream shops do have another advantage, which is: being small and more numerous, they present more options for your neighbors to tour and give you a bonus, and if you really are collecting every hour they reset more often.

The Gift Shop is bigger so you can't fit in as many, but it earns 46 gold over 6 hours.

Notice the Sandwich shop is not as good as the ice cream shop because it is twice as big. All the other items are fine for aesthetics but not for earning max gold !

A lot of people fill their zoo with Popcorn Stand or Hotdog Stand, because they have the highest unmodified Gold/Hr/Sq ratio, at =8. But they are only worth it if you really will revisit the zoo to collect every 15 minutes. You might think you'll do so at first, but then you'll realize you might want to bath, eat, sleep, work or attend school.

As a side note, if you need some quick XP and can spare the gold, the item that gives the most bonus XP for buying/placing the item, is the Recycle Center, at only 3.5 gold per bonus XP. You can buy/sell/repeat to quickly burst over into a new level.

In summary, if you want the most GOLD from ATTRACTIONS:
- use mostly ICE CREAM SHOPS or GIFT SHOPS

And to gain XP quickly (costing gold), use the RECYCLE CENTER.

baseballfreek24
01-02-12, 07:53 AM
Thanks for the info. How long will it take to earn the $7,200,000 needed to complete a Big Horned Sheep family?

baseballfreek24
01-02-12, 08:04 AM
I use the carousel to get a bump in experience to move up levels. 500 for 63 experience and it's instantaneous. You don't have to wait off it to be built.

rionkimchi
01-02-12, 10:35 AM
Each new zoo expansion adds a grid which is technically 14 x 14 squares. I measure how big a 'square' is via the *smallest* item(s), which for example is a lamp post. An ICE CREAM SHOP is a 2x2 square... you could fit 4 lamp posts into the same spot. So into 1 new expansion of your zoo, you could fit 7 x 7 = 49 ice cream shops. They earn 16 gold per hour, each. Thats 49 x 16 = 784 per expansion grid per hour. If you collect from them on average every 6 hours, which is what I assumed in the table above, that's 3136 per day per expansion grid.

At level 26, where I am currently, I have a zoo size that is 4 expansion grids, by 4 expansion grids. That's 16 of them, but I do have only 75% of my zoo invested in attractions for gold. I do have some animals in the other 25% for breeding / cross-breeding and earning some XP along the way. I am thinking about decreasing the animals because you really only need 1 to 4 slots (1 expansion grid) for animals. The one you're breeding, and two for the one you're cross breeding, if any, and then 1 extra to place the new cross-breed when it's born.

I also do not have ALL ice cream shops. I do have some gift shops as well because they earn more (on average) if your average collection time is greater than 8.3 hours. I usually can beat this though, so I have more ice cream than gift.

So, in other words every zoo situation will be different. If you figure on ALL ice cream, for ALL 16 grids, and then if you assume collection every 4 hours instead of every 6, that would earn you 16 gold per shop x 49 shops per grid x 16 grids x 6 times per day = about 75,000 gold per day. That's about the most I think someone could sustain so it would take about 10 days at the FASTEST to earn enough for the family of sheep (but not to upgrade their habitat).

Obviously, a bigger zoo with more space dedicated to gold, with a highly motivated person to collect the gold, could do better.

barleycoon
01-02-12, 10:40 AM
Thank you Rionkimchi for sharing all this information, I'm sure it will help so many players.

rionkimchi
01-02-12, 12:23 PM
If you figure on ALL ice cream, for ALL 16 grids, and then if you assume collection every 4 hours instead of every 6, that would earn you 16 gold per shop x 49 shops per grid x 16 grids x 6 times per day = about 75,000 gold per day. That's about the most I think someone could sustain so it would take about 10 days at the FASTEST to earn enough for the family of sheep (but not to upgrade their habitat).

I need to correct a math error in my above post. It will take ~100 days, not 10 days, to get 7.5 million gold at the rate of 75,000 per day. Dropped a zero by mistake in the original. Sorry & cheers.

Miquilis
01-03-12, 01:52 PM
There are some animals that will earn you more than attractions.

For an example a full rhino family with the habitat fully upgraded will earn you 672 coins every 2 hours. If you've only upgraded the habitat once it earns you 576 coins every 2 hours (I can't remember what it was before I upgraded it). But still 672 coins every two hours is better than having 9 ice cream machines in the same space instead which would only earn you 288 coins every two hours.

Pity I can't have a zoo full of rhinos.

Oh and the habitats aren't expensive to upgrade for a rhino family either. It's 11600 coins to get the final paradise habitat.

Another good animal is the African Wild Dog. A full family will earn you up to 1,636 coins every 18 hours. And while that is less than the 2592 coins you would earn from having 9 ice cream machines instead you're only going to get that amount if you're checking the game every hour to collect so if you only play the game once or twice a day the African Wild Dog family is better to have.

rionkimchi
01-03-12, 06:15 PM
I agree with MIQUILIS and am working on a more comprehensive table of both animals and attractions, probably to be combined so you can sort/compare them against each other. I have an issue though, which over time other members may be able to help with:

As I went along I didn't keep records of how much the animals earned when I had only one (1) of the adults vs. two adults (2), then 1 baby (3) then 2 babies (4) then upgraded once (still 4 animals) then upgraded twice and complete (still 4 animals). I don't think you can take the amount earned by one (1) animal and just multiply by the number you currently have.

Also, an animal habitat that has been toured, I am pretty sure gives 1 extra XP and 20 extra gold above whatever it is already earning. I think the same is true of an attraction - 1 extra XP and 20 extra gold IF it has been tourred since last time you collected from it. Does anyone know this for sure?

My table will have the values earned within MY own zoo until and if other members can contribute. Is there a way to post an EXCEL file on this forum so we can collaborate? When I breed I usually breed both babies then upgrade both times right away so my data will normally be from (2 adults, no babies) OR (2 adults, 2 babies, fully completed habitat). But sometimes it's been toured and sometimes not and I haven't always noted which when I took down the notes.

As you read above, the math also depends on how often you are willing to collect. For example, if you sit there with the game running then lions I think are the mathematical highest since they earn something every 3 minutes. But if you are "away" for 8 hours (like sleeping) then the other 477 minutes out of the 480 minutes, the lions earned you nothing. So everyone's results will be different based on their schedule of playing. It may be best to have kind of a mix of both higher frequency animals and attractions and lower frequency animals and attractions.

For example, as I explained above the Ice Cream Shops are great for medium frequency collection (and the highest frequency / best item is popcorn/hotdog), but if your collection time is >8.3 hours then Gift Shops are better. Unless you spend gems and then Cotton Candy beats both. The same thing is going to be true with animals, I think.

uwantoplay
01-04-12, 10:39 AM
I need to correct a math error in my above post. It will take ~100 days, not 10 days, to get 7.5 million gold at the rate of 75,000 per day. Dropped a zero by mistake in the original. Sorry & cheers.

I have completed all levels and working in breeding the remainder of my animals. I am on about every 30 mins because I am tryinbti earn enough $$$ to purchase the Big Horned Sheep. I can't even get to $100K because other animals are also costing a lot! The crossbreedin of the Toad and Iguana is over $1million also.

You are correct about the additional 1 xp for each toured exhibit and the additional 20 coin, regardless if it is an animal or building. There are a few animals that you can collect from every few minutes and I have strategically placed my quickest animals up top to the longest at the bottom. That way I can collect the bonus from each since they are the first to be toured each time. I seriously think they need to adjust the price on these 2 animals!

rionkimchi
01-06-12, 09:29 AM
For those of you that have read the posts above, I have continued to update my excel file to optimize Zoo Story 2. At one point, I did some sorting & filtering within that file and messed it up. I have since fixed it but above there were some conclusions posted that were not quite right.

Theoretical most gold - - if you collect instantly upon reset, you will earn the following "gold per hour per square", where one square is the size that a lamp post takes up. Hot Dog, Popcorn, Ice Cream and Cotton Candy all take up 4 squares and are the smallest attractions though not the smallest item in the game. Anyway, these are the 4 best. Note that Cotton Candy costs 3 gems whereas the others each cost 35 gold as your "initial investment".
Hot Dog 8.00
Popcorn Stand 8.00
Cotton Candy 4.13
Ice Cream Stand 4.00
Sandwich Shop 2.63

Earning back 8 per hour per square, you earn 32 per hour, so your payback is technically 66 minutes but since you can't collect until minute #75, that is your actual payback time and you would at that moment have a profit of 5 gold. In two hours you would have 8 * 4 * 2 = 64 gold, and a profit of 64 - 35 = 29. At the third hour you would have 8 * 4 * 3 = 96 gold and profit = 61.

Earning back 4 per hour per square, you earn 16 per hour from ice cream stands which are 4 squares. Note that ice cream can only be collected once an hour. You would have 16 after one hour, then 32 after two hours (you still have a loss 32-35 = loss of 3), then after 3 hours you have 48 gold (4 * 4 * 3) which is your break even minimum time. At that moment you would have a profit of 48 - 35 = 13. So you can see if you collect "instantly when ready" popcorn and hotdog is better than ice cream.

Earning back 2.63 per hour per square with Sandwich Shops... here's how that works: they cost 110 and earn you 21 per hour. So after 5 hours of collecting instantly when they're ready you would have 105 gold and a loss of 5 gold. At the 6th hour you would have 126 and a profit of 16. BUT they take up 8 squares. In the same 6 hours, your two ice cream stands that fit into the same space would earn 2 * 16 * 6 = 192, and they only cost you an investment of 70, so your profit would be 122 gold. This is why ice cream beats sandwich.

Most of the time I ignore the "time to payback", "profit", etc. since they all pay themselves back given enough time and then you're really only interested in the ongoing "income".

Now, if you only collect less often, say perhaps once an hour, then what ? The gold per hour per square changes for the higher frequency items - - because they are ready to collect but just sit there doing nothing until you collect.
The list above re-orders to... the number listed is still gold per hour per square, but it's the "effective" gold per hour per square.
Cotton Candy 4.13
Ice Cream Stand 4.00
Sandwich Shop 2.63
Hot Dog 2.00
Popcorn Stand 2.00

This ranking remains intact for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 hour frequency(ies) of collection(s). However at 6 hours you have this change in the ranking:
Cotton Candy 1.38
Ice Cream Stand 0.67
Gift Shop 0.48
Sandwich Shop 0.44
Botanical Center 0.40

Then the next change occurs at 28 hours:
Cotton Candy 0.29
Nursery 0.17
Ice Cream Stand 0.14
Gift Shop 0.10
Sandwich Shop 0.09

So... if you don't want to spend gems (eliminates cotton candy and nursery)...
...then use the following ATTRACTIONS TO GET THE MOST GOLD:
a) Hot Dog, Popcorn - - only if you can collect at least every 30 minutes
b) Ice Cream - - if you collect every 30 minutes or more

rionkimchi
01-06-12, 09:36 AM
I also had mentioned in a prior post within this thread about spending gold for the sole purpose of getting XP. The quote is "and to gain XP quickly (costing gold), use the RECYCLE CENTER". Another member (baseballfreek24) posted they use the CAROUSEL. As I wrote above my file had gotten messed up so I went back & took another look once I fixed it. I think this is right now:

To buy the carousel costs 500, yielding you 62 XP, for a ratio of 8.1 gold per XP.
To buy the recycle center costs 150, yielding you 17 XP, for a ratio of 8.8 gold per XP.
You want the LOWEST ratio (least gold) you can get.

Carousel | 500/62 = 8.1
Recycle Center | 150/17 = 8.8

Use the CAROUSEL for a quick bump in XP.

I suppose if you don't have 500 gold, but you do have 150 or 300, then use the RECYCLE CENTER.

rionkimchi
01-06-12, 09:38 AM
I didn't mention it, but for "buying" XP with gold, every other attraction is much worse (has a higher gold/XP ratio) than the Carousel and Recycle Center.