Plan your facilities before you build your areas. It is never a bad idea to put a staff area in between a lot of habitats so they can easily move between them
As far as my planning goes I have different areas being made like e.g in my African zoo I recently made a forest area for the forest deer like okapi, I have carnivore workzone that doubles as the forest workzone too ig. I think where I struggle most is how to actually construct the workzones as a pose to strategic locations like I can make workzones but they get really layered, A mechanic can't reach that habitat or the vet can't get to that habitat, should I make the workzones on location and just have 1 staff for every member for every 3 habitats + maybe an exhibit (on average) or do I make the workzones planned around the staff like e.g mechanic 1 workzone for these power sources
I start out with none. As I add exhibits, vendors and more habitats I start to hire more people. After I get 3-4 habitats I make my first work zone. Then I hire people as needed, until 3-4 more habitats are built and create my second and so on.
At some point between starting the zoo and my first work zone being done, I divy up assignments.
So like I'll have one keeper that tends exhibits only, one that cleans habitats and one that feeds. Obviously some work zones don't have exhibits so those only gets two keepers.
I have one educator that free roams, and one that does animal talks.
I set up the animal talks for every other month or every 3 months.
I have one vet that only researches, normally in my first work zone. Another vet that does everything else for every work zone. As it's getting to be a bigger zoo I might add additional research centers and have two vets in a work zone again.
Caretakers I split the work, normally toilets and benches, bins and litter.
Security guards, one per work zone.
Mechanics, similar to vets, only one does research all the time, then I have one that only repairs habitat walls and one that does everything else (unless I put a ride in, then I divide that responsibility onto one mechanic).
Vendors- I start with just one extra than the amount of stations in each zone. However, if I'm noticing places are closed, I will add in an extra vendor to help.
Hope this helps or gives you at least a direction to start with! Once you start messing around with the work zones you'll find what works and makes sense for you!
Honestly, I think sometimes you just have to overhaul them. I start out not using work zones but after awhile they become necessary, so that's when I set them up - usually by area of my zoo, and I try to organize my zoo around continents or biomes. So last night, for example, I deleted all my old work zones and redid them, then assigned staff to them in big groups (ten keepers to the Grassland zone, ten to the Aquatic, etc).
I mostly use work ones to ensure habitats are looked after. So at the beginning I put everything into a work zone called entrance. Then once I have a couple of habitats (I always start with exhibits) I create individual work zones for each habitat that include the habitat, a keeper but and staff room close to the habitat door, a talk point if I’m doing one for that animal and a research building if the animal needs to be researched. Each habitat workzone has a keeper and an educator and then I’ll also assign a vet if they are doing research.
If the habitat is becoming dirty a lot I’ll add a second keeper to the habitat work zone and set one to clean and the other to feed.
Once the zoo gets big enough that I can see staff are spending a lot of time commuting then I’ll add another area zone - so one of my zoos has 4 area zones each named for one of the animals in that area. Each of the area zones will have their share of the rest of the staff.
Honestly you can play without work zones they just make things more efficient.
ATMs can be used to create 'pathways' for specialized Work Zones.
Let's say you run a straight path from the Entrance to the other end of the map. You could put one ATM near the Entrance and one at the other end of the map. Create a WZ to include only those ATMs and, let's say, a Security Guard. The guard would then patrol only that straight path section, ignoring other areas of the Zoo. Obviously they would still require a Staffroom, but you get the picture.
This can be helpful in some aspects, but not all.
Plan your facilities before you build your areas. It is never a bad idea to put a staff area in between a lot of habitats so they can easily move between them
As far as my planning goes I have different areas being made like e.g in my African zoo I recently made a forest area for the forest deer like okapi, I have carnivore workzone that doubles as the forest workzone too ig. I think where I struggle most is how to actually construct the workzones as a pose to strategic locations like I can make workzones but they get really layered, A mechanic can't reach that habitat or the vet can't get to that habitat, should I make the workzones on location and just have 1 staff for every member for every 3 habitats + maybe an exhibit (on average) or do I make the workzones planned around the staff like e.g mechanic 1 workzone for these power sources
I start out with none. As I add exhibits, vendors and more habitats I start to hire more people. After I get 3-4 habitats I make my first work zone. Then I hire people as needed, until 3-4 more habitats are built and create my second and so on. At some point between starting the zoo and my first work zone being done, I divy up assignments. So like I'll have one keeper that tends exhibits only, one that cleans habitats and one that feeds. Obviously some work zones don't have exhibits so those only gets two keepers. I have one educator that free roams, and one that does animal talks. I set up the animal talks for every other month or every 3 months. I have one vet that only researches, normally in my first work zone. Another vet that does everything else for every work zone. As it's getting to be a bigger zoo I might add additional research centers and have two vets in a work zone again. Caretakers I split the work, normally toilets and benches, bins and litter. Security guards, one per work zone. Mechanics, similar to vets, only one does research all the time, then I have one that only repairs habitat walls and one that does everything else (unless I put a ride in, then I divide that responsibility onto one mechanic). Vendors- I start with just one extra than the amount of stations in each zone. However, if I'm noticing places are closed, I will add in an extra vendor to help. Hope this helps or gives you at least a direction to start with! Once you start messing around with the work zones you'll find what works and makes sense for you!
Thanks, I do use work zones kinda like this but you've given me some great ideas 😀
Honestly, I think sometimes you just have to overhaul them. I start out not using work zones but after awhile they become necessary, so that's when I set them up - usually by area of my zoo, and I try to organize my zoo around continents or biomes. So last night, for example, I deleted all my old work zones and redid them, then assigned staff to them in big groups (ten keepers to the Grassland zone, ten to the Aquatic, etc).
Give a with idea of the layout/number of animals/amount of enclosures. Having "inefficient" work zones has never been a major problem for me.
I mostly use work ones to ensure habitats are looked after. So at the beginning I put everything into a work zone called entrance. Then once I have a couple of habitats (I always start with exhibits) I create individual work zones for each habitat that include the habitat, a keeper but and staff room close to the habitat door, a talk point if I’m doing one for that animal and a research building if the animal needs to be researched. Each habitat workzone has a keeper and an educator and then I’ll also assign a vet if they are doing research. If the habitat is becoming dirty a lot I’ll add a second keeper to the habitat work zone and set one to clean and the other to feed. Once the zoo gets big enough that I can see staff are spending a lot of time commuting then I’ll add another area zone - so one of my zoos has 4 area zones each named for one of the animals in that area. Each of the area zones will have their share of the rest of the staff. Honestly you can play without work zones they just make things more efficient.
ATMs can be used to create 'pathways' for specialized Work Zones. Let's say you run a straight path from the Entrance to the other end of the map. You could put one ATM near the Entrance and one at the other end of the map. Create a WZ to include only those ATMs and, let's say, a Security Guard. The guard would then patrol only that straight path section, ignoring other areas of the Zoo. Obviously they would still require a Staffroom, but you get the picture. This can be helpful in some aspects, but not all.
I split my current layout based on countries/biome and have a work zone per country. It’s not completed yet but I’ll probs end up with 6-7 zones