CHALLENGE 4: NORTHWEST USA
I found this to be the hardest of the 5 challenges in the game. With a target of 20 species, there’s a lot of work to be done and not much space to cram them all into. Trying to boost the appeal with several big-ticket reptiles, eg. the Tylosaurus, doesn't seem to work here.
The conditions on Jurassic difficulty are:
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Par time – 13:00
- Starting Cash $4,500,000
- General and Adventure Guests Only
- Limited Herbivores (Small)
- Feeders Unlocked At: 2.5 Stars
- Max 5 Emergency Shelters
The challenge can be divided into two phases. In the first phase, you’ll be using some large carnivores to boost your Star-Rating, with only Struthiomimus to feed them (sorry, PETA). It can be a little frantic as you need to manage all your usual tasks while also keeping an eye on each carnivore enclosure to make sure they have enough prey. If they run out, they will cause problems very quickly. The trick is to pre-load the 2 enclosures that will hold carnivores.
The second phase comes once you have unlocked feeders and no longer have to worry about the carnivores with a constant stream of unlucky Struthios. You’ll be working your way through the rest of the required species, researching most of them to get access, sending out expeditions and developing their genomes. Finally, you can release them into efficiently-sized (read: small) enclosures.
This is going to take longer than the other challenges so far, mainly because you have to send a lot of expeditions out and they take time. Depending on your speed, dinosaurs will start to die of old age. Obviously just just release a replacement batch as needed.
Money is likely to become a bit of a non-issue in this challenge*. You can speed things up by throwing science at the problem. Remember that skill points you add to a task over the requirement will reduce the time it takes. Obviously, this won’t be an option for some of the high-end things, but much of the tasks can be sped up considerably by doing this. Many of the expeditions can be sped up considerably by assigning more scientists than you need.
*If you are very efficient, you can stay ahead of the profit curve and constantly be spending more money than you're earning, but that's pretty unlikely. If you manage to do it, it's still worth speeding things up by over-allocating scientists, but you may have to wait for some of the more expensive items.
Storms will occur, both regular (damaging things) and snow-storms. You should know how to manage them by now. Fortunately there are no twisters.
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Start a new game at Northwest USA on Jurassic Difficulty. Pause once you are in control.
Immediately move the Control Centre. It might seem like a little thing but it really messes up the path placement later on. You’ll need to demolish the existing path so it can sit just below the Arrival Point.
Place a Science Centre next to it.
Run a new path over to the left. Leave some space to the bottom boundary – you’ll eventually be putting Large Amenities here so there has to be a little room.
At the end of the path, place a Hatchery. Fence in Enclosure 1 and don’t forget a gate.
- Structures > Attractions > Viewing Gallery (1/0/3)
Once the Science Centre is operational, research a Viewing Gallery. As seems to be quite common, one of the starting scientists will have 0 Genetic skill – be sure to use them for this research task. Build one overlooking Enclosure 1 just above the Gate once the research is done.
When the Hatchery is ready, incubate and release a batch of Struthiomimus into the first enclosure. Whenever you have a spare scientist, keep releasing Struthio's; you want around 20-25 of them!
- Structures > Infrastructure > Staff Centre (3/0/0)
- Structures > Guest Comfort > Core Guest Buildings (2/0/0)
You can research these at the same time. When you have a moment, build a set of Small Amenities below the main path at the Hatchery end, an Emergency Shelter around half way along and a Restroom above slightly towards the Arrival Point end. Put a Staff Centre beside the Shelter. A Small Hotel can go above the Viewing Gallery.
- Structures > Power > Improved Power Technology (5/0/0)
- Structures > Attractions > Guest Attraction (5/0/0)
Construct a Small Power Station back near the Arrival Point. Run Pylons and Small Substations to power everything up and demolish the Backup Generators once it's up and running.
Place a Guest Attraction to the left of the Science Centre.
An Innovation Centre goes above the path as shown. Place another Viewing Gallery above the Small Hotel too.
- Structures > Infrastructure > Ranger and Capture Stations (1/0/3)
- Structures > Infrastructure > Paleo-Medical Facility (2/0/5)
The Response Facility goes just above and to the right of the Innovation Centre. The Paleo-Medical Facility goes next to it.
- Structures > Amenities > Improved Amenities (5/0/0)
- Structures > Guest Comfort > Tour Rides (5/0/0)
- Structures > Infrastructure > Efficiency Upgrades (5/0/0)
You'll probably need to address Shelter and Restroom coverage before you can research Improved Amenities. Replace the existing Amenities with Medium ones once it's done.
Squeeze in a Gyrostation on the Enclosure 1 fence. This can be a little tricky and you can expand the enclosure up a little if need to.
Build an Expedition Centre above the Response Facility. Equip Improved Yield and retrieve the Ceratosaurus genome. Put Extraction Capacity on the Science Centre and you should be able to extract all the fossils in one go.
- Structures > Guest Comfort > Wide Path (5/0/0)
The paths around the Small Hotel in particular will likely be very crowded. Replace them with Wide Path.
Modify the Ceratosaurus genome to have at least Small Appetite 0%. Depending on your scientists' skills, you can go higher than that. Release between 4-5 into Enclosure 1.
For now, they are going to have to feed on the poor Struthio’s. If they run out, the Ceratosaurus will get angry and break out.
You can see the number of a species across the whole park at the Hatchery which won't help much in a moment. To quickly see how many are present in a specific enclosure, select a carnivore in the enclosure and press 
to the Comfort tab. The number of ‘Prey’ shown there is the number of Struthio’s in the enclosure.
Make sure to maintain sufficient Struthio’s, in this and the next enclosures – if they get down to 5-6 you want to release another batch asap.
When they are hunted and killed, leave them there for a while. Let the carnivore eat them. Occasionally a second will approach and also eat, so you get two meals for the price of one.
If you hover over them, their status will change from ‘dead’ to ‘decaying’. Once they are decaying, get rid of them.
Fence in Enclosure 2 above the infrastructure buildings. You’ll want a couple of Viewing Galleries and a Gyrostation Tour on the fence. Another set of Medium Amenities can go here (turn them off until you have some dinosaurs in the enclosure) along with another Emergency Shelter and Restroom.
You can also see in the image above a second Small Power Station. Build it when you need more power.
As you go about the next phase, start filling Enclosure 2 with Struthiomimus; once again you want 20-25 in there. (Remember to keep an eye on their number in #1 too!)
- Structures > Guest Comfort > Large Hotel (9/0/0)
- Species > Carnivores > Medium Carnivores 2 (1/4/0)
- Species > Carnivores > Medium Carnivores 3B (1/4/0)
Your Accommodation rating will be low so build a Large Hotel near Enclosure 2.
If you fill up Enclosure 2 with Struthiomimus and get the second set of Medium Amenities to be profitable, you should reach 1.5-Stars. If not, releasing a batch of Metriacanthosaurus, which is the next step, will do it.
- Welfare > Dinosaur Creation > Hatchery Upgrades (5/0/0)
- Structures > Guest Comfort > Monorail (5/0/0)
If you managed to reach 1.5-Stars and gained access to the research, put the Advanced Equipment upgrade onto the Hatchery to ensure maximum synthesis of the Metriacanthosaurus batch. If not, you may just need to do 2 batches. Modify them for Small Appetite 75% and release 4-5 into Enclosure 2.
Remember that it takes longer to release dinosaurs by airlift. If in doubt, add more Struthios earlier rather than later.
Place a Monorail Station near the Arrival Point. Run the track up past the Infrastructure buildings. This can be a little tricky as it cannot pass over the Response Facility, Paleo-Medical Facility or Expedition Centre.
Build a second Monorail Station left of Enclosure 2.
Those Metricanthosaurus will have pushed you over 2.0-Stars, which unlocks the Lagoon.
• Welfare > Dinosaur Creation > Lagoon (4/0/9)
This next section involves a heap of construction. Send your Expedition Team to gather the Plesiosaurus genome as you go about it.
Head up to the middle area. Build a 6-section lagoon on the right side. As usual, placement of the lagoon sections is a pain. Make a save so you can reload if it doesn’t fit in.
Leave a space to the right of the lagoon for a Monorail Station, Viewing Galleries, a set of Small Amenities, an Emergency Shelter and Restroom and the Lagoon Hatchery.
Run the Monorail track over the Lagoon then down the right-hand channel towards the starting area. Continue it over Enclosure 2 and loop it back to join with the Monorail Station beside Enclosure 2.
Now from the other end of the Monorail Station back at the Arrival Point, run the track over to Enclosure 1. Continue up the left side of the area, then up the left-hand channel to the middle area.
Put another Monorail Station at the top of the channel.
Build another Small Power Station at the bottom of the channel. Connect the path to the new Monorail Station and obviously run Pylons and Small Substations to power everything you’ve built up here.
Place a path from the Monorail Station going directly across towards the bottom of the Lagoon. Add a path on the left of the Lagoon, placing more Viewing Galleries and an Emergency Shelter and a Restroom here too.
Above the last set of buildings, construct a second Response Facility and Paleo-Medical Centre. They will cover the middle and top areas.
Also gather the Plesiosaurus genome. Release a batch of 6 as soon as you can. The fish feeder is unlocked automatically, regardless of the challenge conditions. Place 4-5 to avoid conflict later on.
With properly adjusted amenities and adequate Restroom and Shelter comfort, this will be enough to push past the 2.5-Star goal, which is $953,750 income per minute.
When you pass 2.5-Stars, you can get those feeders in place.
• Welfare > Enclosures > Carnivore Feeder (1/0/3)
• Welfare > Enclosures > Live Prey Feeder (2/0/5)
Put sufficient Live Prey Feeders in each of the Enclosures. For the remaining Struthiomimus, you can tranq. and try to sell them (the carnivores usually race in a kill them before the Transport teams get there) or just let nature take its course.
Head back down to the lower area. Divide the area to the left here into 3 more enclosures.
Put several Viewing Galleries on the fences and a single Gyrostation with run the track through both of the lower 2 enclosures.
Put just 3 Struthiomimus into the smaller enclosure at the top. They are only there for species variety so don't put any more than you need.
Your next dinosaurs will be the Dilophosaurus and Herrerasaurus. They occupy the other enclosures, 1 each. Put 6 Dilophosaurus into one of them.
This unlocks the Confined Space gene modification. You’ll be using this for every release for the remainder of the challenge as it makes reduces dinosaur’s area needs and makes them content in smaller enclosures.
Adjust their genome for Large Appetite 25% and Humble 100% then release 5 Herrerasaurus* into the Enclosure 5.
*You
need to release 3 dinosaurs with the Strong trait. The Herrerasaurus is one of the 3 species that might have it (all have just 25% chance). You should save-scum to make sure you release at least 1 or 2 with the trait in this batch.
This is to enable you to research Large Carnivores 1. You can check your progress by looking at that research under Species > Carnivores.
• Welfare > Gene Modification > Group Adaptation (3/12/0)
• Welfare > Gene Modification > Cross Species Adaptation (2/9/0)
Time for the second reptile species. Once again, it’s going to be the Tylosaurus. Develop the genome to 80-100%.
The Tylosaurus will make use of the Confined Space gene modification. Also research the couple of other gene mod's listed above. Adjust the genome for Humble 100%, Social 25% and Tolerant 0%.
The Tylosaurus may also have the Strong trait but it seems quite rare. If it appears, great, but as it takes a while to synthesize them I wouldn’t bother save-scumming for it.
Release just 2 of the batch. They may be Aggressive, which is okay as that won’t alter their area needs. With ample fish feeders they won’t bother the Plesiosaurus either. As happened back in Challenge 3, they probably won’t be completely happy, but 97% or so will be enough that they won’t cause any problems.
Now that the dinosaur appeal is creeping up, you want some better amenities.
• Structures > Amenities > Advanced Amenities (9/0/0)
• Structures > Infrastructure > Cost Upgrades (9/0/0)
• Structures > Infrastructure > Expedition Upgrades (9/0/0)
Build a set of Large Amenities to the left of the Lagoon. Leave the others as they are for now. Add a Large Hotel here too.
You now want to put the Faster Transit upgrade on the Expedition Centre. You’ll be sending a lot of expeditions out and any time saved is useful. Along the way, Cost Upgrades allows you to put the Improved Administration upgrade on the Control Centre for cheaper staff which help to ensure you’ll have more money than you need.
Fence in an Enclosure in the bottom of the middle area.
Gather and extract the Carnotaurus genome to above 50%.
• Structures > Guest Comfort > Main Thoroughfare (9/0/0)
The paths may be getting a little crowded to replace them with Main Thoroughfare.
Build a second Hatchery near the Monorail Station on the left of the middle area. Don’t forget to put the Advanced Equipment upgrade on this Hatchery as well.
Release 5 Carnotaurus into the latest enclosure and see to their needs.
• Species > Carnivores > Medium Carnivores 3A (2/9/0)
• Species > Carnivores > Medium Carnivores 4A (3/12/0)
• Species > Small Herbivores > Pachychephalosaurids 1 (1/4/0)
The first of the next two species will be the Albertosaurus, which will join the Carnotaurus in Enclosure 6.
The Albertosaurus is the final species that may have the Strong trait. Make sure that you save-scum to have at least 3 dinosaurs released with it once you have filled up Enclosure 6.
Absolute worst case, if you haven’t heeded my advice, is to release some Herrerasaurus into Enclosure 1. The Ceratosaurus will kill them, which improves their infamy, and it’s an opportunity for some more dinosaurs who might have the trait. They can cause problems though – the last few will get lonely and can break fences, so this is not recommended.
Modify their genome for Humble 100% and release 6 Albertosaurus into Enclosure 6 (this will be 2 complete batches). Both the Carnotaurus and Albertosaurus do not need any plants or forest, so you can clear that away if you are short on Open Space.
The second new species will be a small batch of Dracorex, who will go into the herbivore safe-haven of Enclosure 3 with the surviving Struthiomimus. Modify their genome to have Humble 100%. Once again, they are really just there for species variety, so only release 5.
• Species > Carnivores > Large Carnivores 1 (1/4/0)
All those Strong dinosaurs will have unlocked this research. Do it and extract the Allosaurus genome to 100%. Adjust their genome to have Humble 100%, Social 25% and Tolerant 0% and release a single batch of 3 into Enclosure 1 with the Ceratosaurus.
If you want to speed things up a little and have plenty of cash, you could build a second Staff Centre and hire 2 additional staff. That way you can start assigning extra staff to tasks to speed them up. The Staff Centre and go anywhere you can fit it in the lower area. This is optional and definitely don't do this is you are low on money.
Build another 3 enclosures on the left side of the middle area, with the first attached to the second Hatchery. Add some Viewing Galleries and a single Gyrostation which can run across all three enclosures.
You will already have access to the Velociraptor, Deinonychus and Majungasaurus genomes so gather them.
Once again, over 50% is all you need but you may want to go higher so you can modify them all to have Humble 100%. Ideally, for each of these species, adjust their genome to have Humble 100% and Social 0%.
Which enclosure each species goes into doesn’t really matter, just don't mix the species. You want to release 4 Velociraptors, 6 Deinonychus and 5 Majungasuaurus into the 3 enclosure you made on the left of the middle area.
• Species > Carnivores > Medium Carnivores 4B (3/12/0)
Complete the research and gather the genome for the Qianzhousaurus, adjusted for Humble 100%, Social 25% and Tolerant 0%. Release a full batch of 4 to join the Majungasaurus.
Along with these dinosaurs, you will need another Large Hotel to manage guest numbers. Build one in the central area.
While you’re at it, work on gathering the Ceolophysis and Compsognathus genomes too.
These small scavengers can go in with some of the larger carnivores, so put the Ceolophysis, adjusted for Small Appetite 75% and Resilient 0%, into Enclosure 2 with the Metriacanthosaurus.
Remember the previous warnings relating to these small scavengers. They need Carnivore Feeders to eat from. Place 3-4 extra Carnivore Feeders in their enclosure to alleviate any problems.
The Compsognathus, adjusted for Small Appetite 100%, can go into Enclosure 1 with the Ceratosaurus and Allosaurus. This enclosure is particularly problematic for scavengers, and you may have to put up with near constant health warnings.
Now work on the Baryonyx genome.
• Species > Carnivores > Piscivores 1 (2/9/0)
• Welfare > Enclosures > Piscivore Feeder (2/0/5)
• Species > Carnivores > Piscivores 2 (5/18/0)
Head up to the top area. Place a Monorail Station at the top of the channel. Once again, put another Small Power Station at the bottom of the channel and run the path between the two. Connect the whole grid up with Pylons too.
Back up top, you want to put another set of Large Amenities, adequate Restrooms and another Large Hotel. You will have reached the maximum allowed, so you need to move one the existing Emergency Shelters. Take the one near the first enclosure, next to the Innovation Centre and put it up in the top area. Your Shelter satisfaction may slump down below 80% but don't worry. It will be fine.
Fence in the rest of the area as one large enclosure. Your Rangers and MVU from the middle area are able to drive up here and manage this enclosure, so don’t forget a Ranger Post. If you get a message saying that they cannot reach the area, clear the forest in the channel between the middle and top areas.
Adjust the Baryonyx genome to have Humble 100%, Social 25%. Release a full batch into the large enclosure in the top area.
The Suchomimus is going to be a big feature of the end-game and will push you over the target. Extract the genome. It will occupy the top area with the Baryonyx.
Modify the Suchomimus genome to have Humble 100% and Social 25%. Release three batches into Enclosure 10 (a total of 12 dinosaurs). You may not be able to fit them all depending on the traits of the Suchomimus alpha. Just get as many as you can in there. Remember you can sell dinosaurs if they start causing problems due to environmental discontent.
Finally, and I know it sounds absurd to recommend this, you need just one more species to reach a total of 20 and remove the Species Variety Penalty. So, you’ve done all this work to reach the very impressive, big-ticket, final dinosaur!
• Species > Small Herbivores > Ornithomimosaurids (2/9/0)
Yep, the last herbivore. The Homalocephale will join the Struthio’s and Dracorex. Make them Humble 100% and Social 50% and release just 7 (their minimum social group). Check their needs as you will need to adjust the foliage a little.
You should be very close to 5-Stars already and it's possible you have already got there. You can replace the very first set of amenities down near the first Hatchery with Large Amenities to make sure of it.
Check your Guest Comfort ratings. There’s not much you can do about Shelter Coverage but everything else should be at 100%.
With maximized amenities and those 100% comfort ratings, this alone should be sufficient to obtain an income per minute of over $2,250,000 and reach 5-Stars.
If you haven’t, squeeze in a few more large carnivores. The income-generating amenities in place are sufficient to reach the income goal, you just need to increase the appeal to draw in the guests.
You can probably squeeze in 1 or 2 extra dinosaurs in several of the enclosures. If their alpha doesn't have negative traits, you should be able to fit 16 Suchomimus in the top enclosure. Otherwise, just check each of the large carnivores to see which has room for more.
In an absolute pinch, you can incubate another batch of 3 Tylosaurus and release them - the park won't be sustainable as they will be unhappy with the small lagoon but the increase in dinosaur appeal will definitely push your rating up over 5-Stars.
- All Done
Completed Challenge 4 (Any difficulty)
- Challenge Your Limits
Completed Challenge 4 (Jurassic difficulty)
2 guides
And with that, you've completed the toughest challenge in the game. Congratulations!
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Once again there are some Database entries to chase here, so continue with the challenge. Don't forget to make a save and keep it.
• Species > Carnivores > Large Carnivores 2A (5/18/0) 4 scientists
• Species > Carnivores > Piscivores 3 (9/24/0) 4 scientists
The first of these will unlock the Kem Kem Beds dig site, which hosts one of the more rare minerals. Send your team there until you get the Dinosaur Eggs and make sure they appear in the Database (Paleontology > Misc Finds).
Now to go for some of the Aviary-related entries. You can continue on or reload your save.
• Welfare > Dinosaur Creation > Hatchery Upgrades 2 (9/0/0)
• Welfare > Dinosaur Creation > Aviary (4/0/9)
Build an Aviary – the area above the Monorail Station near the second Lagoon can easily fit 1-section. Another option is demolishing the Innovation Centre, which should also provide enough room for a 1-section Aviary. Of course, the challenge is done so you can demolish/replace anything you like to make room. Just don't forget about the space required for the Aviary Hatchery.
Gather the Dimorphodon genome above 50% and release at least 3 into the Aviary. Surprisingly, there is just enough room for them!
• Structures > Attractions > Viewing Platform (5/0/0)
• Structures > Attractions > Aviary Viewing Gallery (16/0/0) 4 scientists
That's all for this fairly gruelling challenge. With just one challenge to go, you're almost there!
13. Challenge 5: Southwest USA11. Challenge 3: United Kingdom
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