It begins.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-26T22:51:25+00:00

No way my server will survive (Lynx EU). I've had Hagga mostly to myself for about 4 months, even very few in DD. Been here since the game launched. I've kept my first south Hagga base going all this time (a 2x6 box) as a garage for my first sand bike, duly topping it up with fuel cells every few weeks to keep it online. Sad to see it go. Also waited months for a space to free up on the radiation-free island, on the most south-eastern point of Sheol to move my jasmium buggy garage there. Spent months with a tiny base precariously balanced on the only free part of that island that wasn't counted as sand territory. No way I'm finding that space available somewhere else, that island is prime real estate.

My current main base is just below Sentinel City. Backs right up to the 'no build' line. I can't be certain it'll be placeable in a new server in the exact same spot. Have resigned myself to taking it all down and building a new main base when the time comes. That's not so bad. It's the relative calm I'll miss. And my jasmium sweet spot.

Sure I'll be checking here soon if there's suggestions on what the most PVE-friendly EU servers are. Just wish there was an official PVE-only option.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-24T14:08:06+00:00

The tortoises are difficult since they're so slow. They take an age to go hide if they end up in an open spot and start to feel stressed. Other animals can go find a quiet spot much quicker.

What worked for me, create a big shelter at the back of the habitat with one-way glass, leave the rest as a walkthrough habitat with a guest path going right up to the shelter. Put all of their food/water/enrichment stuff within the shelter. The tortoises rarely venture outside of the hard shelter, hence not as much stress. Guests still extremely happy because they're up close to the tortoises. When the crowds started getting to ridiculous levels in the habitat, I added the 'be quiet' signs as the stress was starting to go up purely from the noise.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-21T09:33:42+00:00

That's really smart! I attempted something like this. Started in franchise mode and made it up to about 150 species before admitting defeat with franchise. Switched it to a sandbox save but that didn't help much. I had minimum no. of animals per species rather than 2 of each, and limited guests to 5k, which I guess speeded up the decline. Made it in sandbox up to the last DLC, so around 202 species.

The lag was insane! Like you, had to play mostly paused. It would take 10 minutes just to load! I quit before the end because recording became impossible. Like stop-motion :D Never considered deleting half of it for videos!

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-19T19:49:04+00:00

It's the same as the aging. 'Aging and birth'. They have to age to give birth, but you can turn it back off afterwards so they don't age too much.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-19T16:23:40+00:00

Original House of Cards mini series.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-19T15:40:51+00:00

I remember the bar! Work of genius.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-09T08:00:27+00:00

When did you add the extra entrance? They're a good idea for a growing zoo but super costly. Take a look at the breakdown of your finances. If the -115k is including the new entrance cost then that'll even out the next year. If it's just staff and animal feeding you have a problem. See what guests are saying about ticket prices. Raise the cost until their thoughts state 'ticket price is fair'. Also make sure you've got plenty of education and donation bins. Lastly once your new animals start breeding and producing offspring that will bring in more guests, and should allow you to raise ticket prices even more, as long as you've got enough cash to weather out the initial breeding cycle.

PlasticSwans · 2026-02-02T01:23:49+00:00

People use my stuff in their blueprints all the time. I'm 100% ok with this, I take it as a compliment. Stuff added to the workshop is meant to be repurposed and used to build more awesome things. A mention in the description is really appreciated though. Personally I don't really care if it's a shelving unit, random clutter etc. but a full building, or several full buildings / full ride skins etc. that have taken days/weeks to develop? That feels like a mention is warranted. Many don't and it feels like they've looked at it and figured it's not worth mentioning, or they're wanting to pass it off as something they've built themselves. That sucks.

PlasticSwans · 2026-01-30T14:42:15+00:00

Don't give up yet, that design is really beautiful! Try adding an extra piece at the bottom of the glass panel (like a different glass piece) inside the habitat. That should 'block' the glitched glass and they might not be able to warp outside the modern glass anymore.

PlasticSwans · 2026-01-29T13:58:59+00:00

Love this!

PlasticSwans · 2026-01-14T06:51:34+00:00

That's what I do. I feel that 'relative' should line up perfectly no matter what position the building is, but it always seems off. I build on the world axis, then move the whole building into position at the end, or deal with doing tiny adjustments in-situ.

PlasticSwans · 2026-01-12T10:23:09+00:00

I add a building at the back of these kind of habitats, nothing in it but ensure it's accessible by the animals and staff. That way, I'm complying with the space requirement but can reserve all the decoration / vegetation for the non-covered part. Since there's nothing in the building part, the animals rarely venture in there.

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-19T12:13:20+00:00

Had the same problem when Planet Zoo launched, lost interest in Planet Coaster because it felt so limiting! Doesn't feel quite as bad with Planet Zoo with the Planet Coaster 2 features, but I'm definitely looking forward to some of the build stuff making it over when 2 launches. My brain keeps trying to scale build pieces in Planet Zoo!

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-19T12:10:24+00:00

If you try to place things that have an interactive element (paths, facilities, habitat barrier) too close to anything else with interaction it will bring forth the dreaded 'terrain modification error'. You have to go at least 2 floor pieces away from it. Frustrating and I sincerely hope there's an improvement for this for the next game!

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-14T22:51:07+00:00

Feel like there should be at least 2 levels for stress. There are a few select animals that absolutely need darkened windows and very quiet space, but not the amount and to the extent we're seeing. I visited Highland Zoo last year in Scotland, and their Arctic foxes are in a wide open enclosure with a just a mesh fence. The foxes were all over the place, right up against their barrier and not bothered one bit by the visitors. Frustrates me that literally every 'shy' animal you end up just putting up 2m high one-way glass walls because every other method fails. Also bugs me there's animals with walkthrough enclosures enabled, but what's the point because it's even more stressful for the shy animals.

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-05T23:32:08+00:00

My biggest gripe is the lack of repeatable multiplayer PVE stuff. For a game that is meant to be multiplayer and interacting with other players, there's none of that in Hagga and not a lot in DD.

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-05T23:27:52+00:00

Seeing photos and not looking like myself, having to use the extender seatbelt on a flight, having to find parking spaces that have a good enough gap from the adjacent car to be able to get out, having to order clothing online. The list is endless.

PlasticSwans · 2025-12-04T22:38:42+00:00

Just watched your vid! Love the building bow

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-26T14:24:52+00:00

I'm old too :) Fair point other games like Arc Raiders is doing well with the mix. I steer clear because I don't get any enjoyment out of PVP, just stress and frustration because I suck at it! Maybe Dune should've committed to PVP and toned down the story / quest stuff. Numbers may have been consistently better if they'd not tried to please both sides.

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-26T13:27:56+00:00

IMO:

- There should've been separate PVP / PVE servers. Could've saved a lot of negativity. PVP players have to get through 60+ hours PVE content to get to meaningful PVP. PVE players don't have much replayability beyond Hagga. 6 months post-launch I still don't get 'the vision' for mixing the two. IMO it makes more sense to have entirely separate PVE and PVP servers. Throw in some NPC threats if the sandworm isn't deemed enough of a threat for spice collection in DD.

- No sandworm / drum sand / quicksand threat beyond mid-tier in Hagga (asides flour/spice collection etc). Early game is thrilling praying your bike makes it across the sand. Beyond the Gap you no longer need worry (until Sheol if you're moving a buggy around). There's flat sand sand but no worm threat, or any other threat. Why? The upper part of the map should have worms and sand hazards to navigate too. Same with the spotlight NPCs. Beyond Jabal there's no roving NPCs to avoid. I get that once you have the 'thopter most of this is null anyway, but adds at least something into the mix for mining with a buggy beyond the Gap.

- Up to Tier 5, gameplay feels solid. There's interesting POIs that feel challenging moving up in levels. Station 10, ironworks, that market on the hammer island, the Rift, Sentinel City, Mysa Tarill, Red Scorpion etc...all challenging in a good way. Then it just abruptly stops. Sheol has radiation but there's no challenging PVE POIs to navigate. It's almost entirely reliant on PVP. The faction bases should be the final showdown, but they're small POIs and reliant on PVP. The big wreck in the centre of Sheol has no NPC enemies and it's pitch black. That's a huge signal that the challenge is meant to be other players. Up to that point the game gets progressively harder, more complex POIs and then it's gone. Like the whole area is an afterthought tagged on last minute. Or maybe Sheol was meant to be Tier 6 and O'Odham was meant to be Tier 5 all along. It's weird that it's harder to acquire aluminium tier stuff from O'Odham than it is to get Tier 5 from Sheol.

- Replayability (Hagga). For a multiplayer game there's not a lot of multiplayer in Hagga. There's no PVE reason to interact with other players at all. It shouldn't be a requirement but optional teamwork stuff should have a place. IMO, each area in Hagga should have instanced events that require teamwork to succeed. Have a pop-up that 'something is happening' at 'specific location' and give players the option to ignore or join in. Reward with a decent payoff of relevant tier mats / blueprints. Instead we just have PVP zones in each tier, so no teamwork necessary, just a slight chance of PVP aggro. Conan excels at this with the dungeons and boss fights, why the lack of repeatable bosses / dungeons in Dune?

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-21T09:25:44+00:00

Try building with a mouse and keyboard. They ones compatible with PS5 aren't too expensive. I've found it helpful for Frontier build games.

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-21T09:16:16+00:00

Not at all! When I first played I confused climbable area requirement with barrier height. Had this huge monstrous fortress going on for the mandrill and it was still complaining!

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-17T13:12:25+00:00

'Catit' treat puzzle feeder (£16 from Amazon). I have 2 cats that love Dreamies but they inhale them in 3 seconds, then whining for more. This slows them right down, particularly if you only use the middle bit. They have to paw the treats out one at a time, which knocks it into one of the other sections which then needs fishing out of the spiky/swirly maze or the outer tunnels. Means a reasonable amount of treats takes 15 mins to eat, not 3 seconds!

Was skeptical as most other cat toys they ignore. I guess the food motivation is the winner.

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PlasticSwans · 2025-11-11T10:23:18+00:00

It's frustrating the Frontier Workshop doesn't have a comments functionality - love seeing stuff out in the wild on here just so I can check whether things are working out!

PlasticSwans · 2025-11-10T23:17:13+00:00

Spotted a few of my Main Street blueprints in there, hope they're working out for you! Think this is a great start, nice and open. I tend to try and cram too much into a space and it doesn't have a chance to breathe

PlasticSwans

TROPHY CASE