In Franchise mode you can't buy every animal from the start. The more demanding species are locked behind accreditation tiers, and you unlock each tier by proving your zoo can look after animals properly. Common hippos are tier 3. Lions and great hammerhead sharks are tier 5.
Think of it as levelling up your zoo. You begin with small, cheap animals and work your way up to the big names.
What each tier needs
You climb tiers with two kinds of stars:
- Zoo stars (also called reputation): how good your zoo is overall.
- Reserve stars (called biodiversity): how healthy your wildlife reserves are. Reserves are separate nature areas where you release animals you've bred.
| Tier | What you need | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Where everyone starts | Cheap starter animals: wild boar, Eurasian beaver, common warthog, meerkats, scorpions and other small exhibit animals |
| Tier 2 | One zoo with 3 stars | Around 33 new species, plus two bonus marketing slots |
| Tier 3 | Two zoos with 3 stars, plus a wildlife reserve with at least 2 stars | Hippos, African and black leopards, siamangs, lynx, grizzly bears, giant groupers and more |
| Tier 4 | Two zoos with 4 stars, plus two reserves with 3 stars | Bigger and rarer species |
| Tier 5 | One zoo with 5 stars, plus two reserves with 5 stars | The headline animals, such as lions and gorillas |
Yes, you'll need a second zoo at some point. It doesn't have to be big; a small, tidy zoo works fine. The objectives screen in the Franchise hub always shows exactly what you need next.
The five Deluxe Edition animals (golden eagle, golden lion tamarin, great hammerhead shark, axolotl and blue-and-gold fusilier) don't need accreditation any more, thanks to a patch. Every other animal does.
How your zoo's stars are worked out
Open the star rating from the management screen and you'll see it's split into a few parts:
- Animal care (husbandry): how happy your animals are on average, and how many of them are thriving (the level above simply happy; see Animal Welfare).
- Guest education: how much your guests learn from signs, screens and talks.
- Sustainability: how many recycling bins you have and how clean your power is. Solar panels and wind turbines score better than generators.
- Guest experience: whether guests are happy, fed, rested and not stuck in crowds.
- Variety: having lots of different, interesting animals in well-decorated habitats.
Whichever bar is lowest is the one to work on next.
Quick ways to earn stars
- Education is the easiest win. Put an info screen for every animal next to its habitat, add a speaker or two, and set up an animal talk point. See Guest Education.
- Sustainability is cheap. Put a recycling bin next to every normal bin, and swap generators for solar panels.
- Animal care takes longer. Research each species until its thriving requirements show up, then meet them. "Food grade 2" (better quality food) is a very common one.
- Guest experience usually means crowding. If the entrance is jammed, widen it and move shops off the main path.
Reserve stars
Reserve stars work a bit differently. A reserve gets stars when:
- each nature area inside it (grassland, savanna, watering hole and so on) has the right mix of animals, and
- you've released lots of different species. A brand-new species counts for much more than another group of one you've already released.
The Wildlife Reserves guide explains exactly what each reserve needs.
Is the grind worth it?
The climb to tier 5 is meant to be slow. If you want to build a lion habitat today, Sandbox mode gives you every animal straight away. In Franchise, the fun is watching a little starter zoo grow into a five-star conservation zoo. Once you get there, it feels earned.