So, I decided to document a bit of what I think might be useful for JP:OG speedrunning based on my playtime over the years on a casual level, with some application mixed in with higher-speed play. A lot of it is hypothetical, stuff I intend to test to see what is most optimal, or viable enough to work in some capacity.

First thing’s first are the starting dinosaurs. There are three dig sites, each with three dinosaurs, two of which are unlocked immediately (one with 1 Year lifespan, one with 6 Months). So far as I am aware, all combinations are possible. I can confirm that, at the very least, this is true of Hell Creek A.

Morrison Formation A is a bust. If you get it, reset. Dryosaurus, a 1-Star dinosaur, will only hurt you when compared to either alternate dig site. The only reason to potentially use this site is in the condition of either a Stego-Cerato starting group, or a Stego with 1 Year at the outset.

Judith River Group A is not very viable. With an Alberto-Pachy start, you must commit resources to two enclosures with dinosaurs of a star rating equal to those of Hell Creek A. Again, there is likely some viability to Alberto-Ankylo start. Theoretically, the best start in the game might be in Pachy-Ankylo start, letting you reap the benefits of one shared enclosure and a 4-star dinosaur, with the 2-star Pachy instead of a 1-star Dryo that a Stego-Dryo has, plus a 3-star to earn in Albertosaurus versus only 2-star Ceratosaurus. However, I have not gotten this particular combination before, and I imagine that it will only come into play if this game gets a highly-optimized route as a major factor.

Hell Creek A is always viable. With the most common combinations giving a shared enclosure for a 3-star Para and a 2-star Toro, this reduces budgetary tightness in the early game. A 1-Year Para start is extremely viable, and arguably the easiest route to get through resetting. Meanwhile, the riskier combination comes from Acro. A 4-star carnivore, Acro will be great for rating in the short term, but requires increased cost for the enclosure and leaves a decreased security rating unless you commit to Medium Security Fence as one of your first researched items. It is beneficial in some regard if you sell Acro fossils, so the investment may be better, but it is heavily RNG dependent. I’d go out on a limb and suggest Acro-Para is the second most viable starting pair, since Torosaurus is a very common fossil.

Generally, you should come to be familiar with the starter sites, as that knowledge will let you know if you need to check for a reset.

Picking your island is your first decision. You have no time limits on this, as timing starts on loading in. So, generally, I find that you can really go two ways to maximize your effectiveness. What stays universal is the elimination of mountains, and the maximization of land area. Always do that. After that, you have trees and rivers to toggle.

Rivers are good for natural water sources. By building near rivers, you can penny pinch in the early game. By contrast, having a river by your park can impede growth. East-West rivers are good, North-South are not as good. By not making rivers, you invest a couple hundred or so, but get full control on placement, and can use it to keep dinosaurs near particular spots.

Trees are another topic. Generally, keeping trees on is smart. Very much, the dinosaur AI prefers trees to anything from the feeders, and with the herbivore feeders being occasionally unresponsive, they’re kind of important. However, I do believe that regular trees increase the chances of Gastric Poisoning, which basically is a run-killer, due to its two-month research time. Moral of the story: probably should do trees, unless you make sure you can manage the feeders well.

Research is a highly debatable topic. With how RNG this game can be, it’s hard to really say definitively what is a best-practice research order. Money, weather conditions, dinosaurs, etc. all play a factor in what is useful first or not first.

Two very useful pieces of research are Binoculars and Weather Guard. Basically, these are cheap, practical, and make keeping visitors happy easier. Pretty much what I’d say are the must-haves.

In terms of Attractions, there’s Balloon Tour, Safari Adventure, or Viewing Dome. Safari Adventure is really not easy to use. It costs a ton, will probably get stuck around dinosaurs, and is reliant on large spaces which are hard to afford in the early game. Still, it is extremely solid. Balloon Tour is one I see many pick first. It is pretty useful, allowing a full observation of the park like Viewing Platforms do. It’s drawback is weather, primarily. It cannot operate in thunderstorms. RNG-driven, in its purest form. It also takes longer to move guests through than most other options. Probably the best technique. Viewing Domes, however, offer the safest option. Granted, very expensive, visitors are free from harm and from storms. These Domes are also good for providing visitors with increased viewing opportunities, especially since it is disconnected. The piece which connects to the path is one tile, very useful for path management, and can be selected to prioritize a certain visitor type. A safer option than Balloons, but more costly.

Vaccines are necessary. If you want to speedrun, you will have two outbreaks, at least. Research them all, except Rabies and Gastric Poisoning unless you’re fine with your research. The easiest to deal with is Rabies on small carnivores. Large carnivores require serious tranquilizing to handle, but can be immobilized this way. So long as the large carnivore has targets that are not fences, shoot it until it sleeps. The infected dinosaurs should be moved out of the enclosure, and placed in a separate enclosure so they can die of a coma. It isn’t communicable like the other diseases are. Gastric Poisoning should be an instant reset. Beyond those two, basically you have a one in four odds you’ll research the right one, 50% by two researched, etc. If you research three and have no outbreak, expect Rabies or Gastric Poisoning. Dinosaur Flu and Dino Belly cost more, but if you manage your money, it should be easy.

Medium Security Fence is a must, for all carnivores. It increases security effectively. I cannot vouch outright to Security Cameras, but they do help. Don’t waste your time with Shelters, Auto Turrets, or Lures. Gyro Stabilizer may be worthwhile, but is driven by RNG. Retire is also mostly a waste of time: Sedate, throw in an isolated enclosure, let them die of Malnutrition if you have to kill something (most likely Rabies).

Endgame research would be Super Extractor and Growth Booster. These are expensive and basically serve to improve the rate of dinosaur introduction into the park. Basically, get these in-tandem with buying dig teams (usually around the fourth or fifth) or when money’s in surplus and buying from the Fossil Market is not taxing.

All other research is not super useful in a speedrun. High Security Fence is expensive and meaningless unless your T.rex gets rabies. Hatchery Immunization is useful, but costly, and not really worth the effort. No Muster, no Amenities (except maybe ATM machines for attraction-heavy parks, but they drive time in the park up, which lowers star speed).

When considering resets, there are circumstances where it is unreasonable to continue a run. They are few, and often catastrophic, but are difficult to recover from for really solid pace.

Reset when there is a Twister. Hopefully you find out early game, and can reset to try for another run without extreme time investment. But a Twister is a game ender. It cannot be recovered from in reasonable time unless you have Visitor Shelters. That piece of research can reasonably catch you up, but is at the cost of more utilitarian Research items, so it’s really not a good gamble. This also doesn’t mention the damages to the park, which must be completely fixed prior to recovery beginning. And dinosaur costs…if it kills a five-star dinosaur, you’re out around $4000-$5000 to replace it. It’s not worth the chance to recover. It’s better to reset.

Reset at Gastric Poisoning. Unless you do research it, or are in the process as it arises, it will stall your star rating speed. And with two months to acquire, and RNG factors of storms, it’s a drain on time. It is possible to recover from, admittedly, but since it’s usually a mid- or late-game situation, it might be enough to choke out a good run.

Reset at Breakout. Basically, the same thing as the Twister, except harder to predict. Rabies usually is the cause, and can make Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus tough to mitigate, due to their solitary nature. Rabies-Rampages are manageable when there are targets for the dinosaur to attack (Acro and Carchar shared enclosures or Velociraptor and Allosaurus packs), with the Sedation method being good to mitigate in place of Retire, or having an assailed dino kill the rabid one in vengeance. If a Breakout occurs, though, you’re probably not going to be able to stop it before it kills someone.

Reset at any Death in the park (Human death, that is). Supposedly, I’ve heard lightning can strike a visitor, but I’ve never seen it or heard of it outside of a hint guide on GameFAQs. But if that happens, or if a visitor dies of exposure because the tour car exploded, or because you deleted the path under their feet, just reset. You are forced to halt growth due to death, so far as I can gather. I believe cleaners also count in this, so don’t let them die either.

Beyond that, make your own discretion about when to reset and when to soldier on.

So, last is looking at your dig sites. Obviously, how you want to go about with your four chosen dig sites may depend on your strategy, or your starting roster. So here’s a sort of rundown on the dig sites available to you once you reach one star.

I will say: it’s not advised to pick from the starting dig sites. While Hell Creek A and Judith River Group A do have some dinosaurs of reasonable usefulness, they are far outweighed by other dig sites. Morrison Formation A is entirely outclassed, so don’t bother with it.

Flaming Cliffs is probably the best dig site in the game. I used to not like it, because Velociraptors were a pain in the neck (as Missions will undoubtedly prove). But Gallimimus and Homalocephale are both three-star. This means you are a star power ahead of all other sites in the game (which all feature a two-star). Cost is the most limiting factor, as all these dinosaurs cost a lot more to produce, and work best in groups. But for growth, especially early growth, go for it.

Chenini Formation is a great pairing for Hell Creek A starts. Obviously, a five-star Spinosaurus is very nice, but in addition, Acro and Carchars get along, meaning you can create a single enclosure with both predators. Less cost on enclosures, and Rabies protection in the form of meatshields. Plus the four-star Carchar outcompetes other contemporary three-stars.

Tendaguru Beds is another good dig site. Once again, Allosaurus being a four-star makes it better than three-stars of other sites. Plus Brachiosaurus can co-exist with other herbivores and doesn’t go into Rampage, making it the best five-star. Kentrosaurus isn’t very good though, and might die because it gets scared of large herbivores.

Hell Creek B is solid. Triceratops is the most useful dinosaur. Pachycephalosaurus and Edmontosaurus are good. This is a poor choice, though, if you start with a Judith River Group A start, because you will certainly not get a new dinosaur at any good rate.

Judith River Group B is, again, solid. Tyrannosaurus, very good for ratings, very costly and tough to keep. Corythosaurus and Styracosaurus aren’t really worth much more than Edmontosaurus and Pachy, but they are of similar stars, so it works out.

Morrison Formation B. Morrison Formation really ends up the worst sites in the game. Brachiosaurus is here, which is good, but if you picked Tendaguru Beds, you’re losing a dinosaur slot. Yes, admittedly, you might find Brachiosaurus faster, but it’s one five-star versus one five-star option AND another dinosaur. Camarasaurus isn’t bad. Dilophosaurus is horrible. Low star rating, unique enclosure, and supposedly it can attack visitors in low-security fences (not sure the validity; I never use Morrison Formation B, casual or otherwise).

So, at this point, you should devise your theoretical plan of action. Pick your Research, pick your dig sites, choose what you are willing to start with and what you’re willing to reset for.

From hereon, I’ll be putting a play-by-play of how I’d do a Hell Creek A run, with Para-6mo and Toro-1yr.

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Create the island. Get rid of the mountains. No rivers. Maximize land. Maximize trees. Square island (because I like the square island). Start.

Timer starts upon loading of the map.

Go to Fossil Hunt. Select Hell Creek A, load a dig team into a Good-quality four-slot (prioritize larger number of slots first). Exit Fossil Hunt.

Go to Research. Select Viewing Dome.

Go to Build, Go to Dinosaurs, Select Hatchery, place down. Start two Paras in hatchery.

Go to Build, Go to Dinosaurs, Select Fence, make the enclosure.

Go to Build, Go to Amenities, Select Park Entrance (or on console, use Park Entrance option in Menu), place directly south (backwards) some semi-short distance.

Build a Path from the Entrance straight up toward the enclosure.

Go to Build, Go to Attractions, Select Viewing Vent, place down (making sure path faces out of the enclosure; on Xbox, it defaults inwards).

Parasaurolophus #1 emerges. Immediately open park. Exit Hammond’s good job message. Go into Park Entrance, set money to $360. Money should be adjusted when guests arrive to where message reads: Moderately Soon.

Para #2 emerges, go to hatch two Toros.

Place two lakes down, separated by distance so dinosaurs can’t forget to drink.

Go to Fossil Hunt, buy two teams, place in the slotted site. Check on Fossil Hunt every couple fossils to see if the site has changed from Good, and move sites into Good positions when needed.

Connect the path, and form a small loop from Viewing Vent to Park Entrance. Place down many trash cans and benches, and attached Restroom and Kiosk. Set Kiosk to Dino Dog, set price to $12. Pick a side, if you want to be fancy.

Place Herbivore Feeder in enclosure, set to Paleo Bales.

Set Viewing Vent to “Playpen”.

And that’s the opener. From here, you become beholden to your personal choices and RNG.

Usually, I pick a Viewing Platform first, set it right beside the Viewing Vent, facing right (east) so you can build your first carnivore enclosure already being faced towards. I usually leave base price, and just lower Duration a tick.

Cleaner Station is also a good choice. You can get away without one for a little while with Trash Cans, but eventually, trash will fill up at buildings, so you have to use Cleaners.

Ranger Station is the toughest one to get. Costing $6000, you’ll probably need to wait. But as soon as you can buy it (with a money buffer to absorb costs), get your station. It increases security, giving a boost to star rating rates. For aesthetics, the chopper is always facing right from the initial direction you spawn in, so rotating left once will have it facing north, making it good to put directly behind your Park Entrance for three helipads.

By this point, fossils will likely have started to come in. My strategy for fossils is as follows:

Extract an herbivore fossil if the lifespan is less than one year. If one year or greater, sell all fossils of that dinosaur. Exceptions are Triceratops and Brachiosaurus unless healthy cash flow is present: sell all fossils following 50% genome otherwise.

Extract a carnivore fossil until 50% genome. Sell all fossils afterwards. Small carnivores may be worthwhile getting to one year if early-game.

Extract amber if you have at least one dinosaur under 50% genome. Sell amber if: at least one dinosaur is 90%+ genome in that dig site; if both lower-star dinosaurs are a year and the Fossil Market has a fossil of a required dinosaur that has at least 20%; if in the red with money. This rule can be ignored if income flow is stable (around $3000-$4500 entrance fee at Moderaely Soon rating), and should be acted against when surpluses of money is available by buying all amber in the Fossil Market in endgame.

Research should develop in something similar to this manner:

Viewing Dome/Balloon Tour (Pick one)

Binoculars/Weather Guard (Pick one, check weather)

Weather Guard/Binoculars (Pick remaining)

Medium Security Fence (if carnivore created or soon to be create-able), otherwise Balloon Tour/Viewing Dome (Pick remaining)

Medium Security Fence (if remaining), otherwise Balloon Tour/Viewing Dome (Pick remaining)

Vaccine #1 (Dinosaur Flu, Dino Belly, Bumblefoot, Tick Infestation)

Vaccine #2

Assess research from there based on factors like: presence of carnivores (Security Cameras), upcoming Thunderstorms in succession (Gyro Stabilizer), lots of herbivores (Safari Adventure), nothing particularly interesting (Vaccine #3 and #4)

From there, you can research to patch up holes as needed.

Dig Site order, under my strategy, is as follows:

Hell Creek A

Flaming Cliffs

Chenini Formation

Tendaguru Beds

Hell Creek B

Make dinosaurs as soon as reasonably achievable. Herbivores can be put into a shared enclosure (except maybe Kentrosaurus), carnivores generally need their own per species (Dilo, Alberto, Cerato, Allo, Veloci), or per individual (T.rex, Spino), or otherwise is the Acro-Carchar shared enclosure.

For each enclosure, utilize the more expensive food option. Also, make sure to place water appropriately, and try to place at least two Viewing Domes per enclosure. Viewing Vents and Platforms are beneficial as well. Balloon Tours should have only one placed flag, and it should be maximized to have the shortest distance to see the vast majority of dinosaurs. Safari Adventure is good, just keep an eye on it. Pictures are good, but just gives a cash infusion and not actual benefits to improve star rating rate outright.

Expand appropriately. Utilize benches on new path, more-so focus on benches than trash cans. Hire more cleaners as needed. Don’t forget to have multiple kiosks and restrooms, and to space them out to avoid crowding. Utilize Viewing Dome entrance spots to reduce crowding, or take advantage of it.

Keep new enclosures fairly close together to reap benefits of Viewing Domes and easy Balloon Tour pathing. Upgrade to Medium Security Fence within a reasonable timeframe. Buy dig teams within reasonable time frames. Towards mid-game, make sure not to skate too close to debt, though it doesn’t appear to cause outright negative effects other than the angry Quarterly Report unless repeated offenses occur.

Don’t fear buying fossils from the Fossil Market, just make sure to not get greedy. At a new dig site, finish up current progression if greater than half, and move into new site. It’s recommended then to buy fossils of the older site to guarantee no unnecessary funds are spent. Buy five-star fossils if you can; so long as you reach 50%, overage is only a bonus.

At this point, it’s up to you managing the park as best you can, and good RNG, to get good timing. You can change things up, try different dig site routes, take different research paths, etc. Just make sure to take mental notes, compare and contrast, utilize even the worst runs for trial and error.

Operation Genesis, as a category, has room for improvement, but nothing reliable without reset-grinding for the good starter sets. My guess is that a 1:20:00 is possible, and that a 1:15:00 may be close to optimal, with very good RNG and most likely the Anky-Pachy start, Acro-Para start, or an Acro-1yr start, and researched diseases only.

Anyway, I hope this is a useful tool for anyone looking to take on this speedrun or any of the Exercises like Jurassic Classic.