They’re also one of the most commonly kept missing animals for Australian zoos - the vast majority of zoos here have them.
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Spring dlc Speculation 2023
- Thread starter Captain Callum
- Start date
Thoughts on all of them:
Deluxe: Yeah, not good. Three decent animals, zero scenery, and a soundtrack that you can already buy separately for $12 dollars (more than any of the proper packs).
Arctic: Polar bear was obviously deliberately left out to have an early DLC pack--it's nice to have but the space requirements make it incredibly burdensome outside of sandbox. Reindeer and Dall sheep are nice but the former has issues, while the wolf is the most shameless clone in any of the DLC to date. The wood pieces are nice but I don't care for the Christmas theming or the ice sculptures.
South America: South America had one habitat animal in the base game so getting four more was nice, and I have no complaints about any of them other than the Jaguar having model issues (too thin for the most part). Scenery is a mixed bag but overall too Rainforest Cafe-y for my taste (a lot of the scenery packs have this issue).
Australia: Animal selection is a bit weird, with the dingo hardly being a top four Australian animal I'd add to the game, and I'm annoyed by the blue-tongued skink being a desert animal. Building pieces are very useful and there's a lot of nice scenery, mecha-roo notwithstanding.
Aquatic: Four fantastic animals representing a real step up in quality from the base game and from earlier packs, plus fantastic scenery and props including the faux rocks which are probably my most used pieces in the entire game.
Southeast Asia: Kind of weird. Seven new habitat animals that weren't that highly requested other than maybe the clouded leopard, but most are relatively similar to existing animals, all are mammals, and about half of them have or had serious model issues representing a step backwards from the Aquatic Pack. Would have been a tier lower had they not at least fixed the binturong.
Africa: Should have been the animal pack over Southeast Asia, but still brings four excellent and highly-requested animals. Kept out of the top tier by mediocre scenery other than the plaster pieces.
North America: All great animals and almost all highly requested, though ideally the Arctic fox would have been in the Arctic pack to get a free spot here. The male sea lion is way too small which makes using it genuinely annoying.
Europe: Good animals that, as an American, I have very little interest in using. Building pieces are undeniably great as are the decals.
Wetlands: A mix of fantastic animal picks and some weird ones like the spectacled caiman and wild water buffalo. Notable that it took over two years to get a habitat bird that wasn't a penguin or ratite, and it's still the only one...
Conservation: Kind of a weird theme--four great endangered animals with scenery consisting of a mix of gardening and backstage elements and green architecture. Great for realism-building and more modern zoos, so I'm a fan overall.
Twilight: A mixed bag and definitely, in my view, the weakest pack of the past two years other than maybe Southeast Asia. The four animals all look fantastic but a pack consisting exclusively of four small mammals is pretty disappointing, and much of the scenery goes back to being overly theme park-y, though a lot of it is good for European zoos. Glad to see the introduction of the walkthrough exhibit concept, though I wish there were more customization available and the bats are big enough that their loops are really noticeable unless you have a lot of them.
Grasslands: A really strong animal pack, with its "questionable" choices still being a lot better than those of the Wetlands Pack. More representation for Australia and South America. The butterflies are the cherry on top and fulfill one of the most common zoo features that PZ was still lacking.
In that case, this can help keep the subject on track: https://zooinstitutes.com/statistics/animals.html?filter=Aves
Frontiers: How many birds you wish to see in the future DLCs?
The community: YES...
I made a tread on the idea of us only getting animal packs. I would still kinda like something like a reptile house pack though. More faux stuff.
If we were to go into 2024 with content then only animal packs that year would be the dream.
I think the short snouted echidna would be better than tge long snouted. Or just pick something else for this pack. Thelong snouted ones are kinda ugly and scary.
Posting my newest iteration of my ideal Islands Animal Pack again:
- American Flamingo
- Fossa
- Japanese Raccoon Dog
- Little Blue Penguin
- Tasmanian Devil
- Tree Kangaroo
- Walrus
I want an Islands Animal Pack as much as the next person (I really, really do) but at this moment, I could really go for a Tropical Animal Pack split across Africa and South America for our next release.
- Red river hog
- Mantled guereza
- Yellow-backed duiker, red-flanked duiker, or African slender-snouted crocodile
- Ocelot
- South American coati
- Southern tamandua, Brazilian porcupine, or two-toed sloth
- Golden lion tamarin, spider monkey, or squirrel monkey
- Surprise exhibit: an assortment of Lake Malawi cichlids
Tropical Woodlands pack could be interesting... although if they did go with that, I personally suspect they'd finally add the Lar Gibbon with it.
If we get a tropical pack it would be really boring to limit to africa and south america, atleast oceania should get a slot.
Propaply the best split would be something like 1 monkey for both africa and south america, literally anything from new guinea but imo the pig nosed turtle, nicobar pidgeon or victoria crown pidgeon would be great choices, and atleast one reptile preferably from madagascar like the radiated tortoise or the parsons chameleon.
A tropical pack really should make use of its wide coverage and huge amount of biodiversity, so making a full mamal pack like this would imo be a huge missed opportunity.
So yeah my take would be:
- Golden Lion Tamarin (most unique looking primate in color and size for a great contrast to the african monkey
- De Brazzas Monkey (unqiue in its monogamy and need for water. Theyd also could be candidates for a tweaked chorus behaviour as the males are known for their booming screams)
- South American Coati (One of the last abc animals missing, super common in zoos and our first arboreal non monkey in south america)
- Nicobar Pidgeon (Colorfull Bird of a new taxa thats spread across indonesia and the islands of northern oceania. Very common in zoos and terrestrial enough to be justified as a habitat animal)
- Parsons Chameleon (Chameleon the size of a house cat, common in the pettrade and easily one of the most unique animals that could feasibly be added as an habitat animal)
- Red River Hog (while not the most interesting addition, its common, colorfull. has a far range and is popular, so really anything but a bad addition)
- Bengal Slow Lori (Third most common Lori after the pigmy slow lori and gray slender lori in captivity, but all three would work. Gives south east asia a treat with a second small arboreal climber and a great pick for nocturnal houses. Bengal slow lori was picked due to its larger size)
- Rainbow Lorikeet (Australian Rainbow Bird is not just common and beautiful, but also fits great into the WE)
A pack like this would not only be more varried, but also help to create more different areas then full on focusing on africa and south america, because yes while options for an africa only or south america only tropical house are limited, you still could build one with some variety, while places like madagascar, oceania and even arguably south east asia struggle more to either a general lack of different animals (Madagascar), a straight up lack of animals (Oceania) or the lack of smaller options (SEA).
This way everyone gets something and makes building tropical houses in these areas either possible or greatly enhances them while also adding stuff that are either great for general use (monkeys, red river hog, coati) or for other lacking things aswell (Lori for nocturnal houses, Chameleon for reptiles in general)
Here's what I'd try to do for a hypothetical Tropical animal pack. And, this is a dream DLC, so imma do a butterfly treatment here, ok? Don't squash my dreams like you squash a cockroach:
- Black howler monkey - South America
- South American coati - South America
- Red river hog - Africa
- Crowned pigeon (any species) - Oceania, Asia
- North Island brown kiwi - Oceania
- White-cheeked gibbon - Asia
- Goodfellow's tree kangaroo - Oceania, Asia
- Scarlet macaw (WE) - South America
- Hyacinth macaw (WE) - South America
- Blue-and-yellow macaw (WE) - South America
- Military macaw (WE) - South America
- African grey parrot (WE) - Africa
I would probably put there a toucan, but this lineup would be perfect for me, a 100% buy must
Now that we said almost every idea, i've been researching how flying birds could get to Planet zoo. To begin with, the interaction of the butterflies with the visitors has totally changed the perception of looped animations for me, since it must be somewhat complicated to program that, so it would not be so complicated to introduce but with small birds.
To start with, I have designed an "aviary", which is simply the WE but with mesh fences. I have also created a possible new type of door, like the ones in some avians in real life. They could also add doors with chains for the pvc doors, which are also located in aviaries.
The birds would have the possibility of walking with a certain frequency, depending on the species, of course, and as "hooking" points some branches, trees and perches. You could also add some feeders, species enrichment and drinkers, giving the aviary a fresher touch.
They could also walk freely around the aviary, and when they start to fly, they would start their special flight animation, not free flight, but at least well done.
And to finish my hypothesis: Visitors could interact with certain birds, such as butterflies. The smallest on the finger and the largest on the shoulder, it could be a fantastic inclusion and also possible. And as the icing on the cake, educators could give talks with birds on their shoulders, as they already do with terrarium animals.
I just hope that if the day comes when such magnificent and diverse creatures come to the game, they will be done well, not free flight in the aviaries or bigger and more complex craziness, but if I can expect something more "realistic" like this idea, and if so, I'm delighted.
To start with, I have designed an "aviary", which is simply the WE but with mesh fences. I have also created a possible new type of door, like the ones in some avians in real life. They could also add doors with chains for the pvc doors, which are also located in aviaries.
The birds would have the possibility of walking with a certain frequency, depending on the species, of course, and as "hooking" points some branches, trees and perches. You could also add some feeders, species enrichment and drinkers, giving the aviary a fresher touch.
They could also walk freely around the aviary, and when they start to fly, they would start their special flight animation, not free flight, but at least well done.
And to finish my hypothesis: Visitors could interact with certain birds, such as butterflies. The smallest on the finger and the largest on the shoulder, it could be a fantastic inclusion and also possible. And as the icing on the cake, educators could give talks with birds on their shoulders, as they already do with terrarium animals.
I just hope that if the day comes when such magnificent and diverse creatures come to the game, they will be done well, not free flight in the aviaries or bigger and more complex craziness, but if I can expect something more "realistic" like this idea, and if so, I'm delighted.
Yeah, this seems like a really likely animal pack, at least as likely as the highlands/islands ideas (islands might end up being a scenery pack if it happens). Possible swap-outs include some kind of small bird for the walkthrough exhibit (lorikeets are a good bet, especially if they came with an animal feeding station), a sloth (again, probably a walkthrough exhibit animal), and a shoebill for a habitat bird.
Rainforest/Tropical pack would be my most wanted at this point, even though it doesn't hit all my most wanted animals. A Sloth and Red River Hog are musts for me and the Shoebill would also be great. A couple of new world primates and a gibbon (I don't care that it's 3 primates, they're needed!) would be great inclusions as well. Ocelot/Coatimundi are other possibilities. And that's even just assuming that we'll get a dedicated Islands theme. If we don't get that, then the Fossa and Tree Kangaroos would also be great inclusions.
I'd gladly also sacrifice a habitat animal and keep it to 6 habitat animals and two types of WE avians- Macaws and Toucans. This has almost no possibility of happening but I really feel like if WE are going to represent birds at some point, these are two types of birds we need.
I'd gladly also sacrifice a habitat animal and keep it to 6 habitat animals and two types of WE avians- Macaws and Toucans. This has almost no possibility of happening but I really feel like if WE are going to represent birds at some point, these are two types of birds we need.
I think that the best birds for Frontier to experiment with are macaws and the African grey. The reason why is because, when I see these birds in zoos, they don't constantly fly everywhere like other species. They tend to hang out in the same spot, occasionally flying to other areas.
So, I think that these types of birds are great to introduce birds into WE's, you know? Give them loops that allow them to perch on certain enrichment branches, give them points where they hang out on the mesh, etc.
Exactly! If flying birds are coming to the game, these 2 are a must. Beautiful and colourful parrots with a high intelligence. Also, very sociable species that would possibly imitate the guest voice and then fly to a perch would be amazing.
Scratching their beaks in the branches, flying to a small house or perching on the walls and go to the ground sounds great, not necessary to be flying 100% of the time. Hopefully something like this comes soon
I really like the scenery design, but this example would be way too small for an aviary. I wouldn't use it as it would feel like torturing the birds. I hope if actual aviaries come in they would be much larger, or nullable like the WEs
If, and that's a big if as nothing's confirmed, we get "sets" of several birds of a similar kind, I wonder if Toucans and Hornbills are morphological similar enough they could be put in teh same "sets". I realize they're different bird types, but on a physical level, they share a lot of similarities. I mean, I would desperately want Macaws, Toucans, Hornbills, Eagles, Owls and Cockatoos if this all becomes a thing for "flying" birds. Even just 2 of each would be something. I mean technically one would be something, but I'm looking at the macaws particularly, in saying we'd really need more than just 1.