Eurasia Animal Pack Hot Takes

Captain Callum

Captain Callum
NachoB said:
I never understood why everyone thinks the wolverine takes much work. Is probably a modified badger rig that climbs? Or maybe even based another arboreal animal. Never seemed like a high effort animal to me.

The sean i agree though.
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The mute swan aswell could of just been a modified flamingo rig, who knows honestly I'm just speculating that some animals might of been more of a challenge to make.
 

Corail

C
Hugo98 said:
Wild boars are more of a typical animal for smaller zoos and wildparks, not big zoos. Which is a good thing in my opinion, we need the space for more endangered and exotic species in the large/higher budget zoos.
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They do exist in the few zoos which are (at least partly) specialised in European fauna, too - I gave Zoodyssée and Sainte-croix as examples earlier in this topic, but Innsbruck in Austria, Silkeborg in Denmark or Skansen in Stockholm are other important examples. All of those are EAZA I believe (edit : just checked, I think Silkeborg isn't but the other definitely are), and reputed places too.

They're also rather common in Eastern European zoos - for instance Riga, Bratislava, Sosto all have them.
 
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KönigDerKaffeebohnen

K
Also regarding wildparks and "bad for animals and not real zoos" lets take a look at my local wildpark, wildpark düsseldorf.

Have a little map to see how big those enclosures are, the whole zoo are 36 hectar, doesnt take a genius to see that fallow and red deer aswell as the wildboars have multiple hectar of space available to them.
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Wild boars, this is roughly a third of their habitat.
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Fallow Deer Walkthrough
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Red Deer feeding station
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And this is just one example, literally google "wildpark" and see some more vast, expansive and natural habitats
 

NZFanatic

NZFanatic
NachoB said:
Is funny that we are discussing this about the boar yet accepting the saiga lol
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The saiga is also extremely overrated and I do not understand why anyone thinks it's any more different or special than any other ungulate in the game. It's got a funny nose. That's literally it. That's about as big a difference as between literally all the antelope in the game. It's extremely niche and makes no sense as a zoo animal outside of Russia and Kazakhstan. And before anyone draws a false comparison, while rare the kiwi and platypus both exist outside of Oceania in zoos.

Anyway, I don't plan on building a wildpark, so I feel justified in not being thrilled with the Eurasia Animal Pack. The swan is good. The sloth bear is a weird choice but I'm not mad about it since I can only imagine how much this place would weep if they gave us the EBB instead, and India needs more anyway.
 

NachoB

NachoB
NZFanatic said:
The saiga is also extremely overrated and I do not understand why anyone thinks it's any more different or special than any other ungulate in the game. It's got a funny nose. That's literally it. That's about as big a difference as between literally all the antelope in the game. It's extremely niche and makes no sense as a zoo animal outside of Russia and Kazakhstan. And before anyone draws a false comparison, while rare the kiwi and platypus both exist outside of Oceania in zoos.

Anyway, I don't plan on building a wildpark, so I feel justified in not being thrilled with the Eurasia Animal Pack. The swan is good. The sloth bear is a weird choice but I'm not mad about it since I can only imagine how much this place would weep if they gave us the EBB instead, and India needs more anyway.
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Oh yes i agree. Is just that people is questioning the inclusion of the boar but at the same time are excited about the saiga. Is kind of contradictory.
 

Swjosdotschka

Swjosdotschka
  • You all will survive getting the Sloth Bear now over your spectacled one or ABB
  • It's okay to have a warm climate animal in the northern hemisphere winter, no one will explode.
  • It does not matter we got three "swines" this year and one of it was even free, so counting it is ungrateful.
  • Thank GOODNESS it's not a mountain pack, all the mountain pack line ups just felt terrible boring to me.
 

NachoB

NachoB
Oh one thing about the suines. I get there is some value to the theory that since we got the peccary that meant no LAM or CA pack and they were saving the wild boar for a cold northern animal packs.
 

Spiderhawk

Spiderhawk
Here’s my thing about this dlc
In a way I feel Europe is almost completed
With the exceptions of birds and monkeys, I feel africa and SEA are complete. Australia could use perenties and tree kangaroos and that will do it for me. SA needs some more stuff and a couple more NA.
I’d like Capercaille, Barabary macaque and Golden Jackal then I think Europe is all set.
Now for the new animals
Wisents: find it strange they were picked as the flagship animal. IMOP I feel they were necessary at some point in game to complete Europe.
Wolverines: most of us are excited for them. NA got the peccaries and now get Wolverines.
Saiga: some of you have said this is the Pmonkey 2.0. I never had any interest and I know some of you had. I personally don’t think rare zoo animals should get prioritized over others.
Wild boar: I personally never wanted them, il take them to finish EU and give everyone else a win.
Mute Swan: can’t wait to make some nice ponds for our waterfowl. This shows the perhaps frontier has some waterfowl plans in the future and the mute swan is the foundation.
Sloth bear: I like bears so Il take them. They technically aren’t Eurasian as they are found in India but w/e. I have been wanting bears to make a comeback, I been hoping for this order more importantly: Andean bear, ABB then Sloth bear. Please frontier give us new world bears.
Takin: been a request for a long time and is giving the Himalayas the long waited love they needed.
Herman’s tortoise: I didn’t see this one coming but Il take it. I mentioned before that I think if we are getting anymore exhibit reptiles then it should be a turtle.

I was hoping for koi pond WE. Golden Jackal would have been nice as they are Eurasian and we didn’t get a canid this year. Pallas cat I could see as an anniversary animal but I would have liked another feline this year.

I will say I like this line up more than the others. None of the Oceania’s were high on my list but I liked/accepted anyway, arid I was not happy with and tropical I was on the fence with.
With this dlc checking off some highly requested EU and north Asian animals, now it looks crazy as to what the future holds and what kind of dlc we can expect. While a SA centric animal dlc would cover missing members, everything else on the meta list looks like from here on out we would have to go back to world wide animal picks and at this rate I don’t know if build dlcs can appropriately incorporate remaining animals into a theme.
 

Hugo98

Hugo98
Corail said:
They do exist in the few zoos which are (at least partly) specialised in European fauna, too - I gave Zoodyssée and Sainte-croix as examples earlier in this topic, but Innsbruck in Austria, Silkeborg in Denmark or Skansen in Stockholm are other important examples. All of those are EAZA I believe (edit : just checked, I think Silkeborg isn't but the other definitely are), and reputed places too.

They're also rather common in Eastern European zoos - for instance Riga, Bratislava, Sosto all have them.
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Yeah I know but thanks. Still, they are less common in the major zoos.
But it doesn't matter, they are very common in captivity and therefore important for a zoo game and it's good they finally made it into the game.
 

Angeł

Angeł
NZFanatic said:
The saiga is also extremely overrated and I do not understand why anyone thinks it's any more different or special than any other ungulate in the game. It's got a funny nose. That's literally it. That's about as big a difference as between literally all the antelope in the game. It's extremely niche and makes no sense as a zoo animal outside of Russia and Kazakhstan. And before anyone draws a false comparison, while rare the kiwi and platypus both exist outside of Oceania in zoos.
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I’ll give my personal reasoning for liking the Saiga:
1. They are a relic of the Ice Age. Not many mammals are still alive today that have remained unchanged since the Pleistocene. The Saiga is one of those animals. It, along with the Wisent and Przewalski’s Horse, is a representative for the extinct biome of the Mammoth Steppe, an extremely fascinating topic in terms of conservation stories.
2. It in itself is a Critically Endangered animal. It is in dire need of conservation efforts to save its species, as a lot of its current range do not really do much in the way of Saiga conservation. To have it in game is to raise awareness.
3. No matter how much anyone tries to deny it, it IS one of the most unique and recognisable ungulates on earth. It is so distinct looking from any other antelope I can think of. That in itself gives it appeal.

I understand why there’s such backlash towards this animal. It’s not exactly common in captivity by any stretch of the imagination. But, what it does have going for it completely outweighs that. And for an oddball species, I’m glad it’s the Saiga.
 

CharlieXGaming

CharlieXGaming
I'm shocked, honestly. I really didn't think I would be this excited. Here are my hot takes:
  • This is the BEST pack of the year. Even though its a region pack like oceania, it has animals big and small and also featuring both popular and unpopular animals which makes for a very diverse animal pack.
  • I wouldn't change anything in this pack except for one, the Sloth Bear. It doesn't belong, not only were people not wanting it that much, but it doesn't fit with the snow theme of the pack. Markhor or my preferred choice, the Pallas Cat would've been the way to go imo.
  • I'm utterly shocked they didn't include the Pallas Cat. It has social media presence, its a cat which frontier loves, and is an easy clone. Again, would've liked it instead of Sloth Bear but what can ya do.
  • Hamadryas baboon shouldn't have been here anyway. I know a lot of people expected it for the primate, me included, but it honestly doesn't fit with the theme and I think I was fooling myself that they would include it. My beliefs of us getting a baboon are slim, but not down to nothing yet (although we probably won't get Gelada and instead hamadryas 😭)
  • Saiga & Wisent are good additions. I actually like the Saiga, its a cool animal and I'm actually gonna build for it first. Its different to the Proboscis Monkey where we actually needed other primates, but we can never have too many ungulates, even if people dislike how frequent we get them. Be mad at me if you will, but I think the community needs to accept that ungulates are the easiest animals for frontier to make clones of, and thats why we get them so often. Wisent, sure would've liked Markhor or a goat more, but still a good addition. I'll use it.
  • Wild Boar is perfect for this pack. Don't really know why people are against it, this is the first animal that comes to mind when I think of Europe.
Animal ratings (off of first impressions):

1. Wild Boar 10/10 (Beautiful design)
2. Takin 10/10 (Piece of artwork)
3. Wisent 9/10
4. Mute Swan 7.5/10 (Great pick, very useful, but we haven't seen much of it yet, so I really can't see how good it is until we get a screenshot/gameplay)
5. Wolverine 7/10 (Not loving it, not mad at it, just eh. Model looks fantastic)
6. Saiga 6.5/10 (Me thinking its a cool creature still doesn't change the fact that its captivity presence is not existant)
7. Sloth Bear 2/10 (We haven't seen it, and I'm probably never gonna use it.)

Overall pack first impression rating: About 7.5/10 average. This will probably change as I see the new animals, especially the swan. But my excitement level is a 10/10.
 
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Skalea

S
CharlieXGaming said:
AMEN
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I am curious about this too. Personally, I feel like a cold primate would be an extremely good addition to the game ! Would you mind discussing this a little ? I just want to understand this point of view.

My favourite biome is Taiga, specifically a region like Nepal / North of India / South West China. When I build a zoo themed for the Himalayas, the only options I have for vertical habitats are the Red Panda and the Japanese Macaque. The GSNM would, in my view, definitely fit a unique niche, by being 1/2 cold primates in the game, and the only continental one at that. Animal experts, please correct me if I am wrong.

While I respect the reasons why a lot of people are excited about the pack, I think this animal would have made a more interesting addition than the Swan, the Wild Boar, and even the Sagia. These are usable animals and can add a lot to many Zoos, I agree with that, but I just was looking for something a little more exciting. I would not spend as much time looking at a Swan or Wild Boar, if I went to a Zoo.
 

CharlieXGaming

CharlieXGaming
Skalea said:
I am curious about this too. Personally, I feel like a cold primate would be an extremely good addition to the game ! Would you mind discussing this a little ? I just want to understand this point of view.

My favourite biome is Taiga, specifically a region like Nepal / North of India / South West China. When I build a zoo themed for the Himalayas, the only options I have for vertical habitats are the Red Panda and the Japanese Macaque. The GSNM would, in my view, definitely fit a unique niche, by being 1/2 cold primates in the game, and the only continental one at that. Animal experts, please correct me if I am wrong.

While I respect the reasons why a lot of people are excited about the pack, I think this animal would have made a more interesting addition than the Swan, the Wild Boar, and even the Sagia. These are usable animals and can add a lot to many Zoos, I agree with that, but I just was looking for something a little more exciting. I would not spend as much time looking at a Swan or Wild Boar, if I went to a Zoo.
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Its just not an interesting species to me. Its not common in captivity outside of zoos in China and holds a very similar niche to the Proboscis Monkey and imo it wouldn't add any more value or variety to the game than the Proboscis Monkey already does. The swan adds something completely new, which is waterfowl, which provides hope for Pelicans 🤞 and the boar idk I just love swines and building for them.

I am also a bit one sided because I was really expecting an Alpine animal pack with Gelada as the primate and feared the GSNM would take its place, but now that its not, I dont think I would be as against it now that its in its dedicated region pack. I just dont see me enjoying building for it if it did get in, I could trade it out for the Sloth Bear because I don't really like that one either, but I would like neither of them either way.
 
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