Analyzing required animals by Taxonomical group
For all 3 there can be a case made for an extra animal.
Easy one out of the way, the tamandua would be an excellent addition as a very unique south american climber and would be a great choice for an arboreal animal that isnt a monkey, eventhough for now monkeys still are by far the priority. It also allready got scenery in the game with the SA bench and while i generally dont care about that its a neat bonus.
For the armadillo, its very context sensetive.
Hot take (?) but south america doesnt have much left regarding new non primate rigs with only rodents coming to mind and while we technically allready have an armadillo rig the amadillo to me seems like anything but an easy clone and would propaply still need alot of work, so if we get something like a south america animal pack that props would be filled with 1 new monkey and rodent righ each (i dont even dare to ask for a new bird rig cause i bet it would be a rhea) we would have 5 more "clony" animals left and really i would like to see one of those be a six or three banded armadillo, but otherwise it isnt really nessecary to me, just very neat, but not more neat then other animals from other continents or neat enough for a south america scenery pack.
Similar for the sloth, but here its not the pack structure but the update along side it.
If we get updated usability for them just like we got with the gibbon ergo being able to build custom climbing frames and not being limited to the gigantic box/only have it as the area where it can spawn on a climbing frame and no path or sensitivity to elevation included, that would be great. Id gladly sacrifice another exhibit slot for that, afterall it doesnt look like frontier is planning to add anything cool any time soon cough cough birds, but even with birds id say thats still a worthy trade of.
Nothing changed honestly
Suids still need a domestics, we dont have a marten, we need much more goats, india is still lacking antelopes, waterfowl is a new black hole that has opend, bears we got literally the next useless thing to a new brownbear, the tortoise is exhibit.
Good progress but no satisfied end for any group here
Suines are done. Nothing essential left.
Musteloids still missing coati, a ferret/marten and honey badger.
Caprines missing basically the markhor, musk ox and just a goat.
Bovines are fine i think. Gaur and Highlands cow would be nice not essential.
Bears. Still missing ABB and spectacled. Now they need to complete the whole group.
Antelopes. A lot from everywhere basically. But saiga doesn't satisfy the need for regular asían antelope. Blackbuck still needed.
Waterfowls. We need a duck still but this was a huge push in the right direction. I just hope is not a one off.
Tortoises. Still need a medium sized habitat tortoise for arid biomes.
Musteloids still missing coati, a ferret/marten and honey badger.
Caprines missing basically the markhor, musk ox and just a goat.
Bovines are fine i think. Gaur and Highlands cow would be nice not essential.
Bears. Still missing ABB and spectacled. Now they need to complete the whole group.
Antelopes. A lot from everywhere basically. But saiga doesn't satisfy the need for regular asían antelope. Blackbuck still needed.
Waterfowls. We need a duck still but this was a huge push in the right direction. I just hope is not a one off.
Tortoises. Still need a medium sized habitat tortoise for arid biomes.
- Antelopes could use a warm-weather Asian species, a cow like species, smaller/dwarf species and lastly I'm ok with one more water antelope as well as Impala. List of suggestions: Blackbuck (Warm-weather Asian), Arabian Oryx (same as blackbuck just further west!), Nilgai (same as Arabian oryx and blackbuck plus is more cow like), Royal Antelope (tiny and Asian), Dik Dik, any Duiker, sitatunga, etc...
- Bears: I hope for ABB mostly, Andean would be nice, EBB is fine...
- Bovines: Yak
- Caprines: Musk Ox, warmer sheep
- Musteloids: Marten, cold weather otter, IMO at least one more badger
- Suines: Warty pig would be ok... Pretty complete imo
- Waterfowl: Ducks, a black swan, goose AND one that doesn't fit into duck, swan or goose
- Turtle: a true turtle, and desert tortoise
Really at this point i dont mind them completing bears, afterall we allready got the worst offender so why not include both other actually requested and unique bears
Antelopes: In need of them as we ever were. Saiga wasn't part of the plan. I'd still say blackbuck, a smaller species (duiker, klipspringer, what have you) and maybe a larger species (eland or kudu) are pretty important.
Bears: I stand firm on the fact that we need all 8 bears. Two to go
Bovines: We were arguably already done before, now we're extra well done.
Caprines: I think most of us would agree there's still some gas left in this tank. Markhor's the popular one, but I'm a big fan of the aoudad... and then of course there's the domestic goat. Regardless of what it is, I think we need a bit more here.
Musteloids:
Suines: Somehow, that "perfect" roster that seemed impossible this time last year has fallen into place. I still wouldn't mind the Visayan warty pig or a domestic, but if support ended here I think what we have is an amazing pig lineup.
Waterfowl: A new door has been opened. Oh, we're only just beginning.
Turtles: Having another exhibit species is nice, but what we're really lacking is habitat tortoises. We still need quite a few of these fellas, most importantly the African spurred and radiated tortoises.
Suines are almost close to completion, the temperate requirement has finally been filled by the wild boar leading to just a domestic breed left but honestly domestics are unlikely to happen. Everything else remains the same, none of the animals moved the status of the groups in a good way.
Antelopes:
Bears:
Bovines:
Caprines:
Musteloids:
- Coati is the most needed now and I still would really like the ratel and a marten, not sure what else to say here.
Suines:
- Complete! This year was crazy for this group. I can rest happy now. Oh yea, domestics, hmm ok maybe one more lol.
Waterfowl:
- Oh we have just BARELY begun. We still need multiple geese and ducks for a start.
Turtles:
- African spurred tortoise would still be very nice as well as a large freshwater species.
- The blackbuck is the only necessary one left and really I think at this point we could argue it's the most needed ungulate of all.
- Dik-Dik is still important to give us a small antelope and the impala is the last of the iconic savanna antelopes really.
- There's a few extras that would be nice like blesbok or gerenuk but it's not too important.
Bears:
- Honestly I would be fine if we got no more but I think the spectacled would be very nice to have
- I don't care for the ABB but I know the Americans do so I'm fine with it.
Bovines:
- I think we are done here, not counting the Pandora's box of domestics. The wisent was the last one that really felt important.
- I do think gaur would be nice, they are the largest bovine of all and I'd prefer it over the water buffalo. Banteng is another option but I'm not as big of a fan since SEA is very well represented.
Caprines:
- Domestic goat is necessary for realistic zoos.
- Now that we finally got our Himalayan caprine the next step should be our warm climate species, give us the Aoudad Frontier!
- The absence of the markhor is still felt, it would still be a worthwhile addition.
- Muskox, I don't need to say much more on it but if we get any Tundra pack it's basically guaranteed.
- Other options like chamois and tahr are nice but can do without.
Musteloids:
- Coati is the most needed now and I still would really like the ratel and a marten, not sure what else to say here.
Suines:
- Complete! This year was crazy for this group. I can rest happy now. Oh yea, domestics, hmm ok maybe one more lol.
Waterfowl:
- Oh we have just BARELY begun. We still need multiple geese and ducks for a start.
Turtles:
- African spurred tortoise would still be very nice as well as a large freshwater species.
This year was really successful for suines. A domestic pig would be nice but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with this roster and don't really need more.
I mean there wouldn't be much more wild pig species left that are common in zoos anyways. Visayan warty pigs and the other two peccary species are basically the only other ones with good population in captivity, bearded pigs are dead more or less and other species are only extant in rehab centers or local zoos in their home countries at the most.
I wouldn't mind getting a warty pig or another peccary but I don't think we need it and they just use the spot for more important taxa that need much more support.
I mean there wouldn't be much more wild pig species left that are common in zoos anyways. Visayan warty pigs and the other two peccary species are basically the only other ones with good population in captivity, bearded pigs are dead more or less and other species are only extant in rehab centers or local zoos in their home countries at the most.
I wouldn't mind getting a warty pig or another peccary but I don't think we need it and they just use the spot for more important taxa that need much more support.
I'm glad the universal consensus towards waterfowl seems to be "I hope you know what you've gotten yourselves into, Frontier"
- Antelopes: Still need at least one for India, bare minimum. The blackbuck is a critical pick. The nilgai and Arabian oryx would be pretty good, too. There are a few from Africa that would be nice to have, especially something small like a dik dik, but they are far from essential.
- Bears: The spectacled and ABB are both critical picks. Like the big cats, bears need a rep of each species. They are too iconic to skip.
Bovines:I think this group is done, aside from domestics. A tropical cow like an anoa, bateng, or guar would be nice, but again, they aren't needed.- Caprines: I still need the markhor, bighorn sheep, and musk ox. There are a few other options, like the chamois, tahr, serow, and aoudad that would be nice, too.
- Musteloids: The coati is a critical and mega-popular pick, and I think the honey badger and sea otter are also essential. At least one marten would be good, too.
Suines:Maybe we'll get a domestic one, but I think this group is done.- Waterfowl: I'm so happy this door was opened. The black swan would be great, too, and there are a bunch of ducks that would be awesome. I would say the Mandarin duck is a critical pick, and the mallard, white faced whistling, muscovy, and NA wood duck would be great additions as well. Maybe a goose?
- Turtles: A freshwater, aquatic habitat turtle like the pig-nosed is still essential, but I'm not sure we'll get it. A sea turtle would be awesome.
My thoughts on the subject:
- Antelopes - I would say the two general requirements for the game are a more tropical Asian antelope (blackbuck definitely tops the list for me) and a small African antelope such as a duiker or dik-dik. I'd love to see the four-horned antelope, but that is a personal desire rather than a requirement.
- Bears - Personally, I was fine with bears after Southeast Asia, but I wouldn't mind the spectacled bear. American black bear I guess can add something for American players, but for me it does basically nothing.
- Bovines - At least one of the tropical Southeast Asian bovids is, I would say, a borderline requirement - something like a banteng or lowland anoa.
- Caprines - I would love an aoudad as an arid caprid, with the African pygmy goat and markhor as more borderline animals. The mainland serow is similar to the four-horned antelope for me - I'd love it, but accept that it is very much a personal desire.
- Musteloids - Yellow-throated marten is still top of the requirements list for me. The coati is also probably a necessity as well.
- Suines - Personally, I think the pigs are now complete. I don't have much real interest in a domestic pig.
- Waterfowl - At least one species of goose, plus maybe two species of duck (a dabbling duck and a diving duck, for variety). A screamer is borderline - nice to have, but probably not necessary.
- Turtles - I would rather have another three or four habitat chelonians before we got a single new cat species - the African spurred tortoise, red-footed tortoise, giant Asian pond turtle and Indian star tortoise would all be brilliant just for starters.
Antelopes: we really do need atleast the blackbuck or nilgai for asia. And i think a small one like the dik dik would be neat
Bears: personally i didnt need any more, but the andean and black bear are still heavily request so they are still needed i guess
Caprines: Still a couple that would make nice additions. A second himalayan one is needed imo and i definetly want a domestic one like the dwarf goat. Aoudad would be great and the mountain goat and chamois would be neat additions for NA and EU but arent anywhere near essential imo
Mustelids: Yellow throated marten was and still is my most wanted member of this group. It has lot going for it imo, wide array of biomes and a huge range, first aboreal mustelid and its beauty.
Honey badger would also be cool.
Swines: Kune-Kune pig is the only one i activly want, but the visayan would be a decent addition aswell
Waterfowl: we barely scratched the surface. For sake of keeping it reasonable im saying that mandarin and muscovy duck aswell as the nene are the essential ones for me.
Although im really not picky when it comes to specific species and id be basicly just as happy with mallard and wood duck, bar headed goose.
Also id say the black swan is an essential one, but after getting the mute i dont see much chance for it unfortunately.
Tortoises: i still really want as smaller habitat tortoise, agian im not picky when it comes to the actual species, red footed, radiates, leopard and indian star all have their perks
Bears: personally i didnt need any more, but the andean and black bear are still heavily request so they are still needed i guess
Caprines: Still a couple that would make nice additions. A second himalayan one is needed imo and i definetly want a domestic one like the dwarf goat. Aoudad would be great and the mountain goat and chamois would be neat additions for NA and EU but arent anywhere near essential imo
Mustelids: Yellow throated marten was and still is my most wanted member of this group. It has lot going for it imo, wide array of biomes and a huge range, first aboreal mustelid and its beauty.
Honey badger would also be cool.
Swines: Kune-Kune pig is the only one i activly want, but the visayan would be a decent addition aswell
Waterfowl: we barely scratched the surface. For sake of keeping it reasonable im saying that mandarin and muscovy duck aswell as the nene are the essential ones for me.
Although im really not picky when it comes to specific species and id be basicly just as happy with mallard and wood duck, bar headed goose.
Also id say the black swan is an essential one, but after getting the mute i dont see much chance for it unfortunately.
Tortoises: i still really want as smaller habitat tortoise, agian im not picky when it comes to the actual species, red footed, radiates, leopard and indian star all have their perks
The black swan is literally the best clone that they can currently add, beautiful, common, from oceania, allmost no work required, popular, theyd be very silly to not include them and i completly expect them next year.
Its to easy yet to good to not happen