I'm suspecting it would be the great blue turaco as a larger species. Not as common in captivity but potentially more bombastic and a good rig to start with.
Aviary Speculation in PZ Megathread
- Thread starter Bearcat9948
- Start date
What are the 5 species? I'm a little slow on JWE2 news, ironically.
Now, about the habitat building, I think that maybe we'll get a subcategory of fences/buildings where we place them and connect them (modular, as many have said). These can have special mechanics where the animals can't phase through the roof/ceiling/covering. An advantage to this is that we can place other species (primates, for example), and they can climb all over the enclosure like in real-life.
Now, about the birds, the advantage is that many do look similar, so I feel like having clones wouldn't be as frowned upon like if it were a regular zoo animal. The best members for this would be parrots and birds-of-prey.
I feel like they'd have macaws and raptors at launch (no, not killer raptors - this time). Maybe some toucans and hornbills? I doubt we'd get more ground oriented birds, like pheasants or any kind of fowl, but I may be wrong
I only started paying attention to aviaries recently because of the game, so I don't know about what most zoos do with vultures. Here in Helsinki the bearded vultures have a very big aviary and they are able to fly. Now they have a baby that is already leaving the nest, so there are three vultures.
Recently, the zoo has been getting many renovations, so the old bird house has been torn down and they will replace it with an updated bird section. Right now the place to see birds are going through the SA Pantanal, and they have 1 normal aviary and then next to it a walkthrough aviary. The only other birds are the flamingos (technically free, I guess, since they can fly), a covered aviary for whooping cranes (very nice. Resembles a swamp), and a lake where there are ducks.
(I'm just shooting off random info that may or may not help)
(I'm just shooting off random info that may or may not help)
Btw my hot take is aviaries for small birds are boring lol. They are nice inbetween bigger habitats, but they really lose their spark in something like a bird house.
All i really want for avieries are eagles, vultures, parrots and owl, as well as some picks like turacos, hornbills and toucan.
I would be fully satisfied with 2 owls, 2 parrots, 2 eagles and 2 vultures aswell as 2 other birds
All i really want for avieries are eagles, vultures, parrots and owl, as well as some picks like turacos, hornbills and toucan.
I would be fully satisfied with 2 owls, 2 parrots, 2 eagles and 2 vultures aswell as 2 other birds
I have never seen or heard of vultures in open top enclosures in Europe, so I guess there is a different view on that between American and European zoos. To me it would feel very odd to have none flying vultures
Yeah, I also remember the aviaries in San Diego Zoo with birds of prey in them. None were open top, they were just large enough that you almost didn't notice you were in them. Vultures were definitely among them - I have a distinctive memory of some kind of vulture perched on a rock looking down at me from inside one of their aviaries (this was many years ago, mind, so I don't know what's changed).
You may be right in terms of absolutely essential bird species, 8 wouldn't be bad for start.
But I still would like to have way more. I think, unless many here I'm a bit more interested in birds, so I would love to have more diversity. Especially parrots and songbirds are such large groups with great variety and very colorful and appealing species, so I think we need more than e.g. one macaw species.
I think almost all bigger and even smaller zoos have tropical halls with smaller free-flying birds like crowned pigeons, fruit doves, small parrots, turacos, bali starlings, other songbirds like glossy starlings or fairy bluebirds, small duck species, ibises etc. etc., so I think a larger choice of species would be great to enhance realism even more. A tropical hall without any free flying birds doesn't feel complete for me.
So besides the classical, bigger birds like macaws, owls or birds of prey I would be great to have more smaller birds.
For birds of prey I agree with @KönigDerKaffeebohnen and would choose the bearded vulture. It doesn't look like a classical vulture but would be a really great choice because
a) it has an interesting conservation story and is an example for a reintroduced species thanks to captive breeding
and b) this species naturally lives in Europe, Asia and Africa, so it has a very flexible use for everyone who builds zoos with geographical areas.
I think as a second bird of prey the bald eagle is likely, especially the American players want this species and it's also quite common in European zoos.
For owls the snowy owl is a no-brainer in my opinion. They are among the most common birds in zoos, in Europe alone there are almost 500 zoos with this species and I think the situation in the US is similar.
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I'm not talking about a potential "wishlist" though - I'm looking at it from the perspective of "what is likely". I also don't think we'll get any tiny birds like starlings or bee-eaters. The focus will be on bigger species often kept in pairs or smaller groups rather than large flocks of little birds. In an ideal world we'd have five hundred different bird species and the game would run perfectly, but let's be practical.
Yeah but we can discuss if smaller birds for tropical halls are essential, too. Because such enclosures are so common in zoos around the world.
I'm really hoping for flying birds, and a lot of different ones for variety in different zoos. It's not as important to me whether those come in a larger than usual aviary pack (I'd pay pretty much any price!), or whether they come over time (a smaller start of 4-8, but then incorporate a fuller roster over the course of lots of future dlc, for example). Both are fine with me as long as they come eventually.
I also wonder whether the backlash that some parts of the community had to the SEA pack will have an impact on the size question. While there are a great many of us (myself included) who really, really want birds (just as there are/were a great many who really, really want/ed animal packs), I'm sure we'll have a portion of the community that will be upset that they're not only doing an animal focus again, but further limiting themselves to birds alone. If Frontier is worried about these players saying they're putting all their eggs in one basket (get it?), then a larger number of bird species might be an easy way to boost sales and assure more positive reviews from those who are open to the idea.
And while I'm definitely not a bird expert, it does seem like expanding the bird roster might be easier (ie. less expensive and less time consuming) and more easy to justify in a single pack than expanding other parts of the animal roster might be. For example, they could easily expand the pack from eight to eleven by adding four macaw species instead of just one - all using the same rigs but just colored differently. And the uniqueness of adding flight, along with the bright colors, could justify this boost in species count in a way that adding 4 bears at once or 4 dogs at once might be attacked as "mere clones". If they did this across several rigs, then I could easily see a 15-20 expansion pack that looks bigger because of coloration and visual diversity, but still only requires a heavy investment in the limited number of rigs (ie. 4-8).
I also wonder whether the backlash that some parts of the community had to the SEA pack will have an impact on the size question. While there are a great many of us (myself included) who really, really want birds (just as there are/were a great many who really, really want/ed animal packs), I'm sure we'll have a portion of the community that will be upset that they're not only doing an animal focus again, but further limiting themselves to birds alone. If Frontier is worried about these players saying they're putting all their eggs in one basket (get it?), then a larger number of bird species might be an easy way to boost sales and assure more positive reviews from those who are open to the idea.
And while I'm definitely not a bird expert, it does seem like expanding the bird roster might be easier (ie. less expensive and less time consuming) and more easy to justify in a single pack than expanding other parts of the animal roster might be. For example, they could easily expand the pack from eight to eleven by adding four macaw species instead of just one - all using the same rigs but just colored differently. And the uniqueness of adding flight, along with the bright colors, could justify this boost in species count in a way that adding 4 bears at once or 4 dogs at once might be attacked as "mere clones". If they did this across several rigs, then I could easily see a 15-20 expansion pack that looks bigger because of coloration and visual diversity, but still only requires a heavy investment in the limited number of rigs (ie. 4-8).
I totally agree here. I don't expect having very small birds. Maybe one or two to fill the gap, but I think they will focus on large and medium size birds. That's why I think we will see more eagles/vultures/owls/toucans/macaws... than smaller birds
If I remember correctly, there is a zoo in France which has an open top for their Griffon Vultures. (near Nantes, can't remember the name atm).
That's the only one I know.
But square mesh aviaries or walkthrough aviaries are a lot more common.
I think the overall idea of building a habitat for birds won't be appealing for that community. You need to be interested in the aviary birds in the first place. Pretty sure 5 species or 20 species won't make a difference on that.
With the whole PK discussion some people pointed out that they don't care about building for a dino habitat/park, even if it has the tools they want.
Imo an aviary DLC would be a hit or a miss with most. For a large group it would be an instant buy but also a large group that won't buy the DLC or only with a big discount.
My impression of JWE2 is that it has a bigger focus on behaviour/animations and less on building, compared to PZ. Wouldn't be surprised if PZ would end up with a more basic version of JWE2's aviary. Like you can build your own aviary but with looped animations.
Exactly, and that's why I think the roster will be relatively small. They've hired new staff for PZ going forward as well, so as far as I'm concerned 8 birds is perfectly acceptable as a starting point, with the assumption that there will be more coming in following new content.
Don't think the game has proper zoom features to make very small birds enjoyable to watch
You don't have that problem with JWE2.
More likely to have medium/large birds in a pack.
I still dont think Small birds are essential. We can have such an walkthrough aviary with macaws, vultures and owls (for tropical, desert and taiga walkthrough respectivly), and dont need Small bird that no one cares About in a vacuum number 13.
My stand on the topic is simple, if the animal cant stand on its own, we dont need it, and I say that as someone whos favourite animals are the less flashy ones.
An animal that cant pull its own weight like Most songbirds should Not be prioritized when we could have something that could flex in multiple roles.
A good example for "good" Small birds Would be lorikeets, budgies and balistars, as all three of them stand out enough to serve both as solo aviearies and good general Small birds.
Btw i choose the Balistar as one i would like, as it is pretty much (atleast in europe) the mascot of the threatend southeastasian songbirds.
Being held in 137 zoos in the EAZA alone and being critically endangerd, cause the asian black market sadly cant keep their fingers of them, they would be a great ambassador animal for this group.
Being held in 137 zoos in the EAZA alone and being critically endangerd, cause the asian black market sadly cant keep their fingers of them, they would be a great ambassador animal for this group.
Definitely agree that there are some who don't care about birds and wouldn't buy no matter what. That's completely fair. Just as there are others like me who would probably buy anything, no matter what. But I also think there's a persuadable middle that really makes the difference when it comes to sales rate, and I think some of them might be more persuaded by 20 birds instead of 5, such that it might be worth the (comparatively modest) investment that those additions would need.
There's also a narrative aspect to marketing, and a common wisdom that takes hold. It's about the people who are on the fence about whether to buy (or whether to buy now, or at a certain price), rather than those who are completely for or against. For some, the specific assets themselves are what place them on one side of the fence or the other, while for others, it's the percentage of more positive reviews and general community reception which is ultimately what places them on one side or another. My hope is simply that the dlc is impressive enough that those who are open to the possibility don't remain on the fence because of something that could easily be solved, or don't get nudged off the fence (however subtly) by a gestalt that could have gone the other way if those easy additions had been made.
Agree, the "middle" group is the one you really need to convince. And with every few months that becomes more difficult. (every game struggles with that)
More bird species or maybe a mix with ground birds could persuade them. Imho, 5-7 bird species is not something that could pull that off
If they launched an aviary DLC within the first year for € 19,99 - i would've bought that instantly
Atm, not sure about that. With new games popping up, i'd maybe spend € 19,99 on a new game or gaming experience.
What is that?