I disagree with this. Mostly though, it’s because I would certainly consider myself an animal lover - however, PZ is (IMO), at heart, a zoo building game - the building aspect is just as important as the animals. Also (just because this bugs me), there is no such thing as a ‘scenery pack’ (not NZFanatic but lots of others) - there are animal packs (only animals) and there are mixed packs (animals and scenery) - there have been no scenery packs (just scenery) - (nor should there be but calling them ‘scenery’ packs is just incorrect).
Odds of the next animal pack being the "Savannah animal pack"
- Thread starter Pedro20054
- Start date
You're arguing semantics. Everyone knows what one means when one says "scenery pack".
Terry Silver
Banned
Didn't mean to push your buttons was just trying to understand. I stated I was new. I had only started playing around the Africa Pack so "We" have not been speculating biomes since 2019 because I didn't even know the forums existed until around North America Pack. I love the idea of The forums it seems like a place where the most hardcore and passionate players hang out. I've been a casual player for many months and know around 10 other people that casually play this game to that don't go on forums or YouTube and to us we had no idea that biomes were even on the table. We were all speculating another regional pack. I personally like this direction but I feel after this response you probably had no clue a casual fanbase even exists. Try to see it from our perspective too that's all I'm saying.
I could see another Africa pack...
One thing that I've wondered if would work is to have some smaller packs put together for specific locations.
Something like a Serengeti Safari Pack...
You could have only a few animals in the pack (Such as the African Leopard, Hamadryas Baboon, and Nile Crocodile, then have a couple scenery pieces (mainly plants and something for an easier kopje formation) and adding something like a variant vehicle for the truck tours. A cheaper pack with a very limited area it uses, potentially with a specific map using an actual location there
One thing that I've wondered if would work is to have some smaller packs put together for specific locations.
Something like a Serengeti Safari Pack...
You could have only a few animals in the pack (Such as the African Leopard, Hamadryas Baboon, and Nile Crocodile, then have a couple scenery pieces (mainly plants and something for an easier kopje formation) and adding something like a variant vehicle for the truck tours. A cheaper pack with a very limited area it uses, potentially with a specific map using an actual location there
Terry Silver
Banned
I hate to be that guy but Hamadrayas Baboons aren't in tbe Serengeti but I like the idea of keeping scenery packs regional based and perhaps limiting the range to something smaller like Serengeti
I'd noticed them along with the Olive listed on the park for it.
I understand that context is difficult to read in text form but you didn't push any buttons - saying "I didn't mean to push your buttons" is what tends to push people's buttons.
The thing is, you replied with a broad statement - "the Wetlands Pack seemed ridiculous" - implying you've been around a PZ community for some time, if not this one (I would generally assume Reddit, which based on my own observations is about a year behind the forums in terms of discussion topics). So I responded with a broad statement of my own, under the assumption that even if you were new to the forums, you'd been around in some manner in some community for some length of time, long enough to have taken part or observed discussions about the Wetlands Pack prior to release.
Anyway, now you know - biomes have been talked about since the game's inception. Discussion lulled by the time of the Australia Pack but picked up again around the Aquatic Pack, and lulled again until the Europe Pack, which is when people assumed Frontier had run out of regions.
Personally I think the next pack will still be a regional pack, and I'm 100% certain it's going to be a standard scenery pack (which is what we call the general 4+1+pieces packs - 4 habitat animals, 1 exhibit animal, and building pieces).
Not sure if the maned wolf would fit in well with the 'Drylands' concept, which would technically feature deserts and dry grasslands/savannas, since maned wolves are more of a wooded savanna/open woodland animal (Cerrado), than say the Dry Chaco. Therefore, I think they would be better fitting for the lowlands/woodlands theme. This is of course not to say they definitely wouldn't be featured in a drylands pack. Frontier might as well broaden the meaning of the term even further.
Considering Frontier has also lately been including less popular meta wishlist animals that are pretty common in zoos, I reckon the 'Drylands Pack' could look something like this:
- Przewalski's horse - too popular to ignore.
- Hamadryas baboon - pretty good representation in zoos and popular on the wishlist. Also the best big-ticket primate candidate for a desert/grassland pack.
- Indian crested porcupine - they could pull a second fallow deer (both red and fallow deer have good representation in zoos, but they still went with the more common one).
- Emu - popular on both the wishlist and extremely high in holdings.
- Caracal/Serval or maybe even the African leopard, depending on how Frontier views the whole leopard situation.
- Nine-banded or southern three-banded armadillo - we could get either one depending on Frontier's approach (most popular vs highest holdings).
- African spurred tortoise - third most common reptile in EAZA zoos after the red eared slider and green iguana.*
- Veiled chameleon - most common chameleon in EAZA zoos. Also addresses the lack of animals from the MENA region, along with the baboon and porcupine.**
**Thorny devil if they want to reserve the chameleon slot for the forests/woodlands pack.
Depending on which choices you go with, this pack would have 3-5 Asian, 2-3 African, 1-2 Oceanian, 1 South American, 0-2 North American and 0-1 European animals. Since transcontinental ranges still count, Frontier could ignore holdings and avoid "pulling another fallow deer" and go with African crested, which would free up the EU slot.
It's actually very difficult to conceptualize a 'Drylands' pack without the dromedary and such a pack is likely to feature a camel for obvious reasons, but for now I left it out in order not to add to the already high number of Asian and African animals in the pack. Although it could as well replace any of the African/Asian animals in a heartbeat and become the flagship animal of the pack. However, I still think the dromedary would be better as the next anniversary animal, since it is a domesticated species and we already have a camel.
Honorable avian mentions would be the secretarybird and greater roadrunner, with the former being very popular on the wishlist, but Frontier hasn't done two birds in one pack yet, so didn't include a second bird for the time being. The bighorn sheep, which I listed as an alternative, could also be featured in a 'Highlands' pack.
Didn't include the common wombat in the pack, because they would be better fitting for the woodlands/forests concept, a species which would primarily have the 'Temperate' tag.
This was my shot at the hypothetical 'Drylands Pack' combining popular wishlist animals with lower-tier picks that are common in real zoos. If you like this analysis/approach, I can also do it for the 'Highlands' and 'Woodlands/Lowlands' packs.
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Terry Silver
Banned
Really? I could've sworn they lived in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia
You are correct. Ethiopia and Yemen mostly. You'd be hard-pressed to see them in the Serengetti.
Savannah animal pack
- Giant eland (VU)
- West African giraffe (VU)
- Giant armadillo (VU)
- Black Rhino (CR)
- Patagonian mara (NT)
- Caracal (LC)
- Tibetan antelope (NT)
- Naked mole rat (LC) [exhibition]
That's an interesting pack with some unexpected choices. It would need a headliner though, while none of the choices are bad I don't see any of them being a star of the pack.
A second giraffe and a third rhino in one pack. I somehow suspect this will have a lot of fans. But in general I like your list
. Personally I suspect we will not get an animal pack but I will make one:Kirks Dik Dik (I really would like its Inclusion, it is my number 1 pick
) Red River Hog (As I have read they do not really care about the biotope and are also living in savannahs)
Serval
Any armadillo
Maned Wolf
Emu
Przewalski Horse
Any Kind of exhibit
I have not put the baboon, a porcupine or the caracal on this list as they are perfect for a desert DLC together with the dromedary in my Opinion.
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Apparently I wasn't notified of this, excuse my late reply.
Since the 'Aquatic' biome can go with any of the 6 terrestrial biomes in the game, it can pretty much function as a "standalone" pack, if you will. This is why, I think, they might have decided to give it its own dedicated pack with animals from 5 terrestrial biomes, with 'Desert' being the only missing one, I think.
As for terrestrial biomes, they can easily be divided in two's for three packs in total, since now with 'Aquatic' out of the way, the remaining number is even.
I’d guess grassland/desert, tundra/taiga, and tropical/temperate.
That makes the most sense to me, and it also lines up with the seasons. Tropical/Temperate may have vastly different temperature ranges, but they are still both "forests" so to speak.
The only hitch I see with this order is that if they alternated the type of pack, the Tundra/Taiga would be the animal pack; and I'm just feeling like that's the least likely set to get an animal pack with of the three, though I could be wrong.
they could also just do SP/SP/AP of course.
Quick thoughts on line up with that:
Grassland/Desert - P. Horse, Maned Wolf, Emu, Crested Porcupine (or a Baboon.)
Tundra/Tagia - Amur Leopard, Andean Bear, Markhor, Wolverine (this is pretty much my set picks for this type of biome pack)
Tropical/Temperate - Gibbon, Tasmanian Devil, Tree Kangaroo, Wombat, Red River Hog, and two others like a Kiwi, Raccoon or Coatimundi, or another forest/jungle cat. Giving Oceania a little push here, since I'd be taking a focused Oceania pack off the board.
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I'm leaning towards the same combinations, but still can't decide what they would call the forest pack. To quote myself:
Would they call it the "Woodlands Pack" in contrast to an open plains theme of a hypothetical "Drylands Pack" concept or the "Lowlands Pack" in contrast to a "Highlands Pack" concept? When you look at it, the hypothetical "Drylands Pack" would already counter the "Wetlands Pack", so I really can't decide.
Yes, I can see Drylands and Highlands...but I'm at a loss on the tropical/temperate "forest/jungle" theme too.
Treelands?
Oh! I just had the same thought right before I saw "Woodlands" - that's a really good suggestion.
Editing again to add - Woodlands really would be well associated with the temperate biome, but I don't know if tropical rainforests have really ever generally been described that way. Lowlands may work better as you also suggested.
Treelands?
Oh! I just had the same thought right before I saw "Woodlands" - that's a really good suggestion.
Editing again to add - Woodlands really would be well associated with the temperate biome, but I don't know if tropical rainforests have really ever generally been described that way. Lowlands may work better as you also suggested.
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