I know it’s always nice to see your favourites get added, but we’re only going to get a limited number of additions, and sometimes a lot of people ask for species that are very similar to those already in the game. I’m guilty of this, I’d love to see Neovenator, but functionally it’s quite similar to a number of medium carnivores we already have. So I thought I’d make a list of additions that I personally think are characteristically unique enough to justify inclusion. This list will focus on dinosaurs because they make the bulk of the roster. I know a lot of people are asking for more Cenozoic species and terrestrial non-dinosaurian archosaurs, I’m not going to include those because if they do add a few, they are obviously going to be inherently unique to the rest of the roster anyway. Lastly, many of these would need new rigs most likely, so I’m not expecting even a fraction of these to be added, especially with Frontier opening Pandora’s box by adding juveniles. Adding new species is going to be more work for them than ever, I just wanted to make this list to show there’s a high diversity not yet present in the game.
Last time I made a thread like this we accidentally predicted the feathered species DLC so I’d be curious to see if some of these are announced in the coming weeks.
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Psittacosaurus - Long overdue. Frontier has shown they can implement dinosaurs that we have a very good real-world image of with Sinosauropteryx, so I know they’d be more than capable of making a brilliant Psittacosaurus. This is the most well understood dinosaur, and maybe the only one in which we know almost exactly what it looked like inside and out. Could possibly work well using the same rig as Microceratus so it’s a no brainer. I did also have Protoceratops on here but the next day they announced the game with it included in the deluxe pack, and it looks great.
Plateosaurus and sauropodomorphs in general - Currently the game has zero non-sauropodan sauropodomorphs. To me, Plateosaurus is an obvious choice. Arguably the fourth dinosaur species ever discovered with now over a hundred individuals, it certainly isn’t as famous as it ought to be. I think another sauropodomorph could also be good, Aardonyx or Massospondylus would be my choice.
Oxalaia - Hear me out. I am of the school of thought that Oxalaia is most likely not distinct from Spinosaurus. However, adding Oxalaia could be the excuse to add the up-to-date scientifically informed Spinosaurus some of us have dreamt of. It would be perfect with the swimming in the game as well now. I think similarly, Ceratosuchops, Riparovenator or even Suchosaurus can be used to get a better Baryonyx.
A “Typical” Abelisaur - We do have abelisaurs in the game, but the Carnotaurus is the JW design so they’ve un-stubbified it for no reason, and Majungasaurus is very uniquely Majungasaurus, it doesn’t fit the typical expectation of an abelisaur. There’s a number of options here. If you want a true brachyrostran, I think Skorpiovenator is a popular choice, otherwise I think Rugops is a good fit.
A Heterodontosaur - Another unique group that is completely unrepresented. These are bizarre and would make a very unique addition. Heterodontosaurus itself would be good choice, but Pegomastax is also very popular.
A Smaller Dromaeosaur - These guys are victims of the JW franchise making all dromaeosaurs bigger. Plenty of good options left though. Acheroraptor, Saurornitholestes, Dromaeosaurus or even something like Tsagaan. Maybe an oddball as well, I love Buitreraptor.
Halszkaraptor - With the new water mechanics, it would be a crime not to add Halszkaraptor.
Scelidosaurus - I haven’t put too many lone oddballs in this list because it would go on and on, but I think Scelidosaurus gets seniority privilege here. England is getting a bit cramped on the dig site map but Scelidosaurus is worth it. There aren’t many others like it.
Hypsilophodon - A tiny ornithischian would be great. Hypsilophodon is maybe the most famous, and will go in the Isle of Wight dig site node so it won’t make the map in England any messier. Alternatively, I think the other obvious choice is Kulindadromeus, famous for its implications on ornithischian integument.
Alvarezsaurids - We don’t have any alvarezsaurs currently. This one could maybe be split in two, with a “true” alvarezsaur like Alvarezsaurus itself, and then separately a mononykine like Mononykus. I think Mononykus or Linhenykus are too good to pass up regardless, that single digit claw puts them near the top of the list as far as uniqueness is concerned.
A Larger Megaraptoran - These are dodgy, it really is hard to place them and be confident that they’ll remain what you think they are, let alone reconstruct them, but larger theropods with larger forelimbs are enticing. We do already have Australovenator, so a larger one like Maip or Megaraptor are the best picks.
Oryctodromeus - I included this one simply because of its potential as a game mechanic. They were found to likely be burrowers. There are a number of things you can do with that in terms of game design to shake things up.
A Noasaur - No need to beat around the bush here, I think the obvious choices are Elaphrosaurus and Masiakasaurus.
There are obviously going to be more that didn’t spring to mind so please contribute if you’re reading this. There’s no shortage of choices for the lagoon and aviary species either, too many to close the gap on in fact. But I would like to see a couple more Solnhofen species like Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus. More than either of those, a Ctenochasmatid would be my number one requested pterosaur, probably Pterodaustro.
Last time I made a thread like this we accidentally predicted the feathered species DLC so I’d be curious to see if some of these are announced in the coming weeks.
—————————————————————
Psittacosaurus - Long overdue. Frontier has shown they can implement dinosaurs that we have a very good real-world image of with Sinosauropteryx, so I know they’d be more than capable of making a brilliant Psittacosaurus. This is the most well understood dinosaur, and maybe the only one in which we know almost exactly what it looked like inside and out. Could possibly work well using the same rig as Microceratus so it’s a no brainer. I did also have Protoceratops on here but the next day they announced the game with it included in the deluxe pack, and it looks great.
Plateosaurus and sauropodomorphs in general - Currently the game has zero non-sauropodan sauropodomorphs. To me, Plateosaurus is an obvious choice. Arguably the fourth dinosaur species ever discovered with now over a hundred individuals, it certainly isn’t as famous as it ought to be. I think another sauropodomorph could also be good, Aardonyx or Massospondylus would be my choice.
Oxalaia - Hear me out. I am of the school of thought that Oxalaia is most likely not distinct from Spinosaurus. However, adding Oxalaia could be the excuse to add the up-to-date scientifically informed Spinosaurus some of us have dreamt of. It would be perfect with the swimming in the game as well now. I think similarly, Ceratosuchops, Riparovenator or even Suchosaurus can be used to get a better Baryonyx.
A “Typical” Abelisaur - We do have abelisaurs in the game, but the Carnotaurus is the JW design so they’ve un-stubbified it for no reason, and Majungasaurus is very uniquely Majungasaurus, it doesn’t fit the typical expectation of an abelisaur. There’s a number of options here. If you want a true brachyrostran, I think Skorpiovenator is a popular choice, otherwise I think Rugops is a good fit.
A Heterodontosaur - Another unique group that is completely unrepresented. These are bizarre and would make a very unique addition. Heterodontosaurus itself would be good choice, but Pegomastax is also very popular.
A Smaller Dromaeosaur - These guys are victims of the JW franchise making all dromaeosaurs bigger. Plenty of good options left though. Acheroraptor, Saurornitholestes, Dromaeosaurus or even something like Tsagaan. Maybe an oddball as well, I love Buitreraptor.
Halszkaraptor - With the new water mechanics, it would be a crime not to add Halszkaraptor.
Scelidosaurus - I haven’t put too many lone oddballs in this list because it would go on and on, but I think Scelidosaurus gets seniority privilege here. England is getting a bit cramped on the dig site map but Scelidosaurus is worth it. There aren’t many others like it.
Hypsilophodon - A tiny ornithischian would be great. Hypsilophodon is maybe the most famous, and will go in the Isle of Wight dig site node so it won’t make the map in England any messier. Alternatively, I think the other obvious choice is Kulindadromeus, famous for its implications on ornithischian integument.
Alvarezsaurids - We don’t have any alvarezsaurs currently. This one could maybe be split in two, with a “true” alvarezsaur like Alvarezsaurus itself, and then separately a mononykine like Mononykus. I think Mononykus or Linhenykus are too good to pass up regardless, that single digit claw puts them near the top of the list as far as uniqueness is concerned.
A Larger Megaraptoran - These are dodgy, it really is hard to place them and be confident that they’ll remain what you think they are, let alone reconstruct them, but larger theropods with larger forelimbs are enticing. We do already have Australovenator, so a larger one like Maip or Megaraptor are the best picks.
Oryctodromeus - I included this one simply because of its potential as a game mechanic. They were found to likely be burrowers. There are a number of things you can do with that in terms of game design to shake things up.
A Noasaur - No need to beat around the bush here, I think the obvious choices are Elaphrosaurus and Masiakasaurus.
There are obviously going to be more that didn’t spring to mind so please contribute if you’re reading this. There’s no shortage of choices for the lagoon and aviary species either, too many to close the gap on in fact. But I would like to see a couple more Solnhofen species like Rhamphorhynchus and Pterodactylus. More than either of those, a Ctenochasmatid would be my number one requested pterosaur, probably Pterodaustro.