With Custom Challenge Mode being my go-to game mode, I love how replayable the game has become. It mixes the free-form play of sandbox but still allows players to be restricted and work with the game ruleset to allow for a more progressive form of play. I especially love the recent update where we could shuffle the dig sites we could research, as well as utilize all biome vegetation. These two new additions among others really help make this game extremely replayable.
I hope there is room for future settings that could be added in Custom Challenge Mode and possibly Sandbox Mode. I have listed down some settings I would like to see implemented into the game after playing around with Update 8.
1. SET PARK OPERATIONS (For all-building set)
This is only toggable if the all-building set is used.
I really like to use the all-building set when wanting to build Jurassic World, mainly because you get access to everything, while research images, contracts, and transport helicopters are Jurassic World-themed. I would love to use the all-building set for other parks, but I have not found it as immersive when there are aspects that would clash with the theme, such as being offered Monorail contracts for Jurassic Park, having to deal with transport management in DFW, or simply still seeing Jurassic World helicopters transporting your dinosaurs if your park is not a Jurassic World one.
The options are Jurassic World, Jurassic Park, DFW, Biosyn, or Malta.
I think this setting would help fine-tune the experience for players wanting access to everything, while still being invested in a building set besides Jurassic World. This would be great to utilize all the available decorations that could work with any theme, or even fences that would fit the theme much better such as the Jurassic Park fencing in Malta.
An alternative could simply have all decorations as a togglable setting, so as to simply pick whichever building set you want, but not be limited when it comes to decoration options.
2. DISABLE / ENABLE GUEST MANAGEMENT
This setting would be great for players wanting to build a park that does not prioritize guests, such as Biosyn, Research Facilities, or Prehistoric Conservation parks. This would especially be useful for Biosyn where there are no themed appropriate buildings for guests such as hotels, toilets, amenities and the like, so to be able to use the set fully without having park progress halted by guest needs would be great.
3. DISABLE / ENABLE DIG SITES AND DINOSAUR RESEARCH
I want a setting like this for park builds that are either focused on capturing wild dinosaurs or using Malta Expansion's Dinosaur Exchange. A setting where you are not bombarded by researchable dinosaur notifications with each star rating earned, or having to find wild dinosaurs to capture in a map cluttered with dig sites. This will be a great means to limit the player to a roster that is not accessible by traditional expeditions and incubations.
As a compromise, not all dinosaur research is inaccessible, the Hybrids should be the only researchable dinosaur if you were to play with the dino exchange and happen to acquire the necessary genomes to incubate these hybrids.
4. ADDITIONAL ENVIROMENT SETTINGS
With the new capture mode, we get access to new lighting settings and weather settings, which I think would work great for certain game modes if the player wants to make a specific time of day and/or weather constant.
• LIGHTING:
Additional settings for Mid-day, Dusk, and Dawn.
• CONSTANT WEATHER:
this would be interesting for players wanting to have constant weather during the game, such as light rain, overcast, rainstorms, and snow. These options would be available depending on which biome is used in the selected map and will overwrite the "CALM WEATHER" setting. If the player has enabled storms to appear via HEAVY STORMS or DEFAULT setting, then the storm would overwrite the constant weather that has been set.
• DISABLE / ENABLE TORNADO:
It has been a long time since I have experienced a tornado, mainly because the tornado is exclusive to Nublar 2015 map and Pennsylvania. I would like the ability to enable the chance of a tornado hitting my park regardless of what biome has been set, choosing how frequently the tornado could come, and even enabling an additional [DANGEROUS] option where the tornado could harm the dinosaurs in the park. It would be a nice feature for players wanting to build a park with an additional level of danger unlike what could be experienced with other game modes.
5. DISABLE / ENABLE RESEARCHABLE PALEOBOTANY:
There is a challenge mode that was introduced to the game where paleobotany has to be researched. I think it would be just as fun now that we have shuffled dig sites if we have to research the paleobotany in order to better choose which dinosaurs to invest in our parks.
6. DISABLE / ENABLE NEGATIVELY REDUCED LIFESPAN
This is only toggable if dinosaur lifespan is set to Normal.
For players wanting to follow in the footsteps of Dr. Henry Wu and want their dinosaurs to be perfect. This is a challenge mode condition I would love to see be turned into a setting. If you are playing with genomes, this might be the challenge condition that will make you reconsider what you plan to incubate.
7. DISABLE / ENABLE PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA
Scientists could be hired that could handle psychological trauma, but dinosaurs never get this trauma outside of specific challenge games. Let this setting allow for dinosaurs with psychological trauma to occur, be it from acquiring the dinosaur via capture or exchange, or placing your dinosaur in terrible conditions that would have them develop trauma.
8. DISABLE / ENABLE INSTANT GUEST FACILITY CONSTRUCTION
This was a recent addition I was not that excited about, for as convenient as it is to have guest buildings be built instantly, the removal of the construction time takes away any sense of urgency. Contracts that would ask you to build medium guest facilities became easy money, and shelters no longer feels like an investment that should have been thought of before disaster struck. I would like it if we could disable the instant construction of guest facilities again, as the additional time to wait does make or break your park's progress.
9. SET LIMIT TO DIG SITE ACCESS
I think there is something fun to be had if players are limited to how many dig sites they could have access to. It is one thing to guess which dinosaurs you have access to early thanks to the Dig Site Shuffle setting, but I think a new layer is fun to be had knowing you could only access some dig sites before the game says "That's enough" and you no longer have access to any other dig site.
This could bring about a level of strategy so that players have to be careful where they get their fossils from. It could be tempting to go to every dig site accessible early on, but you might miss out on some star attractions later on in your park.
10. DISABLE / ENABLE ACU HELICOPTER
This setting would work if you have access to research tranquilizers for your Medical or Ranger vehicles.
The ACU helicopter is super convenient to travel around your park, as buildings, fencing, and terrestrial dinosaurs could be ignored completely thanks to your safety in altitude. So let us remove that! Let us get back to the fun of Return to Jurassic Park's level of danger, where everything has to be done on ground level, a.k.a. the dinosaur's turf.
11. SET FENCING UNLOCK REQUIREMENTS
Fences I feel are easily accessible in Jurassic World Evolution 2. You unlock the first fence upgrade (level 3) at half a star, level 4 fencing at 1.5 stars, level 5 fencing at 2.5 stars. I feel you get access to higher security fencing way too soon, as the ability to contain 90% of all terrestrial dinosaurs with just a park rating of 2.5 stars is a bit overkill.
Let us set it to hard, where the access to the fencing gets delayed.
• LEVEL 3 FENCING:
Accessible at 1.5 stars instead of a 0.5 star park rating.
• LEVEL 4 FENCING:
Accessible at 3.0 stars instead of a 1.5 star park rating.
• LEVEL 5 FENCING:
Accessible at 4.0 stars instead of a 2.5 star park rating.
This way, you could unlock fencing that would coincide with the access to the game's roster of dinosaurs.
12. DISABLE / ENABLE POACHERS
This is brought up in the DFW-focused Chaos Theory, where you have to defend your park from invasive poachers. This could be a lot of fun, and could be used for other park builds that are not DFW-themed. The additional pressure to keep poachers at bay from ruining your park would be excellent.
13. DISABLE / ENABLE SELLING DINOSAUR
A simple setting but one that could be fun. If you are struggling financially, or have a dinosaur you did not intend to house, simply look for another solution besides selling the animal. This is great if you plan to have parks that are very tight when it comes to giving away dinosaurs to outside clients. The research and effort invested in these animals will die alongside these animals, and will never leave your park.
14. DISABLE / ENABLE DINOSAUR EXCHANGE
Last but not least, let us play with Malta's Dinosaur Exchange in Custom Challenge Mode. It is such a fun game mode to acquire dinosaurs which is crazy why it is not available to access in Custom Challenge Mode. Not only should we have it be usable in this game mode, but have additional rules and overall objectives that would allow for park builds that are fully based on the dinosaur exchange, similar to Malta's Campaign. This could also be the time to reintroduce the contracts that relate to the underground and authorities to buy and sell more exclusive dinosaurs.
This is all I could think of when it comes to additional settings I would like to see come to the game. Not only to spice up the park experience with additional settings, but to also make more building sets more enticing like DFW, Malta, and Biosyn, where new gameplay could be achieved to be similar to the DFW, Malta, and Biosyn Campaign & Chaos Theory Scenarios.
The game is in a great state when it comes to replayability thanks to Custom Challenge Mode thanks to all the available content and settings. I definitely see the potential for more settings to be included so that the game could really blossom into the Ultimate Jurassic Park/World Sim game. I hope the settings I shared above are interesting and could be considered, thank you so much for reading!
