DLC20 Discussion (maybe, but why not?)

Yeah, there's no scenario where Frontier "forgot" an announcement. There's one of two things going on:
  1. This was the plan all along and the announcement was planned for a later date (likely end of June given what we know currently) and they just dropped it on the livestream because the last one went over so well.

  2. Something is delaying the announcement. Could be literally anything so it's not even worth speculating.
But as an end-user the difference between 1 and 2 is irrelevant. Haha. So I tend to just assume it's #1.
Why is it "not worth speculating"? What could delay an announcement at all?

Also, why do you think end of June is more likely than tomorrow?

Do you mean "in a week or so", or "after the stream"?
 
I’m just so confused about the Bornean Elephant. What an odd choice, considering the main complaint about the Indian Elephant is that it’s too SMALL. To add the Pygmy Elephant is like rubbing salt in a wound.
The only way I’ll be happy with the Bornean Elephant is if they resize and remodel the original Indian Elephant. Otherwise, this is an utter slap in the face.
 
Why is it "not worth speculating"? What could delay an announcement at all?
Because there's so many different reasons: Staff needing to be out-of-office unexpectedly or pulled onto separate projects. The trailer accidentally getting deleted. Discovering a bug that will need to be fixed (and might take longer than a week).

There are many different reasons a delay could happen... None of which we would ever know about. So there's no sense in speculating.

There's other reasons an announcement might be planned for later (such as announcing a new game or another DLC for another game) and that's worth noting but that's not really a delay.

Also, why do you think end of June is more likely than tomorrow?

Do you mean "in a week or so", or "after the stream"?
Announcements tend to happen on Monday or Tuesday. Tomorrow is possible, obviously, but next week just feels more likely to me at this point. Just a gut feeling, really. But it would almost definitely be before the stream so they can showcase the trailer, etc.
 
I’m just so confused about the Bornean Elephant. What an odd choice, considering the main complaint about the Indian Elephant is that it’s too SMALL. To add the Pygmy Elephant is like rubbing salt in a wound.
The only way I’ll be happy with the Bornean Elephant is if they resize and remodel the original Indian Elephant. Otherwise, this is an utter slap in the face.
I can definitely see that happen. We also got the Bactrian camel resized after receiving the Przewalski's horse.

Honestly, I still think the Bornean elephant is a bad pick, and that's not something I easily admit about Frontier's choices. While there have been many species I didn't need, I can still argue why they'd add something like, say, the coyote. I've never had an issue with clones either, as we've always received them and most still add value. Either because they are better alternatives to what was there (blue wildebeest, spectacled caiman), are commonly kept in zoos (coyote), have an important conservation story (scimitar-horned oryx, wisent) or are often kept in the same zoo alongside their doppelgƤnger (American flamingo, all the penguins). But I really don't see much added value for the Bornean dwarf elephant. I don't think there is any zoo that keeps different subspecies of Asian elephant, and I'm sure there were other large animals from the region that aren't much harder to make. Even other 'clones' like the Asian lion were more in-demand.

I hope I will change my mind eventually. Maybe it will become an unexpected favourite. After all, I build my zoo in Indonesia and haven't felt much inspired lately. So personally, I may use it, but objectively I think it's one of the worst animal choices we've seen.
 
But if I had to guess for a real answer they may be an animal to be put in the sequel. It sucks, but it’s the only explanation I can think of besides ā€œthey don’t like ducksā€.
I don't know if this is it, but ducks are very very common all around England and especially Cambridgeshire, which is a wetland. Many species of ducks but especially mallards can be seen at almost any wild pond. On the river near me there are mallards, muscovy ducks, pintails, white-faced whistling ducks (yes really!), white and black swans, grey geese, egyptian geese, canada geese, as well as coots, moorhens and other wild waterfowl.

So I don't know if the Frontier team would just have an unconscious bias against considering ducks a zoo animal. They are everywhere around us here, and many people collect rarer or more exotic species for fun. So zoos tend not to exhibit them, they often just have open spaces for wild ones to fly in (along with swans and herons).

That might be it? I know we have other common wild British fauna in the game, eg red foxes, but outside of London they aren't seen on the daily for outdoorsy people, whereas ducks pretty much are. I guess the same could be said about swans but they are held in higher esteem I would argue, as they are considered royal birds, so have a bit more status, ha! Weird thing to say šŸ˜…

If this is the reason I'm not saying it's sensible, not at all, just that it might be the reason.
 
I don't know if this is it, but ducks are very very common all around England and especially Cambridgeshire, which is a wetland. Many species of ducks but especially mallards can be seen at almost any wild pond. On the river near me there are mallards, muscovy ducks, pintails, white-faced whistling ducks (yes really!), white and black swans, grey geese, egyptian geese, canada geese, as well as coots, moorhens and other wild waterfowl.

So I don't know if the Frontier team would just have an unconscious bias against considering ducks a zoo animal. They are everywhere around us here, and many people collect rarer or more exotic species for fun. So zoos tend not to exhibit them, they often just have open spaces for wild ones to fly in (along with swans and herons).

That might be it? I know we have other common wild British fauna in the game, eg red foxes, but outside of London they aren't seen on the daily for outdoorsy people, whereas ducks pretty much are. I guess the same could be said about swans but they are held in higher esteem I would argue, as they are considered royal birds, so have a bit more status, ha! Weird thing to say šŸ˜…

If this is the reason I'm not saying it's sensible, not at all, just that it might be the reason.
Honestly that could make sense, and I got to be honest that’s an even worse reason. Especially as it highlights mammal bias, red foxes are ā€œexoticā€ as a local animal in an international market but a duck isn’t?

I know it’s all speculation, but I really hope this is something more than ā€œOh geez we just didn’t think about it this wayā€. I’ll even say being from North America where waterfowl are common but not once have I thought these shouldn’t be zoo animals.
 
So, to recapitulate where we are at this point. It seems to be an Asia or Oriental pack rather than an India pack, containing the following species:
  • Honey Badger
  • Lion-Tailed Macaque
  • Bornean Elephant
  • PĆØre David's Deer
There are A LOT of possibilities to complete the roster. Here are my thoughts on what needs to be in this pack, what addition I think would be great, and what would be nice but not a priority compared to what is mentioned before (imo).
  • Tanuki. We need something to represent Japan. A macaque and a crane don't seem enough for me.
  • Blackbuck. for obvious reasons. Frontier, don't do this to you fanbase twice in a row. The absence of coati in Americas pack was already too much.

  • Another Monkey. 2 monkeys in the same pack? How? Well it probably won't happen but why not. I'd love the Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey (even more now that they are at Pairi Daiza - BE and Zoo de Beauval - FR). I would also be so happy with a langur (FranƧois Langur or Hanuman Langur).

  • Fishing Cat. I'm a feline lover but I have to say that I could definitely do without this cat in the game. However, if we're forced to have one more asian feline, then I want it to be the fishing cat and definitely not the lion.
  • A canid. I think the tanuki would be the best canid to add for the sake of east Asia representation but Tibetan Fox or Golden Jackal could be nice additions.
  • Another cervid or bovid. It is always a possibility with Frontier. I would hope that PĆØre David's Deer AND BLACKBUCK!! are enough, but plenty of others are looking at us from the corner... Yak, Gaur, Nilgai, Muntjac? I would rule out the Muntjac though because I think we would have seen its name in the coming challenge.
  • A wild card: I'm not leaning too much into this theory but a reptile or a small mammal could happen. I'm still waiting for a Mongoose to enter this game.

EDIT: I forgot about the birds. I've been conditioned by Frontier to not expect any bird. I'm not going into details here, almost any bird is welcome.
 
Fishing Cat. I'm a feline lover but I have to say that I could definitely do without this cat in the game. However, if we're forced to have one more asian feline, then I want it to be the fishing cat and definitely not the lion.
Fishing cats are pretty well ruled out, since the leak confirms that the only species in this DLC pack with the aquatic tag are the deer and elephant
 
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