Buildings & Attractions Enclosures delimited by trenches instead of electrified fences

[Avaruus]

Here's a thought I've had for a long time, in fact since I watched Jurassic Park the first of its name: why would they bother to build electric fences (which require a tremendous amount of money to build and to keep electrified and to replace when broken or obsolete) when they could just dig vertical trenches between the dinos' enclosure and the visitors? I mean, you just need to dig a hole (~20m large and ~10m deep), to reinforce it with concrete and here you go, you have your protection for at least 10 years. It just needs to be cleaned from time to time and if some cracks appear, then a team can repare it so it lasts longer.

They didn't even think of another solution in Jurassic World despite the failure of the first park, and the whole security was still based on electrical stuffs. Think of it for a moment, if they had separated with this kind of trenches the incubating building where the I-rex was from the rest of the park, as clever and freaky she is, she wouldn't have armed anybody because as far as I know she cannot jump through 20m large gaps.

Of course, this kind of separation needs another access than ordinary doors, maybe some drawbridge or some big cattle bridge designed for dinos. Or maybe a system based on a crane, I don't know but we can imagine many many things.

So dear FD devs, if you read me, maybe you could put some thoughts to it. Could be a nice alternative to all this waste of energy.

 

[Hykelion]

I remember this one in the first JP novel. A moat. While yes it may be a good alternative & escape proof, the other downside is game balance. Like, since dinos cant escape over the moat even if they're on a rampage, where's the challenge now?

 

[Dinofan300]

thats Good the only Dino u wood have to worry about is the raptor

 

[MarcWP]

I agree, but for the visitors it would limit visibility. That gap needs to be crazy wide, hence the dinosaurs will be further away...

 

[Alan_Grady]

I remember this one in the first JP novel. A moat. While yes it may be a good alternative & escape proof, the other downside is game balance. Like, since dinos cant escape over the moat even if they're on a rampage, where's the challenge now?

I agree with both this and the OP.

Still, gamewise there could be ways to implemented them and make them work. I think electrified fences were prefered because they were most ideal for visibility, particularly on an island such as Nublar, where weather conditions already limit dinosaur visibility: a thinner yet electrified fence was bound to bring animals closer to visitors.

However, moats were indeed used in the novel with good reason, because they would be cheaper to maintain. Not I said maintain, not build and this could be the first difference ingame. The second, I think, would be that those would likely need to be filled with water, even if to prevent guests from killing themselves by falling from their edges while jumping to see the animals (which would also either drawn in them or use them for drink). Either way, some kind of water network or piping would be required as to periodically replace the stagnant water/clean the moats. This would also add another layer of management in a similar way of the current electric power.

Also, since moats wouldn't eligible to have bridges over them, some stretch of regular fencing/land would still be required. And, let's not forget, terrain constraints are bound to further limit their usage.

So I think they would be fun, but not really practical.

 

[Avaruus]

@Hykelion @MarcWP @Alan_Grady
I'm not thinking of moats, I think of real empty trenches reinforced with concrete (see my beautiful sketch below).

And, of course, to prevent visitors from falling into them, we could add a little fence or a guard-rail. Moreover, don't think animals are all stupid creatures, the majority of them do not fall into these kind of pits. Anyway, we could still build 5-10m tall fences to prevent dinos from falling into the trenches.

As for the dinosaures visibility, I have the perfect solution:

• better panoramic platforms (with a larger view, maybe a bit shorter so we keep some balance)
• upgraded panoramic galleries (designed to be able to see a little bit further)
• viewing dome (under the ground, real bunkers so resistant to dinos)
• binoculars (which the player could build along the paths on the guard-rail, a little bit like Zoo Tycoon)

And with the viewing dome solution, viewing galleries wouldn't even need to be upgraded. So no, the visibility wouldn't be diminished.

Of course this feature would considerably reduce the danger of crazy-angry dinosaures. But let's be honest: IF such a park could ever exist, which solution would a director pick? The less-secure-and-more-energy-consuming system, or the cheaper and more secure one?

Nevertheless, the player could still be put in a difficult position with:

• sabotage (and not only sabotage from its own team which is, let's be honest, highly unlikely to happen three times in under than 20h)
• concrete that can break and pile up so some dinos would be able to escape
• a "grounded" entrance with a gate to the enclosure, which would still represent a weakness in front of angry dinosaures
• big storms which could damage buildings or constructions (even gates) ; the wrecks resulting of the storm could create a "bridge" over a trench for example
• a different system for the gates: they wouldn't remain dino-proof when they open for the ranger, but dino could force their way through them

... usw



Here's what the trenches could look like (I know, I do have incredible drawing skills). To the left: visitors side. To the right: dinosaures enclosure. In the middle: the trench!

In order to obtain the trenches, we could even think of combined science&security missions, which would unlock something in the research center. There could be several levels to get more resistant or larger trenches.

 

[MarcWP]

@Hykelion @MarcWP @Alan_Grady
I'm not thinking of moats, I think of real empty trenches reinforced with concrete (see my beautiful sketch below).

And, of course, to prevent visitors from falling into them, we could add a little fence or a guard-rail. Moreover, don't think animals are all stupid creatures, the majority of them do not fall into these kind of pits. Anyway, we could still build 5-10m tall fences to prevent dinos from falling into the trenches.

As for the dinosaures visibility, I have the perfect solution:

• better panoramic platforms (with a larger view, maybe a bit shorter so we keep some balance)
• upgraded panoramic galleries (designed to be able to see a little bit further)
• viewing dome (under the ground, real bunkers so resistant to dinos)
• binoculars (which the player could build along the paths on the guard-rail, a little bit like Zoo Tycoon)

And with the viewing dome solution, viewing galleries wouldn't even need to be upgraded. So no, the visibility wouldn't be diminished.

Of course this feature would considerably reduce the danger of crazy-angry dinosaures. But let's be honest: IF such a park could ever exist, which solution would a director pick? The less-secure-and-more-energy-consuming system, or the cheaper and more secure one?

Nevertheless, the player could still be put in a difficult position with:

• sabotage (and not only sabotage from its own team which is, let's be honest, highly unlikely to happen three times in under than 20h)
• concrete that can break and pile up so some dinos would be able to escape
• a "grounded" entrance with a gate to the enclosure, which would still represent a weakness in front of angry dinosaures
• big storms which could damage buildings or constructions (even gates) ; the wrecks resulting of the storm could create a "bridge" over a trench for example
• a different system for the gates: they wouldn't remain dino-proof when they open for the ranger, but dino could force their way through them

... usw



Here's what the trenches could look like (I know, I do have incredible drawing skills). To the left: visitors side. To the right: dinosaures enclosure. In the middle: the trench!

View attachment 136332


In order to obtain the trenches, we could even think of combined science&security missions, which would unlock something in the research center. There could be several levels to get more resistant or larger trenches.

How can you say a 20m wide trench doesn't impact visibility? I can see things better if they are one meter away from me, rather than 20. How can you argue otherwise. LOL. Unless you have hawk eyes...

 

[Hykelion]

The measurements in the illustration(regarding the white areas) are wrong. Unless it is not to scale.
And I dont really understand the concept of the design that trench.
Here's my version of it.
Instead of having the guests view the dinos on the other side at the same ground level, have them view them on an elevated walkway, they'd get a better field of view that way. For game balance, the trench can be used as an alternative to the viewing gallery. Also, to keep game balance & maintain the challenge of having dinos able to escape their enclosures in the game, the ends of the trench can be linked to fences that we already have in the game to complete the enclosure.
Example. A square enclosure has 4 sides, 1 side will be made of the trench, basically the visitor side, & the other 3 sides will be fences.
This way, its a triple win. We get the trench/moat, We get an alternative to the Viewing gallery, We maintain the game balance.

PS. The sizes of the T-Rex & Spino were based on JWE wikia.

 

[Avaruus]

@Hykelion
Of course I didn't pay attention to scale! xD Thanks for your pic, it's far better than mine! And yes, I didn't mention it but I also thought of elevating the visitors side to get a better view.

Your proposition to keep the game balanced is interesting as well, I like it too.


@MarcWP
Unless you have some eyes problems, you would perfectly see big dinosaurs from 20m. Of course seeing them from 1m is still closer and you would see more details about them, but in this game, it seems that paths along the fences are not taken in consideration when it comes to the visibility of dinos. You HAVE to build stuffs to make them visible (which is totally illogical). Moreover, if you compare the visibility of something through a fence and through nothing, I guess you have a better view when there is nothing between you and what's to see. Finally, if you add free binoculars along the visitors side of the trench, you would solve many problems. We could even think of a shop selling binoculars at low price so visitors can have their own.

LOL (I do like useless LOLs too)