Generic exhibits appreciation post

[Hugo98]

So, everyone is talking about the walkthrough exhibits (which are fantastic and a game changer!) but it seems that barely anyone is thinking about the generic exhibits now. While I really love the potential of the WE's and what diferent types of animals we can get with them, I think we shouldn't forget about the generic exhibits.
Yes, they are kind of boring because of the limitations in customization and I hope Frontier will rework the exhibit system. But there are so many species of smaller reptiles and other animals that we still desperately need in the game and won't hopefully be forgotten. Chameleons, cobras and pythons for example.
Especially Asia is in desperate need for more exhibit animals. I mean Asia has more or less completely neglected by Frontier for some reason. At the moment we have the leaf insects and the Giant forest scorpion and that's it, there is not a single exhibit reptile from Asia (!), while South America is relatively over-represented when it comes to exhibit animals.

 

[Aramar]

Yes! Gimme my chameleon, and cobra, and Greek tortoise, and leopard gecko, and blue dart poison frog, and tuatara, and the list goes on and on and on

 

[FoxyDee]

I just need the Emerald Tree Boa and a Chameleon, then I am all set.

 

[Cynogale bennettii II]

While the exhibits themselves could be improved with more customisation options, I really love the standard exhibit species and hope that we haven't seen the last of them yet.

Chameleons, geckos and agamid lizards (like a bearded dragon, frilled lizard, rock agama, sailfin lizard, water dragon or uromastyx) would all be my essential choices. Although I'm not sure how likely it is we'll get any more snakes in the game (I imagine to someone with ophidiophobia, a snake in a DLC may make or break their decision to buy it), I'd love to see more species such as cobras, pythons and particularly colubrid snakes. Small tortoises and box turtles I'd also be very keen to see.

As for amphibians, while it was pretty exhausting to get one amphibian after another in several DLC, I still don't think they are anywhere near complete. Some more large tree frogs (like the White's tree frog and Amazon milk frog), larger terrestrial frogs and toads (like the cane toad and tomato frog) and probably five more species of poison-dart frog would all be fantastic.

I would like to give a shout-out to the invertebrates - they are by far and away the most diverse group of animals on Earth, and many zoos have bug houses with a huge array of species. To give some examples, showing the numbers of species at some invertebrate houses:

London Zoo's Tiny Giants - 42 different species, of which I'd say only 1 and 2 half-species are in Planet Zoo (Brazilian salmon pink tarantula, plus a leaf insect and giant snail similar to the game's species)
San Diego Zoo's Spineless Marvels - 39 different species, with just 3 of those in-game (the desert hairy scorpion, goliath beetle and giant leaf insect)
Artis Zoo's Insectarium - approximately 37 different species, with 3 and a half-species in-game (the Mexican redknee and salmon pink tarantulas, giant forest scorpion and a species of leaf insect)

Even if such a number of species were not possible, it would be good to have some more options - I'd say some stick insects, praying mantises, giant millipedes, grasshoppers/crickets/katydids and some more cockroach species would be the bare minimum to make me happy. I would love to see ants and honeybees get included in some way, other groups such as more snails, land crabs, whip-spiders and more beetles would also be much-appreciated by myself and I'd really like to see some more spiders as well, even though I very much doubt they would ever happen.

As for exhibit species representation, I think part of the problem isn't that any one continent is over-represented, but that the choices have sometimes been so odd. Among the South American species, there's one species that has never been kept in captivity before (the titan beetle), one that is typically only housed in zoos when one needs a home after having been discovered stowing away in imported fruit (the wandering spider) and one has only been bred in captivity outside of South America once, by a tech company rather than a zoo (the Lehmann's poison frog). Add to that the goliath frog as Africa's sole amphibian species (another animal that has never been kept successfully long-term in captivity), and you have a whole set of species that just feel a bit odd.

 

[AlexSea]

I honestly think that being able to change the size of the exhibits would be enough to make them a great feature, since we have plenty of exhibit animals that are way too small for the current size. And on the topic of exhibit animals, I'd really like to see the King Cobra, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Green Anaconda, Northern Caiman Lizard, New Caledonian Giant Gecko, Panther Chameleon, Tuatara, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Chinese Giant Salamander, and Giant Weta.

 

[TheYeti]

I would love to see a reptile house DLC next year with some modifications to the exhibit function (allow boxless versions like we have for walk-through) and a number of generic exhibit species along some habitat (and/or walkthrough) species.

 

[TheHippoGirl]

Agree. I hope we will still get more standard exhibits. A chameleon is my biggest wish but there are a lot of other species I would love too (emerald tree boa, frilled-necked lizard, gecko...).

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Gotta bite my tounge in the whoulesome chat, but really does anybody here want unironically old exhibits over WEs in the future?
Imo the WE has been a clear upgrade in every way and im more then eager to leave the extremly flawed normal exhibits behind for something that actually plays into the gameplay of the game

 

[Marvinb]

I honestly think that being able to change the size of the exhibits would be enough to make them a great feature, since we have plenty of exhibit animals that are way too small for the current size. And on the topic of exhibit animals, I'd really like to see the King Cobra, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Green Anaconda, Northern Caiman Lizard, New Caledonian Giant Gecko, Panther Chameleon, Tuatara, Chinese Crocodile Lizard, Chinese Giant Salamander, and Giant Weta.

Being able to change the size is really the next step here, but not just smaller. Especially since half of the species you mentioned are to big for the current. I mean does anyone wanna see a potential 8m snake in a less than 4x4m box?

 

[Aramar]

(I imagine to someone with ophidiophobia, a snake in a DLC may make or break their decision to buy it),

I don't like snakes at all and I try to avoid looking at them in zoos, but despite that I want more snakes in the game, mainly a cobra and a python.

 

[Chuditch]

As someone who's a huge fan of reptiles and amphibians and goes herping regularly, I really hope we aren’t done with the regular exhibits yet. I love the new walkthroughs and there are plenty of ways the old exhibits could be improved, but I still much rather having these kind of animals in the game in an imperfect system than not having them at all. We haven’t had a non-crocodilian reptile added to the game for two years now (last one was the terrapin in the Aquatic Pack) and only two added overall since the base game, they really feel like an area of the roster that’s lacking compared to the diversity kept in zoos. There’s countless awesome options still left to be added, we’ve really only scratched the surface in regards to reptiles. Not to mention invertebrates which, while I’m not as interested in them, still deserve more attention than they’ve got currently (the 5 butterflies were a big plus though). I just wish they added the walkthrough exhibit species as an additional animal rather than a replacement for traditional exhibit animals in DLCs, because now we’ve gone from getting a few a year to potentially none a year.

Especially since half of the species you mentioned are to big for the current. I mean does anyone wanna see a potential 8m snake in a less than 4x4m box?

The green anaconda and reticulated python both require an exhibit less than half the size of the one in game (which is 16 square metres, bigger than the average bedroom). I wouldn’t mind larger exhibits being an option (even though the current one is already enormous) but it’s really the smaller ones that are critical.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Being able to change the size is really the next step here, but not just smaller. Especially since half of the species you mentioned are to big for the current. I mean does anyone wanna see a potential 8m snake in a less than 4x4m box?

The age old saying, i lived 2 years in a flat smaller then the 4x4x4 box.

 

[TheYeti]

Gotta bite my tounge in the whoulesome chat, but really does anybody here want unironically old exhibits over WEs in the future?
Imo the WE has been a clear upgrade in every way and im more then eager to leave the extremly flawed normal exhibits behind for something that actually plays into the gameplay of the game

I agree WEs are nicer, but we have a lot of animals left that would suit a regular exhibit much better. I think it's a shame we don't have chameleons, geckos and snapping turtles.

The age old saying, i lived 2 years in a flat smaller then the 4x4x4 box.

Have to agree with this. While some animals should reasonably live in a larger exhibit, I don't recall ever seeing something like that in a zoo, at least not behind glass. However, they do tend to have exhibits even smaller than 50x50cm for bugs and spiders. Simulating a larger exhibit (or snake pit which they have in some South American zoos) would also be possible by combining regular exhibits if we can make them boxless like we can for the WEs.

 

[Marvinb]

As someone who's a huge fan of reptiles and amphibians and goes herping regularly, I really hope we aren’t done with the regular exhibits yet. I love the new walkthroughs and there are plenty of ways the old exhibits could be improved, but I still much rather having these kind of animals in the game in an imperfect system than not having them at all. We haven’t had a non-crocodilian reptile added to the game for two years now (last one was the terrapin in the Aquatic Pack) and only two added overall since the base game, they really feel like an area of the roster that’s lacking compared to the diversity kept in zoos. There’s countless awesome options still left to be added, we’ve really only scratched the surface in regards to reptiles. Not to mention invertebrates which, while I’m not as interested in them, still deserve more attention than they’ve got currently (the 5 butterflies were a big plus though). I just wish they added the walkthrough exhibit species as an additional animal rather than a replacement for traditional exhibit animals in DLCs, because now we’ve gone from getting a few a year to potentially none a year.


The green anaconda and reticulated python both require an exhibit less than half the size of the one in game (which is 16 square metres, bigger than the average bedroom). I wouldn’t mind larger exhibits being an option (even though the current one is already enormous) but it’s really the smaller ones that are critical.

I think requirements are different depending on where youre from. Where im from official requirements are 0.7x0.5x.05 bodylength for snakes. And this are minimums.
The US for example has way smaller standards than we do in germany. For the reptile keeping hobby atleast, now idea for zoos and stuff.
If Frontier thought that 4x4m is adequate exhibit for a green anaconda they wouldnt have put the way smaller and lesser know yellow anaconda in the game instead

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

For visulisation.
THIS is slightly smaller then the 64m3 of the exhibits

In fact if you multiply the measurements you get 63,971645248 m3.
So yeah our frogs and snails live in boxes larger then actual cargo crates.
Overall Planet zoos obsession with 4m for everything is weird, but the exhibits are actual insanity

 

[Mr Weasel]

I've still got a lot of love for the regular exhibits as, even though they're simplistic and oversized for most species, the animals they offer are still great fillers. Like the others have said, we still need at least one python (Burmese, reticulated or royal preferably), a chameleon and a cobra. I really like the half-submerged ones too and would love to see more of them (maybe for vampire crabs.)

 

[Marvinb]

I've still got a lot of love for the regular exhibits as, even though they're simplistic and oversized for most species, the animals they offer are still great fillers. Like the others have said, we still need at least one python (Burmese, reticulated or royal preferably), a chameleon and a cobra. I really like the half-submerged ones too and would love to see more of them (maybe for vampire crabs.)

Mudskippers maybe

 

[AlexSea]

Being able to change the size is really the next step here, but not just smaller. Especially since half of the species you mentioned are to big for the current. I mean does anyone wanna see a potential 8m snake in a less than 4x4m box?

That's true, I would definitely like to make exhibits bigger as well as smaller, I just think that out of the exhibit animals we have right now, more would benefit from smaller exhibits than larger ones.

 

[nutrit]

I really like our current exibit system and I would just like less Bugs and more reptiles this year (chameleon, basilisk, frilled lizard, gecko).

Eventually we’ve got only 4 exibits a year and now they were replaced with walkthrough exibits that will most likely introduce birds next.

So what about missing reptiles? Maybe small exibits animal pack? I really wouldn’t mind that.

 

[Spiderhawk]

I’d like future dlc to continue the WE and give us 1 exhibit alongside.
I’m bummed we didn’t get woodland exhibit critters except for the fire salamander. Also Asia only ever got the scorpion and the leaf insect.
Be nice if we could get a gecko, mantis and a chameleon.
Then I say frontier should let people put exhibit animals on the steam workshop and call it good.