Hippo house pack (yes we are really doing this)

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

One of my favourite things in Zoos are hippo houses.
Hippos are cool, i think we can agree on that.
They are so cool in fact, that many Zoos give them their own houses and sidekick animals.
Funfact! I like sidekick animals, i like hippos and i like their houses, so why Not make a List of some of my favourite roommates of Le hippopotamzs.

Starting of, we have the whitefaced whistling duck.
I love the whitefaced whistling duck.
But why Do I love them?
Simple, they are a very pretty and distinct looking duck, something we actually need in the game, that can and are held in parks and ponds, whistles a nice three tune call and most importantly lives across allmost all of subsaharan africa, madagascar and south america. A duck, waterfowl, bird, that lives in South america, africa and madagascar ticks so many boxes, its ridiculous.
Best duck 10/10

Next on the List we have the Ze Brazas Monkey, the largest guenon and one of the Most common in zoos.
Something making them especally fitting for this pack is the fact that they love water, inhabiting swamps and river edges.
Being excelent swimmers, they never stray to far from the waters edge, living monogamous in pairs or little groups with their children, a unique trait amongst guenons.
They also use their size to Bully other guenons, only accepting leafeating monkeys.
Lastly, they are in a very interesting conversational situation, with them having an active breeding programm even though they are not facing danger, but just in case.

Our third and most direct roommate would be the Sitatunga, a waterloving antelope from central africa.
These fluffy antelopes are one of the most common antelopes in captivity and would be our first venture into aquatic and swamp antelopes, as well as being the first antelope for most of their range (i allready pointed out the weird selection of antelopes in another thread, but for some reason we have no antelopes for pretty much all of the central parts of africa also known as the sitatungas range).
They would fill a nice niche and are cute and common, so hell yeah! More antelopes!

Lastly to round out the habitat animals, a small carnivore would fit perfectly.
My choice would be the african civet, a groundbased cousin of the binturong, known for their beautiful coat and stink.
One of the most common african mammals, these nocturnal critters live in most of subsaharan africa, but sadly arnt to well known.
They even are great swimmers, making them even more fitting for our swampy tropical house.

For the exhibit animal i chose the african rock phython.
Its a crime we dont have a phython in the game yet, and this large representative lives in most of subsaharan africa, with the northern subspecies from western and central africa living in the tropical swamps we want to have for our house.
Its one of the 6 largest, currently living snakes and the largest snake from africa.
So africas largest snake and an actual phython?
Sign me up

So thats it for my animal choices.
I tried to take different picks that best fix africas holes, mostly weird antelopes and no guenons, aswell as only small Desert carnivores.
I considerd the nile crocodile, but it just doesnt Do anything for me, eventhough it would be a good pick for an animal pack, thogether with the saddle-billed-stork and maybe the Red river hog.
I would like to See mostly folliage, some nice tropical and aquatic african plants, aswell as a scenery pack similar to the aquatic one, with the New items being themed around building a tropical house and expanding on glass pieces.

I hope you liked the list and atleast learned why we all should join the cult of the whitefaced whistling duck.
Tell me your thoughts, what your favourite hippo houses or types of animal houses in general are and what you would need to build the hippo house of your dreams in game

 

[yoav_r]

So specific... yet I really want this

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Thats the magic of le passione

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

No but really, i feel like Most people underrestimate hyper specific packs.
Yes i agree that for now we still need atleast 2 more general packs for europe and northamerica, but afterwards i belive specific packs are what would be the best for the game, way better then some grabback pack with random fanfavourites.
The reason for that is, that what the game is lacking the Most right now in its animal selection is Not a maned wolf, gibbon, aligator, leopard or whatever other fanfavourite animal, its polish.
Polish in the form of fleshing out certain aspects of the roster, by adding in animals with a clear purpouse in mind to fill a hole thats lacking, in this case it would be african tropical houses expanding from the hippo in particular.

The only pack that really did that until now was the SEA pack, fleshing out the Region of south east asia, expanding from the orangutan, komododragon, bengal tiger and asian elephant.
These 4 animals had up until the release of the pack no smaller animals to support them, making the asian parts of our Zoos feel really gamey, as we only had the big hitters.

The same can be partly Said about the aquatic pack as well, fleshing out the arctic pack and the southamerica pack in particular, both in animals and probs.
Both are held in high regards by the community and for good reason, eventhough we can also blame the fact of being the First animal pack and introducing diving as Main culprits.
But the purpouse of fleshing out is especally Evident in the caiman, with it being 100% intended as a support animal for SA, with Not much standing out about it that would demand an inclusion into the game.

Most of the other packs that i have proposed in the past also use that formula, taking something allready in the game and expanding on it.
We have the apexpredators of the himalaya, but because we only have one other smaller animal from there its hard to actually theme a section of your Zoo around it. We had the same Situation with south east asia and still have it with nothern asia or places like madagascar and even oceania.
A pack focussing on any of these regions might Not be the Most applicable generally, but it would greatly enhance the area of applicatio in question, often to a more then satisfiying degree.
And if we get that for enough places we will hopefully Come to a point where we might Not have every fanfavourite, but the polish of the game surrounding it is so good, that we actually dont really need them and wouldnt make much of a Difference anymore.

I hope my rambling was understandable, but i just have a very strong opinion on the topic and could Talk for days about it ^^"

 

[Mjmannella]

To be honest I thought this was asking for a house hippo at first

 

[biggest_dreamer]

No but really, i feel like Most people underrestimate hyper specific packs.
Yes i agree that for now we still need atleast 2 more general packs for europe and northamerica, but afterwards i belive specific packs are what would be the best for the game, way better then some grabback pack with random fanfavourites.
The reason for that is, that what the game is lacking the Most right now in its animal selection is Not a maned wolf, gibbon, aligator, leopard or whatever other fanfavourite animal, its polish.
Polish in the form of fleshing out certain aspects of the roster, by adding in animals with a clear purpouse in mind to fill a hole thats lacking, in this case it would be african tropical houses expanding from the hippo in particular.

The only pack that really did that until now was the SEA pack, fleshing out the Region of south east asia, expanding from the orangutan, komododragon, bengal tiger and asian elephant.
These 4 animals had up until the release of the pack no smaller animals to support them, making the asian parts of our Zoos feel really gamey, as we only had the big hitters.

The same can be partly Said about the aquatic pack as well, fleshing out the arctic pack and the southamerica pack in particular, both in animals and probs.
Both are held in high regards by the community and for good reason, eventhough we can also blame the fact of being the First animal pack and introducing diving as Main culprits.
But the purpouse of fleshing out is especally Evident in the caiman, with it being 100% intended as a support animal for SA, with Not much standing out about it that would demand an inclusion into the game.

Most of the other packs that i have proposed in the past also use that formula, taking something allready in the game and expanding on it.
We have the apexpredators of the himalaya, but because we only have one other smaller animal from there its hard to actually theme a section of your Zoo around it. We had the same Situation with south east asia and still have it with nothern asia or places like madagascar and even oceania.
A pack focussing on any of these regions might Not be the Most applicable generally, but it would greatly enhance the area of applicatio in question, often to a more then satisfiying degree.
And if we get that for enough places we will hopefully Come to a point where we might Not have every fanfavourite, but the polish of the game surrounding it is so good, that we actually dont really need them and wouldnt make much of a Difference anymore.

I hope my rambling was understandable, but i just have a very strong opinion on the topic and could Talk for days about it ^^"

I want this to be screamed to the heavens. I do think that there is tremendous value in getting those last few truly heavy hitter fan favorites, but as it stands it feels like there are still very few non-headliner or non-standard animals in the game. As it stands, every player's primate house is going to end up looking at least 80% the same. Every reptile house. Every small mammal house, which has only just even started to feel like a viable creation with the additions of the binturong, meerkat, and fennec. Every major animal that you'd want to build a major house attraction for only has one viable "sidekick" at best.

There are so many gaps that still need to be filled by more, "lesser" animals to make the game feel like a truly comprehensive zoo experience.

 

[Antimony96]

How many dedicated hippo houses are there in real zoos other than the Berlin dome? The zoos where I've seen hippos just had them outdoors.

That being said I'd be fine with something like this as an excuse to flesh out African wetland animals, particularly the red river hog and a wading bird like the grey crowned crane. Though I'd take that duck.

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

They are actually quite common, for example the hippo dome in köln, the african rainforest house in the zoom zoo, antwerpen zoo and many more. They really are quite common, as making indoor water viewing sections for the hippos is relativly easy, + they need an indoor pool in colder countrys. Its just a good offer to decorate that indoor pool nicly and let the visitors see them.

 

[peafowl]

..but more birds pls

 

[Urufu1997]

Starting of, we have the whitefaced whistling duck.
I love the whitefaced whistling duck.
But why Do I love them?
Simple, they are a very pretty and distinct looking duck, something we actually need in the game, that can and are held in parks and ponds, whistles a nice three tune call and most importantly lives across allmost all of subsaharan africa, madagascar and south america. A duck, waterfowl, bird, that lives in South america, africa and madagascar ticks so many boxes, its ridiculous.
Best duck 10/10

Next on the List we ha

A Duck is definitely needed. I would probably even buy a small Anseriformes Pack if Frontier would release one
Didn't just write Duck Pack because Swans would also be nice to have. The Egyptian Goose would be also really nice.

These fluffy antelopes are one of the most common antelopes in captivity and would be our first venture into aquatic and swamp antelopes

Aren't Nyalas also (at least relatively) semiaquatic? I know for sure that they are normally always found very close to Bodys of Water

For the exhibit animal i chose the african rock phython.
Its a crime we dont have a phython in the game yet, and this large representative lives in most of subsaharan africa, with the northern subspecies from western and central africa living in the tropical swamps we want to have for our house.
Its one of the 6 largest, currently living snakes and the largest snake from africa.
So africas largest snake and an actual phython?

We definitely need more really large Snakes, so even though we already have so many Snakes in the Game, I really like this one because we only have 2 really big ones

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Yes and no, nyalas do prefer to stick to water, but they are nothing near something that could be called "aquatic". They live in wood and shrublands and stay close to watering holes, but thats it. The sitatunga on the other hand actually lives in swamps and allmost never leave the edge of the water. They are also the type of antelope that tends to swim the most, a reason for why they have such cute and fluffy fur, as its denser to not allow to much water to pass, similar to otters and other aquatic animals, even though not as extreme

 

[Antimony96]

Interesting. If there were a hypothetical African wetlands pack for animals that could live in a dedicated hippo part of a zoo I'd want something like:

White-faced whistling duck
Grey crowned crane
Red river hog
De Brazza's Monkey
African bullfrog (exhibit)

Not sure about sitatungas; people (wrongly IMO) thought that the bongo and nyala were too similar so I don't know how a third antelope of that basic look would go down.

 

[12344321]

To be honest I thought this was asking for a house hippo at first

...Canadian?

 

[Mjmannella]

Correct!

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

Interesting. If there were a hypothetical African wetlands pack for animals that could live in a dedicated hippo part of a zoo I'd want something like:

White-faced whistling duck
Grey crowned crane
Red river hog
De Brazza's Monkey
African bullfrog (exhibit)

Not sure about sitatungas; people (wrongly IMO) thought that the bongo and nyala were too similar so I don't know how a third antelope of that basic look would go down.

Thouse are some great choices!
While i understand that take on the sitatunga, i would really love seeing them, becausr for one, they actually are held very, very commonly in one habitat with hippos, two examples i have personally seen are berlin and the zoom zoo, and secoundly it would be the by far most unique antelope gameplay wise.
Sadly i doubt they will ever make it in, because of the reasons you mentioned, but if they did i would be their number one fan.
+ we really do not have an antelope from the wetlands, eventhough i guess the waterbuck could fill the same niche, eventhough less fluffy but more visually distinct

 

[12344321]

Correct!

Remember, "dont you put it in your mouth" lol

 

[Markiz]

Actually in some parallel universe this would be the perfect DLC format.

Say the base game released with all staple zoo animals, so we don't have to chase them later through DLCs ( Kangaroos, Jaguars, Rhinos, Penguins...) ,then the later DlCs could focus on regions of zoos like "Hippo House DLC", packs that would enrich parts of zoos already there in base game, and would add more specific and excentric ( idk how to spell ) animals to the already basic to be, right, roster. Building pieces would also be more easier to pick and would be less theme park-y

 

[yoav_r]

Actually in some parallel universe this would be the perfect DLC format.

Say the base game released with all staple zoo animals, so we don't have to chase them later through DLCs ( Kangaroos, Jaguars, Rhinos, Penguins...) ,then the later DlCs could focus on regions of zoos like "Hippo House DLC", packs that would enrich parts of zoos already there in base game, and would add more specific and excentric ( idk how to spell ) animals to the already basic to be, right, roster. Building pieces would also be more easier to pick and would be less theme park-y

This would be nice for us but very unprofitable for Frontiers, and would kill the DLCs

 

[Markiz]

Yes that's why I said parallel universe

Somewhere where money is made from the base game alone and DLCs only come around as extra.

In this situation I completely understand it, big name animals need to carry DLCs to make money, as a lot of money in today game industry is made after relase

 

[KönigDerKaffeebohnen]

No but really, i feel like Most people underrestimate hyper specific packs.
Yes i agree that for now we still need atleast 2 more general packs for europe and northamerica, but afterwards i belive specific packs are what would be the best for the game, way better then some grabback pack with random fanfavourites.
The reason for that is, that what the game is lacking the Most right now in its animal selection is Not a maned wolf, gibbon, aligator, leopard or whatever other fanfavourite animal, its polish.
Polish in the form of fleshing out certain aspects of the roster, by adding in animals with a clear purpouse in mind to fill a hole thats lacking, in this case it would be african tropical houses expanding from the hippo in particular.

The only pack that really did that until now was the SEA pack, fleshing out the Region of south east asia, expanding from the orangutan, komododragon, bengal tiger and asian elephant.
These 4 animals had up until the release of the pack no smaller animals to support them, making the asian parts of our Zoos feel really gamey, as we only had the big hitters.

The same can be partly Said about the aquatic pack as well, fleshing out the arctic pack and the southamerica pack in particular, both in animals and probs.
Both are held in high regards by the community and for good reason, eventhough we can also blame the fact of being the First animal pack and introducing diving as Main culprits.
But the purpouse of fleshing out is especally Evident in the caiman, with it being 100% intended as a support animal for SA, with Not much standing out about it that would demand an inclusion into the game.

Most of the other packs that i have proposed in the past also use that formula, taking something allready in the game and expanding on it.
We have the apexpredators of the himalaya, but because we only have one other smaller animal from there its hard to actually theme a section of your Zoo around it. We had the same Situation with south east asia and still have it with nothern asia or places like madagascar and even oceania.
A pack focussing on any of these regions might Not be the Most applicable generally, but it would greatly enhance the area of applicatio in question, often to a more then satisfiying degree.
And if we get that for enough places we will hopefully Come to a point where we might Not have every fanfavourite, but the polish of the game surrounding it is so good, that we actually dont really need them and wouldnt make much of a Difference anymore.

I hope my rambling was understandable, but i just have a very strong opinion on the topic and could Talk for days about it ^^"

Guess frontier read this post, cause this year was text book what i said here.
Win