Missing Features: My idea for an update to existing DLC

[JeffersMorning]

With the Return to Jurassic Park coming out soon I've been thinking about previous dlcs. Things we got, things we didn't get and things I hope we'll get in the future. That said, there remains a handful of things I think should have been included in the DLCs I hope are added in a post-dlc update. Frontier has been very generous with their updates and dlc, so that list of wants has shrunken considerably. The following list contains the remaining features I wish would be added to fix some of the previous DLCs along with the one thing I think is missing in RJP.

1. Return to Jurassic Park: Dimorphodon

Outside of the Mosasaurus (which I hope will be added in future DLC content) this is the only creature from the films we won't have once RJP releases. Considering the inclusion of Pteranodons, this seems like kind of a major oversight as far creature inclusion goes. I would very much like to see it included as part of a post-RJP patch, that will hopefully amend some of the other missing features I'll bring up. As for how it could be implemented, I think it'd serve best as a cheaper, but less high rating alternative to the Pteranodons. You'd probably not be able to mix and match, designating your aviaries as species exclusive. Could very easily be written off as both or one of the reptiles being territorial and not playing well with others.

2. Claire's Sanctuary: Extended Paleo Feeders

By far the best addition in the Sanctuary dlc, it's sadly under-realized in its potential. Paleo Feeders have an insanely small capacity and need to be refilled constantly. The constant micromanaging is undesirable and the benefits to rating are inferior to the annoyance created by constantly having to refill these feeders, especially in large, herbivore heavy parks. An easy solution would be to create extended versions of both the Tall and Ground Paleo Feeders. This would make them far more useful and far less restrictive for those struggling with parks already busy with innumerable little facets of management minuet.

3. The Secrets of Dr. Wu / Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack: Size Adjustments & Carnotaurus Camouflage Gene

Size adjustments for the Olorotian and Dreadnoughtus have been a moderately requested fix by members of the community, so I won't go too far in explaining/justifying other than simply stating I agree. These dinosaurs are very underwhelming and could use some scaling up. The more important part of this combined suggestion is the addition of the Carnotaurus Camo gene. While it was great for Hybrid lovers (which I am not) to finally get the Camouflage gene for their beloved Indominus Rex, we non-hybrid fans feel a bit shafted. Especially since the ability was lifted from the Carno in The Lost World novel. Adding this ability to the Carnotaurus would be a great nod to the original Michael Crichton books and give people who aren't all that interested in hybrid dinosaurs something interesting to play around with outside of the hybrids central to the Secrets of Dr. Wu plot.

The above are all things moderately to heavily requested by the community and their inclusion in a free update that would improve existing dlcs would go a long way to making JWE the best game it can and will inevitably be. I love this game so freaking much and am hyped as hell for Return to Jurassic Park. Keep up the good work Frontier. I'm looking forward to what the future holds. Merry Early Christmas y'all.

Edit: I wrote Dimetrodon instead of Dimorphodon. Oops.

 

[JeffersMorning]

4. RJP: Compy Venom & Takedown

This is something I only really thought about post-campaign, but as adorable as the Compys are I just don't really find them that interesting. While pack hunting is something many people want, I don't have high hopes for it's inclusion. Something that would make the Compys vastly more interesting imo would be making the venomous, similar to the Troodon from The Secrets of Dr. Wu. This would also be a wonderful little nod to the original Jurassic Park novels where the Compys were mildly venomous and actually used said venom to attack and kill John Hammond after he fell down an embankment near the Visitor Center. This would allow for the addition of human and goat kill animation, maybe one in which the goat/guest becomes drowsier and drowsier, eventually falling down allowing the compy to tentatively begin nibbling on them before jumping up on top of them and just sort of peck them to death. I don't think the Compys should ever be threat to other Dinosaurs and while I haven't tested it, my hope is that herbivores don't panic around them and vice versa.

5. RJP / Claire's Sanctuary / Base Game: A Straight & Curved Pathing Toggle For Exhibit Rides / Monorails

This is something that again I only really considered after the Return to Jurassic Park campaign, but the ability to more accurately fine tune my vehicle tours would be immensely helpful. Given how absolutely necessary the Tour Vehicles are for success, I found the current state of tour path creation very difficult and annoying at times. A straight to curved toggle would be a godsend across the board and should be added to all Tour Vehicle types. Gyrosphere, Safari Trucks and the Land Rovers. It might also be helpful to have something like this for the Monorail system, ensuring you don't have waste time and money manhandling tracks to go exactly where you want them to go.

Edit:

6. RJP: A Simple Arrow Sign

Just a sign with a large arrow instead of the Arrow + Landmark sign combo. Much like the generic Dinosaur signs, this would just be a nice little thing to have.

Reason for Edit: Copy and paste didn't go through like I thought it did.

 

[Gondrasia]

3. The Secrets of Dr. Wu / Cretaceous Dinosaur Pack: Size Adjustments & Carnotaurus Camouflage Gene

Size adjustments for the Olorotian and Dreadnoughtus have been a moderately requested fix by members of the community, so I won't go too far in explaining/justifying other than simply stating I agree. These dinosaurs are very underwhelming and could use some scaling up. The more important part of this combined suggestion is the addition of the Carnotaurus Camo gene. While it was great for Hybrid lovers (which I am not) to finally get the Camouflage gene for their beloved Indominus Rex, we non-hybrid fans feel a bit shafted. Especially since the ability was lifted from the Carno in The Lost World novel. Adding this ability to the Carnotaurus would be a great nod to the original Michael Crichton books and give people who aren't all that interested in hybrid dinosaurs something interesting to play around with outside of the hybrids central to the Secrets of Dr. Wu plot.

What would Dr. Wu’s motivation be to give Carnotaurus the ability to camouflage? Okay, it’s a nod to The Lost World novel but why would he suddenly decide to make out of all the dinosaurs in the game, Carnotaurus? The only way I could see this work is if he decides to make all of the other dinosaurs that were used in the creation of the Indominus rex camouflage compatible.

Also what about the Indoraptor and Ankylodocus?

Logically it makes sense and fits in canonically within the Jurassic World franchise to have an Indoraptor that can camouflage. The I. rex's DNA, which is compatible with Cuttlefish genes, formed the architecture of the Indoraptor. Surely within that architecture, there must be a gap to insert cuttlefish genes to the Indoraptor's genetic makeup like its ancestor?

Considering how it was designed to be a bio-weapon and not a park attraction and Fallen Kingdom has confirmed that the inclusion for cuttlefish genes to the genetic makeup was to give it the ability to camouflage, an Indoraptor with the ability to camouflage is the realisation of what Vic Hoskins ultimately planned for in his speech regarding the Indominus rex’s creation:

“Imagine. That one, a fraction of the size; deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology. A living weapon unlike anything we've ever seen. You see? Millions of years of evolution, what did we learn? Nature is the gift that just keeps on giving.”

As for the Ankylodocus, give it something unique; how about making it the only sauropod that can fight the Indominus rex. Currently, it is the weakest part of the Secrets of Dr. Wu and is a hybrid in name only; giving it this ability would make this a very unique and special dinosaur to have in our parks.

 

[JeffersMorning]

What would Dr. Wu’s motivation be to give Carnotaurus the ability to camouflage? Okay, it’s a nod to The Lost World novel but why would he suddenly decide to make out of all the dinosaurs in the game, Carnotaurus? The only way I could see this work is if he decides to make all of the other dinosaurs that were used in the creation of the Indominus rex camouflage compatible.

Also what about the Indoraptor and Ankylodocus?

Logically it makes sense and fits in canonically within the Jurassic World franchise to have an Indoraptor that can camouflage. The I. rex's DNA, which is compatible with Cuttlefish genes, formed the architecture of the Indoraptor. Surely within that architecture, there must be a gap to insert cuttlefish genes to the Indoraptor's genetic makeup like its ancestor?

Considering how it was designed to be a bio-weapon and not a park attraction and Fallen Kingdom has confirmed that the inclusion for cuttlefish genes to the genetic makeup was to give it the ability to camouflage, an Indoraptor with the ability to camouflage is the realisation of what Vic Hoskins ultimately planned for in his speech regarding the Indominus rex’s creation:

“Imagine. That one, a fraction of the size; deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology. A living weapon unlike anything we've ever seen. You see? Millions of years of evolution, what did we learn? Nature is the gift that just keeps on giving.”

As for the Ankylodocus, give it something unique; how about making it the only sauropod that can fight the Indominus rex. Currently, it is the weakest part of the Secrets of Dr. Wu and is a hybrid in name only; giving it this ability would make this a very unique and special dinosaur to have in our parks.

There are a lot of things in the game that nod to content outside of the movies. Troodon venom for instance. As far as I know, the only canon-depiction of Troodons are from the Jurassic World Live Show and the specimen shown is non-venomous. The Venom was inspired by the Telltale game. There doesn't need to be a story related reason for the inclusion of Carnotaurus camouflage, it could simply be a part of the Cuttlefish upgrade. Though if you really need one, the Carno could simply be treated as a prototype to the I-Rex, with different genome fixes being tested on them. Also the Indoraptor likely has more prominent Velociraptor genes since it's part Raptor and part I-Rex (which is also part Raptor) so it would probably be that the I-Raptor couldn't camouflage because the cuttlefish portion of its genome was weaker when compared to the I-Rex.

I also agree with you on the Ankylodopus. Out of all hybrids across the entire game, it's the least interesting. It could definitely use some tlc.

 

[Gondrasia]

There are a lot of things in the game that nod to content outside of the movies. Troodon venom for instance. As far as I know, the only canon-depiction of Troodons are from the Jurassic World Live Show and the specimen shown is non-venomous. The Venom was inspired by the Telltale game. There doesn't need to be a story related reason for the inclusion of Carnotaurus camouflage, it could simply be a part of the Cuttlefish upgrade. Though if you really need one, the Carno could simply be treated as a prototype to the I-Rex, with different genome fixes being tested on them. Also the Indoraptor likely has more prominent Velociraptor genes since it's part Raptor and part I-Rex (which is also part Raptor) so it would probably be that the I-Raptor couldn't camouflage because the cuttlefish portion of its genome was weaker when compared to the I-Rex.

I also agree with you on the Ankylodopus. Out of all hybrids across the entire game, it's the least interesting. It could definitely use some tlc.

Based on what we know from Jurassic World and the official Universal Studios tumblr page, the only changes that Dr. Wu really made to the Indominus' genetic makeup to make it smaller was substitute the Giganotosaurus DNA for more Velociraptor DNA in order to make it smaller.

But overall the Indoraptor's genetic makeup should almost be identical, considering how they used the bone from the very same animal that camouflaged in the events of the movie.

 

[JeffersMorning]

Based on what we know from Jurassic World and the official Universal Studios tumblr page, the only changes that Dr. Wu really made to the Indominus' genetic makeup to make it smaller was substitute the Giganotosaurus DNA for more Velociraptor DNA in order to make it smaller.

But overall the Indoraptor's genetic makeup should almost be identical, considering how they used the bone from the very same animal that camouflaged in the events of the movie.

True, but it is ostentatiously more Raptor-like than Rex-like. You also never know what kind of side-effects altering the genetic make up of an animal might have. The Camouflage in Jurassic World was two fold, coming from two different sources in the genome. The Heat Masking came from some sort of toad or frog if I remember, while the visual camouflage came from the cuttlefish DNA. Being able to hide its body heat was not an intended feature of the I-Rex and was not at all known about until after the ability was used during the escape. It's also possible that since the Indoraptor was a prototype certain portions of the genome were suppressed intentionally or just didn't function as intended, requiring further iteration and improvement to fully manifest.

 

[Gondrasia]

True, but it is ostentatiously more Raptor-like than Rex-like. You also never know what kind of side-effects altering the genetic make up of an animal might have. The Camouflage in Jurassic World was two fold, coming from two different sources in the genome. The Heat Masking came from some sort of toad or frog if I remember, while the visual camouflage came from the cuttlefish DNA. Being able to hide its body heat was not an intended feature of the I-Rex and was not at all known about until after the ability was used during the escape. It's also possible that since the Indoraptor was a prototype certain portions of the genome were suppressed intentionally or just didn't function as intended, requiring further iteration and improvement to fully manifest.

That’s true, but we have to consider that Dr. Wu in JWE & SoDW is in a much better position than he was in Fallen Kingdom. He has more leeway with his experiments, has a much larger facility to use and is better funded; so I believe he would be able to further refine the Indoraptor and develop it beyond the prototype that we see in the movie.

As for the thermal camouflage not being an intended feature, I believe it was an intentional feature by both Dr. Wu and Vic Hoskins. The former gave excuses in order to provide a veneer of legitimacy, that they were added in order to make it withstand an accelerated growth rate and acclimatise to a tropical environment.

Regarding the latter, firstly there was the aforementioned big villain speech and secondly just before the Asset Containment scene, Vic Hoskins said, “They’re gonna learn all kinds of things about their new asset now.” Shortly thereafter, Hoskins' premonition is fully realised as park staff both find out the hybrid's extreme intelligence and its ability to camouflage. Therefore the logical conclusion is that Vic Hoskins and Dr. Wu knew the majority of the hybrid's capabilities from its genetic makeup, and that they were all intentionally added as a test, a precursor to a project that would see InGen expand their genetic engineering technology within the Security sector, the Indoraptor.

 

[JeffersMorning]

That’s true, but we have to consider that Dr. Wu in JWE & SoDW is in a much better position than he was in Fallen Kingdom. He has more leeway with his experiments, has a much larger facility to use and is better funded; so I believe he would be able to further refine the Indoraptor and develop it beyond the prototype that we see in the movie.

As for the thermal camouflage not being an intended feature, I believe it was an intentional feature by both Dr. Wu and Vic Hoskins. The former gave excuses in order to provide a veneer of legitimacy, that they were added in order to make it withstand an accelerated growth rate and acclimatise to a tropical environment.

Regarding the latter, firstly there was the aforementioned big villain speech and secondly just before the Asset Containment scene, Vic Hoskins said, “They’re gonna learn all kinds of things about their new asset now.” Shortly thereafter, Hoskins' premonition is fully realised as park staff both find out the hybrid's extreme intelligence and its ability to camouflage. Therefore the logical conclusion is that Vic Hoskins and Dr. Wu knew the majority of the hybrid's capabilities from its genetic makeup, and that they were all intentionally added as a test, a precursor to a project that would see InGen expand their genetic engineering technology within the Security sector, the Indoraptor.

While I do agree that the in JWE (which is considered soft-canon btw, not hard-canon) Dr. Wu is in a far better position to engage in experiments outside of legal and moral obligation, there remains no evidence that the Indoraptor is an improved variant of what was shown in the movies. For all intents and purpose it is the same model of Indoraptor and like its movie counterpart, did not camouflage itself. Whether it COULD camouflage is another matter entirely, but speculation can take you anywhere. There is no reason to suspect the Indoraptor can/could engage in the same camouflaging behavior as the Indominus Rex. This isn't Lego Jurassic World where you can slap a Dilophosaurus head onto a Brachi and now you have an animal that can spit venom across the treetops. When you mix and match DNA, you're not going to get every feature the base animal DNA has to offer. Replacing the Giga DNA with even more Raptor DNA could easily have totally nullified any advantage the cuttefish elements imparted to the I-Rex rendering it little more than a Null Gene. It really depends on how different elements of the DNA strand interact with and influence each other.

As far as the Hoskins's comment on the I-Rex it always seemed to me that he was talking about it's extreme intelligence and combat potential. Not hinting at any deep secrets hidden in the animals genetic code. There also doesn't appear to be any link between Hoskins and Wu as far as the military-industrial complex goes. Wu is a creator, an artist I'm sure he'd tell us. His interests are solely in creation. For who and what purposes are irrelevant as long as he is allowed to continue his research. Hoskins definitely has militaristic ambitions and who can blame him given how many times extinct animals have proven to be lethal in the Jurassic Park/World canon.

Of course we also need to remember that Jurassic World Evolution exists in a different timeline than the Jurassic World movies. There may be some elements that overlap, but they are fundamentally different canons, with some influences migrating between them. What happens in one, doesn't necessarily happen in the other. Claire's Sanctuary shows a timeline where the events of Fallen Kingdom play out in favor of the DPG's efforts and the Lockwood incident doesn't appear to have happened. Return to Jurassic Park in a way completely removes The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 from the games canon. As interesting as it would be I don't think we'll ever get a camouflaging Indoraptor as neither game nor film canon support it. While that certainly doesn't mean it couldn't be a possibility, there's no external Indoraptor lore that could justify it. Nothing in the books, comics, games or toylines indicate that the Indoraptor was capable of camouflage. Headcanon and speculation are all we have on that front.

 

[JeffersMorning]

As much as I appreciate the discussion, I'd rather save any further Indoraptor talk for private messages. We've gone too far off track from the original topic of improving existing dlcs and I'd like to dial things back to that if possible. Are there any other suggestions I've made you think merits further contemplation?

 

[Gondrasia]

As much as I appreciate the discussion, I'd rather save any further Indoraptor talk for private messages. We've gone too far off track from the original topic of improving existing dlcs and I'd like to dial things back to that if possible. Are there any other suggestions I've made you think merits further contemplation?

Of course, I apologise for going overboard with the Indoraptor. But I do think it should have something else added to make it more special, perhaps have it be able to climb guest buildings like it did in Fallen Kingdom. But I digress.

Regarding your other suggestions, the straight and curved pathing toggle for the rides and monorail would definitely be a good addition to the game and make building them more convenient to players.

As for Dimorphoodon's inclusion in Return to Jurassic Park, I believe it would be best to save the Jurassic pterosaur for later. Perhaps in a “Return to Jurassic World” DLC? Instead, I would suggest Segisaurus as it is the only dinosaur from the original park brochure that’s to be included in the game.

 

[LordTrilobite]

Olorotitan is not the giant some people seem to think it is. It's big, but it's not one of the biggest hadrosaurs. Edmontosaurus, Magnapaulia and Shantungosaurus are all bigger.



Bigger palaeo feeders would indeed be nice though.

 

[JeffersMorning]

Of course, I apologise for going overboard with the Indoraptor. But I do think it should have something else added to make it more special, perhaps have it be able to climb guest buildings like it did in Fallen Kingdom. But I digress.

Regarding your other suggestions, the straight and curved pathing toggle for the rides and monorail would definitely be a good addition to the game and make building them more convenient to players.

As for Dimorphoodon's inclusion in Return to Jurassic Park, I believe it would be best to save the Jurassic pterosaur for later. Perhaps in a “Return to Jurassic World” DLC? Instead, I would suggest Segisaurus as it is the only dinosaur from the original park brochure that’s to be included in the game.

It's no problem. A little enthusiasm never killed anyone. xD

Well, for the Dimorphoodon since you can build the aviary in Jurassic World parks as well I do feel like it would be nice to have a little something extra. We got so little in the way of new Dinosaurs with this DLC that it just feels like a missed opportunity with me. Plus if it was added in a future dlc instead of an update, that would you mean you NEED to have RJP to be able use it and while RJP did show that DLCs can build upon each other, I don't feel like something so unique to one DLC should be used to force you to buy another.

Imagine if in order to get the fullest out of the Paleobotany from CS you had to get another expansion that added in new plants, or the capacity upgrades were withheld and were something important you got to unlock in RJP. An update would be far better suited to addressing such things as opposed to a DLC, especially since they've tweaked DLCs and added things to them in the past.

 

[JeffersMorning]

Olorotitan is not the giant some people seem to think it is. It's big, but it's not one of the biggest hadrosaurs. Edmontosaurus, Magnapaulia and Shantungosaurus are all bigger.



Bigger palaeo feeders would indeed be nice though.

I'm glad someone finally agrees with me on the Palaeo feeders. xD