Park pack

Its me again with a new fresh idear.
I was thinking about how to string some cool animals into one pack, and damn, i think i found a logical solution that no one expects.
But first, some things about this pack and the update acompaniying it.
This pack is about building parks with free roaming animals for the guests to enjoy, maybe even to picknick with.
I would want three basegame changes for that to truly come to live:
  • designated picknick areas for guests, working like habitat zones, where they can walk everywhere that there traversable area allows, aswell as putting down picknick tables and dumpsters on the grass, maybe even letting the guests put down blankets and sit down. These areas should also get an attractiveness rating for how pretty they are decorated and influence the guests happyness accordingly
  • an option to have a habitat area, that is where all the other habitats arnt, atleast in a certain area. This would allow for free roaming animals in the zoo and the challange would be on not letting them into other habitats and having enough places with shelter food and water for them
  • this is very, very wishfull thinking, but changes to the exhibit system, including being able to select bodys of water and turn them into exhibits (important later).

But now onto the animals that you hopefully wont expect from the titlecard. They will all be animals that could be freeroaming/have walkthrough exhibit.

First on the list is the patagonian mara, held as a freeroaming animal in the zoo hagenbeck.
Native to the southern grasslands of southamerica, these large rodents are one of the major prey species in their ecosystem.
In zoos they are often seen in mixed southamerican exhibits with lamas or greather rheas, something that would be nice in planetzoo to make the lama more attractive.
But besides being a cute pillarof the grassland ecosystem, they have another special trait, unique to them under all mammals. Maras are monogamous and raise their pups with the help of both parents, something no other mammal does and that could be a fun way to apply the pack system in the game.
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The secound inhabitant of our park will spend most of their times in the ponds and lakes we offer them, the australian black swan.
A beautifull species of waterfowl thats common in parks all around the world, while still being usefull for distinct australian exhibits or as the central pond as an australian-area hub.
This is also the main reason why i choose the black swan over the mute one, as thouse might be more common in parks, but also only their. I would love to see them eventually but for now id rather have another australian species, just for flexibility sake and the fact that it gives a secound dimension to how habitats for the animal could be designed.
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Speaking of australian species, my third choice would be a wallaby! In particular the red-necked wallaby, also known as the Bennets-wallaby, as they are one of the most commonly held in captivity (8th most commonly kept species in europe)
They are your standard friendly wallaby, living both in petting zoos, thogether with other animals or alone in their habitats, doing wallaby stuff and being cute.
They are very common as petting zoo animals and a great fit for traveling our zoos, or just be in their habitats as the 8th most common zoo animal of europe, chilling and basking in their large fame of being seen everywhere and seen as nothing special. True heros, true troopers that deserve a spot in the game and will live up our random exhibits and australian sections.
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And now for the grande finale and big surprise, the largest rodent on earth and the chubbiest of all living cuddlefriends, the capybara.
These animals are known and loved for their chill attitude and powerfull ability to make friends with everybody, the true bro of the animal kingdom.
But do we want them in our parks? Yes, yes we do actually. Because of their calm and gentle nature they are great fits for walkthrough exhibits and can even get some extra room from intrusive guests by their aquatic nature, dipping in ponds and chilling on their little island paradises.
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As the exhibit animals i had a special idear, reminded of japanese and chinese gardens and the fact that most parks dont have terrariums go figure.
But with the exhibit animal update we would gain 4 new critters, atleast in a perfect world we would.
Both iguanas would be updated to being both exhibit and habitat animals, aswell as being a perfect fit for the theme of the pack. This would allready be enough for my taste, but we are dreamers right? So lets dream of an actually new animal.
Remember the pond exhibits?
I want koi, the charismatic giant asian domestic goldfish to live in the ponds of our parks, in the best case with alot of color and using the breeding system for color mixes.
And if we get the koi, updating the terrapin to also be able to live in ponds, maybe with the help of actual spawn points we could place as rocks, woodpieces or just pointers underwater which will be the points the turtles will be ported to. Both the koi and the terrapins would be more of a wishfull feaver dream then something i actually belive in, but comeone, building beautifull asian gardens with ponds filled with kois and some turtles sounds amazing and super fun!
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And thats it! I hoped you liked this surprise half australian and half southamerican pack, i took inspiration from the aquatic pack and just like the aquatic pack i would like some geneal pieces, primarly and lot more flowers and foliage, but if we would get the kois also some new building pieces for the east asian set, like the african pack that added new pieces to an existing pack.
I hoped you like this and had as much fun reading it as i had creating it and if you have other cool idears of some freeroaming parkstyle animals or even fitting scenery, feel free to tell me and the rest of us in the comments
 
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Neat idea. Unfortunately the guests are intrinsically tied to paths - AFAIK they are not part of a separate system, so making an area where guests can roam off-path would require a huge change to the game engine. That said, you can functionally create an "off-path" area using the terrain path (which would work even better if there was a way to remove the kerb markers).

Additionally, though, there's the point that allowing guests to "picnic" with exotic animals is a big no-no. reputable zoos manage their animals' diets extremely closely, and having areas where guests can bring food in to where the animals are free-roaming is a recipe for disaster. It's already complicated with walkthrough habitats, but in most cases guests are confined to specific parts of the habitat so their litter is at least easy to find.

Overall, though, I really do like the idea of a random pack full of walkthrough animals. It's an interesting concept and a pretty clever way to get the capybara in.
 
I think this is a really really great idea, but I don't know how it could be coded. Not just the guests being tied to a path, but the free roaming aspect of the animals. Don't get me wrong, the picks are great and the concept is as well, but I don't see it happening.
 
I see where you are coming from, but like stated in the first part this whole concept is based on an actual zoo, with freeroaming maras and some of the other species.
Its the zoo hagenbeck in Hamburg and as far as i know they have done this for years and i would doubt that that would still fly if incidences had happend, especally with them having reportetly alot of success in breeding.
But on the other hand its really hard to find evidence that they even exist there besides recent blogposts and all the pictures,so weird.
But i remember when i was there they told us quite strict rules about not feeding the freeroaming animals unless it was with their food, so maybe humans are sometimes actually capeable of listening and not be douches.
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And with the stuff about the engine, thats sad. I didnt knew that they were that tight to the paths, especally when your employees can free roam, but that sure is a pity. The idear with the nature paths is great though, dont mind me stealing that for my picknick areas!


But hey the point when your neat idears start butting heads with the systems you find out interesting ways how to expand the system.
Not that i belive that its my head thats showing the way, but still interesting thought, maybe even worth an own thread about how to push/expand the engine.
 
In Hagenbeck it is basically the whole zoo these animals can move around on, while guests still have to stay on the paths for most of the park (if I remember correctly). So in the end it works more like a big walk through rather than one big shared area. The animals have plenty of places they can go for peace without guest being able to get close.

So I don't think there is need for big changes in the game to make something similar.

These animals would for sure be great to have!
 
That there chill vibes come through to all other species. There are not many animals that are so consistenly friendly with literally everything, even in the wild and where the other animals are also friendly with them.
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They are a true bro, the kronk of the animal kingdom
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Oh it literally means nothing and its certanly not meant homophobic. Im sorry if it sounded like that.
Its just a term from slang, nothing more. Was very popular when people started to get out of toxic masculinity, but where still akward about it ad has ingrained itself into (atleast german) slang and lowkey meme culture
 
I like this idea. Like I said in a thread about having some more traditional front end zoo animals such as swans,waterfowl,turkeys,pelicans,and a fish pond. It would be great to kick off a zoo with a medium sized pond with mute or black swans.
 
Oh it literally means nothing and its certanly not meant homophobic. Im sorry if it sounded like that.
Its just a term from slang, nothing more. Was very popular when people started to get out of toxic masculinity, but where still akward about it ad has ingrained itself into (atleast german) slang and lowkey meme culture
It’s homophobic and has been reported.
 
Im sorry? I have edited it out. i dont want to offend anyone
It's not about me feeling it is insensitive.

It's about you casually using a phrase that is clearly homophobic and thinking that is ok.

It's about the message you send to other people, especially younger people, that it's ok to casually use something rooted in hate, homophobia and toxic masculinity and dismissing it as "slang, nothing more".

I am glad you deleted it but it's important we all understand why it is homophobic and that it is even more unacceptable in a forum like this that celebrates pride, in pride month, when your country and football team stands up so strongly against homophobia.

I stress that it's not about me being offended, it is about everyone feeling, knowing that they are welcome here. That they are in a safe space, that they are valued and they are appreciated. That we all count, we all matter.
 
It's not about me feeling it is insensitive.

It's about you casually using a phrase that is clearly homophobic and thinking that is ok.

It's about the message you send to other people, especially younger people, that it's ok to casually use something rooted in hate, homophobia and toxic masculinity and dismissing it as "slang, nothing more".

I am glad you deleted it but it's important we all understand why it is homophobic and that it is even more unacceptable in a forum like this that celebrates pride, in pride month, when your country and football team stands up so strongly against homophobia.

I stress that it's not about me being offended, it is about everyone feeling, knowing that they are welcome here. That they are in a safe space, that they are valued and they are appreciated. That we all count, we all matter.
Ofcourse everybody matters and homophobia sucks, i agree. Members of the LGBTQ are also just fellow humans and shouldnt be treated any differently.
And your right, i shouldnt have used such a phrase as lightly and should have thought about the implications first, i just didnt cause im used to so casually hearing it that i didnt even bat an eye.
Thank you that was an actual reality check for me, sorry for being blind. I havent even thought about it as demoting homosexuals to something lesser and just as another casual jokey phrase that you heard all the time. Really thx i think that one was sorely needed and i doubt i will use the phrase in the future and think first before saying similar things.
 
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