Planet Zoo | Americas Animal Pack | Announce

DarthQuell

DarthQuell
RightWhale said:
call me a doomer, but I unfortunately don’t think the Americas will see any more birds for the rest of development. I would love to be wrong though.
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I dunno, we never expected a revisit to SA, and we never expected several animals, like.the baboon, to appear. I think the door is always gonna be cracked open. That's how I feel packs will be from now on, assuming we get more (I think we'll get another. What else could they bundle this pack with?). I think DLCs will be more clone animals and nothing super special, but add some fillers here and there with 1 or 2 stars. I mean, the ocelot is the star of the pack. Maybe the saki, too.
The rest are fillers, I feel like.

But, it'll be enough to have more demand and potentially introduce a new pack down the line
 

Birb（｡･ө･｡）

Birb（｡･ө･｡）
RightWhale said:
This is more of a personal point, but after years of having to hear how important “mammal #10-20 is so important and different we need it for our builds!” I think we can afford a second flamingo. I get the reason why, but I think it’s unfair every bird option basically has to be something new, when we just added another caprine, two dogs, and another small cat. (Granted, I’ll still give it to people that the Flamingo would have been a better suited Free Update Animal, but my point still stands)
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I wish I could like this part a bajillion times lol.

Don't get me wrong, I get why - people are just trying to be realistic with the amount of birds Frontier gives us - but it sucks that discussions around birds tend to be "basic bird vs. other basic bird vs. iconic but maybe less basic bird that's still a good addition" as if we can only get one or the other, meanwhile with (most) mammals - especially carnivorans and ungulates - it's just "throw all of them in, why not". The issue isn't that picks like the American flamingo are bad, it's that Frontier should be giving us more birds in the first place so that these "either-or" decisions don't have to be made. Getting three or even five ungulates or carnivorans in one pack is easy peasy, but it's a struggle to get even two completely unrelated birds. I mean, it's ridiculous that we have to argue over things like getting either a duck or a pelican, a kiwi or a nēnē, a secretary bird or a grey crowned crane, an American flamingo or a scarlet ibis, etc when they're more than distinct enough from each other to get both, meanwhile we can fill up the same niche, far smaller mammal groups over and over again with no issue. We can get five caprines in four packs in a row, adding to a group that now has two genera (Ovis and Capra) with three species each, but getting a second waterfowl, even if it's just another swan, is a struggle.

The same kinda applies to primates to a lesser extent.
 
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The_Riot22

The_Riot22
DarthQuell said:
I wanna spread some Coyote love. As a Texan, we all have our family ranch (no, it's not a TV thing. But in my case we don't have animals.on our ranch anymore, since I was a baby)
We go up so often to the farm that it could be said I was raised in the country. We do have our share of wild animals, like white-tailed deer, rabbits, armadillos, skunks (which sprayed me once), raccoons, etc.

But, we also have a ton of coyotes. A ton. I hear them almost every night, especially on cold days. Their yips and screaming howls send chills...

So, last time I was up there, I had the bright idea to take a walk at night. By myself. As I'm walking down the pitch black road (because we have no streetlights and there are pine trees all around), I suddenly hear the coyote yips. And they weren't far, like on the other side of a strip of trees. I high tailed outta there and went home...

Another story. We had a family reunion back in 2016. Real nice, but it was during a drought. So, as we were outside eating BBQ and listening to some rockabilly, we saw a black dog walk right up to the porch, stared at.us for a moment, then ran off. We all assumed it was a stray dog, but since my dog is black we were afraid she got out. So my dad and I got in the truck to check on her back at the house. On our way we saw the black dog again: it was a black Coyote. It was crazy, we had never seen one. I didn't even know they could be that color until that moment. I've never seen it again.

And now the final story. Because the land is big and we have some swamps, we have a 4-wheeler. But I also use the bike to take the trash at the front of the property, which is a bit of a walk. So, as I was driving on the road, I saw a Coyote trot onto the dirt road and then turn around and go back into the forest. It was a distance away so I went to see it (plus, I had to go that way anyways). Y'all will not believe that it was.still there, about 20 feet away (which is something like 6 or 7 meters, I think). It was standing on a log and we just stared at each other for a few seconds. It them trotted off deeper into the woods...


So yeah, those are my Coyote stories. Hope y'all enjoyed them
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I live in suburban Chicago. Right across the street from by backyard used to be a thicket that had a coyote den. During the spring when I took my dog out early in the morning I could hear the coyote pups yipping as they played. It was so cute.

Unfortunately they ripped the thicket up last year and are turning it into a park.
 

The_Riot22

The_Riot22
RightWhale said:
  1. I genuinely don’t think the Flamingo took a slot over any other bird. TBH with how “easy” it would be to make it was probably chosen because of that. I can honestly say the same with the Rhea, and I can see an alternate universe where we got no birds in this pack because something at Frontier makes them think birds aren’t worth the effort. Other birds may have been more interesting yes, but I don’t think it’s “taking up a slot” but more “it fits best with what we can do, and would satiate some of the bird people”.
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I do agree with this. I think there's a reason Frontier chose 3 straight-up clones for this DLC...they didn't/couldn't spare the resources from PC2 and JWE3 to make a higher-effort DLC for PZ. So if they didn't choose flamingo/rhea they would choose another easier clone animal - think Guanaco or Brazilian Tapir - although they could have used the Crane rig and do a Sandhill Crane or something like that - but American Flamingo was higher requested than those others.
One clone that I think would have worked much better would be the Black Bear instead of the Coyote.
I would have swapped out the Coyote on the art for the Bighorn Sheep, blurred out the animals on the paper streamers, and shown a glimpse of the ABB on the poster with the Rhea(not a big fan of revealing 5 animals on the "teaser"). That would have softened the blow of not getting the Coati, while elevating the Bush Dog as a cool "surprise canine", and wouldn't require Frontier to have to put more resources into the DLC.
 

The Aardvark

The Aardvark
Speaking of... I really like that new photo we got of the Coyote.
It's the animal I'm least excited about, but it still looks fairly good. I get why some people aren't happy with the fur, but I personally love it - even more than the mod. The mod felt too "clean" for my liking.
 

Birb（｡･ө･｡）

Birb（｡･ө･｡）
I may have mixed feelings on the coyote as an in-game addition, but they're one of my favorite NA mammals IRL and I'm so happy to see all the stories folks are sharing. It's nice to see that there are more people out there who view them as the gorgeous keystone species they are and not the "worthless, murderous pests" they're often made out to be. They do such a good job at keeping overpopulated deer in check and controlling incredibly destructive invasive cat populations, I love seeing them in the wild IRL as they're a great sign of a healthy ecosystem.

The local zoo by my college has a very sweet bonded pair right next to the wolves, and they always curl up right beside the window like little fluffballs.
 
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FoxyDee

FoxyDee
DarthQuell said:
Imma make a TNT shack for my coyote😂
Who's with me?
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I am using this as an educational sign in my zoo. No doubt.
81OY0AP+RnS.jpg


Birb（｡･ө･｡） said:
I may have mixed feelings on the coyote as an in-game addition, but they're one of my favorite NA mammals IRL and I'm so happy to see all the stories folks are sharing. It's nice to see that there are more people out there who view them as the gorgeous keystone species they are and not the worthless, "murderous" pests they're often made out to be. They do such a good job at keeping overpopulated deer in check and controlling incredibly destructive invasive cat populations, I love seeing them in the wild IRL as they're a great sign of a healthy ecosystem.
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Totally agreed. I really dislike the term "pest" to be used on any animal to begin with but I feel like with the coyotes they are really misunderstood, just like for example hyenas.
 

RightWhale

RightWhale
Birb（｡･ө･｡） said:
I wish I could like this part a bajillion times lol.

Don't get me wrong, I get why - people are just trying to be realistic with the amount of birds Frontier gives us - but it sucks that discussions around birds tend to be "basic bird vs. other basic bird vs. iconic but maybe less basic bird that's still a good addition" as if we can only get one or the other, meanwhile with (most) mammals - especially carnivorans and ungulates - it's just "throw all of them in, why not". The issue isn't that picks like the American flamingo are bad, it's that Frontier should be giving us more birds in the first place so that these "either-or" decisions don't have to be made. Getting three or even five ungulates or carnivorans in one pack is easy peasy, but it's a struggle to get even two completely unrelated birds. I mean, it's ridiculous that we have to argue over things like getting either a duck or a pelican, a kiwi or a nēnē, a secretary bird or a grey crowned crane, an American flamingo or a scarlet ibis, etc when they're more than distinct enough from each other to get both, meanwhile we can fill up the same niche, far smaller mammal groups over and over again with no issue. We can get five caprines in four packs in a row, adding to a group that now has two genera (Ovis and Capra) with three species each, but getting a second waterfowl, even if it's just another swan, is a struggle.

The same kinda applies to primates to a lesser extent.
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Me when I have to hear about how badly we need x but then y is too much of a clone and shouldn’t be in a dlc (they both reuse the same rigs and 90% of the same animations as their predecessor)
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Me when I’m gonna have to hear how badly we now need x right after we already got y (both species are from the same family, and we already have w, v, u, and t from this group)
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Me when Frontier adds x multiple times in a row, but me getting y is like asking Sisyphus to roll the ball up the hill
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Me when x is not popular enough to sell in a DLC, but it was very important we got the different sized, different biome, and totally unique version of y only found in 10 zoos.
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Me when Frontier can’t do x but I have now seen modders do y 10 times over.
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Ok, memes aside, I am actually looking more forward to this pack now. Haha, just had to get this out of my system.
 
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