With how often I read about the future of Jurassic World Evolution 2 when it comes to support in 2024 and theories about a possible sequel to coincide with the release of the upcoming Jurassic World movie, I am looking at the current state of JWE2. So far, I really like how it is, while there is room for improvement and ironing the many oddities and bugs, the game is at a very fun and repayable state.
However, if I were to single out a single issue I have with Jurassic World Evolution 2, I feel that the DFW, BioSyn, and Malta sets feel extremely underutilized in Custom Challenge Mode and rule heavy Sandbox Mode.
Whenever I play Jurassic World Evolution 2, I often go for either the Jurassic World or Jurassic Park building set in Custom Challenge Mode, as I feel that these two sets deliver a complete albeit traditional experience of a prehistoric park sim. I never go for the other 3 sets as the experience either has some lacking features, rules, or assets that would either partially or fully hinder the overall enjoyment these sets could deliver over the traditional World and Park sets.
DFW could allow players to fully focus on capturing wild dinosaurs without having to resort to genome expeditions, genetic modifications, or dinosaur incubation, the set appropriately reflects how the DFW is more of a response with having dinosaurs loose in the world instead of adding to the situation with their own incubation.
BioSyn could function as a park that focuses less on the commercial value of guests and more on dinosaur collection and research. The collection of research could be done by acquiring genomes from the exclusive access to the amber mines, capturing wild dinosaurs, or possibly acquiring them from the dinosaur exchange. All is fair for the Paleo-company that is leading the use of prehistoric animals after the events of Fallen Kingdom thanks to their advanced technology and networking.
Malta could function more like Jurassic World before by having the focus on earning income from tourists, but the best income is from trading your collection of dinosaurs to potential clients in the market, and possibly earning some new assets by making the risk and trading with ambiguous sellers. All the while, you balance out the trust with the authorities and underground to make sure your park is still operational.
All that I mentioned above are possible in Jurassic World Evolution 2, as you could experience these scenarios in the game's Campaign and Chaos Theory modes. The unfortunate thing is that you could not replicate a similar level of play in Custom Challenge Mode or Sandbox Mode, as the experience is not fully realized or completely omitted depending which set you are going for. Which is a shame as these three sets could deliver some much needed alternate forms of play in this prehistoric zoo sim, as I had a lot of fun growing my park not in the traditional manner of excavating fossils and incubating the acquired genomes. I will go into detail of each set below and what could be improved on:
DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE BUILDING SET
Of the three sets mentioned in this thread, this one delivers a mostly complete experience. You have all the building sets to grow your park to reach 5 stars, covering attractions, accommodation, power supply, and facilities that are thematically appropriate to the set, as well as the ability to capture wild dinosaurs thanks to recent updates. All in all, you could play a DFW focused game where players could capture wild dinosaurs and house them in a designated sanctuary that is funded by the United States Government Agency.
My request is more to fine-tune the experience by having a few additional settings and changes to make the experience just as dedicated to the theme:
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE DINOSAUR DIG SITES & RESEARCH
From my experience playing a custom game mode that is focused on DFW, I never liked how the player has access to dinosaur dig sites as it clutters the experience acquiring live capture dinosaurs in the expedition map, and a slew of research notifications of available dinosaurs to researchers your progress through your park. This setting to disable dinosaur dig sites would greatly help players wanting to focus on acquiring dinosaurs that already exist in the world and not be cluttered by unwanted dig sites in the expedition map and silencing the notifications of research not interested in. This would also help remove any sense of temptation to jump back to traditional dinosaur acquisition by acquiring genomes from the fossil record.
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE GUEST MANAGEMENT
This one is not as crucial as the ability to disable dinosaur dig sites as players may want their primary source of income to still come from guests. Still, the option to focus purely on enclosing dinosaurs without having to worry about guest needs, accommodation, and having income based on your dinosaur appeal and welfare could lead to a more sanctuary focused level of play.
DFW I believe is complete, it just needs a few sandbox tweaks in order for it to allow a complete dino rescue experience similar to how we experienced it in the main campaign and the Dominion Chaos Theory.
GIVE WILD DINOSAURS SOME (RANDOM) TRAITS
While writing this thread, I recently got to play a DFW themed game to see if there could be any improvements. Upon capturing 60+ dinosaurs of 9 different species, I noticed that non of them have any traits whatsoever, and that makes the experience rather boring honestly.
Traits are a great part of JWE2 as it gives your dinosaurs personality and characteristics that defines each of them. If every dinosaur is trait-less, then they feel very shallow. It could have been done so as to promote players to instead invest in genetically modifying their dinosaurs, but in a capture only game mode, it comes off delivering a boring experience. I suggest that not only should captured dinosaurs have traits, let them have traits that may not be possible from the incubation lab, as these are dinosaurs that are either exposed to the elements outside of the park be it wildlife or human interaction/interference. I want to capture a loner parasaurolophus that has been isolated from its herd, or a docile carnosaurus that could have been raised by humans, or an aggressive gallimimus that would make the pack tense if it became leader, or an intolerant brachiosaurus that could not stand other dinosaurs.
Having the traits be random with both positive and negative implications would allow for a much more interesting experience housing these animals. Remember, they were not incubated to satisfy the needs of a theme park, they are rescued by the DFW in order to make sure that these dinosaurs regardless of their background have a safe home.
HAVE SOME WILD CAPTURED DINOSAURS BE SICK OR INJURED
It does not matter if you are a dinosaur or not, the world is a very dangerous place. You are exposed to the elements of nature, diseases, wildlife, competing dinosaurs, human interference, or even poachers. Let the medical team get busy and make sure the dinosaurs are treated before being enclosed in the park, heal any injuries and cure any diseases that could lead to an outbreak. This could also be a great time to bring back psychological trauma, so we could create a section of the park to treat these animals with scientists hired to specifically handle these animals to be enclosed safely to be observed by guests and DFW personnel.
RANDOMIZE WILD CAPTURED DINOSAURS
In essence, all wild dinosaurs are randomized, but I noticed a pattern in which the animals I am notified are available for capture are dinosaurs that are available via park progression. My park is full of Dryosaur, Dracorex, Gallimimus, Struthiomimus, Nasutoceratops, Nodosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Kentrosaurus, and Coelophysis. These are animals that are attainable in a park with a 1 star rating. Let us have the option to truly open the gates of what is available. You may start a new game only to be told of wild diplodocus, spinosaurus, sinoceratops, ankylosaurus, or heaven forbid, a loose hybrid!!! Because regardless what is available, the player ultimately decides if they want to tackle housing the animal in their park, but the temptation to house such a star attraction so early on could bring about a great deal of fun.
INCREASE THE OPTIONS OF WILD DINOSAURS AT A TIME
I have played a DFW campaign where the setting of the wild dinosaur frequency is set to high. While I like how frequent it is, I do not like how it is often a single option at a time. I would like the experience of being provided multiple options at a time. Let me choose between 3, 4, or even 6 wild sighted dinosaur events. Each event has a 6 minute timeframe for the player to decide if they want to capture the animal. The player has to make the right choice as it will take time to capture the animal, and they are more likely to miss out on the other options. The fleeting opportunities would have players really gauge what is needed and what is possible for their game.
SOMETIMES, LET THE ATTEMPT AT WILD DINOSAUR CAPTURES BE UNSUCCESSFUL
I do not like how if you are presented with a wild capture, you are to at least to capture a single dinosaur, be it from a pack of 7 or a lone individual sighting. Let there be a rare chance that sometimes the attempt to capture wild dinosaurs will not lead to success, and that the higher the security rating of the animal, the less likely you are to capture the animal. This could lead to moments where a player see's a wild ceratosaurus, sends off the team to capture the animal, and as they are prepping the enclosure, they got news that the ceratosaurs escaped. It hurts, it sucks, but it leaves an impression that you are not always guaranteed a successful capture, especially for a high rating animal. So the next time the players tries capturing a similarly popular and hard to find animal, and succeeds, then it would feel amazing and rewarding.
BIOSYN BUILDING SET
The first expansion PDLC was a hefty one. To coincide with the launch of the JW Dominion movie, the Dominion BioSyn Expansion brought a lot of amazing cannon content to the game, the Italy based sanctuary map, the expansive Tundra Sierra Nevada, amazing new dinosaurs and variants, new campaign and chaos theory games, and BioSyn focused building set. An overall impressive package for players to enjoy.
My only critique about this is how the BioSyn focused building set does not allow for a progressional park building experience in challenge mode and limited sandbox mode. In unlimited sandbox play, the building set is fine if you do not care for guest management or power consumption, but if you want to play with those limitations for a more challenging experience, then the BioSyn set I find to be lacking.
The building assets brought for this set only ever covers for what is needed in the campaign game mode, which include the shelter, research and expedition facilities, incubation lab, large power station, MVU and Ranger stations, and signature invisible gate and fencing. This results in no toilets, accommodation buildings, arrival point, lagoon set, aviary set, tours, zip line, or underground attraction entrance, as all remaining items are replaced with DFW alternatives, giving it a rather incomplete feel. Furthermore, power has become an issue I keep facing when attempting a progressional BioSyn park in sandbox and challenge mode, as you need to reach 3.5 stars in order to research the power station, meaning you are stuck using multiple backup generators, with their limited power support and expensive refueling costs. I find it to be an overall uncomfortable experience and it made me not want to use BioSyn, as sometimes, BioSyn only build mode feels like DFW with a select number of high tech facilities.
I think there is room for the BioSyn building set to get some much needed TLC because there is a lot here that could be reworked and tweaked to delivery the BioSyn Sanctuary game outside of campaign mode.
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE GUEST MANAGEMENT
This setting would fit just as well with the BioSyn building set. When it came to the justification as to why a lot of buildings is not present for the Biosyn set such as toilets, accommodations, and attractions, the justification was to be in line with how BioSyn sanctuary is as a company in the JW universe. BioSyn unlike InGen is less interested in running a theme park and is more interested running a research facility, so let us have the option to build a park where guest management is not a concern.
By disabling the need to manage guests and focus on dinosaur appeal and welfare, playing with BioSyn building set would feel more appropriate as you should have all that you need from the get go without relying on the DFW set. This would allow for a game mode similar to what we have in the BioSyn campaign.
HAVE THE BIOSYN RESEARCH FACILITY BE A PLACEABLE ITEM
If the iconic building of Jurassic Park is the Visitor Center, and the Innovation Center is the iconic building of Jurassic World, then BioSyn would not be BioSyn without the Research Facility.
In campaign mode, BioSyn research facility is this upgradable building that you need to set up to start your park in order to progress the campaign's narrative. In Sandbox mode, that growth is unnecessary and you simply utilize the research facility as the arrival point in your park, only on the Sanctuary Map.
I think that should be what the Research Facility's function should be in Custom Challenge Mode and Sandbox mode. While not as fulfilling as a functional facility, it would be a more thematically appropriate arrival point for any BioSyn build, especially when it comes to utilizing the hyper loop system from the get go. It would require the building to be remodeled in order to be situated from the mountain as shown above, but if this building is possible, then BioSyn sanctuary could feel like BioSyn Sanctuary thanks to the signature building, regardless which map you decide to build the sanctuary on.
A SMALL POWER STATION / ACCESS THE POWER STATION EARLY
The BioSyn set, similar to the Malta set, has only a single power station, which functions as the set's large power station. Because of how Challenge and Sandbox research is structured, you could only access this power station at 3.5 stars, with only your power generators as a source of power reaching that point.
This is very inefficient, as the power generators only cover so many units per generator, and the player has to refuel the generator every time it goes empty by paying more than $400,000. With how frequent you have to refuel these generators, you are very likely to run out of money if you are playing in harder challenge/sandbox settings.
The only solutions I think could work is if frontier would create a small power station that could be placed in the research tree for the players to unlock when starting a park, or have it so that this power station is coded to be unlock able as a small power station if played with "Only BioSyn Building Set", so that it would not clash with the all building set option.
BIOSYN THEMED RESEARCH PAGE
In the BioSyn campaign, your research page is thematically appropriate to the research facility, where you unlock each level of research during the course of the campaign.
I think simply having the aesthetics of the BioSyn research page alone would be sufficient, as the progress unlocking each level was to simply satisfy the campaign's narrative. If the research pages and nodes were laid out to fit the research facility's aesthetic, as well as retaining the research facility's interior with the walking peeps, the aesthetic alone would be a nice refresher when playing with BioSyn buildings only.
ACCESS TO THE AMBER MINES
The amber mines has the potential to be so much fun outside of campaign mode. While the current fossil expeditions could allow players access to all of an unlocked dinosaur's dig sites, the amber mine would instead layer the experience. So while you could unlock access to a dinosaur's genome, that dinosaur may not have 100% genomes fully available until you reach the deeper layers of the amber mines.
CONTAIN PTEROSAURS WITH THE INVISIBLE FENCING
If it is possible for pterosaurs to be coded to know that a powered invisible fence would be an impassible barrier, then there is an amazing potential to house these pterosaurs in a similar manner to the Aerial Deterrent System.
The game thanks to multiple updates, allow players to drop down pterosaurs anywhere in the park, which I have used in times to have pterosaurs fry free in some of my parks. If you could airdrop them into an area that is fenced with invisible fencing, then you could create the more free form aviary where you are not limited by terrain constraints, and are able to house these pterosaurs with other dinosaurs. You could still medicate and tranquilize them normally without the use of the Aviary's drones. The catch is, that once the fencing loses power, then the pterosaurs would be able to escape and cause terror.
The point being that the ability to contain pterosaurs thanks to the invisible fencing could allow for an amazing experience that is BioSyn exclusive, where it is encouraged and recommended even to house pterosaurs together with your dinosaurs out in the open, and deliver a park that truly feels free despite the hidden restrictions the facility implemented with these invisible fencing.
HIGHER DINOSAUR SPECIES REQUIREMENT TO WIN
In the current setup, if players decide to set the required species count to Jurassic, it will always be 25. While this is fine an all, if players want to really expand their collection provided they have the system to support it, then they should be able to set the number of species required to win the custom challenge game. So I could for example pick a large map, and could set the species requirement to 40, as I know my PS5 and map size could handle the goal mark, or at least try the experience out for myself and see if I could successfully reach that goal.
SET DINOSAUR POPULATION REQUIREMENT TO WIN
I feel this could be a good requirement to win a custom challenge game, where you could win by reaching a dinosaur population your map could manage. I often go for a 5-star park with a 25 species goal limit, and I would like to add a population limit to make the challenge game just as engaging. I often reach parks of 100 animals or higher, and I would like to set the population requirement to 150, 200, or above so as to add to the challenge of reaching a high population while keeping the animals alive and healthy to reach those numbers.
MALTA BUILDING SET
The Malta Campaign is by far my favorite campaign, not only because of the ability to jump between maps with a lot of progress to be made, but because of the new gameplay where players utilize the black dinosaur market to acquire and sell animals, and having to network with the underground and authorities to unlock new park assets and establish as the new tourist attraction. The shift to the new form of dinosaur acquisition and balancing the factors outside of your park is fun, and one I am sadden we could not experience in Custom Challenge or Sandbox mode. Granted, we could access the dinosaur market in sandbox, but a lot of components are missing or un-tweakable that it hinders the experience the Malta game presented to us.
A SMALL POWER STATION / ACCESS THE POWER STATION EARLY
A similar situation with the BioSyn set, the Malta set only has a large power station that is only accessible at 3.5 stars. The same issues experienced in that set is experienced here as well.
HAVE THE DINO MARKET ACCESSIBLE IN CUSTOM CHALLENGE MODE
The dinosaur market is available in sandbox mode, but not available in custom challenge mode. This effectively makes the Malta gameplay not possible in custom challenge mode. Needles to say, it would be great if we could enable this in custom challenge mode with a few modifiers.
• THE OPTION TO RANDOMIZE DINOSAURS AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET
From my experience dabbling with the market in sandbox mode, the dinosaurs available there are tied to your star rating. I think it would be more interesting if players are able to access some later dinosaurs early on, or even be fooled to get a late dinosaur guised as an early one or vise versa. The ability to see all options from the get go could add to the feel of a market, where players are able to purchase whatever they see provided they could afford it or even risk getting something else completely.
• SET THE RARITY OF DINOSAUR GENOMES
Let us be able to set how common we see dinosaur genomes for sale in the market, could we select from a batch of 10 or 20 buyers? Or set it so one or two sellers are available. Making the genomes rare or not would add to the fun of how much the player has to rely on live specimens from the market. If possible, players that are more daring could disable buying dinosaur genomes altogether.
• THE OPTION TO MODIFY THE PRICE OF THE DINOSAURS AND GENOMES IN THE MARKET
One small issue I had was that the dinosaurs available in the market in sandbox mode were surprisingly very affordable, where there is not much struggle or thought deciding if you want to choose certain dinosaurs over others. While prices tend to vary in the market, I think a setting to set the average cost of dinosaurs and genomes in the market could allow players to tailor the difficulty of finding good dinosaurs for the right price in the market.
• LET US SELL DINOSAURS
Let us sell the dinosaurs via the market, it is really fun to find and secure a client to sell a specific set of dinosaurs to, be it from animals recently acquired from the market, or by incubating a batch from the genomes acquired. Let us also set the price how much these clients would pay, so you could determine if they are the main source of park income, or if you should focus more on what you have and cater to your guests.
LET US ENABLE AUTHORITIES AND UNDERGROUND RELATIONS
The ability to balance your ties with the authorities and underground could help twist the experience. You could get contracts that would benefit one or the other, have research be locked away by either division until you get your trust, have sales of dinosaurs in the market affect your ties, or be able to access certain species that are locked away by either division.
This balance harkens back to how in JWE1, park progression and assets are tied by the entertainment, scientist, and security divisions. I find the balance between the authorities and underground to be much more interesting as you are trusting individuals outside of your park, and the benefits and consequences from these relations feel more appropriate.
SET PARK SAVINGS AS A REQUIREMENT TO WIN
When playing in Malta, is your focus more on the park, or the financial gain of dinosaur sales? I think adding a new end requirementl to reach a high amount of savings would add to your goal if financial gain is what you are after. Let us attempt to reach a 5 star park that has let you to earn 20 million dollars in savings, or go crazy with the sales exchange of the market and aim to get 500 million or even a billion dollars in the game. Having too much money takes away from the struggles of growing your park, but if your ultimate goal is to be rich and you have the means to exploit that gain, then seeing your savings skyrocket to ludicrous amounts may be what the tycoon in you is looking for.
ADDITIONAL MALTA THEMED ATTRACTIONS
Unlike BioSyn, I believe Malta has more of a goal establishing a theme park, albeit one that acts as a cover to their underground dinosaur market. So there are more Malta themed attractions this time around, including aviaries, lagoons, and tours.
I think adding a Malta themed viewing tower, zipline, and underground attraction entrance should make this set equally complete as the JP, JW, and DFW building sets. Everything else from toilets, to shelters, hotels and the like are appropriately themed.
Alongside that, I think adding the JP fencing and pylons to the set would be great, as the JP assets feels more rustic when compared to the current JW selection.
There could be additional changes such as management page to thematically match the chosen building set, as well as having the research pages and icons to match the selected building set, but the ones I shared above are areas I think could help add to the other building sets, at least to have them be an approachable option in custom challenge mode which would allow to experience a new way of running a dinosaur park compared to the tried and true Jurassic Park and Jurassic World sets. If such changes could be made, it could open up the replayability of custom challenge mode by having these experiences mix together, such as Jurassic World using the invisible fencing for their aviary, BioSyn to capture dinosaurs in the wild, or the DFW housing dinosaurs that were earned in the market.
Have you tried any of these sets in Custom Challenge Mode? I also want to hear your thoughts. I am currently going for a DFW themed dinosaur rescue game in Custom Challenge Mode, which has been an engaging experience despite all dinosaurs rescued are trait-less and in perfect health. Otherwise, I could not see myself engaging in a BioSyn or Malta game due to the lack of a proper source of power early game, and the complete omission of the dinosaur Market for the latter.
Thanks for reading
However, if I were to single out a single issue I have with Jurassic World Evolution 2, I feel that the DFW, BioSyn, and Malta sets feel extremely underutilized in Custom Challenge Mode and rule heavy Sandbox Mode.
Whenever I play Jurassic World Evolution 2, I often go for either the Jurassic World or Jurassic Park building set in Custom Challenge Mode, as I feel that these two sets deliver a complete albeit traditional experience of a prehistoric park sim. I never go for the other 3 sets as the experience either has some lacking features, rules, or assets that would either partially or fully hinder the overall enjoyment these sets could deliver over the traditional World and Park sets.
DFW could allow players to fully focus on capturing wild dinosaurs without having to resort to genome expeditions, genetic modifications, or dinosaur incubation, the set appropriately reflects how the DFW is more of a response with having dinosaurs loose in the world instead of adding to the situation with their own incubation.
BioSyn could function as a park that focuses less on the commercial value of guests and more on dinosaur collection and research. The collection of research could be done by acquiring genomes from the exclusive access to the amber mines, capturing wild dinosaurs, or possibly acquiring them from the dinosaur exchange. All is fair for the Paleo-company that is leading the use of prehistoric animals after the events of Fallen Kingdom thanks to their advanced technology and networking.
Malta could function more like Jurassic World before by having the focus on earning income from tourists, but the best income is from trading your collection of dinosaurs to potential clients in the market, and possibly earning some new assets by making the risk and trading with ambiguous sellers. All the while, you balance out the trust with the authorities and underground to make sure your park is still operational.
All that I mentioned above are possible in Jurassic World Evolution 2, as you could experience these scenarios in the game's Campaign and Chaos Theory modes. The unfortunate thing is that you could not replicate a similar level of play in Custom Challenge Mode or Sandbox Mode, as the experience is not fully realized or completely omitted depending which set you are going for. Which is a shame as these three sets could deliver some much needed alternate forms of play in this prehistoric zoo sim, as I had a lot of fun growing my park not in the traditional manner of excavating fossils and incubating the acquired genomes. I will go into detail of each set below and what could be improved on:
DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE BUILDING SET
Of the three sets mentioned in this thread, this one delivers a mostly complete experience. You have all the building sets to grow your park to reach 5 stars, covering attractions, accommodation, power supply, and facilities that are thematically appropriate to the set, as well as the ability to capture wild dinosaurs thanks to recent updates. All in all, you could play a DFW focused game where players could capture wild dinosaurs and house them in a designated sanctuary that is funded by the United States Government Agency.
My request is more to fine-tune the experience by having a few additional settings and changes to make the experience just as dedicated to the theme:
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE DINOSAUR DIG SITES & RESEARCH
From my experience playing a custom game mode that is focused on DFW, I never liked how the player has access to dinosaur dig sites as it clutters the experience acquiring live capture dinosaurs in the expedition map, and a slew of research notifications of available dinosaurs to researchers your progress through your park. This setting to disable dinosaur dig sites would greatly help players wanting to focus on acquiring dinosaurs that already exist in the world and not be cluttered by unwanted dig sites in the expedition map and silencing the notifications of research not interested in. This would also help remove any sense of temptation to jump back to traditional dinosaur acquisition by acquiring genomes from the fossil record.
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE GUEST MANAGEMENT
This one is not as crucial as the ability to disable dinosaur dig sites as players may want their primary source of income to still come from guests. Still, the option to focus purely on enclosing dinosaurs without having to worry about guest needs, accommodation, and having income based on your dinosaur appeal and welfare could lead to a more sanctuary focused level of play.
DFW I believe is complete, it just needs a few sandbox tweaks in order for it to allow a complete dino rescue experience similar to how we experienced it in the main campaign and the Dominion Chaos Theory.
GIVE WILD DINOSAURS SOME (RANDOM) TRAITS
While writing this thread, I recently got to play a DFW themed game to see if there could be any improvements. Upon capturing 60+ dinosaurs of 9 different species, I noticed that non of them have any traits whatsoever, and that makes the experience rather boring honestly.
Traits are a great part of JWE2 as it gives your dinosaurs personality and characteristics that defines each of them. If every dinosaur is trait-less, then they feel very shallow. It could have been done so as to promote players to instead invest in genetically modifying their dinosaurs, but in a capture only game mode, it comes off delivering a boring experience. I suggest that not only should captured dinosaurs have traits, let them have traits that may not be possible from the incubation lab, as these are dinosaurs that are either exposed to the elements outside of the park be it wildlife or human interaction/interference. I want to capture a loner parasaurolophus that has been isolated from its herd, or a docile carnosaurus that could have been raised by humans, or an aggressive gallimimus that would make the pack tense if it became leader, or an intolerant brachiosaurus that could not stand other dinosaurs.
Having the traits be random with both positive and negative implications would allow for a much more interesting experience housing these animals. Remember, they were not incubated to satisfy the needs of a theme park, they are rescued by the DFW in order to make sure that these dinosaurs regardless of their background have a safe home.
HAVE SOME WILD CAPTURED DINOSAURS BE SICK OR INJURED
It does not matter if you are a dinosaur or not, the world is a very dangerous place. You are exposed to the elements of nature, diseases, wildlife, competing dinosaurs, human interference, or even poachers. Let the medical team get busy and make sure the dinosaurs are treated before being enclosed in the park, heal any injuries and cure any diseases that could lead to an outbreak. This could also be a great time to bring back psychological trauma, so we could create a section of the park to treat these animals with scientists hired to specifically handle these animals to be enclosed safely to be observed by guests and DFW personnel.
RANDOMIZE WILD CAPTURED DINOSAURS
In essence, all wild dinosaurs are randomized, but I noticed a pattern in which the animals I am notified are available for capture are dinosaurs that are available via park progression. My park is full of Dryosaur, Dracorex, Gallimimus, Struthiomimus, Nasutoceratops, Nodosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Kentrosaurus, and Coelophysis. These are animals that are attainable in a park with a 1 star rating. Let us have the option to truly open the gates of what is available. You may start a new game only to be told of wild diplodocus, spinosaurus, sinoceratops, ankylosaurus, or heaven forbid, a loose hybrid!!! Because regardless what is available, the player ultimately decides if they want to tackle housing the animal in their park, but the temptation to house such a star attraction so early on could bring about a great deal of fun.
INCREASE THE OPTIONS OF WILD DINOSAURS AT A TIME
I have played a DFW campaign where the setting of the wild dinosaur frequency is set to high. While I like how frequent it is, I do not like how it is often a single option at a time. I would like the experience of being provided multiple options at a time. Let me choose between 3, 4, or even 6 wild sighted dinosaur events. Each event has a 6 minute timeframe for the player to decide if they want to capture the animal. The player has to make the right choice as it will take time to capture the animal, and they are more likely to miss out on the other options. The fleeting opportunities would have players really gauge what is needed and what is possible for their game.
SOMETIMES, LET THE ATTEMPT AT WILD DINOSAUR CAPTURES BE UNSUCCESSFUL
I do not like how if you are presented with a wild capture, you are to at least to capture a single dinosaur, be it from a pack of 7 or a lone individual sighting. Let there be a rare chance that sometimes the attempt to capture wild dinosaurs will not lead to success, and that the higher the security rating of the animal, the less likely you are to capture the animal. This could lead to moments where a player see's a wild ceratosaurus, sends off the team to capture the animal, and as they are prepping the enclosure, they got news that the ceratosaurs escaped. It hurts, it sucks, but it leaves an impression that you are not always guaranteed a successful capture, especially for a high rating animal. So the next time the players tries capturing a similarly popular and hard to find animal, and succeeds, then it would feel amazing and rewarding.
BIOSYN BUILDING SET
The first expansion PDLC was a hefty one. To coincide with the launch of the JW Dominion movie, the Dominion BioSyn Expansion brought a lot of amazing cannon content to the game, the Italy based sanctuary map, the expansive Tundra Sierra Nevada, amazing new dinosaurs and variants, new campaign and chaos theory games, and BioSyn focused building set. An overall impressive package for players to enjoy.
My only critique about this is how the BioSyn focused building set does not allow for a progressional park building experience in challenge mode and limited sandbox mode. In unlimited sandbox play, the building set is fine if you do not care for guest management or power consumption, but if you want to play with those limitations for a more challenging experience, then the BioSyn set I find to be lacking.
The building assets brought for this set only ever covers for what is needed in the campaign game mode, which include the shelter, research and expedition facilities, incubation lab, large power station, MVU and Ranger stations, and signature invisible gate and fencing. This results in no toilets, accommodation buildings, arrival point, lagoon set, aviary set, tours, zip line, or underground attraction entrance, as all remaining items are replaced with DFW alternatives, giving it a rather incomplete feel. Furthermore, power has become an issue I keep facing when attempting a progressional BioSyn park in sandbox and challenge mode, as you need to reach 3.5 stars in order to research the power station, meaning you are stuck using multiple backup generators, with their limited power support and expensive refueling costs. I find it to be an overall uncomfortable experience and it made me not want to use BioSyn, as sometimes, BioSyn only build mode feels like DFW with a select number of high tech facilities.
I think there is room for the BioSyn building set to get some much needed TLC because there is a lot here that could be reworked and tweaked to delivery the BioSyn Sanctuary game outside of campaign mode.
THE ABILITY TO DISABLE GUEST MANAGEMENT
This setting would fit just as well with the BioSyn building set. When it came to the justification as to why a lot of buildings is not present for the Biosyn set such as toilets, accommodations, and attractions, the justification was to be in line with how BioSyn sanctuary is as a company in the JW universe. BioSyn unlike InGen is less interested in running a theme park and is more interested running a research facility, so let us have the option to build a park where guest management is not a concern.
By disabling the need to manage guests and focus on dinosaur appeal and welfare, playing with BioSyn building set would feel more appropriate as you should have all that you need from the get go without relying on the DFW set. This would allow for a game mode similar to what we have in the BioSyn campaign.
HAVE THE BIOSYN RESEARCH FACILITY BE A PLACEABLE ITEM
If the iconic building of Jurassic Park is the Visitor Center, and the Innovation Center is the iconic building of Jurassic World, then BioSyn would not be BioSyn without the Research Facility.
In campaign mode, BioSyn research facility is this upgradable building that you need to set up to start your park in order to progress the campaign's narrative. In Sandbox mode, that growth is unnecessary and you simply utilize the research facility as the arrival point in your park, only on the Sanctuary Map.
I think that should be what the Research Facility's function should be in Custom Challenge Mode and Sandbox mode. While not as fulfilling as a functional facility, it would be a more thematically appropriate arrival point for any BioSyn build, especially when it comes to utilizing the hyper loop system from the get go. It would require the building to be remodeled in order to be situated from the mountain as shown above, but if this building is possible, then BioSyn sanctuary could feel like BioSyn Sanctuary thanks to the signature building, regardless which map you decide to build the sanctuary on.
A SMALL POWER STATION / ACCESS THE POWER STATION EARLY
The BioSyn set, similar to the Malta set, has only a single power station, which functions as the set's large power station. Because of how Challenge and Sandbox research is structured, you could only access this power station at 3.5 stars, with only your power generators as a source of power reaching that point.
This is very inefficient, as the power generators only cover so many units per generator, and the player has to refuel the generator every time it goes empty by paying more than $400,000. With how frequent you have to refuel these generators, you are very likely to run out of money if you are playing in harder challenge/sandbox settings.
The only solutions I think could work is if frontier would create a small power station that could be placed in the research tree for the players to unlock when starting a park, or have it so that this power station is coded to be unlock able as a small power station if played with "Only BioSyn Building Set", so that it would not clash with the all building set option.
BIOSYN THEMED RESEARCH PAGE
In the BioSyn campaign, your research page is thematically appropriate to the research facility, where you unlock each level of research during the course of the campaign.
I think simply having the aesthetics of the BioSyn research page alone would be sufficient, as the progress unlocking each level was to simply satisfy the campaign's narrative. If the research pages and nodes were laid out to fit the research facility's aesthetic, as well as retaining the research facility's interior with the walking peeps, the aesthetic alone would be a nice refresher when playing with BioSyn buildings only.
ACCESS TO THE AMBER MINES
The amber mines has the potential to be so much fun outside of campaign mode. While the current fossil expeditions could allow players access to all of an unlocked dinosaur's dig sites, the amber mine would instead layer the experience. So while you could unlock access to a dinosaur's genome, that dinosaur may not have 100% genomes fully available until you reach the deeper layers of the amber mines.
CONTAIN PTEROSAURS WITH THE INVISIBLE FENCING
If it is possible for pterosaurs to be coded to know that a powered invisible fence would be an impassible barrier, then there is an amazing potential to house these pterosaurs in a similar manner to the Aerial Deterrent System.
The game thanks to multiple updates, allow players to drop down pterosaurs anywhere in the park, which I have used in times to have pterosaurs fry free in some of my parks. If you could airdrop them into an area that is fenced with invisible fencing, then you could create the more free form aviary where you are not limited by terrain constraints, and are able to house these pterosaurs with other dinosaurs. You could still medicate and tranquilize them normally without the use of the Aviary's drones. The catch is, that once the fencing loses power, then the pterosaurs would be able to escape and cause terror.
The point being that the ability to contain pterosaurs thanks to the invisible fencing could allow for an amazing experience that is BioSyn exclusive, where it is encouraged and recommended even to house pterosaurs together with your dinosaurs out in the open, and deliver a park that truly feels free despite the hidden restrictions the facility implemented with these invisible fencing.
HIGHER DINOSAUR SPECIES REQUIREMENT TO WIN
In the current setup, if players decide to set the required species count to Jurassic, it will always be 25. While this is fine an all, if players want to really expand their collection provided they have the system to support it, then they should be able to set the number of species required to win the custom challenge game. So I could for example pick a large map, and could set the species requirement to 40, as I know my PS5 and map size could handle the goal mark, or at least try the experience out for myself and see if I could successfully reach that goal.
SET DINOSAUR POPULATION REQUIREMENT TO WIN
I feel this could be a good requirement to win a custom challenge game, where you could win by reaching a dinosaur population your map could manage. I often go for a 5-star park with a 25 species goal limit, and I would like to add a population limit to make the challenge game just as engaging. I often reach parks of 100 animals or higher, and I would like to set the population requirement to 150, 200, or above so as to add to the challenge of reaching a high population while keeping the animals alive and healthy to reach those numbers.
MALTA BUILDING SET
The Malta Campaign is by far my favorite campaign, not only because of the ability to jump between maps with a lot of progress to be made, but because of the new gameplay where players utilize the black dinosaur market to acquire and sell animals, and having to network with the underground and authorities to unlock new park assets and establish as the new tourist attraction. The shift to the new form of dinosaur acquisition and balancing the factors outside of your park is fun, and one I am sadden we could not experience in Custom Challenge or Sandbox mode. Granted, we could access the dinosaur market in sandbox, but a lot of components are missing or un-tweakable that it hinders the experience the Malta game presented to us.
A SMALL POWER STATION / ACCESS THE POWER STATION EARLY
A similar situation with the BioSyn set, the Malta set only has a large power station that is only accessible at 3.5 stars. The same issues experienced in that set is experienced here as well.
HAVE THE DINO MARKET ACCESSIBLE IN CUSTOM CHALLENGE MODE
The dinosaur market is available in sandbox mode, but not available in custom challenge mode. This effectively makes the Malta gameplay not possible in custom challenge mode. Needles to say, it would be great if we could enable this in custom challenge mode with a few modifiers.
• THE OPTION TO RANDOMIZE DINOSAURS AVAILABLE IN THE MARKET
From my experience dabbling with the market in sandbox mode, the dinosaurs available there are tied to your star rating. I think it would be more interesting if players are able to access some later dinosaurs early on, or even be fooled to get a late dinosaur guised as an early one or vise versa. The ability to see all options from the get go could add to the feel of a market, where players are able to purchase whatever they see provided they could afford it or even risk getting something else completely.
• SET THE RARITY OF DINOSAUR GENOMES
Let us be able to set how common we see dinosaur genomes for sale in the market, could we select from a batch of 10 or 20 buyers? Or set it so one or two sellers are available. Making the genomes rare or not would add to the fun of how much the player has to rely on live specimens from the market. If possible, players that are more daring could disable buying dinosaur genomes altogether.
• THE OPTION TO MODIFY THE PRICE OF THE DINOSAURS AND GENOMES IN THE MARKET
One small issue I had was that the dinosaurs available in the market in sandbox mode were surprisingly very affordable, where there is not much struggle or thought deciding if you want to choose certain dinosaurs over others. While prices tend to vary in the market, I think a setting to set the average cost of dinosaurs and genomes in the market could allow players to tailor the difficulty of finding good dinosaurs for the right price in the market.
• LET US SELL DINOSAURS
Let us sell the dinosaurs via the market, it is really fun to find and secure a client to sell a specific set of dinosaurs to, be it from animals recently acquired from the market, or by incubating a batch from the genomes acquired. Let us also set the price how much these clients would pay, so you could determine if they are the main source of park income, or if you should focus more on what you have and cater to your guests.
LET US ENABLE AUTHORITIES AND UNDERGROUND RELATIONS
The ability to balance your ties with the authorities and underground could help twist the experience. You could get contracts that would benefit one or the other, have research be locked away by either division until you get your trust, have sales of dinosaurs in the market affect your ties, or be able to access certain species that are locked away by either division.
This balance harkens back to how in JWE1, park progression and assets are tied by the entertainment, scientist, and security divisions. I find the balance between the authorities and underground to be much more interesting as you are trusting individuals outside of your park, and the benefits and consequences from these relations feel more appropriate.
SET PARK SAVINGS AS A REQUIREMENT TO WIN
When playing in Malta, is your focus more on the park, or the financial gain of dinosaur sales? I think adding a new end requirementl to reach a high amount of savings would add to your goal if financial gain is what you are after. Let us attempt to reach a 5 star park that has let you to earn 20 million dollars in savings, or go crazy with the sales exchange of the market and aim to get 500 million or even a billion dollars in the game. Having too much money takes away from the struggles of growing your park, but if your ultimate goal is to be rich and you have the means to exploit that gain, then seeing your savings skyrocket to ludicrous amounts may be what the tycoon in you is looking for.
ADDITIONAL MALTA THEMED ATTRACTIONS
Unlike BioSyn, I believe Malta has more of a goal establishing a theme park, albeit one that acts as a cover to their underground dinosaur market. So there are more Malta themed attractions this time around, including aviaries, lagoons, and tours.
I think adding a Malta themed viewing tower, zipline, and underground attraction entrance should make this set equally complete as the JP, JW, and DFW building sets. Everything else from toilets, to shelters, hotels and the like are appropriately themed.
Alongside that, I think adding the JP fencing and pylons to the set would be great, as the JP assets feels more rustic when compared to the current JW selection.
There could be additional changes such as management page to thematically match the chosen building set, as well as having the research pages and icons to match the selected building set, but the ones I shared above are areas I think could help add to the other building sets, at least to have them be an approachable option in custom challenge mode which would allow to experience a new way of running a dinosaur park compared to the tried and true Jurassic Park and Jurassic World sets. If such changes could be made, it could open up the replayability of custom challenge mode by having these experiences mix together, such as Jurassic World using the invisible fencing for their aviary, BioSyn to capture dinosaurs in the wild, or the DFW housing dinosaurs that were earned in the market.
Have you tried any of these sets in Custom Challenge Mode? I also want to hear your thoughts. I am currently going for a DFW themed dinosaur rescue game in Custom Challenge Mode, which has been an engaging experience despite all dinosaurs rescued are trait-less and in perfect health. Otherwise, I could not see myself engaging in a BioSyn or Malta game due to the lack of a proper source of power early game, and the complete omission of the dinosaur Market for the latter.
Thanks for reading
