... The Asian Black Bear is in the game though?
Spring 2024 DLC Speculation
- Thread starter The Carcharodontogenius
- Start date
all I want is modular or just better exhibits that alone would add so much to the game as it would essentially add 34 new animals to the game
Speaking for myself, and probably a lot of people, I don't hate the concept of fully aquatic animals and I think that manatees are awesome animals. But...they're the only fully aquatic animal that regularly shows up on pack ideas/wishlists/meta lists with any significant amount of votes.
As of right now, we do not have anything in place for fully aquatic animals. And I'm not sure why the Manatee continues to get a free pass/exception to this this. Could Frontier code in and introduce fully aquatic animals? Sure..and I'd honestly put the manatee as one of the top animals that should be included in such a pack. But until we see that there's proof in game for fully aquatic animals, I consider them not possible according to what we know of the game's coding as it stands.
yes and no, a subspecies of it is ingame but not the general species or even the nominate subspecies which means there still is a want for it even though its redundant.
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They 100% are possible same as birds in the walkthrough exhibits are they just havent done it. modders have already made reasonable fully aquatic animals the only problem is getting them into the water which would be as simple as adding an alternative habitat gate which has been done before.
The reason the manatee feels like an exception to many people and this is pretty much entirely speculation is that a manatee could be standalone it dosent need multiple others to support it a single dolphin or cetacean might work but it would look odd in a game with only a handful of ocean based semi aquatics to have a dolphin and it would be even weirder to have a single fish.
Hence, not currently possible in the game as far as we know.
Saying the manatee could make it in is fine, it’s not realistic but fine; but saying that the manatee is the only aquatic that can make it in the game or the only one that is probable for the game makes no sense to me at all. If people want the manatee they should also want other aquatics, it shouldn’t get a pass when it’s mechanics are no different than other ocean creatures.
To me the difference isnt in mechanics, but in vibe.
Imo fish would not work that well in the game as they simply would need to many to make a meaningfull difference, while also being more tricky to implement.
Where would the line be for exhibit or habitat fish?
Imo the only fish that would make sense in a vacuum without a larger aquarium expanison/focus across multiple dlc would be the koi as they feel fine in just any pond, and while id love to have them, i doubt that they are nessecarly what people long for when talking about fish.
Cetaceans imo would be fine, but thats so controversial i just dont care talking about it, as people will never agree.
But they also would work better in isolation/low numbers then fish, with just a dolphin alone working fine, but a beluga or orca aswell also being neat.
But now the manatee, the manatee has 3 big advantages:
1. They work well as just a solo creature, they wouldnt need a whole aquarium around them like any fish would
2. Theres no controversie about keeping them in captivity, unlike cetaceans
3. Manatees would most likly be rather easy to implement, as they are slow moving, inactive large blobs. I love them, but defenetly sounds much easier then a fish or a dolphin, so they dont even feel unfeasible or atleast less so then the others.
I just find it crazy that most of the community gave up on aquatics at around the beginning of 2023 and started to pinpoint on birds as the last resort, but now the general community is focused on habitat birds more than flying birds which makes sense, but now we are back to talking about a fully aquatic species which regardless of how different it is from its captivity status or how many can be held, still doesn't require any less work than any other large aquatic species. They still would need a fully water habitat that requires probably new animations for the keeper, a new deck for keepers or the new diver type staff to load the animal off at, adding in the actual animal animations, it just seems like way too much especially given the status of frontiers team right now. Pack after pack recently we have had mostly clones and 1-2 new rigs/high work animals each pack, and if they are saving up their time for something which I really don't think they are, I highly doubt it would be a manatee. I just can't see it.
Im honest i think you all are overthinking fully aquatic habitats.
We allready got the water clean machines and for access, literally just having the keeper walk to the body of water in the habitat would do the trick.
I strongly doubt that it would be that hard to choose a body of water in the habitat to put the animal in instead on land
We allready got the water clean machines and for access, literally just having the keeper walk to the body of water in the habitat would do the trick.
I strongly doubt that it would be that hard to choose a body of water in the habitat to put the animal in instead on land
I can see the manatee or any other aquatics in like a big final update with a whole load of feature and new mechanics as full aquatics would naturally require a huge update. Not expecting anything anytime soon though if ever really, frontier is probably continue to play it safe and continue ticking off meta wishlist animals that they know will guarantee sales.
Although as @KönigDerKaffeebohnen says, we are already at least half way there in implementation of full aquatic habitats or even aquatic exhibits. The only major feature missing is keeper access to a full body of water, which can be avoided completely by using the magic appear and disappear mechanics that the walkthrough exhibit box uses.
Although as @KönigDerKaffeebohnen says, we are already at least half way there in implementation of full aquatic habitats or even aquatic exhibits. The only major feature missing is keeper access to a full body of water, which can be avoided completely by using the magic appear and disappear mechanics that the walkthrough exhibit box uses.
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Imagine we get fully aquatics before birds 
I’m still not expecting it. Sure we’ve had the water cleanliness settings, the colour of the water, great, keeper can walk to the water body, sure, but we’ve had all these things since the SEA pack I believe. It doesn’t make sense that this would be something to get this late in the games cycle, let alone at the very end when there would probably be a lot of bugs and the possibilities are opened right when frontiers doors close. We know frontiers team is probably not looking good, the last few packs have been getting less and less attention, it feels way too late to introduce a new “kind” (fully aquatic) animal this late. I had a tiny bit of hope for birds last winter cause it seemed like frontier was getting back to birds (habitat ones), but we haven’t got a single clue or hint or anything that could lead to an full aquatic animal. Nothing to do with the water has been in the last updates that I can remember, it just feels like a really weird time to start getting back on the fully aquatic train when we are basically potentially nearing the end of the games life.
I’m still not expecting it. Sure we’ve had the water cleanliness settings, the colour of the water, great, keeper can walk to the water body, sure, but we’ve had all these things since the SEA pack I believe. It doesn’t make sense that this would be something to get this late in the games cycle, let alone at the very end when there would probably be a lot of bugs and the possibilities are opened right when frontiers doors close. We know frontiers team is probably not looking good, the last few packs have been getting less and less attention, it feels way too late to introduce a new “kind” (fully aquatic) animal this late. I had a tiny bit of hope for birds last winter cause it seemed like frontier was getting back to birds (habitat ones), but we haven’t got a single clue or hint or anything that could lead to an full aquatic animal. Nothing to do with the water has been in the last updates that I can remember, it just feels like a really weird time to start getting back on the fully aquatic train when we are basically potentially nearing the end of the games life.
I don’t particularly want manatees (or dugongs), though I wouldn’t dislike their addition either but I can’t really see why my level of desire for (or against) them should be influenced by how difficult they would be for Frontier to implement.
With things like secretary bird, grey crowned crane, serval, Nile crocodile, baboon, etc. still missing from África i think we should expect a revisit. I doubt they would en in a domestics animal pack. That would be even worst that ending now lol
The truth is that a marine expansion would sell way more than any pack that could be made from the current meta wishlist. And yes, the manatee is a good addition but if they ever implemented fully aquatic animals only having the manatee is the dumbest thing they could do, that's why I have 0 expectations on just a manatee getting to the game. It's just present on the meta wishlist because they are free if controversy and somehow that makes them more valid to be added than a beluga.
I really wish Frontier ignored the dumb polemic of cetaceans in captivity and finally gave in to adding marine species, but at this point it is pretty clear that they will just keep adding land-based species from the meta-wishlist because of their economic situation. But anyway, it's their loss if they don't want to add dolphins in the game because a loud minority will cry that having virtual dolphins in a tank is a bad thing, while everyone else and their mother would run crazy to buy the pack because planet zoo finally has dolphins and they have been dreaming of making a dolphin enclosure since day one.
And honestly I fully believe that with enough pressure from the community we could have gotten marine species quite a while ago, but hey at least we will probably get them in the hypothetical planet zoo 2. I guess it's for the best, the format they have for dlcs is too lackluster for a decent marine dlc anyway.
Hey at least we have birds already, if I encounter an aquarium in one of my zoo builds, it's often a sad area full of png images for fish tanks.Imagine we get fully aquatics before birds
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The two most unlikely packs that i really want would be:
Habitat Birds Expansión Animal Pack
1. Grey crowned crane
2. Scarlet ibis / Northern bald ibis
3. Great white pelican / Brown pelican
4. Mandarín duck
5. Golden pheasant
6. Roseate spoonbill
7. Secretary bird
8. Burrowing owl
9. Western cappercaillie
10. Greater rhea.
Assuming rhea, ibis/spoonbill and pelican come in other packs replacement i would like are marabou stork / Saddle billed Stork, helmeted guineafowl and greater Roadrunner.
And...
Aquatic Animal Pack
1. West Indian manatee
2. Arapaima
3. Manta Ray
4. Black tip reef shark
5. Bottlenose Dolphins
6. Beluga
7. Green sea turtle
8. Ex: crabs / Octopus
Marine invertebrates (anemones, corals, sponges and Star fishes as props)
Do i think they are realistic no? Would i cry of happiness if they become a reality? Yes.
Habitat Birds Expansión Animal Pack
1. Grey crowned crane
2. Scarlet ibis / Northern bald ibis
3. Great white pelican / Brown pelican
4. Mandarín duck
5. Golden pheasant
6. Roseate spoonbill
7. Secretary bird
8. Burrowing owl
9. Western cappercaillie
10. Greater rhea.
Assuming rhea, ibis/spoonbill and pelican come in other packs replacement i would like are marabou stork / Saddle billed Stork, helmeted guineafowl and greater Roadrunner.
And...
Aquatic Animal Pack
1. West Indian manatee
2. Arapaima
3. Manta Ray
4. Black tip reef shark
5. Bottlenose Dolphins
6. Beluga
7. Green sea turtle
8. Ex: crabs / Octopus
Marine invertebrates (anemones, corals, sponges and Star fishes as props)
Do i think they are realistic no? Would i cry of happiness if they become a reality? Yes.
This is what I feel like the general public has been “waiting on” regarding Planet Zoo. Obviously Planet Zoo is a niche interest game, so while I feel like the bulk of Planet Zoo players have more interest than an average person, that can only go so far. While in the Forums we can all universally agree we need a baboon (a proper one, not the mandrill) the average Planet Zoo players has probably been hoping for an aquatic or aviary expansion. To be honest, I bet most people want an aquatics over an aviary. While I have bought every dlc so far, outside of setting and species most of the DLCs have been “ more of the same” for years. I think it is time for things to get shook up a little. I know it’s late into development, and Frontier had layoffs, but revitalizing Planet Zoo may not be a bad idea considering it’s been a success since day one.
Also regarding Fish (and aquatics) in Planet Zoo, I think at most we only need a handful of species. In US zoos it’s not unheard of for there to be an aquarium section, or to have some Fish tanks. So I think I can highlight 15 or so species that we need:
Not fish habitat animals:
Habitat fish:
Not fish habitat animals:
- Green sea turtle
- Manatee
Habitat fish:
- Arapima, a large fish from South America.
- Arowana, another large South American fish
- Red tailed Catfish, the last South American fish
- Koi fish
- Black tipped reef shark
- Nurse shark
- Sand tiger shark
- Cow nose ray
- Red bellied pirhanas
- Clownfish with anemones
- Seahorses
- Lionfish
- A “live coral tank” which comes with a number of species. (Cheating I know) comes with coral species, cleaner shrimp, a hermit crab, damselfish, butterfly fish, etc.
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Sorry I didn’t get to this until now, they said they will continue to support their games into 2024 based on their last financial report. That can mean we can get one more dlc, or two, or three, or another full year of dlc. It can mean whatever they want it to mean.