Spring dlc Speculation 2023

[RightWhale]

I'm disappointed at two near-clones in a 4-pack. I do like the fossa and hog, but not the other two. The sloth I will need to wait and see how it's executed. But when on earth are we going to get monkeys and birds, even just ground birds?

I still have some hope! I’m just nervous about the limited animal roster, birds are some of the most important animals for zoos and conservation and they are very underrepresented in this game. Frontier loves to surprise us so who knows! Hopefully we will see more birds in the future

 

[Eletan888]

Anyways, if anyone at Frontier reads me/us, no matter my/our complaints, still a huge thanks for making this game come true.

Definitely! I am super happy this game is still getting support and am so thankful for the obvious love and care that goes into these packs.

 

[Eletan888]

I'm disappointed at two near-clones in a 4-pack. I do like the fossa and hog, but not the other two. The sloth I will need to wait and see how it's executed. But when on earth are we going to get monkeys and birds, even just ground birds?

Yeah, I would say the fossa will be the most unique. Possibly a new rig, but will probably be a lot like the clouded leopard. I think the clones included warrant their spots. I think have a more classic gibbon will be very nice. The monitor will give us another reptile so I'll take it. But there are a lot of unique tropical animals that are definitely needed. I really think this would have been a great animal pack.

 

[Veah]

I remember when Twilight pack came out I said "the anti bird bias is so bad we got flying mammals before flying birds" and I got a lot of "ummm akshually they're clearly working towards birds with this"

2 packs later still no birds. And this shows that out expectations were too high after butterflies and that multiple exhibit species per pack is more than likely a one time thing.

I am super excited about birds, and I really hope we could have them some day. But the moment the livestream hinted the first animal, I knew birds wouldn't in this pack, because they deserve a dedicated DLC for themselves (more than 2 and 3, in fact). It's an animal group with extreme degree of diversity, we need lots of them at the same time so it doesn't look weird. I think it isn't realistic to expect a single WE bird. Imagine if they had included a Bali myna in this pack, the poor guy being alone in our walkthrough exhibits for at least 3 months, bearing the weight of being the only glying bird in the game. And 3 months later, one single macaw or eagle or something like that? That would be a bigger bummer IMHO.

TLDR: I still think they are working towards birds, more than ever, but they will come in their own pack.

Clearly the Freudian slip of "hog" hints towards a Sumatran hog badger to go alongside the Indonesian architecture!

(joke)

Looks like I was right about the Buddhas. There is a hog Buddha in the trailer....

The moment I saw the RRH statue, I though about those 2 not-so-joking predictions! Because I obviously didn't think at first I was seeing an animal from the Congo in a South Asian style sculpture, the hog badger made more sense, and the statue was similar enough!
My second thought was "oh, so those other people were right, it isn't a RRH but some warty or bearded pig"

 

[Hugo98]

At least we got a primate and apparently improved brachiation. But any New World monkey would have been better.

 

[Marlin🏳️🌈]

I don‘t know why this thread is so overwhelmingly negative, but I‘m just gonna log off for a while to not kill my excitement

 

[Hugo98]

Another thing that comes to mind my now is that the very generic theme still give opportunities for a rainforest animal pack or an Amazon animal pack, so there is still hope for New World monkeys.
And although the fossa is now coming to the game, an islands animal pack is also still possible in my opinion. There are enough islands animals that can replace the fossa. Headliner for such an islands pack could be the Tasmanian devil (in my opinion fossa and devil are equally interesting enough to be headliner animals).

 

[NachoB]

I don‘t know why this thread is so overwhelmingly negative, but I‘m just gonna log off for a while to not kill my excitement

Mostly because we are fearful that this one our ONE SHOT to tropical rainforests and we got close to nothing that is really needed to fill in the roster in that regard (south america, birds and monkeys that is). Instead we got a clone siamang, a clone nile monitor and the wrong species of sloth lol (i'm still happy about getting a sloth overall though)

Don't get me wrong, i'll still buy this pack on launch but mostly because of the scenery this time.

 

[Captain Callum]

Another thing that comes to mind my now is that the very generic theme still give opportunities for a rainforest animal pack or an Amazon animal pack, so there is still hope for New World monkeys.
And although the fossa is now coming to the game, an islands animal pack is also still possible in my opinion. There are enough islands animals that can replace the fossa. Headliner for such an islands pack could be the Tasmanian devil (in my opinion fossa and devil are equally interesting enough to be headliner animals).

There's even enough animals from Madagascar alone to replace the fossa

 

[jcp011c]

Mixed feelings on this one. Really wish this one had been an Animal Pack--nothing is jumping out to me regarding scenery after watching the trailer, and I feel like there's a lot of ground covered in the "tropical" theme by previous scenery packs. Fossa and red river hog are both great picks for me, but I'm a little disappointed that South/Central America only gets a single animal in this, and an exhibit animal at that. I'm not upset that the sloth's in a walkthrough exhibit--I think that works fine for them--but I do wish either the gibbon or the water monitor got subbed out for a similar animal from South America (ie; golden lion tamarin, a howler monkey, orinoco crocodile, etc). Just seems like a bit of a waste to have a tropical pack without a new world primate especially.

This is so much how i feel. I’m thrilled about the Red River Hog. I an am so happy we’re getting a Sloth, and my preferred one too. I would have rather it beena habitat animal, but i completely understand why it’s not and fine with it. No mammal in that size range has had the exhibit/habitat debate like the sloth so it’s not like this came out of nowhere.

I was never team Fossa but I’m glad they’re getting in for those that want them. I suspected we’d see another Gibbon and am also fine with that. I’m even okay with the monitor.

No, what animals are in the pack isnt the issue. Its what isn’t. This absolutely should have been an animal pack. The lack of habitat acceptable birds like the shoebill for example.

What’s even more disappointing is that we’ve had months of talk about the level of South America representation and an even longer discussion about how New World Monkeys are probably the group with the biggest near lack of representation out of any mammal groups. I’m not even a big monkey fan and i see anf acknowledge it. The only New World monkey we have came three years ago in our second pack. I guess i just feel like they’re being almost completely ignored.

I don’t think we needed this particular scenery. They should have gone animal pack route, with the five animals we’re getting (the sloth can remain WTE, that’s fine), a habitat bird and two New World Primates. End of discussion as I’m not moving my point of view on this one.

 

[Eletan888]

Thoughts regarding these species interspecies enrichment? I know siamangs are housed in real life with orangutans, but I don't know about lar gibbons. Red River hogs have been housed with gorillas, but I'm not sure what else. I doubt the Asian water monitor or the fossa will have any. People with more knowledge, enlightening me!

 

[Lexomeal]

Another thing that comes to mind my now is that the very generic theme still give opportunities for a rainforest animal pack or an Amazon animal pack, so there is still hope for New World monkeys.
And although the fossa is now coming to the game, an islands animal is also still possible in my opinion. There are enough islands animals that can replace the fossa. Headliner for such an islands pack could be the Tasmanian devil (in my opinion fossa and devil are equally interesting enough to be headliner animals).

True, and let's not forget if you think of it, all of the world continents are surrounded by water, so basically they're big islands.

 

[Captain Callum]

Thoughts regarding these species interspecies enrichment? I know siamangs are housed in real life with orangutans, but I don't know about lar gibbons. Red River hogs have been housed with gorillas, but I'm not sure what else. I doubt the Asian water monitor or the fossa will have any. People with more knowledge, enlightening me!

Lar gibbons are likely the same as siamangs with orangutans and even themselves (I know Siamang and lar gibbon islands are common enough). Red river hogs can be mixed with general savanna animals. i would also assume the monitor and fossa are alone

 

[Hugo98]

I don‘t know why this thread is so overwhelmingly negative, but I‘m just gonna log off for a while to not kill my excitement

While I understand some of the criticism (like wrong sloth species, lar gibbon instead of SA monkey), I think some are also exaggerating a bit. The theme of the pack is very basic, so there are still enough opportunities for other rainforest animals come to the game, so I totally understand why you are going to log out. I maybe do the same later

 

[Eletan888]

While I understand some of the criticism (like wrong sloth species, lar gibbon instead of SA monkey), I think some are also exaggerating a bit. The theme of the pack is very basic, so there are still enough opportunities for other rainforest animals come to the game, so I totally understand why you are going to log out. I maybe do the same later

My opinion too. And even though it's a missed opportunity for South America, the lar gibbon deserves its spot. I'm already in love! At least for me, I'll be using it more than the Siamang. We know Frontier reads the forums amd hears us. I'm sure we'll get at least one SA primate before support ends. I'm betting Howler. A spectacled bear seems like something they would do too.

 

[RightWhale]

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would like if it was animal packs going forward. While I’m not sure if the rumors are 100% true, if the game is no longer getting support after this year there are too many animals that are left out and need to be in game.

 

[Captain Callum]

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would like if it was animal packs going forward. While I’m not sure if the rumors are 100% true, if the game is no longer getting support after this year there are too many animals that are left out and need to be in game.

But a large portion of the playerbase are creative builders, it would not do any good preventing any new scenery pieces for the end of the game life. The new addition of southeast asia scenery pieces is a long awaited theme many have been wanting since the sea animal pack

 

[arafan]

Always great to see an expansion to the reptile collection. Another monitor for Asia will complement tropical zones very nicely

I agree, reptiles are a step up compared to mammals, but still, we have so many species from SEA and not one of them is a bird (if you consider West Papua as SEA we could debate about the cassowary). So I would have preferred the green peafowl over another monitor, but it's definitley not the species I consider the worst inclusion.

As for the argument that the Brown-Throated Sloth isn't common in captivity, frankly, who cares? The Proboscis Monkey is practically unheard of in captivity, and no one seems to mind now. The Platypus is extremely rare in captivity, especially outside of Australia, yet everyone was hyped when it was revealed. This is a video game. Realism doesn't matter when it comes to captive representation.

The proboscis monkey is rare outside of its native region, but that doesn't mean its unkept. There are some zoos in Japan who breed it quite regularly, Singapore also has a quite successful history with them and they seem to be fairly common in Indonesian zoos.
The brown-throated three-toed sloth on the other hand is a species that is kept in Brazilian zoos, but as said before by others, most of them are debilitated animals which serve mainly for educational purposes and aren't bred. They should have gone with two-toed species - period

Looks like I was right about the Buddhas. There is a hog Buddha in the trailer....

I just tought of you the first time I've seen the statue. Well, at least it doesn't seem too "red-river-hogish", so it may can be used for the babirusa. But I really want to see what will be the sloth and fossa statues.

 

[Eletan888]

I don’t know about anyone else, but I would like if it was animal packs going forward. While I’m not sure if the rumors are 100% true, if the game is no longer getting support after this year there are too many animals that are left out and need to be in game.

That's what I wanted after Conservation! Especially since we started getting plants in the free updates.

Regarding support ending, we just don't know. It'll all depends on what Frontier decides which I'm sure includes their future development projects and profit. I think the best we can do is to keep buying DLC and sharing their stuff on social media. Other than that it's ultimately up to them. We do know we are getting support through 2023. The fiscal report at the end of the 2022 stated this I think, so we may learn what 2024 may hold at the end of this year. The game will be 4 this year though so I don’t know. Hopefully they let us know when support ends.

 

[Angeł]

I am such a die hard sloth fan, and have been since day 1. I was ALWAYS an advocate for the two toed sloth as opposed to the three toed, just as many of us are.
However, I am now just happy that we got a sloth. Considering a lot of people were adamant on these forums that we’d never get one, I’m just happy that we have, no matter the species. I will use it, no matter how little it’s kept in captivity because at the end of the day… It is kept in captivity outside of its native range, even if just in one zoo. So no matter how much LESS popular it is in captivity than the two toed, it is still not an IMPOSSIBLE animal.
I’m just happy we have a sloth. And whilst I would have preferred the two toed, the three toed is just as valid and just as adorable and I am just as excited to receive it and use it in my tropical houses.
I feel like my in-game zoo will find a way to accommodate their special diet