Updated 5/15/24
I don't think I need to reiterate this to anyone since its pretty self-evident, but the vehicles are not dynamic. In fact, they are so static that they are one of the most glaring visually matters next to the guests albeit there is overlap. The last time the community had any major discussion on vehicles was for destructibility back in the first game, however, vehicles are in dire need of some tuning and an overarching management component. Vehicles are very much neglected, but if iterated upon they could become a core component of the experience.
The core of this management system revolves around the need of the Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Without some lasting consequences for reckless or wanton neglect of your vehicles they will remain a forgotten and overlooked aspect in every park. Being able to control the vehicle especially with First-Person View is exceptional along with the tools many of the vehicles have at their disposal, but this is a niche situation that doesn't often play a role in day-to-day gameplay where the AI is largely in command.
However, beyond the details of this repair facility there are a few areas of general improvement:
Vehicular Destruction
The initial changes are simply a matter of balance, vehicles are instantly damaged even if they just bump a dinosaur while driving through an enclosure. While the risk is appreciated, they can't be quite so susceptible to damage otherwise it throws off the entire balance of the Vehicle Maintenance Facility and its associated management system. You'll never be able to play the game as it will devolve into a constant flurry of vehicles being destroyed.
A mitigation and step towards solving this problem is by assigning vehicles a Security Rating akin to fencing. This would communicate to the player what they can expect
of each vehicle when selected and plan accordingly.
However, for future-proofing and the sake of clarity, Flying Reptiles will require a rebalancing of their Security Ratings just as I've already proposed for the terrestrial animals referenced in my thread: Iterative Fencing Design Improvements. Aviaries would remain without a Security Rating as the rating of the offending animal merely translates to more damage done with a set value before the Aviary is broken open. In essence, the Aviaries are mostly unchanged through this process.
Flying Reptile Security Ratings
Additionally, I think it would be beneficial to once more consider an upgrade for the Capture Team Helicopter. Just as the Gyrosphere here would be a natural progression from the Park Tour, it would only stand to reason that as you take on more dangerous creatures in your park and face greater catastrophes, your helicopter may need a little assistance. The inclusion of a new research item that upgrades the Capture Team is in order, Storm Rotors.
Functionally, this would be akin to how the helicopter in JPOG would function. To combat the strong air currents of tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other catastrophes this upgrade will be required otherwise your Capture Team may be grounded or have difficulty performing tasks. Secondly, this upgrade (accompanied with a visual update) will bring the helicopter up to Security Rating 4.
This encourages more foreplanning on behalf of the player. If you want to retain a maximum level of security, don't build an Aviary and learn how to mitigate risks on the ground, otherwise arrange your park in such a way that a breach in the Aviary never spirals out of control. The Capture Team is meant to be incredibly resilient early on, a highly reliable tool, but we don't want it to be invulnerable like it was in the first Jurassic World Evolution where it becomes the definitive solution in every scenario. Now that pterosaurs can take it down, this is merely tweaking it inclusive of a progression from early game to late game.
Decorative & Cosmetic Utility
The first few are pretty straight to the point, we need more vehicle customization options. We have so many different vehicle options in this franchise, but especially in the Lost World, just having these as skins or dedicated decorative set pieces dramatically improves how we design our parks for added replayability particularly in Sandbox. Right now many vehicles would be useful intact or in destroyed variants for functional, horror-themed, or abandoned parks.
Immersion & Handling
Primarily, this is a matter of aesthetics, quality of life, and minor tweaks and features to immerse you into the game world. Many of the most basic immersion tweaks are related to the Jurassic Park Era which tends to have the greatest degree of disparity compared to the more utilitarian aesthetic and appearance of the Jurassic World Era and its applicability to other tilesets. (Ex: Malta/Biosyn)
Jurassic Park Era
The physics for vehicles needs a tuning pass, the way they get caught on the terrain and can go careening into the air for very little reason is in need of dire attention.
From here its adding a little more interactivity, variety, and intrigue to what can interact with the vehicles.
Beginning with the injuries, burns such as 2nd & 3rd Degree injuries always caught my attention since these really don't have too much logic in how your animals get them. Perhaps attacking an electrified fence, but also contact with a burning vehicle might injure your animals discouraging leaving them around the enclosures.
Reference: Vehicle Maintenance Facility
Secondly, adding distinct behavioral responses to some family groups to the presence of vehicles makes the game feel more alive and presents its own possibilities. For instance, tiny species like Compies or Moros would be more skittish. Iguanodons and sauropods would be comfortable around vehicles unless provoked (hit, honked, or darted). Then we have more aggressive species such as Pachycephalosaurs or fussy armored herbivores that are far more easily disturbed. Therizinosaurs are territorial like many Medium/Large carnivores so you can expect a lot more aggression from them. Perhaps this is best illustrated in a table for ease of use.
This is not an exhaustive list only to illustrate a point.
The Docile gene has a natural synergy with this revamp, it suddenly has a lot more value as a genetic trait than it presently does. Each genetic trait holds more weight and clear trade-offs that make that system more dynamic and interesting even as other areas of the game are iterated upon.
Not only for the above reasons, but these vehicular interactions encourages more thought be put into where you place your Ranger Posts and feeders and how you run your tours through your enclosures. You can accept the risk or maybe you start placing feeders closer to enclosure gates or placing Ranger Posts just outside enclosures or in sculpted spots in the enclosure for safer access. You might also think about which species will be in an enclosure tour vehicles are passing through, or have secondary/tertiary fences to separate the tour vehicles from the animals.
If the damage done to your vehicles potentially injuring your animals isn't challenging enough, then I think the final touch would be interactions with the passengers onboard the vehicles themselves. Always seemed pretty silly that an Allosaurus could walk right up to your tour truck and not a single passenger responds with any bit of hesitation or fear. Even if its like 3 different animations randomly assigned to the guests, I think they really ought to cower or in some way panic if a carnivore gets that close to an open-air vehicle like that.
Moreover, it would be nice bonus but not necessary if this could be expanded to having predators being able to prey upon your guests. This dangerous safety condition could further allow for terrified guests to vacate the vehicle and flee.
Best of all, Sandbox Mode already has options for vehicle indestructibility and dinosaur aggression towards vehicles. For the first time, there would not be a need for branching requirements to preserve the pre-existing playstyle. Players that just want to make a nice park without all the management aspects can disable it the way they do for scientists.
More cosmetic vehicle skins
I hope everyone seriously considers the possibilities. Frontier has shown a willingness to make modifications that place the power in the player's hands such as the more recent addition of pterosaur attacks on Capture Teams in Update 4. If something goes wrong, if you can point to a mistake or oversight you made, that is a seismically different challenge than one that feels completely arbitrary and random. Vehicles can be really exciting visually, but they can also be useful or downright critical to gameplay. You may have noticed I completely ignored Fuel as well because Frontier has already added upgrades with Update 2 to mitigate that issue in normal gameplay while Sandbox once again has an option to disable it.
References: Guest Attractions (Revisited), Vehicle Maintenance Facility, Iterative Fencing Design Improvements
I don't think I need to reiterate this to anyone since its pretty self-evident, but the vehicles are not dynamic. In fact, they are so static that they are one of the most glaring visually matters next to the guests albeit there is overlap. The last time the community had any major discussion on vehicles was for destructibility back in the first game, however, vehicles are in dire need of some tuning and an overarching management component. Vehicles are very much neglected, but if iterated upon they could become a core component of the experience.
The core of this management system revolves around the need of the Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Without some lasting consequences for reckless or wanton neglect of your vehicles they will remain a forgotten and overlooked aspect in every park. Being able to control the vehicle especially with First-Person View is exceptional along with the tools many of the vehicles have at their disposal, but this is a niche situation that doesn't often play a role in day-to-day gameplay where the AI is largely in command.
However, beyond the details of this repair facility there are a few areas of general improvement:
- Vehicular Destruction
- Decorative & Cosmetic Utility
- Immersion & Handling
Vehicular Destruction
The initial changes are simply a matter of balance, vehicles are instantly damaged even if they just bump a dinosaur while driving through an enclosure. While the risk is appreciated, they can't be quite so susceptible to damage otherwise it throws off the entire balance of the Vehicle Maintenance Facility and its associated management system. You'll never be able to play the game as it will devolve into a constant flurry of vehicles being destroyed.
A mitigation and step towards solving this problem is by assigning vehicles a Security Rating akin to fencing. This would communicate to the player what they can expect
of each vehicle when selected and plan accordingly.
| Vehicle | Security Rating 1 | Security Rating 2 | Security Rating 3 | Security Rating 4 | Security Rating 5 | Security Rating 6 |
| Aerial Drone |  | |||||
| Aquatic Drone | | |||||
| Ranger Jeep | | |||||
| Capture Helicopter | | | ||||
| MVU | | |||||
| Tour Truck | | | ||||
| JP Explorer | | |||||
| Gyrosphere | | |||||
| Submarine | |
However, for future-proofing and the sake of clarity, Flying Reptiles will require a rebalancing of their Security Ratings just as I've already proposed for the terrestrial animals referenced in my thread: Iterative Fencing Design Improvements. Aviaries would remain without a Security Rating as the rating of the offending animal merely translates to more damage done with a set value before the Aviary is broken open. In essence, the Aviaries are mostly unchanged through this process.
Flying Reptile Security Ratings
| Species | Security Rating 1 | Security Rating 2 | Security Rating 3 | Security Rating 4 | Security Rating 5 | Security Rating 6 |
| Barbaridactylus | | |||||
| Cearadactylus | | | ||||
| Dimorphodon | | |||||
| Dsungaripterus | | |||||
| Geosternbergia | | |||||
| Jeholopterus | | |||||
| Maaradactylus | | |||||
| Pteranodon | | | ||||
| Quetzalcoatlus | | |||||
| Tapejara | | |||||
| ThanatosDrakon | | |||||
| Tropeognathus | |
Additionally, I think it would be beneficial to once more consider an upgrade for the Capture Team Helicopter. Just as the Gyrosphere here would be a natural progression from the Park Tour, it would only stand to reason that as you take on more dangerous creatures in your park and face greater catastrophes, your helicopter may need a little assistance. The inclusion of a new research item that upgrades the Capture Team is in order, Storm Rotors.
Functionally, this would be akin to how the helicopter in JPOG would function. To combat the strong air currents of tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other catastrophes this upgrade will be required otherwise your Capture Team may be grounded or have difficulty performing tasks. Secondly, this upgrade (accompanied with a visual update) will bring the helicopter up to Security Rating 4.
This encourages more foreplanning on behalf of the player. If you want to retain a maximum level of security, don't build an Aviary and learn how to mitigate risks on the ground, otherwise arrange your park in such a way that a breach in the Aviary never spirals out of control. The Capture Team is meant to be incredibly resilient early on, a highly reliable tool, but we don't want it to be invulnerable like it was in the first Jurassic World Evolution where it becomes the definitive solution in every scenario. Now that pterosaurs can take it down, this is merely tweaking it inclusive of a progression from early game to late game.
Decorative & Cosmetic Utility
The first few are pretty straight to the point, we need more vehicle customization options. We have so many different vehicle options in this franchise, but especially in the Lost World, just having these as skins or dedicated decorative set pieces dramatically improves how we design our parks for added replayability particularly in Sandbox. Right now many vehicles would be useful intact or in destroyed variants for functional, horror-themed, or abandoned parks.
- Decorative vehicles
- Ranger Team
- Pristine
- Burning
- Destroyed
- Right-side up
- Flipped on side
- Upside down
- Gyrosphere
- Pristine
- Destroyed
- Tour Vehicle (Truck/Explorer)
- Pristine
- Burning
- Destroyed
- Right-side up
- Flipped on side
- Upside down
- Capture Team
- Pristine
- Burning
- MVU
- Pristine
- Burning
- Destroyed
- Right-side up
- Flipped on side
- Upside down
- Lost World trailers
- etc.
- Ranger Team
Immersion & Handling
Primarily, this is a matter of aesthetics, quality of life, and minor tweaks and features to immerse you into the game world. Many of the most basic immersion tweaks are related to the Jurassic Park Era which tends to have the greatest degree of disparity compared to the more utilitarian aesthetic and appearance of the Jurassic World Era and its applicability to other tilesets. (Ex: Malta/Biosyn)
Jurassic Park Era
- Ranger Team Driver
- Film accurate skin (Pink shirt, khakis, etc.)
- Arrival/Capture Team Pilots
- Film accurate skin (Blue shirt, khakis, etc.)
- MVU Teams
- Film equivalent skin (Green shirt; see Dr. Harding)
- Tour Vehicles
- No longer have a driver
- Vehicles each numbered individually (not all #5)
- Ranger Vehicles
- Each vehicle has unique identification number (not all #29)
- Arrival/Capture Team Helicopter
- Film accurate skin
The physics for vehicles needs a tuning pass, the way they get caught on the terrain and can go careening into the air for very little reason is in need of dire attention.
From here its adding a little more interactivity, variety, and intrigue to what can interact with the vehicles.
- Logically induced vehicular injuries
- Species family behavior towards vehicles
- Passenger response to vehicle interactions
Beginning with the injuries, burns such as 2nd & 3rd Degree injuries always caught my attention since these really don't have too much logic in how your animals get them. Perhaps attacking an electrified fence, but also contact with a burning vehicle might injure your animals discouraging leaving them around the enclosures.
Reference: Vehicle Maintenance Facility
Secondly, adding distinct behavioral responses to some family groups to the presence of vehicles makes the game feel more alive and presents its own possibilities. For instance, tiny species like Compies or Moros would be more skittish. Iguanodons and sauropods would be comfortable around vehicles unless provoked (hit, honked, or darted). Then we have more aggressive species such as Pachycephalosaurs or fussy armored herbivores that are far more easily disturbed. Therizinosaurs are territorial like many Medium/Large carnivores so you can expect a lot more aggression from them. Perhaps this is best illustrated in a table for ease of use.
| Family Unit | Skittish | Comfortable | Fussy | Aggressive |
| Compsognathidae | | |||
| Ornithomimids | | |||
| Hadrosaurs | | |||
| Iguanodontids | | |||
| Pachycephalosaurs | | |||
| Ceratopsids | | |||
| Stegosaurs | | |||
| Ankylosaurs | | |||
| Nodosaurs | | |||
| Sauropods | | |||
| Therizinosaurs | | |||
| Tyrannosaurs | | |||
| Spinosaurs | | |||
| Dromaeosaurs | |
This is not an exhaustive list only to illustrate a point.
The Docile gene has a natural synergy with this revamp, it suddenly has a lot more value as a genetic trait than it presently does. Each genetic trait holds more weight and clear trade-offs that make that system more dynamic and interesting even as other areas of the game are iterated upon.
Not only for the above reasons, but these vehicular interactions encourages more thought be put into where you place your Ranger Posts and feeders and how you run your tours through your enclosures. You can accept the risk or maybe you start placing feeders closer to enclosure gates or placing Ranger Posts just outside enclosures or in sculpted spots in the enclosure for safer access. You might also think about which species will be in an enclosure tour vehicles are passing through, or have secondary/tertiary fences to separate the tour vehicles from the animals.
If the damage done to your vehicles potentially injuring your animals isn't challenging enough, then I think the final touch would be interactions with the passengers onboard the vehicles themselves. Always seemed pretty silly that an Allosaurus could walk right up to your tour truck and not a single passenger responds with any bit of hesitation or fear. Even if its like 3 different animations randomly assigned to the guests, I think they really ought to cower or in some way panic if a carnivore gets that close to an open-air vehicle like that.
Moreover, it would be nice bonus but not necessary if this could be expanded to having predators being able to prey upon your guests. This dangerous safety condition could further allow for terrified guests to vacate the vehicle and flee.
Best of all, Sandbox Mode already has options for vehicle indestructibility and dinosaur aggression towards vehicles. For the first time, there would not be a need for branching requirements to preserve the pre-existing playstyle. Players that just want to make a nice park without all the management aspects can disable it the way they do for scientists.
More cosmetic vehicle skins
I hope everyone seriously considers the possibilities. Frontier has shown a willingness to make modifications that place the power in the player's hands such as the more recent addition of pterosaur attacks on Capture Teams in Update 4. If something goes wrong, if you can point to a mistake or oversight you made, that is a seismically different challenge than one that feels completely arbitrary and random. Vehicles can be really exciting visually, but they can also be useful or downright critical to gameplay. You may have noticed I completely ignored Fuel as well because Frontier has already added upgrades with Update 2 to mitigate that issue in normal gameplay while Sandbox once again has an option to disable it.
References: Guest Attractions (Revisited), Vehicle Maintenance Facility, Iterative Fencing Design Improvements
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