This is potentially going to be a bit controversial….but….this debate seems to be driven by an element of ‘prioritisation’. I suspect that no one would object to multiple Leopard species out of anything other than the point that the second Leopard subspecies would likely mean one less other animal. But I’d be interested why it wouldn’t be possible for Frontier to deliver more new animals if they go down a ’multiple subspecies’ route in some cases. No doubt they would need to do some work to have different requirements for the different subspecies (taiga versus tropical versus grassland etc) and also some extra work for the look of the animal (thicker fur etc as per the great pictures on this thread). But Leopard behaviours are pretty consistent across subspecies, so it’s not really double the design work.
I like the new things with each release but I still feel limited by the animal choices - especially in franchise mode. I’d like the ability to be more selective on the subspecies of various animals and feel that Frontier could increase the animal choices relatively quickly by investing a small amount of (relative) time there.
Not trying to be ungrateful for a very good game - but feels like there is more choice for the building element than the actual animals themselves to some degree.
Personally speaking, having a Leopard at this point in PZ’s development isn’t a priority to me (there’s probably not a huge DLC roster left and there’s other more unique animals I’d prioritize). This comment does bring up an interesting point though.
At this point in PZ’s lifespan, there likely isn’t going to be any major, game-changing features coming, but what if subspecies were handled differently in a hypothetical PZ2. Prehistoric Kingdom (which will have its public release this month, I encourage you all to look into it!) has taken the route to provide each in-game “species” with a few variants. For example, PK will feature an Edmontosaurus and count it as technically one animal inclusion within the overall roster, but the Edmontosaurus will actually have three different species variants you can select from. So in-game you’d have the overarching “Edmontosaurus” category and really have three different Edmontosaurus species, Edmontosaurus regalis, Edmontosaurus annectens, and Edmontosaurus kuukpikensis. All three Edmontosaurus species will also be physically distinct with unique in-game needs. A system like this could be really interesting and useful in a zoo simulation game (a la PZ2 possibly?)
In a hypothetical PZ2, we could have the overarching Leopard species category, and within it have a few variant subspecies to select from. Like in PK, each subspecies could also have physical differences and distinct needs. This would be the perfect solution for PZ’s current issue with subspecies. To this day, people still want to see their personal favorite subspecies in PZ, but also aren’t likely to get them as the game has a very limited roster. For example, there’s been multiple threads opened on these forums for a re-working/diversifying of a number of PZ’s species, but we aren’t likely to see anything happen. For example, a number of people have requested a Eurasian-specific Grey Wolf/Brown Bear subspecies, but Frontier isn’t going to likely do anything about these requests as that would require taking up a slot in a future, limited DLC roster. The larger community would likely rather have a Wolverine in a DLC over an additional Grey Wolf or Brown Bear. But what if subspecies were implemented in a way where they didn’t effect/count towards the game’s overall roster, like PK has done? PK will have its Early-Access release sometime this month with 22 initial species that count towards the roster, but in reality will have many more species & subspecies (and the official roster will also expand in the future through multiple, free updates).
There’s so many instances a system like this would be useful in a modern zoo game. A “Leopard” species category could be implemented into the roster, and within this one roster inclusion there could a few subspecies to select from. The same could be said for a number of other species with iconic/distinct subspecies, like the Asian Elephant, Brown Bear, Grey Wolf, Tiger, Lion, Takin, Plains Zebra, etc.
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