Your alternate animal list for base game

[Markiz]

Inspired by similar post in ZooChat when someone made his alternative Zoo Tycoon 2, I decided to make one for Planet Zoo. ( To stray a little from all our DLC ideas for change, lol)

My focus is to make as diverse list as possible while having some zoo staples in mind. A strong list on which DLC could really feel like add ons with some more niche animals

So animals I feel like have no place in base game ( not that I wouldn't want to see them in some DLC later) are as following:

-Aldabra Giant Tortoise
-Bonobo
-Chinese Pangolin
-Formosan Black Bear
-Gharial
-Himalayan Brown Bear
-Japanese Macaque
-Nyala
-Red Ruffed Lemur
-Pronghorn Antelope
-Siberian Tiger
-Springbok

Animals I would add instead of them
-Alaskan Moose
-Alpine Ibex
-Asiatic Black Bear
-Black Rhinoceros
-Giant Anteater
-Iberian Lynx
-Jaguar
-Koala
-Red Kangaroo
-Polar Bear
-Przewalski Wild Horse
-Siamang Gibbon

List would finally look like this

-Aardvark
-African Buffalo
-African Bush Elephant
-African Wild Dog
-Alaskan Moose
-Alpine Ibex
-American Bison
-Asiatic Black Bear
-Bactrian Camel
-Baird's Tapir
-Bengal Tiger
-Black Rhinoceros
-Black Wildebeest
-Bongo
-Bornean Orangutan
-Cheetah
-Common Ostrich
-Common Warthog
-Galapagos Giant Tortoise
-Gemsbok
-Giant Anteater
-Giant Panda
-Greater Flamingo
-Grizzly Bear
-Hippopotamus
-Iberian Lynx
-Indian Elephant
-Indian Peafowl
-Indian Rhinoceros
-Jaguar
-Koala
-Komodo Dragon
-Mandrill
-Nile Monitor
-Okapi
-Plains Zebra
-Polar Bear
-Przewalski Wild Horse
-Pygmy Hippo
-Red Panda
-Red Kangaroo
-Reticulated Giraffe
-Ring Tailed Lemur
-Sable Antelope
-Saltwater Crocodile
-Siamang Gibbon
-Snow Leopard
-Spotted Hyena
-Thompson's Gazelle
-Timber Wolf
-West African Lion
-Western Chinpanzee
-Western Lowland Gorilla

And then the DLCs that came out could afford a little leisure when it comes to animal choices, so with some of their staples the DLCs ( in my vision) would look like this :

Arctic DLC:
-Reindeer
-Dall Sheep
-Polar Fox ( Wolfie out )
-Musk Ox ( Polar Bear's on list )

SA DLC:
-Capybara ( Jaguar's on list )
-Black Howler ( Capuchin out )
-Maned Wolf ( Not a fan of Llamas )
-Spectacled Bear ( Anteater's on list )
-Red Eyed Tree Frog

Aussie DLC:
-Bennet Wallaby ( Kangaroo's on list )
-Southern Cassowary
-Common Wombat ( Koala's on list )
-Tasmanian Devil ( I prefer marsupial carnivore )
-Frilled Necked Lizard ( I mean come on )

What changes would you made ?

 

[Indoraptor27]

I've grown too attached to our animals (even those Formosan black bears) to seriously consider which I'd keep and which I'd get rid of. I do agree with your choices. Going forward, I wouldn't mind some more slighty reskinny creatures, as long as the differences are noticeable. If we got a beaver in a Europe pack and one in a NA I'd be annoyed, but I still would like more big cats and canids (no more gray wolves).

 

[paul78]

I would probably also exchange the capuchin for the howler. The Formosan for the North American black bear. And last the Himalayan brown bear for a small cat species. But I’ll admit I’ve gotten pretty used to the current roster and don’t really mind it. I’ve been watching prehistoric kingdom videos and I’ll admit a zoo game with only prehistoric mammals and birds would be great. I know planet zoo is not that game ( I actually prefer it to not be as I like the modern animal approach in this game).

 

[markun]

Interesting concept and I might make a suggested list too but just to make one point, saying the Formosan black bear should be replaced with the Asiatic black bear is something I don’t really understand because the subspecies hardly differ in appearance. It is an Asiatic black bear already.

 

[NZFanatic]

I've been dwelling on this myself. I think some of your choices are pretty arbitrary, however. For me, I would take out the:

• Bengal tiger and replace with the Sumatran tiger.
• Himalayan brown bear and replace with the red kangaroo.
• Aldabra giant tortoise and replace with the jaguar.
• Thomson's gazelle and replace with the polar bear.

Everything else I'm pretty happy with (including the Siberian tiger).

In terms of the DLC's, I'd do something completely different. I'd include the four habitat animals, and also three deluxe animals that come at a higher price or are sold separately. Exhibit animals would be sold in another separate DLC.

Arctic Pack

• Arctic fox.
• Wolverine.
• Reindeer.
• Muskox.

The Arctic Pack wouldn't have a deluxe addition, simply because there are so few Arctic animals to really choose from without ending up with a bunch of clones (Kodiak bear came to mind, I'd rather avoid the Arctic wolf). While I really like the dall sheep, I think a different kind of mountain goat included later would be better.

South America Pack

• Giant anteater.
• Capybara.
• Tufted capuchin.
• Maned wolf.
• Spectacled bear (D).
• Southern pudu (D).
• Black howler monkey (D).

South America Exhibit Pack

• Red-eyed tree frog.
• Emerald tree boa.
• Chilean rose tarantula.
• Blue poison dart frog.
• Phantasmal poison dart frog.

Obviously the Exhibit Pack would cost a little less. In terms of building sets, as unpopular as I'm sure it is as an idea, I'd nix the "jungle temple" set and go for something more colourful, such as a sort of "flavella" set or something.

Australia Pack

• Tasmanian devil.
• Emu.
• Northern hairy-nosed wombat.
• Koala.
• Dingo (D).
• Bennett's wallaby (D).
• Cape Barren goose (D).

Australia Exhibit Pack

• Eastern blue-tongued skink.
• Inland taipan.
• Frill-necked lizard.
• Social huntsman spider.
• Goliath stick insect.

No cassowary. I think the cassowary can be saved for an "islands"-themed pack somewhere down the line or something.

 

[Markiz]

I really love the deluxe dlc and exhibit dlc ideas, I can see that happening irl

 

[NZFanatic]

I really love the deluxe dlc and exhibit dlc ideas, I can see that happening irl

Unfortunately I think the exhibit animals aren't very popular with the community (at least that's the impression I get). The ones Frontier is adding to their packs seem to be 'tokens' more than anything, i.e. thrown in as a loose gesture to those of us who actually do like them, so I doubt they'd gamble their profits on making DLC for only exhibit animals (though for Australia especially it almost feels necessary given the exceedingly broad range of reptiles and invertebrates famous in Australia).