u/An3picHumanBeing

We likely have 2 DLCs remaining for the rest of the year and whilst one of them is almost certainly the chaos theory/animated series pack, the other remaining DLC is ripe for speculation and this concept came to me as I was considering three things

1. A complaint of the rebirth DLC not including the Anurognathus (and so we can get canon species out of the way and focus on more interesting species)
2. A complaint of the Crocodilia Coast DLC not including any kind of marine crocodylomorph (which is crazy tbh even if I love desmatosuchus and postosuchus)
3. Wanting more unique species to diversify the roster

These three factors lead to this concept - The Solnhofen Species Pack, an extremely well preserved Late Jurassic fossil site with this dlc taking a page out of planet zoo for the third dlc type we could have - ignoring the scenery for the most part and including more species in this pack to boost diversity and allow for inclusion of more oddballs and requested species.

PAID DLC
New Species

• Anurognathus : It would complete the film canon species (except for people who really care about unnamed amphibian and unnamed eel or leech thing) and would be a good pairing with Jehelopterus with two freaks in the aviaries
• Archaeopteryx : Almost certainly the most requested species of this pack, it would be our first aviary species that is not a pterosaur, spending most of its time on the ground and flying in short bursts as opposed to the pterosaurs
• Rhamphorhynchus : Another highly requested species that I simply could not have left out, of course being Walking with Dinosaur Alumni helps but would also give us a paleoaccurate long tailed pterosaur which I desperately need for coastal builds
• Dakosaurus : It would be the final piece in the marine reptile family and would give us all the major mesozoic groups some representation (except for the many Sauropterygian freaks in the triassic) and would help balance the size differences in the lagoons by being on the slightly smaller side
• Asteracanthus : The oddball pick of the pack, This shark would give us our first mesozoic shark species, something much smaller than the massive megalodon and would also stand out with how many fins the hybodont sharks had.
• Gnathosaurus : Yet another small aviary species but it would stand out for it’s unique crest and would be a nice pick although Solnhofen has many pterosaur species that could take its place I thought Gnathosaurus stood out amongst the ones left

NEW SCENERY
I know I said that species packs wouldn't have scenery but I think having some perchable trees would help in aviaries as it is something I have felt sorely missing even with how useful perch points are they really do not work with the trees we have currently in game and would also give a naturalistic look for smaller species

FREE UPDATE
NEW PERCH POINTS
I think the perch points are great but I had a couple of ideas to make them even more versatile

1. Vertical perches : Something similar to the art shown, something that would allow certain pterosaurs to grasp onto something vertically for a short while, particularly Anurognatus and Jehelopterus 
2. Sandbox option to make the wood invisible, would help massively as I hate building pterosaur colonies just to have to mess around for ages trying to hide the wood of the perch point as best as I can so I think a sandbox option to make it invisible would be great.

RETURNING SPECIES
The returning species with this update would be Jehelopterus because it would save dev time to work on both this and anuroganthus at the same time with them sharing quite similar rigs, whilst also giving people who don’t buy the dlc atleast one species that can use the vertical perch point. Maybe this dlc would release around the one year anniversary which would give them a reason for a “special gift” or around the holidays as a thank you instead. This would also mean the insectivore feeder would return for free which would help with more species in the future.

Lagoons, even more so than aviaries now, feel like they are in desperate need of an update - from being timesinks to make unique looking, not really fitting into ecosystems and also having a diversity problem still (half of the species we have currently are members of plesiosauria), I thought the best way to address these issues would be a lagoon expansion / focused free update.

DLC

New Species

• Parapuzoia : The largest ammonite I am aware of that would add massively to the game by being the first invertebrate as well as our first ammonite which is shocking considering just how representative they are of the mesozoic as a whole
• Megapterygius : One of the stranger and maybe lesser known picks for this expansion, it would finally give us a slightly smaller mosasaur, a more paleoaccurate one as well as one with a unique body shape with its dorsal fin and the flippers being larger than the skull
• Xiphactinus : It was so hard picking between this and leedischtys but I went for xiphactinus as I felt a smaller fish would suit this expansion better, it would be the fastest species in our lagoons and could swallow certain species whole (Hesperornis, icthyosaurus maybe depending on its size, and a number of juveniles)
• Aquilolamna : Another oddball pick but I just love this elasmobranch that would be far more interesting than just going for Cretoxyrhina or any other sharks (even if I really wanted to include one), it would have a unique filter feeding diet and would be our first filter feeder
• Hesperornis : I had to include at least one dinosaur in the pack and what would be more fitting than hesperornis, this cretaceous cormorant would be our first bird and would just be an absolute gem to include
• Archelon : I know that reselling species is a very hot topic at the moment (for good reason) but there is no way I could leave archelon on the cutting room floor and I very much doubt archelon will return for free but maybe they could have a unique nesting mechanic on beaches with the babies making a run for the ocean just as modern sea turtles do.

New Scenery

Scenery pieces for this pack that I came up with were more focused on creating natural settings for our lagoons but I am sure that there are more coastal things that could be added like shipwrecks or buoys as examples

• Crinoids
• Rudist Reefs
• Hydrothermal vents (some could produce bubble columns that traverse all the way to the surface)
• More corals/coral rocks
• Rockpools

New Feeder

For the aquilolamna there would need to be a brand new filter feeding feeder which you wont see what it releases but at night any lagoons with a filter feeding lagoon will glow with bioluminescence to add even more customisaton to the lagoons

New Map

This would be a new sandbox / challenge map but either one that includes a natural lagoon OR a map that is an archipelago of islands with an ocean that lagoon creatures can be placed in would be genuinely amazing

FREE UPDATE

Lagoon Land Connection

Now I could see this being paywalled as a feature but because of rebirth and the mosasaur/spinosaur scene I have decided to include it in the free update. I have no idea how game development works but someway to connect the sides of the lagoon to the land through a connecting pieces of some kind would be great - either with a number of set animations or preferably as a terrain piece that can be used by all species

Access to lagoons would allow our semi-aquatics to dive but not all semi-aquatics would use it for example I think dimetrodon would avoid the lagoons whilst spinosaurus and mosasaurus could cohabitate peacefully

Potentially some set animations where the mosasaur beaches itself to grab prey or the indominus rex.

Adjustable Lagoon Depth

This would make lagoons far more interesting to build in and I suggest 4 different depths to get full range.

• Very shallow water - pretty much only the smallest species or juveniles could access this and this could easily slope to a beach
• Shallow water - maybe about half of the normal depth or slightly shallower which would allow more intricate reefs to be built without having to cover half the lagoon with rocks to act as the bottom
• Regular lagoons - suits well for alot of the large species
• Deep lagoons - would include a darkness to it's depths to create a real sense of the open ocean

New Behaviours

I think a few new behaviours could be added to the lagoon species to make them more interesting to watch

• Breaching / Porpoising - a number of different species could either breach like a whale (Shonisaurus/Mosasaurs/Pliosaurs) in a similar way to their shark feeding animation whilst smaller species (Icthyosaurus) would porpoise out of the water occasionally
• Breathing - Even though they sort of do this, I think proper animations for marine reptiles (and hesperornis) coming to the surface to breathe would be great
• Large predators could grab pterosaurs flying over the lagoon which would work in a similar way to the deinosuchus animation but a bit more complex

Returning Species

Tylosaurus