Central asian map idea (ibex, maral hunt)

[AstonishedMorray]

This proposal was inspired by Mongolian reserve idea that was proposed by MooseDragon98 earlier. I am from Kazakhstan, and always felt that our homeland (being quite and impressive place for hunting and not only) never got any representation in hunting simulators (and other games). Recently i have noticed that Hunter COTW dev team are really surprising us with some unexpected reserves (Medved, Cuatro, Fernando). But Asian region hasnt got any representation to this day. Also, tacking in account the devs words about mountain hunting plans for future( they talked about it in one of the Q&A) i would like to propose and idea for a Central Asia hunting reserve (or national park like Taiga) inspired by steppe-mountainous areas of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan(and maybe Pamirs and Mongolia in some ways).

So why Central asia?
- Outstanding and unique nature with and abundance of different biomes ( dry steppe-desert 80 km away from alpine plains)
- Wide variety of animals from all categories (including some unique ones, I’ll talk about that below)
- Interesting local culture (with some interesting game-design decisions)
- Neat chance to implement some new game mechanics.
- Liberal hunting policy (a lot of foreign hunters are now going to Kyrgyzstan – Kazakhstan for ibex and maral stag hunting)
- Some extreme experience – the terrain really gets steepe sometimes, and to get to some places you need to be either on horseback ore special equipment.
- And overall chance to show rural Central Asian region with unique atmosphere.

So now about the details, first off – biomes:

The general idea is to show how quickly terrain can change over small distance. In the lower parts of the map you can have dry biome like semi-desert with some body of water (might be a river coming down from mountains to the steppe). The semi-desert is not open as it has the Haloxylon bush (or saxaul in local language) is in abundance. Near the river is a forest of rarest turanga tree in which wildlife is thriving. On the river itself are located giant masses of the reeds which form a natural labyrinth( the reeds are higher than man). From here and between the mountains it gets more to the steppe biome( open plains with some turanga bush in lowland, the overall terrain is mostly hills( there could be added a salt plains in open areas as a landmark). There you slowly go to the mountains themselves as the river valley slowly leads you higher. First of the slopes are mostly rocky and the flora is mainly grouped around the river(birch and local elm variation). But higher you go, the more you start to see trees on the slopes. The narrow valley lead you the highlands where the elevation starts to get dangerous (some beautiful places can be found in this biomes like waterfalls in separate small creeks that lead to the main river). Here the pines are starting to replace leafy trees and it continues until you reach plateau. Here are the wide-open alpine plains and the river is flowing on an open space with rocky valleys. Upper than that (it is 4000 meters above sea level at this point) are steepe mountains with snow and tundra like biomes where it is dangerous to navigate without equipment.

Now, about animals:

Class 0:
- Himalayan snowcock – lives in mountainous higlands and in small lakes on alpine plains.
- Chukar partridge – rocky terrain in foothills.
- Tolai hare – bushes in the steppes and foothills.
- Common pheasant (there are actually 3 subspecies living here, but they aren’t realy that different from one another) – almost everywhere except highlands and rocky terrain with no vegetation, most often met in turanga forest.
- Grey Partridge – rocky slopes in foothills and higher.
- Common Quail – steppe and semi-desert.
- Marmot – alpine plains high in the mountains.
- Corsac Fox(or Common fox, they share the same areal) – dry arid biomes like steppes with bushes in abundance.

Class 1:
- Eurasian lynx(could be Turkestan lynx subspecies) – From forested areas high in the mountains to reed labyrinth, but prefers mountains.
- Golden jackal – semi-desert and steppe, also in valleys with thick vegetation and in turanga forest.
- Siberian roe deer – almost everywhere where is vegetation except rocky highlands.
- Badger – most of the terrains near the bodies of water.

Class 2:
- Eurasian Wolf – can be encountered in all biomes except the highest mountains, prefers forested areas.
- Wild boar – mostly places like turanga forest and reed labyrinth but also can be encountered in the mountains.

Class 3:
- Maral stag – almost everywhere where is thick vegetation.
- Siberian ibex(Mid Asian subspecies) – rocky highlands high In the mountains.
- Argali sheep(Could be Marco-Polo sheep or Tian Shan argali) – shares the territory with ibex but prefers more arid places.

Endangered and so controversial:
- Saiga antelope (critical condition, so not good idea)
- Himalayan brown bear (vulnerable, albeit present in big numbers. It was hunted in soviet times and I heard that you could legaly hunt it for high price though)
- Coitered gazelle (vulnerable, like bison, but population is stabilizing)
- Bactrian deer (never heard about hunting them, but their population is growing in large numbers)

So yeah, there is a lot, and those are not all of them. But some of those like Siberian ibex and Maral stag are THE biggest ibex and stag in the world with most decent population in one territory.

About the game mechanics and unique design:
- Adding this reserve will be a neat opportunity to introduce equipment for traversing mountainous terrain as most of the map will be very difficult to navigate without it.
- Horses, yeah, they blend in perfectly. Not only they are a part of local culture but they are also used for ibex hunting extensively. Without horses it is really hard to get to the places where ibex lives. Also, imagine yourself traveling a vast open steppe with a gorgeous mountain view. Gives you this nomadic vibe of the map.
- Jurts for outposts, like, wow, it will be neat, and also support this nomadic vibe of local culture. It also will support the idea of region being rural with low civilization impact.
I think is sounds really nice and fitting for map like that.

I suppose it is overall a nice idea – to introduce gamers to places they never heard about. As mostly in games even if you see the mountain hunting it is mostly about alps or Europe, and we already have Hirschfelden.

As for the plot, it could be tied up with some national park, helping to save endangered species and fighting with poachers who try to hunt saiga and bears( also good idea to introduce those species as huntable animals.

[MooseDragon98]

Originally posted by (G2S) WorldsNightmare:

I totally forgot the Common shelduck as a geese species for a region.

They are quite peculiar, they tend to live high in the mountains in salty lakes and make their nests in marmot and badger caves. And quite beautiful.

Waterfowl nesting in marmot dens, interesting

[AstonishedMorray]

Originally posted by MooseDragon98:

Originally posted by (G2S) WorldsNightmare:

I totally forgot the Common shelduck as a geese species for a region.

They are quite peculiar, they tend to live high in the mountains in salty lakes and make their nests in marmot and badger caves. And quite beautiful.

Waterfowl nesting in marmot dens, interesting

I dont know if it is everywhere like this. Shelduck is a widespread species, but here yes, they do that.

[AstonishedMorray]

Originally posted by hunter08913:

Originally posted by (G2S) WorldsNightmare:

It is not only about animals. But the nature itself
Hell, I need mountain reserve so bad :D

Just thought that this feeling of semi-desert going up to snowy mountain is such a setting for hunting.

But yeah, too much ibex-ram for now. Wonder what it would be next.

I really do hope they expand the animal diversity on existing reserves.

Like bobcat, Turkey, bighorn for Layton.

Birds for hirshfelden (I am a pheasant hunter myself so really miss them)

We are in SUCH a need for new animals in Taiga.

Others - well, there's dall sheep, bunch of savanna animals for Vurhonga and I dunno what else.

Fernando and Cc are pretty complete, iberian fox and some birds would be nice though.

Im from Spain and I can affirm to you that Cuatro Colinas isn't even close to complete; no iberian fallow, no red legged partridge, no pheasant, no wood pigeon, no quail, no thrush, no barbary sheep, no chamois, no capercaillie, no boc balear( although there aren't any mediterranean inspired biomes on cuatro), this would be some great and necessary additions to the map

I really do hope the old reserves will get the attention they need so much. There is so much territory and so little animal variety (and a lot of options to add new animals on those map). So yeah, I am with you when you say that existing map needs more animals.

[AstonishedMorray]

Hi everyone, me again with bunch of new ideas I came up with after some research.

New animals :
Pallas's cat - yeah, could be introduced instead of a lynx, Regis status is not that threatened but people are prohibited to hunt them. Also, they are meme, so why not (my friend's hunting reserve is named after Pallas's cat)

Markhour - first of, I thought that this would be not such a good idea. But then i found out that you can hunt markhour in Uzbekistan, which is neat. Markhour is a very unique (and looks neat).

Snow leo - oh, I know I know. Its controversial af. But, same goes for hunting musk deer, lions, everything that is slightly endangered, but those beast are gorgeous and their population grows up lately. Where else you could hunt snow leo if not in such reserve. They are also main ibex population regulator, cause wolves cant reach ibex high in the mountains.

And one interesting fact: argali's and snowcock have a strange symbiosis and tend to travel together, especially to the places where they feed. Snowcock give warnings to argali in case of danger with sound signals
This have been noted by some hunters and scientists who studied them.

[cybvep]

Markhour

Wow. I've never seen or heard about this animal before. Their horns are just insane. Now I really would like to see Markhor in-game!