SimGuruGraham has taken to Twitter to answer questions for the upcoming Sims 4 My First Pet Stuff Pack! This is the second half of his Q&A. See Part 1 here.
Yes, they do die of old age… but there's a treat that you can choose to feed them which will permanently halt their aging process. Their aging functions separately from the options menu.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
We're recommending that players who purchase My First Pet Stuff already own Cats & Dogs. We're going to be very up front about that, and you're going to see it anywhere you read about this pack.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
If someone without Cats & Dogs decides they'd still like My First Pet Stuff though, we aren't going to keep them from having it.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Heh no. While your rodents can starve to death, or die of old age, you won't see them get eaten by cats (or anyone else for that matter.)
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Cats can jump up on the rodent's habitat and paw at the tunnels from up there.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Thanks for sharing your feedback; I totally understand why some are feeling this way. The expansion team decided to spend their time adding some brand new things, which meant a different mix of features for the traditional "pets" pack.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
I'd hope there's still room for us to try new things, but it's still on us to demonstrate that it's worth your money. Hopefully folks will enjoy seeing everything we've added in My First Pet Stuff during Friday's livestream.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Yes, there's a new large and small pet bed included in the pack. You should be able to spot both of them in the trailer 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Unfortunately not. When you set something for sale, you lose all of the interactions on it. This was resulting in rodents slowly dying when being sold, so it's something we decided to disable.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Yup, you can name each rodent that you own. You can build relationships with them as well, so their name will show up in the relationship panel.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
You'll be able to put a hamster, rat, hedgehog, or a bubalus inside the habitat. Definitely more than just hamsters 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Absolutely. If you don't want to have to worry about even catching (let alone curing) Rabid Rodent Fever, you can drink a serum that'll permanently inoculate your Sim.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
I worked on the birds in Sims 3, so they've got a soft spot for me as well. I don't know if we'll add them in the future, but there's a variety of ways they could find their way into the game – not just as a Stuff Pack.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Each rodent needs their own habitat to live in. They will die of old age though, or starvation if you don't take care of them.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Sonic, Sanic… you can name it whatever you like 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, each rodent will need their own habitat to live in.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, there's a serum that can be acquired which will cure the disease when drank. I'll share more on the forums soon where I can explain it in more detail.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
That's correct – the new rodent treats can be purchased from the Vet clinic vending machine, or ordered from a computer.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
You can select the habitat's colors, but otherwise it's pre-made. There is something neat in the pack – if you noticed the decals of hamster tunnels on the wall in the trailer, that's actually multiple pieces that you can put together to create tons of tunnel configurations.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, each rodent has a distinct color and pattern. The hamsters are banded, with orange and white markings. The rats are all gray. The hedgehogs are brown and white, and the bubalus is – of course – quite purple.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Sims can take the rodents out of the cage to play with them, but afterwards it's back inside their home they go. They also leave on occasion to go on little adventures, which they may send you a postcard from.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Each rodent will need their own habitat. As for the habitat itself, it's 2×1 in size, but needs 2×2 of space so that Sims can walk up to it and interact with the rodents.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
You can find out more about the majestic Buablus here: https://t.co/QJHjJyTF0s 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
You could store old postcards on it, but even better would be displaying new postcards that your rodent sends you from their travels 😉
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, you don't select which fish go inside it.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
The fish tank coffee table is a decorative piece, you can't self-stock it. And while Sims can take rodents out of their habitat to play with them, you can't set them down in a hamster ball or anything like that.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
I've seen those comments and understand that some are frustrated. It's really born from the expansion team wanting to create new features, instead of falling in lockstep with pets packs of the past. Ultimately it's on us to communicate that, and to hear what players are saying.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
We created a whole lot for the 4 rodents that are included. Plenty for rodents to do within their habitat, rodents that lead secret lives, various interactions for Sims with rodents, a contagious disease and new death… If there were more pets, it'd be bigger than a Stuff Pack.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
That's correct, it's one rodent per habitat. They don't reproduce with each other.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
We're recommending that you have Cats & Dogs if you choose to purchase My First Pet Stuff. That said, if someone decides that they want it without Cats & Dogs, we're not going to stop them from enjoying it.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Not at all 🙂 Cats can jump up on the rodent's habitat and paw at the tunnels, but they never get the chance to go after a rodent directly.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
It's ok to be skeptical if that's how you're feeling… I should point out that there's just as much clothing in My First Pet Stuff as other Stuff Packs have come with. In addition to the outfits for cats and dogs, you'll find new clothing for Sims of all ages.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
We haven't changed anything about how pet outfits interact with laundry, which is to say that only Sims create dirty clothing.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
A pet store sounds fun, but that's not something that we could do within a pack the size of a Stuff Pack.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, My First Pet Stuff is all about the four included rodents and the different fun things that they can do, either by themselves or with Sims. 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Yup, you can give each of your rodents a unique name, which will show up in the relationship panel if you form a relationship with them 🙂
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
They've been added to the existing postcard collection, but they're considered "extras"… aka, you don't have to find the new ones to complete the original collection.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Sure thing. Obviously this pack functions a little differently with its partial dependency on Cats & Dogs. We waited to share it until we could discuss how all of that would work in detail.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
It's a vacationing hamster – something that they'll occasionally decide to do in My First Pet Stuff. They may even send you a postcard 😉
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Nope, not at all. They don't take up a household slot, and you can add as many as you'd like to your home.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
While I don't think Sims 4's stuff packs are particularly equivalent to what the Sims 3 Store offered, yes… some astute players have recalled that the Sims 3 Store also sold content that required The Sims 3 Pets.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Each rodent comes with a distinct color and pattern. You're correct that they aren't in CAP. The hamsters are banded, with orange and white markings. The rats are all gray. The hedgehogs are brown and white, and the bubalus is – of course – quite purple.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
No, that isn't in the plans. I'd equate it more to how we've handled new life states… ghosts were free for everyone, aliens came in Get to Work, vampires had their own pack, etc.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
Part of doing new features that haven't been in the franchise before, or mixing past favorites together in different ways, means that some content will come back in unexpected ways. Feedback that the community shares will continue to help shape that.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
I didn't work on that pack, so I wouldn't know specifically why… but generally speaking, adding animals to the game simply required more performance than the base game needed to run on its own.
— Graham Nardone (@SimGuruGraham) March 7, 2018
