Cowplant

[ReubenHood]

Hello Carl and Pam!

I just posted in another thread about the cow plant and thought I would add the post here as a Guide Suggestion, in case you wanted to verify this in your own game for the Gardening Guide:

When the cow plant eats a Sim the first time it will spit them out 100% of the time and they will lose all of their moodlets and gain a new "Drained" moodlet that will last 2 days (less if you use items that provide Discomfort Relief). Any Sim that is eaten by a cow plant again while they still have the "Drained" moodlet will be completely consumed by the plant 100% of the time and it will provide the life extending milk. My current Sim has personally fed on the Life Essence of no less than 13 Sims (tastes like Soylant Green.)

So far no Sim who has ever had the "Drained" moodlet has survived grabbing the cake and no Sim who has not had the moodlet has even been killed by the plant in my game.

Also, no matter how old my Sim is the Life Essence from the cowplant always reset their Age completely. I always drink 2-3 days before my Sims birthday and it always takes me back to the 20 days to Age Up (I use the default life span.)

[Carl]

I'll correct that now about the life essence and provide some of this extra info on the mechanics of death. Thanks a lot. I guess if someone gets eaten, you'd best take care of either drained OR the cow plant, because that is one long moodlet!

[Pam]

Nice work, ReubenHood.  And welcome to our Forum. 

If anyone else would like to test this and report back, it can't hurt to have more confirmation.

[ReubenHood]

Thanks, Pam!

Naturally, my first impulse after the new update was to feed a Ghost to my cowplant. It looks like cowplants can attempt to eat ghosts and drain their current emotion as usual, and they will drain the ghost and spit them out, providing an essence that can be milked. However, if the Ghost currently has the "Drained" moodlet they will not get the option to grab the cake until the moodlet is gone, they will only get the option to feed the plant.

[Carl]

I'm glad they thought of that, the ghost dying might have produced some interesting bugs or crashed the game. Good to know as always!

[natashaspy]

I can't make a cowplant grow. What am I doing wrong. I have planted over a dozen cowplants in a garden that is producing all sorts of healthy plants by two level 10 gardeners. I place the cowplant on the ground, click on Plant and the sim plants it. Then it immediately disappears never to be seen again. This is getting very frustrating. I have another dozen to try but have a feeling they will all do the same until I figure out the glitch. HELP!

[ReubenHood]

Are you planting the cowplant in a planter or near another object or wall? I remember reading somewhere that if you plant a cowplant berry were the plant doesn't have enough room to grow it will disappear. The fully grown cowplant requires a 2x5 area. If space is the issue I would recommend planting it in an open area on the lot and once it grows you can pick it up in build mode, where it will display the area it needs, which will allow you to place it with more precision in a location of your choosing.

[piratesupr]

Sorry but I still don't really understand about how cow plant work.
So if I want to produce life essence that can reset my sim age, I must sacrifice 1 sims to be eaten by cow plant?
Is it one sims per one life essence or if I already sacrifice one sims the cow plant will be able to produce life essence infinitely?

[Carl]

You get one per Sim. They need to be swallowed, spit out and eaten again while they have the drained moodlet for you to get the essence of life

[piratesupr]

Wow that's a little pricey. -_-
I guess book of life is the best choice to be Immortal in the sims 4.

Really thanks for your answer carl! 

[Carl]

No problem. I'll have a look at the Guide to see if I could perhaps be a bit more clear on those things

[DarkWalker]

Wow that's a little pricey. -_-
I guess book of life is the best choice to be Immortal in the sims 4.

Really thanks for your answer carl! 

You can use the cowplant together with the Book of Life: get the author to capture the life of the sacrificial sim in the book, sacrifice him to the cowplant (taking care to send everyone out of the lot first, least they get a long lasting sad moodlet), milk the essence of life, and resurrect the sacrificial sim (who should now be at the start of his life stage too). Write another book of life, rinse and repeat.

It's how I'm keeping my little family immortal.

[lindsaysoderberg]

@DarkWalker, very clever! I would not have thought of that.

[Pam]

Is it known that the Cowplant produces things other than Life Essence when it spits out a Sim?  My Sim has taken the cake twice, got swallowed, then spit back out.  When she milked the cow, she got Essence of Playfulness and Essence of Confidence.  I wasn't paying close attention, but that could have been her moods at the time.  Another odd thing is that when I click on the Essence in her inventory, it says, "Drink ______'s Essence of Confidence".  What is supposed to be in the blank?  Maybe the name of the Sim that was eaten? 

Also, does anything happen from petting and playing with the Cowplant?  I thought maybe she would get more options if she interacted with the Cowplant a lot, but nothing so far.

[Carl]

@Pam that's the essence that drains a Sim initially. One more situation like that with the moodlet and they're dead, producing the life essence. The first essence you get gives whatever emotion the Sim had upon being swallowed.

I'm not aware of there being any more depth to the cow plant. I think it is just a thing you need to keep fed, else guests and player Sims living autonomously have a possibility of interacting with it and losing their cheer, then their life.