Hey everyone! I've noticed a lot of posts asking for a farming EP over the past bunch of months, so my thought was, WHY NOT MAKE ANOTHER ONE?!?! Here are some ideas I'm really hoping to see! Hopefully I can provide some insight for creating a pack like this since I live on a farm.THINGS THAT ARE KIND OF ESSENTIAL TO A FARMING EP: BIGGER LOTS! To make a small farm, you'll need a 50x50, but what if you want a regular, or even a large farm? I think a new world with a variety of lots ranging from about 50x50 to 100x100 would be perfect, and maybe a little cottage in the corner on a small lot, too. Not everyone wants they're own farm. "INVITE IN" INTERACTION! To run a farm, you'll need to hire farmhands, and you might not want them in your house. This is a much needed feature already, and a farming pack is another instance where it would be vital. I want to have a roommate who lives in a cabin beside me and doesn't enter my house, but I want to be able to invite them inside sometimes and not go redo all the door locks. Can't we have an invite in interaction, and can't guests just automatically go through some doors? FIELDS! Have you ever seen a farm with no fields? If you've ever been to a farm, then the answer is probably 'no'. Fields could be build with a tool similar to the pool tool. There could be different dirt textures, pathways, and decor to fill them with. Of course, plants can grow on the regular ground, but it's not a farm until it's got a field. OUTDOOR ANIMALS! Cats and Dogs is great, don't get me wrong, but I would like to have the option for a more self-sufficient pet. A barn cat doesn't live in the house, usually hunts it's own meals, and definitely doesn't use a litter box. A farm dog may or may not live in the house, but it's often living outdoors, and it needs a dog house. Dogs don't need walks when they have an acreage to run around in, and cats don't need laser pointers when they have birds to chase. FARM ANIMALS! Of course, it's kind of a given that everyone would want farm animals with a farming pack. My personal motto is, "It's not a farm until you've got animals". FARM ANIMALS ARE NOT HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS! If you owned a farm, you could choose if your pet is a farm animal or a pet, and these would change the available interactions and the pet's needs. There could be a separate category, maybe viewed through the phone, that shows all of your chickens, pigs, goats, horses, barn cats, etc... Maybe you could have up to, say 30 farm animals. I know more would be ideal, but that would slow down the game too much. They would have simple needs, namely hunger, bladder, and energy. They would automatically sleep when tired, and leave some fertilizing droppings when necessary. You would have to keep their feeders full. Livestock would be incapable of going through gates, so you could make enclosures for them that the sims can go into and clean and stuff. There could be a Sell To Butcher interaction when clicking on an animal (though not horses, cats, or dogs), and this interaction would bring someone to pick up your livestock, then later a dilevery of meat would appear at your house or mailbox. There could be a whole range of interactions with animals. I'll put some ideas later... SLOWER FOOD GROWING AND COMPLICATIONS! Growing food isn't that easy. Really, I've got lots of firsthand experience. About half your plants just don't grow, and you only get produce from each plant about 1 to 10 times per year. Root and stalk veggies only produce one harvest every year, whereas fruit trees, perennial leafy plants, and other such things, will produce maybe 5 to 15 harvest in a year. No one plant can be harvested every day. Most plants need to be re-planted every year because they are not perennial. You have to plant at certain times of year, too. Then there are the complications; seeds sprout with the seeds around the leaves, slugs eat the crops, and so much more!SEPARATE ANIMAL INTERACTION IDEAS: SEND TO GRAZE HERE. Farm dogs or farmers on horses could herd cattle as they graze in a specific spot. COLLECT MANURE. Collect manure and spread on garden fields RIDE HORSE HERE GROOM HORSE (Maybe horses could have hygiene needs and have an option to be household pets as well) PLAY WITH CHICKENS. Kids and toddlers could play with the chickens AND SO MUCH MORE!I hope this is inspiring and I would love to hear your ideas!

So for animals I kind of want rabbit holes (sort of), say you build a chicken coop and you can have 10 chickens, I want to see different color chickens running around their fenced in area, (not all at once, some will be laying eggs) but I want to be able to click on the coop and see all ten chickens and give them different names and then maybe choose to "harvest" and older one, take to market (where you can sell it at a farmers market) and then "take to show" to try and win a ribbon for best chicken. And I would want this with all the animals. However, I want certain animals to share coops/barns, Like duck, geese and chickens (and quail) can share a coop and you have to add on to the coop to get more birds with a limit of how many you can have in the coop. Then i want sheep, goats, and llama/alpacas to share a barn with the same rabbit hole idea, you see some of them but some are in the barn. and then bulls and cows can share a barn (with horses, and donkeys, and ponies). I want to be able to mark some of them as well like "breed to X on tuesday" or "send to butcher on wednesday".

"RenRochelle;c-17517209" wrote:So for animals I kind of want rabbit holes (sort of), say you build a chicken coop and you can have 10 chickens, I want to see different color chickens running around their fenced in area, (not all at once, some will be laying eggs) but I want to be able to click on the coop and see all ten chickens and give them different names and then maybe choose to "harvest" and older one, take to market (where you can sell it at a farmers market) and then "take to show" to try and win a ribbon for best chicken. And I would want this with all the animals. However, I want certain animals to share coops/barns, Like duck, geese and chickens (and quail) can share a coop and you have to add on to the coop to get more birds with a limit of how many you can have in the coop. Then i want sheep, goats, and llama/alpacas to share a barn with the same rabbit hole idea, you see some of them but some are in the barn. and then bulls and cows can share a barn (with horses, and donkeys, and ponies). I want to be able to mark some of them as well like "breed to X on tuesday" or "send to butcher on wednesday".Yeah, that would be cool, too. If a farming pack does come out, I'm sure that's what they'll do. I just think it would be cool to build my own animal runs and barns and stuff.

I love all of Rhiannonraven's farm ideas.We also would need tractors & wagons.

I really wish farm animals could be able to get pregnant as cats and dogs do, to interact with each other, and maybe even be able to interact with other animals too. For example, it would be lovely if you already have cats and dogs, you could be able to train your dog to be sheepdog and look after sheeps. Maybe is a little too much to ask for, but it would also be so lovely if cows and horses could give birth and farmers and childrens could help to assist the birth, and toddlers and kids could watch the birth. If you have parenthood that could give toddlers, children and teens some points of empathy, and responsability. Maybe it could work similar to sim pregnancies, where you can either chose the mom to have the baby in the bassinet, or go to hospital. You could send your cow/horse to the vet, or you could buy an special object to work as bassinets do, for example, a big pile of hay, where you could click and have a few options: "to carry *name of animal* here", and then, "to start birth" "to asist with birth" and "to watch birth" I really wish if we get horses they could get clasified as "pets" as well so we'd be able to create them and add them by CAS wih different accesories and types of hair. It would be cool to create a horse with braided hair and feathers. Spoiler (Highlight to read)https://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/28/a1/3928a1371b0dee9bec0c0fedce6da7fb.jpghttps://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/28/a1/3928a1371b0dee9bec0c0fedce6da7fb.jpg

"Elisdream;c-17521044" wrote:I really wish farm animals could be able to get pregnant as cats and dogs do, to interact with each other, and maybe even be able to interact with other animals too. For example, it would be lovely if you already have cats and dogs, you could be able to train your dog to be sheepdog and look after sheeps. Maybe is a little too much to ask for, but it would also be so lovely if cows and horses could give birth and farmers and childrens could help to assist the birth, and toddlers and kids could watch the birth. If you have parenthood that could give toddlers, children and teens some points of empathy, and responsability. Maybe it could work similar to sim pregnancies, where you can either chose the mom to have the baby in the bassinet, or go to hospital. You could send your cow/horse to the vet, or you could buy an special object to work as bassinets do, for example, a big pile of hay, where you could click and have a few options: "to carry *name of animal* here", and then, "to start birth" "to asist with birth" and "to watch birth" I really wish if we get horses they could get clasified as "pets" as well so we'd be able to create them and add them by CAS wih different accesories and types of hair. It would be cool to create a horse with braided hair and feathers. Spoiler (Highlight to read)https://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/28/a1/3928a1371b0dee9bec0c0fedce6da7fb.jpghttps://i.pinimg.com/originals/39/28/a1/3928a1371b0dee9bec0c0fedce6da7fb.jpgYES!! For me it would also be about being able to build my own animal enclosures, I don't want every farm to have the same chicken run! And yes, if they make an EP for farming where the animal pens are just objects that produce something every now and then, it'll be an EP for city people. Anyone who's ever spent time on a farm knows that it's much more complex than that and each animal is it's own individual.

Forum Discussion

RHappyPotato

6 years ago

Farming EP ideas!

Hey everyone! I've noticed a lot of posts asking for a farming EP over the past bunch of months, so my thought was, WHY NOT MAKE ANOTHER ONE?!?! Here are some ideas I'm really hoping to see! Hopefully I can provide some insight for creating a pack like this since I live on a farm.

THINGS THAT ARE KIND OF ESSENTIAL TO A FARMING EP:

BIGGER LOTS! To make a small farm, you'll need a 50x50, but what if you want a regular, or even a large farm? I think a new world with a variety of lots ranging from about 50x50 to 100x100 would be perfect, and maybe a little cottage in the corner on a small lot, too. Not everyone wants they're own farm.
"INVITE IN" INTERACTION! To run a farm, you'll need to hire farmhands, and you might not want them in your house. This is a much needed feature already, and a farming pack is another instance where it would be vital. I want to have a roommate who lives in a cabin beside me and doesn't enter my house, but I want to be able to invite them inside sometimes and not go redo all the door locks. Can't we have an invite in interaction, and can't guests just automatically go through some doors?
FIELDS! Have you ever seen a farm with no fields? If you've ever been to a farm, then the answer is probably 'no'. Fields could be build with a tool similar to the pool tool. There could be different dirt textures, pathways, and decor to fill them with. Of course, plants can grow on the regular ground, but it's not a farm until it's got a field.
OUTDOOR ANIMALS! Cats and Dogs is great, don't get me wrong, but I would like to have the option for a more self-sufficient pet. A barn cat doesn't live in the house, usually hunts it's own meals, and definitely doesn't use a litter box. A farm dog may or may not live in the house, but it's often living outdoors, and it needs a dog house. Dogs don't need walks when they have an acreage to run around in, and cats don't need laser pointers when they have birds to chase.
FARM ANIMALS! Of course, it's kind of a given that everyone would want farm animals with a farming pack. My personal motto is, "It's not a farm until you've got animals".
FARM ANIMALS ARE NOT HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS! If you owned a farm, you could choose if your pet is a farm animal or a pet, and these would change the available interactions and the pet's needs. There could be a separate category, maybe viewed through the phone, that shows all of your chickens, pigs, goats, horses, barn cats, etc... Maybe you could have up to, say 30 farm animals. I know more would be ideal, but that would slow down the game too much. They would have simple needs, namely hunger, bladder, and energy. They would automatically sleep when tired, and leave some fertilizing droppings when necessary. You would have to keep their feeders full. Livestock would be incapable of going through gates, so you could make enclosures for them that the sims can go into and clean and stuff. There could be a Sell To Butcher interaction when clicking on an animal (though not horses, cats, or dogs), and this interaction would bring someone to pick up your livestock, then later a dilevery of meat would appear at your house or mailbox. There could be a whole range of interactions with animals. I'll put some ideas later...
SLOWER FOOD GROWING AND COMPLICATIONS! Growing food isn't that easy. Really, I've got lots of firsthand experience. About half your plants just don't grow, and you only get produce from each plant about 1 to 10 times per year. Root and stalk veggies only produce one harvest every year, whereas fruit trees, perennial leafy plants, and other such things, will produce maybe 5 to 15 harvest in a year. No one plant can be harvested every day. Most plants need to be re-planted every year because they are not perennial. You have to plant at certain times of year, too. Then there are the complications; seeds sprout with the seeds around the leaves, slugs eat the crops, and so much more!

SEPARATE ANIMAL INTERACTION IDEAS:

SEND TO GRAZE HERE. Farm dogs or farmers on horses could herd cattle as they graze in a specific spot.
COLLECT MANURE. Collect manure and spread on garden fields
RIDE HORSE HERE
GROOM HORSE (Maybe horses could have hygiene needs and have an option to be household pets as well)
PLAY WITH CHICKENS. Kids and toddlers could play with the chickens
AND SO MUCH MORE!

I hope this is inspiring and I would love to hear your ideas!

14 Replies

gabrielgsl9
Seasoned Newcomer
6 years ago
Maybe we could split levels at the upper storeys, like making a filled half wall. Every modern houses uses this nowadays and it's incredible how this isn't into the game, half walls are not enough to make cool modern houses. They could make it at sims easily just adding a sized platform that could be resized and painted just like walls, i don't know how they didn't do it yet.
RHappyPotato
6 years ago
"Indoflower;c-17522450" wrote:
I would love a farming EP. But it needs to fit with the Sims 4 works, and it's really a game about everyday life. It cannot really be about big industrial farms with huge fields with big machinery and barns filled with animals. If it's too big, the game cannot handle it anyway. It would not be an industry, it has to be something you can do on your own lot, kinda like a side hustle, or something you do just to feed your own family.

So I'm thinking if they do it, it would be more simple. Like a chicken coop is easy enough, kinda like the bees in Season or Insects in EcoLifestyle, similar to what they gave us in Sims 3. You don't want the chickens to be family members and control them anyway, so just an object with interactions like feed, clean, play with the babies and scoop the eggs. Maybe, with the same object, we could have access to different types of chickens, or even different types of bird ? Like geese and so on.

You won't be able to have herds either. There is already a limit where only 20 sims can visit a lot at the same time. So if you have a family, and you add maybe a cat/dog, you invite a friend over... not much wiggle room. So, instead, since it would be just for the family, I'm thinking like one goat, one cow or maybe one sheep. Either it's a family member and it's like cats and dogs, or it's more an object kind of thing, like the chickens I was talking about. It would be better not to be an object too much, so you could build a space for it yourself, like a barn and/or a pen. It would be really fun if you could see them wander and graze. They could have a tendency to "escape" and eat what they are not supposed to, forcing you to make sure their pen is secured :)

I once saw on the forum someone say that Sims wouldn't allow for the killing of animals in game, even off-screen. Like you wouldn't be able to send animals to be killed to get the meat. I know this is how it works in real life, but the franchise would probably face backlash. I feel like it's true. Therefore, no pig. You could only have animals that produce something else, like eggs, milk/cheese/butter... This, with of course more plants, would mean new recipes. You could have an object where you put in the milk and after a bit you get either cheese or butter. And if you have sheep, then you get wool, but I'm not sure what you could do with it since they are already doing a Knitting Stuff Pack...

As for the plants, maybe a new type of plants : grain ? And you can have a mill object to make flour ? And maybe brew "beer" or something. Also I miss being able to make wine like in Sims 3, where you could store it in caves and it would gain in quality !

Basically, I feel this EP could be more about life on the countryside than about farming as a living. It allows you to add plenty of little elements instead of trying to implement a big system. I'm thinking like making jams, canning... and maybe something with fish cause they always go bad, so maybe salt them or something ? And, of course, a farmer's market. Either like the festivals in City Living, so a set place and a recurring time, where you can sell and buy, or just a Community lot. And add a way to make the selling easier from a selling table : instead of selling each fruit/vegetable/flower individually, it would be nice to sell a bunch at a time. You could sell them by the basket !

I'm sure there's plenty more to add !

If they make a farming pack where you can't have real farms I'm going to be pretty annoyed. A lot of people really want the farming pack because they and I live on or around farms. It really sucks when you can't replicate your own life in the sims. It really focuses on suburban American lifestyles right now, and that should change.
Moonlydelusion
6 years ago
Other little details I'd love to see in a farming pack:

- New harvestables, plants and pumpkins. It would be a great oportunity to add pumpkins in the game!
- New recipes and contests. Similar to talent contest, you could sign in two different contest: cooking contest or harvest contest.
Cooking contest: You could sign in only with certain type of recipes as "Apple pie', 'pumpking pie', or 'roested chicken' and if they're good quality you'd had more chances to win.
Harvest contest: You could only sign in with some of the harvestables for the farm seed pack, for example, and the best quality one would win! For example, the pumpkin with best quality ? ?

New objects I'd love:
* A rustic fireplace and a big rustic oven with firewood to bake. ???
(Anything baked in this oven could give a special happy moodlet related to 'homemade/cozy vibes' )
* Rustic swings made with tire and ropes.

Since eco lifestyle gave us the capability of make our own fizzy juice, I think it's only fair if a farm pack allow us to prepare home made jam from fruit, and I'd also like to see a stall of fresh products as 'fresh from the farm milk, eggs, fresh from the farm / canned with love jam"

I honestly can't wait to get farming, imagine how cute would be a farming pack with all these diferent features combined with the knitting pack we're are getting later this year too. ? I think it could take the 'big family aspiration' and family gameplay to a beautiful new lvl ??
MasonGamerBoi
6 years ago
Definitely want mass harvesting put to good use. I've built an orchard now I'm in the process of building a vineyard.
Basically want my sims to go into wine and beer production.
would love to build a wheat or corn maze.
I would love farm animals, with the option as keeping Cows and Pigs and such as pets, or as livestock.
I would love actual Harvest Festivals. I have this medieval save where this noble family, who holds the south-western region of the kingdom, and it would be cool, if during their harvest times, they threw a week long festival. Bake offs, Eating contests, Mud wrestling, Jousting, Keg Drinking Contest, Wine/Ale tasting Scavenger hunts, Music and finish it off with a Grand Feast.

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