Ponds are Coming

Does anyone know if we'll be able to use those pillar foundations over the pond water?

"isobel13;c-17907667" wrote:
Wait are those ducks?!
Do you think they could be live ducks or just decorations like the water lilies? I can't remember seeing live ducks in the teaser. Surely it would have been shown in the teaser, along with the other new animals...

They are indeed just VFX
https://mobile.twitter.com/SimGuruRomeo/status/1403522700446879746

I'm so EXCITED to finally get ponds. I love that these will be in the next update. I find them so beautiful and I can't wait to mess with the FX that you can add. I will probably add a pond of some size to almost every lot because they make things so pretty! It's a shame you can't actually swim in them but I understand. If you add alligator and then your sim was swimming with it, that would be crazy.

Wonder if we'll be able to create murky and swampy looking ponds.

"SelinaKyles;c-17908673" wrote:

"isobel13;c-17907667" wrote:
Wait are those ducks?!
Do you think they could be live ducks or just decorations like the water lilies? I can't remember seeing live ducks in the teaser. Surely it would have been shown in the teaser, along with the other new animals...

They are indeed just VFX
https://mobile.twitter.com/SimGuruRomeo/status/1403522700446879746

Oh cool. So we will be able to manually place the ducks and swans on the new ponds rather than wait for them to fly around the area and land on the water (like they do in other worlds). Awesome, so we can really make our ponds look like they're full of life.

"alan650111;c-17908753" wrote:
I'm so EXCITED to finally get ponds. I love that these will be in the next update. I find them so beautiful and I can't wait to mess with the FX that you can add. I will probably add a pond of some size to almost every lot because they make things so pretty! It's a shame you can't actually swim in them but I understand. If you add alligator and then your sim was swimming with it, that would be crazy.

I'm hoping these VFX animals will occasionally come out of the water especially the alligator and bask in the sun.

Ok, I will be adding gators to Willow Creek.

I am confused about why our sims won't be able to swim in the ponds, though. The reason provided is that they want us to be able to customize the ponds to our heart's content, which makes sense - to an extent. Not all ponds will be jagged, deep in the ground etc. If sims would be able to walk over the terrain if there was no water, surely they should be able to route it with water? Sims can wade in shallow water - if the terrain is too jagged or steep to wade, they could get the "unroutable" animation. If the water is deep enough to swim in, it shouldn't really matter what the terrain looks like on the ground since sims can swim over it. I feel like there should be a middle ground with individual ponds being swimmable or not, just like not all terrain with the terrain tools are routable. I can see how climbing into and out of ponds that are steep at the edges could provide problems, but that could be remedied by adding a pool ladder or something similar? Also, getting into and out of pools are possible without ladders, so jumping in and climbing out at certain depths could use those animations?

I like the VFX. It will be nice to fill lots with life in this way, add little backstories to why the animals are there or name the lot around the animals/vegetation etc. And I like that we can stock the ponds with fish and catch them. I also spy a log in the screenshot and they said we'll be getting more decor for ponds - I'm always stoked to get more landscaping options.

"crocobaura;c-17908812" wrote:
Wonder if we'll be able to create murky and swampy looking ponds.

I'd assume that we can use the water paints on the ponds. Maybe a new water paint will be added as the default for ponds, but then we can make them murky with JA and GT water paints etc. It would be nice if we also get a new terrain paint or two: pond pebbles, pond mud with twigs etc. I also wonder whether they'll make it possible to make little waterfalls, or at least make something that looks like a waterfall. The water fountains are the obvious choice, but it would be nice to make something a bit more organic-looking. If we can make the water at the height we want it on top of any appropriate terrain, it would be interesting to experiment with a higher water source and one underneath it, seeing if it makes the water flow down (also applicable to "rivers" with descending terrain height).


I am looking forward to playing with the pond tool for building. I'm already planning to make a nice pond under a willow tree with pine needle terrain paint around it etc. I did this a few times in TS3 so it's activating the nostalgia. It sounds like we'll be able to make deep pits and then put the water to the height we want it, which is giving me ideas for a garbage trench for an apocalyptic save file hehe.

I didn't know Britain had Alligators? I always though they were only in Australia, US & South America?

"SERVERFRA;c-17910618" wrote:
I didn't know Britain had Alligators? I always though they were only in Australia, US & South America?

Actually alligators are only in the US and China - everything else is crocodiles :smile: We certainly don't have them in the UK, but they're being added to the game through the pond tool which is coming as a free BG update, for every world, not just for the England-themed world in the new EP.