I've noticed the cow plant in my game only seems to eat random townies, not CAS sims, or even 'known' townies such as: Goopy Thingy or Sandy Bruty. I did a bit of reading to find out why this is, and the general consensus seemed to be the cow plant will eat any sims, as long as they have high hygiene levels. However, that doesn't seem to happen in my game. So, in the hope that the collective wisdom of MTS will provide the definitive answer, my question is: will the cow plant only eat certain townies or does it eat any/all sims as long as they are clean?

Rather hoping it's the former and my poor sims aren't the stinky kids of the hood ...

I have noticed that my CowPlant Flopsie (yes I named her) will eat anyone dumb enough to look twice at her, other than one playable who was visiting Flopsie's family & smacked her away when she tried to munch. I didn't see any of the stinkie fumes coming from Gretchen, I just thought she was safe as a visiting playable. The eldest son of Flopsie's family took her to uni with him & she did eat a couple of his frat brothers. Flopsie has made a lunch out of both Goopys undirected, plus Marylena Hamilton (which was a shame) & a few others of the 'recognizable' townies. Hope that helps...

Well it at least keeps the townines away but the ghost count would be huge .

sweetbaby160, thank you, yes that does help! Although it looks like I need to install more showers lol

Artimis, I send the headstones to a graveyard so don't see the ghosts ... but yes, it does cut down on the numbers which is a good thing. I started using the cow plant to cull a few sims when I realised I had nearly 1000, eek!

Unless one has notownieregen installed, the game simply creates new townies to replace those that die, so cowplanting them doesn't accomplish anything, if the goal is to get rid of townies.

Also, dead sims still have character files, so killing them doesn't reduce the number of character files a neighborhood has at all. In fact, it increases them, since the game simply generates more to replace the dead ones. (In the case of townies, anyway.)

My cow plant never eats any townies. Only playables that I have ordered to grab the cake.

Does anyone know why this happens?

I'm probably the only person who plays sims and has never used a cow plant. I wouldn't care if it ate any townies. I just wouldn't want it to eat any of my playable sims. How often does a cow plant need to eat? Will it die if it doesn't get fed on a regular basis?

My cowplant will sometimes refuse to eat a sim, but I find that if I invite them over and try again, it will eventually eat them. It got easier when I stopped locking it away and popped it outside the house. Anyone who got greeted/brought home from work/school and wasn't immediately distracted because cowplant food.

CowPlants in my games would either eat every Sim who approached them, playable or not, or they would refuse to eat anyone, even the squeaky clean ones. So I never figured out the pattern on which CowPlants build their live snack preferences.

... if any of you use the MATY director's cut, there is a hack in there that alters the Cow Plant's behavior so that it only eats sims with low logic skill.

It happens because you are a wicked and mean gamer and should be ashamed of yourself.

My kind of guy. Come and sit over here with me.

o.O

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooot

I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or scared.

Scared ... definitely scared. Yes.

:O

Why are there suddenly walls around me? D:

No, it won't die if not fed, but when you do feed them, it keeps them "safe" for awhile. When they get hungry again, that's when they put out the cake lure to tempt gullible sims close enough to grab. At that point, you have to decide whether or not to feed it again, or let it eat someone. You can also put a fence around it and consider it decor.

I'm not sure of the timing exactly, but to keep them from putting out the cake, I know they have to be fed at least once a day.

I don't use cow plants much either, because I don't really like to have sims drink the moo juice after the cow plant has eaten someone, yet that's what must be done if one doesn't want the cow plant to be dormant indefinitely.

Have you greeted the townies and allowed them entry into your home?

I checked and I do have it!

Now, based on my observations by watching CowPlants in different 'hoods and MATY hack's effects, it means Sims in Strangetown (founded and populated by scientific folks, with obligatory Uni education, with half population being either in Science or Medicine careers) are on a low side of logic bar and Sims in Riverblossom Hills (a village with only basic education available and no jobs whatsoever to stimulate their intelligence, only gardening and fishing for all from kids to elders) are pretty smart beings

Simworld is a funny place

I have got the noregen mod. I'm not killing them to reduce the number of character files, it's more to reduce the number of sims available to play. Once they've turned up at my sims house, or have befriended them on a community lot I feel guilty if I don't make them part of the game - which is daft, I know

My sim Alec Fleurada allowed his pet Cow Plant, Zhivago, to have a taste of human flesh twice.

Once was an unlucky teen who managed to get pass the locked gates.

The other was intentional manslaughter, in the form of Alec purposely opening the gate, so his daughter's asshole 'boyfriend' would wander in and get eaten.

There we found the problem!
Nope, I haven't greeted them. I thought the cow plant would just autonomously lure passing townies into her trap/stomach

Yup, that'll be it. They have to be guests of some kind to be nommed on, so if there's an ugly townie jogging past, be sure to run out, greet them and suddenly become busy doing something else. But on the other hand, be careful of coworkers and teens bringing friends home from school that you might like to stick around. I lost a lovely teen townie who went to eat cake while her friend was finding a spot to put her homework down.

lol I forgot about the moo juice (as you call it). I can't remember exactly what it does though. Isn't it like the elixer of life or something?

I also have another question. If I want to experiment with the cow plant, is it possible to put it back in a sim's inventory if I decide I don't want to use it anymore?

The cow plant can't be returned to the career reward bin, but it can be stored in regular inventory. Or sold, or fenced in.

Yes, the moo juice is like Elixer of Life, except that it adds 4 days to a sim's current lifestage whereas Elixer adds 3.

Thanks Darby. I think one of my sims has a cow plant. I'll try using it the next time I play that lot. Now I have to decide which annoying townie I should get it to eat first. lol

I believe the Guide, which may or may not be correct on this, says the cow plant won't eat "stinky" townies.