LIVESTREAM RECAP: Everything we learned about The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle

In case you missed it, The Sims Team hosted a deep dive Livestream of the upcoming Eco Lifestyle expansion pack for The Sims 4. When they said deep dive, they really meant a deep dive! The two-hour Livestream was jam-packed with so much information that us Sims Community staff members could hardly keep up!

In the end, we managed to gather up absolutely every new juicy tidbit of information revealed in the Livestream. We’ve taken the liberty of organizing all this new info into condensed categories for easy reading.

CAS

• CAS was not covered in great detail but most of CAS was showcased during the deep dive Livestream
• The new CAS items are described as eco-chic but there are also some CAS items that are upcycled/handmade
• Lots of new full-body, tops and bottoms for both male and female Sims
• At least ten new hairstyles for male and female Sims
• New piercings including eyebrow rings, new nose studs & hoops, septum hoops and plugs
• One new pair of glasses
• Three new full-body outfits for female child Sims
• New toddler outfits including tops, bottoms and full-body
• New Traits – Maker, Green Fiend, Recycle Disciple and Freegan
• New Aspirations – Eco Innovator & Master Maker
• New CAS outfits are unlockable from the new Freelance Crafter career.

Build Buy Mode

• New Lot Trait – Reduced and Recycle
• New Lot Type – Community Space (will work in all worlds)
• The community space can become a Marketplace, Maker Space, Community Garden or keep it as generic community space. Depending on the one you choose will vary the impact it has on the neighbourhood.
• You can build up to four different areas on the one lot.
• There is a new bike that doesn’t require Discover University.
• New vertical garden planter. Works inside and outside.
• New Off The Grid category in build mode
• Windows can now be freely placed now.
• Doors can also now be freely placed.
• Ladders are being added. Base Game will also receive ladders in the next update.
• Children can use ladders however toddlers and pets can’t. If you have stairs placed as well as a ladder they will go to the stairs instead.
• You can also slide down ladders too but it is totally optional.
• There are a variety of different solar panels, wind turbines and dew collectors.
• Two new roof paints that can produce either water or power depending on the one you choose.
• Fabricated objects can be dyed.
• Dumpster Deal items include beds, televisions, tables, chairs and more.
• Community Boards can be placed anywhere.
• Flooring can have different flammability ranging from low to high.

Live Mode

• There are several playable pre-made Sims who are exclusive to Evergreen Harbor and replace the traditional fruit-cake Welcome Wagon. They introduce players to the Neighbourhood Action Plans. In other worlds, you will still have the normal welcome wagon. You will be able to vote via the mailbox instead.
• Bess and Knox are exclusive to Evergreen Harbor.
• New Neighbourhood Action Plans User Interface. Tells you about Voting and your Sims influence points. Features from other packs i.e fame from Get Famous will also help you earn more influence points.
• Each vote requires ten influence points.
• Some of the neighbourhood action plans include Free Love, Tech Support, Foodies Unite!, We Wear Bags, Power Conservation. Water Conservation and more.
• You can vote for as many Neighbourhood Action Plans as you want.
• You can influence other Sims to vote.
• There is no limit to how many times you can vote but there are only certain times you can vote.
• You can only vote on Neighbourhood Action Plans for the world your Sim lives in.
• The Tinker family is one of the families in Evergreen Harbor which is made up of  Tina, Yasmin and their daughter Olive.
• New Freelance Crafting Career.
• Some items you create in the fabricator are only obtainable from the fabricator.
• You can track how many Bits and Pieces you have by hovering over your household funds.
• Dumpsters – You can dive for deals, dive for meals, dumpster woohoo and more. There are items that are only obtainable from diving for deals.
• New Civil Engineer career
• You can grow cruelty-free meat and you can name it too. Squeamish and Vegetarian Sims also do not like being near it.
• Insect Farms – Beetles, Worms and Crickets. They can be harvested or be used as an edible ingredient. Compostables can be fed to the insects too.
• New NPC – Eco Inspector. They can come and check out your Sims eco-footprint, give you a review and let you know any improvements.
• New NPC – Civic Inspector. They will come and check on if your Sim is following the Neighbourhood Action Plans
• New NPC – Firefighter
• New NPC – Repo Man
• New Death – Death by flys
• Depending on what you  Eco Footprint is, will depend on the type of gameplay you have.
• If you have The Sims 4 Seasons, you can experience acid rain.
• One of the neighbourhood action plans can cause your Sims to become embarrassed about Evergreen Harbor and will wear paper bags on their head.
• The Eco Footprint is unique to each neighbourhood.
• Base game worlds will all start in neutral.
• In settings, under Eco Lifestyle,  you can enable/disable NPC voting and Eco Footprint gameplay.

Evergreen Harbor

• There are three neighbourhoods – Port Promise, Conifer Station, Grims Quarry
• Each of the three neighbourhoods in Evergreen Harbor will start in either negative, neutral (how we currently experience The Sims) or green.
• Depending on the eco-footprint of the neighbourhood will depend on the overlay.
• Eco-footprint mode allows you to see more in-depth information
• There are eleven lots in the world.  There are also two apartment lots with two liveable apartments within each. In total there will be fifteen lots in Evergreen Harbor.
• Each neighbourhood also has a community lot
• There is also a new bar community venue
• The train station over time will turn into an area your Sims can visit and will turn into a bit of a park.

Apartments

• City Living is not required to play with the new apartments.
• The gameplay is almost identical but you don’t have landlords or noisy neighbours.
• You do still pay rent with the new apartments.
• The new apartments are not like the ones featured in City Living. They are more modest and one of the apartment buildings does not have an elevator.

Candle Making

• New Skill – Fabrication
• There are four different candle types.
• Dipped candles can be made by children.
• You can infuse candles to give different moods.
• The candles do melt but there is also a cheat that allows you to stop them from melting.
• They work on a different system compared to normal lights.
• You can either buy wax or harvest wax.
• Candles are an Off the Grid item.

Juice Fizzing Machine

• New Skill – Afizzinado
• You can make Kombucha, Seltzer and more.
• Depending on the ingredient depends on what you create.
• Almost every ingredient in the game can be used with the Juice Fizzing Machine.
• You can name your drinks and also have it evaluated depending on your skill.

Inventory 2.0

• This update will be added to the Base Game in the next patch.
• You can now filter your inventory by using the different categories.
• You can sell items directly from your inventory.

Household Bills Breakdown

• Clicking on the mailbox will allow you to see information about bills for your household in more detail. This is an update that will be coming to the base game in the next patch too.
• If you make extra power and water you’ll be able to sell and profit off of it. You can also store it if you want too.
• You can live off the grid with your own generated power and the new bill information feature will allow you to track your usage of both.

Other

• Upcoming feature update for Console Players – new key button call outs are being added to the game.
• The cheats shown in the live stream will be available for all via testingcheats true.

LIVESTREAM REPLAY