Pets are companions that accompany the player. They come in two types, ship pets, and captured pets. Ship pets will not leave the player's ship, and are created when the game begins. Full-size monsters are also able to be captured using capture pods. Most pet equipment is crafted using a Pet Station.
As players get better armor and become more powerful, their pet's power-level will scale up, as well. After being caught, unique monsters will display a name and description in the Capture Pod tooltip.
Pets were announced as the third stretch goal for pre-order sales.[1]
Ship Pets
Tiy: These are ship pets, companions you get to know through circumstance rather than choice. These pets just happened to be in the ship you fled with. In the case of humans, that could be the last cat in the universe! Given the destruction of earth.[2]
Ship pets are generated at character creation and are unique to racial ship types. The color of these pets is determined when the game begins and can not be changed (Unless you use admin commands). If players would like a different color/pattern for their ship pet by normal means they may need to start a few new characters until they get the appearance they desire. There's only one way known to alter the color/pattern for ship pets.
These pets never leave the ship, and because they don't follow or get lost they have more advanced behavior than captured pets. They will interact with captured pets if they're brought on board. Pet accessories such as Little Red Ball and Pet House can be purchased at Terramart on the Outpost.
Ship Pet Palette Swap
As mentioned above, it is possible to change the pattern of a ship pet. To do this, you will need to enable admin commands to, place your cursor above your ship S.A.I.L, then type in the command /entityeval object.smash(), The S.A.I.L should drop to the ground and your current ship pet will disappear. Placing your S.A.I.L again will spawn in a new pet.
Ship pets have hidden stats for hunger, tiredness, playfulness, and curiosity. They will behave differently based on the current state of those stats.
Ship Pet Behaviors
- Playful pets will play with pet toy items such as Little Red Ball.
- Curious pets will follow the player and examine nearby objects and decide if it likes them.
- Sleepy pets will sleep in the pet house item, or wherever they like if it is not present.
- Every ship pet is unique in what it likes. This is decided with an internal random number generator.
Pet Capture
Capturing critters is a mechanic where the player can catch wild creatures found throughout the game and use them as companions. Aggressive monsters can be captured using a Capture Pod, crafted at a Pet Station. The monster must first be weakened, then the Capture Pod can be thrown at the monster to capture it.
Non-aggressive critters, bugs, fish and farm animals cannot be captured using a capture pod. To move them players can use a relocator gun. This will 'pick up' these creatures and place them somewhere else. Creatures moved using a relocator won't follow or protect the player, but will continue to move about like normal.
I really like the fact that in Pokémon each of the enemies you encounter in your journey can become an ally or a tool for the player to use. Also, the idea that the player is out there to explore and catalogue their findings. We’ve drawn inspiration from both of these ideas in Starbound. I also like the concept of fostering some kind of attachment between a player and the creatures in the game.[3] -- Tiy
Pet Collars
Pet collars are special augments that can be attached to pets inside Capture Pods. They're applied by selecting the collar and right-clicking the filled capture pod. Each collar provides a unique effect, and only one can be applied per pet.
Currently applying a collar overwrites any previously applied collars.
There is a Steam achievement tied to collecting a monster with a Capture Pod. It's awarded as soon as players pick the filled pod up.
Pets Collection
Many unique monsters will register into the Collections Library window after being captured using a Capture Pod. These monsters won't register until the filled pod is picked up.
After capturing a new monster a notification will appear at the bottom of the screen, announcing the completion of a collection entry. That monsters image will then appear inside the Collections Library window, with a description which appears when moused over.
Most unique monsters award progress toward the collection, with a few exceptions. Procedural monsters do not award progress when captured inside a Capture Pod.
You can also use these monsters in another collection. The Action Figures Collection. There is more information on the Action Figures page.
Below is the full listing of capturable monsters in the Pets Collection along with their collection number. Remember that some other animals other than these are capturable; these are not listed here simply because they are not included in the Pets Collection.
Rare Pets Collection
Rare pets are monster elemental variants which are less commonly found. Though they have a different appearance, they have identical drop pools as their non-elemental counterparts and can be captured.
Collecting each one fills in an entry in the Rare Pets Collection.
Unique Pets
There are a few small non-aggressive wild pets which can be captured in Capture Pods.
Legacy Pets
Other pets can be found in the game files but have not been implemented in the game.
Sources
- ↑ http://playstarbound.com/stretch-goal-3-starter-pets/
- ↑ http://www.reddit.com/r/starbound/comments/2yddsv/ship_pets/cp8ymg7
- ↑ http://www.indiegamemag.com/dont-get-me-started-on-the-penguins-tiy-talks-upcoming-space-epic-starbound/
