Big and Small – Sapient Animals Mod allows most animals to be turned into fully sapient colonists using a special gadget, enabling them to perform jobs, be drafted, use equipment, and integrate into colony life much like human pawns. Optionally, mechanoids can also be made sapient.
Most animals (and optionally mechanoids) can be made sapient using a craftable and findable Cogni-Fi gadget. A sapient animal will, in most respects, function as a colonist: they can perform jobs, be drafted, and, if they have suitable limbs, wield weapons.
They can wear apparel, although most heavy apparel is automatically blacklisted. Shield belts and similar items are allowed, and modders can customize apparel permissions per animal.
Animals will display their animal pack graphics when carrying items, but most other apparel visuals are hidden.
Genes and bionics can be applied to animals, but most related graphics are suppressed unless explicitly tagged as visible on animals. Size-related genes and similar effects will display correctly.
Sapient animals will expect to sleep in proper beds instead of animal sleeping spots.
Animals with hands or trunk-like limbs can wield weapons. Hoofed animals or those with non-retractable claws cannot. Intermediate cases may wield weapons poorly, with the mod automatically determining suitability.
Sapient Animals Mod Features
Crafting
The Cogni-Fi item is used to grant sapience to an animal. It can be found as a random reward or crafted using Neutroamine, Glitterworld Medicine, and a Spacer Component.
It only works on animals, and taming them first is strongly advised unless you enjoy unexpected results.
Advanced
Sapient mechanoids are also supported. They retain their unique weapons when applicable, but for balance reasons they require android fuel as food unless genes or hediffs remove their hunger need. The Simply Robots Mod provides the Android Fuel item.
Sapient mechanoids were added late in development due to high demand and are therefore more barebones in implementation.
A game restart is required for these settings to take effect. Enabling this option also allows the Cogni-Fi to be used on mechanoids.
For Modders
Animals can be given custom overrides without any path operations. If the mod detects correctly named settings for an animal, they will be applied automatically.
The same override system applies to mechanoids, allowing easy customization such as removing special food requirements or hunger entirely.
The example shown demonstrates sapient rats with custom Pixar-style aptitudes.
Sapient animals and mechanoids can be enabled within the Big & Small Framework via a BS_GlobalSettings entry. They will not spawn naturally, so spawning behavior must be handled separately.
This system allows for advanced setups, such as custom sapient mechanoid maids or other specialized entities.
Genes can explicitly target sapient animals, enabling mechanics like transforming pawns into animals or granting temporary forms, such as a vampire xenotype turning into a wolf.
For additional details, the author can be contacted via Discord.
Compatibility notes
The Anima Roots Mod by dfifd integrates well and is a good fit for tribal colonies or mystic-themed playthroughs.
Vanilla Expanded Abilities
Some abilities from Vanilla Expanded may not propagate correctly to animals. Abilities that rely on Ludeon’s native ability system work as expected. Improvements are planned.
Aside from these limitations, overall compatibility is solid.
FAQ
Is there any visible armor?
The Animal Armor Mod supports visible armor for sapient animals.
Additional credits
Additional credits: dfifd
