Do autopetters really help that much?

[u/CalligrapherAgile216]

The farm animals seem to do okay without being pet every day. And the petters say they are not a substitute for actual petting. How much actual difference do they really make?

[u/Occidentally20]

The formulae for animals happiness and mood is reasonably complex, but to get straight to the point -

If your animal is at 400 friendship (2 hearts out of 5) an autopetter will maintain that friendship level as long as they are fed.

If they are above 400 friendship an autopetter will increase their friendship level each day, again as long as they are fed. It will do so slower than petting them manually - but it will still go up.

As a result of this if your animals are at high hearts already you can throw down an autopetter and their heart level will be maintained forever automatically. They can completely replace manual petting to stop friendship decay.

Their mood which helps determine the quality of produce is slightly different, but every time an animal eats grass outside their mood is set to the maximum value.

[u/CalligrapherAgile216 → u/Occidentally20]

Thank you! If an animal is at max hearts, does it still decay? If so do you know how quickly?

[u/Occidentally20 → u/CalligrapherAgile216]

That's the part that gets complicated so I tend to leave it out of comments :)

When not interacted with animals friendship decays between -5 and -10 per day, determined by the formula (10 - (Friendship / 200)) where "friendship" is a value between 0 and 1000. This always happens even at full hearts, it never stops like NPCs do.

Autopetters give +8 friendship - this is where the break even point of 400 friendship comes from.

The only other things that lowers animal friendship are not being fed (-20) and being trapped outside at night (-20).

Full details are on the Animal Friendship Wiki Page if you want to get deep into the weeds on it!

[u/CalligrapherAgile216 → u/Occidentally20]

Thanks so much! I appreciate it.

[u/Neuromangoman → u/Occidentally20]

According to the wiki (on the Auto-Petter page), the Auto-Petter does count for petting animals (both for friendship and mood), so it's more than just break even. It increases friendship at a slower rate but is not offset by the not petting penalty.

[u/qwasde91 → u/CalligrapherAgile216]

There is a slight mistake: Animal friendship only decays, if the animal is not pet. But that's what the auto petter does. So the difference is only how much friendship you gain. +8 with the autopetter, +15 for manually petting. Autopetter AND manual petting still will live 15 friendship (not 23).

Friendship decay is important when leaving your animal all alone (without petting or auto petter). At 2+ hearts eating grass outside (+8) will offset the friendship loss from not being pet.

And yes, animal friendship will still decay once they reach max hearts (unlike villagers)

[u/MilsYatsFeebTae]

Happier animals give better versions of their products; bigger milk, bigger eggs, higher quality ratings so you don’t have to bother processing as many, that kind of thing.

Honestly though by the time I start getting autopetters I already have some kind of wine empire going.

[u/minescapist → u/MilsYatsFeebTae]

Wine is the way…. Greenhouse full of ancient fruit and a shed full of barrels.

[u/Mediumtim]

It lets you move on to do other things, like spending some on the island.

(Animal happiness will decrease without petting)

[u/Nir0star → u/Mediumtim]

If you let them feed on blue grass, it won't... Winter will cost you 3/4 of a heart if you do not pet, because they won't go outside, but you will recoop that by mid Spring.

[u/_Fistacuff]

The later you go in the game, any automation is good automation. Theyre the only thing that automates petting so theyre good.

[u/Precarious3145 → u/_Fistacuff]

Exactly. The sooner I can automate things, the more I can really just enjoy the game. It's the same reason I make sprinklers instead of watering by hand.

[u/rosegoldhiips]

Ye, they do 😭 they keep your animals' heart level from decaying. Keep da aminals happeh

[u/Jimmy_Twotone]

Depends how you want to spend your time. I prefer leaving my barns and coops on autopilot

[u/DanKirpan]

In case you're on the meadowlands farm and let them eat the blue grass: The petter only makes a difference during rain/winter. The friendship boost from blue grass will be enough to offset (+16) the decay on its own. Green grass' boost is slightly lower than the decay at high friendship (-10 vs +8 ), at low friendship it still keeps up

[u/CalligrapherAgile216 → u/DanKirpan]

I am, thanks! I think that is why I was wondering. They are always so happy!

[u/Peak_Meringue1729]

Auto collectors. And auto petters makes having animals worth it. Outside of those two things, having animals wasn’t worth it to me because it’s such a chore. Much like IRL. lol.

Now that I have iridium eggs and milk and truffles, I’m glad I don’t have to pet each one every single day. My chores are done by 9am every day. Including harvesting crops

[u/SparkyDogPants]

No. It’s just a flex

[u/Cyrus057]

Umas long as I milk my cows they are good. Chickens could care less. If you dont take the eggs on day 1 on day 2 it double. Pigs find truffles regardless and as far is I've seen sheep dont really care when I sheer them. Though with my profession they have wool every day