Game Play Questions, How do YOU play?
Bugger:
Sheesh. All you others make me feel incredibly lazy. I used to put a LOT of thought into storylines, and all that. But lately I have been feeling ugh, and my sims suffer for it. I am a building maniac though. I graph out almost all of my houses before they are built in game (and have over 300 plans I believe).
I build my sims fantastical houses (the whole $20K start is useless for me) move them in, and then make their little pixelated lives as miserable as possible. All of them, save for one - Amadan. I think I may have an unhealthy fondness for him, even though he is a manwhore.
notveryawesome:
Lately I've been mostly building, decorating, and arranging custom neighbourhoods, but when I do play, I'm a bit of a control freak. I alternate between the Maxis 'hoods and my custom ones, as I tend to get bored easily. My custom 'hoods are generally themed (sci-fi, Victorian, medieval/fantasy, etc.). I only have one, ATM, a sci-fi/space theme, because I like playing sims that look like space-aliens or androids and, in a sci-fi 'hood, things like woohooing a servo just make a lot more sense.
When starting a 'hood, I choose a template, terrain type, etc, add the necessary subhoods (using empty templates devoid of sims), add/build/remodel buildings, as necessary, and then plop down some neighbourhood decorations, especially downtown. I make my playables, then my townies, and place them where they belong. I don't like for my sims to be overly perfect, so I often choose some of the uglier face-templates but then prettify them just enough that they don't look like sideshow freaks. I have no rhyme or reason for their personalities, and tend to assign their aspirations based on looks (he looks like he'd be a mad scientist, she's definitely the artist type, etc.). Townies get offbeat turn-ons and turn-offs that are least likely to give them bolts for the playables. Conversely, playables get easy-to-match attractions, such as being turned on by black hair and glasses, turned off by facial hair. I do admit to often teaming up incompatible personalities and zodiac-signs, because it creates a much more interesting dynamic. As for gender preference, I randomise ony the townies' gender preferences, as my playables tend to be straight, for breeding purposes. Matching up mates depends on when various sims are born. If Family A has a baby, then Families B, C, and D should have babies, too. I match them up from there, based mainly on gender and genes, though personality and aspiration often play a part in the final selection process. After that, I just sort of let go. I do play on a rotation, but not a strict one. For example, if Child A grows to a teen, then Children B, C, and D must do the same. Otherwise, I don't care that much about synchronisation.
I used to micromanage my sims, but since the advent of ACR and Macrotastics, this has become largely unnecessary, and I tend to use a more hands-free playing style, as of late. I am consistently amazed at how thoroughly my sims manage to fuck up their own lives. Then again, I'm often amazed at how easily people can do this, as well.
lefty:
I just recently moved and had to leave my old hood behind, but I started playing a new one pretty much the same way I did the old one, though this time I had two founders in seperate houses instead of one.
Started off last time with empty templates, and one sim. In the end before I had to leave that hood I was about in the 7th or 8th gen with over 50 playables, all directly linked to that first sim.
I play on rotation basis, with pescados lot timer. If I play house 1 for three days before I get bored, I then play all the other ones the same. I make sure I send the kids off to uni at the appropriate times, so theres a bit of popping around sometimes with teens who are a few days apart. Usually what happens is I get attached to one sim in a house, and pretty much ignore all the others while micromanaging that one sim. I'll usually pop in once a sim day on the other sims panels and queue up a bunch of stuff, and then let them do as they will. Sometimes I'll be bored with one gen and try to get through it quickly as possible, while in another gen I'll spend a month real time on it mucking around with them. I tend to favor romance sims as I love the drama they leave in their wake. When my last hood got pretty substantial I started moving the elders all together in a group home type setting to make room for babies since I used the twikki island lot for the hood (I like small hoods) and was running out of space for houses. The college graduates had nowhere to go but back home, and in any case having more than 20 houses on rotation was proving to drive me mad! So at that time I was trying to intermarry them all to cut down on the amount of playables.
I had one sim be a farmer and supply food, using pescados money sending thing as payment, and teleporting them over to give the food (though this time around I have the packing station thing) Same thing with a pet breeder. I'm also considering making a "maid" and "repairmen" be playable sims and port them over when things need fixing/cleaning/whatever.
When kids age up I use dice to randomize them, and this time around I'm randomizing their gender preferences (even playables) to just add more drama/hilarity which it already has.
As for uni I don't even really play it. I hate it so I just cheat them through it, slap em on a lot and adjust the lot timer for however many days they were supposed to be gone, and then eventually get them into the rotation (or ask them to move into an old house when it gets on the same day the college graduate is on).
I tend to let them choose their spouses, though I have been known to intervene when I want to merge two particular households together for whatever reason.
The worst thing is that my computer I had the old hood on is in storage, and I had forgotten just how boring the first two gens can be until things really start exploding and being interesting. I started this time around with two different founders because I wanted to see which line would be more prolific down generations. But man is the nearly empty hood boring at first!
Edit: Another thing I forgot to mention. I love to keep track of the playables. I have a program that acts like a wiki that I edit, with a page for every playable (and any townies that donate their genetic material but aren't moved in) detailing things about that sim. I have seperate pages with the pictures I took with captions for myself as I get down to generation 5 and say "hey, doesn't this sim act a lot like that one sim way back when? Let me check..." and a detailed family tree made in photoshop, along with lots of misc info on my sims. I dare say I almost have as much fun working on the "database" as playing! I get a little OCD with it I think.
marjchaos:
Posted by: lefty
"Edit: Another thing I forgot to mention. I love to keep track of the playables. I have a program that acts like a wiki that I edit, with a page for every playable (and any townies that donate their genetic material but aren't moved in) detailing things about that sim. I have seperate pages with the pictures I took with captions for myself as I get down to generation 5 and say "hey, doesn't this sim act a lot like that one sim way back when? Let me check..." and a detailed family tree made in photoshop, along with lots of misc info on my sims. I dare say I almost have as much fun working on the "database" as playing! I get a little OCD with it I think."
That sounds like a pretty cool program. Know where I can get one like that? I keep track of my playables too, badly. My desk is covered with scraps of paper - but only because the notebooks weren't working out.
ingeli:
For a year now I have developed my Windlebridge hood. Its set in historical sim times, late medieval/renaissance, now on the verge to some kind of 18th century maybe. I have almost 1000 sims, oldest families are about to get to 5th gen. I play them in "classes" and groups: farmers, landowners, miners, villagers, castle inhabitants, fishermen ect - all with their rules and I generally don't allow marriage between the wrong groups/classes. There are no openly gay sims in this hood yet - there will be in the future.
Sims are most often family or popularity sims, but all sorts occur. Knowledge sims go to convent/monastery, if they are not rich. I want to develope a large working class for factories and such.. I add slowly with each rotation, mixing building with playing.
I keep a website/blog (http://portal.charlamov.com/windlebridge)for the hood built on a database - mainly for documentation. I use GenoPro as a genealogy program to show the faily ties.
I tend to use more randomness now when the hood is more developed.
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