My review of TS3. What I liked, don't like.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: justerin on 2009 June 19, 08:23:50
i really didnt expect to still see route-fail-splosions resulting in all the sims nearby stopping to tap their foot and bob their heads like my awkward older brother at a club. It takes them over fifteen sim minutes to get back on track. and its not even when they run into each others squares, it seems like even one sim walking behind another will without even bumping into the back of them stop and do the foot tap, as wil the one in front, until finally they find alternate directions to their target both abandoning the straight route.
I think this is because rather than trying to figure out a good algorithm, or even a good implementation, they used a bad implementation of Ethernet's CSMA/CD as their navigational algorithm. In Ethernet, a device doesn't transmit when it sees the line is in use. However, if two devices see the line is not in use and try to transmit simultaneously, a collision results. When this happens, the devices in question stop transmitting, and each wait a random period of time before attempting to retransmit. And this is exactly what sims do in TS3: When they collide, they both stop and stare into space for a random, indeterminate period of time. Due to the poor tuning of the retransmit delay, it will commonly occur that both will then attempt to retransmit in close succession, resulting in another collision, so just like in Ethernet, they wait to retransmit again, waiting even LONGER this time...
Quote from: justerin on 2009 June 19, 08:23:50
on the time issue, i really wish the 1x speed would be slower. it takes them half a sim hour to get from bed to the kitchen in a 2 story house, and im not talking about a mansion here.
Are you manually navigating, or are you relying on them to limp there using their impulse thrusters? That takes forever just like in TS2. You must always plot their course and engage their main engines, otherwise they will never arrive in a timely manner.
Quote from: justerin on 2009 June 19, 08:23:50
I dont even want to talk about the way they eat (or dont eat) group meals/birthday cake. Sit down damnit, enjoy a family meal! I feel like my freaking mom herding insolent kids to the dinner table.
Ugh, no! STFU, eat, and GTFO. Family meals are gross. You want to EAT in the presence of OTHER PEOPLE? I want to haul my kill back to my lair and eat in peace. At least now they eat in a timely manner. It could be faster, though. I can finish an entire steak before a sim can even manage to put down its plate. Sims are SOOOO SLOW.
witch:
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2009 June 20, 03:15:44
Sims are SOOOO SLOW.
So if you speed up eating - please make it optional. :P
Blech:
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2009 June 20, 02:43:02
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
Also, families just aren't worth the trouble anymore. I prefer to micromanage, so I'm not going to waste valuable skilling time raising boring larvae who don't even have the decency to be cute to make up for being a drain on resources. And I cannot believe that EA has forced the 1950's on me by making my sim mothers stay home until their spawn goes to school.
It's okay. AwesomeMod has a command for that. No more mandatory time off.
Yay! But how do you do that? I can't find it in the RTFM.
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2009 June 20, 02:43:02
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
3. The ability to learn how to do things by actually doing them. My sims hardly ever read skill books. If they wanna be good at cooking, they cook. Makes sense.
That's not NEW. TS2 had that.
Yes, but it wasn't possible to max the cooking the skill by cooking alone, unless your sim did nothing else, such as a baker with OFB. Now sims can learn more from doing than by reading, which I infinitely prefer IRL.
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2009 June 20, 02:43:02
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 01:56:03
4. The fact that if I stop paying attention to a sim in the controllable family in favor of a more interesting sim, they won't starve themselves and scream, "Look at me, NAO!!!"
Oh, they still do that. You need Less Whiny to make it stop. They're not quite as inclined to starve themselves, but the screaming continues.
I forgot about that! I only played the game for 2 sim days without Awesomemod, so I forgot that in a vanilla game they still whine about every little thing. -1 for EA, +2 for Pes.
Zazazu:
I still say that story progression is only acceptable if we can toggle it on/off per family. I was under the impression that we could do that in the pre-release interviews. Of course, EA continues to disappoint. As it is, my chosen sims cannot be doing anything unsanctioned. That's the price they pay for being chosen. I haven't yet gotten to the point where they can do what they like, but face the consequences when they break my rules for the 'hood. Currently, it's iron fist all the way. Ella Marvin has just learned that she can no longer associate with her childhood best friend as he is now Evil. I'm fighting a freaking battle here against the evil De la Torres' influence.
I do like that it is so easy to move families about in Edit Town mode, and I don't have to dump them, load the lot, save the lot, then go back to the neighborhood view. I just consolidated my 20 townie homes into 15 (all the spinsters/widows/widowers now have an old folks' home) and moved everyone into close quarters to make rounds easier. It took just a couple minutes.
Quote from: smellyarmando on 2009 June 20, 03:34:08
Yay! But how do you do that? I can't find it in the RTFM.
Cheat console "backtowork". Do it right after they pop and right after they deliver for absolutely no enforced maternity leave.
jolrei:
Quote from: Zazazu on 2009 June 20, 04:02:57
I do like that it is so easy to move families about in Edit Town mode, and I don't have to dump them, load the lot, save the lot, then go back to the neighborhood view.
Word! I have just moved Jesus Christ into the Roomies household, getting rid of StupidSw0rd in the process. MATY sims have similarly supplanted various other horrible townies.
I am also liking story mode so far. I am experimenting to see if various townies will actually get jobs, get married, spawn, etc. on their own. With parthenogenesis turned off, I am hoping so. Perhaps Jesus will marry a MATY sim.
I find that I can quite happily ignore the "beat the game" aspect and just play a legacy style story.
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