The more I learn, the more I realize what a noob I am...
angelyne:
I think that everyone that plays this game displays some OCD like characteristic. But that doesn't make us OCD sufferers. :D Every darn human foible has to be labelled and turned into a disease these days.
You like spending time organizing your sims. You probably find the process soothing. Very few things in life can be ordered just so. That makes it appealing to you. Doesn't make you OCD, unless you are so obsessive about it that you neglect your life (housework doesn't count). There you go. Where shall I send the bill ? :)
Seriously, there is something deeply appealing about this game that is hard to put a name to, because it varies from person to person. I know that I spend WAY too much time downloading and organizing custom content.
I know that my partner would probably say I'm obsessed because I haven't watched TV with him for months. But I find TV boring and every time I am in a situation where I am not engaged with something (read interested), I can hear the sims' voice calling me.
Anyway back to these various ways of playing. Very interesting, let's keep the conversation going. Especially since JadeElliott is AWOL and her site shut down. Sagana I like your way of playing. I'm not much for record keeping. Do you use the all in one NPC from ChristianLOV? Does it still work pretty with all the EP's?
I was going to use that hack that allows you to hire a maid from your payables. So far a Nanny hasn't been an issue as I haven't felt the need for one. Big families help. There is always someone at home
Sagana:
Yep, I like All In One although it's a bit buggy here and there. I updated to both Pets and Seasons at the same time and put it back in my game so it must either have said it was updated or didn't need one and it hasn't caused trouble but I haven't played with it much since then either (got distracted and am doing something else at the moment) so I couldn't swear there aren't issues.
What's the one that lets you hire a playable maid?
SimulatedDork:
Quote from: sagana on 2007 April 10, 22:06:55
Here, for example - if buying from 'the community,' you mean the mayor (I'm not sure) and the mayor buys it with taxes, that's what I find unrealistic and have
been trying to avoid.
Yes, the mayor(ess) buys all the lots from the "invisible community" then sells them on to the citizens. But she does not use taxes solely to buy the businesses. Infact, when she buys them, they are just empty community lots. My storyline is how a group of travellers rediscovered an island previously inhabited by a Greek queen (don't laugh!!!) - so of course there wouldn't be businesses and only a few houses. Taxes, in "RL" go towards improving the general life of citizens, right? But the way I see it - instead of the mayor flat out giving the money to the poor to "improve their lives", she instead gives them an assest: a business.
I take your point on "tycoon sims" who make their business by renting out lots to people, but my way is slightly different: with the mayor the only tycoon sim, the rest are "peasants beneath him". Instead of renting out the lots, he sells them: the goal here is not for the mayor to make money as (s)he has many other ways of doing that.
Basically, I play the same as you only my only tycoon is my mayor and she nevers goes "out of business" because she has taxes to reimburse her funds and she is level 10 on the politics career track.I cannot imagine anyone other than the mayor buying-to-sell/rent as my community consists of 36 (useful records, eh!) sims - there isn't any room for more than "one at the top".
I agree with your "motherlode" philosophy (does anybody else get annoyed spelling it so idiotically?) - I'd only cash them up at the beginning and let them chose how they want to spend it. But, OCD or not, I have to have a *reason* as to why the have so much money. I can't face two college kids with ten million in the bank - this kills realism instantly. Usually, my excuse is "they accquired their extra simoleans from previous businesses, jobs etc." but this doesn't work if they start out with £50,000 - or however much is needed to become a tycoon.
Quote from: sagana on 2007 April 10, 22:06:55
Honestly, I haven't found much at all I can't find some way to accomplish - since OFB
But what I mean is how EA (was it EA by EP3?) never included what we needed to create a realistic community. I may be going on about realism - but the first thing that annoyed me about the game was the £20k handouts, until I used my imagination to think where they could have come from. My favourite hack is my imagination :D
Without OfB, none of this would be possible. Well, I figure some brilliance out there would have found a way to imitate some of the functions but it's nicer that Eaxis released it as an EP, so we can blame somebody :)
Quote from: sagana on 2007 April 10, 22:06:55
...'work from home' things (novels, web design, etc., any work that can be done on the computer)...
Can sims webdesign? I hardly ever "play" the game - more devise stratergies and storylines + decorate/build/create.
Thanks for all your tips on the money hacks/cheats. I am quite reluctant to change my ways, I took me a dozen posts before I felt reassured enough to use the
blank templates, but I'm willing to try Monique's computer: what's the worst that could happen?
*Explosion in distance. It's my game
I'll be back later to kick ass and play card games write some more - hehe. Yep, this is indeed is an intresting conversation!
maxon:
Quote from: sagana on 2007 April 10, 22:06:55
I'm enjoying the discussion and not fussing you're doing it wrong or anything. Different people play different ways and I'm waaaay lazy and *not* OCD :) The way you're doing it works well for a lot of people, just not me. I hate recordkeeping and anything that begins to seem complicated and like a lot of work, and anything with numbers. So I'm just adding some other ideas and opinions and stuff. :)
That's interesting. I used Monique's mods for a while but have discarded them. I don't like the fact that you can't take stuff out of Downloads (like when I want to test something) and not loose the tokens that keep track of things like the loans. I also hated the fiddle of setting everything up, especially when the computer had other functions set to on, such as the children auto-saving money for college (I believe she's changed that now). I do keep records: I am working on an economic system which is still being developed which includes taxes, mortgages and loans and sims working for each other and the council. I like keeping it on paper though: I can see the patterns in the numbers as things change and that's something that appeals to me. I have that kind of mind though.
SimulatedDork:
An intresting plotline if you're playing with a mayor/council and you want to get yourself out of having a mayor (if you want a change).
Say the mayor has been embezzling the taxes she earns on a new car
or improvements to the mansion. So now there is no money left in
the community funds to spend on the local event, for example, a
dance at the community hall. The mayor is subsequently fired and
now the citizens don't have anybody above them. This is when
business tycoons can thrive. They can buy up any unowned lots and
then rent them out to any sims wanting to start a business. No
mayor, and Sagana's business tycoon method implemented!
*
Notes: You are going to have some unowned community lots in
order for this to work with some sims that don't have a job for this to
work. Sims renting from the business tycoon have to earn more
than the rent they pay and their expenses. After playing around a
little bit, I have found this is very hard to achieve - especially
since the first few days of business are rare to see a profit anyway.
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