The Romantic Life of a Sim

[Witches]

Now that I've got Nightlife, I actually enjoy playing all aspirations again. I've found that any aspiration can make a good BF/Spouse if you treat them nicely ... I used to hate Money sims because they were only interested in buying things, at least it seemed that way, but now my sim is married to one and he's a great husband. Most of his wants revolve around her. He even wanted a baby, something I haven't seen in a non-family sim before.

Of course it helps that they woo their hoo on a regular basis.  They may fantasize about other sims they meet, but so far they only have eyes for each other.

Just my two cents, but if you're getting a little bored with the Sims, like I was, get Nightlife! It adds a whole new dimension.

I haven't even tried to ruin a sim's life yet. Having too much fun with having things go right ...

So, what about you? What do you think of the new romantic possibilities? Any good stories to share?

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I don't have Nightlife, but I've played an innumerable number of hours, and all the things you mention can be achieved without any EPs at all!  And a gay popularity or knowledge sim in a relationship is just as likely to want to adopt a child as a family one.  (They generally make better parents too!)  And I've had elder romance sims wanting grandchildren.  (After all, they don't have to have them themselves! and they're pretty good at helping out with the baby!)

[Sagana]

Oh I love NL - basically every aspect (tho I have to say it's awfully easy to keep sims always platinum - just take 'em on a date/outing where all the wants revolve around the date aspects or things dt and roll 'em over again and again).

I don't think I have all the romance subtleties figured out yet at all. I'm not at all sure what makes them *really* like each other. For example, I created a couple as adults - gave them turn ons that match (well more or less - one of his is swimsuits so he likes her better sometimes than others) and made them fairly compatability personality-wise (I thought So sure enough they come up with 2 lightning bolts, 3 when she's in a swimsuit (I've never seen more than 3 - tho I've heard reports of 4), both have have a baby wants (which is what I wanted - I believe he's pleasure and she's popularity iirc). Anyway so I think everything is going great...

She gets little hearts all over the place every time he goes by - but he doesn't for her. Not even if she's in a swimsuit. He brings a female friend home from work and I can tell he's into her big, although there are no lightning bolts on their relationship score, and he keeps thinking about being married when he looks at her or she talks to him (the wedding ring shows up - I thought this was way cute. He has to remind himself he's married). If I click on her to choose an action, the ones with lighting bolts are there (flirts and all) - so I gather some flirt-type interaction is required before the lighting bolts show in the relationship score, at least if the sim is married/attached (I think this is a good thing - less "buggy" So I have him scope the room - both the work friend and his wife are there and he comes up with "new friend is HOT" (NOT, needless to say, most attracted to his wife). So I do the flirt/checkout interaction, figuring there must be at least 3 bolts or something, but nope, just 2. So how come he likes her better? No idea at all, somehow her personality must match his a little better.

But it's fun and really works rather well - now I have a female sim who is crazy about her husband and a male who just hasn't quite found real true love with his wife. He likes her - the marriage works well, but... not all the sparks there could be. He'll probably have a midlife crisis, lose her and then end up sorry as friendship and shared experiences are important, but he doesn't realize it in the quest for the absolute dynamic It'll also be interesting to see what that does to his son - said son being the whole point of creating them in the first place. However it comes out, I'm having a great time.

[Regina]

Pre-NL (I don't have nor do I intend on getting Uni) every aspiration I played with the exception of Romance inevitably rolled a want to have one child.  Of course family sims rolled have a child wants all the time.

Pre-NL, upon reaching elderhood every sim I had, no matter what aspiration, that had an adult child, wanted a child to get engaged, and if they got engaged wanted them to get married, and if they got married wanted to have a grandchild.  Now I've noticed that my sims who have children reach adulthood aren't necessarily rolling those wants.  In fact, I have one mom sim whose grown son is something like 18 days from elderhood and is on his second wife (the first wife died in a tragic accident [ahem]), and only when the second wife was expecting did she even roll the want to have a grandchild.  Oddly enough, she's a popularity sim and pre-NL, my popularity sims wanted grandkids up the wazoo.

This particular adult sim is a money sim and only after he married for the second time did he want to have a child.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it locked before he got home from work and by the time he did he was right back to his 'sell masterpiece, sell great novel, yada, yada' wants.  His wifey, a knowledge sim, didn't roll a want for a child, either.  Previously if a non-family, non-romance aspiration got pregnant they rolled a want for a child at some point during the pregnancy but I'm not seeing this happen since installing NL.

[knitro]

I have had the baby want show up after NL witha  Knowledge sim that was preggers. Once in a while others will have ti randomly...but what annoys me lately is that all my elder men want to have kids and not grandkids, its like your wife is old, she can't have any! get over it!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Dirty old sims!

[gali]

Misty - if you don't have Uni, but only NL - do you have the option to resurrect the dead sims? Because if you do - I may consider to remove Uni. I keep this EP only for the O-Nomitron.
I am quite tired of the college life....

[Sagana]

I'm hoping having the downtown things to do makes University more interesting. I got bored with college life quickly and basically quit playing the game... got started again just building houses right before Nightlife came out. Personally, I could have done without the whole Uni EP - I don't like things that take you too far away from the base game for too long - and one of the best things about NL is that you can put the houses DT and not have to switch neighborhoods.

[Regina]

I haven't seen anything that allows the resurrection of dead sims, but unless it's truly an accidental death, at which times my sims have been fortunate enough to won against the Grim Reaper, I sort of prefer they stay that way. LOL

[Regina]

I'm hoping having the downtown things to do makes University more interesting. I got bored with college life quickly and basically quit playing the game... got started again just building houses right before Nightlife came out. Personally, I could have done without the whole Uni EP - I don't like things that take you too far away from the base game for too long - and one of the best things about NL is that you can put the houses DT and not have to switch neighborhoods.

I've read that NL does enhance Uni in that when young adults go to Downtown lots their times aren't affected the same as in Uni (not real clear on that since I don't have Uni).  One thing I believe Uni has that NL doesn't is the coffee shop options.  With only NL you can't even put a coffee pot on a community lot which is kind of stinky.  I remember keeping my sims in TS1 going for days on community lots with espresso machines. LOL

My problem with Uni, though, is similar to what you said.  I don't want something that takes me too far away from the base game.  I don't really enjoy the whole influence thing in the game and I wouldn't be keen on my sims sleeping their way through to graduation and I think all the study, study, study would be dulldroms.  Sure, pool tables and coffee shops and two-level doors sound pretty neat but in reality my sims can live without them.

[Motoki]

NL let's University students actually venture out of the University town now. Not only can they go downtown (and not have to worry about their college timer ticking away and having to go to class while on a date) but they can also visit community lots in the main neighborhood now too.

It really doesn't change the university dynamic too much and I still don't really care for having them go to university and usually cheat my way through, but it does give a little break from it if you want and community lots in general are actually worth going to now.

[Regina]

Okay--that's what it was--the college timer!  You'd think my memory could be a tad bit better, even when reading about something in which I have only a minute interest. 

And that brings to mind something that I like about NL over Uni.  When you send a sim to Uni you have to be there with them.  I can take my sims on dates or what have you as the mood strikes.  Sometimes I just don't want to bother with taking them anywhere and sometimes I want them to go shopping, out to lunch, or be able to go on dates--even the old married couples.

[Sagana]

At least that sounds a bit better Motoki - at least they can interact with the people in the neighborhood, and maybe I'll switch back and forth enough to keep the timing right and not get too tired of it. (When my current crop of children grows up, I'll give it a shot).

I agree with both of you I just don't enjoy Uni. I didn't like the idea of it, but I got it to try, created some sims with ideas I had, did the dorm bit a little, let some pledge, did the secret society thing and got bored. And I just don't like switching back and forth (I'm kind of obsessive, so when I have sims I like, I want to play those), so I didn't even just switch back to a neighborhood, but quit playing Sims2 altogether. With NL, I still liked the idea of my college kids, so I dropped them all out, moved them into a house downtown and am now having fun again

And yeah, visiting community lots is actually fun. They did an awesome job of making it run well, even with my poor graphics card. Though I'm going to have to download some new ones as I'm getting bored with the ones that shipped (I've been to them a lot by now).

[ZephyrZodiac]

One thing I believe Uni has that NL doesn't is the coffee shop options.  With only NL you can't even put a coffee pot on a community lot which is kind of stinky.  I remember keeping my sims in TS1 going for days on community lots with espresso machines. LOL

If you changeLotZoning residential, you can put the espresso machine into your downtown lot (beds too if you want) then changeLotZoning community (or whatever the description is for NL) you should be able to use those objects.  (You need to save and exit after each change though.)

[Process Denied]

Nl is awesome for Uni students.  I created a downtown community lot that you could actually live at.  It has everything even rooms(it's a resort).  My students take weekends and holidays off from school.  They can call their friends if they have a cell.  They get invited on dates and can go on dates.  It is awesome!!!!  The sororities and frats have special outing groups so they will periodically all go out as a group.  If they are behind in their skilling,the resort has everything you need to skill up.  Plus you might run into a friend that you haven't seen for a while.  Possibilities are endless.  If you don't have NL you are missing out.

[Process Denied]

Has anyone noticed the romance sims wanting to get engaged when they were on a date.  They usually have the fear also.  This one female was on a date with Daniel Pleasant and at the end of the date she rolled the want to be married to this other Romance sim.  Really wierd.  And she didn't have the fear to go along with it.  I almost held her to it but I have other plans for her.

[ZephyrZodiac]

That's mean!!!  If she REALLY wants to marry this sim, then only a real control freak would make her do something else!!   It's interesting, though, if you create CAS romance sims who are married with kids, they don't normally have the red icons in their memories, only green ones!  So I don't think they mind as much as they make out they do - and as long as they are maxed out in their relationship with the fiance, they don't leave them at the altar either!

I should be installing NL in a day or so, when it arrives!  But I'll run it alone for a while before I put it in my main game, just so I can find out what it does with a new batch of sims.

[Witches]

I agree that uni becomes boring after a while ... but with NL it's fun again. I like uni for a lot of reasons, mostly for the Young Adult stage. With NL my sims can spend their college years building romances as well as just skills, plus now they can keep everything they buy while they're there, and if they want, rob the dorm blind. Pre-NL I had a sim who would sell things that didn't belong to him whenever he needed some cash. Now, he could take everything with him if he wanted.

I like 6 slots with two saveable sooooooo much better than 4 slots, 1 saveable. Uni extends their adult life, which means more "fun" playable years until they become an elder. Don't get me wrong: I like elders, but only if they've got a lot of skills and a good pension or job. Having no money and no chance of getting any is a drag.

Another advantage is they start their working life with skills. Pre-uni I used to spend a lot of time building skills so they could get promoted. Now, it's not such a big deal. If they just do what they need to graduate, even, they've already got enough skills for a good paying job. Which means they have more time to have fun.

And if you have NL and Uni the sims are no longer "cut off" when they go to college, so it's all good. I used to find sims college tedious, now I find it goes too quickly! Only so much time to build relationships, find your true love, join whatever societies you want to, have some fun and still manage to pass your classes.

I wouldn't uninstall uni if you have it. You don't have to send your sims to college if you don't want them to go, but I keep finding new uses for influence, the coffee shops are cool, you get new decor items, and you CAN send them to college if you want to ... I like the new jobs you can get, for example.

And to answer an earlier question, I'm pretty sure you don't get the resurrecto-tron with NL. You need to keep uni for that. Plus if you have sims that you played in Uni and don't have a backup, you'll probably lose them. The file structure changes with each EP.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I certainly have no intention of uninstalling Uni, I like it too much anyway!  But I definitely don't want to run any of my current hoods with it until I've played it enough to get to know it, so I'll probably do, as I said, a complete reinstall and start yet another Pleasantview!!!!

[Regina]

Witches, I have to say, you've done more on selling me Uni than anything else I've read about it.   

One of my concerns, though, is about the lifetime want of some sims, like I've read some of them want to graduate X number of children from college.  I've noticed with the new NL aspiration reward object that if you change a sim's aspiration to another, then change it back to their original, they often times roll a new lifetime want.  Do you think this would be doable with Uni?

I tend to be rather fond of elders in my game, and even first-gen elders have oodles of skills by the time they reach elderhood.  They can fix anything in the house, do most of the cleaning and are super fun when it comes to romance, especially if they're widowed.  I use the non-discrimination mod so that if an elder gets fired from their job they can still get back into a good job if I want them to.  Since most of the elders I've played so far have been in my Legacy families I never let them quit working, just let them take vacation days to help take care of the new generation and let them take the rest of their vacation at the end of their lives.  If a Legacy elder gets fired I just don't let them go back to work.  Instead they paint masterpieces, write novels, harvest money trees or what have you.  Those are way more lucrative than the elder jobs are anyway.  Shoot, I generally don't even let the teens get jobs.  They'll make more money with a money tree forest than they'll ever get from their little jobs which are a complete pain in the rear.

[Sagana]

I've noticed with the new NL aspiration reward object that if you change a sim's aspiration to another, then change it back to their original, they often times roll a new lifetime want.  Do you think this would be doable with Uni?

Sure, I've done it several times and have Uni installed. I haven't on campus, as I haven't been on campus since I got NL (except to drop out the sims I wanted to play) but can't see any reason why it wouldn't work the same there.

[Sagana]

I noticed something else about the new chemistry stuff yesterday. My best-mated sims (3 lightning bolts) have mostly been baby machines (I hope their next set is twins or they're going to get old too fast). She's the one that wears a hat, and he likes hats - so they've sometimes had 3 and sometimes 2 bolts (no 4s in my game). Well as she's always pregnant, she's always in maternity clothes, and doesn't have her hat. She and her husband were kissing and talking a bit before she had to run back to bed (she's had a rather rough pregnancy this time with 3 children already) and when she left he started thinking about her in her hat with the little hearts and everything (he's a sweetie) and his relationship score with her went back up to 3 lightning bolts

I thought that was pretty interesting - gained a lightning bolt just by thinking about it.

[SciBirg]

Awww... that's adorable!

[Sagana]

You were right! I finally got my first in-game born sim to Uni, and between NL and the computer Motoki recommended that lets you work at home and do banking and all, I'm having a blast.

That computer is wonderful btw. I usually try to avoid things that make the game easier, but this allows so much to gameplay. One of my teens rolled up the buy a car want (over and over) so I let him earn the money himself and bank it in his account. Was very fun to save for it and talk about an over-achiever, that kid has a regular teen job maxed also and is putting it in family finances to help out the family (who have 6 kids.)

But Uni is *much* better with NL


Edit: Mispelled Motoki's user name <blush> (and made it more or less unrecognizeable) I'm sorry - typing in too big a hurry. <blush> no offense intended.