More Options To Direct Sims Left At Home

ohnotherancor

I wasn't sure if this belonged in the Feedback or Ideas Corner section, but here goes! I often control a large household with each sim having a different schedule. I rarely send any of my sims out to community lots unless the whole household can come along (which almost never happens) because the current choices for sims left at home seem lacking.

It'd be nice if sims left at home could do their homework or extra after-work activity, like "Make Business Calls." I'd also like more control of their specific needs, especially the Sleep need. I'd like to direct sims to sleep until their energy bar is full so they can start their day or night well-rested, and they won't get tired in the middle of their work shift because the Care For Needs option doesn't fill their bars completely.

Sims left at home also can't raise their Baking or DJ Mixing skills in my game, despite having a cupcake machine and a dj booth on their home lot. I'm not sure if this is a bug or not.

Anyone else feel the same?

luthienrising

Very much so. I'd mostly like to be able to specifically direct "do work task" (if the Sim is on a lot where it can be done - something they need to be on a specific lot type), "do homework". I'd also like them to continue one directed task to completion if there was time - so that, say, if I leave an unemployed Sim making an app and I'm gone all day with another, I'd like to see that completed before they start doing whatever. Queue completion would be a nice-to-have but much less important to me.

Polyrhythm

This is really the main reason I hate going anywhere in a multi-sim household, the sims at home can't do anything useful
Work tasks and homework are a must, but I'd also like to see sims finish what they're doing. Like if I left the house and the other sim was cooking when I left I'd like to actually find leftovers in the fridge, not unfinished food still on the counter (idk if this is even possible but I'd love it)

Also sorta related but I wish filling of needs was changed a bit. If it's only 6pm there's no need for kid to go to sleep just because their sleep is a bit in the yellow, then they're up at like 2am and tired again by school time.

ohnotherancor

Yeah, sims completing tasks they've started on upon leaving would also be great. I'm not sure if it's possible or not for that to happen, but it irritates me when I've left them to write a novel and none of it gets done when the other sims are out and about.

DanaKate

Maybe those sims have good intentions to complete their assigned tasks, but their self-gratification monkey gets loose and takes over when we gods are no longer actively watching them. Unless we make them do it while we're watching, the panic monster doesn't show up and scare off the self-gratification monkey.

kphillips2977

I have this same issue. I make big families and when I want to take one or two out, I can't because I have to be stuck there to ensure the rest are getting hw done or work related activities. It really needs to be fixed or addressed because it makes it difficult to play.

bionicdesserts

I agree. This problem seriously needs to be fixed. It kills your ability to go off lot with anything less than the whole household. They need to be able to at the least finish whatever task you set for them before you left with the other sim.

Livin in Sim

Yes, a thousand times yes. I try to take my whole families out for a week night or two, and go to the park. I have a community center there, so the kids can play, then finish homework if not done, etc. The adults can relax a bit, then complete most work tasks, with the computers and the kitchen of the center. The Clubs fit into this perfectly, with a family club to get perks for doing some of these things. The first perk I buy is Rally The Troops, so that I can goose their needs, lol.

But when it gets tricky is for dates/going clubbing, adult or teen gatherings, where I don't want everyone. For now, I try to do these on the weekends for families, but not every job has the weekends off.

I feel the same mechanism that sets up Sims with a task/interaction when you're coming into the lot, could be used to finish off at least the shorter tasks interactions as you leave. It might increase the load screen time, tho. I could live with a few seconds for this.

For the larger tasks, I'm not sure how well more menu choices would work without major AI tinkering. That's because what we have now seems to make very little effect. For instance, if I choose Tend Garden or Tidy Up, when I get home, it seems little if anything has been done. Or Socialize With...hasn't visibly increased the relationship. I have had Build Skill level them up if they are close. Care For Needs seems to help some. But still, you get home and their Energy, say, is almost maxed at midnight, while other things are in the yellow. It's awfully wonky. If what we have worked well currently, I'd have some hope.

Voeille

I posted that somewhere else, but I think it’s relevant to the topic, so I’ll quote myself (it’s about a TS2 mod).

I wrote:

In the vanilla game when your sim left the home lot e.g. at 7:00 and came back when it was 16:00 on the community lot, it was again 7:00 on the home lot, the time spent on the community lot didn’t pass there. It was unrealistic. But, I have a mod that changes it – it’s still 7:00 when I come back, but the sim is away and they won’t go back until 16:00. In the meantime I can control other sims on the home lot, and that’s a really good solution – when I leave the community lot at 16:00 I imagine a screen saying In the meantime..., and I’m back on the home lot at 7:00, so in fact I control all the sims on different lots during the same period of in-game time, the difference is the real time – firstly I control the sim on the community lot, and then the sims that are left at home. I hope that description is somehow clear. The disadvantages are that I can’t go to a community lot with those sims that are left at home before the other sim is back, and when all the sims were on a community lot, I have to wait until they’re back without having anyone to control on the home lot.
Anyway, I’d like that solution in TS4 – just without those negative things, a modder couldn’t handle them, but the devs surely could. In my opinion it’d be much better than leaving other sims unproductively wasting their time.

EllieSimster

That would be cool... Idk there's a lot of work that could be done.

Tungo

This is my biggest annoyance with TS4. While a fully open world wouldn't be feasible, it would be great if the game kept lots loaded while your household sims are on them.