@Rhiannon58, I have a little notebook especially for Sims as well I recently discovered Sim Tracker on MTS and that has been SO great if you love keeping track of all of the details:
That's an interesting little program, Mortia! I also have a very detailed spreadsheet program I got when I dabbled in TS3. It has a bit more information to track and was used for a generation challenge. I used to work in the tech field and you'd think I'd be all over programs to keep track of things. But there's just something about that notebook I keep on my desk and look at from time to time. It also has a list of potential sim names that I check when babies are born.
i play a family either until i get bored or if i need to establish some level of development in a family
some families which develop while played as too boring to play will be made leave & make space for new if i can't come up with some interesting life for them
also it depends on the game, what i have in mind, what i want to accomplish
i can stick to a family for several weeks real time, play one for one in game week or just check short how things are from that different perspective
the families are very different, single sims, loners, traditional families with children, unmarried couples, job oriented or just having fun with friends
since TS2 has this wonderful business features so i concentrate here to develop & use a thriving shops community
i play too little with supernaturals, otherwise my families would be even more diverse, a timed schedule wouldn't help, in fact TS2's no progression while not played is quite relaxing, i can take all time i want or speed up, i prefer to play with no automatic aging so that cheat is permanently on
now after i have played TS3 for the longest time of around 6-7 years & TS4 too it seems that my TS2 gameplay changed
i am more aware about the things in this game i didn't realise the first time 2004-2009, i play now more organic & let myself to be spontanously inspired by things, try to use everything there is in the game, even the smallest things & ideas & help with mods if available & needed
for a new game i start i have at first some general idea what i want to accomplish but develop rather later in game first what i can improve & how i can enrich the gameplay
all this contradics a schedule, because the length of time i play one family differs greatly
i think, TS3 was a very big gameplay changer in that respect for me
i have way more fun with TS2 now after i played TS3 than i had at its end
i stated that already repeadely, before TS3 came out i sold all my TS2 games & never regreted it because i was literally bored with TS2 in 2009,
but now after all the years i can appreciate its values, it is a very dear game to me, i suppose i like it now more than i liked it in 2009
i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
i think, TS3 was a very big gameplay changer in that respect for me
i have way more fun with TS2 now after i played TS3 than i had at its end
i stated that already repeadely, before TS3 came out i sold all my TS2 games & never regreted it because i was literally bored with TS2 in 2009,
but now after all the years i can appreciate its values, it is a very dear game to me, i suppose i like it now more than i liked it in 2009
This is awesome. And I totally agree! As I played TS3 and eventually TS4, I was constantly noticing what I missed from TS2. CONSTANTLY. It's what finally got me back (that and I could download the entire set for free). I am enjoying it all so much more now for many reasons, including that I let things happen instead of forcing my sims to all be the same, perfect, un-life-like people. I try to randomize as much as possible and never ever reload due to a bad chance card or things happening I didn't anticipate.
i think, TS3 was a very big gameplay changer in that respect for me
i have way more fun with TS2 now after i played TS3 than i had at its end
i stated that already repeadely, before TS3 came out i sold all my TS2 games & never regreted it because i was literally bored with TS2 in 2009,
but now after all the years i can appreciate its values, it is a very dear game to me, i suppose i like it now more than i liked it in 2009
This is awesome. And I totally agree! As I played TS3 and eventually TS4, I was constantly noticing what I missed from TS2. CONSTANTLY. It's what finally got me back (that and I could download the entire set for free). I am enjoying it all so much more now for many reasons, including that I let things happen instead of forcing my sims to all be the same, perfect, un-life-like people. I try to randomize as much as possible and never ever reload due to a bad chance card or things happening I didn't anticipate.
Looking forward to a Sim-filled weekend!
over the last couple of days i realised how much either i have forgotten completely from TS2 or maybe even didn't know or didn't use then often
this game has so much depth
i am trying now to use every little feature like selling in shops the many produce sims can make
& i'm trying not to exaggerate with mods & cc, which is very hard, after so many years there is an ocean full with TS2 cc to drown in
currently will try to replace some of the default female hairs & see how that pans out
i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
That's an interesting little program, Mortia! I also have a very detailed spreadsheet program I got when I dabbled in TS3. It has a bit more information to track and was used for a generation challenge. I used to work in the tech field and you'd think I'd be all over programs to keep track of things. But there's just something about that notebook I keep on my desk and look at from time to time. It also has a list of potential sim names that I check when babies are born.
Heh. For one thing, I don't have to tab out if I use a binder or notebook...
I should set up a rotation. I play and play till I'm bored than after a while I have to "power play" to catch up. I have a problem with households being without kids, I just don't find them as entertaining. Nina Caliente kind of got left behind since Dina popped out three kids and raised Alex after Morty passed. When in college I try to get them in and out as fast as possible, college takes so much time.
When I'm playing a rotational family I stay with them for five days. But the University Sims I stay with for two semesters at a time. I want to make a significant progression in the storyline when I play a family. In three days or less nothing is accomplished. The one time, where three days caused a lot of changes was the household with the orphans. I had to work hard keeping the social worker from taking the younger kids out of the home.
I do not have a rule for rotation length, but it usually turns out 2 or 3 days with one household. The reason is that I want the other households to react to what happens in the one I'm currently playing. For example if a sim in household A woos one in household B, it would be way too easy, not to mention unfair, if he just went through with it from start to end, trumping over sim B without me having played her side of the story first. Or that of her parents and friends.
I stopp playing a household for that round when it reaches the last night of the current season and only open that particular household again if everyone else has reached the end of that season, too.
After all this time I'm still fiddling with synchronizing college. One season is too short to equal the eight semesters, but two seasons are too long for my taste. Fortunately once a sim has turned eighteen it isn't required to keep them in sync with the others, as not everyone is showing the same signs of aging at the same time. (That's why it doesn't bother me that, for example, Lola and Chloe have a different number of days left despite being twins. Lola is simply more suspectible to age related ailments and will function as an elder earlier than Chloe despite being of the same age numerically.)
At the moment I play the three basegame neighborhoods all together (there are mods for that) and I play every family for one season. So I make that everyone is in winter before continuing to spring etc. This way you make sure that children will grow up together as teens and then go to college together.
English is not my first language so sorry if I make any mistakes!
Comments
http://modthesims.info/d/464379
some families which develop while played as too boring to play will be made leave & make space for new if i can't come up with some interesting life for them
also it depends on the game, what i have in mind, what i want to accomplish
i can stick to a family for several weeks real time, play one for one in game week or just check short how things are from that different perspective
the families are very different, single sims, loners, traditional families with children, unmarried couples, job oriented or just having fun with friends
since TS2 has this wonderful business features so i concentrate here to develop & use a thriving shops community
i play too little with supernaturals, otherwise my families would be even more diverse, a timed schedule wouldn't help, in fact TS2's no progression while not played is quite relaxing, i can take all time i want or speed up, i prefer to play with no automatic aging so that cheat is permanently on
now after i have played TS3 for the longest time of around 6-7 years & TS4 too it seems that my TS2 gameplay changed
i am more aware about the things in this game i didn't realise the first time 2004-2009, i play now more organic & let myself to be spontanously inspired by things, try to use everything there is in the game, even the smallest things & ideas & help with mods if available & needed
for a new game i start i have at first some general idea what i want to accomplish but develop rather later in game first what i can improve & how i can enrich the gameplay
all this contradics a schedule, because the length of time i play one family differs greatly
i think, TS3 was a very big gameplay changer in that respect for me
i have way more fun with TS2 now after i played TS3 than i had at its end
i stated that already repeadely, before TS3 came out i sold all my TS2 games & never regreted it because i was literally bored with TS2 in 2009,
but now after all the years i can appreciate its values, it is a very dear game to me, i suppose i like it now more than i liked it in 2009
Looking forward to a Sim-filled weekend!
this game has so much depth
i am trying now to use every little feature like selling in shops the many produce sims can make
& i'm trying not to exaggerate with mods & cc, which is very hard, after so many years there is an ocean full with TS2 cc to drown in
currently will try to replace some of the default female hairs & see how that pans out
Heh. For one thing, I don't have to tab out if I use a binder or notebook...
TS2 Graphics Fix Tutorial]
When in college I try to get them in and out as fast as possible, college takes so much time.
I stopp playing a household for that round when it reaches the last night of the current season and only open that particular household again if everyone else has reached the end of that season, too.
After all this time I'm still fiddling with synchronizing college. One season is too short to equal the eight semesters, but two seasons are too long for my taste. Fortunately once a sim has turned eighteen it isn't required to keep them in sync with the others, as not everyone is showing the same signs of aging at the same time. (That's why it doesn't bother me that, for example, Lola and Chloe have a different number of days left despite being twins. Lola is simply more suspectible to age related ailments and will function as an elder earlier than Chloe despite being of the same age numerically.)