I'm thinking now I might add extra holidays to monitor when I switch, Christmas will be with one family then New Years with the next with several days between them switching until I get back to the starter holiday..whatever that may be per save.
Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
All the sims err'day
I usually rotate to a different family every sim week. Since I play on long life span, I'm considering changing the default season to 90 days so it will feel like a year. Also, so I won't have to change the decorations so often.
I'll be starting a new premade rotation. I usually rotate weekly, so hopefully I can make the season cover a week with everyone. If not, I'll have to try shorter rotations, and my memory is rubbish. I guess I could always add rotation reminders to the calendar.
I am constantly switching around households because I have so many stories going on, so I play maybe 5-7 days with one family before getting bored and switching, and I play longest lifespan and aging off, so its as if barely any time passes between my rotations, so I think eventually they'll be able to experience all the seasons. I wonder if they will be given random clothes until we go into their family and fix up their outfits or if they'll just wear whatever outfits they have on and freeze to death.
Since all my playable Sims are related or good friends I can see where the custom holidays are going to make playing rotationally even easier for me. Just looking at the partial list of traditions has me very excited about planning parties and holidays for my Sims. In Real Life, I am always planning some kind of get together as an excuse to see my kids and grandkids. So it seems very natural to use custom holidays in my game to keep friends and families close. The only change in the way I rotate between my Sims will be the opportunity to bring them all together to do something fun. The club system has always been a favorite thing to have in the game, but the custom holidays is even better in my book. It's just so much like Real Life and how we interact with others.
I play with aging off so I don't have to rush through the different phases of each Sims's life. At the moment I am keeping three or four playable households in each neighborhood per world. Except for Windenburg and Brindleton Bay. I have left these two towns as places to visit until we get new vacation spots. I try to play each family at least once a Sim month but it's hard to do when a family has a new toddler needing to learn skills. And there are times when I become stuck playing one household for some reason. But I enjoy having a bunch of Sims I created being the focal point of each town. So I guess Seasons isn't going to change my style of gameplay very much. Except for needing to plan some fun time for my Sims.
Has anyone found out what is the longest we can set the seasons to?
I already play with a calendar that I track myself and a custom super long lifespan (180 days/year, 45 days/season), so I'm hoping I can set mine that long. If not, MCCC to the rescue! But I hope they give us something reasonably long to work with at least until MCCC is updated. I think we could do 28 days in TS3? Or was it 21? That'll work for me for now until we get an update.
I don't think this pack will change my rotational style at all. I play households for 1-2 days at a time, switching at 5am. Aging on for everybody. No set order, but every household gets a visit at least once per season. Just instead of fake CC seasons, now I'll have real ones!
For me Seasons will be on it's longest rotation and if there's a mod to make seasons longer I will surely take it
aging is off, and I'm use to celebrating birthdays without aging them up before it's time to move story forward that drastically.
I haven't really looked into how the expansion works. I only know of the features that exist.
Is the calendar per household, or does it work for all the worlds?
if it's per household...
I know what holidays and vacations I'm going to set. and I'd add birthday celebrations to the calendar.
if the calendar works on all worlds
then I will design it without birthdays.
All my sims interact together so I don't have to worry about missing something. There's the King Family whose friends with The Jordan Family, the Jordan family interacts with 5 other families, Montgomery, DuVal, Bourbon, Navarro. The King family's son, is dating the Dior family's daughter, Dior and Navarro families because they're friends. Navarro and Hogan because their daughter and son are dating. Hogan and King's Sons are friend-enemies.
So it helps me to have the families interact so i don't have to rotate households, I can still have them celebrating if I'm not controlling them.
I would prolong each holiday. When it comes to celebrating things like, Christmas. I want to celebrate it as, 25 Days of Christmas. hoping I can make winter, last more than 25 days or I start in the Fall and end midwinter.
but that way I can spend it with all my sims. Love day would be Love Week.
I change households when I feel like it based on what is happening in each family or when I want a change.
I'm really looking forward to Seasons even though I have been pretty busy and not able to play as much. In a way, when I do play now, it is with fresh eyes.
If I can adjust the seasons myself then I will do that. I don't know that I will be rigid about playing each household for an exact set timeline because I don't do that now but maybe when I get into it with the new expansion, I will. I really like the ability to create holidays and I like the addition of concepts like "Love Day".
I think I will let my weather be mostly variable and unpredictable. I just don't want snow in Selvadorada or Oasis Springs. I don't want much rain in OS.
I think it'll be a fun EP and I'll just add it into the mix with my rotation and see what happens. I freely turn aging off and on to manage lifespans myself, so if I can adjust season lengths myself, then I'll probably be doing that a lot. I'm not worried about everyone experiencing the exact same seasons at the exact same time.
I wish they would’ve added a reaction where a Sim notice when another Sim is been bitten by a vampire or passed out. Doesn’t make sense how they’re just smiling while their wife is being attacked. Yes I know it’s a game but even if they would’ve added the Sims reacting to fire animation that would be perfect. Just something ! Also for the rotational players how do you guys manage Culling ? Does it not effect your sims as much since you rotate every sim week ?
I'll be starting a new premade rotation. I usually rotate weekly, so hopefully I can make the season cover a week with everyone. If not, I'll have to try shorter rotations, and my memory is rubbish. I guess I could always add rotation reminders to the calendar.
Hey, I like that! We can mark rotation day on the calendar.
My rotational play has almost no structure (everyone gets played for a different amount of time) and I would probably end up playingall the households in one season anyway- I started a new rotational save playing with Windenburg townies. I'm on day 4 and have played everybody but Free Spirits already, I don't spend much time with each household.
If I get Seasons my calendar will certainly look odd. I do not want to play the holidays with just one family, so I'm going to place the same holiday thrice per season, if possible. That'll give three families the opportunity to experience that holiday, three others in the next year and so on. For example: Winterfest - Winterfest - normal day - Winterfest. The idea is, of course, that those three Winterfests happen at the same day.
I have ageing off most of the time. I turn it on when I feel I have reached the end of what I wanted to do with everyone at their current ages, then turn it on for several "years" till all the sims have aged up and are ready to start the next generation
SimGuruGeorge recently confirmed that holidays are shared across the whole save: "Holidays appear for all sims in the world across your entire save. You can run multiple saves with different custom holidays."
This isn't awesome for rotational players - I'd much prefer if we had an option for whether a holiday affects all homes or just the currently played household. I'm still very excited for this feature, though!
So... has anyone gone ahead and set up their rotational play yet? I still don't know how to work mine.
I have 7 families so I was going to set the seasons for 28 days and play 4 days each family so they all get a go every season, but not sure how to handle holidays. It means only one family will get to celebrate each particular holiday.
Seasons has certainly thrown a spanner into how I play rotationally. I've set the seasons to 2 weeks each season and I'm playing each family (there are 5 families) for each season and trying to rotate so it makes sense for all of them - but it's not been easy!
My EA ID is TranquilloSims - where I upload starter homes, family homes and some more ambitious creations.
I've been playing the same family with aging off until I figure out how to play my rotation (and to also experience all the seasons). I really wanna be able to celebrate holidays with every family, so I might play four weeks/whole year with each family. But I used to play one week per family so I'm not sure if I wanna change it to four weeks and with 14 families it would take ages to go through all them. The other option is to change family every week and just miss some holidays/seasons with some families. Hard decisions, but seasons is worth it
Yup. LW is dancing in the kitchen while the love of his life is passed out.
I don't think I can even get in to playing ONE household and get involved in their life. I can't overlook this plum. I can't get immersed and keep playing storytime when the game can't even give me a workable storyline to play with!
Seasons isn't going to change what's WRONG with Sims 4.
I completely understand what you mean. When I started playing TS4 (I am completely new to the sims in general, have never played any other sims game except Sims 4, and that is since April of this year), I didn't do enough research on the game and was very surprised when I found out they were completely oblivious to the events in their lives, with the exceptions of death, divorce, birthdays, etc. You kind of have to make up the storyline for yourself and try not to get bored. I've gotten better at this by watching LP's, but it does bother me a bit how I have to force myself to 'have fun' when it would be simpler if our sims could simply have memory and not just be driven by moodlets, but by things that happen in the game.
Playing rotationally is a bit trickier with Seasons but I'm sure it will become easier as I go along. After the addition of Parenthood, Cats and Dogs, Jungle Adventure and now Seasons there is so much more to do and accomplish! That's okay, though, because one of my main complaints was we didn't have many gameplay options and now we have so many I can barely keep up! My problem with hopping between households is not over-staying my welcome. LOL My single dad with a teenage son household has taken up a lot of my time because the son is a Scout and is working hard to earn badges. The father just entered the Botanist Career and I'm still learning about the new gardening system. So they require a lot of attention all by themselves. I have single Sims looking to find his or her soulmate. I'm trying to help those single Sims in their pursuit of love by inviting them to holidays and introducing them to the Sims I would like to add to my playable households. The holidays work quite well for keeping the Sims that know one another close so their relationships don't tank. And holidays work nicely for setting up their friends on blind dates. The only thing I don't like is that the Sim guests don't stay very long at the active lot. I hope a modder comes up with a fix for this. At my main household, I had ten guests to chat with and before I realized it, a few of them left right after eating BBQ. (Hate to eat and run but see ya!) So after that happened I knew better than to invite everyone at the same time and I now invite guests at different times during the day.
Luckily most of the Sims in my main save have maxed out the skills that pertain to their chosen careers. I have one toddler that has maxed her skills but I am waiting to age her up until she has seen snow for the first time and has played in the toddler pool. I have another couple throwing the 'have a baby' whim that I have been ignoring and I should probably spend part of the winter with them so they can complete that want. Another couple wishes to be married but they're waiting until June, Sim Time, for that. They need to advance a bit more in their careers first. Maybe a romantic holiday in Granite Falls in the winter will be enough to keep them happy for a little while.
Rotational play has become a bit harder but perhaps that's only because there is so much to learn and do now with Seasons. Love, love, love the holidays and how much those add to my gameplay. My Sims seem especially happy whenever a holiday pops up on the calendar. They throw confetti and do fist pumps as soon as they get out of bed in the morning. It's so cute. I'm especially excited about the new gift-giving option because it's the perfect way for my gardening Sims to share seeds with one another. No more raiding the public gardens in the pouring rain scavenging for plants to harvest. Just wrap one up in a pretty box and gift it to someone who will appreciate it. Adjusting my style hasn't been easy, though. It is just too easy to become focused on one household as you watch your Sims experience the weather. Last night I was telling myself I needed to go and check on another family but couldn't tear myself away for fear I'd miss something. Right now I think my rotational playing has become a bit scattered with the addition of Seasons. But that's okay. I'll find a rhythm that suits my Sims and myself soon.
I do love Island Living. It may have shallow gameplay, but the world is beautiful. I’m a coastal, beachy girl so I love being able to love that lifestyle in the sims. The lighting is stunning, the townies are cute, the lot variety is good, the build items are unique and lovely.
50% off though, if you’re comfortable to do so, I would buy both Island Living and Get Together. I love both worlds so much!
Comments
All the sims err'day
Though now I've got to update all their clothes and houses now once Seasons rolls in...
I play with aging off so I don't have to rush through the different phases of each Sims's life. At the moment I am keeping three or four playable households in each neighborhood per world. Except for Windenburg and Brindleton Bay. I have left these two towns as places to visit until we get new vacation spots. I try to play each family at least once a Sim month but it's hard to do when a family has a new toddler needing to learn skills. And there are times when I become stuck playing one household for some reason. But I enjoy having a bunch of Sims I created being the focal point of each town. So I guess Seasons isn't going to change my style of gameplay very much. Except for needing to plan some fun time for my Sims.
Personally, I think I'll only have 5 or 6 families that I will rotationally play in each save file. I won't be able to manage more than that.
I already play with a calendar that I track myself and a custom super long lifespan (180 days/year, 45 days/season), so I'm hoping I can set mine that long. If not, MCCC to the rescue! But I hope they give us something reasonably long to work with at least until MCCC is updated. I think we could do 28 days in TS3? Or was it 21? That'll work for me for now until we get an update.
I don't think this pack will change my rotational style at all. I play households for 1-2 days at a time, switching at 5am. Aging on for everybody. No set order, but every household gets a visit at least once per season. Just instead of fake CC seasons, now I'll have real ones!
aging is off, and I'm use to celebrating birthdays without aging them up before it's time to move story forward that drastically.
I haven't really looked into how the expansion works. I only know of the features that exist.
Is the calendar per household, or does it work for all the worlds?
if it's per household...
I know what holidays and vacations I'm going to set. and I'd add birthday celebrations to the calendar.
if the calendar works on all worlds
then I will design it without birthdays.
All my sims interact together so I don't have to worry about missing something. There's the King Family whose friends with The Jordan Family, the Jordan family interacts with 5 other families, Montgomery, DuVal, Bourbon, Navarro. The King family's son, is dating the Dior family's daughter, Dior and Navarro families because they're friends. Navarro and Hogan because their daughter and son are dating. Hogan and King's Sons are friend-enemies.
So it helps me to have the families interact so i don't have to rotate households, I can still have them celebrating if I'm not controlling them.
I would prolong each holiday. When it comes to celebrating things like, Christmas. I want to celebrate it as, 25 Days of Christmas. hoping I can make winter, last more than 25 days or I start in the Fall and end midwinter.
but that way I can spend it with all my sims. Love day would be Love Week.
My Mood:
I'm really looking forward to Seasons even though I have been pretty busy and not able to play as much. In a way, when I do play now, it is with fresh eyes.
If I can adjust the seasons myself then I will do that. I don't know that I will be rigid about playing each household for an exact set timeline because I don't do that now but maybe when I get into it with the new expansion, I will. I really like the ability to create holidays and I like the addition of concepts like "Love Day".
I think I will let my weather be mostly variable and unpredictable. I just don't want snow in Selvadorada or Oasis Springs. I don't want much rain in OS.
I think it'll be a fun EP and I'll just add it into the mix with my rotation and see what happens. I freely turn aging off and on to manage lifespans myself, so if I can adjust season lengths myself, then I'll probably be doing that a lot. I'm not worried about everyone experiencing the exact same seasons at the exact same time.
Hey, I like that! We can mark rotation day on the calendar.
+1
If I invest in Seasons, I can't see it changing this.
However, I'm not sure I want to be playing Winterfest in June!
Oh I don't know, it get pretty hot where I live, so playing with snow might make me feel cooler.
This isn't awesome for rotational players - I'd much prefer if we had an option for whether a holiday affects all homes or just the currently played household. I'm still very excited for this feature, though!
I have 7 families so I was going to set the seasons for 28 days and play 4 days each family so they all get a go every season, but not sure how to handle holidays. It means only one family will get to celebrate each particular holiday.
I completely understand what you mean. When I started playing TS4 (I am completely new to the sims in general, have never played any other sims game except Sims 4, and that is since April of this year), I didn't do enough research on the game and was very surprised when I found out they were completely oblivious to the events in their lives, with the exceptions of death, divorce, birthdays, etc. You kind of have to make up the storyline for yourself and try not to get bored. I've gotten better at this by watching LP's, but it does bother me a bit how I have to force myself to 'have fun' when it would be simpler if our sims could simply have memory and not just be driven by moodlets, but by things that happen in the game.
So yeah, know how you feel!
Luckily most of the Sims in my main save have maxed out the skills that pertain to their chosen careers. I have one toddler that has maxed her skills but I am waiting to age her up until she has seen snow for the first time and has played in the toddler pool. I have another couple throwing the 'have a baby' whim that I have been ignoring and I should probably spend part of the winter with them so they can complete that want. Another couple wishes to be married but they're waiting until June, Sim Time, for that. They need to advance a bit more in their careers first. Maybe a romantic holiday in Granite Falls in the winter will be enough to keep them happy for a little while.
Rotational play has become a bit harder but perhaps that's only because there is so much to learn and do now with Seasons. Love, love, love the holidays and how much those add to my gameplay. My Sims seem especially happy whenever a holiday pops up on the calendar. They throw confetti and do fist pumps as soon as they get out of bed in the morning. It's so cute. I'm especially excited about the new gift-giving option because it's the perfect way for my gardening Sims to share seeds with one another. No more raiding the public gardens in the pouring rain scavenging for plants to harvest. Just wrap one up in a pretty box and gift it to someone who will appreciate it. Adjusting my style hasn't been easy, though. It is just too easy to become focused on one household as you watch your Sims experience the weather. Last night I was telling myself I needed to go and check on another family but couldn't tear myself away for fear I'd miss something. Right now I think my rotational playing has become a bit scattered with the addition of Seasons. But that's okay. I'll find a rhythm that suits my Sims and myself soon.
I do love Island Living. It may have shallow gameplay, but the world is beautiful. I’m a coastal, beachy girl so I love being able to love that lifestyle in the sims. The lighting is stunning, the townies are cute, the lot variety is good, the build items are unique and lovely.
50% off though, if you’re comfortable to do so, I would buy both Island Living and Get Together. I love both worlds so much!