How Do You Guys Typically Play Your Legacies?

AmTk86 · November 2020

Like, how many generations do you go before you get bored? How do you decide which kid to follow into the next generation and when do you guys stop keeping up with other branches of the family tree? I like hearing about other people's playstyles and storylines so I'd love any picture or Plum Tree App family trees you have.

izecson · November 2020

In Sims 4 I usually have no more than 3 generations, but the second generations is always expanding usually because one of the founder is turned into a vampire and when their spouse died, I marry them with another and they have new children, I picked the heir based on my favorite(the one that I mostly control and/or have the look that is closest to the vampire parent)

Echo17121 · November 2020

I usually get to generation 3 ish before I get bored. I've been staying interested in my current one because I'm following the Newcrest challenge so there's goals to work towards with each generation.

haneul · November 2020

I play a modified legacy. The founders are immortal. One is a vampire and they raise several generations of children. I'm on their 4th/5th generation of children now. I've basically combined legacy gameplay with the 100 baby and supersim challenges, but I don't follow any particular challenge rules.

The children typically stick around until they've graduated from college, topped a career or two, or married (so they stay for quite a while). But there isn't really an heir.

I keep up with the grandchildren and then after that with descendants who carry the family last name (which could be girls or boys).

I dont get bored because I have many different goals and storylines I'm trying to work through. For example, right now I'm trying to avoid them having a financial crisis, humanize other vampires, get to the top of a few careers, prepare for a wedding, etc. Later, I'll want them to run an art gallery somewhere and have a 3rd home in Mt. Komorebi.

I'm reposting from other threads, but this is them.

My standard blurb about the Sims family I play, the Fiers, is that the Fiers are a vampire family led by an arrogant and socially awkward megalomaniac named Asher who, among other things, hopes to have 100 children. As of now, he's had 16. The youngest five recently became young adults and are discovering the perks of university.

As a whole, the family has a tendency to be patriarchal (but this has changed and is continuing to change as Asher hopefully grows) and ambitious. They've also amassed extreme wealth.

In the picture, the two standing are Asher Fier and his wife, Adelise. They're immortal. Asher is a vampire. Adelise is not. Seated are Asher's five youngest children, the fourth generation of children that he's had. The others have grown up and moved out.

Dawn, in the green dress, is the most normal of the five. She's the eldest and she's friendly, reasonable, and very easy-going. She's doing a biology degree at Britechester and has a long-term townie boyfriend who's an expert at fire dancing.

Darius is next to Dawn. He's the silliest of the five. These days, he's into art and becoming Simstagram famous. Because he's constantly setting things on fire and losing all sorts of games and competitions to his siblings, one would probably think that he's incompetent, but he's not. He's a talented painter, violinist, and he's doing well in his distinguished degree at Britechester.

Delmarya is sitting in the middle. She's the only vampire of the five, which bothers her immensely, so she tries to ignore the fact that she's a vampire, which … Anyway, Delmarya is also a perfectionist. She mastered all toddler skills, childhood aspirations, and parenthood traits. She's enrolled in the maximum amount of university courses, has a perfect GPA, and is almost at the very top of her career (university is only for fun), but because she's a perfectionist (and a vampire) she's incredibly insecure. Despite trying, she doesn't have many friends besides a toddler she met on the beach once and her siblings.

Dyna is the youngest of the five. She's Darius twin. She's sweet, quiet, and often overlooked because of the chaos caused by her parents and older siblings. She works hard and looks out for everyone, but doesn't get much attention herself. She's studying computer science in a distinguished degree at Foxbury; she's also on the soccer team.

Last is Dysis. Dysis is the most like their father. She's ambitious and competitive, and wants to become independently wealth, but she also loves trying new things and experiencing all that life has to offer. She fell intensely in love with someone who was obsessed with her, which has made it hard for Dysis to keep on top of her academics due to spending so much time with him. She missed giving one of her final presentations and she's also almost hopeless when it comes to artistic things like painting and flower arranging.

Three pictures of the current youngest generation's childhood (when they lived in Sulani).

Their home now.

SantiagoWitt · November 2020

I usually get bored around gen 5 or 6. By that time the family is so rich and all the worlds are empty. It’s hard to keep going. I like the first part when the founder is getting started. I think a snowy escape legacy could be fun for a few generations.

Kita5399 · November 2020

I’m about to start generation 20, I’ve been playing this save since 2017. I move each heir into a new lot, I think that helps me not get bored. I only keep up with siblings and parents (occasionally grandparents), and I usually pick the youngest child as the heir (with few exceptions). I try to have each generation focus on something different to keep it interesting. I’ve played one as a doctor, one was famous, one lived in Sulani etc. Usually I set goals for them while they’re still toddlers, but sometimes that changes especially if a new pack comes out. If I find myself bored at any point I just play a different save, or game for a bit of a break. Another note: I use MCCC to keep my world “alive”, and let the spares have families.

Duvelina · November 2020

I play a couple of storytelling saves but one is a Not So Berry. I'm currently on generation 4 and definitely not bored yet. I keep up with all the branches although I don't play them. As for the heir, I choose the first child. Hasn't been hard with the last two generations because there was only one to choose. 😆

My Plum Tree!

https://ibb.co/bgD21X1

mingusssss · November 2020

@haneul very cool

I think I have found the way to keep the game interesting for me. I started my save as a strict legacy challenge. I quickly realized I needed more than that, I needed an extensive story line and backstory for my sim, otherwise I was going to get bored. I also realized I needed to slow down ageing because I needed time to get attached to my sims and if I know they will die soon I just stop caring. Also, I decided to not have unplayed households age, because the empty worlds are very discouraging to me. (I age up my sims' friends in CAS) Still, sometimes I temporarily turn ageing off if I'm just enjoying a stage in their lives a lot. I also delete randomized townies that are a hot mess and add my own townies.

So at some point the legacy challenge faded and I was just very invested in my legacy family. I planned family activities and documented their story, taking screenshots and writing about it. In the background I kept track of the legacy challenge points, just for me, because I think it helps me discover aspects of the game that I wouldn't think to explore myself. (I still want my sims to complete all aspirations, max out all careers and skills and complete all the collections, but with no time constraints and any sim in the save can contribute)

I started playing in July and my first sim of gen 3 is an young adult and I plan to have her be a mom soon. Even though it's cool to see a big family tree and I wanted to maybe rush things more at the beginning, the key for me was to play with very slow time.

other observations:
* I notice that if I play a sim through uni and they graduate, I'm super proud of them and I NEVER get bored with them
* I only play one save! I play other households besides the legacy family and they all live in the same world. Its very cool to see my other sims around living their lives. - I have big plans of at some point have every restaurant, vet and retail store owned by some sim of mine (in a way that makes sense in their life story)
* rotational play among the legacy siblings and my other played households is ultimately the way to play for me
* I try to add nice community lots and get my sims out of the house.
* I like to make my sims look unique via cc skin details and cc hair (clothes I don't care about that much)

babajayne · November 2020

Honestly, the best thing I ever did for myself was to stop playing Legacy-style. I could only last 3 generations or so before getting bored and never wanting to look at that property again. If you’re moving each generation that sounds like it would help a lot. I really prefer rotational gameplay because it’s way more interesting when my sims interact with my other played sims.

HillyBeth · November 2020

AmTk86 wrote: »

Like, how many generations do you go before you get bored? How do you decide which kid to follow into the next generation and when do you guys stop keeping up with other branches of the family tree? I like hearing about other people's playstyles and storylines so I'd love any picture or Plum Tree App family trees you have.

I'm getting ready to head into fifth generation. Counting my sims' ancestors, Ryan and Katherine Cole as the first generation. Lol. Nichole Sheridan is the first-born of fourth generation. Her brother Ryan is second-born. Any kids bearing the Cole last name are way too young at the moment.

ETA: Here's the family tree. One sim is on there twice because she's the mother of one of my third generation and her daughter from her husband* ended up marrying her son's cousin from his dad's side of the family. Confusing and crazy, but oh well.
*She never did marry her son's father. So I'm saying she abandoned him. But he had a better mother, who gave him a baby brother.

CAPTAIN_NXR7 · November 2020

Not a single one...

Folks, those plumtrees are most impressive!

HillyBeth · November 2020

@CAPTAIN_NXR7 did you see mine? It's not plumbtree, but I've used that site forever. LOL!

ETA: This is one of my favorite pictures. Sadly all these sims have now passed away. My founders, their son, and his family. The red haired boy and the girl with the 'space buns' were twins. The child in the green hat was their big sister. Her granddaughter is who I'm playing.

A friend made this for me. I can't believe I've made it this far in almost 5 months!

haneul · November 2020

mingusssss wrote: »

I decided to not have unplayed households age, because the empty worlds are very discouraging to me. (I age up my sims' friends in CAS) Still, sometimes I temporarily turn ageing off if I'm just enjoying a stage in their lives a lot. I also delete randomized townies that are a hot mess and add my own townies.

I started playing in July and my first sim of gen 3 is an young adult and I plan to have her be a mom soon. Even though it's cool to see a big family tree and I wanted to maybe rush things more at the beginning, the key for me was to play with very slow time.

other observations:
* I notice that if I play a sim through uni and they graduate, I'm super proud of them and I NEVER get bored with them
* I only play one save! I play other households besides the legacy family and they all live in the same world. Its very cool to see my other sims around living their lives. - I have big plans of at some point have every restaurant, vet and retail store owned by some sim of mine (in a way that makes sense in their life story)
* rotational play among the legacy siblings and my other played households is ultimately the way to play for me
* I try to add nice community lots and get my sims out of the house.
* I like to make my sims look unique via cc skin details and cc hair (clothes I don't care about that much)

This is interesting to me, because I play with MCCC. As the generations pass, I get more and more sims in my game. Now, I think that there are between 800 and 900 sims (but there could be more). I think that might too many-ish because most of the homes are rather full. I still don't have lag, though.

I also try not to rush, but I've started rushing again. I got in my head that I should have a child sim max some adult skills because I had this one sim kid who was really into something and I thought it would be fun to play her as a sort of prodigy. But I'm now trying to relax a bit again because there's plenty of time to skill, etc. Ironically, I play really slowly - I have aging on, but it takes me like a real-life year to get through a generation.

If I didn't have MCCC I think I would try to rotate among legacy relatives as well, but somehow that quickly gets overwhelming for me. How do you balance each household?

mingusssss wrote: »

@haneul very cool

Thank you!

@hillybeth - I remember you posting that picture earlier and I thought it was so cute. I can't believe those sims have already passed away.

HillyBeth · November 2020

@haneul I play on a normal lifespan with added days. 28 for both children and teens, 40 for young adults(in case they go to college), 50 for adults, and 60 for elders. Ben was the only one who lived past his death day because he had a high fitness skill level. His great-grandchildren Nichole and Ryan may live long as well. December 7 2020 will be five months since I started the save.

ETA: I edited the lifespan through the MCC Mod

haneul · November 2020

@HillyBeth Because I play so so slowly, it still seems surprisingly fast to me. My sims' lifespans are slightly longer than normal, but still much shorter than yours. I've been reading your posts in the other threads, but it didn't sink in until now that everyone in that photo was gone.

ChampandGirlie · November 2020

Mine has legacy elements but is mostly a rotation. I have generations that are aging so it definitely counts as a legacy. Instead of picking an heir, I followed two children as they grew up with different personalities. Now, I have a whole lot of households and families beyond the originals but their descendants are still in the game.

I play a lot like @mingusssss. Now I have a whole bunch of households in a save. It was a lot of work to set up so I'm pretty invested. I recently decided that with all of the many households in my game & different worlds & themes, that the best thing for me is to do what I want and focus on having fun. I've decided to spend less time on households that I "have" to play and to just make sure that at any given time, I want to play the household that I'm playing. So, if I get bored, I don't need to play them. Switch to households I like when I want to & there's also nothing wrong with breaks when I want them.

I am still playing a legacy because eventually the children inherit and take over but I've decided not to worry if I'm just not feeling like playing a household. I still have fun. I like the sentiments, actually.

Simmingal · November 2020

it really depends when i get bored and if there is any problems with continuing the family

i don't tend to get far though because i just get some other more fun idea that doesnt fit with my story or i dont like choices i made and get meh about

also i have bad habit of liking my first sims too much to let them pass away so around 8 sim limit it gets very problematic

mingusssss · November 2020

haneul wrote: »

If I didn't have MCCC I think I would try to rotate among legacy relatives as well, but somehow that quickly gets overwhelming for me. How do you balance each household?

I don't have that many played households. In total I have 10, 3 of which are from my legacy, the other ones are paralel stories. Whenever I sit down to play I just pick the one I want to play. Maybe as my families grow I'll have to come up with a better system

- and maybe even abandon some siblings at some point once they move out.

texxx78 · November 2020

AmTk86 wrote: »

Like, how many generations do you go before you get bored? How do you decide which kid to follow into the next generation and when do you guys stop keeping up with other branches of the family tree? I like hearing about other people's playstyles and storylines so I'd love any picture or Plum Tree App family trees you have.

I play in rotation with all the sims in all worlds (nowadays i delete all premades and create all my households). I play in long lifespan. I'm now in the 3rd generation and i'm not bored at all.

I used to play one household only and i used to get bored in the 2nd generation. The worlds would be empty and i would be following only a handfull of sims and their lifes and dreams.

I honestly think that we get the most of sims 4 playing in rotation because the worlds only get empty if we want. And for me personally, that have a problem managing almost the same kind of stuff in repeat, i think that changing from one household to other different household is the best thing.

One moment i'm playing a mean vampire and all his adventures and the other moment i'm playing a nice homey family. That helped me a lot with the problem i had getting bored so easilly playing sims 4.

AmTk86 · November 2020

Good on y'all who can play rotationally, my brain can only handle one household at a time. I'll go pop into other households to do some story beats but otherwise get MCCC to handle the rest.

haneul wrote: »

I play a modified legacy. The founders are immortal. One is a vampire and they raise several generations of children. I'm on their 4th/5th generation of children now. I've basically combined legacy gameplay with the 100 baby and supersim challenges, but I don't follow any particular challenge rules.

The children typically stick around until they've graduated from college, topped a career or two, or married (so they stay for quite a while). But there isn't really an heir.

I keep up with the grandchildren and then after that with descendants who carry the family last name (which could be girls or boys).

I dont get bored because I have many different goals and storylines I'm trying to work through. For example, right now I'm trying to avoid them having a financial crisis, humanize other vampires, get to the top of a few careers, prepare for a wedding, etc. Later, I'll want them to run an art gallery somewhere and have a 3rd home in Mt. Komorebi.

I'm reposting from other threads, but this is them.

Your sims are so pretty om

Kita5399 wrote: »

I’m about to start generation 20, I’ve been playing this save since 2017. I move each heir into a new lot, I think that helps me not get bored. I only keep up with siblings and parents (occasionally grandparents), and I usually pick the youngest child as the heir (with few exceptions). I try to have each generation focus on something different to keep it interesting. I’ve played one as a doctor, one was famous, one lived in Sulani etc. Usually I set goals for them while they’re still toddlers, but sometimes that changes especially if a new pack comes out. If I find myself bored at any point I just play a different save, or game for a bit of a break. Another note: I use MCCC to keep my world “alive”, and let the spares have families.

20 gens?! I couldn't imagine going but at the same time I'm so attached to mine at the moment I can't imagine myself not playing them too. I guess I try something similar to you and just treat each new heir like I'm starting a new save or something.

This the legacy I have going on right now:
https://theplumtreeapp.com/public/5f80ac9ac852f00007d94c2c
[img][/img]

((Imgur won't work so this is the best I can do))

Dannakyri1 · November 2020

My issue isn't so much that I get bored with them as it is that by generation 6 there are normally do many "bugs" going on in the house that I get irritated and stop playing. I normally go with the oldest child as the heir but sometimes I just pick my favorite. I use MCCC command to help the family tree grow but If I care who they marry I will normally get the "spares" married off to someone while still living in the legacy home, move the spouse in, have them try for a baby and then move them out into a new house once baby is born (assuming there is space in the house). Focusing on difference aspirations for the sims as they grow is helpful but I will say with only 4 aspirations of the children it does get a little old. Actually, sometimes that is where I loose interest - having the 15th child I have to run through the same set of aspirations can be boring. Wish they would add more of those.

WildIrishBanshee · November 2020

Right now I'm obsessed with Ultimate Sims, so all my legacies and genetacies are based on that. As far as generations go, I always aim for at least 10 for a legacy or 104 with a genetacy - but usually I have computer issues or something before that hits! All of my PlumTree trees can be found on my thread, the link is in my signature. There are two posts with lists, the newer one and the older one if you want to see both. I think I still have those old saves - but don't quote me on that, thanks to technology snafus' here recently. I try to only have one kid per legacy these days, and that makes picking heir easy! Unless it's twins, then I do a poll, and the other one heads off into the wild after college/adult birthday. MCCC can take care of them, unless I'm really attached. Genetacies they all have to be played, so the two spares (or more) are always played rotation style.

I think that about covers it lol.

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How Do You Guys Typically Play Your Legacies?

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