I play rotationally so have all kinds of households. But, I had one household of 8, 2 sets of Grandparents, parents, & a teen ,and a child. I found it quite fun to play them. One of the Grandfathers is a Doctor,( who I followed to work to get him to the top level ), he really enjoys dancing with his child Grandson, his wife is a violinist, they all lived in that Grandparents home. The other Grandparents don’t have formal jobs. The Grandfather fishes, does woodwork, and fixes the plumbing. The Grandmother gardens , and loves talking to the grandchildren. The father is in the tech career, and the mother stays at home and cooks and cleans. It really is a juggle, but fun playing them. Recently the one set of Grandparents broke off to their own household so they could get a hunting dog, start a big garden/ orchard and have farm animals. In the other household the parents will have another baby that turns into an infant soon, I like that we can move people into other households, that way the Grandparents that moved out can have their Grandchildren move in from time to time.
And I need to say I am a micromanager, but having a large household to play have brought about some of the cutest incidents, that I might not had seen a glimpse of if I hadn’t seen some of the sims not micro managed every single second, like the the grandmother going into her teen granddaughters room, sitting on her bed and talking to her. Or seeing the one grandfather constantly dancing with his grandson. They are just some of those special moments that I wouldn’t have seen if the household were smaller.
I do play small and large households, it sure is a different game, but I enjoy both versions. I always play them on free will, and it helps because I won't find them starving in a corner etc. I also pause the game often, but not necessarily to check on all household members. I do play a few 8 sims households, and while it often can become a chore (especially with toddlers in the house because most household members will try to tend to the toddler at the same time) there are a few ways to ease the stress:
- Give sims chores that lasts for a while (kids working on homework/school project/reading skill books, adults can tend to skills/work chores).
- Make sure some sims go top school/work to get them out of the way.
- Give kids after school activities to get them out.
- Allow one or two homemakers to stay up late and rather get some sleep in the evening. Night time can be a good time to focus on personal interests, as the rest of the house is asleep.
- Travel to other lots with a couple household members to get a break from the full house chaos.
Not hard but annoying, compared to sims 3 because you cant afford to control multiple sims in different places without long loading screens. Ie my nr1 sims learning magic in Magic Realm while nr2 sim fishing in Sylvan Glade while others at home etc. I think that is the reason Sims 3 is ahead of Sims 4 for me.
If I only have 1 or 2 sims, I have a lot of dead time waiting for them to finish doing something or get home from work/school.
7-8 tend to be a lot more work though, and sometimes I pause to check on one and make sure they're all keeping busy.
If you want a real challenge, have a bunch of toddlers at once.
I've had a few households like that. In fact, one of my werewolves had quadruplets. They were not doing a good job of taking care of the quadruplets, even with a nanny to help, but I just aged the babies up into toddlers. Now they're gonna be in trouble!!! (To make things worse, I think I actually put fussy on one of the babies. My daughter talked me into it! lol )
I have an orphanage run by a pair of evil nuns (my daughter's idea). When I first started that household, I filled it with a bunch of babies and toddlers. That was nasty! Most of them have aged up already (but we added a couple more after 2 of the older ones went to live with their dad). So now they only have 2 toddlers, and 4 children. They also have an army of nannies that come to help take care of the kids, but most of those lazy nannies sit around talking to each other instead of taking care of the toddlers. So last night I made both toddlers start throwing temper tantrums and crying and wetting their diapers. The head nun has the "hates children" trait, so she's in a near constant state of stress living with all those children and "ugh, toddlers".
I play with two parents and 3 children one is a young adult and the other two are teens, in a big house with one cat, I also have chickens, bees, a cow, and a garden to tend to so it does get a bit hectic at times. When you play with 1 or 2 sims you can take time to savor in the little details of the game and how the sims behave and stuff, you can't do that so much with 5 to 8 sims. What I sometimes do is slow the time down to pause and give each member of the household about 5 different things to do like take care of needs (use bathroom, get food, etc.) or read a book if there focused or play instrument if inspired. Once I set about 5 to 6 actions for each sim I switch to free cam and zoom around watching things unfold. When 1 sim gets angry or sad, I'll have them look at a work of art that has a focus or inspire effect or I will have them do one of their wants like listen to a certain radio station or chat with so and so. I do plan on cutting back on the number of sims I'm controlling in the future somehow.
I am a major control freak when it comes to my sims. I do tons of pausing and I love to set the scene for whatever story I am going to tell for that day. Yes that means I do cheat as well to get my desired outcome. I love playing bigger families I love to keep busy with my sims and I play with Autonomy off so no random sims grilling or doing things that I don't want them to. Haha I don't always play a big family but in my current save I am wanting my sim to have a big family so I will have a bunch of kids running around, I love the challenge.
6-8+ member households, usually. I play with autonomy off most of the time (turn it on for like parties or something fun) but otherwise I don't trust my sims enough with autonomy.
I don't like going over 4 as it gets wild after that. One or two are calm, the challenge increases as you add sims from there. If the additions are kids all bets are off.
I almost always play 8 sims, and it's pure chaos but honestly, I like it. when I play I stick to one household 2 parents 6 kids I have a large family irl so it's more of a way of life, 1 sim is too easy for me now, and I can't transition well, the hardest game mode was my main playstyle for a while I see a lot of this game is too easy well play 8 sims and if that's not enough I think the most brutal game mode 1 adult 7 tots. There is a system to it, deal with tots, then other sims. Just like in real life I have to put the little ones' needs 1st. I don't recommend this for everyone, only people who are complaining "it's easy" or if you want torture but I think I am a better player because of it. I also keep aging off and only age them one at a time usually once they maxed out all tot skills. one major downside, is my sim has no friends and almost never leaves the house. Protip: holidays aren't worth it.
Yes, I play big families in the sims. please add crawling babies and pre-teens, My mom played sims 1 and 2 now I play 4, its just family tradition at this point
I'm one who thrives on the challenge of it all. I am only happy, truly, when it's a full boat. A couple is fine, but the sooner they start their family the happier I am. I always have autonomy on full, for one. And I use the PAUSE button to my advantage. Most of the time my Sims care for themselves, pretty much. Upon occasion I have to hit pause and step in to queue up their actions. This allows me to concentrate on my 'main' character, which at this time is my Rock Star. I have even taken as many as seven Sims through Uni, all at the same time, living in the same dorm. Once I find my rhythm, it works out okay for me. If I don't have this much to concentrate on, I tend to get bored.
Start out small and slowly add as you go along. If this is what you want, eventually, just find what works for you. And, no, it wasn't easy in the beginning, but I've been playing Sims since 2005.
I wouldnt say hard, the insulting were having right now is hard to keep an eye on with 6 sims in a house, and you cant savor those special interactions as much between sims because your busy switching between them and giving them commands,
Depends on my investment level and RP style. Like, if I have 4 heavily roleplayed characters in the same household, each having their own vastly different interests... it can get burdensome and annoying because TS4 does not have an open world. Therefore, if I e.g. want to RP an introvert sim who always stays at home but at the same time I have this utter party animal sim who wants to go out all the time... yeah, it can get tricky because I then constantly need to do these choices on who to spend more time with. That or I just need to turn aging off constantly so I can balance the time between all the different sims and actually achieve what I want to do with them.
If they all just have aspirations that don't require them to travel in different places or I'm not that bothered to fulfill any "check lists", then I don't find it hard at all and actually enjoy big households. I'm not a micromanager so I basically just let them do whatever and just direct them when it's necessary.
Taking care of needs and such don't bother me. It's only if I have more RP-focused goals for multiple sims in a household that it can get bothersome.
I remember when I first played Sims 3, one couple had 6 children, it was a nightmare trying to control them, especially when they were all young, and vowed never to allow them to have any more than one child.
So, basically, I have 6 household members max. 1 Child, 2 parents, and 2 Grandparents. Once the child grows up and gets married, usually one of the grandparents have died, and the newly weds can't have a kid until the last standing grandparent is on his/her last legs.
Playing a bunch of Sims in one household reminds me of that thing they have at carnivals. A juggler type person will have a row of sticks, and they'll be trying to keep a spinning plate on top of each of them. Keeping them all spinning is quite the trick, and requires concentration and maintaining attention to everything.
3 and 4 are very easy especially if you play a relaxed rotation at least part of the time. Some like rules that is too dull for me, simply put practice makes better then perfect for this. So it probably isn’t you, but you could try out different things, when rotating with no direction but what you want with a mix of families just to do homework and work a little on skills you won’t have much time for needs. Just take one peek and move on if you don’t see yellow or red everything green means don’t worry about it just enjoy your time. I have played 8 sim household on short like this and not everyone just went to work or school. Always fill hunger first then do whatever is closest, as in if they are need the bed and are closer to it than the toilet they can use the bathroom later.
Need management can quickly blend in and I could not go without it, in sims 2 though this was much harder there was less clipping which seems like a good thing. My pregnant sim was moving slower and couldn’t clip through her teenaged step daughters she had to use the bathroom but was also starving and they couldn’t move where she was before I could reposition everyone she dropped dead right there then they moved again…they might have done that on purpose.
Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
All the sims err'day
@RedDestiny92 wow yes! pregnancy in TS2 was very much about trying not to die
(actually my first ingame death was a pregnant sim in TS2 who died of starvation, on her dining room floor, trying to get to the food that was on the table)
@RedDestiny92 wow yes! pregnancy in TS2 was very much about trying not to die
(actually my first ingame death was a pregnant sim in TS2 who died of starvation, on her dining room floor, trying to get to the food that was on the table)
Yes, you never, ever, ever allowed a pregnant Sim to take out the trash. Plus, I used to make certain there was a banquet table full of food to keep her from expiring. Sims2 was actually a much harder game than Sims3 & 4. I miss that.
Rough times, I mean you could learn the hard way what to do so the challenge was always temporary but I swear this stuff sticks with you. I don’t think I let a pregnant sim do much of anything after that.
Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
All the sims err'day
My family is moving onto it's 7th generation soon and my heir usually has many children.
The last heir & his wife had 10 children, so there were always 8 people in the house. I'm used to
juggling big families now, I don't even think about it. The first generation had 15 children, the second
had 18 children, the third had 20, the fourth had 18, the fifth had 11 and the sixth had 10.
I like 10, I'm going to stick to that number in the future.
Comments
And I need to say I am a micromanager, but having a large household to play have brought about some of the cutest incidents, that I might not had seen a glimpse of if I hadn’t seen some of the sims not micro managed every single second, like the the grandmother going into her teen granddaughters room, sitting on her bed and talking to her. Or seeing the one grandfather constantly dancing with his grandson. They are just some of those special moments that I wouldn’t have seen if the household were smaller.
- Give sims chores that lasts for a while (kids working on homework/school project/reading skill books, adults can tend to skills/work chores).
- Make sure some sims go top school/work to get them out of the way.
- Give kids after school activities to get them out.
- Allow one or two homemakers to stay up late and rather get some sleep in the evening. Night time can be a good time to focus on personal interests, as the rest of the house is asleep.
- Travel to other lots with a couple household members to get a break from the full house chaos.
And - pause often if needed
Really helpful and insightful points were made!
You're absolutely right
If I only have 1 or 2 sims, I have a lot of dead time waiting for them to finish doing something or get home from work/school.
7-8 tend to be a lot more work though, and sometimes I pause to check on one and make sure they're all keeping busy.
I've had a few households like that. In fact, one of my werewolves had quadruplets. They were not doing a good job of taking care of the quadruplets, even with a nanny to help, but I just aged the babies up into toddlers. Now they're gonna be in trouble!!! (To make things worse, I think I actually put fussy on one of the babies. My daughter talked me into it! lol )
I have an orphanage run by a pair of evil nuns (my daughter's idea). When I first started that household, I filled it with a bunch of babies and toddlers. That was nasty! Most of them have aged up already (but we added a couple more after 2 of the older ones went to live with their dad). So now they only have 2 toddlers, and 4 children. They also have an army of nannies that come to help take care of the kids, but most of those lazy nannies sit around talking to each other instead of taking care of the toddlers. So last night I made both toddlers start throwing temper tantrums and crying and wetting their diapers. The head nun has the "hates children" trait, so she's in a near constant state of stress living with all those children and "ugh, toddlers".
Start out small and slowly add as you go along. If this is what you want, eventually, just find what works for you. And, no, it wasn't easy in the beginning, but I've been playing Sims since 2005.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
If they all just have aspirations that don't require them to travel in different places or I'm not that bothered to fulfill any "check lists", then I don't find it hard at all and actually enjoy big households. I'm not a micromanager so I basically just let them do whatever and just direct them when it's necessary.
Taking care of needs and such don't bother me. It's only if I have more RP-focused goals for multiple sims in a household that it can get bothersome.
I remember when I first played Sims 3, one couple had 6 children, it was a nightmare trying to control them, especially when they were all young, and vowed never to allow them to have any more than one child.
So, basically, I have 6 household members max. 1 Child, 2 parents, and 2 Grandparents. Once the child grows up and gets married, usually one of the grandparents have died, and the newly weds can't have a kid until the last standing grandparent is on his/her last legs.
Need management can quickly blend in and I could not go without it, in sims 2 though this was much harder there was less clipping which seems like a good thing. My pregnant sim was moving slower and couldn’t clip through her teenaged step daughters she had to use the bathroom but was also starving and they couldn’t move where she was before I could reposition everyone she dropped dead right there then they moved again…they might have done that on purpose.
All the sims err'day
(actually my first ingame death was a pregnant sim in TS2 who died of starvation, on her dining room floor, trying to get to the food that was on the table)
Yes, you never, ever, ever allowed a pregnant Sim to take out the trash. Plus, I used to make certain there was a banquet table full of food to keep her from expiring. Sims2 was actually a much harder game than Sims3 & 4. I miss that.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
All the sims err'day
The last heir & his wife had 10 children, so there were always 8 people in the house. I'm used to
juggling big families now, I don't even think about it. The first generation had 15 children, the second
had 18 children, the third had 20, the fourth had 18, the fifth had 11 and the sixth had 10.
I like 10, I'm going to stick to that number in the future.