The Sims 4 Asylum Challenge «1234567…25...Next Go

songsmith2003

I should have searched asylum (doh!) before posting today. TS4 presents some unique problems for the asylum. A lot of jobs require extra reading and multiple skills. TS4 has 19! skills to start off with. TS3 had 10 and TS2 7. Five skill objects plus the TV and mirror (and bookcases had skill books in TS2 remember) covered all 7 skills in TS2. I'm wondering if the number of available skill objects should be raised lest someone find themselves without a needed item. For instance, my caretaker was told to work out for 4 hours on the the weight machine specifically to earn the next promotion. They didn't have one. She can't go to the gym per rules, nor could I purchase one once the game started.

I've played three asylums in TS4 now trying to figure out the best way to do it. If you go aspiration achievement, then you probably need to skill up multiple skills. You may still need to do that depending on the career you choose. So first decision is aspiration, top a career or (maybe as one set of Sims 3 rules suggests) a set simoleon amount earned.

Worse, sims will sleep in the chairs. I wound up removing everything except the computer chair in my last game. The asylum's a little boring with all those standing sims! They're also pretty self-reliant, though I had the obligatory Death by Embarrassment and one fire so far (which the inmates put out). I've considered placing beds into family inventory at a certain time and placing out the seating, then switching them again. Seems mean not to give the inmates a chance to sleep if they find a free bed, though. /scratches head

Sorry for the long reply! I think TS4 will require a bit more work to make the challenge fun (though nothing beats the crazy of a TS2 asylum).

simswithcheese

@MandyAmandy 1) I'll add pizza ordering in Easy and possibly Medium modes 2) If you want to do that, that is perfectly fine. Just remember that it is cheaper to repair objects. 3) Ok, I will change that!
I wish I could have your free time! I am so busy at the moment and it's so annoying >.<

@songsmith2003 Ok I will boost how many skill items are required, thanks for pointing this out! And thanks for the tip of having a career goal/funds/skills goals implemented as well! When writing this I did recognize that some aspirations required being off of the home lot, so I set curfew times. I don't mind long replies, it means you put in some detail in your response :smile:

MonaLisaJones

Just wanted to post a couple of pics of my motley crue and their current abode. No deaths or dismemberments yet, but the challenge is young!
The studious looking young woman, Phoebe Loone, front row, far right, is the caretaker. She's only mildly neurotic, for now. Muhahaha.

MandyAmandy

@ simswithcheese I've been there with the whole not having free time myself. I was doing school and full time work so it seemed I had to really squeeze in time for showers and time to relax was pretty much nonexistent. I hope you get some time to try this out soon!

And yeah, I try to repair when I can but sometimes my sim wakes to nearly every breakable object being broken but the house is making ok money so I'll sometimes choose the cheapest item and just replace it. I felt like I was cheating but by the time I fix everything I have to work then I am in trouble myself. I might try to make gardening my job the next challenge so that I have a little more flexibility with choosing when to fix or do what.

Thank you so much for the replies!

Nicarra60

Apparently, this is a 'feature' of the new ghosts. Depending on how they died, they may spend their entire time as a ghost breaking electronics or gorging from the fridge or (I forget the other descriptions)

Ghosts that are continuously destructive is new - there should probably be some rule specifically to deal with that.

From the Oct 1 patch notes

• Ghosts have a unique post life experience based upon how they died…
o Sims that died by hunger seek to satisfy their hunger in the after life
o Sims that died by overexertion and old age find they prefer to take it easy in the afterlife
o Sims that died by fire have a new interaction available to them… when, well, try and not make them angry
o Sims that died by an emotional death can radiate their emotion onto other Sims
o Sims that died by electrocution, when angry, have a unique interaction to break electronic devices. They also seem to really enjoy the “Hand Buzzer” social.
o Sims that died by Cowplant have the desire to harm and help the plant world. They can cause plants to die when in a negative emotion, but will care for plants when in a positive emotion.

MandyAmandy

That's strange. My sim died because he peed himself. He kept trying to use the restroom while someone was in the shower and ended up wetting himself so I thought maybe that is why he keeps breaking the shower and toilet. He's not broken anything else. He will cook food and eat it and sleep in the beds, walk around and talk to everyone and watch tv with them but not destroy anything else. And before the crash while saving, the other sims that had died from the same problem were not breaking things.

I love that they have personalities now beyond thinking it's funny to hide in the fridge and scare people lol. I am just not liking this bathroom hate!

cully_c

Oh no! Another challenge! Must... resist... urge... to... join.. in...


.... Failed! I love asylum challenges!!

Simley

I've never done a challenge before, but I just started this one -- it's fun! A question: I have only six beds and one couch, so the one Sim with nowhere to sleep decided on his own to go nap on a bench near the house. Am I supposed to stop him from doing that, or is it allowed?

simswithcheese

@Simley Was this bench on the lot or in the public spaces? If it was in a public space that is very interesting... I guess this game has got smarter sims ;)
If he did it during the times he is allowed to leave the lot it's fine, but if it was during curfew then it will be ok to select him to go back onto the lot.

Simley

It was in a public space within the neighborhood near the house (asylum). I was impressed, very clever of him. So far he's the only Sim to leave the house lot at all except for work, but he has the Loner trait so maybe that's why.

I'm finding the Sims are napping in chairs anyway so it's hard to do this part of the challenge in Sims 4, but I'm having a lot of fun. Thank you for posting it.

Simley

Well, I finished my Sim's first aspiration in Easy mode without too much difficulty, so I decided to try the second aspiration in Medium mode. That is much more difficult! It only took a few days for a Sim to die. And she was one of the employed Sims, so it looks like the utilities will be turned off soon. I like that it's difficult!

I find that the unplayed Sims don't do most things on their own. They don't introduce themselves to others, they don't go jogging, they rarely joke with each other (although they do mischievous interactions), they don't flirt, they completely ignore the piano (unlike earlier Sims games where they were drawn to it) etc. Most have no relationship with each other despite chatting constantly (a lot of the chat animations are just animations and don't include real interactions). They will read, use the computer (but only to play games or troll forums), and watch TV (without ever changing channels), but that is pretty much it. They don't even explore the house they're in -- I gave them a garden with a punching bag in it, but they've never found it. It is disappointing, and I hope later updates will give them more autonomous behavior.

simswithcheese

@Simley That is very disappointing, that is what made the other challenges fun. I remember one time I did a Sims 3 one, one of the unplayed sims was flirty and she ended up breaking so many hearts by herself, which was hilarious! It is very odd, hopefully this will be fixed soon.

simswithcheese

**Update**
Again I have been very busy with school, I will be free in 6 weeks though when school has finished for the year! :D
I highly appreciate the response and I am happy people are having fun with this challenge!

MandyAmandy

I've not gotten to do much more at the moment. I've been sick so I've taken as much time to rest as I can get due to the fact I have to travel in a week and I am worried about being well enough to be allowed to board my flight. I am feeling much better now so hopefully soon I will have the energy to sit and play again. Starting in November I will be on a time crunch again due to getting back into work and holidays.

Simley

I redesigned my asylum, made the building much smaller and added a lot more doors to the outside. That has helped. The Sims are interacting more -- one has managed to develop "disliked" relationships with two of the other inmates. And one Sim even found the punching bag and has been using it! It's the same Sim who decided on his own to go sleep on a park bench. He's the smart one, obviously.

taratownie

I started my challenge today and already played the first week. I'm doing the hard version and despite that the first week was rather uneventful. Nobody died, they mostly ate salads my sim cooked for them. My sim has the master painter aspiration and is currently creating 25 paintings to hang on wall. I'm assuming this hanging on the wall can be done because it's part of the aspiration. No rules were given for handiness upgrades so my sim did all the upgrades she can do at the moment (level 6). I built a really cheap asylum, my first week bill was about 400. Slob trait works like it used to, my sim can pee in the shower and does not care about messes. :)

ChelleJo

I've started an LP of this challenge on my Channel. You can find Part one here. I'll post a new episode every Friday.

If the LP goes anything like my personal game of this challenge went, we are in for some fun! I had a blast playing this challenge!

simswithcheese

@taratownie Surprised that no one has died of embarrassment! (Due to the chance of sims wetting their pants and getting really embarrassed from it!) It's also good to see that the hard difficulty isn't impossible, but still a challenge! Upgrading objects is perfectly fine, I did that all the time in The Sims 3 Asylum Challenge so I don't see a problem with that :smile:, that's the same with the paintings, but to make some extra money on the side you can sell them of course. Great to see you're having fun! :smiley:

simswithcheese

@WriterJunkie I hope your series is successful! I will try and watch your LP when I get the time :smile:

ChelleJo

@simswithcheese Thank you! Yeah, just swing by when you have time. I have 3 LP's going atm.

MusicalPoet

ooooooooh my goodness this looks like so much fun.

taratownie

I just finished my challenge with total score of 379. One fire, no-one died, I guess I was lucky. My sim is/was insane, creative and slob. She did painter extraordinaire, bestselling author, freelance botanist and renaissance sim aspirations in that order. The last one was really easy as she already had all the skills needed, she just had to read three books and get all those jobs, because of her connections reward she started each job at level 4. The most useful rewards I think was never weary and connections. My five skilling items were easel, guitar, punching bag, chess board and woodworking table. None of the sims never used guitar or woodworking table on their own and only my controllable sim tried to paint on her own. Thanks for the challenge, I had fun doing it! Can't post any pics yet but I put toilet, shower and sink all in different rooms.

ValerieRayne13

Ooo this sounds like fun! Maybe once I get the hang of these challenges, I'll try this one ;)

Ashystar

Haha reading some of the comments about others ppls asylums is HILARIOUS! im gonna have to join in I think!
Im gonna make 1 sim girl and then clone her 7 times to have 8 of the same person. BUT I will change hair colour, eye colour etc and only play the main one. Then have each name beginning with the next letter of the alphabet so I can keep an eye on them. Think it'll be interesting having the same person in different forms in the house

hirondelle09

Sounds like fun! I'll start it pretty soon :) I'm still a new member so I can't share pictures yet, bummer, but I'll share when I get my member status or maybe post them on my blog! Thanks for the challenge!

ps Any likes/lols would be much appreciated, I really want to be able to share pics!