And after Happy, Uncomfortable seems to be the most frequent emotion. I'd rather spend my time (and my Sims' time) doing fun stuff rather than catching up on sleep, showering and peeing.
But that's what the sims has always been about. Keeping our little virtual people alive and happy. It used to be a lot more difficult than it has been in the last 2 of the series. At least 4 is a little harder than 3 was in that respect. But still not nearly as hard as 1 or 2.
But that's what the sims has always been about. Keeping our little virtual people alive and happy. It used to be a lot more difficult than it has been in the last 2 of the series. At least 4 is a little harder than 3 was in that respect. But still not nearly as hard as 1 or 2.
I really don't want it to get too easy again.
I actually like that it's harder. 3 was too easy that it bored me.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
My definition of autonomy is quite different. I mean autonomy is different here and there, a Sim that immediately care about their needs when it's down to yellow or red is just too generic of autonomy, which means autonomy just revolves around needs (though of course I think sometimes sims will be like that too, but all the time is just boring). I think autonomy means individuality, your Sim will not comes up to your expectation because, well, you're not controlling your Sim, they're controlling themselves!
My definition of autonomy is quite different. I mean autonomy is different here and there, a Sim that immediately care about their needs when it's down to yellow or red is just too generic of autonomy, which means autonomy just revolves around needs.
What I would like to see is a learning type of autonomy. For example, if my sim uses the work bench frequently, I want to see them do it on their own as well. If they're handy, I want to see them fix things on their own. I want to see that with everything. I do see it with some things, but I'd like to see them actually 'have' interests on their own that aren't always related to a high fun advertisement. S4 does have a little bit of it to some degree. I catch my gardeners talking to their plants time to time, but I haven't seen my fishermen fish on their own unless I wasn't playing that household.
The part that irks me here, is that they'll stop doing what they were instructed to do to tend to a need that doesn't need tending to, or I'll catch a good sim trolling the forums, etc. In a way, I think the ideal solution would be to not have an object advertise itself to sims as much as a sim should have their skills/hobbies/learnings advertised to an object.
I wouldn't mind if my sims didn't use the pool or hot tub when first introduced (for example), but if I were to instruct them to use it a few times, I would like to see their interest and autonomous actions gravitate toward that object.
If that makes any sense.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
My definition of autonomy is quite different. I mean autonomy is different here and there, a Sim that immediately care about their needs when it's down to yellow or red is just too generic of autonomy, which means autonomy just revolves around needs.
What I would like to see is a learning type of autonomy. For example, if my sim uses the work bench frequently, I want to see them do it on their own as well. If they're handy, I want to see them fix things on their own. I want to see that with everything. I do see it with some things, but I'd like to see them actually 'have' interests on their own that aren't always related to a high fun advertisement. S4 does have a little bit of it to some degree. I catch my gardeners talking to their plants time to time, but I haven't seen my fishermen fish on their own unless I wasn't playing that household.
The part that irks me here, is that they'll stop doing what they were instructed to do to tend to a need that doesn't need tending to, or I'll catch a good sim trolling the forums, etc. In a way, I think the ideal solution would be to not have an object advertise itself to sims as much as a sim should have their skills/hobbies/learnings advertised to an object.
I wouldn't mind if my sims didn't use the pool or hot tub when first introduced (for example), but if I were to instruct them to use it a few times, I would like to see their interest and autonomous actions gravitate toward that object.
If that makes any sense.
I agree. I would love to see that autonomous part develop with the skill. I, too, have seen my sims go talk to plants on their own, or paint, etc, but I would love if it was ties to a skill like the woodworking or repairing. I don't think they will fish on their own. Have you put a pond on your own lot to test it?
But yes, Introducing things to them seems to me that they should want to autonomously do those things if it suits their character. Like a high skilled baker using the cupcake machine. Bartenders tend to love to go make drinks on their own. Well, anysim with a bar likes to make drinks! lol
My sims have peed themselves a couple times when I've forgotten to pay attention to them. Honestly, I don't see it as such a big deal. Sure, it can be annoying when my sims choose to eat when they're about to pee themselves. But I don't really expect sims to perfectly take care of themselves when I'm not micro managing them. I mean that would just be boring. Anyway, autonomous play in TS4 is pretty much how it's always been from my experience. In my opinion it's up to the players to make sure the sims needs are taken care of. Autonomous play is just there to ensure that sims are life like and have personalities
I agree. I would love to see that autonomous part develop with the skill. I, too, have seen my sims go talk to plants on their own, or paint, etc, but I would love if it was ties to a skill like the woodworking or repairing. I don't think they will fish on their own. Have you put a pond on your own lot to test it?
But yes, Introducing things to them seems to me that they should want to autonomously do those things if it suits their character. Like a high skilled baker using the cupcake machine. Bartenders tend to love to go make drinks on their own. Well, anysim with a bar likes to make drinks! lol
I have ponds on a few played lots. No one fishes on their own that I've noticed. I suppose I could load up a save and not interact to see what happens.
I've also noticed that everyone loves the bars. The reason is because the object is doing the advertising to 'all'. This is why I'd like to see some tweaking in this area. If I had a sim that never used the bar, I don't want the bar to 'call' out to them. I want the object they use most to call out to them. Kind of like how they know what bed is theirs (for the most part).
Every now and then, a hiccup would be excusable, imo. Let's say Buljin MePanz likes to craft objects, and he eventually 'learns' to just do it on his own because he's learning that he likes it—it's okay if he makes the occasional drink on his own. But since I never set it as a preferred object to that sim (by usage), I wouldn't expect him to use it the way I would expect one of my juice-aholics or mixologists to use it.
This is the type of balance/progression I would like to see in a Sims game—a 'smart' AI.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
Oh, with regard to the bladder failures in the Experimental House... the House has 6 toilets. At the times of the failures, none of the toilets were broken. I even got an Achievement for having a Sim have bladder failure in a house with 5 or more toilets.
Haha, that is so strange. Now I feel like I want to try this with my household and see if they will have any bladder failures! XD They only have two bathrooms too, but there's 3 sims.
DISCLOSURE: Oops, I made a big goof. Earlier in the thread, I said the Autonomy Crew had suffered 3 bladder failures. In fact, I had looked at the wrong stat . There was only 1 failure (and a total of 5 Passed Outs). That one bladder failure is the one I got the Achievement for. Sorry for the mix-up in reporting.
Anyway, I just finished up a full Sim-week (Sunday through Saturday). I think that's enough to get a rudimentary idea of how unmodded autonomy works in TS4. Got some good information. Some of it surprised me and gave me a *little* more faith in understanding of my Sims' ability to care for themselves. Some of it was as I suspected, which is disappointing, because I was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
Now that I've done one test with a fabulous house and an unlimited budget, I'm going to try it again, this time using ONLY the funds available in the game. I'll have to build a very modest home, probably no more than 3 bathrooms and very few amenities. Definitely no pool. And the appliances and furnishings will be builder grade, nothing fancy. That's how I usually play. I rarely money-cheat in a regular game, and never in a Challenge unless it is explicitly allowed in the rules. I'm wondering if playing a household of 8 with a game-given budget will make a difference in autonomy. I wonder if my Sims will be as successful in surviving the week as they were in the luxurious surroundings. Will they be able to compensate?
I've kept some fairly extensive notes for the expensive Experimental House. I'll do the same for the Budget House. Then I can make a comparison.
My nerdy self is all goose-bumpy giddy just thinking about it (how sad is that?).
DISCLOSURE: Oops, I made a big goof. Earlier in the thread, I said the Autonomy Crew had suffered 3 bladder failures. In fact, I had looked at the wrong stat . There was only 1 failure (and a total of 5 Passed Outs). That one bladder failure is the one I got the Achievement for. Sorry for the mix-up in reporting.
Anyway, I just finished up a full Sim-week (Sunday through Saturday). I think that's enough to get a rudimentary idea of how unmodded autonomy works in TS4. Got some good information. Some of it surprised me and gave me a *little* more faith in understanding of my Sims' ability to care for themselves. Some of it was as I suspected, which is disappointing, because I was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
Now that I've done one test with a fabulous house and an unlimited budget, I'm going to try it again, this time using ONLY the funds available in the game. I'll have to build a very modest home, probably no more than 3 bathrooms and very few amenities. Definitely no pool. And the appliances and furnishings will be builder grade, nothing fancy. That's how I usually play. I rarely money-cheat in a regular game, and never in a Challenge unless it is explicitly allowed in the rules. I'm wondering if playing a household of 8 with a game-given budget will make a difference in autonomy. I wonder if my Sims will be as successful in surviving the week as they were in the luxurious surroundings. Will they be able to compensate?
I've kept some fairly extensive notes for the expensive Experimental House. I'll do the same for the Budget House. Then I can make a comparison.
My nerdy self is all goose-bumpy giddy just thinking about it (how sad is that?).
I think they should be okay with a budget house. If there are 8 people, I think it should be safer to have at least 4 bathrooms. You could use wall sectioning and add two toilets in one bathroom. This way, two sims can go in without getting embarrassed.
See? Now with your experimenting, you can see that the sims can actually manage themselves. :P
DISCLOSURE: Oops, I made a big goof. Earlier in the thread, I said the Autonomy Crew had suffered 3 bladder failures. In fact, I had looked at the wrong stat . There was only 1 failure (and a total of 5 Passed Outs). That one bladder failure is the one I got the Achievement for. Sorry for the mix-up in reporting.
Anyway, I just finished up a full Sim-week (Sunday through Saturday). I think that's enough to get a rudimentary idea of how unmodded autonomy works in TS4. Got some good information. Some of it surprised me and gave me a *little* more faith in understanding of my Sims' ability to care for themselves. Some of it was as I suspected, which is disappointing, because I was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
Now that I've done one test with a fabulous house and an unlimited budget, I'm going to try it again, this time using ONLY the funds available in the game. I'll have to build a very modest home, probably no more than 3 bathrooms and very few amenities. Definitely no pool. And the appliances and furnishings will be builder grade, nothing fancy. That's how I usually play. I rarely money-cheat in a regular game, and never in a Challenge unless it is explicitly allowed in the rules. I'm wondering if playing a household of 8 with a game-given budget will make a difference in autonomy. I wonder if my Sims will be as successful in surviving the week as they were in the luxurious surroundings. Will they be able to compensate?
I've kept some fairly extensive notes for the expensive Experimental House. I'll do the same for the Budget House. Then I can make a comparison.
My nerdy self is all goose-bumpy giddy just thinking about it (how sad is that?).
I think they should be okay with a budget house. If there are 8 people, I think it should be safer to have at least 4 bathrooms. You could use wall sectioning and add two toilets in one bathroom. This way, two sims can go in without getting embarrassed.
See? Now with your experimenting, you can see that the sims can actually manage themselves. :P
I'll see what I can do within the budget. Your one room, two toilets approach might be the way to go -- maybe a Jack 'n Jill bathroom. I don't think many RL homes have 2 toilets in the same bathroom, and I'm sorta, kinda trying to stay true to RL.
With regard to them taking care of themselves? Yeah. Sorta. No one died, so I suppose they did an adequate job. Not quite to my liking, though .
The Budget House is built. It's a simple 2-story deal, no basement. 4 bedrooms, 8 single air-mattresses. 2 Jack 'n Jill bathrooms (so 4 toilets, 2 showers) and 1 half bath. Bottom-of-the-line appliances and plumbing (although I did splurge for the smoke alarm and sprinklers). A low-end computer on a budget desk, a wall-mounted radio, wall-mounted TV and 1 easel. That's about it.
I think I squeezed a lot out of a 30k budget. They have about 1500 left over to fund cooking and painting costs.
The Autonomy Crew moved in and got the same jobs as they did in the Experimental House. I made sure everyone had one point in at least 5 different skills and that several of them had cooking skills. After a day or two, I'll put in an instrument and chess table to see if anyone has the initiative to picks up skills. Since virtually everything in the house is low-budget, I expect thing to break fairly quickly. That's probably the only time I'll intervene in their lives. I'll instruct one or two to do a Repair so they pick up Handiness. After that, it'll be up to them to Repair as they see fit (or live with the consequences of not repairing). Or maybe I'll just have them read a Handiness book now and see what happens.
Anyway, when I left them, it was about 7pm on Sunday. They should be just about ready to go on their own.
I just had an interesting autonomous action happen. I decided to play for a bit since I don't have much else to do right now, and one of my teens (Public Enemy, Hot-headed, Evil, Dastardly, physically gifted) just started programming on his own.
I don't recall this ever happening before. It may have been added with a patch since I haven't played for well over a month I'm assuming it can be added to autonomous actions?
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
I just had an interesting autonomous action happen. I decided to play for a bit since I don't have much else to do right now, and one of my teens (Public Enemy, Hot-headed, Evil, Dastardly, physically gifted) just started programming on his own.
I don't recall this ever happening before. It may have been added with a patch since I haven't played for well over a month I'm assuming it can be added to autonomous actions?
well that was one of the disabled a long time ago, probably they added, but why a sim which don't want nothing with computer goes to programming??? you give him the programmer career??
this is aways something which annoying me how easy is to sims does things which not where related to they personality or career, just random things.
loke having a lazy sim doing atlethic things autonomous.
Interesting, @Kremesch73! In both the Experimental House and Budget House trial, I specifically gave Programming to a few Sims, so I'm pretty sure no one picked it up on their own. I did have some autonomous skill surprises, however. I was delighted! I'm still sorting through my notes (both Houses have had a full Sim-week). I'll post up some results tomorrow.
He was a teen. So no programming career. I also have a tendency to only make them do what's needed. So I never had hime program at all. It's a strange one and I'm not sure if it's a glitch. I've never seen it before.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
He was a teen. So no programming career. I also have a tendency to only make them do what's needed. So I never had hime program at all. It's a strange one and I'm not sure if it's a glitch. I've never seen it before.
well it's not complicated since i already see many times sims doings different things but like the famous rare moments where you gonna see only once with that sim in all your life, well maybe they can adjust more.
my big dream is one day have a sim which i can train him to wake up, go take a shower then use the toilet wash the teeths then make some food and eat then goes to work then come back if hungry eat if low in bladder use toilet if low on hygien then take a shower then does his work at home then after that if still have energy he can do something fun but which don't looks like the only things he love to do everyday.
in other words i want a ai which don't look like crazy" nonsense, which pee themselfs when skipping use toilet because hungry made then skip and forget the toilet or because the first thing they do is jump to pc or jump to make drinks, or when they have a pool is not just "jump at the pool for 5 or even less then leave or decide go to the pool then in the middle decide do another thing.
really they need tone a lot the ai in the sims because many things feel really forced and "not natural", which while was also some trouble in sims 3, is not in the same scale as sims 4, because some of the things they did to make the game "more smooth" ended making sims more 🐸🐸🐸🐸.
a good exemple was the foot slept in ground which many peoples hated in sims 3 which sims can get sometimes stuck waiting forever(if not proper done like was did with twallan) for act, then they made sims just cancel the action but that cancel can lead then to totally forget about it and even forget about others things in the queue, what in sims 3 just lead then to get stuck in a large queue of actions.
or when they are walking and can't pass over others then they made sims can just step over others which also lead to others issues in sims 4, really how maxis like to go 8 or 80 and don't actually try to fix/improve is really annoying.
In my main family the kid always sits down to do her homework the first thing she does after coming home from school. In fact, she doesn't come home instantly but rather sits on a bench right where she spawned after school ended and then she comes home. The mother goes up and makes a cup of green tea the first thing when she wakes up every morning. I have never had a bladder failure or collaps from little sleep.
I think that if you really want to see how it works you would have to make an comparison with fully trained sims. Sims that have developed habits after being directed to do a certain thing for a while.
In my main family the kid always sits down to do her homework the first thing she does after coming home from school. In fact, she doesn't come home instantly but rather sits on a bench right where she spawned after school ended and then she comes home. The mother goes up and makes a cup of green tea the first thing when she wakes up every morning. I have never had a bladder failure or collaps from little sleep...
Heh then either you're lucky or I'm unlucky. As I mentioned, the Autonomy Crew experienced a bladder failure in the Experimental (expensive) House. They also experienced failure in the Budget House. How long have you left your Sims to their own devices with absolutely no intervention from you?
...I think that if you really want to see how it works you would have to make an comparison with fully trained sims. Sims that have developed habits after being directed to do a certain thing for a while.
That's an interesting point to consider. Perhaps that should be my next test. How long do you think I should train a Sim? I don't think I have the patience to train 8 Sims for any length of time, but I could perhaps do one or two. Supposedly, it takes a human 21 days to ingrain a habit. Do you think 3 sim-weeks would be enough to establish Sim habits?
DISCLOSURE: Oops, I made a big goof. Earlier in the thread, I said the Autonomy Crew had suffered 3 bladder failures. In fact, I had looked at the wrong stat . There was only 1 failure (and a total of 5 Passed Outs). That one bladder failure is the one I got the Achievement for. Sorry for the mix-up in reporting.
Anyway, I just finished up a full Sim-week (Sunday through Saturday). I think that's enough to get a rudimentary idea of how unmodded autonomy works in TS4. Got some good information. Some of it surprised me and gave me a *little* more faith in understanding of my Sims' ability to care for themselves. Some of it was as I suspected, which is disappointing, because I was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
Now that I've done one test with a fabulous house and an unlimited budget, I'm going to try it again, this time using ONLY the funds available in the game. I'll have to build a very modest home, probably no more than 3 bathrooms and very few amenities. Definitely no pool. And the appliances and furnishings will be builder grade, nothing fancy. That's how I usually play. I rarely money-cheat in a regular game, and never in a Challenge unless it is explicitly allowed in the rules. I'm wondering if playing a household of 8 with a game-given budget will make a difference in autonomy. I wonder if my Sims will be as successful in surviving the week as they were in the luxurious surroundings. Will they be able to compensate?
I've kept some fairly extensive notes for the expensive Experimental House. I'll do the same for the Budget House. Then I can make a comparison.
My nerdy self is all goose-bumpy giddy just thinking about it (how sad is that?).
Not sad! I'm excited too. And yes. Pics if you gather some would be most welcome.
He was a teen. So no programming career. I also have a tendency to only make them do what's needed. So I never had hime program at all. It's a strange one and I'm not sure if it's a glitch. I've never seen it before.
I've had this happen with a teen before. Never an adult. It only happened with one teen. I can't remember what his traits were, sadly.
I think maybe I'll give my 3 current sims a week of autonomy and see what happens (1 bathroom). My general feeling has been they do pretty well taking care of themselves. Obviously I will intervene to fix broken items as I've read the only autonomous repairs they make are sinks. I've also found these sims clean up after meals well (usually at least one sim picks up dishes, and a sim that starts doing dishes will get all dirtiest on the property). These sims have a lot of training as I've played them heavily for almost 2 months with aging off.
Here are some of the results of my experiments. Numbers reflect how Autonomy Crew performed as a whole. Each test was conducted from Sunday at 6pm until 6pm the following Sunday. The reason I started the test at 6pm was to give me enough time to get the Crew set up with jobs and to ensure each Sim had a point in at least 5 skills.
A few notes on the Crew:
Three Sims have Neat. Five Sims have Cheerful. There are NO negative or anti-social traits (no Slob, no Mean, no Hates Kids, etc). I tried to make them cooperative.
Results for Experimental House:
Showers Taken: 8
Bladder Failures: 1
Passed Out: 5
Happy: 117
Tense: 85
Uncomfortable: 713
Missed Work: 3
Promotions Earned: 6
Times house was cleaned: 1 (didn't happen until Saturday night)
Skills earned autonomously: Charisma (4), Mischief (2), Comedy (1), Video Games (1)
Items used autonomously: Radio, TV, computers, Barbeque, pool (only used once, by one Sim)
Items completely ignored: Chess, card table, gym, bookshelf, bar, microphones, instruments, workbench, chem lab, easels
Budget House:
Low-end appliances, 2 floors, no basement, 5 toilets, 2 showers, chess, 1 easel, 1 guitar, 1 small wall TV, 1 wall radio speaker, 1 budget computer.
Results for Budget House:
Showers Taken: 9
Bladder Failures: 2
Passed Out: 7
Happy: 58
Tense: 169
Uncomfortable: 906 <--- YIKES
Missed Work: 2
Promotions Earned: 3
Times house was cleaned: 2 (once on Monday afternoon, once on Sunday morning)
Skills learned autonomously: Charisma (2), Video Games (1), Fitness (2), Logic (5), Mischief (2)
Items used autonomously: Radio, TV, computer, chess table, bookshelf (but only for fluff books, not skill books)
Items completely ignored: guitar, easel
Interesting observation: I've never seen Sims fall asleep in odd places. In the Budget house, I had a Sim fall asleep at the computer and had 2 Sims fall asleep while sitting upright (not laying down) on a loveseat.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It has been an interesting experiment and I've learned some things about how autonomy is programmed in TS4.
Oh, I forgot: no items were repaired by ANY Sim, even though 4 of them had Handiness (I made them read the book). No Sim ever read the skill books autonomously, either, which was disappointing, since they read fluff books.
I've had some sleep in the tub. But that was when the game first came out. I haven't seen it since. Would be interested in knowing if they still do.
It's hard to keep an eye on all sims in a house of 8 though. I've done it before. So I know
@Elissar I do like the idea of a learning ai. But I don't think I'd like it to the extent you've described. I do feel they should require some direction from us. Otherwise. There'd be no point in playing.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
Comments
But that's what the sims has always been about. Keeping our little virtual people alive and happy. It used to be a lot more difficult than it has been in the last 2 of the series. At least 4 is a little harder than 3 was in that respect. But still not nearly as hard as 1 or 2.
I really don't want it to get too easy again.
I actually like that it's harder. 3 was too easy that it bored me.
What I would like to see is a learning type of autonomy. For example, if my sim uses the work bench frequently, I want to see them do it on their own as well. If they're handy, I want to see them fix things on their own. I want to see that with everything. I do see it with some things, but I'd like to see them actually 'have' interests on their own that aren't always related to a high fun advertisement. S4 does have a little bit of it to some degree. I catch my gardeners talking to their plants time to time, but I haven't seen my fishermen fish on their own unless I wasn't playing that household.
The part that irks me here, is that they'll stop doing what they were instructed to do to tend to a need that doesn't need tending to, or I'll catch a good sim trolling the forums, etc. In a way, I think the ideal solution would be to not have an object advertise itself to sims as much as a sim should have their skills/hobbies/learnings advertised to an object.
I wouldn't mind if my sims didn't use the pool or hot tub when first introduced (for example), but if I were to instruct them to use it a few times, I would like to see their interest and autonomous actions gravitate toward that object.
If that makes any sense.
I agree. I would love to see that autonomous part develop with the skill. I, too, have seen my sims go talk to plants on their own, or paint, etc, but I would love if it was ties to a skill like the woodworking or repairing. I don't think they will fish on their own. Have you put a pond on your own lot to test it?
But yes, Introducing things to them seems to me that they should want to autonomously do those things if it suits their character. Like a high skilled baker using the cupcake machine. Bartenders tend to love to go make drinks on their own. Well, anysim with a bar likes to make drinks! lol
This. ^^
I have ponds on a few played lots. No one fishes on their own that I've noticed. I suppose I could load up a save and not interact to see what happens.
I've also noticed that everyone loves the bars. The reason is because the object is doing the advertising to 'all'. This is why I'd like to see some tweaking in this area. If I had a sim that never used the bar, I don't want the bar to 'call' out to them. I want the object they use most to call out to them. Kind of like how they know what bed is theirs (for the most part).
Every now and then, a hiccup would be excusable, imo. Let's say Buljin MePanz likes to craft objects, and he eventually 'learns' to just do it on his own because he's learning that he likes it—it's okay if he makes the occasional drink on his own. But since I never set it as a preferred object to that sim (by usage), I wouldn't expect him to use it the way I would expect one of my juice-aholics or mixologists to use it.
This is the type of balance/progression I would like to see in a Sims game—a 'smart' AI.
Haha, that is so strange. Now I feel like I want to try this with my household and see if they will have any bladder failures! XD They only have two bathrooms too, but there's 3 sims.
Anyway, I just finished up a full Sim-week (Sunday through Saturday). I think that's enough to get a rudimentary idea of how unmodded autonomy works in TS4. Got some good information. Some of it surprised me and gave me a *little* more faith in understanding of my Sims' ability to care for themselves. Some of it was as I suspected, which is disappointing, because I was hoping they'd prove me wrong.
Now that I've done one test with a fabulous house and an unlimited budget, I'm going to try it again, this time using ONLY the funds available in the game. I'll have to build a very modest home, probably no more than 3 bathrooms and very few amenities. Definitely no pool. And the appliances and furnishings will be builder grade, nothing fancy. That's how I usually play. I rarely money-cheat in a regular game, and never in a Challenge unless it is explicitly allowed in the rules. I'm wondering if playing a household of 8 with a game-given budget will make a difference in autonomy. I wonder if my Sims will be as successful in surviving the week as they were in the luxurious surroundings. Will they be able to compensate?
I've kept some fairly extensive notes for the expensive Experimental House. I'll do the same for the Budget House. Then I can make a comparison.
My nerdy self is all goose-bumpy giddy just thinking about it (how sad is that?).
I think they should be okay with a budget house. If there are 8 people, I think it should be safer to have at least 4 bathrooms. You could use wall sectioning and add two toilets in one bathroom. This way, two sims can go in without getting embarrassed.
See? Now with your experimenting, you can see that the sims can actually manage themselves. :P
With regard to them taking care of themselves? Yeah. Sorta. No one died, so I suppose they did an adequate job. Not quite to my liking, though
I think I squeezed a lot out of a 30k budget. They have about 1500 left over to fund cooking and painting costs.
The Autonomy Crew moved in and got the same jobs as they did in the Experimental House. I made sure everyone had one point in at least 5 different skills and that several of them had cooking skills. After a day or two, I'll put in an instrument and chess table to see if anyone has the initiative to picks up skills. Since virtually everything in the house is low-budget, I expect thing to break fairly quickly. That's probably the only time I'll intervene in their lives. I'll instruct one or two to do a Repair so they pick up Handiness. After that, it'll be up to them to Repair as they see fit (or live with the consequences of not repairing). Or maybe I'll just have them read a Handiness book now and see what happens.
Anyway, when I left them, it was about 7pm on Sunday. They should be just about ready to go on their own.
I don't recall this ever happening before. It may have been added with a patch since I haven't played for well over a month I'm assuming it can be added to autonomous actions?
well that was one of the disabled a long time ago, probably they added, but why a sim which don't want nothing with computer goes to programming??? you give him the programmer career??
this is aways something which annoying me how easy is to sims does things which not where related to they personality or career, just random things.
loke having a lazy sim doing atlethic things autonomous.
my big dream is one day have a sim which i can train him to wake up, go take a shower then use the toilet wash the teeths then make some food and eat then goes to work then come back if hungry eat if low in bladder use toilet if low on hygien then take a shower then does his work at home then after that if still have energy he can do something fun but which don't looks like the only things he love to do everyday.
in other words i want a ai which don't look like crazy" nonsense, which pee themselfs when skipping use toilet because hungry made then skip and forget the toilet or because the first thing they do is jump to pc or jump to make drinks, or when they have a pool is not just "jump at the pool for 5 or even less then leave or decide go to the pool then in the middle decide do another thing.
really they need tone a lot the ai in the sims because many things feel really forced and "not natural", which while was also some trouble in sims 3, is not in the same scale as sims 4, because some of the things they did to make the game "more smooth" ended making sims more 🐸🐸🐸🐸.
a good exemple was the foot slept in ground which many peoples hated in sims 3 which sims can get sometimes stuck waiting forever(if not proper done like was did with twallan) for act, then they made sims just cancel the action but that cancel can lead then to totally forget about it and even forget about others things in the queue, what in sims 3 just lead then to get stuck in a large queue of actions.
or when they are walking and can't pass over others then they made sims can just step over others which also lead to others issues in sims 4, really how maxis like to go 8 or 80 and don't actually try to fix/improve is really annoying.
In my main family the kid always sits down to do her homework the first thing she does after coming home from school. In fact, she doesn't come home instantly but rather sits on a bench right where she spawned after school ended and then she comes home. The mother goes up and makes a cup of green tea the first thing when she wakes up every morning. I have never had a bladder failure or collaps from little sleep.
I think that if you really want to see how it works you would have to make an comparison with fully trained sims. Sims that have developed habits after being directed to do a certain thing for a while.
That's an interesting point to consider. Perhaps that should be my next test. How long do you think I should train a Sim? I don't think I have the patience to train 8 Sims for any length of time, but I could perhaps do one or two. Supposedly, it takes a human 21 days to ingrain a habit. Do you think 3 sim-weeks would be enough to establish Sim habits?
Not sad! I'm excited too.
I've had this happen with a teen before. Never an adult. It only happened with one teen. I can't remember what his traits were, sadly.
Edit to reiterate: I have NO mods, NO CC and nothing from the Gallery. My game is 100% vanilla., no outside influence, positive or negative.
A few notes on the Crew:
Three Sims have Neat. Five Sims have Cheerful. There are NO negative or anti-social traits (no Slob, no Mean, no Hates Kids, etc). I tried to make them cooperative.
Experimental House:
All upscale appliances. 3 floors (including basement). 6 toilets, 5 showers, pool, barbeque, chess, 12 easels, piano, 2 guitars, 2 violins, videogame thing, card table, workbench, chem lab, bar, 2 microphones, 2 large wall TVs, 2 upscale stereo systems, 2 top-of-the-line computers.
Results for Experimental House:
Showers Taken: 8
Bladder Failures: 1
Passed Out: 5
Happy: 117
Tense: 85
Uncomfortable: 713
Missed Work: 3
Promotions Earned: 6
Times house was cleaned: 1 (didn't happen until Saturday night)
Skills earned autonomously: Charisma (4), Mischief (2), Comedy (1), Video Games (1)
Items used autonomously: Radio, TV, computers, Barbeque, pool (only used once, by one Sim)
Items completely ignored: Chess, card table, gym, bookshelf, bar, microphones, instruments, workbench, chem lab, easels
Budget House:
Low-end appliances, 2 floors, no basement, 5 toilets, 2 showers, chess, 1 easel, 1 guitar, 1 small wall TV, 1 wall radio speaker, 1 budget computer.
Results for Budget House:
Showers Taken: 9
Bladder Failures: 2
Passed Out: 7
Happy: 58
Tense: 169
Uncomfortable: 906 <--- YIKES
Missed Work: 2
Promotions Earned: 3
Times house was cleaned: 2 (once on Monday afternoon, once on Sunday morning)
Skills learned autonomously: Charisma (2), Video Games (1), Fitness (2), Logic (5), Mischief (2)
Items used autonomously: Radio, TV, computer, chess table, bookshelf (but only for fluff books, not skill books)
Items completely ignored: guitar, easel
Interesting observation: I've never seen Sims fall asleep in odd places. In the Budget house, I had a Sim fall asleep at the computer and had 2 Sims fall asleep while sitting upright (not laying down) on a loveseat.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It has been an interesting experiment and I've learned some things about how autonomy is programmed in TS4.
It's hard to keep an eye on all sims in a house of 8 though. I've done it before. So I know
@Elissar I do like the idea of a learning ai. But I don't think I'd like it to the extent you've described. I do feel they should require some direction from us. Otherwise. There'd be no point in playing.