Young Adult, and Adult life-stages too short now that we have toddlers. «12...Next Go

NikNak

I'm finding that the YA/Adult stage doesn't last quite long enough with the inclusion of toddlers. With parents being in their elder stage when their first child becomes a teen. (I don't start having kids until late in the YA stage since I like to work on careers and have them enjoy their freedom for a while). And while I'm using a mod to lengthen those stages, I think that others may notice this problem as well and they might not like using mods. Anyone else think they should add more days?

sweetpink123

I think they totally should add more days to the YA stage. Tbh I only ever use the YA stage b/c I love creating sims building their careers

Triplis

I haven't run the numbers, as I usually play with aging off, but I can kinda see what you mean. I've been thinking about manually aging up family members as I go, but even with that, it's hard to figure out when it makes the most sense to do it.

Unfortunately, Adult is a rather wide age range. Elders act like people who are pushing 70-80+, what with their back-cracking animations and being on death's door.

I almost feel like we need a stage called Middle Aged, even if its only difference from Adult is a couple of aging marks in CAS. That would lengthen the lifespan a bit without messing with any existing stage's duration and give a bit more breathing room for having the parents evolve along with the kids.

What do you think?

NikNak

@sweetpink123 , Yeah that's what I do in the beginning of the YA stage too.

@Triplis , I'm all for adding more life-stages! If a Generations pack comes out, maybe Pre-Teen, and Middle-Aged could be added.

Movotti

Triplis wrote: »

I almost feel like we need a stage called Middle Aged, even if its only difference from Adult is a couple of aging marks in CAS. That would lengthen the lifespan a bit without messing with any existing stage's duration and give a bit more breathing room for having the parents evolve along with the kids.

What do you think?

This is close to what I've suggested in a few threads.
Make the elders more elderly, and add in another age between Adult and Elder

Lisey

Movotti wrote: »

Triplis wrote: »

I almost feel like we need a stage called Middle Aged, even if its only difference from Adult is a couple of aging marks in CAS. That would lengthen the lifespan a bit without messing with any existing stage's duration and give a bit more breathing room for having the parents evolve along with the kids.

What do you think?

This is close to what I've suggested in a few threads.
Make the elders more elderly, and add in another age between Adult and Elder

That makes sense...when you think about it, we have 4 life stages to represent like the first 18 years and then 1 life stage that's supposed to represent something like 40-50 years! I know it aligns with what people tend to find the most interesting, but it does seem like a gap at the same time.

catloverplayer

NikNak wrote: »

I'm finding that the YA/Adult stage doesn't last quite long enough with the inclusion of toddlers. With parents being in their elder stage when their first child becomes a teen. (I don't start having kids until late in the YA stage since I like to work on careers and have them enjoy their freedom for a while). And while I'm using a mod to lengthen those stages, I think that others may notice this problem as well and they might not like using mods. Anyone else think they should add more days?

I recommend turning aging off till your ready for the ya and adults to become elders.

SnowWolf58

I agree that the lifespans are now not long enough for the adults to see their kids become young adults and have grandkids who then become YA's and marry and/or have great grandkids. However, I would rather see the Dev team focus on more social interactions, family activities, sports and more substantial content than add more life stages.

You can always use the "Youth Potion" to add more time to your YA's or Adult sims. I've had some adult sims that have imbibed THREE doses of the youth potion, so that they are young enough and fit to enjoy their YA children and grandkids. The immediate slump shouldered Elder state is quite annoying and I would like to see that programmed out in a patch. There does need to be a more gradual aging between Adults and "Ancient" Elders.

kokoro80

SnowWolf58 wrote: »

I agree that the lifespans are now not long enough for the adults to see their kids become young adults and have grandkids who then become YA's and marry and/or have great grandkids. However, I would rather see the Dev team focus on more social interactions, family activities, sports and more substantial content than add more life stages.

You can always use the "Youth Potion" to add more time to your YA's or Adult sims. I've had some adult sims that have imbibed THREE doses of the youth potion, so that they are young enough and fit to enjoy their YA children and grandkids. The immediate slump shouldered Elder state is quite annoying and I would like to see that programmed out in a patch. There does need to be a more gradual aging between Adults and "Ancient" Elders.

This is how I manage it. I also use it for elders if I'm not ready for them to die yet.

Savage_Patch_Kidd

I prefer the life expectancy in TS3. Current life stages are too fast for my liking

Triplis wrote: »

I almost feel like we need a stage called Middle Aged, even if its only difference from Adult is a couple of aging marks in CAS. That would lengthen the lifespan a bit without messing with any existing stage's duration and give a bit more breathing room for having the parents evolve along with the kids.

What do you think?

I think so too.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sk8rblaze

Ever since The Sims 4 was released, I stopped letting Sims autonomously age, and instead, I have them age in accordance to their achievement in life. So, a young adult may not age up in my game until they max their careers and several skills. Once their children are about teenagers, then I'll have them age to adults.

Kids/teenagers, and now toddlers, I hold from aging until the similar happens -- achieving good grades, skills, etc.

It's very nice to play the game this way, at least for me. I don't feel rushed, it never feels like their lives were a waste to just carry on their genes, and I tend to really become attached to the Sims I make.

jess3315

It would really just be nice to be able to set how many days we would like each life state to be, that way every player could customize based on their preferences. But I do agree that now that we have toddlers, the young adult/adult life states should be longer.

Cinebar

NikNak wrote: »

I'm finding that the YA/Adult stage doesn't last quite long enough with the inclusion of toddlers. With parents being in their elder stage when their first child becomes a teen. (I don't start having kids until late in the YA stage since I like to work on careers and have them enjoy their freedom for a while). And while I'm using a mod to lengthen those stages, I think that others may notice this problem as well and they might not like using mods. Anyone else think they should add more days?

Keep aging off until you are ready for Sims to start aging, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off, turn it on. It's really all in your control. Let parents age a few days as the toddlers age, then turn it off. Age up those you want to age with a cake, if you think parents are too old by the time everyone else ages. To give TS4 some credit it is really a better system in that respect as I can turn it off and on or throw in a cake anytime I feel like it. Also, long life for all my other Sims (townies) who do age by game mechanics.

Jestina

The career tracks really kill your time in this game. It seems like they didn't really think out that sims have such short lives when they were developing the careers and making them so grinding. And the daily task chores...ugg. It's like your sim is in college for eternity. In TS3 I could get my career settled, had some free time, and could take care of family. In TS4 there's no time for anything but your career.

Clarkie100

It would be nice to see more choice with ageing, I find with it on its impossible for me personally to get anything done.

With more choices, some could make the game "harder" by having a very limited time. And others could opt for a more "easy" relaxing gaming experience by having plenty of time to get things done, like getting promotions etc.

PrincessVee

I'm sorry, but I don't want another life-stage that will look exactly like teen, young adult, adult, and elder life stage. There's already 4 of almost identical life-stages. I don't need more.

Ifreshyeh

I think the solution to this would be allowing us to set how many days are in a life stage via slider or something.

BoomChikaBoomPow

Ifreshyeh wrote: »

I think the solution to this would be allowing us to set how many days are in a life stage via slider or something.

I miss that feature. Not sure why they got rid of it lol

BoomChikaBoomPow

Clarkie100 wrote: »

It would be nice to see more choice with ageing, I find with it on its impossible for me personally to get anything done.

With more choices, some could make the game "harder" by having a very limited time. And others could opt for a more "easy" relaxing gaming experience by having plenty of time to get things done, like getting promotions etc.

I agree. Especially when it comes to the daily tasks with the jobs. It's hard to get things done.

griffin1842

I've noticed this problem as well. Ideally sims with a normal lifespan should be able to have children at the end of the young adult stage and still live to see their grandchildren become teens or adults. At least, this is how it typically is in the real world (most people I know lost their grandparents in their teens or twenties, though I personally have all my grandparents still living and didn't lose all of my great grandparents until I was in my teens). The best solution to this, in my view, is to actually add time to the ADULT life stage, since it is supposed to cover ages 30(ish)-50 or 60. That's a HUGE chunk of time. A middle age life stage would also be welcome. They wouldn't have to change much, maybe just add more options for greying hair or something like that. Or they could make the elder stage longer, I guess. I don't know the ideal solution, but the ages are definitely off now with the addition of toddlers and were somewhat off even before that.

Felicity

If you don't mind using a mod, MC Commander does allow you to adjust the various age stages. There are many other reasons to use MC Commander as well, but if nothing else, that is a feature.

There are also mods that are much smaller in scope that adjust the age spans.

luthienrising

Felicity wrote: »

If you don't mind using a mod, MC Commander does allow you to adjust the various age stages. There are many other reasons to use MC Commander as well, but if nothing else, that is a feature.

There are also mods that are much smaller in scope that adjust the age spans.

Yep. A new one that's just age-adjustment was posted just a couple of days ago on MTS.

jess3315

Felicity wrote: »

If you don't mind using a mod, MC Commander does allow you to adjust the various age stages. There are many other reasons to use MC Commander as well, but if nothing else, that is a feature.

There are also mods that are much smaller in scope that adjust the age spans.

Thanks, I had a couple of the modules installed to save outfits and for population/relationship control (aka: culling prevention), but I hadn't spent much time looking around at the other settings. I will be making that adjustment immediately!

Zafireria

I assume we are talking about the normal lifespan? Last time I checked there was a Long Lifespan. Any reason why that one won't do? Or is it simply the gap in between the ages on all lifespans?

jess3315

For me it was just to adjust the time per stage, not make all of them longer.