ŞŦŘΔŇǤ€ŘVƗŁŁ€ Ω/Δ (Contains Spoilers - Enter at own risk) «123456...Next Go

crinrict

Hi Guys,

I've been one of the lucky ones to receive an Early Access code via the EA Game Changers program (Thanks so much EA for the opportunity)

Instead of doing a review or video (which I totally suck at), I'd thought I'd do a little Q/A here.

Feel free to ask me anything, BUT if it's about the story itself, please make sure to use spoiler tags. I will of course do the same. There's a post about how to add spoilers to the forum here: How to do spoilers on the forum

I've compiled all questions in the first post. If you have follow-up questions, please use spoiler tags, especially if it's concerning the story.

I tried to get answers to all the questions but keep in mind that I have to check out everything in game and while I did have quite some time to test, I might still have missed stuff. Don't take everything as set in stone and be aware that this reflects my opinion and although I got an early access code, EA is not involved in this thread.

---

On a more personal note, I'm afraid, crinrict won't in fact be able to answer anything

In fact, this happened.



Foruntely, Theophil Binz was in on the case for you and was able to solve the mystery. This Q/A will be done by him

crinrict

Questions & Answers

Pictures of the world and surroundings can be found here: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/956008/theophil-binzs-early-access-picture-thread-crinrict-is-possessed-atm

General

• Any new deaths?
  
  Yes
• What new collectibles is there in this pack?
  Bizarre Fruit
• How many "dangerous plants" types is there? Can to grow your own from seeds? Are they harvestable ?
  Just one. You can grow your own. Only the plants in the world are harvestable though. Seems the ones you plant don't really grow.
• Is there any new woohoo locations?
  I haven’t found one
• New Radio Stations ?
  Strange Tunes with 6 Songs
• Are there any new options for club or seasonal activities?
  You can make a club of possessed Sims. Haven’t found any seasonal activities
• Are there new television channels?
  I haven’t found one
• New recipes?
  I haven’t found one
• Any new life stages ? Temp or otherwise ?
  If you count possessed as a life stage ? Otherwise no.
• Any new "normal" interactions that are unrelated to the story?
  There's a few related to the military career and you can buy stuff at the curio shop that's unrelated to the story. Other than that. Haven't really pursued that gameplay so .. could be .. but tending towards no.

CAS & Buy/Build

There’s tons of info on CAS & Buy Build from other GC. You might wanna refer to them for details. See this thread for an overview who of my fellow GC might have a complete list: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/955763/strangeville-early-access-videos-and-reviews#latest

• CAS items for Children or just adults ?
  
  Very very very few
• General buy/build overview (balance between new gameplay items and new objects)
  Hope I didn’t miss anything. Some items appear in more than one categories so don’t just add the items. If I counted correctly there’s 71 items in buy mode.
  
  2 Comfort, 6 Surface (1 display case for plants and maybe other stuff), 1 Plumbing, 6 activities and skills (1 bar, 1 special item, 2 variants of sparring object, 2 variants of object with special functionality for military/story), 42 deco items, 2 kids (both also in deco), 9 lamps( including 5 variants of the same lamp (cooool lamp), 10 Lamp), 10 electronics (2 variants of laptop - identical mesh, some items already appeared in other categories), 2 appliances (both more deco, already appeared in deco), 1 Storage
  
  4 new rooms
  6 roof sculptures, 3 gates, 4 fences, 2 floor patterns. 2 wall patterns, 1 railing, 2 columns, 2 spandrels
  50 buy debugs items (some variants of the same object included, also another variant of the same laptop)
• Is that cool colander hat with christmas lights (seen in trailer about 28 seconds in) in CAS or is it earned? If it is earned how is it earned?
  You have to unlock it
  by
  buying at the Curio shop
• Is there an actual tin foil hat? Picture please if there is.
  There is already an unlockable from the science caereer in GTW on this
• Can Sims use laptops on the floor?
• Can the laptop be used to write books and order things like crystals, repair parts etc?
  Unfortunately, no. You need a desk/table. Works like a normal computer, only difference you can put it in your inventory to carry around
• Any new tattoos?
  Doesn’t look like it
• Do laptops break in the rain?
  I assume so. I haven't really tried them much and it hardly rains in StrangerVille.

Skills, Aspiration, Traits

• What skill does the new fitness machine train?
  Fitness
• Are there any new skills (hidden or otherwise) ? If so, what are they?
  I haven’t found any
• What is the new aspiration? What is its reward trait?
  StrangerVille Mystery, Bonus Trait: Home Turf, Reward Trait: Hero Of Strangerville
• Other than the reward trait, it there other new traits? If so what are they?
  Paranoid as a CAS trait and there’s several for the story itself. One you can see on the trait list when you play the others are hidden to help trace the story

Career

• What are the two branches of the military career and what is the difference in play and perks?
  Covert Operator and Office. You mostly get medals and clothing
• What skills are needed for the military career?
  Fitness and for one of the branches Logic for the other Charisma
• With all the Military items and personnel, will there be any bunks for the soldiers ?
  Going to give this a loud and clear Jein (Yes/No put together in german). There aren’t bunkers as such but there’s something that I don’t want to spoil at all. It doesn’t have anything to do with the military career (it’s probably more of a no though)
• It was said the military career is like the gardening one. Will our sims still get to work and socialize with other troops?
  It’s like all those careers where you have daily task. You get asked if you want to go to work (rabbithole), work at home or do PTO every time you’re supposed to go to work. There’s usually just one task you need to do each day and it’s easy to accomplish. You got plenty of time.

World/Lots

• How prominent is the story element if you have sims who just want to visit for a change of scene?
  If you don’t engage with the story, it’s minor in my eyes
• Can you turn off the "strangeness" completely or do you have to play some of the story first?
  I’m unsure if there’s cheats that allow you to do that, but via normal gameplay, to remove the strangeness completely, you have to play the story
• What are the lot sizes please?
  The lab is 64x64, non-editable.
  StrangerVille Plaza: 2x 30x20, 20x15, 50x40, 2x 20x20
  Shady Acres: 2x 40x30 and 3x 30x20(
• Are there are new lot types?
  No. There’s new functionality to two existing lot types if you put those down in StrangerVille
• Are there any new lot traits?
  No, Kate has confirmed this
• How many pre-made families and Sims does StrangerVille have in total?
  4 households living in houses and plenty of Military, Scientist and Conspiracy Sims being generated. Think some are always the sme.
• What are the premade Families ?
  
  Eclectic Arts Household: The Eclectic Arts Household consists of three friends who have decided to cut ties with the modern world in order to explore their inner creativity. They received a large sum of money from their parents, and are using it to explore their creative dreams in a less hectic town.
  Roswell: The Roswell's are the oldest residents in StrangerVille. Ted Roswell has since become the mayor and has been aggressively pushing to get StrangerVille to be more technologically advanced. He has made some shady deals, but his crowning achievement has been the construction of the Crater Base and Secret Lab. Ted's wife, Meredith, has been noticing Ted acting very strange at night. It might have something to do with his frequent visits to the Secret Lab to try and cover things up.
  Cahill: George Cahill was a retired pilot who enjoyed taking his beloved plane Penelope for long flights across the world. After passing over StrangerVille there was a large flash of light causing his plane to short circuit and crash. George has since set up camp in the cargo bay of Old Penelope, and has lived on the outskirts of StrangerVille ever since. Although he has grown skeptical of the residents of StrangerVille he means no harm and mostly keeps to himself.
  Sigworth: The Sigworth family is rather new in town. Jess, the mom, had to transfer to the StrangerVille National Base. After spending a few days on the base Dylan has started to notice something is a bit off about his wife. Although Dylan is doing all he can to reassure their daughter that everything is okay. Christie is starting to catch on and it is only a matter of time until she realizes what is going on.

Story/Heavy spoiler section

• Are there any cheats to bypass the story ?
  Yes there are. You'll need TwistedMexis cheat fix mod to unlock them.
  Major spoilers in this post: https://sims-online.com/sims-4-strangerville-cheats-complete-storyline/#skipstoryline
• Are the dangerous plants a way to die, get weird illness or just a collectible plant ?
  It’s a collectible and a way to get the sickness but I don’t think you can die from interacting with them
• Is the illness fatal ? What exactly is the effects of it other than making sims creepy?
  Haven’t seen it being fatal. If you play a affected Sim, he’s sometimes becomes uncontrollable but other than that, I’ve not seen any effects.
• There is this object that was spraying some green goo in the trailer at about 57 seconds in, what is it and how do I get it? What does it do?
  It’s an item that you need for the ending .. but it’s something you get automatically when you’ve done all the tasks
• Does the story vary if replayed
  There’s different way to do the get the info you need but the story is the same each time
• If you do the story far enough to make the town really strange and then stop doing the story. Is your Sim immune to the strange or will they become infected?
• Can the sim your playing get infected?
  You decided if you want to inflict your Sim. I’m unsure if played Sims you don’t currently play get inflicted but I think the amount of affected Sims is set at the beginning of each ‘chapter. It’s basically not spreading unless you decided to do so. I do need to check into this further though
• What does "weird weather" exactly mean?
  It’s just the effects and something you see in the sky. It doesn’t seem to have any real effect.
• Does the story have multiple endings?
  There’s one successful and one not so successful although I wouldn’t call the not successful one an ending . I think it’s up to you how to tell the story after that. You have several options how to continue from there.
• Can children help solve the mystery or is it only for adults?
  It doesn't look like it. I tried with mine and they didn't get the necessary interactions. Teens do get them, so I assume they can do the whole story. Children will also not get infected. Teens do.

Couple of fun facts

• There’s snakes and lizards in the world (FX only)
• There’s one fishing spot and very few collectible spawning points. Haven’t found any other plants growing but that can potentially change when you’re done with the story.
• Snow doesn’t settle in the world if you use the weather machine. I did get snow with mystery weather that didn't settle.
• You can spar with the training bot or with another Sim
• There’s also an option to practice ordering around on the training bot (gives charisma)
• There's nothing new in the game options.

Regarding story, might have extra spoilers

• The story consists of multiple chapters. The strangeness grows with each chapter.
• You can redo the story with every Sim you like. You can reset the world to being strange after you finished with one Sim.
• You can do the story with multiple Sims at the same time. The game keeps track of the progress through the stuff in your inventory. I didn’t try how the world behaves though if you play rotationally and do the story with multiple families at the same time.
• Looks like there’s only a few infected Sims around town all the time if you don’t engage in the story as well as plants but that’s about it.
• Depending on which branch of the military career you choose, you might need to travel to StrangeVille on occasion to fulfill your duties even if you play another town.
• You can use audio-recordings to blackmail your fellow Sims.

Opinion Questions

• Did you enjoy the story (mystery) ?
  I did, majorly. I love the hood, I love this pack but I was intrigued by it the first time I heard about it. I love mysteries and adventures. I’m actually not much of a sandbox player .

Some pictures for traits and career and more

Deadly spoilers

5782341b77vl

Ok, I'll be "that guy"-

Any new deaths?

(Y/N)

rinre33

1) Are you able to give a general overview of the build/buy assets? Nothing detailed just size, what the balance is between gameplay specific items (like the scanners) and new items like sofas or computers, and if anything particular jumps out at you?
2) Is there anything at all (cas or gameplay) for children, or is the entire pack targeted at adult sims?

Thanks and have fun playing

BlueSeaWaves

Thank you for taking questions! 🙏🏼
What skill does the new fitness machine train?

rinre33

Also (sorry ignore this if you get swamped with questions) but can you post some screenshots of the new world? I really want to see more of it than what we got in the trailer

scoed

OK, I have quite a few questions.

OK we read about "dangerous plants" is this a new death or do they just give sims the weird illness at the center of this or are they just collectible plants?

Is this weird illness fatal like the rodent disease is? What exactly is the effects of it other than making sims creepy?

What are the two branches of the military career and what is the difference in play and perks?

Is there a new skill hidden or otherwise? I am doubting it at this time. If there is what is it (are they)?

What is the new aspiration? What is its reward trait?

Other than the reward trait, it there other new traits? If so what are they?

What new collectibles is there in this pack?

Is that cool colander hat with christmas lights (seen in trailer about 28 seconds in) in CAS or is it earned? If it is earned how is it earned? I want it.

Is there an actual tin foil hat? Picture please if there is.

How many "dangerous plants" types is there? Can to grow your own from seeds? Are they harviestible?

Is there any new woohoo locations?

There is this object that was spraying some green goo in the trailer at about 57 seconds in, what is it and how do I get it? What does it do?

Did you enjoy the story (mystory)? And does it vary if replayed?

catloverplayer

New radio stations?

Mariefoxprice83

-How prominent is the story element if you have sims who just want to visit for a change of scene?

Are there any new options for club or seasonal activities?

Thanks for doing this. I like this idea much better than watching videos of someone playing.

belpita

Can you turn off the "strangeness" completely or do you have to play some of the story first? (It was a little unclear from the guru tweet.)

DragonAge_300905

If you do the story far enough to make the town really strange and then stop doing the story. Is your sim immune to the strange or will they become infected?

elanorbreton

Thanks, crin

What are the lot sizes please?
Are there are new lot types?
Are there any new lot traits?

SimDestroyer

Are there new television channels?
Are there any new skills? If so, what are they?
How many pre-made families and Sims does StrangerVille have in total?
Are there any brand new collectibles?
What does "weird weather" exactly mean?
Can Sims use laptops on the floor?

Gordy

(I really doubt there is, but) Any new life states, like aliens/vampires? Any temporary life states, like PlantSims?

ernesdo

Any new tattoos?

New recipes?

Thanks for doing this, Crin!

fullspiral

DragonAge_300905 wrote: »

If you do the story far enough to make the town really strange and then stop doing the story. Is your sim immune to the strange or will they become infected?

This. I might just leave it as "strange" if I can without it affecting my played households.

BlueSeaWaves

One more question if you may, sorry if it’s a bother for you, really😓but what skills are needed for the military career?

DragonAge_300905

fullspiral wrote: »

DragonAge_300905 wrote: »

If you do the story far enough to make the town really strange and then stop doing the story. Is your sim immune to the strange or will they become infected?

This. I might just leave it as "strange" if I can without it affecting my played households.

That's what I plan on doing if it doesn't affect my sim. I want a really strange town for my sim to live in.

5782341b77vl

Another question popped into my head -

With all the Military items and personnel, will there be any bunks for the soldiers ?

crinrict

List on the sec post updated to here. Let me know if I missed a questions. I will do some sorting later today.

BlueR0se

Does the story have "multiple" endings or is there only one "ending?"

catloverplayer

Can the sim your playing get infected?

catloverplayer

elanorbreton wrote: »

Thanks, crin

What are the lot sizes please?
Are there are new lot types?
Are there any new lot traits?

Yes on new lot traits and were getting a new sim trait to.

There is 1 of each.

catloverplayer

It was said the military career is like the gardening one. Will our sims still get to work and socialize with other troops?

crinrict

catloverplayer wrote: »

elanorbreton wrote: »

Thanks, crin

What are the lot sizes please?
Are there are new lot types?
Are there any new lot traits?

Yes on new lot traits and were getting a new sim trait to.

There is 1 of each.

Kate actually said this:

https://twitter.com/SimGuruKate/status/1099128783469109248

No to new lot trait.

catloverplayer

crinrict wrote: »

catloverplayer wrote: »

elanorbreton wrote: »

Thanks, crin

What are the lot sizes please?
Are there are new lot types?
Are there any new lot traits?

Yes on new lot traits and were getting a new sim trait to.

There is 1 of each.

Kate actually said this:

https://twitter.com/SimGuruKate/status/1099128783469109248

No to new lot trait.

My bad I got lot traits mixed up with aspiration.