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How Many Active Households?

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Hi! I'm new the forums but not new to the Sims games- I've been playing since the original when I was eight. I was curious, because when I play (rotational always) I have had multiple households. In TS2 I had massive neighborhoods with all my own families and buildings. But my computer got a virus, I saved my files but had to reformat. Anyway! I never played TS3 but two years ago I got TS4 (which I love, minus so dumb things) and I realized I have 40 active households. Not 40 active Sims. 40 active households.

I'm finding rotational play a tad difficult with this number because things like weight gain and babies being born without my presence is odd. Same with the leaving the house in the morning and coming back weeks later in game to have everyone outside in their pajamas? (I have aging on for active household only + long life span).

How many active households do you guys play with?

Comments

  • Graycat2000Graycat2000 Posts: 304 Member
    I've got about the same amount of families as you - keep bringing in my favourites from Sims 1-3 for Sims 4.
    Currently my rotational play is on hold due to the relationship decay issue.
    I had thought though that the babies born in inactive households was fixed in a patch?
    I have the pyjama and bladder urgency problem but use this as an excuse for my household to have a day off (normally they are also very tired!)
  • herdarkpassengerherdarkpassenger Posts: 105 Member
    Yeah! The relationship decay was making me so angry and confused! I downloaded a mod for it, but because my game is so huge I'm not sure if it's working just yet. The babies that I had born were of moms I was playing, then left when they were pregnant. Came back to find they had each a Jessie and a Jaime, not names I picked nor do I actually know if they are boys or girls lol.

    Nice to know I'm not the only one with a jillion houses. Have you had any culling issues? I realized with my large families I might be nearing the mythical "180" I heard.
  • BabySquareBabySquare Posts: 7,869 Member
    Until I get M C command center I just have the one, because I refuse to deal with relationship issues. I'll get MCCC when the content I'm holding out for has been included, then I'll get to my main/favourite families I'm waiting to play and I'll rotate between about 5-10 of them.
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  • lunapball32lunapball32 Posts: 98 Member
    It depends on my save file. I have one file where I went into every EA house... gave the sims a makeover, played them until I could renovate their house to how I liked it and then moved to the next (aging is turned off for this file).
    That one is about 20 so far.
    For my legacy files... those vary so much but I don't think I've ever gotten anywhere near 40! #goals! Good job!
    How long do you play each family before switching?
  • vqra45vqra45 Posts: 32 Member
    Only 1,i like to focus on the family i'm playing ^-^
  • simesmerizedsimesmerized Posts: 202 Member
    Wow 40 is impressive!

    Right now I have just three but next time I have a playing session I'm considering adding a fourth. I play them a sim week and switch. Currently, I have aging off while I decide what I want to do with my households. I was such a generational/legacy player with Sims 2 and 3. I always had aging on. I rarely played more than one household at a time. But with Sims 4 the family play just isn't there no matter how much I wished it was so I'm not really attached to the kids in the households I have right now. That and I think too many households is bad for me. I had two before. The more I spread them out the harder time I have bonding to my sims (hehe).
  • MinkFurMinkFur Posts: 164 Member
    Honey i totally agree with you (i have 34 active households) that its difficult playing rotationally when you have alot of families. Especially when you're a family player!
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  • MasonGamerMasonGamer Posts: 8,851 Member
    Lets see (By last name)
    King (I)
    King(II)
    Jordan
    Dior
    Carter
    Valdez
    Xavier
    Hawthorne
    Chen
    Brown
    West
    Jones
    Baxter
    Scott
    Knight
    Mills

    there is one more family but I can't think of their last name.
    17 active Households

    Although, After Xavier, I don't really play those households much anymore. they're just background sims.
    Realm of Magic:

    My Mood:

    tumblr_nlbf3b0Jyb1qkheaxo5_250.gif
  • SimsweetieSimsweetie Posts: 562 Member
    I play one family at a time. When I'm bored of them I start a new game with a different family. I usually have 3-5 save files going at a time.
  • friendlysimmersfriendlysimmers Posts: 7,545 Member
    only 1 and i never switch or rotate
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  • QuiteIzzzyQuiteIzzzy Posts: 293 Member
    I have the same style as yours @herdarkpassenger, but I have never reach the number of 40 families! How can you manage this number of sims? oO
    @lunapball32 I like to give makovers to premade sims and angage them in my stories, so I visited each premade family, but when I'm done with them, I throw them out from my active families and I let them be.

    I have about 4-8 active families per save. I tend to fix and give makeovers to every townie I can find, and every "ugly" house, but I'm trying to focus on several main families, because if I have to many of them, I lost interest in my sims and I can't see them as individuals.
    I'm not totally worthless, I can be used as a bad example.

    Adorno Family from Rebuilding Worlds
  • herdarkpassengerherdarkpassenger Posts: 105 Member
    Love the answers!

    @lunapball32 I usually try to reach certain goals with each Sim in the family. Could be career, baby, relationship or aspiration oriented. Just depends on if I'm feeling their vibe. Probably one to two Sim weeks though.
    @simesmerized I am attached to all my families and simmies. I usually give them all detailed stories (if not written down, at least in my head). Though I do admit there are a couple families I am not as attached too. And I did just add another household about two hours ago. So make that 41...
    @MinkFur I am absolutely a family player! I love to make everyone in my game procreate too. It's becoming a small issue. I just get absolutely giddy over seeing their genetics mix~
    @MasonGamer Great names! I may take note for future Sims. Do you keep playing at an "even" rotation or do you have favourites you tend to age up quickly?
    @vqra45 @Simsweetie @friendlysimmers How do you guys just have one family per save??! Lol it blows my mind. I am not a huge fan of my Sims falling in love or making families with townies. Very seldom do I end up with a townie Sim that's good looking and not a freak hahaha.
    @QuiteIzzzy 40 is a lot, but I do this fun thing where my whole weekend (sometimes) is 12 hours of Simming. I am probably nuts. My fiance golfs a lot so he's gone at least 4-8 hrs on a weekend which leaves me time. But it is hard. I have some families I adore (from my favourite fandom or my "me" Sims or what have you) that I spend too much time on. When I do that then I realize it's time to rotate through all the others haha. But I have lists of Sims who are potential mates or best friends. I really have quite the narrative.
  • SimsweetieSimsweetie Posts: 562 Member
    @herdarkpassenger I rarely have them marry townies. I make couples, or I eventually make another sim to marry the single one I've been working on. Townies are too ugly for me usually. I play one family until they get boring which usually happens around when the second generation are starting to breed. I've tried playing a new family in the same town but eventually the load times and bugs screw up the save file anyway so I just constantly make new games. :)
  • Marmalade27Marmalade27 Posts: 625 Member
    I have around 20 active households, but I mainly play with 5 of them. In those 5 households, I spend a lot of time working on their skills, aspirations, careers and relationships. I check in on the other 15 households every once in a while to age them up or get them married.
  • halimali1980halimali1980 Posts: 8,246 Member
    I play with MC Command Mod
    I used to have 33 active households. Currently increased to 39

    I play each household for 10 sim days before moving to the next. As for pregnancies I keep them always during the first 5 days of each cycle, so that the sim will not deliver when I am not playing her.

    As for other problems, like work performance or sims standing outside when switching these unfortunately we cannot do anything about them.
    Everything I post is an opinion here and I think every post of others is as well.
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  • NeiaNeia Posts: 4,190 Member
    I have 27 played households at the moment, it's increasing because of the teens reaching adulthood.

    For the Sims giving birth while away, I'm just playing them until they give birth, so I usually try for baby at the beginning of a week (I'm playing a a week at a time) or I just play another week.

    You don't have to worry about Sims culling because it won't affect your played Sims. You may see the NPCs changing a lot though, unless those are non-played you've put in houses.
  • MasonGamerMasonGamer Posts: 8,851 Member
    @herdarkpassenger
    Thanks! Sort of, at the beginning it's very hard but it balanced out.

    I age sims up when I know I've played a stage of their life to the fullest. And it depends on where the other families are at.

    Like the King, Jordan, Dior, Carter and Valdez, I would say are my main households.

    They're all going to get married at their own pace, but here's the trick the Jordan family is destined to have 6 kids, all boys. By the Time the Jordans have the 3rd child that's my cue to get the King family to get pregnant with thier first born. And by the time the Jordans get pregnant with the 6th child that's another cue for the King, Dior, and Valdez families to get preganant with their second, and first child.

    By the time the Jordan's 6th, king's 2nd, Dior's and Valdez 1st age up to child, it's time for the Carter family to adopt 2 young brothers I have planned.

    But basically it's all at my own pace, there's really no rush. I try to keep up with relationships, because all my households interact with each other In some way shape or form so even when I'm not playing as them they're still a major role in the story.

    I have no intentions of killing any characters off. oops I lied there are a handful of sims who have a tragic deaths, and one sim whose death is viewd as "good riddance."
    Realm of Magic:

    My Mood:

    tumblr_nlbf3b0Jyb1qkheaxo5_250.gif
  • luthienrisingluthienrising Posts: 37,628 Member
    Hi! For me, it varies by save.

    In one save, I've got almost all households marked Played (because I don't want careers to get changed in them) but actively play about... 6 of them? 8? At least at the moment. It's a save I'm playing aging-off, slowly, rotationally, and I'm playing different sides of overlapping stories.

    In another save, I've got four households marked Played but am playing just one of them actively and could probably un-play the others but I don't have reason to. It's a bit of a goofy save, really. I'm playing Princess Leia, Secret Agent in it. Her work colleagues include Leo DiCaprio, Bilbo Baggins, and Bella Goth.

    In a third save, I've got one household Played. I'm playing a legacy-type game in it. I might end up with more played households in it but only one active one.
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  • MinkFurMinkFur Posts: 164 Member
    @herdarkpassenger Yeah, the only issue i have with being a family player and having so many households is space in the town to place their house :P Luckily when the older people in their family die, i just move them into the old ppl's house to save space in the town.
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  • Glimmer50Glimmer50 Posts: 2,365 Member
    I have 2 rotational saves as this is new way to play for me. But turns out I love playing this way.

    I have MC Command Center so culling is not an issue. I play 5 families in one save for one Sim week each and then 7 in the other save also One Sim week each. I have townie aging turned off until I hit the first family, then I turn it on for one week. Not sure if that is how it is supposed to be done as I would like the town to age with my Sims but since I rotate every 7 days I figure my active family will age 7 days, then each one I play after that so I guess that keeps them all together. I don't know I am new at this but it made sense to me LOL. :)
  • Graycat2000Graycat2000 Posts: 304 Member
    I got round to the Goths and there is no, and I mean no relationships at all. Its like a bunch of strangers living together. Aparently, Bella and Mortimer are Married, lovebirds, acquiantances, just good friends, soul mates and just friends. Mad i tell thee!
  • lunapball32lunapball32 Posts: 98 Member
    @herdarkpassenger we sound like similar players... my hubby works every other weekend so when he's gone, I'm usually spending the weekend playing in sweats (gotta change to take the doggie out.... it used to be pj's) and eating pizza. hahaha.

    I usually don't have more than a couple families in each world that I will favorite... and keep the townies (edited) for children and friends etc that I usually use cas.fulleditmode on anyway! :)
  • imhappyimhappy Posts: 1,988 Member
    Let's see, in my first town:
    Pleasants, Goths, Dreamers, Burb, Landgraab, Spenser-Kim-Lewis, Calinetes, Pancakes, Hogleg, Packard, and 2 Apartments - 12 households

    Next town I think I have 8-10 (redoing Strangetown) and in Windenburg I left the 8 premade ones alone. So 30ish households give or take. I think I have a few homeless running around (clone of Bella).

    I have MC Command, no culling issues. However, I created a bunch of Goth ghosts, and haven't checked on those in a while. The magic number has been raised to 210, and last I looked I had 180 (including the random maxis ones that they keep giving me to fill up random jobs).

    I know there is a mod to stop pregnancy until you come back to the house. I saw it on mod the sims. Don't know if it works. I play rotational (but it's not on a schedule of certain day for certain houses or anything), deviant, soap opera style. So not much with kids or family play.

    I use the UI cheats all the time, so my sims tend to be underweight. It's so easy to fill the green bars up. However, I saw Bjorn of Windenburg around town and noticed that he gained a few pounds. Perhaps his wife Clara is feeding him too much yummy food.
  • herdarkpassengerherdarkpassenger Posts: 105 Member
    @halimali1980 I usually stay with my Sims once they become pregnant as well, but for some reason I chanced it to see if it had been fixed. Not the case. I just have to live with the baby names until they age up with the rest of the baby boom I recently had.

    @Neia good to hear they won't be culled. I wasn't sure if that was for unplayed NPC Sims or if that number had anything to do with my Sims. Because if each household has at least two sims I'm already at 80. And I know a lot of the houses are families, so that's almost another two per household. Didn't want to reach my max.

    @Glimmer50 I've never thought of turning on aging for a period to get townies to age up. When I first got the game I was so confused as to why everyone was suddenly an elder, freaked me out! I play a long life span, so they get new townies a lot. But I don't mind so much since if I liked a townie for any reason, they'll be in my contacts. Or I usually move them in with the Sim I'm playing. I don't fill up any empty houses, they are all miiiiiiine!

    @MasonGamer Holy children. LOL I love to make the babies in game but I don't think I've ever had that many kids. What lifespan do you play with? Idk if I could manage 6 kids in one house. Maybe a mix of YA, teen and kids.

    @Graycat2000 Yup! Super freaking annoying. When I recently started playing again (I do this thing where I play non-stop for a few months or w/e and then don't touch it again for another few months) I had to work up all their relationships in the family (and outside). It was stupid because they had the option to kiss, but an empty relationship meter. So that kiss was rejected. I've had a lot of embarrassed Sims sleeping on couches for a while.

    @imhappy without a mod, do the ghosts cull even if they are playable if you reach a max number? And wowie, I looked at my old uploads to the gallery (some of the familes I'm still playing) and I noticed some of the couples and one mom gained A LOT of weight. I laughed, I had no idea. I thought surely I'd made her that big. And she's of course in the culinary career track.

    Side note: How do you guys deal with your ghosts? I had a grandma who would never die (very active), so I used the wishing well against her and now she's a ghost with no tombstone. I didn't want her ghost around. So I just keep cheating her needs and making her tend her garden. This is my first ghost.
  • imhappyimhappy Posts: 1,988 Member
    I only play mods, so I'm assuming anything can get culled if you don't have a mod installed and reach a max number. MC Command center is a great mod to download.

    As for the grandma, if you want to get rid of her: 1) Go to households panel in main screen. 2) See if she's homeless or lives in a house 3) You can add her to a house 4) go into create a sim and delete her 4) She will no longer be a ghost and not be in your game

    Or 1) go to households 2) move her into a haunted house that you can make or download from gallery

    Or 1) go to households 2) move her in with someone else 3) have that person take her grave to a graveyard that you downloaded from gallery or created. I have ghosts in a small graveyard in Oasis Springs.

    Hope that helps!
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