I feel the same way as so many others in this thread - Normal is too short to accomplish everything I want to do for my household. I usually play Legacy style games and often have to start with an easy aspiration that I know I can accomplish between YA - Elder, since I won't have their childhood and adolescence to give them an extra boost. I recently chose the Long lifespan to test out Get Famous and make sure I had time to complete all my Sim's gigs and such and actually complete their aspiration... So far I have completed THREE aspirations for her since Young Adulthood, and she is halfway through regular Adulthood... She has a husband and two kids - and I must say, toddlers are toddlers for way too long. I maxed out both kids toddler skills halfway through that phase. I maxed out the older daughter's skills, she's been an A student and does her homework and extra credit autonomously, has three out of five character values maxed (although that could change obviously), has earned all her badges for Scouts, and is on her third aspiration - All this and still seven Sim days left to go until she ages up to a teen. Honestly with the other daughter I'm kind of like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am not typically one to compare TS4 to any previous game, but I did really love in TS3 that you could set your own lifespan if you didn't like the preset options. I kind of wish that could be implemented back into the game, or at LEAST an in-between from what we've got now.
So to actually answer your question, I think if you enjoy getting everything done in your Sim's life and then some, long lifespan it up! But if you just want to move on to the next quickly, just stick with Normal and maybe make some time to just go to a couple of those parties... let that virtual life live a little
I play on a modified Normal - about 2x the normal days and it works perfectly for me. Long is too long and normal is just too short lol. I also have my seasons at 28 days, townie aging on, and only my active household ages. I'm a wee bit of a control freak sometimes!
@invisiblgirl Don't worry about it with your kid aging up, teenagers can still be scouts. (Unless you're planning some other job or drama club for her teenage years - then maybe not, I haven't tried combining scouting with one of the paid jobs.)
Good to know - I thought scouting was just for kids. I think I'll let Naomi age up and get her into scouting.
I don't remember how long "long" is, exactly, but I 've set custom age-spans for my sims using MCCC and I love it so much.
Babies: 14 days (which is really 8 days, because for some reason, my babies come out the womb already 6 days old).
Toddlers: 16
Children: 24
Teens: 40
Young Adults: 56
Adults: 48
Elders: 32
The EA defaults are either way too short or too long for me. I'm slow and get bored easily. Like, some days I don't spend time on skills at all; I just chill with my sim family/friends. But there are also some days where I just get bored of my current sims. With this custom setting, I have time to do what I want and I also don't have to wait too long for them to move onto the next stage. And if I really like my current sims, I'll just turn aging off.
I also set the ages specifically to those numbers so I could have my sims age in groups at the same time. Every 8 sim days, a group of sims have a birthday. This group always contains 4 girls and 4 boys. Right now, I have 8 babies, 16 toddlers, 32 children, 40 teens, 80 YAs, 72 adults, and 14 elders (usually it's higher, but a few just died, so...). In a bit, I expect all 8 of those babies to age into toddlers, the oldest toddlers to age into children, etc. Every 8 days is a birthday for several sims, and no sooner or later (when the babies age up, I disable aging until another 8 babies are born, then it starts over and I disable pregnancy).
I also took this one step further and documented each sim in a separate file so I know who exactly is going to age up. That way, I can control who my teen/children sims befriend. Instead of having a child that is 0 days old befriend a bunch of children that are 16 days old, for example, I keep their friendships close to their group if I can.
I've always either played with long lifespans, or aging turned off. I have this very odd fear of running out of time, and my Sims not being able to finish or experience whatever I have planned for them. I like having that control over my game. I noticed in 4, the amount of days is already preset, I would go through my Sims 3 options and tweak them a bit, I didn't mind the toddler stage, but I also didn't really love it.. So just enough time to do the potty training and such before age up.
Also.. Pets dying. I mind less when my Sims die.. But the pets.. :(
I like long. Although for certain age groups it can feel too long but that’s the beauty of aging early. Normal can feel too much of a grind to complete aspirations on time.
I like playing a custom lifespan about twice as long as normal. Normal feels a bit to fast and rushed for me, but the long lifespan just feels too long, it feels like it takes my sims forever to grow up.
I play with aging off. I just age kids up as I'm ready within their households. I began with a couple (based loosely on my husband and myself), they had 6 kids, and I have played their adult kids and grandkids blended within other sims I made or in-game. I also have two games. Between all of that, adding expansion packs, exploring careers and businesses, raising families and building I keep myself and them quite challenged. So... that's another option to consider. Works for me!
I used to play on long life span before I turned aging off! I really liked it because my Sims didn't die as fast. However, it's great that they never die now (unless it's by accident,) but then, I usually just quit the game without saving !
When I first started playing, I had the lifespan set to normal and it so wasn't enough time. My male adult sim ended up dying when his fourth child was just barely a child. I usually just turn off aging so I can focus on what I want each of my sims to accomplish, but I've just recently tried playing with the long lifespan. So far, I enjoy it. It forces me to not spend ages on each sim I have.
I play on a custom lifespan thanks to MCC
3days for infant.
21 for toddler.
28 for kids and teens.
42 for YA and Adults.
I think 28 for elders.
I am still iffy on season lengh, I like 7 days because with my settings each life stage (minus infants and toddlers) get to experience each season before they age up to the next stage.
But 7days sometimes feels rushed so I go with 14days somtimes.
When I tried keeping infants at longer than a few days it seemed to possibly be related to my toddlers suddenly getting fat right about the time I got them to 3-5 in their skills so I could age them up. That bothered me. I haven't experimented with it since. Anyone else noticing if there's a correlation?
Just asking to the players who have set their sims lifespan to "long" since I have always been playing as "Normal" lifespan for a while and somehow I find the game rushed due to my sims not being able to achieved the goals until the day they passed away.
They have always been invited to social events such as birthdays or dance parties but I never had the time to do it due to me wanting them to build skills as their priority.
If I set my lifespan to long, will it be enjoyable? or will it be boring due to be stuck with the same sims?
I always play on Long because I hate the rushed feeling that happens with Normal setting. Any Legacies or Challenges I play, I play for my own enjoyment - usually never post anything on the official threads - because I always change those to Long as well. It just gives me so much more play time. I actually get to have fun with my Sims.
I highly recommend downloading Master Controller Command Center (MCCC) and adjust your stages and lifespan accordingly. For instance, if you want Long play with a short infant stage and a longer adult stage, you can make those changes. It's really nice!
Just asking to the players who have set their sims lifespan to "long" since I have always been playing as "Normal" lifespan for a while and somehow I find the game rushed due to my sims not being able to achieved the goals until the day they passed away.
They have always been invited to social events such as birthdays or dance parties but I never had the time to do it due to me wanting them to build skills as their priority.
If I set my lifespan to long, will it be enjoyable? or will it be boring due to be stuck with the same sims?
I think it depends on how attached you are to your Sim and how fun they are to play..sounds weird, but every once in a while you create that one Sim that you just want to keep playing. My Sim now, I have played for quite a while and he has the perfect personality for the game and the game does not get boring. He was single for a very long time, then I added a Dog and they were a team for while and I wanted to find him a companion in game, but he just didn't click with anyone like I wanted him to...so I created Him a Girlfriend, they dated and had the wedding and now they have two Children...just an amazing Family to play and I've never been bored with this Family yet.
I started him in a rags to riches, then worked on maxing all of his skills(besides the Family ones and some of the non-basegame packs he is still working on, I don't have every game pack but quite a few) I have to say I love the game again, I got to where I was only building, but I am really loving this game play.
I personally don't, but I am extremely impatient. I always find it hard to do gameplay in the sims 4 because I get so bored after playing for a while. Short/Normal lifespan would probably be better for me.
@invisiblgirl Don't worry about it with your kid aging up, teenagers can still be scouts. (Unless you're planning some other job or drama club for her teenage years - then maybe not, I haven't tried combining scouting with one of the paid jobs.)
Good to know - I thought scouting was just for kids. I think I'll let Naomi age up and get her into scouting.
Some of the goals are easier for teens than for children. For example Keep Fit where you have to exercise can be easier for teens as they can use the workout equipment while children can only use play equipment or swim.
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I personally don't, but I am extremely impatient. I always find it hard to do gameplay in the sims 4 because I get so bored after playing for a while. Short/Normal lifespan would probably be better for me.
You also might want to consider a form of rotational play; when you get bored with one household you can switch to another. If you choose to age only your active household plus let the townies age naturally you don't have to worry about your other households aging up or dying without you being there.
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Comments
I am not typically one to compare TS4 to any previous game, but I did really love in TS3 that you could set your own lifespan if you didn't like the preset options. I kind of wish that could be implemented back into the game, or at LEAST an in-between from what we've got now.
So to actually answer your question, I think if you enjoy getting everything done in your Sim's life and then some, long lifespan it up! But if you just want to move on to the next quickly, just stick with Normal and maybe make some time to just go to a couple of those parties... let that virtual life live a little
+1
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It means they have their seasons set at 28 days long. For example, Summer would last only 28 days before it changes to Fall.
Good to know - I thought scouting was just for kids. I think I'll let Naomi age up and get her into scouting.
Babies: 14 days (which is really 8 days, because for some reason, my babies come out the womb already 6 days old).
Toddlers: 16
Children: 24
Teens: 40
Young Adults: 56
Adults: 48
Elders: 32
The EA defaults are either way too short or too long for me. I'm slow and get bored easily. Like, some days I don't spend time on skills at all; I just chill with my sim family/friends. But there are also some days where I just get bored of my current sims. With this custom setting, I have time to do what I want and I also don't have to wait too long for them to move onto the next stage. And if I really like my current sims, I'll just turn aging off.
I also set the ages specifically to those numbers so I could have my sims age in groups at the same time. Every 8 sim days, a group of sims have a birthday. This group always contains 4 girls and 4 boys. Right now, I have 8 babies, 16 toddlers, 32 children, 40 teens, 80 YAs, 72 adults, and 14 elders (usually it's higher, but a few just died, so...). In a bit, I expect all 8 of those babies to age into toddlers, the oldest toddlers to age into children, etc. Every 8 days is a birthday for several sims, and no sooner or later (when the babies age up, I disable aging until another 8 babies are born, then it starts over and I disable pregnancy).
I also took this one step further and documented each sim in a separate file so I know who exactly is going to age up. That way, I can control who my teen/children sims befriend. Instead of having a child that is 0 days old befriend a bunch of children that are 16 days old, for example, I keep their friendships close to their group if I can.
I love that control.
So, uh, yes. I enjoy my sims lifespan, lol.
Also.. Pets dying. I mind less when my Sims die.. But the pets.. :(
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3days for infant.
21 for toddler.
28 for kids and teens.
42 for YA and Adults.
I think 28 for elders.
I am still iffy on season lengh, I like 7 days because with my settings each life stage (minus infants and toddlers) get to experience each season before they age up to the next stage.
But 7days sometimes feels rushed so I go with 14days somtimes.
EA ID: SheriGR
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/SheriGr
"What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." ― Micah 6:8
I always play on Long because I hate the rushed feeling that happens with Normal setting. Any Legacies or Challenges I play, I play for my own enjoyment - usually never post anything on the official threads - because I always change those to Long as well. It just gives me so much more play time. I actually get to have fun with my Sims.
I highly recommend downloading Master Controller Command Center (MCCC) and adjust your stages and lifespan accordingly. For instance, if you want Long play with a short infant stage and a longer adult stage, you can make those changes. It's really nice!
I think it depends on how attached you are to your Sim and how fun they are to play..sounds weird, but every once in a while you create that one Sim that you just want to keep playing. My Sim now, I have played for quite a while and he has the perfect personality for the game and the game does not get boring. He was single for a very long time, then I added a Dog and they were a team for while and I wanted to find him a companion in game, but he just didn't click with anyone like I wanted him to...so I created Him a Girlfriend, they dated and had the wedding and now they have two Children...just an amazing Family to play and I've never been bored with this Family yet.
I started him in a rags to riches, then worked on maxing all of his skills(besides the Family ones and some of the non-basegame packs he is still working on, I don't have every game pack but quite a few) I have to say I love the game again, I got to where I was only building, but I am really loving this game play.
Some of the goals are easier for teens than for children. For example Keep Fit where you have to exercise can be easier for teens as they can use the workout equipment while children can only use play equipment or swim.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)
You also might want to consider a form of rotational play; when you get bored with one household you can switch to another. If you choose to age only your active household plus let the townies age naturally you don't have to worry about your other households aging up or dying without you being there.
Fun must be always -- Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks hockey player)