Whenever I get out of build mode, I find playing large families the most fun, but it doesn't come without the struggle. When YOU'RE attached to each and every one of them and want to explore the game for all its got to offer, how do you juggle a family of five or more sims/pets?
Random Question: How do YOU play large families? 40 votes
I play all of them in rotation, but don't focus on certain sims till its their turn again. I keep free will on, so they don't nag me, constantly.
I direct sims as they need me. I'm constantly pausing my game to fill their queue, but I mainly focus on one sim at a time to fulfill their aspirations and goals
I regularly take my sims on family outings because, I admit, they spend far too much time in their studies and get stir crazy, otherwise.
1 vote
If things are getting really hard, I send some sims to rabbit hole lots/work and focus on the ones I can see in the open world. This is usually when I prefer to work on relationship building rather than skills.
Sometimes, I gotta admit it's time to let go. If a family is getting too large, the eldest children have to move out So, I abandon the nest completely. The parents get little attention from here on out.
1 vote
The children eventually move out, but they keep their connections. I sometimes like to switch between each household even if it results in losing valuable wishes.
If I play with a household of 5 or more sims, each and every one has to work for the same goal like a band, for example. Having all sorts of aspirations is way too hectic for me.
I use mods to expand the amount of sims I can have in one household and buy the biggest house in the entire neighborhood with 10 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms! Finding sims gets a little crazy and the bills are off the charts, but at least their ghostly selves are altogether rather than all apart.
2 votes
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Option 2 kind of fits though. I pretty much micromanage everything and pause the game frequently to figure out what everyone is up to and decide what they are going to do next. I often keep more focus on one or both of the parents, but not so much I ever really ignore the others.
Option 3 kind of fits too. When I need a break from managing ~14 sims I'll either send some off to a venue (frequently the festival) or take a subset to university or OL.
Option 5/6 also kind of fits. I do regularly move out the eldest children, but I don't play rotationally.
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@Keiomestre, I micro manage a little bit more. I like to have free will on, but never on max. Like you, I think the most you gotta keep an eye out for is whenever your sims get social. I try my best to have each family member have a good relationship, but, sometimes, it's kinda hard, especially when you're trying to get around the grounding system for kids and teens, getting in trouble for going to class and such. As long as my sim isn't already taken, I don't get too upset over social interactions with total strangers that don't go well. Sometimes I even go out of my way to make the sims have a bad relationship if they have to constantly apologize to a sim that just doesn't get "it." I'll also rotate to see what's queued up for each sim to see if they're still busy or just standing there.
@TreyNutz, Wow! That's a lot of sims, but I knew that there are lots of people that play similarly. The way I put it just sounded way funnier in the poll, suggesting that some sims just could never be let go, even after they died. I definitely fit in more than one box, but picked the one that fit my play style most. I definitely find myself doing 2, 3 and 4. I did do 6, when I first started playing sims 3. Since, I've found it harder and harder to take that next step of moving out. I think I get attached to the houses, so moving is like brand new and starting over. By that point, I think I usually like to start a new game completely with a new setting. However, right now, I'm trying to get over that a bit. I have a family of five and so many directions that I still want to take each sim. Even the parents got a lot of life left in them. I just don't know how to tell their stories living in just one house. Eventually, I think, I'll have to switch around.
@suzses, your play style sounds so similar to mine except I've never played with the grandparents before. Admittedly, I usually move to another save by that point. I'm trying to break the cycle!
@Sindocat, I think one of the most irritating things with the game is how the curfew and grounding system has come packaged in Generations. Students should be able to go to school without getting grounded for leaving and then grounded on top of that because they didn't go to school. *Facepalm* The fastest you can get your kids off the hook the better! It's too bad whenever that first wag of the finger is right before the school bus arrives, though.
@LunBeauty, you got that right about university. I recently took two of my eldest children there. One of which has earned his degree and the other one has a bit more work to do, if I remember correctly. I think the only reason why I might take the youngest there is for the experience, but I've decided she'd just blow off her classes if she does. That, I thought, might be an interesting story to tell. At this point, I'm still too attached to the parents to move any one of them out, but I have upgraded to a much larger house I made to make it a little bit easier.
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Anyway, I like keeping the grown kids around for awhile, advancing them in their careers and getting them married with a kid or two before I send them to live elsewhere. I've never been able to just kick them out and let the game take care of them, so this works much better for me.
I let my teen and adult sims do what they want with some exceptions like when there are babies/toddlers that need taking care of/skilling and to get daily chores like gardening and cooking done. Occasionally I will stop my sims from doing some things, like watching the stars more than twice an evening, or trying for baby when I am not ready. I direct children quite a bit because I want them to get skilled before they grow up and are moved out.
I do pause a lot, not to fill queues but to take pics or to track down where my sims are and what they are doing.
I never switch households and feel no need to do so because Story Progression looks after my spares way better than I would have time for if they were in the household. I don't play very big households, usually no more than 10.
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I think @Keiomestre 's answer pretty much describes how I play. I often leave a "call sim..." action at the end a queue. The window to choose whom to call is a form of passive pausing and I go back to the sims that finished their chores and decided if I'll let them free or if I'll give them another queue.
I also use rabbit holes a lot more when I want to focus on one or two sims. The Bistro owner must be rich in my games. I also set up several family outings or parties on weekends and, specially, holidays.
1. the family trees don't get disrupted
2. I don't get overwhelmed
and 3. I don't have to kill anyone to make more room in the households
it also keeps me from getting bored because I can always change families or change hometowns without losing anything i left behind.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/953447/streuner-a-cat-s-tale
Have you tried this mod?
http://modthesims.info/d/533906/update-5-jan-2016-user-directed-scolding-other-punishment-tweaks.html
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
With the right mod (JASF's Longer Interaction Queue from simsasylum) you can do up to 30 things with each sim. Not that I reach 30 interaction that often outside of collecting rocks.
Yeah, I gotta track that down. I think I'm in the "Asylum".
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
I do rotate households when things are quiet in the household if there is no birthday, no toddlers to learn skills etc. I end up controlling the children who didn't find love and allow them to have a chance to find love as i don't have mods. I play vanilla.
There has been times though, when I took one sim out for a full day and the rest have a small queue and are then left to their own free will... when I return home I usually find them having a group conversation... I never ever manage to have group conversations when controlling them! so I feel like they are plotting against me or something
Now for sims that I like but are extras or just spares, I usually have them for a while, I skill them up, I get them well stablished in their jobs, find them partners, get them married, get said partners skilled up a little and pregnant and then they're released in the drama&wild that is SP .
The only exception is, if said sims died young because I feel like I have to bring them back and help them have fulfilling lives. Right now I have two spares of two generations ago, simply because both of them died on a fire when one was a child and the other a teenager, I just fulfilled a LTW of one of them so I'm currently struggling on what to do with him... I want to let him go but at the same time I don't
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