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Random Question: How do YOU play large families?

60smusicluvr60smusicluvr Posts: 1,982 Member
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.
7%
GabbyGirlJAlexaKryTroyTalks 3 votes
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
55%
Emily4331HejixSeera1024fruitsbasket101RoboSpongieJoAnne65jillbgSimplyJenbecomingjennBettyboop5560smusicluvrSindocatluxsylvancocothuggishsplicerjordandEricasFreePlayLinamintstherealsunsetvalleylowpolygal 22 votes
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.
2%
cwaddell 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.
10%
GraceyManorpandabear1836GoulsquashSummerRoxy 4 votes
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.
2%
trethera 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.
17%
suzsesemorrillLunBeautyiloveanimaljamxxnearlyperfectxSunnyyesjamsSaintc 7 votes
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.
0%
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.
5%
TreyNutzpuzzlezaddict 2 votes

Comments

  • GraceyManorGraceyManor Posts: 20,079 Member
    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.
    I usually have 3 or 4 of them go to rabbit hole jobs, work on the others at home, and then on weekends rotate and work on the others that I hadn't during the week, if I get frustrated, I choose two of them and use traveller mod to go on vacation.
  • KeiomestreKeiomestre Posts: 195 Member
    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 play with free will on max but I pause way too much to fill the queues. Sometimes I focus on just one sim somewhere (on a date, to hear a song on an instrument, etc.), but I keep cycling through my other sims without moving the camera to them just to check if they are not doing something dumb (like flirty sims cheating or mean spirited sims insulting their friends).
    ..... ..... ..... ..... My favorite Sims 3 family: THE ENFADONHOS!..... ..... ..... .....
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  • TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
    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.
    For me a household of 5 is kind of small. I prefer 10-14 sims (no pets). I've gone up to 24 before, but my game tends to run into Error Code 12 with that many in the household. :'( Usually I have one main couple and they (somehow B) ) end up with tons of kids. I picked this option because it's the closest to how I play.

    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.
  • suzsessuzses Posts: 2,433 Member
    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.
    This pretty much represents how I play, although I use some other methods mentioned in the poll, too. I do keep one of the offspring per generation in the original household, but other kids move out, and I play their households as well. The grandparents usually go off to do their own thing in retirement after their first grandchild reaches young adulthood, or thereabouts (I do rotate to their households, too, though - sometimes they can be rather fun). I rarely put any of my sims in rabbit hole jobs but do occasionally if it fits the story in my head or if I'm just not too interested in a particular sim. To get sims out from underfoot, I'm more likely to send them to the library to study something (because that keeps them occupied for a long time) while concentrating on other family members, and, like you mentioned, I'm usually working on relationships during that time, which takes more of my attention than skill building or self-employment activities do. The rest of the time, everyone is all queued up, and yes, I pause to get that all set up.
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  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    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 check everybody's needs, and que them up to meet those (there are almost always as many toilets as Sims in my houses, if I have a large family). Priority tracking is on the kids, until they are actually out the door to school (no one interrupts queues to scold an adult late for work). I will find ways to cap fun before I make my Sims double down on skills / wishes but time-sensitive opportunities they may have to grab when they can. Sometimes, I will zero in on one Sim with a nest of chained wishes and goals, and focus on them intensely, but usually it's fairly rotational.
  • LunBeautyLunBeauty Posts: 2,734 Member
    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.
    This is probably the closest to how I play. I like playing large families and try to set up routines for them on the weekdays. On the weekends, I let them do their own thing, sleep in late, eat on their own time (separately rather than as a family.) I usually wait until all the kids age up into Young Adults, then I'll choose one or two to stay with the main house and move the rest out. I might play the others for a day or so, but mostly just stick with the main household. Sometimes if I feel like it, I might send them all to University too, but keeping up with that many sims in Uni is stressful and I usually just end up sending one 'heir' and one 'spare'.
  • 60smusicluvr60smusicluvr Posts: 1,982 Member
    edited January 2019
    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
    @Springfairy556, I can mostly relate to this play style, when the students are at school and come back dead tired with homework to do. Unfortunately, too many nights are spent getting them back into a good mood, so I spend the majority of the time working on their needs. If they come back home so exhausted, they could either be done for the night and wake up in the wee hours of the morning and do their homework then or I might just slide that needs bar over just a little if I have something else in mind. >:) Usually, there's at least one parent that is either outside a rabbit hole job/unemployed, so I can have fun playing with them in the meantime.

    @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. :lol: 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. :s

    @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.
  • puzzlezaddictpuzzlezaddict Posts: 1,877 Member
    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.
    Aside from the chosen answer, I should add that I'm a total control freak with my sims. I'm constantly pausing the game to queue up actions for every sim, with the exception of toddlers who've already learned their skills. It can get hectic when the household has a dozen or more sims, which is often. But many of them will happily spend the entire afternoon in pursuing skills, only needing my attention when they finish a painting, sculpture, invention, novel, etc. So I can focus on the few who need to be more closely supervised, lest they run off to play in the sprinklers at the first hint of freedom.

    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.
  • HejixHejix Posts: 1,056 Member
    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
    Yah, THE question, hehe. Been struggling with that as well for quite a while. Still, no perfect solution.
    I want to play ALL the premade families! One day...
  • jillbgjillbg Posts: 4,600 Member
    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 have had up to 22 sims in a family... Gaah...
    tumblr_niwmkgL1ox1s8njeuo2_r1_500.gif
    NymlADp.jpg
  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    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
    @60smusicluvr - If I see a Sim ready to scold, I'll reset them to clear the action. If my kids DO get in trouble, they beg for forgiveness and get it. I am a softie - my parents always let them off the hook. I also use a tuning mod to disable curfews, but that still doesn't help with missing the bus.
  • MikezumiMikezumi Posts: 49,697 Member
    I didn't vote because I don't think any of the options suit my play style.

    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.
  • thuggishsplicerthuggishsplicer Posts: 1,745 Member
    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
    Keiomestre wrote: »
    I play with free will on max but I pause way too much to fill the queues. Sometimes I focus on just one sim somewhere (on a date, to hear a song on an instrument, etc.), but I keep cycling through my other sims without moving the camera to them just to check if they are not doing something dumb (like flirty sims cheating or mean spirited sims insulting their friends).

    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.
  • TroyTalksTroyTalks Posts: 103 Member
    edited January 2019
    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 am playing an all-in-one game and before I even start to play the family i really want to play , i like to set up my neighborhoods and play with other families for a few generations each just to populate my towns and develop a sort of storyline with each family. With the help of Nraas traveler mod, i can play each family until they get really big and then I send their oldest kids to another town to continue and spread their bloodlines. The great thing is that
    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 :D

    it also keeps me from getting bored because I can always change families or change hometowns without losing anything i left behind.
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  • AlexaKryAlexaKry Posts: 2,706 Member
    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.
    @TroyTalks
    I am playing an all-in-one game and before I even start to play the family i really want to play , i like to set up my neighborhoods and play with other families for a few generations each just to populate my towns and develop a sort of storyline with each family. With the help of Nraas traveler mod, i can play each family until they get really big and then I send their oldest kids to another town to continue and spread their bloodlines. The great thing is that
    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 :D

    it also keeps me from getting bored because I can always change families or change hometowns without losing anything i left behind.
    This! Couldn´t word it better!
  • LinamintsLinamints Posts: 952 Member
    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
    Sindocat wrote: »
    @60smusicluvr - If I see a Sim ready to scold, I'll reset them to clear the action. If my kids DO get in trouble, they beg for forgiveness and get it. I am a softie - my parents always let them off the hook. I also use a tuning mod to disable curfews, but that still doesn't help with missing the bus.

    Have you tried this mod?
    http://modthesims.info/d/533906/update-5-jan-2016-user-directed-scolding-other-punishment-tweaks.html
    "Parenting is just like gardening, except if you let your garden die you don't go to prison." - Anna Blast
  • cwaddellcwaddell Posts: 4,960 Member
    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.
    For large households I actually play a combo of the second, third and fourth choices.
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,405 Member
    Sorry, my choice isn't on there: With judicious use of the pause button and cuing up tasks (you can do eight things with each sim)...anything is possible.
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
    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.
    ...(you can do eight things with each sim)....

    With the right mod (JASF's Longer Interaction Queue from simsasylum) you can do up to 30 things with each sim. B) Not that I reach 30 interaction that often outside of collecting rocks.
  • Nikkei_SimmerNikkei_Simmer Posts: 9,405 Member
    TreyNutz wrote: »
    ...(you can do eight things with each sim)....

    With the right mod (JASF's Longer Interaction Queue from simsasylum) you can do up to 30 things with each sim. B) 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". :D
    GYZ6Ak9.png
    Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
  • xxnearlyperfectxxxnearlyperfectx Posts: 683 Member
    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.
    I had a family of 8 Sims. I get far too attached to my Sims- I ended up having two couples in the eight Sims I have along with their children. Then when the children get to teen, I make prom decided who they will marry in future life. If they don't find love, then I move them out but still check on them. I end up playing them when I need to expand the family tree. For the children who do find love, they stay in the house and have children and the cycle goes on.... I am quite boring compared to people. I like having a routine. But, sometimes when they reached the elder stage, I allow the couple to settle somewhere else so they can have a quiet retirement and freedom XD :D My sims do not have much freedom as they would want. I do pause a lot as well, as I hate when sims do something that I don't want them to do. I used to pause my game every second, but I am getting better at allowing them to have control. I am a control freak XD :D

    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.
    4Wv5dIG.jpg
  • lowpolygallowpolygal Posts: 422 Member
    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 feel like if I could I would pick more options, because sometimes I have more than 8 sims and also kick some out at some point (been thinking who is the next to go in my current household) but the whole filling their queue and focusing on one sim at a time it's what I do most part of the time. I usually go with interactions that fill their needs, then focus on interactions about their current wishes and finally on activities that are going to help them with their LTW or jobs, oportunities go somewhere between all that. The sim I'm controlling usually gets to socialize the most.
    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 :cold_sweat:

    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 :sweat_smile: .
    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 :bawling:
    zDZ4NFB.png
    I have a Simblr
  • Bettyboop55Bettyboop55 Posts: 2,646 Member
    edited January 2019
    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
    As a control freak I find large families hardest to play. Only by pausing the game frequently can I keep up with all the sims whilst trying to progress a storyline for the sim I am focused on. I prefer to keep all the generations under one roof so everyone is expected to muck in with the cooking, cleaning, gardening, maintenance and child rearing. With high free will and good relationships this generally works without me having to direct too much. Obviously without mods there is a limit on how many sims you can have in a household and there will come a time when the elder children are shown the door. This is usually when they have married and they want to have their first child. Then I have the dilemma of keeping up with the sims who have moved out without losing too much directed progression with the larger household. I have yet to fully resolve this dilemma :/
    I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
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  • McToshMcTosh Posts: 638 Member
    I play only one specific sim and everyone else in the family are 'NPCs' with high free will and just go do whatever. then when my chosen sim hits 'elder' i 'retire' them, make them an NPC to live out the rest of their life as they please, and take over either the teen or the young adult of the family.
    ewb7fssg3zet.pngingame: commandermctosh feel free to add ;D
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