Just like the title says: Is there even a point to this trait?? Nothing has happened on the lot I gave this volcanic trait! I don't get the developers wasting their time adding watered down and useless traits that barely do anything.
it sure does, but not ulra-frequently (similar to the earthquake trait in city living)
there are multiple sizes of eruptions, though i've only seen two so far (a grand total of four eruptions in 3 sim-weeks of playing. i have a feeling changing lots resets a timer, but can't prove anything)
with the eruptions, the island shakes (even if you're not 'on' the home lot, but say...down at the water, fishing, which is where my sim spends much of his time) and, unless the sim has something to block tense moodlets, they get tense. steam vents also open at random places on the lot, with...well... steam rising from them and an annoyingly loud noise that sounds similar enough to a broken plumbing object to make me go hunting for one sometimes...
they also rain lava boulders, anywhere from one to four (i've only seen 2 and 4, personally) of two different sizes. those boulders can be cracked open once they cool off, netting you random crystals or metals
I enjoy the volcano eruptions. They happen frequently and the bigger eruptions startle me almost every single time. There are different levels of eruptions that sometimes break everything on the lot. I am doing a rags to riches with a conservationist sim sent to evaluate the volcanic activity on the islands. My sim would get more and more stressed the longer she was there. It added an urgency to get her moved to a safer location.
@michelei i'm enjoying it because i'm playing my 'evil' mermaid (well, merman) on that lot. he's not really evil (his worst trait is 'hotheaded') but he's more fond of the islands than simanity and, even though he's not in the conservationist career he does his part to keep the islands beautiful. he's also in touch with the island elementals and views himself as a tool of their vengeance, so any time i get an eruption he decides the island spirits are upset and goes out looking for someone to punish. thankfully right now, i've got plenty of anti-conservationists, litterers and fish poachers showing up so he can just go for one of those. though, being unable to drown sims makes it less than fun
I do not know if the volcano can damage the house itself. I had many eruptions but none hit the house or deck. I did have toilets and radios break. If it is possible for the house to be damaged it did not happen in my game.
Do the lava bombs hit your house? I want to try the lot trait on a build I made but I don't want it hitting my house or back patio.
From what I have read they don’t cause damage and pose no risk to your sims unless you choose to touch one before it’s cooled down.
I had a much different idea of what this would be when the developers explained it, of course they don’t know what the heck happens in their own game because they were way off base.
This is just another gimmicky feature that when all is said and done has no real effect on the game.
Everyone thanks for answering my question. I can't have my house or back patio destroyed or burned because I can't replace the stuff on my lot. I built it on a empty lot I had my sim visit and used a lot of locked items.
This is the lot I plan on using. I'm going to put it on the lot by the volcano. Sorry I have no screenshots of the lot, otherwise I'd use them to show the lot.
I just had 5 volcanic rocks land on my lot at once, 2 on the deck and one on the observatory, which destroyed it xD Another started a minor fire and destroyed an outdoor chair. This is after several days of just a vent or two here or there.
I haven’t had it happen yet either and I’ve lived with it for a full sim week. I put it on the island lot near the volcano. I don’t know if it doesn’t work correctly on that lot or what but I have yet to see anything. I’m hoping it’s just taking a while. I was watching sim supply today and it’s happened to him multiple times already. Of course he is playing on the lot that automatically has the trait. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.
I put it on the island lot near the volcano. I don’t know if it doesn’t work correctly on that lot or what but I have yet to see anything. I’m hoping it’s just taking a while. I was watching sim supply today and it’s happened to him multiple times already. Of course he is playing on the lot that automatically has the trait. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.
I have it on that island lot and it's working. I have a large house there and it's quite difficult to notice if it's just the lava vents but you'll definitely notice when the rocks land.
Has anyone used it on the same lot in conjunction with the Earthquake trait from CL? Wondering if they sort of stack or if they share the same timer & thus effectively cut the incident-rate in half.
@Tiarella I'm using both on the volcano lot. I've had an earthquake and volcano eruption happen at the same time, but other than that I haven't really noticed regarding the timers.
@CelSims - thank you! Earthquakes and volcanoes, oh no! #tortureyoursims
It's not nearly as bad as the awful gremlins and that trait that makes bugs, rats and odd smells. Just a few random fires and large rocks xD I need somewhere to store all the collectables though!
@CelSims - I've found, over time, that I personally cannot tolerate the gremlin lot trait (& a few others) for long because I get tired of forcing my sims to clean up after them. Now, if I could only make a sim both squeamish and neat! Harrrrumph. As if those two traits didn't go together in real life! Oh well.
i've been putting the trait on a few of my builds and trying to play them long enough to get at least a few boulders (i'm using them as garden decor in certain lots, mostly botanical gardens or parks/national parks, though the marine biology lab is getting some as outside decor and inside for study purposes). i really wish you could find the boulders in debug mode, it'd be so handy for my purposes, but alas
i've also been using the 'sulani mana' reward trait (for making the island elementals like your sim's efforts for the islands enough) for this, since it lets a sim summon a lava boulder to smash on the lot they're on. but that has a long cooldown, just one boulder, and they're always the same size from what i've seen. trying to use both sizes for my decor purposes
also, @Tiarella i made the mistake of putting those two traits together on one of my vampires and it drives me crazy. it doesn't help that he's also a master fisherman (he's the fishing mogul/scientist that founded san myshuno according to the plaques in the park. i thought he'd be a fun sim to make) so he constantly gets squicked out every time he catches a fish (even though he happily slurps them once they're turned into plasma packs) and gets grossed out by the aquarium full of amazon fish in his study. on top of grossing himself out whenever he goes into one of his cleaning frenzies. i still love him to death and refuse to change the traits just because of the challenge but it's so frustrating sometimes
Makes an entertaining story, @kalaksed! I did indeed laugh out loud reading your post! I understand your frustration, though. I can only torture my sims so much and then I have to make them happy, poor things. There, there, dear. It'll be alright. Shhhhh. *pat pat pat*
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there are multiple sizes of eruptions, though i've only seen two so far (a grand total of four eruptions in 3 sim-weeks of playing. i have a feeling changing lots resets a timer, but can't prove anything)
with the eruptions, the island shakes (even if you're not 'on' the home lot, but say...down at the water, fishing, which is where my sim spends much of his time) and, unless the sim has something to block tense moodlets, they get tense. steam vents also open at random places on the lot, with...well... steam rising from them and an annoyingly loud noise that sounds similar enough to a broken plumbing object to make me go hunting for one sometimes...
they also rain lava boulders, anywhere from one to four (i've only seen 2 and 4, personally) of two different sizes. those boulders can be cracked open once they cool off, netting you random crystals or metals
Hasn’t hit my house yet, but it hits pretty close.
From what I have read they don’t cause damage and pose no risk to your sims unless you choose to touch one before it’s cooled down.
I had a much different idea of what this would be when the developers explained it, of course they don’t know what the heck happens in their own game because they were way off base.
This is just another gimmicky feature that when all is said and done has no real effect on the game.
This is the lot I plan on using. I'm going to put it on the lot by the volcano. Sorry I have no screenshots of the lot, otherwise I'd use them to show the lot.
https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/22B2A37997A811E9869414AEEA156117?category=all&searchtype=ea_origin_id&sortby=downloads&time=all&searchquery=INDYANNA2&max=50&maxis=false
"Rarely works"? It works, it's just not very common. Like the earthquake trait. It's RNG based.
I have it on that island lot and it's working. I have a large house there and it's quite difficult to notice if it's just the lava vents but you'll definitely notice when the rocks land.
It's not nearly as bad as the awful gremlins and that trait that makes bugs, rats and odd smells. Just a few random fires and large rocks xD I need somewhere to store all the collectables though!
i've also been using the 'sulani mana' reward trait (for making the island elementals like your sim's efforts for the islands enough) for this, since it lets a sim summon a lava boulder to smash on the lot they're on. but that has a long cooldown, just one boulder, and they're always the same size from what i've seen. trying to use both sizes for my decor purposes
also, @Tiarella i made the mistake of putting those two traits together on one of my vampires and it drives me crazy. it doesn't help that he's also a master fisherman (he's the fishing mogul/scientist that founded san myshuno according to the plaques in the park. i thought he'd be a fun sim to make) so he constantly gets squicked out every time he catches a fish (even though he happily slurps them once they're turned into plasma packs) and gets grossed out by the aquarium full of amazon fish in his study. on top of grossing himself out whenever he goes into one of his cleaning frenzies. i still love him to death and refuse to change the traits just because of the challenge but it's so frustrating sometimes