i like the bills in TS4. they keep my sims humble. i find the game gets a little boring when my sims have abundant funds, and i like that the bills are there every week to keep them on their toes. plus, my sims don't tend to live in large, expensive homes. the most i've ever had for bills was around 6k
when gravity falls and the earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye
I see the bills as a challenge. How boring would it not be if my sim lived in a huge mansion packed with all the most expensive stuff but had minimum income so the bills were almost zero? I rather like them to pay bills according to how they live their lives. Getting more expensive stuff indicates a higher economical status life including more expensive activities. I liked what someone said about higher insurance and also storage fee if keeping stuff in inventory.
Regarding RL, where I live we pay taxes based on both income and what we own, so I never actually questioned the bills in TS4. Except the butler charging when I don't play that lot, of course, but they are all fired by now
Alright, something is definitely wrong. I got sick of festivals slowing down the already slow ultra-speed and nagging neighbours, so I moved my sim to a small house in Strangeville. Made sure my household inventory was empty, had average quality stuff, got my first bill and it was a bit over 23K. Fair enough, I can live with that. Another month passes and now it's 170K! What the actual plum tree ready for harvest? The only thing I bought after moving in was a vault for my sim's fortune. That's it. Again, this makes no sense whatsoever. My sim can afford it though, and I'm tired of moving her around like a grasshopper, so I'll let her stay there for now, at least until they start claiming millions.
@Stutum the vault is the problem. That drives up bills. If you put, say, 500,000 simoleons in a money vault that has the same effect on your bills as if you had a collection of collectibles worth 500,000 simoleons on the lot.
Ah, thanks! I have had 4 mills in there, so that makes sense. It's too bad, it was fun to watch my sim play and take naps in the money pile, but the vault is definitely going.
Your sim won't need 4 mill to take a money bath. I think it's possible with less than 100.000 so maybe keep the vault but store less money in it?
What if you have a really wild garden area outside with lots of wild growth? Do you also have to pay extra for that with the bills since they're technically items on your lot?
I'm thinking about this area on Sulani I really fleshed out the garden with but never actually lived in. Would that garden literally crash the bills despite being outdoor wild growth and the house just a shack?
Alright, something is definitely wrong. I got sick of festivals slowing down the already slow ultra-speed and nagging neighbours, so I moved my sim to a small house in Strangeville. Made sure my household inventory was empty, had average quality stuff, got my first bill and it was a bit over 23K. Fair enough, I can live with that. Another month passes and now it's 170K! What the actual plum tree ready for harvest? The only thing I bought after moving in was a vault for my sim's fortune. That's it. Again, this makes no sense whatsoever. My sim can afford it though, and I'm tired of moving her around like a grasshopper, so I'll let her stay there for now, at least until they start claiming millions.
@Stutum the vault is the problem. That drives up bills. If you put, say, 500,000 simoleons in a money vault that has the same effect on your bills as if you had a collection of collectibles worth 500,000 simoleons on the lot.
Ah, thanks! I have had 4 mills in there, so that makes sense. It's too bad, it was fun to watch my sim play and take naps in the money pile, but the vault is definitely going.
Your sim won't need 4 mill to take a money bath. I think it's possible with less than 100.000 so maybe keep the vault but store less money in it?
Guess I could do that, but even with only just enough money to do that I imagine the bills will still sting, so I'm gonna scratch that and stick with average quality stuff to keep the bills down.
I have had problems with bills arriving while my Sim is on a community lot. The game will bill the Sim based on the value of the community lot. Perhaps it even adds the two lot values together; I'm not sure.
Then I get an outrageous bill that I just have to cheat the funds to pay.
Oh, really? I wonder if that's why I receive bills on a community lot even though my sim has the Off the Grid lot trait. I was wondering why. Now I know to keep my sim home on bill day.
Now I got curious about those outdoor plants... see if you move they remain there, even if you take all your stuff with you. Makes me wonder if maybe they're not actually included in the rent.
I actually found one good use for the vault. It might be old news but I'll say it anyway. If you want to add a new sim to your household through CAS, you can stash your fortune in the vault so you won't lose it, since your household funds get reset once you add a sim (I don't know if this is a bug or if they did it on purpose), I learned that the hard way. Just stash absolutely all of your cash in there and then just sell the vault when you get back, and you'll still have your fortune as well as a 22.000 bonus.
Well they got rid of the repo man and replaced it with bills. I like the bills. Teaches Simmers responsibility and honestly if it really was realistic, bills would be a lot higher than they are now so I think they have been pretty generous with them and fun way to play rags to riches.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
Sorry for the necro, I can't find the button to make a new thread for some reason.
Is your personal / household inventory and residential lot the only things that get factor into bills or do retail and restaurant lots you own included also? I was planning to open up 2-3 different types of retail lots under one household but wasn't sure if they would all of that property value would get add to my bills.
Comments
Regarding RL, where I live we pay taxes based on both income and what we own, so I never actually questioned the bills in TS4. Except the butler charging when I don't play that lot, of course, but they are all fired by now
Your sim won't need 4 mill to take a money bath. I think it's possible with less than 100.000 so maybe keep the vault but store less money in it?
I'm thinking about this area on Sulani I really fleshed out the garden with but never actually lived in. Would that garden literally crash the bills despite being outdoor wild growth and the house just a shack?
It isn’t complicated. Basically more stuff = higher bills.
Guess I could do that, but even with only just enough money to do that I imagine the bills will still sting, so I'm gonna scratch that and stick with average quality stuff to keep the bills down.
Oh, really? I wonder if that's why I receive bills on a community lot even though my sim has the Off the Grid lot trait. I was wondering why. Now I know to keep my sim home on bill day.
Is your personal / household inventory and residential lot the only things that get factor into bills or do retail and restaurant lots you own included also? I was planning to open up 2-3 different types of retail lots under one household but wasn't sure if they would all of that property value would get add to my bills.