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How do players use worlds, neighborhoods?
simplyzoe
Posts: 428 Member
I have a question which leads to feedback. How do you play the neighborhoods, worlds?
I am a multifamily player and I like themed neighborhoods. Here is how my game breaks down
Willow Creek is Farm Themed, which I do not have all the items for, no chickens, horses, cows etc. but it is the only neighborhood big enough to put commercial lots into like a farmers market and greenhouse into the neighborhood and still have enough lots to put farms. I will have sims travel there for all things farm related like buying fruits and herbs etc. Also families there will own the farmers market, greenhouse, vet clinic etc. My oldest families live there and their kids move out to college and then either marry and set up household in other places or move back home to continue the farm.
Newcrest Commercial, the whole neighborhood consist of spa, restaurants, arts center etc.
Brindleton Bay Victorian Style but again I do not have the build mode items to make it look right, nor the clothing, furniture, etc. (if I liked vampires I would put them in Victorian style homes or in the city) Also the neighborhood is limited on the amount of lots but I like the ocean feel.
Sulani Island of course but the neighborhood is so small, other than the rabbit-hole jobs and lack of lots I like it ok. I am putting the young adult sims there who are getting married out of college.
San Myshuno is city and I like having apartments but I rarely play it because of noisy neighbors that I cannot get to stop and my sims do not get enough sleep, so school fails and jobs fail and parents, toddlers pass-out.
Oasis Springs I may make into a Mars colony eventually but again I would need build mode and furniture stuff
Windenburg I do not play yet
Del Sol Valley I guess would be the best for "modern style housing" but I really was not impressed with the neighborhood, although now I may reconsider.
I have played this way since the Sims 1 where I sectioned off different areas to make them themed and have been waiting for the build mode and items to do it in TS4 but it is hard in this game to accomplish, especially if one does not use mods or CC content.
Are there basic theme styles common to most players?
As stated mine are;
Farming
Victorian
Modern
Futuristic
Island
City
what are yours?
I am a multifamily player and I like themed neighborhoods. Here is how my game breaks down
Willow Creek is Farm Themed, which I do not have all the items for, no chickens, horses, cows etc. but it is the only neighborhood big enough to put commercial lots into like a farmers market and greenhouse into the neighborhood and still have enough lots to put farms. I will have sims travel there for all things farm related like buying fruits and herbs etc. Also families there will own the farmers market, greenhouse, vet clinic etc. My oldest families live there and their kids move out to college and then either marry and set up household in other places or move back home to continue the farm.
Newcrest Commercial, the whole neighborhood consist of spa, restaurants, arts center etc.
Brindleton Bay Victorian Style but again I do not have the build mode items to make it look right, nor the clothing, furniture, etc. (if I liked vampires I would put them in Victorian style homes or in the city) Also the neighborhood is limited on the amount of lots but I like the ocean feel.
Sulani Island of course but the neighborhood is so small, other than the rabbit-hole jobs and lack of lots I like it ok. I am putting the young adult sims there who are getting married out of college.
San Myshuno is city and I like having apartments but I rarely play it because of noisy neighbors that I cannot get to stop and my sims do not get enough sleep, so school fails and jobs fail and parents, toddlers pass-out.
Oasis Springs I may make into a Mars colony eventually but again I would need build mode and furniture stuff
Windenburg I do not play yet
Del Sol Valley I guess would be the best for "modern style housing" but I really was not impressed with the neighborhood, although now I may reconsider.
I have played this way since the Sims 1 where I sectioned off different areas to make them themed and have been waiting for the build mode and items to do it in TS4 but it is hard in this game to accomplish, especially if one does not use mods or CC content.
Are there basic theme styles common to most players?
As stated mine are;
Farming
Victorian
Modern
Futuristic
Island
City
what are yours?
2
Comments
The rest don't have specific themes, but my off-the-grid lots tend to go to Sulani, my famechasers tend to live in Del Sol Valley, my hip young people go to San Myshuno, and then Windenburg is more government/sporting careers and Oasis Springs is more like a retirement community, where I mostly just move various families into Willow Creek. Brindleton Bay is where my outdoorsy sims live because they like the ocean.
I seldom use Magnolia Promenade, though.
Most of Newcrest is used for buildings from expansion and game packs as well as a few special restaurants. Three households are living there.
I use Newcrest the same way for spas, bars, clubs, etc.
I usually start my households in San Myshuno.
Windenburg is a party town
Sulani is a place just for my sims to chill or retire.
Glimmerbrook and Forgotten Hollow are where all my occults end up though I honestly wish both worlds were bigger.
Brindleton Bay is where I put my animal lovers.
Strangerville I first solve the mystery but afterwards have it as a political hotspot.
Oasis Springs is built up with high-end luxury houses because The Landgaabs are there and I doubt Nancy would tolerate poor people in her "world".
Del Sol Valley only has Judith Ward as the only celebrity I don't delete. I could care less about most of them. I want fame to actually mean something. I'll sometimes move my sim there if I decide to have them chase fame. Usually, I don't and keep Judith as the only famous sim around.
With the exception of The Goths, I have Willow Creek as a middle-class neighbourhood.
So starting in Willow Creek I have this as a mix of residential and commercial just as it shipped but I do remodel & replace homes and venues. I see Magnolia Promenade as an extension of Willow Creek’s downtown and in my mind it leads into Newcrest which I also have as a mix of commercial & residential with the neighborhood in the upper left nearest the city backdrop being brownstones and town houses, leaning a bit more commercial though with a park I just adore from the gallery on the 50x40 lot.
I envision the city backdrop in Newcrest as the edge of San Myshuno which I also imagine as being the cityscape you can see from the Foundry Cove neighborhood in Willow Creek. I pretty much play San Myshuno as is, except the Old Salt House is a restaurant and planet Honey Pop is a movie theater a s again I have remodeled and replaced almost all the lots.
Up the coast from San Myshuno across the bay lies Brindleton Bay sort of in my mind like The Hamptons in relation to NYC here in the states. I have Brindleton as is, but I have converted the Salty Paws Saloon to a restaurant, I replaced Catrina Lynx’s house with a bar I built, and moved her and the kitties to the converted warehouse style home further down the wharf. I replaced the dog park with a farmer’s market, and put a church/wedding chapel across from the vet clinic, the 40x30 lot near the marina is a hotel.
Across the bay from both Brindleton and San Myshuno is Windeberg, Britechester, Forgotten Hollow and Granite Falls & Glimmer Brook. Other than some remodeling and replacing of buildings I pretty much play them as they are, I have church built by Cinderellimouse called St. Plumbob’s Cathedral in place of the Narwhal Arms, that I just love and use for weddings and club gatherings that include singing, reading, playing the organ, and speeches. It contains additional housing now for my Universities since they’re but a short train ride away. In Britechester I expanded all the dorms, redecorated the pub, townhomes, and university commons on both campuses.
Forgotten Hollow lies shrouded in the mist at the bottom of the mountains visible in Windenburg a few miles (km) from the Von Haunt Estate, the only thing I did here was add a cemetery to the 30x30 lot and redecorate the existing homes. Up in the mountains is the vacation venue of Granite Falls where my sims enjoy fishing, camping, etc. it’s rumored that just above the falls lies a community of spellcasters and a portal to their magic realm. I have done some extensive work remodeling in Glimmerbrook because ugh.
as you leave these mountains communities the highway opens up, the elevation slowly drops and a desert landscape begins to develop as you come into Oasis Springs, which I haven’t really messed with too much. I replaced the museum with a bowling alley, and redecorated and remodeled existing lots, I envision it as a community very similar to Palm Springs CA and many of my sims retire here, further down the road is Strangerville, a Weird & mysterious pit stop between Oasis Springs & Del Sol Valley. Again really just a dress up of existing lots...except those houses in Strangerville, they needed gut renovating. If you keep driving through Del Sol Valley far South over the border you will come to Selvadorada, or you can hop a flight to Sulani. Neither of which I have really altered because I really like them in their original form, except I did add a hotel/spa in Sulani, that I use Kawaii Stacies Hotels & Resorts mod for.
You use your worlds much the same way that I've always envisioned them in my mind. The Sims in my story are based in San Myshuno which is the hub of everything. Some of the older established Sims and their young adult children who don't have the funds to make the move to the city have stayed in the suburbs of Willow Creek. Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade are for businesses and entertainment. Other worlds such as Windenburg and Brindleton Bay are close enough for day trips. One family has a second home in BB.
In my imagination, Oasis Springs and Del Sol Valley are further away. I use them for over-nighters for business or weekend trips and high-end shopping. There's a City Hall in Del Sol Valley and that's where the current gubernatorial campaign kicked off. Sulani, Granite Falls and Selvadorada are all designated for vacation trips only. The estranged family of one of my Sims pretend-lives in Selvadorada. It's a pity that they aren't truly allowed to live there. If she visits them, they all have to be sent on vacation together. It's clunky, but there's no other way. I'm still pretty bummed that Selvadoradan natives have no actual homes.
The frequency of visits between certain friends and family members depends on how far apart they 'live'. Other San Myshuno or Willow Creek residents are frequent visitors with closer relationships. Visitors from out of town come in for weekends or big events.
That's the only way that I've been able to reconcile the many climates and building styles in the game. It's pretty nice to be able to tell a story that way, actually. It gives the game world a wider scope than the previous games, for sure.
If only each world had more lots and the residents of each world would mainly stay put. That's the biggest problem with storytelling, no one stays in their designated areas. If I send my Sims to a local Ramen joint in San Myshuno, I don't expect that they should keep running into residents from Sulani or Del Sol Valley. Thankfully, I'm able to use a mod to make Sims leave a lot so that screenshots remain consistent.
I wish that EA would provide a way of designating which Sims are likely to show up where, including NPCs.
Ditto for me.
Willow Creek - Real Housewives of Willowcreek with the drama
I absolutely love the thought you have put into this! Thanks!
As for me, I don't put too much focus on things. Brindleton Bay is easily the one that has the most work in it, though. Most of its residents are occult sims, with a couple of mixed-occult homes. Aside from the community center I built (which is still equipped with a pool, cauldrons and coffins for occults in need), all the community lots I built revolve around being mystical and creepy. Basically, it's a small, friendly town for the weird.
Windenburg is largely populated by old witch families, nearly all of them purebloods who look down on marrying outside their species. I cleared out the island's inhabitants and built a magic school, an abandoned haunted house, and a prison for bad witches. This place, along with Sulani, are considered different countries and far away from the rest of the world. No one can really travel here without a plane or something.
Oasis Springs is mostly for normal sims and, for the most part, is untouched. But this is where I put my aliens and robots, giving it a sci-fi feel. In my head, StrangerVille is few miles North-East, so my sims can reasonably travel between the two locations.
Sulani has a rental house, a convenience store, a restaurant, and a community center to make it more self-sustaining. Mermaids usually live here, but they're believed to be a myth among the locals. They have secret "pods" (clubs) and meet up at night to swim and discuss things. Sometimes, the Sulani Community Club (a fellowship of neighbors) will hold bake sales and stuff in the town square. I write down how much money is made, take it away from the houses, and put that money towards improving places on the island.
San Myshuno connects to Brindleton Bay and Newcrest. Aside from having a vet clinic, I don't think I really changed it. But I did add several new households to add more flavor and flesh out the community.
Newcrest connects to Willow Creek, Magnolia Promenade and San Myshuno. The top part of the neighborhood is for residential houses, while the bottom has a cemetery, a sushi restaurant, and a boarding school. The right side of town has an orphanage, a juvenile hall, a hotel, and the home of the town's richest family.
Willow Creek is still a small suburb. I built an old age home for elder sims, mostly so I can put them all in one place and play on Short Lifespan to make them all die faster. But it's also the biggest reason to visit the town, because my sims like to visit their relatives or volunteer their time to care for them.
And yeah. Everywhere else is mostly the same, save for new families or changes not important enough to mention. The only exception is Britechester, which is so small and already packed with things that I can't even touch it.
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
It would be greatly beneficial if the sims team would leave the whole destination world idea behind and merge all worlds on one screen. All they'd have to do is add rental and residential lot type to all lots, so we can live and vacation in any world. I'd definitely place residents in both Granite Falls and Selvadorada. In the meantime, I simply play pretend with the lot types. Also, because most worlds seem to be heavily US inspired, I imagine they are one country, aside from Windenburg, Selvadorada, Sulani, and possibly Britechester (it vaguely reminds me of D.C. mixed with The Netherlands). I really want more obvious non American worlds.
Granite Falls has 4 rental/residential cabins, one camping ground, and a modern luxury spa in the secluded waterfall area. It sits on the northwest corner of Sim Country.
Selvadorada has a cantina, an excavation site for archaeologists, an ancient temple of artifacts, and the rest are rental/residential. The homes on the cliffs are reserved for luxury loving sims who'd rather live apart from the town. Most foreign visitors travel here by flight or incredibly long road trips.
Forgotten Hollow is a village of supernaturals, mostly vampires, one ghost, and a witch. The only mortals, the Goths, moved here due to Mortimer's obsession with supernaturals and the undead. As a writer of horror novels and documentaries, he finds a plethora of inspiration here. Bella is the only Goth that was turned by Vlad. The town is residential only, all Victorian styled. It could be nestled behind the mountains of Windenburg or Granite Falls. I've yet to decide...
Glimmerbrook is another world reserved for occults only, the majority of them are spellcasters, but a vampire or two live in their midst. I haven't spent much time creating this world, but it'll be fully residential with the largest lot possibly being a live-in academy. It too, could be connected to either Windenburg or Granite Falls, but it is certainly connected to Forgotten Hollow, its neighboring village a mere hour away.
Magnolia Promenade is retail only. It consists of a small boutique, a flower shop, a large bookstore with cafe on the top level, and a large department store with an apartment on the top level for the owners, whose true home is in Willow Creek. And of course, this is basically a neighborhood of Willow Creek.
StrangerVille has a saloon, library, and a Native reservation, where in another save I've placed a military base. The remaining lots are residential. The sims living here are native families, cowboy outlaw types, oil tycoons, and military families. The world closest to Strangerville is Oasis Springs, approximately a quarter days drive south.
Oasis Springs has a cinema, bowling alley, gym, gas station, and Wild West Museum. For residential lots, I used various Spanish style homes for the wealthier sims in the northwest of town, and old mid century homes on the southeast end for sims with average income. This is mostly a family town with law enforcement as the prominent career, due to moderate criminal activity. Aside from StrangerVille to it's north, the world closest is the city of Del Sol Valley, out west.
Del Sol Valley lies on the west coast of the country, and is the home of famous sims, young and old, as well as rising stars, or sims who simply aspire to meet celebrities. Mirage Park is where your everyday residents live, Pinnacle Hills is for the wealthy stars, and the downtown area consists of a museum, lounge (for celebs only), gym, small park with food truck, and an apartment building for young adult silver spoon sims with famous parents.
I haven't done anything with Sulani yet, besides place a resort on the 50x50 lot. It's been hard to keep up with all the new packs and ideas I have for them. Eventually, it will be a mix of residential/rental and community lots, with stand out careers in conservation, marine biology, and scuba diving instructors, as well as lifeguards. Wish I had a tour guide mod... The sims here are a mix of island natives, retirees, and visitors/second home owners from the mainland. Surrounded by a vast ocean hundreds of miles off the continent's west coast, visitors must travel here by flight.
Willow Creek is a traditional suburban town in the southeast of the country. It's filled with large families, aside from a few. It has a park, courthouse, church, bar, shop, and restaurant. The main careers here are education and medical. There is a judge and lawyer, and a couple of retail employees, as well. Magnolia Promenade is its shopping district, and New Crest is its connected city, a short drive away.
Newcrest is the hub in the southeast. The east side has a library, park, cafe, spa, and one apartment building. More apartments are settled in the downtown district, where the young professionals reside. And the southwest area is where sims with seasoned careers, families, or retired sims live (because the golf course seemed fitting). Main careers are business, culinary, tech, medical, and education.
On the opposite side of the country, San Myshuno is the largest and most bustling city in the northeast region. There's a club/photography studio, 5 star restaurant/lounge, bar and grill, cafe, art gallery, and city park. The rest are apartment and penthouses. This save, believe it or not, is my most populous since I've squished max amount of sims in most apartments. I've also divided some of the massive apartments into 2 to 4 units (930 Medina Studios, 20 Culpepper, and a couple of units in uptown). Most residents are young adults, but there are families as well. The city is also my most diverse, so it has the most careers: business, politics, fashion, culinary, art, writing, social media, tech, and athletic are the most notable. Brindleton Bay and Britechester are it's closest worlds. Many sims from those towns commute to the city for work.
Brindleton Bay is a fishing town and agricultural hub of the northeast coast. It has close ties with San Myshuno and Britechester, with San Myshuno as the main hub. I plan on changing the Cat's Tail lot from a lounge to a residential, and move the lounge to where the yacht is. There is a restaurant on the docks, a cafe, and a retail lot, which is a townhouse in another save. There are two parks (I'll replace the small one with a house probably), a vet clinic, house, and a renovated barn. I imagine the farm in the backdrop across the street belong to the residents of the barn. Main careers here are veterinarian and agricultural, writers, and a couple of hedge fund managers and high administrative branches of education, who own immaculate beach homes. Oop, I almost forgot the island which has a cozy B&B.
Britechester, also in the northeast region, has a bar, and retail lot on Gibb's Hill. I plopped libraries on campus because I feel like that's where university libraries should be. Most of the town is residential, dorms, and places for student gatherings. The careers for adults and elders are professors, deans, and chancellors, but the students have majors in a variety of fields and part time jobs.
A mix of old and new, Windenburg is a large historical city and cultural hub, situated eastbound across the ocean. This place attracts millions of visitors ever year and even residents from other countries. The old town consists of a retail lot, cafe, library, cathedral, pub, ancient ruins, and three residential lots. The modern district has a cafe, a kids park, an outdoor movie park, nightclub, and vegetarian restaurant. The island is all residential. These families prefer seclusion, but their close-knit community sometimes gather at the bluffs. Noble families of the countryside have close ties to the Royals, who live in the palace north toward the snowy alps. Most notable careers are politics, business, culinary, medical, education, writing, and nobility, heirs/heiresses. There are a couple of countryside residents who grow produce for the locals.
Willow Creek - a family neighbourhood, with sururban style houses, and a spa and bar. Pretty much stays the same, but I add in new houses sometimes.
Newcrest - It used to be very modern, all modern style buildings. Then I changed it completely and made in into a Nashville style neighbourhood (for my country music sims), and made all the buildings into a New Orleans theme - added bars and lounges - all very musical. And now it's another suburban neighbourhood, with a row of community lots - bars, restaurants, spa, bowling etc.
Oasis Springs - At first it was a completely Spanish/Mexican themed nieghbourhood, with traditional buildings. Then after Get Famous (and the pretty useless Del Sol neighbourhood), I made it into an LA style for my famous sims, so I added a few modern mansions in with the tradional Spanish style. But now, I have changed the whole of the waterfront into a new university campus, called Foxbury Oasis, and added student housing and a Foxbury Commons (basically because I can't bare the whole stair/zooming camera debacle on the Foxbury Campus! And partly because I miss the desert university from TS2). I love the idea of science sims going off to the desert to Uni
Sulani - have kept it the original theme really, a holiday/outdoorsy neighbourhood for sims who want to live the good life.
Brindleton Bay - Farmhouses - I love the old farm style. I don't like the lots back from the road, but now I think they'll be perfect for tiny homes.
San Myshuno - Just modern apartments. I mostly use it for my generic townies (gallery downloads)
Strangerville - modern mixed with basic wooden builds - trying to keep it authentic with a deserted town type feel. I didn't like the random Victorian original theme - it felt wrong with the middle of the desert!
Del Sol Valley - I don't really use it. It doesn't have enough lots to feel like 'neighbourhoods'. If there were 5/6 lots in the normal area I think it'd be great as a downtown LA/urban type neighbourhood. But the lot sizes are MASSIVE for that, building big houses it that neighbourhood feels really weird. And 3 lots just feels empty. If we could make apartments, it'd be perfect. But as we can't I just don't play it.
Windenberg - I've kept it the same, just because I don't really play it.
Forgotten Hollow: Gothic Victorian home,
Gothic Underground home &
a Moonlight Falls Cabin.
Glimmerbrook: Batman's Manor, Regina's Castle, Underground Magical home &
Supernaturals' home.
Oasis Springs: Luke Skywalker's childhood home, Stargate SG1 Tok'Ra Underground home, Canteens, Cleopatra's Pyramid home, Ancient Greek home & Ancient Roman home.
Sulani Island: Ariel's actual underwater home, Moana's Island home, Island Witch's home & South Pacific house.
Windenburg: Medieval Castle, Victorian Manor, Snow White's Cottage, Cinderella's Chateau, Rapunzel's Tower, Pocahontas/John Rolf's Cabin & Storm's House.
Strangerville: Doctor Who's TARDIS, SG1's Bunker, Secret Underground Science Lab home & a high above Spaceship home.
Del Los Valley: Venues & Landscapes.
Magnolia Promenade: Vet Clinic.
Newcrest: SciFi Planetary Houses & Landscapes.
San Myshino City: Penthouse Venues &
Tiny Living Apartments.
Willow Creek: Bella's Goth House & Landscapes.