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Do you play one-sim households?

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  • VeeDubVeeDub Posts: 1,862 Member
    edited August 2021
    I play single sims fairly often, but almost all of the sims I've been playing the past few weeks are singles. Most are "lone wolf" types (not necessarily loners as in the game trait of the same name) who don't really fit well into a typical family type structure. I do have some couples, thrupples, and families as well, but I've been on a binge of experimental saves lately, partly because I was getting bored with family style (especially legacy-style) play. Eventually I'll get back to (some of) them, I suppose. In the meantime, some of my loners abide outside the law -- or at the outer rim of it. Ahem. Anyway, letting my imagination run amok keeps things interesting for me.
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  • hymnhehimhymnhehim Posts: 518 Member
    I find it easier to take care of only one sim :D
    Hey, I'm Milo (he/him)! I love The Sims 4, and I've been playing it since December of 2020. My Sims bestie and forums bestie is Gonnawin1111, aka V.
  • EllupelluelluEllupelluellu Posts: 6,777 Member
    I always start with one sim. And often play single sim households only. they have different goals than those who have families :) I only have 2 households, currently with all 8 slots used :)
    My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
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  • Umbreon12Umbreon12 Posts: 877 Member
    I have had single Sims households, but they never last long for me.
    One single household I am going to use to play Strangerville, however, I ended giving her a dog to live with her, and I think I gave her another dog later on.
    Another single household ended up with two female dogs, that were in-laws to each other in a way,one female's brother and the other female's sister are in another household with babies. Well, later on, I downloaded two Sims I found on the Gallery based off of the movie WolfWalkers, and had them move into her house, and she became their caregiver. So, the household is now her, her two dogs, and her two adopted daughters.
    So, bottom line, I start a single sim household, but it doesn't last long.
  • MoonlightGrahamMoonlightGraham Posts: 884 Member
    I often play single Sim households. I'm still fairly new to the game, so it's easier for me to learn its mechanics when I have only one Sim to concern myself with. I'm getting fairly comfortable shifting between two household members, but I still find it a lot easier to experience the wider world in which my Sims are based when I'm not managing more than one of them.
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  • GrumpyGlowfishGrumpyGlowfish Posts: 2,207 Member
    edited August 2021
    Thank you all for your replies! I read them all, and it's always fascinating to see how differently people play the same game.

    I just realised I failed to explain in my opening post why exactly I get bored with one-sim households. The problem is not that I don't know what to do with my sims, it's that I don't know what to do with myself while they're doing their thing. I tell them what to do, and then I just... sit there and watch them do it. Which can be interesting if it's the first time I see this activity because it just came with a new pack, but most things get boring after a while. Of course I could just speed-3 through everything, but then it feels like I'm playing the game wrong.

    With more than one sim to look after, there's always somebody to order around somewhere in the house, somebody I have to stop from using the grill again when there's already 300 leftovers in the fridge, then stop the stupid vegetarian from eating meaty leftovers even though vegetarian alternatives are available, find someone else to greet the guests at the door before they run away, etc. It can be chaotic like this, but I never run out of things to do, and even have to pause the game sometimes when things get too stressful.

    musteni wrote: »
    Do you count it a one-sim household if they have a pet cat/dog?
    In this case, yes, because cats and dogs are not playable even though they take up a household slot. None of my six or seven one-sim households have pets. Might be worth considering to spice things up!

    But you also mentioned that one of your sims lives with her cat in an apartment. Does this cause problems with your game every now and then? I've discovered that, in my game at least, pets and apartments don't mix well for some reason. When my sims travel to another lot and then try to return, sometimes the world selection screen comes up instead with an error message. No progress is lost when this happens, I can just load the lot again and continue where I had left off, but it's still annoying, and the reason I've removed all pets from apartments.

    I have only ever played with a single household when I play Pinstar's Legacy Challenge, and that is part of the set-up rules. I get way too bored, too quickly unless I have what amounts to be chaos in my games. LOL I love full households. I play with Autonomy on Full blast. I generally will follow one particular Sim, but I also will employ the Pause button in order to set up interactions in the queues of the other members of the household.
    That's exactly how I usually play (except I prefer well-ordered chaos over complete chaos), and with only one sim, it's simply not possible. :D

    logion wrote: »
    My Dream Home Decorator, Patina Wainscot is living alone and it's working pretty well because the career is an active career so I would rarely be able to play any other sim that lives with her anyway.

    When I want to play households with more sims I prefer households with three sims, sometimes four but more than that and I find it frustrating, especially now with the teleporting/stairs bugs.
    Yeah, single sims are perfect candidates for active careers. I still remember the first scientist I ever played. He was living with his wife and sister-in-law, and the only one of the three I didn't really know what to do with, which is why I chose him to try out that new career in the first place. After just one day at the lab, he was suddenly the most interesting sim in the house, simply because I enjoyed playing the active career and got annoyed by having to take care of the others in-between shifts. :D

    Three to four sims is my ideal household size. The biggest of my 70+ households has seven sims, and I think it's the only one that big, because that's when things get too busy, even for my liking!
    Post edited by GrumpyGlowfish on
  • mustenimusteni Posts: 5,403 Member
    ...
    musteni wrote: »
    Do you count it a one-sim household if they have a pet cat/dog?
    In this case, yes, because cats and dogs are not playable even though they take up a household slot. None of my six or seven one-sim households have pets. Might be worth considering to spice things up!

    But you also mentioned that one of your sims lives with her cat in an apartment. Does this cause problems with your game every now and then? I've discovered that, in my game at least, pets and apartments don't mix well for some reason. When my sims travel to another lot and then try to return, sometimes the world selection screen comes up instead with an error message. No progress is lost when this happens, I can just load the lot again and continue where I had left off, but it's still annoying, and the reason I've removed all pets from apartments.
    ...
    I've never had that sort of problem in apartments. I've only noticed some routing errors when walking dogs (sims start spinning aorund and need to be reseted). I think pets also help with the problem of not knowing what to do when your sim is skilling etc. as they can be more interesting to watch sometimes. Also what I forgot to mention is that for one-sim households I feel it's important they have a good social network of family and friends to help balancing things. The phonecalls can interrupt the perhaps monotonous life that your sim leading and you're always free to go as long as your sims needs are ok and they don't need to go to work - no worries about what anyone else is doing! Did you know you can also send a happy/energetic/romantic/sad text to someone and be surprised where they invite you? (They don't call back every time, but often they do.)
  • AaleynAaleyn Posts: 293 Member
    LiELF wrote: »
    I switch around playing different households so I don't get bored,

    I wanted to quote that part because it is exactly how I do :)
    I'm a rotational player, and in all of my 3 saves, I have several households that I'm playing rotationally.
    I have many single sim households, and with them I often focus on their careers + their aspirations and they also travel often (having vacations and spending time in different community lots). Some of them own a store, which is fun that I can have different types of stores, and I find it easier to run a business with just one sim; the owner of the store often has a small apartment in there, so he/she can stay there longer and focus on their business dedicatedly.

    I do have a lot of families too and I enjoy playing with different families, and I also have other types of "many-sims-households", but single sim households are great to play when wanting to have a little break from needing to control several sims and to then only focus on one sim :)


    "Where words fail, music speaks" ~ Hans Christian Andersen ♥*♥*♥ My Gallery ID: Aaleyn
  • HermitgirlHermitgirl Posts: 8,825 Member
    It's my preferred way to play to have one sim or a household that only focuses on one sim.
    I'll play in ways like having them develop a kind of career or aspiration based character. Usually I'll have them top their career and many related skills along with personality ones (like a scientist who loves music).
    Most of my sims get their relationships from going out with friends or inviting them over. Sometimes they visit other households for long periods with that always welcome trait. It just really varies depending on the type of persona I want them to have.
    Although I do also make super sims that just eventually excel at nearly everything... and on the flip side really deviant sims that just cause chaos also.
    Sometimes I'll give them a helper (playable) roommate, but I basically still feel like I'm playing one sim household in some ways because the other one will just be there to make money, or be the parent, or do the cleaning or have extra clubs that will benefit the sim I'm focused on. Usually the helper sim will have traits so they are more autonomous with being the helper and taking care of themselves.
    Also unplayable roommates can add to it (help, drama, social ect and extra funds).
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  • Rabellaka_SimmingRabellaka_Simming Posts: 46 Member
    I primarily play challenges, so it depends on what challenge I'm actively playing. On one save, I'm playing The Martian challenge, so he's alone. In my other save file though, I'm playing the Royal Kingdom challenge, and it's only on the first generation, so it's all families at this point.
  • simmeroriginsimmerorigin Posts: 1,370 Member
    I usually start out with the Sims 2 premades and play rotationally. This way I can intersect their storylines and make really interesting neighborhoods!
    He/him | Simmer since Sims 1 | Active Sims 2 wants-based rotational player, Sims 3 legacy player | My gameplay rules via PleasantSims | Bring back challenge and depth to the Sims: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17959464/#Comment_17959464
  • SilentKittySilentKitty Posts: 4,665 Member
    I play rotationally so sometimes I play single-sim-households.

    Also I am building up different tray-folders with townies for my saves so that is an opportunity for me to spend a little while with a different types of sims. These sims are just placed in the world unplayed. I prefer to make my own townies rather than letting the game generate them. All my sims are like actors. Sometimes they are the main and other times they are in the background.

    My current townie-project. A military-guy that is going to complete the sport-aspiration that came requires rock climbing and skiing. And he is going to live in the Spice district and collect all the snow globes.

    I really like my little townie-project. There is always something I want to add, a new character to try. These saves are played until I have achieved the goal I set up.
  • calaprfycalaprfy Posts: 3,927 Member
    Nope. I get too bored with just one sim.

    Same.

    I really only play with one sim when I send that sim to university and even then there are roommates in the mix. Some of my sims meet their future spouse during their university days.
  • NorthDakotaGamerNorthDakotaGamer Posts: 2,559 Member
    I normally start with no less than 2 sims. I just get too bored with just a single.
  • PeralPeral Posts: 873 Member
    I often start with a one Sim household and then sends the Sim away to the right spot to improve his work skill, so they spemd very little time at home. It is fun to see which Sims they will connect with and if he/she finds some love interest
  • Simily4Simily4 Posts: 61 Member
    I play a single sim for me, because it's taking care of two people: the sim and me irl; above that would be a crowd. Remember to always add yourself when you're asked how many you are taking care of right now, virtually and physically. But all light jokes aside, it is also difficult to take care of two sims, especially if both have very different interests. I know--a challenge--but it is what is: a very, very hard challenge. Plus, the other unplayed sims that will disrupt your flow who will come to visit your sims' household. So in short, yeah, just one sim is (more than) enough for me to handle.
  • CareyEve36CareyEve36 Posts: 287 Member
    When I first started to play the game, I only played with one household, usually the sim that I create. Later I started playing with other households, pre made ones and even started making more than just my usual sim that I always play with!
  • ChampandGirlieChampandGirlie Posts: 2,482 Member
    I have some single households. They often eventually pair off but I sometimes play them as single sims for a while beforehand. I often turn aging off for single sims or couples so that they have time to go and do various things around the worlds. They travel, go to restaurants, go to other different venues and have events like parties. If they have family and friends, they do socialize with them but also work on their own interests.

    My sims are generally played like characters or personalities. I give them backgrounds as needed. They usually have some cultural or ethnic origin whatever that is. Now they can have likes and dislikes. Beyond that, I add more interests and generally have a concept of who they are. For example, I played Hugo Villareal as a single sim for a long time. He was an aristocrat and actually not that interested in romance until he married his one love whom he met playing chess. He loved playing chess, gaming (geeky sim), making drinks in his bar, listening to jazz music in his lounge and cooking gourmet meals himself even though he had a butler. He would sometimes chat with his butler like an old friend or go on a swim. He had a beloved hound named Matador whom he'd take on long walks around the island.

    I basically had a strong concept of who he was and what he liked to do. I would play him through that. He would mostly socialize with his siblings. His brother Max is actually very similar to him, except a vampire with a fondness for the ladies. I based those characters on being really aristocratic. Hugo is so wealthy that he doesn't even care he has a butler but cooks for himself anyway. I come up with details like that to figure out what they do. If it isn't fun, I don't do it, but I rotate a lot so I get to do a lot of different things as a player. I had one character who was created around the theme of being shipwrecked in Sulani complete with the unkempt look and living just off of what he could gather. He would never leave his area but he fell in love with a conservationist and randomly won the lottery. Now he isn't single but that was a playable concept - like Robinson Crusoe.

    Sometimes they do have drama and sometimes they just live their lives around the worlds but I always have a clear sense of who they are. They might go on a jungle adventure or skiing or bowling or partying around town. I come up with stories for some of them and sometimes I let the game figure it out based on who they run into. I utilize the different gameplay objects and settings a lot.

    Maybe a couple falls in love while dancing in a fountain or I move an interesting roommate in. Sometimes I'll have them date 3 or 5 different people to find the best match. Some of them really struggle with romance every so often. I have had a few sims who would strike out a lot with dates and be single for a while.

    I'd be open to some kind of "story-making" pack or new challenges even though I often come up with my own. Sometimes I am just playing the game though and they are just happy sims living their lives. I like switching from family gameplay to single YA and adult sims living their lives. I have sometimes played with independent teens who went to live on their own and are mostly responsible. I think I am probably a good story creator; it is kind of a creative outlet. One thing to note is that I usually play with sims I like for whom I want to see where their lives go. No need to be bored, play someone you like or who entertains you.

    Single sims can also easily explore more of the world. What do you think is fun? You can make a sim just revolving around that - a master pet trainer, a heartless gold digger who dumps spouses, an astronaut in Batuu who spends time being a geek, an artist or bohemian, whatever concept. If you get bored and don't want to switch the household, they can keep changing interests.
    Champ and Girlie are dogs.
  • wahini2024wahini2024 Posts: 547 Member
    I have a lot of them and they're very social and skill/ job/ dating driven (even if they have the loner trait). They throw dinner parties or travel in groups for a day out to the beach. They also have various clubs like fitness or painting or play soccer etc.
    None of my sims start as families in cas. I prefer to let them find their special sim as their story develops and then they become multi sim homes.

    I find playing in the city helps as there's more interaction at the apartments between neighbors while single.
  • sunblondsunblond Posts: 1,035 Member
    Well, I often start with a single sim, but then they make friends, get married, and have kids. So, I end up rotating to the friends lot and eventually to the kids who grow up and move out. Anyway, my sims rarely stay single sim households for long, but then that would get really boring for me.
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  • BoergeAarg61BoergeAarg61 Posts: 949 Member
    Just what it says in the title: Do you have households with only one playable sim, and if yes, how do you keep things interesting?

    No. I don't like feeling lonely, and presume sims don't either.
  • Garaya13Garaya13 Posts: 60 Member
    I have two at the moment, the first is a guy living off the grid in the cottage by the waterfall in the new pack's world, though that one is soon to be a 2 sim household (unless we're counting pets in which case it already is 2 sims).
    The other one stays interesting because that sim is my Super Sim challenge sim so the guy goes through so wacky stuff. So far he's solved the Strangerville mystery, maxed the military career, moved to Sulani, maxed all careers from that pack, finished the treasure, shell and underwater photo collection and fished up all Sulani fish, went to University and got 13 degrees plus the mixology certificate, got to the top level of all uni orginazations, maxed the uni skills, moved to Evergreen Harbor and maxed both skills and careers from that pack, went to Batuu and got highest rank with the Resistance and almost finished the lightsaber collection and currently he lives in San Myshuno where he has finished both collection, knows all city stall recipes and maxed both branches of the critic career. He's also completed multiple other collections and finished 13 aspirations so far. Needless to say trying to do everything in the game keeps you nice and busy.
    It does get a little tedious at points with the collections especially. For example, right now he only needs 1 more item to complete the lightsaber parts collection and it's taken me multiple real life months to finish it. Same happened with the Sulani fish where eventually all he needed was 1 rare fish which took 2,5 real life weeks before he got it.
  • Hauk150Hauk150 Posts: 358 Member
    I have a few sims living alone, but I tend to get bored, I prefer to play with more characters at the same time

    For what I like more having a single one, is to do challenges, like maxing the skills or careers without cheats, or finding all the collectables like the rocks, or fishing all the fish. With a single character I can focus more on those activities
  • bshag4lvbshag4lv Posts: 9,374 Member
    I always start out with a single sim in CAS, male or female. I play on long life span so there's plenty of time to do everything I want them to do. Most of my single sims have the lifestyle, Single and Lovin It so the attention is experiencing all the "sims' experience" before they settle down. My sims will spend maybe 2-3 nights at the local bar, downing beers, um, nectar, playing darts, fosball and video games, socialize and have a good time doing it. They travel everywhere and mostly have no 9-5 jobs, so they are well experienced by the time they get to their mid adulthood and then settle down to a family, or not. I have sims who will never marry, or have kids. The ratio of single to married with families in my saves are about 80% singles/couples with 20% or less of multi-sim households. I see more stuff in the game this way that I would normally miss.
    In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
  • MonaveilMonaveil Posts: 652 Member
    edited August 2021
    I always start with a single Sim that has maybe $500 to start with. From there they get what they can afford to buy. LilSimsie uses a Sim dressed as a hot dog to start her latest money-making schemes. She starts him with nothing but an empty lot and he goes from there. I use her strategy to start my Sims. Mine don't wear a costume though. I think the hot dog costume might be part of poor Stanley's charm. Her videos are funny.

    The first week can be tedious depending on which lot you start on. If you want almost instant wealth then start on Hallow Slough and start harvesting lilies, snapdragons, and strawberries. Depending on how wealthy you want your Sim to be, plant three or four of each. Grafting these three plants will result in dragon fruit, cow plant berries, and orchids. Way too easy.

    During the first week of a Sim's new game, they spend a lot of time at community lots and venues so they can meet other Sims. It's interesting to see who a Sim might be attracted to. I don't set up a romantic interest for my Sim to find and fall in love with because I find that a waste of time. I used to play that way though and it was fun.

    I'm not much of a family player because I don't particularly care about offspring. They're a lot of work as they should be. Once in a while, I want to see how genetics play out so a couple might have two kids.

    In a game I just started the other day, my human Sim was/is attracted to .... Vlad. Of all the SIms in the game, Vlad was the one who piqued his interest. They met at the Oasis Springs park the first Monday afternoon of this save. Vlad welcomed my Sim to the neighborhood on Tuesday night and arrived a few minutes later. After that, he called or came by to visit every day.

    When I played last night, Vlad came to visit as my Sim was leaving to check out a restaurant that serves experimental food so I had him add Vlad to his group. While they were having dinner, Vlad mentioned something about his "video game prowess" which triggered an instant romance bar. This was an unexpected development, but it's not a bad one. I use a heavily edited model of Vlad in my saves because I think what Maxis did to him was stupid. His evil trait was changed to suit what I think is appropriate for an ancient Grand Master Vampire who has managed to survive for as long as he has.

    First of all, I don't like premade Sims so I replace about 95% of them with my edits. About a year or so ago I finally took a look at what had been done to Vlad. Then, I looked at other premade Sims that have a high Charisma skill or who have the Music Lover trait and found that none of them were Evil or even Loners. What a surprise! I also looked at how Caleb and Lilith were set up, not that Maxis played favorites or anything. So, I changed Vlad's Loner trait. I also adjusted his Vampire Powers and Weaknesses. As a result, Vlad in my game is not the pathetic creature that some unimaginative twit at Maxis created. I ended up with a model that's no longer bad-looking but he's not a glamour boy with tons of CC either.

    I have played Vlad. He has many skills and has completed several aspirations. Up until now none of my Sims had been particularly interested in Vlad, or he in them, other than as someone to chat with. I've never had anyone hook up with him so I don't know what his progeny would look like. I import this model to every new game that I start. In most of my games, he only becomes friends with Vampires. In some games, he's outgoing while in others he's not.

    When I imported my version of Vlad into this game I decided to have him move out of Forgotten Hollow. So, he packed up what he'd need to furnish an off-the-grid micro tiny home. He moved to Key Point in Sulani where he can swim, fish, and go sailing. He also lectures litterbugs and poachers that invade his island. If he could get a tan then he would but Vampires can't tan. He might move back to Forgotten Hollow someday but I doubt it. He just entered the Astronaut career. Previously he was a Diver, Fisherman, and Lifeguard. He's not the scrawny guy that Maxis botched so bad.

    The saves that I start with a single Sim are rarely boring. I never know who the key players are going to be.

    PS: My Sim lives in a tiny home on the Sandtrap Flat in Oasis Springs. There's not much to do but there is fishing and a lot of things to collect.
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