I switch aspirations all the time, but I wouldn't call it a bad habit. It's just how goals work in this game.
My "problem" is that I cannot resist farming all those points, but when it comes to spending them, I restrict my sims to superficial things like asking myself if the new trait would be in-character for that sim or fits the setting. So as a result some sims sit on thousands of unspent points, but I still collec them "just in case".
I switch aspirations all the time, but I wouldn't call it a bad habit. It's just how goals work in this game.
My "problem" is that I cannot resist farming all those points, but when it comes to spending them, I restrict my sims to superficial things like asking myself if the new trait would be in-character for that sim or fits the setting. So as a result some sims sit on thousands of unspent points, but I still collec them "just in case".
Each character has only one "official" aspiration at a time, but some characters' stories include more than one goal or dream, so they may be working toward other goals at the same time.
I do one at a time. They can pick a new one once they complete it. I'll pick something that suits them though, or I'll randomise from options based on their traits/lifestyle/where they are currently in life.
So if a sim becomes a teen and has the Genius and Active traits I'll randomise aspirations from the Knowledge/Active/Wellness categories and maybe the ones based on their location too, if they live in S/SM/SV.
If they had any Lifestyles earned I would add in associated Aspirations to the randomiser too, so Tech Guru for Techies, culinary ones for Health/Junk Food Lifestyles, social ones for People Person, Nature ones for Outdoorsy, Romance ones unless they have Unflirty trait etc.
I have my Sims work on multiple aspirations when they first start out. Generally, they start off meeting the basic requirements for Renaissance Sim, Nerd Brain, Freelance Botanist, and either Entertainer, Painter, or Writer. They also dabble in the Master Vampire aspiration long enough to get Vampire Lore to Level 4 so they can turn frogs and fish into plasma packs and then sell them for $50. I've messed up a bunch of times by not switching aspirations before I do things like evolve plants or breed frogs so the action didn't count. That's annoying.
I mostly just do one aspiration per sim, but every sim in my rotational save has a different aspiration. This helps me keep the households feeling different. I do a lot of family activities and holidays and whatever instead of focusing on the aspiration so most of them take a long time for me to complete.
However I do have a couple of households where I am challenging myself to get as many aspiration points as I can, like my ghosts who I'm trying to give all the rewards traits that would remove their needs, and my retirement village where how many potions of youth they can earn determines their lifespan. For those I tend to change their aspirations to whatever I feel like doing when it's their turn in the rotation. They are all partway through Jungle Adventure and Batuu aspirations among others.
And I usually give my teen sims an aspiration that's easy for them to work on at that stage and don't choose their main aspiration until YA. When I start sending sims to university I will probably have them all choose the student aspiration while they are there unless they have the lazy trait, and then shift them to their main aspiration after graduation.
I find it interesting how many people have talked about the aspiration points in this thread. I don't do aspirations for those points, I do them for the really cool traits you unlock by completing them. They could take away aspiration points and rewards completely and I'd still work on a few aspirations with every Sim.
I also pick the first aspiration a Sim gets when they age up to Teen very carefully because that Aspiration choice gives a trait you can't get any other way and there are some very character-defining traits in that mix.
I constantly switch between aspirations. I want my Sims to have several aspiration traits & reward store traits, & switching allows me to earn them faster.
I used to change aspirations back and forth to gather reward points, but it became very stressful and tedious. Nowadays I don't do it often anymore, I don't even need that much reward points.
I just give my Sims an aspiration and do it first and when it's ready I give them a new one but I don't necessarily try to complete it, it's just there. I don't need too many reward points, I don't want all my Sims to be super Sims anymore.
I'm usually working on more than one aspiration at a time with each Sim, so I'm switching pretty frequently as I vary which one is what that Sim is working on at that very moment.
I try to stick to just 2 or 3 different ones which make the most sense for the Sim's personality and career/education goals at any given time though....just to save my own sanity.
I like this idea. I've done the switching per activity thing, and the one aspiration at a time thing. But this, this I like! Especially as I have some sims stuck in their "one."
I used to change aspirations back and forth to gather reward points, but it became very stressful and tedious. Nowadays I don't do it often anymore, I don't even need that much reward points.
I just give my Sims an aspiration and do it first and when it's ready I give them a new one but I don't necessarily try to complete it, it's just there. I don't need too many reward points, I don't want all my Sims to be super Sims anymore.
This is why I don't switch much anymore. Too stressful remembering to do it all the time!
First thing I do with every new household is cycle through all the aspirations to gain as much points as I can. You can easily rack up points if they live in mansions, are married, have pets, friends, etc.
In general I stick to one but I tend to switch it up a bit to add the points with an activity and then put it back to the main one. Like I will switch to the fitness one if I go to the gym, the beach one if I go to Sulani, and then back again to my main one when I return to the lot.
First thing I do with every new household is cycle through all the aspirations to gain as much points as I can. You can easily rack up points if they live in mansions, are married, have pets, friends, etc.
In general I stick to one but I tend to switch it up a bit to add the points with an activity and then put it back to the main one. Like I will switch to the fitness one if I go to the gym, the beach one if I go to Sulani, and then back again to my main one when I return to the lot.
yeah i like to work like this, coz some are easy to do and it makes sense to grab the extra points or check it off the list.
I didnt bother too much with aspirations in the past, but some of the satisfaction traits are useful, so recently I've taken to changing them out when relevant.
I pick a main aspiration for each sim but also switch back and forth between other aspirations if appropriate for that sim. My adventurous sim does the aspirations for archeology and jungle adventure ones, Batuu ones if have sim(s) going there, and others depending on my sim goals. I feel fulfilling different aspirations makes my sim(s) have a more interesting life.
I only work on one aspiration at a time. They do tend to fade into the background for me alot of the time too. I am going to try and work on them more though, if just for the points!
I tend to be singularly focused. I only switch Aspirations when they've been completed. I may get through two and a half for a Sim this way, but that's okay. None of us ever complete most of what we set out to do anyway. (that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.)
Basically just one aspiration for the entire lifetime for my sims haha!, that is if I'm playing a full family. If I were to play a solo sim I would definitely strive to go for as much aspiration as I can since I can focus on only one character kek! It do be fun frfr but I usually play full households so eh, not done as much o^o
Switched them out all the time in the past, still do in some saves. However, for my year long challenge, I do one at time to make it more challenging for my Sim. I also do the same as @Stormkeep when creating a new Sim. Give them an aspiration for the bonus trait and change it once I'm in live mode. I've never completely ignored my Sims' aspiration, always try to complete them.
I tend to complete one at a time, but will sometimes switch between a couple. Right now, I have a couple of main sims that have gone through so many aspirations and have so many satisfaction points that I’ve put them on hold. I won’t spend their points because they’re in danger of becoming super sims, but I could use some new aspirations to keep them busy. Meanwhile I’m working with the supporting cast.
Aspirations are mostly a way for me to define the character and give them some individuality. Their aspiration is "what they want in life" (or part of it). I often never finish the first aspiration though. I mean, I have three City Natives in my game right now and there's no way they will all master the singing skill AND be good enough at gaming or programming to win a GeekCon contest. Even so, my sims all have way more aspiration points than I would ever use for anything.
My sims will only do one aspiration each in their life unless it's a really meaningless one like the beach life one or the university one because that's usually irrelevant after they graduate.
Hey guys I've always wanted to know how other simmers play. Do you only do one aspiration at a time or do you change it all the time depending on what your doing? I have a really bad habit of swapping mine all the time so if I'm cooking I switch it and when I'm gardening I switch it, no matter what I'm doing lol, I used to think it was for satisfaction points but now I just think its satisfaction lmao.
How do you play?
I like to switch them up. Like me, my Sims are not "Johnny One Notes" who only do one thing for their entire lives. They have a "main aspiration" (that I go back to so that I can have them specifically work on it) but then if they're doing an activity that will earn part of an aspiration, I'll switch to that one.
I too thought it was because of satisfaction points, but I find that I do this even after they've maxed out all the things they can get with satisfaction points. (And you can only stock your fridge with so many potions for later use before it gets ridiculous. So most of my elders die with tons of satisfaction points.) So it must be "satisfaction" that has me continue too.
I do the same with whims. My Sim will work on whims even when they don't need the points. I wish they had continued to add new whims (and had tuned some of them to come up less frequently. You can only buy so many bee boxes and make so many videos or musical tracks!)
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My "problem" is that I cannot resist farming all those points, but when it comes to spending them, I restrict my sims to superficial things like asking myself if the new trait would be in-character for that sim or fits the setting. So as a result some sims sit on thousands of unspent points, but I still collec them "just in case".
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lmao i do the same thing
So if a sim becomes a teen and has the Genius and Active traits I'll randomise aspirations from the Knowledge/Active/Wellness categories and maybe the ones based on their location too, if they live in S/SM/SV.
If they had any Lifestyles earned I would add in associated Aspirations to the randomiser too, so Tech Guru for Techies, culinary ones for Health/Junk Food Lifestyles, social ones for People Person, Nature ones for Outdoorsy, Romance ones unless they have Unflirty trait etc.
However I do have a couple of households where I am challenging myself to get as many aspiration points as I can, like my ghosts who I'm trying to give all the rewards traits that would remove their needs, and my retirement village where how many potions of youth they can earn determines their lifespan. For those I tend to change their aspirations to whatever I feel like doing when it's their turn in the rotation. They are all partway through Jungle Adventure and Batuu aspirations among others.
And I usually give my teen sims an aspiration that's easy for them to work on at that stage and don't choose their main aspiration until YA. When I start sending sims to university I will probably have them all choose the student aspiration while they are there unless they have the lazy trait, and then shift them to their main aspiration after graduation.
I also pick the first aspiration a Sim gets when they age up to Teen very carefully because that Aspiration choice gives a trait you can't get any other way and there are some very character-defining traits in that mix.
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
I just give my Sims an aspiration and do it first and when it's ready I give them a new one but I don't necessarily try to complete it, it's just there. I don't need too many reward points, I don't want all my Sims to be super Sims anymore.
I like this idea. I've done the switching per activity thing, and the one aspiration at a time thing. But this, this I like! Especially as I have some sims stuck in their "one."
This is why I don't switch much anymore. Too stressful remembering to do it all the time!
My Families Via PlumTree App
In general I stick to one but I tend to switch it up a bit to add the points with an activity and then put it back to the main one. Like I will switch to the fitness one if I go to the gym, the beach one if I go to Sulani, and then back again to my main one when I return to the lot.
yeah i like to work like this, coz some are easy to do and it makes sense to grab the extra points or check it off the list.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
Tales From The Myst
The Blue Moon Jukebox
I like to switch them up. Like me, my Sims are not "Johnny One Notes" who only do one thing for their entire lives. They have a "main aspiration" (that I go back to so that I can have them specifically work on it) but then if they're doing an activity that will earn part of an aspiration, I'll switch to that one.
I too thought it was because of satisfaction points, but I find that I do this even after they've maxed out all the things they can get with satisfaction points. (And you can only stock your fridge with so many potions for later use before it gets ridiculous. So most of my elders die with tons of satisfaction points.) So it must be "satisfaction" that has me continue too.
I do the same with whims. My Sim will work on whims even when they don't need the points. I wish they had continued to add new whims (and had tuned some of them to come up less frequently. You can only buy so many bee boxes and make so many videos or musical tracks!)