In my head, I have "clusters" of worlds that are close together and others that are further away. Depending on what style of story I'm playing, I've sometimes charged my sims "bus fare" via cheats to travel outside their cluster. (at least until they get their broom as spellcasters)
I'll put my clusters in a Spoiler for those who are curious
Cluster 1 is Willow Creek, Newcrest, Magnolia Promenade and San Myshuno
Cluster 2 is Oasis Springs and Del Sol Valley, with Strangerville "on the road" between Del Sol Valley and San Myshuno (think any of the towns on US Route 66)
Cluster 3 is Brindleton Bay, Evergreen Harbor and Glimmerbrook (With Granite Falls being a National Park/Campground type place, akin to Yellowstone, Yosemite, or Glacier)
Cluster 4 is Windenberg, Britechester, Henford-on-Bagley and Forgotten Hollow
Sulani, Mt. Komorebi, Selvadorada and (once I get it) Tartosa are not part of any cluster and usually reserved for Vacations.
But yeah, I have sims pop to other worlds all the time so that I don't have to try to have everything in one world.
This is probably the closest to how I picture things, except I see San Myshuno as being more of a Seattle/Vancouver type of city rather than an East Coast city, whereas the rest of your Cluster 1 seems very New Orleans-inspired to me. And Cluster 3 is a bit different in my headcanon; Brindleton Bay definitely feels like New England, whereas to me, Evergreen Harbor feels more... Portlandish, maybe? Definitely PNW. So for me, EH and SM are a separate cluster. I tend to see Glimmerbrook and Granite Falls as being more vaguely somewhere between the Willow Springs Cluster and Brindleton Bay. They don't feel particularly mid-Atlantic to me, but it's more of a convenience thing, so that my sims from Brindleton Bay can easily get there, and so can the Willow Springs-area sims, even if the former and the latter wouldn't visit each other for a day trip. I guess I could see GB and GF as being somewhat Ohio/Pennsylvania/New York State-ish, though.
In general, though, I treat my clusters pretty much the same way. Sims can travel to adjacent areas for day trips; anything farther away needs to be an actual vacation.
My sims do travel to the other worlds but maybe not so regularly due to loading screens.
I hadn't thought of the other worlds as connected regional neighborhoods (I love that map) but it makes more sense as the travel time is so easy for most locations (except for the clunky to visit vacation worlds).
Yes, I love that we can travel worlds. If the Sims 3 had the option to travel among worlds I'd probably play it more.
Same here. That's probably my biggest gripe with the game. And though I know there's a mod that makes it possible, I have had many issues in the past after using that feature too much (not to mention the insanely long load time when switching worlds).
Mostly my Sims have no limits as to which residential world they can visit. However, it depends largely upon if I am doing a particular challenge that allows for such travel. When doing an Extreme Rags to Riches, they can not travel anywhere except in their own neighborhood. That's usually the case with regular Rags to Riches as well, except they can travel once they have a proper house.
With my own challenge I developed and played last year and this year as well, my Sim can not travel anywhere except the world they are currently living in for the entire month, with a couple exceptions. Newcrest is a 'neutral' world where venues maybe be placed to visit. They can also visit any worlds in later months they have previously lived in and completed the aspirations.
Vacation worlds are a bit different. Most of the time, they are used strictly for vacations/honeymoons. Sulani is a bit different. I don't use it a lot for vacations/honeymoons as a lot of Simmers do, but sometimes. Usually if my Sims live there, they don't travel anywhere else since in my mind, it's an island in the middle of an ocean. They would only leave if they were moving away, are rich and have their own private (pretend) floatplane or perhaps a family emergency and of course my own challenge Sims don't go anywhere else while living there except prior worlds 'unlocked' as previously mentioned.
I've never had any Sims actually 'live' in the designated vacation worlds, those are used strictly as intended with the exception of going there to simply fulfil the aspirations associated with those worlds.
I have not decided what my 'rules' will be for Tartosa yet. It seems like a world in the middle of the Mediterranean ocean, so most likely the same rules I have for Sulani. The one Sim I've had living there did not leave the world. After Weddings are fixed, it will be mostly used as a weddings/honeymoon/vacation destination. But I will still have Sims live there on occasion to run a bakery, flower shop or wedding supplies/apparel retail store.
I'm really torn on this topic. It really bothers me how you can travel to every single world. I wish there would be an option to pick 3 or 4 worlds where sims can freely travel to, and the others could be locked for travel, etc.
Yes when my game still worked i had my sims go to different worlds for different venues *looks into distance overdramatically*
I had plans to turn Tartosa into high society dating hub where sims of age would be sent to find love if they had not found the one yet
but fate had other plans
I do usually have my sims explore the neighborhood/world they live in first though if there is anything I may do there
like if there is closer venue to them they will usually choose that over something far away unless its whole vacation thing
but also i don't particularily mind if my sims hangout all around map
okay maybe one thing that bothers me is when im supposed to be on abandoned island and then mortimer goth walks by in a suit as if he has business in tribe village
I usually have my sims travel within their world, unless I want them to go to a specific community lot. For example, if I want them to have a romantic dinner, I take them to the restaurant I built in Windenburg. I try to have different community lots for each world so I have an excuse to send them to other worlds.
I also make Sulani and Mt. Komorebi strictly vacation worlds. I found that I didn't play in those worlds too often and by making them vacation worlds, I play them more.
Yes. I love freely traveling between worlds. I feel like I would be limiting myself if I just stuck to one world. Some worlds I do consider more vacation spots, like Sulani and Mt. Komorebi. I only like to travel there for vacations.
In my main challenge legacy save, I try to get the family to visit Mt Komorebi, HoB and Granite Falls from their home in Brindleton Bay at least once during the generation as their ‘yearly holidays’. In my other saves, they only travel to other worlds as needed.
Yes, I tend to have multiple families in each world, and they will often travel to the other worlds.
All of my Spell caster Sims meet up in the Magical Realm, so I have them try and have them visit each other in other worlds.
Also, with the flea market, and the events going on, my Sims tend to leave their homes to go to different worlds.
Honestly, the only limits in my games are mostly the vacation worlds, that require the Sims to get a hotel and pay.
I imagine San Myshuno to be the central city, surrounded by districts like Willow Creek, Brindleton Bay, Newcrest, and Magnolia Promenade. Oasis Springs is a bit farther away, but since I'm using @SweetieWright_84 's save file now, I sometimes have Sims live and travel there. I think of OS as being a bit farther out than the other "suburbs."
Sims who live in any of those "core" areas can visit the others freely. A Brindleton Bay resident can hang out with friends in Willow Creek and regularly attend festivals in San Myshuno. Sims from the WC can shop in Newcrest or go to a café in Brindleton Bay.
Britechester is also part of the "core" of my Simiverse, since that's the only place Sims can attend university. Alumni often travel back to campus. I've had UBrite and Foxbury professors and administrators live in other districts, such as Willow Creek. There aren't enough residential lots in Britechester to have my university staff live there.
Granite Falls is unique to me. Its landscape looks like it could be close to Brindleton Bay, so I consider GF to be accessible for a weekend trip.
Windenburg and Henford-on-Bagley are farther away, but not so far a Sim from the "core" can only vacation there. Day trips to both destinations are possible, but I don't usually have Sims choose to do everyday things (get a cup of coffee, work out at a gym, visit a park or the library) in those districts.
Sulani, Mt. Komorebi, Selvadorada, and now Tartosa are even more distant. I rarely have a Sim from the "core" visit them for quick trips. My current lead Sim has grandparents who have retired to Sulani, so he knows that area well and can visit for a day. Once he accepted an invitation to lunch at a restaurant in Sulani and, while I wouldn't have had him choose that destination, I let him accept the invitation.
Glimmerbrook is an entirely different type of world.
I have Evergreen Harbor and Del Sol Valley, but I don't find myself using those worlds often right now.
My sims will only visit worlds that make sense for the world they live in for quick visits. If I feel like a world is to far away like a different country I will only have them visit for vacations.
I do try to have my sims visit other worlds but the loading screen that takes a century to load is a pure nightmare. I swear I can finish watching a movie in the time the loading screen finishes loading.
Not "regularly". My sims are mostly homebodies, but will travel when needed. Like doing aspirations that requires certain locations. I set no limit to what part of the world they travel to. I don't see each area as a separate "world", they are too small for that. I only go on vacations to Selvadorada or Granite Falls. My sims "usually" live in Sulani, so would be poinless to vacation there
No world is off limits I use to have a theme for every world. But as a mod user I have messed up saves in the past and had to start over uploading the lots and sims then placing them again in the new save. So now I don't use "every world" per se. I use a select few for my current story at the time.
My current ones ares granite falls, salvadorada, del sol valley, willow creek and newcrest
I chose other because I couldn't decide what constituted "regularly". My played sims always live in Willow Creek, and they can freely visit Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade because I consider them one world for my gameplay, for convenience. I have houses in WC, all sorts of venues in Newcrest (Arcade, bowling alley, wedding venue, a little park, 2 spas, fish market, a couple of restaurants, a funeral home, you name it), and 3 shopping malls and another restaurant in MP. I'm happy mostly having them stick to these regions. I also have a mod that keeps sims to their home worlds, so no Nancy Landgraab jogging by my sims house in Willow Creek! (Of course, she's long dead now, along with all the other premades) My sims do meet sims from other worlds when they're out and about, as the mod doesn't keep sims from other worlds from visiting community lots.
As for all the other worlds, I have an idea in my mind of how close they are geographically. Pretty much anywhere they go outside of their 3 home worlds, they're going to be going on a vacation or at least a few day getaway. If they're going to San Myshuno, Brindleton Bay or Oasis Springs, then they might just stay 2 nights because I think of those places as being in the USA. However, if they're going to Windenburg or Henford-on-Bagley (Europe) or Sulani or Selvadorado (the South Pacific/South America) then they're going to be there for at least 5 days. They vacation once every season or so.
I realize this probably doesn't appeal to many people besides me, but it's the playstyle that makes me happy.
It reallly depends on sim family I am playing. My farmers go to other worlds for vacations only. I have Newcrest as an entertainment area with museum, restaurants, bowling, skating, shopping etc. so most of my families will go there as day trip. I always have an archeologist who spends alot of time going to explore the jungle, and most enjoy camping at Granite Falls. I have a few that are homebodies but not many. My sims like to explore!
I will only travel to worlds like Sulani and Mt Komorebi if my sims are going on vacation (too immersion breaking), and I never travel to Oasis Springs as I don't like it anyway. I also only visit Del Sol Valley for the Starlight Acolades if I have a famous Sim (unless they live there). I flit between the others though.
I will play and visit all worlds I find it odd solely playing your sims to one world. I understand playing households only in one world and visiting others but solely playing and visiting one world seems very limiting.
Some of my sims travel all the time, others only occasionally. I have had a few sims who I kept in their worlds without allowing them to travel, but that was for a specific purpose in their story. For example, Mavis the farmgirl was kept in the HOB till she got enough money that I could justify her being able to travel. Since she was struggling to survive I kept her at home, farming and taking care of her chickens for quite some time.
Yes. I like to theme lots to the world they are placed in, and the kind of sims that live there.
For example, it makes more sense for the Blue Velvet in WC to be a Lounge with live performers (like a jazz club/blues bar) and the bar in OS to be more Western, or converted to a Tex-Mex or South American/Spanish restaurant with a sectioned off bar area for those that are just going out for a drink.
I like to keep commercial looking areas commercial, though, and if I build a community lot elsewhere I'd add parking etc to make it look commercial from map view and the street. If I have any kind of home businesses that other sims can visit (permanent sales tables, spa items, photography studio etc) then I either place them on the ground floor and have a separate entrance to the living space, or I build a separate building for it on the lot and make that one look commercial.
I usually make sure I have one of every lot type placed to start with, just to make invitations out more varied, but some worlds I feel are more likely to have each lot type. Some examples:
Willow Creek (based on New Orleans)
Lounge (cabaret style blues/jazz/comedy club)
Café (Traditional, French influence. Maybe add a busking item to the lot or nearby with TOOL)
Pool or Gym/Spa with Pool (Outdoor pool. It's hot, and the locals need somewhere to cool off)
Restaurant (Western Bar & Grill themed with appropriate activities for such as dancefloor for line dancing, darts and horseshoes).
Lounge (Casino with cabaret stage/bar/lounge area, card/sabacc tables, private wedding/event function dining room with access to a kitchen/buffet table and maybe some bedrooms for a casino hotel).
StrangerVille (Western/Military)
Library (Victorian or brick with Victorian detailing. I set this one up like a town hall with a library, wedding area, judge's chambers and mayoral press room etc. It's always centrally placed and comes in handy for various WFH careers like Politics or Law. Secret Lab Scientists frequent the library in this town)
Bar (Brick, military utilitarian. This place looks like it was thrown together by the Army when they came to town so I like to stick to that theme but add a few more bar games etc. Soldiers gather here)
Mt. Komorebi (Japan/East Asia)
Onsen (Required for expedition gameplay. I like to add more Spa activities and now tea sets to warm up and socialise around)
Karaoke Bar (I edit or replace the bar with one)
Restaurant (Japanese/East-Asian food)
Gym (Dojo style with the combat robots from SV to practice, a floorwork area for sparring and maybe sword fight actor marks for weapons training gameplay)
Park or Community Space (Meditation and yoga, wedding venue)
Windenburg (Northern Europe)
Restaurant/Inn (Countryside. Shrieking Llama conversion, as we have a British style pub (Bar) in HoB now. Keeps the British country pub style but adds a kitchen on ground floor, kids play area out back and the game room downstairs becomes public with loos and woohoo closet added to basement too. I'm planning to add bunks and a couple of rooms upstairs to make it functional as an inn for hikers/families/honeymooners. One day I hope to convert it into a B&B/Youth Hostel type lot)
Café (Modern Internet Café. Gamers, Geeks and WFH sims with computer based tasks would enjoy it here)
Nightclub (Modern with lights, DJ, VIP area lots of glass and chrome)
Library (Tudor. Low tech focus on paper books, chess, research & debate. Cosy reading area around fireplace, kids play area, old computers/research machines.)
Retail - Bakery/Grocer/Books (Old Town. Tea sets and cakes/bakes in Bakery, produce, fish, books & board games)
Ruins (Outdoor cinema area.) - Note: I use this lot as a location to place the Wishing Well (because it fits the Medieval theme) and only allow my sims a wish when they are invited here. Might add one somewhere in HoB or Tartosa too.
My sims try to stay in their own world most of the time. But they do travel when I feel like it. They can quickly hop back and forth between close by worlds which I imagine are areas close enough to go there for a short while. For worlds farther away, I have my sims rent a vacation home and spend the night.
I like to group worlds like this
European world: windenburg, britechester, Henford on Bagley and glimmerbrook Desert worlds : oasis springs, strangerville, del Sol Valley American worlds: willow creek, newcrest, evergreen harbour Asian worlds : San mychuno, Mt. Komorebi Tropical: sulani
For practicality magnolia promenade (shops and movie theatre) and forgotten hollow (the only cemetery in my game) are accessible for from every world
glimmerbrook and evergreen harbour feel like they could be either northern Europe or North America so those can change depending on my mood.
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This is probably the closest to how I picture things, except I see San Myshuno as being more of a Seattle/Vancouver type of city rather than an East Coast city, whereas the rest of your Cluster 1 seems very New Orleans-inspired to me. And Cluster 3 is a bit different in my headcanon; Brindleton Bay definitely feels like New England, whereas to me, Evergreen Harbor feels more... Portlandish, maybe? Definitely PNW. So for me, EH and SM are a separate cluster. I tend to see Glimmerbrook and Granite Falls as being more vaguely somewhere between the Willow Springs Cluster and Brindleton Bay. They don't feel particularly mid-Atlantic to me, but it's more of a convenience thing, so that my sims from Brindleton Bay can easily get there, and so can the Willow Springs-area sims, even if the former and the latter wouldn't visit each other for a day trip. I guess I could see GB and GF as being somewhat Ohio/Pennsylvania/New York State-ish, though.
In general, though, I treat my clusters pretty much the same way. Sims can travel to adjacent areas for day trips; anything farther away needs to be an actual vacation.
I hadn't thought of the other worlds as connected regional neighborhoods (I love that map) but it makes more sense as the travel time is so easy for most locations (except for the clunky to visit vacation worlds).
Same here. That's probably my biggest gripe with the game. And though I know there's a mod that makes it possible, I have had many issues in the past after using that feature too much (not to mention the insanely long load time when switching worlds).
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With my own challenge I developed and played last year and this year as well, my Sim can not travel anywhere except the world they are currently living in for the entire month, with a couple exceptions. Newcrest is a 'neutral' world where venues maybe be placed to visit. They can also visit any worlds in later months they have previously lived in and completed the aspirations.
Vacation worlds are a bit different. Most of the time, they are used strictly for vacations/honeymoons. Sulani is a bit different. I don't use it a lot for vacations/honeymoons as a lot of Simmers do, but sometimes. Usually if my Sims live there, they don't travel anywhere else since in my mind, it's an island in the middle of an ocean. They would only leave if they were moving away, are rich and have their own private (pretend) floatplane or perhaps a family emergency and of course my own challenge Sims don't go anywhere else while living there except prior worlds 'unlocked' as previously mentioned.
I've never had any Sims actually 'live' in the designated vacation worlds, those are used strictly as intended with the exception of going there to simply fulfil the aspirations associated with those worlds.
I have not decided what my 'rules' will be for Tartosa yet. It seems like a world in the middle of the Mediterranean ocean, so most likely the same rules I have for Sulani. The one Sim I've had living there did not leave the world. After Weddings are fixed, it will be mostly used as a weddings/honeymoon/vacation destination. But I will still have Sims live there on occasion to run a bakery, flower shop or wedding supplies/apparel retail store.
I guess I should've chosen 'Other.'
I had plans to turn Tartosa into high society dating hub where sims of age would be sent to find love if they had not found the one yet
but fate had other plans
I do usually have my sims explore the neighborhood/world they live in first though if there is anything I may do there
like if there is closer venue to them they will usually choose that over something far away unless its whole vacation thing
but also i don't particularily mind if my sims hangout all around map
okay maybe one thing that bothers me is when im supposed to be on abandoned island and then mortimer goth walks by in a suit as if he has business in tribe village
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I also make Sulani and Mt. Komorebi strictly vacation worlds. I found that I didn't play in those worlds too often and by making them vacation worlds, I play them more.
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All of my Spell caster Sims meet up in the Magical Realm, so I have them try and have them visit each other in other worlds.
Also, with the flea market, and the events going on, my Sims tend to leave their homes to go to different worlds.
Honestly, the only limits in my games are mostly the vacation worlds, that require the Sims to get a hotel and pay.
Sims who live in any of those "core" areas can visit the others freely. A Brindleton Bay resident can hang out with friends in Willow Creek and regularly attend festivals in San Myshuno. Sims from the WC can shop in Newcrest or go to a café in Brindleton Bay.
Britechester is also part of the "core" of my Simiverse, since that's the only place Sims can attend university. Alumni often travel back to campus. I've had UBrite and Foxbury professors and administrators live in other districts, such as Willow Creek. There aren't enough residential lots in Britechester to have my university staff live there.
Granite Falls is unique to me. Its landscape looks like it could be close to Brindleton Bay, so I consider GF to be accessible for a weekend trip.
Windenburg and Henford-on-Bagley are farther away, but not so far a Sim from the "core" can only vacation there. Day trips to both destinations are possible, but I don't usually have Sims choose to do everyday things (get a cup of coffee, work out at a gym, visit a park or the library) in those districts.
Sulani, Mt. Komorebi, Selvadorada, and now Tartosa are even more distant. I rarely have a Sim from the "core" visit them for quick trips. My current lead Sim has grandparents who have retired to Sulani, so he knows that area well and can visit for a day. Once he accepted an invitation to lunch at a restaurant in Sulani and, while I wouldn't have had him choose that destination, I let him accept the invitation.
Glimmerbrook is an entirely different type of world.
I have Evergreen Harbor and Del Sol Valley, but I don't find myself using those worlds often right now.
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My current ones ares granite falls, salvadorada, del sol valley, willow creek and newcrest
As for all the other worlds, I have an idea in my mind of how close they are geographically. Pretty much anywhere they go outside of their 3 home worlds, they're going to be going on a vacation or at least a few day getaway. If they're going to San Myshuno, Brindleton Bay or Oasis Springs, then they might just stay 2 nights because I think of those places as being in the USA. However, if they're going to Windenburg or Henford-on-Bagley (Europe) or Sulani or Selvadorado (the South Pacific/South America) then they're going to be there for at least 5 days. They vacation once every season or so.
I realize this probably doesn't appeal to many people besides me, but it's the playstyle that makes me happy.
For example, it makes more sense for the Blue Velvet in WC to be a Lounge with live performers (like a jazz club/blues bar) and the bar in OS to be more Western, or converted to a Tex-Mex or South American/Spanish restaurant with a sectioned off bar area for those that are just going out for a drink.
I like to keep commercial looking areas commercial, though, and if I build a community lot elsewhere I'd add parking etc to make it look commercial from map view and the street. If I have any kind of home businesses that other sims can visit (permanent sales tables, spa items, photography studio etc) then I either place them on the ground floor and have a separate entrance to the living space, or I build a separate building for it on the lot and make that one look commercial.
I usually make sure I have one of every lot type placed to start with, just to make invitations out more varied, but some worlds I feel are more likely to have each lot type. Some examples:
Willow Creek (based on New Orleans)
Oasis Springs (Spanish Missionary/Western & Mid-Century Modern)
StrangerVille (Western/Military)
Mt. Komorebi (Japan/East Asia)
Windenburg (Northern Europe)
I like to group worlds like this
Desert worlds : oasis springs, strangerville, del Sol Valley
American worlds: willow creek, newcrest, evergreen harbour
Asian worlds : San mychuno, Mt. Komorebi
Tropical: sulani
For practicality magnolia promenade (shops and movie theatre) and forgotten hollow (the only cemetery in my game) are accessible for from every world
glimmerbrook and evergreen harbour feel like they could be either northern Europe or North America so those can change depending on my mood.