@VanillaChai It's a possibility, would just be funky with the age of the dads at this point xD. Considering one of my kids has Alexander Goth as a dad already, my game is kind of late. I might keep with this and maybe break the rules and influence gender a couple of times depending on if I keep getting girls...:) But I'll write this down as a possibility to fix it, I was trying to figure out how to do this in my head. Thank you!
@Eminik - yeah, that's true. They would probably not keep the family ties to their fathers since it's a new save. I'd just keep going and if you still aren't getting boys, influence a few like you said. Hopefully it's just been bad luck and you'll get a few boys naturally soon.
@VanillaChai Haha apparently it's just bad luck and my complaining here spoke to some power in my game. I just got a boy, no influencing of gender. Guess my game just really likes girls.
I started a plum tree thing.. here's a link to it.. https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/#tree/58829f56b12f3732714edf9d is there an interest in seeing screen shots of what has been happening in my game? I've uploaded pictures to my flickr that I can share.
@Eminik Haha yay! Well there ya go. Congrats on your new baby boy!
@Fizzstix I love seeing screenshots. Share away. Your Plum Tree link didn't work for me for some reason. Maybe there's a different link that needs to be shared? I don't know much about it yet because I'm just starting on making mine.
Currently Playing - Generation One of the Bloom Legacy
@Eminik Haha yay! Well there ya go. Congrats on your new baby boy!
@Fizzstix I love seeing screenshots. Share away. Your Plum Tree link didn't work for me for some reason. Maybe there's a different link that needs to be shared? I don't know much about it yet because I'm just starting on making mine.
@Eminik Haha yay! Well there ya go. Congrats on your new baby boy!
@Fizzstix I love seeing screenshots. Share away. Your Plum Tree link didn't work for me for some reason. Maybe there's a different link that needs to be shared? I don't know much about it yet because I'm just starting on making mine.
@Mareviola Congrats on your twins! So glad to hear that you're not stuck with girls only That's the only good thing when you have 7 kids in the house, at least your matriarch can take some time to rest after the pregnancies. I can't believe that you're still living in the same house, saw the pictures on tumblr, it does look a bit cramped.
@Erica87 It's totally cramped and some rooms are bigger then others. Hopefully now I'm making more money I'll be able to move. I should probably start looking for a new house. I'm not much of a builder, I'm more of a renovator.
@meubanks I really appricieted your two cents becuse I agree! I don't actually have get together but when it came out I was really into watching sim related videos on youtube and basically saw all you said used in their game at some point or another and it really made me wonder how much it could give an "advantage" in this challenge. It really seems like it would make things easier and as a Slytherin I'm totally draw to it. Like, I know if I had the game I would use it. ... And then I would feel guilty like it happened with the "free-service" trait. I do believe we might need some rules about it even tho I noticed a lot of the people in this thread don't seem to (ab)use the club system! Yours suggetions looks really good!
I've done the 100 Baby Challenge, check it out on my tumblr.
Guys... Paolo Rocca is back This is really annoying. Sorry but no Paolo, you do not get to see your children, especially not if you behaved like a deadbeat dad for the whole time before the patch. Just because they're toddlers now does not mean you are allowed to turn up here without me even having the option to send you away. Stalker!
I swear I'm going to get a cowplant and feed him to it, I swear! Starting to really loose my patience with that sim.
Sorry for chiming into the middle of an ongoing discussion, but this thread has gotten so large that It's tough to get back to the original post. I have a little bit of input on the "stalker sims" issue, but not really any workarounds. The option to tell the sims to go away doesn't appear, because to the game , your sim is on the lot, while the other sim is in the neighborhood. Even if they are only separated by the door, unless you greet them first, they are in two different places as far as the game is concerned. The same is true while your sim is walking around the neighborhood. Even though you are standing right next to an object, if you aren't on the lot, you can't interact with it until you knock on the door.
Frankly, I don't think that interacting with prior "baby-daddies" really hurts anything in this challenge. They don't provide any financial help to the household, and the certainly won't do anything useful in raising the child. They are more likely to cramp your style when your sim is trying to meet new men, or to get in the way when you're trying to take care of a baby. So to me, greeting them, then telling them to leave should be an acceptable workaround within the rules. There is also a private lot trait that might help. I haven't tested it to see if it works, but it is supposed to stop, or at least reduce the number of random door 🐸🐸🐸🐸.
Anyone else having trouble aging up kids eary with a birthday cake? My first kid just got an A and I went to have her blow ot the candles on a birthday cake but she doesn't have the option.
There are some current aging glitches, and specifically some that affect the birthday cakes. This is a hit or miss workaround, but sometimes making a different type of cake will work. So it the chocolate cake is glitching, for example, see if you can get the hamburger or some other kind of cake to work. MC Command Center has a built in age up cheat that I use in my normal games to circumvent this glitch. It helps avoid the sad moodlet for a missed birthday. I think there is also an in game cheat that will age them up, but I don't know it without looking it up.
To be fair, some MCC modules would allow you to effectively cheat in this challenge, so I would recommend not installing the full package if you wanted to use it as a workaround. IF you don't like mods, I would not consider the cheat code to be a rule-breaker, because you would only be using it to overcome a glitch, and not to gain an advantage.
Guys... Paolo Rocca is back This is really annoying. Sorry but no Paolo, you do not get to see your children, especially not if you behaved like a deadbeat dad for the whole time before the patch. Just because they're toddlers now does not mean you are allowed to turn up here without me even having the option to send you away. Stalker!
I swear I'm going to get a cowplant and feed him to it, I swear! Starting to really loose my patience with that sim.
Sorry for chiming into the middle of an ongoing discussion, but this thread has gotten so large that It's tough to get back to the original post. I have a little bit of input on the "stalker sims" issue, but not really any workarounds. The option to tell the sims to go away doesn't appear, because to the game , your sim is on the lot, while the other sim is in the neighborhood. Even if they are only separated by the door, unless you greet them first, they are in two different places as far as the game is concerned. The same is true while your sim is walking around the neighborhood. Even though you are standing right next to an object, if you aren't on the lot, you can't interact with it until you knock on the door.
Frankly, I don't think that interacting with prior "baby-daddies" really hurts anything in this challenge. They don't provide any financial help to the household, and the certainly won't do anything useful in raising the child. They are more likely to cramp your style when your sim is trying to meet new men, or to get in the way when you're trying to take care of a baby. So to me, greeting them, then telling them to leave should be an acceptable workaround within the rules. There is also a private lot trait that might help. I haven't tested it to see if it works, but it is supposed to stop, or at least reduce the number of random door plum.
The censorship mechanic is kind of hilarious sometimes, because the word that got plum-ed out was pretty innocuous in the way that I used it. lol.
Since my post doesn't quite make sense now, let me amend my earlier effort by replacing the word "plum" with "those who knock on doors" Hopefully that version will make it past the filter.
@Rawla Honestly, if people like it a lot I'd even replace the current lot trait rules with it. I feel like it adds an additional dynamic to the lot trait system as then you have to think about whether you want to have babies and risk the traits being changed or whether you want to wait a bit and make full use of them. @Chellejo, I haven't even gotten 3 skills to the max yet. Apparently toddler skills are really hard to teach @CactiSimmer I have autonomy on but I check on the adults every few minutes to cancel any unnecessary toddler-related actions. Usually player-issued commands take precedence over autonomy-issued commands so when I keep my sims busy by giving them commands often they don't go crazy about the toddlers all the time. @Eminik Oh no I hate the prospect of corrupted savefiles looming over all of us, I really want to find out what the cause of that is. Even though yours wasn't corrupted in the end I'm still scared it will hit either me or someone else again. @Mareviola I plan on building another one or two baby challenge houses for people who don't feel like building them themselves. I personally want to move into something cozier down the line as well, my own house is too blue and white for me right now. @meubanks You can chime in whenever you'd like to! Any input is welcome. However concerning the baby daddies I don't think we're able to greet them because they seem to be part of the household in that state. Paolo Rocca was able to move through a door that was locked and set to only allow household members. Frankly, I don't see any kind of cheating to work around or avoid glitches as rule breaking. As long as you age your child up on the day it's supposed to age up or whenever it gets an A it doesn't matter how you do it. I have all mc command center modules installed but have it set up in a way that they're not giving me any advantages in the challenge and as long as people don't exploit it I don't feel it's an issue.
Considering what @meubanks said I think we do need additional rules for the clubs. While I don't think people using what the game gives them is all that wrong I do want to limit exploitation of ingame glitches or mechanics that could be abused in a profitable way. In this case I would suggest that we add a rule that states that sims in the household may either join already created clubs or create clubs that have no encouraged / discouraged activities. That way the exploitation of the system should be limited while players who use the clubs for daddy hunting or family gatherings still can use them. What does everyone think about this?
And what does everyone think about randomizing lot traits, should we replace the current existing options with the rule that lot traits have to be randomized every 5th child?
CURRENTLY PLAYING: Forum mafias & Minecraft, mainly. Taking a break from the sims for a while!
@meubanks I actually have the private lot trait. I really got it in the hope the fathers wouldn't show up but it doesn't really work that way. At the moment I simply locked the house only for the household and unlock it when try to woo someone. They are most definitely an annoyance but can be useful raising the child if you have the child asking them to do stuff (I did it in my previous cheaty save). I think as long as the player doesn't ask them to do anything it's not cheating. Even if the toddler automatically does.
@Erica87 If you build a house I'd totally want to check it out! I love house "shopping" in the sims I spend hours on it! For now I've found a possible next house but I'm going to need 15000 to 20000 more simeleon to afford it! Still. It's nice having a "goal" tho!
The randomizing of lot trait it's nice. We could add it as an another option instead of replacing it.
The club I do believe needs some rules. But I believe we should restrict the perks more than the activities. They seems to be the ones the give the most advantage. For example there is a "do homework" activities if I'm not wrong. That doesn't bother me. It's something they should do anyway. But the perks that fill the needs or the one the helps with performance or skills should be... talked about.
I've done the 100 Baby Challenge, check it out on my tumblr.
@Erica87 The only MCC option that I feel gives me a slight advantage is the child support one. of course there are others, but i have them disabled. Child support doesn't give that much money, just 200 simoleons a week per child. though it does add up when you have loads of kids... Another mod I have installed allows me to have up to 20 sims in my household instead of 8. I need it for another save file i'm playing, so I can't exactly remove it. but to even it out a little I made it so my matriarch ages during pregnancy. so unless she has a constant stream of triplets the max won't be reached.
@Erica87 The only MCC option that I feel gives me a slight advantage is the child support one. of course there are others, but i have them disabled. Child support doesn't give that much money, just 200 simoleons a week per child. though it does add up when you have loads of kids... Another mod I have installed allows me to have up to 20 sims in my household instead of 8. I need it for another save file i'm playing, so I can't exactly remove it. but to even it out a little I made it so my matriarch ages during pregnancy. so unless she has a constant stream of triplets the max won't be reached.
I have no had any success in finding a 'more than 8' mod. I don't know where to look. Do you have a link please? I do not have any other mods or any CC so I am not worried about any conflict.
@Eminik Maybe you game is really just Henry VIII in disguise.
@Meubanks Unfortunately the "stalker daddy" issue isn't a "guest" issue. There are no "greet sim" options either. It's as if the sim(s) in question has become a member of your household without actually becoming one so you have no control over them and they really do get in the way, especially when trying to care for the toddler or make time with a new baby daddy.
Also, I've seen a couple of other people note that the private lot trait does nothing to solve this issue. You can lock them out of the house, but then you can't have other sims over without them getting in and they still just hang out on the lot forever. It's definitely seems to me to be some faulty code somewhere in the Toddlers patch that will have to be fixed on the Dev end of things.
@Erica87 I don't actually use lot traits at all so as long as they are optional I don't have a problem with whatever is done with them. I also have no opinion regarding groups rules.
Yes, I like and enjoy Sims 4. The world will not end because of this. Get over it.
@Rawla Honestly, if people like it a lot I'd even replace the current lot trait rules with it. I feel like it adds an additional dynamic to the lot trait system as then you have to think about whether you want to have babies and risk the traits being changed or whether you want to wait a bit and make full use of them. @Chellejo, I haven't even gotten 3 skills to the max yet. Apparently toddler skills are really hard to teach @CactiSimmer I have autonomy on but I check on the adults every few minutes to cancel any unnecessary toddler-related actions. Usually player-issued commands take precedence over autonomy-issued commands so when I keep my sims busy by giving them commands often they don't go crazy about the toddlers all the time. @Eminik Oh no I hate the prospect of corrupted savefiles looming over all of us, I really want to find out what the cause of that is. Even though yours wasn't corrupted in the end I'm still scared it will hit either me or someone else again. @Mareviola I plan on building another one or two baby challenge houses for people who don't feel like building them themselves. I personally want to move into something cozier down the line as well, my own house is too blue and white for me right now. @meubanks You can chime in whenever you'd like to! Any input is welcome. However concerning the baby daddies I don't think we're able to greet them because they seem to be part of the household in that state. Paolo Rocca was able to move through a door that was locked and set to only allow household members. Frankly, I don't see any kind of cheating to work around or avoid glitches as rule breaking. As long as you age your child up on the day it's supposed to age up or whenever it gets an A it doesn't matter how you do it. I have all mc command center modules installed but have it set up in a way that they're not giving me any advantages in the challenge and as long as people don't exploit it I don't feel it's an issue.
Considering what @meubanks said I think we do need additional rules for the clubs. While I don't think people using what the game gives them is all that wrong I do want to limit exploitation of ingame glitches or mechanics that could be abused in a profitable way. In this case I would suggest that we add a rule that states that sims in the household may either join already created clubs or create clubs that have no encouraged / discouraged activities. That way the exploitation of the system should be limited while players who use the clubs for daddy hunting or family gatherings still can use them. What does everyone think about this?
And what does everyone think about randomizing lot traits, should we replace the current existing options with the rule that lot traits have to be randomized every 5th child?
My specific point about clubs is that they can be easily set up to give a pronounced advantage in this particular challenge. I love clubs, and they were a great addition to the game, but in this case they are so good that they almost act as an in game exploit. The most exploitable aspect of clubs is that you can keep an active gathering 24/7 in a household club. Within a generation or two, a min-maxer who sets up the club properly can unlock all of the perks fairly easily.
My chief concern is that they can basically make raising children much easier, and they put children in a position to age up to teen at a much faster rate than they normally can if the rules don't reflect the clubs advantages. In my clubs have I normally have 4 aspirations completed, and a few points in unlocked adult skills, so that I can age the kids up as many as six days early. The connected perk (I think it's called) also has a noticeable impact on school promotions, and the focused perk allows them to benefit from the ideal emotion all-day, every-day if you keep an active gathering.
One option would be to create club and non-club variants, and to change the age-up requirements to reflect club advantages. For example, instead of allowing them to age up as soon as they get an A, require them to complete some aspirations as well. Conversely, you could REQUIRE them to age up when they get an A, to avoid the every kid-is-maxed-out effect. Another possibility is to just not allow the kids to join clubs until they hit teen, because the advantages are much more balanced from that point on. Maybe only allow kid clubs to be kid-only clubs, because that also changes the dynamic a bit as well.
In any case, my suggestions are just suggestions, and they are certainly not the only, nor necessarily the best possibilities. My personal input would be to use separate variants and place the choice in player's hands. Either don't use clubs, or use them with some balancing rules. At the end of the day, the challenge isn't a competition, but if clubs are always allowed there is simply no reason not to use them. They do provide a clear advantage.
FWIW, I'm not "against" allowing them. I just want people to realize how powerful they can be, especially once you unlock the perks. "Rally the troops" alone is amazing, because it basically means that sims never have to sleep, or eat, or use the bathroom. They can just fire off RTT on occasion, and go non-stop forever. Not bad for 500 pts.
As for lot traits, tbh, I think their advantage is less pronounced. While they boost some skills, they also force sims to compulsively engage in autonomous behavior that kind of offsets the advantages. For example, if you have the homey trait and a workbench, Sims will craft knife block after knife block until you force them to stop. Crafting knife blocks with the trait is less efficient than crafting higher skill items without it, so the advantage and the annoyance factors cancel each other out. The Ley Line trait can boost the chance of twins, but the natural chance is so small that it still amounts to a fairly low probability. Even with Ley Line + 1 parent fertility, twins are rare enough that the advantage isn't unbalancing. Adding fertility massage on top might boost the number of twins, but if you've taken the time to grind out Wellness, IMHO you've earned it.
I don't think lot traits need additional rules for balance sake. If the goal is just to keep things interesting, a randomization option might be appropriate.
I feel like creating a separate set of rules for a challenge with clubs and one without seems a bit overboard. In this case I would just disallow the use of perks in clubs, that would be the simplest way of dealing with this. In the end it's in a players own responsibility to avoid exploiting things like that, we can't make rules for every little glitch that could be exploited because then the first post would just be a wall of text telling players what they can't do and I feel like that would be counterproductive. In the end everyone will have their own exceptions of the rules anyway so the rules aren't meant as a fixed set of do's and dont's but more of a guideline.
Lot traits will of course still be optional
By the way guys, technically having a mod that allows you to have more than eight sims on a lot is not allowed since it gives an unfair advantage over other players.
CURRENTLY PLAYING: Forum mafias & Minecraft, mainly. Taking a break from the sims for a while!
@Eminik Maybe you game is really just Henry VIII in disguise.
@Meubanks Unfortunately the "stalker daddy" issue isn't a "guest" issue. There are no "greet sim" options either. It's as if the sim(s) in question has become a member of your household without actually becoming one so you have no control over them and they really do get in the way, especially when trying to care for the toddler or make time with a new baby daddy.
Also, I've seen a couple of other people note that the private lot trait does nothing to solve this issue. You can lock them out of the house, but then you can't have other sims over without them getting in and they still just hang out on the lot forever. It's definitely seems to me to be some faulty code somewhere in the Toddlers patch that will have to be fixed on the Dev end of things.
@Erica87 I don't actually use lot traits at all so as long as they are optional I don't have a problem with whatever is done with them. I also have no opinion regarding groups rules.
@SuzieSocks Thanks for the additional info. I misunderstood the scope of the problem. Have you tried leaving the lot in order to shake the unwelcome guest? That approach works in some similar glitches. If more extreme measures are necessary, maybe moving would help. Even if you return to the same lot, it might help in evicting the squatters.
Other possible workarounds.
1. temporarily play the stalker-daddy through manage households, for the sole purposes of making him leave.
2. Extreme Prejudice: use a kill cheat as a more permanent solution. lol. MCC lets you do it with one click, and I don't think they need to be an active household member. Normally I'd consider it cheating, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Alternatively, see if using in game cheats will allow you to deleted the sim. Fair warning that any of these might cause him to be culled from family trees, if that's something that you care about.
3. Move the Sim in and back out with manage household, if possible. If they live on a lot, make sure to use "sell furniture" so they don't bring their stuff, and then use money cheats to remove whatever money they brought. Temporary exception to the rules with the sole purpose of fixing a glitch, so IMO it's not really a violation as long as it doesn't create a benefit.
These are just suggestions, and I obviously haven't tested them in game, so no promises that they will work. Please keep us posted if you find a workaround so that other people can benefit. Sorry that people are having this issue.
We tried leaving the lot, the fathers come back after a while. We sent them away with mc command center, they return after a while. The only permanent solution without killing them so far has been to age up the toddlers, that seems to make them leave.
CURRENTLY PLAYING: Forum mafias & Minecraft, mainly. Taking a break from the sims for a while!
Comments
@HeyBails Awe thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying them.
I started a plum tree thing.. here's a link to it.. https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/#tree/58829f56b12f3732714edf9d is there an interest in seeing screen shots of what has been happening in my game? I've uploaded pictures to my flickr that I can share.
@Fizzstix I love seeing screenshots. Share away.
Oh.. try this link... https://www.theplumtreeapp.com/public.html#58829f56b12f3732714edf9d
Yep. That one worked. Lovely family you have there
@Erica87 It's totally cramped and some rooms are bigger then others. Hopefully now I'm making more money I'll be able to move. I should probably start looking for a new house. I'm not much of a builder, I'm more of a renovator.
@meubanks I really appricieted your two cents becuse I agree!
Babies: 100/100
Sorry for chiming into the middle of an ongoing discussion, but this thread has gotten so large that It's tough to get back to the original post. I have a little bit of input on the "stalker sims" issue, but not really any workarounds. The option to tell the sims to go away doesn't appear, because to the game , your sim is on the lot, while the other sim is in the neighborhood. Even if they are only separated by the door, unless you greet them first, they are in two different places as far as the game is concerned. The same is true while your sim is walking around the neighborhood. Even though you are standing right next to an object, if you aren't on the lot, you can't interact with it until you knock on the door.
Frankly, I don't think that interacting with prior "baby-daddies" really hurts anything in this challenge. They don't provide any financial help to the household, and the certainly won't do anything useful in raising the child. They are more likely to cramp your style when your sim is trying to meet new men, or to get in the way when you're trying to take care of a baby. So to me, greeting them, then telling them to leave should be an acceptable workaround within the rules. There is also a private lot trait that might help. I haven't tested it to see if it works, but it is supposed to stop, or at least reduce the number of random door 🐸🐸🐸🐸.
There are some current aging glitches, and specifically some that affect the birthday cakes. This is a hit or miss workaround, but sometimes making a different type of cake will work. So it the chocolate cake is glitching, for example, see if you can get the hamburger or some other kind of cake to work. MC Command Center has a built in age up cheat that I use in my normal games to circumvent this glitch. It helps avoid the sad moodlet for a missed birthday. I think there is also an in game cheat that will age them up, but I don't know it without looking it up.
To be fair, some MCC modules would allow you to effectively cheat in this challenge, so I would recommend not installing the full package if you wanted to use it as a workaround. IF you don't like mods, I would not consider the cheat code to be a rule-breaker, because you would only be using it to overcome a glitch, and not to gain an advantage.
TL;DR Yeah, it's a known glitch.
The censorship mechanic is kind of hilarious sometimes, because the word that got plum-ed out was pretty innocuous in the way that I used it. lol.
Since my post doesn't quite make sense now, let me amend my earlier effort by replacing the word "plum" with "those who knock on doors" Hopefully that version will make it past the filter.
@Chellejo, I haven't even gotten 3 skills to the max yet. Apparently toddler skills are really hard to teach
@CactiSimmer I have autonomy on but I check on the adults every few minutes to cancel any unnecessary toddler-related actions. Usually player-issued commands take precedence over autonomy-issued commands so when I keep my sims busy by giving them commands often they don't go crazy about the toddlers all the time.
@Eminik Oh no
@Mareviola I plan on building another one or two baby challenge houses for people who don't feel like building them themselves. I personally want to move into something cozier down the line as well, my own house is too blue and white for me right now.
@meubanks You can chime in whenever you'd like to! Any input is welcome. However concerning the baby daddies I don't think we're able to greet them because they seem to be part of the household in that state. Paolo Rocca was able to move through a door that was locked and set to only allow household members. Frankly, I don't see any kind of cheating to work around or avoid glitches as rule breaking. As long as you age your child up on the day it's supposed to age up or whenever it gets an A it doesn't matter how you do it. I have all mc command center modules installed but have it set up in a way that they're not giving me any advantages in the challenge and as long as people don't exploit it I don't feel it's an issue.
Considering what @meubanks said I think we do need additional rules for the clubs. While I don't think people using what the game gives them is all that wrong I do want to limit exploitation of ingame glitches or mechanics that could be abused in a profitable way. In this case I would suggest that we add a rule that states that sims in the household may either join already created clubs or create clubs that have no encouraged / discouraged activities. That way the exploitation of the system should be limited while players who use the clubs for daddy hunting or family gatherings still can use them. What does everyone think about this?
And what does everyone think about randomizing lot traits, should we replace the current existing options with the rule that lot traits have to be randomized every 5th child?
Taking a break from the sims for a while!
@Erica87 If you build a house I'd totally want to check it out! I love house "shopping" in the sims I spend hours on it!
The randomizing of lot trait it's nice. We could add it as an another option instead of replacing it.
The club I do believe needs some rules. But I believe we should restrict the perks more than the activities. They seems to be the ones the give the most advantage. For example there is a "do homework" activities if I'm not wrong. That doesn't bother me. It's something they should do anyway. But the perks that fill the needs or the one the helps with performance or skills should be... talked about.
Babies: 100/100
Burn It Down: An Apocalypse Challenge
My Simblr
I have no had any success in finding a 'more than 8' mod. I don't know where to look. Do you have a link please? I do not have any other mods or any CC so I am not worried about any conflict.
@Meubanks Unfortunately the "stalker daddy" issue isn't a "guest" issue. There are no "greet sim" options either. It's as if the sim(s) in question has become a member of your household without actually becoming one so you have no control over them and they really do get in the way, especially when trying to care for the toddler or make time with a new baby daddy.
Also, I've seen a couple of other people note that the private lot trait does nothing to solve this issue. You can lock them out of the house, but then you can't have other sims over without them getting in and they still just hang out on the lot forever. It's definitely seems to me to be some faulty code somewhere in the Toddlers patch that will have to be fixed on the Dev end of things.
@Erica87 I don't actually use lot traits at all so as long as they are optional I don't have a problem with whatever is done with them. I also have no opinion regarding groups rules.
My specific point about clubs is that they can be easily set up to give a pronounced advantage in this particular challenge. I love clubs, and they were a great addition to the game, but in this case they are so good that they almost act as an in game exploit. The most exploitable aspect of clubs is that you can keep an active gathering 24/7 in a household club. Within a generation or two, a min-maxer who sets up the club properly can unlock all of the perks fairly easily.
My chief concern is that they can basically make raising children much easier, and they put children in a position to age up to teen at a much faster rate than they normally can if the rules don't reflect the clubs advantages. In my clubs have I normally have 4 aspirations completed, and a few points in unlocked adult skills, so that I can age the kids up as many as six days early. The connected perk (I think it's called) also has a noticeable impact on school promotions, and the focused perk allows them to benefit from the ideal emotion all-day, every-day if you keep an active gathering.
One option would be to create club and non-club variants, and to change the age-up requirements to reflect club advantages. For example, instead of allowing them to age up as soon as they get an A, require them to complete some aspirations as well. Conversely, you could REQUIRE them to age up when they get an A, to avoid the every kid-is-maxed-out effect. Another possibility is to just not allow the kids to join clubs until they hit teen, because the advantages are much more balanced from that point on. Maybe only allow kid clubs to be kid-only clubs, because that also changes the dynamic a bit as well.
In any case, my suggestions are just suggestions, and they are certainly not the only, nor necessarily the best possibilities. My personal input would be to use separate variants and place the choice in player's hands. Either don't use clubs, or use them with some balancing rules. At the end of the day, the challenge isn't a competition, but if clubs are always allowed there is simply no reason not to use them. They do provide a clear advantage.
FWIW, I'm not "against" allowing them. I just want people to realize how powerful they can be, especially once you unlock the perks. "Rally the troops" alone is amazing, because it basically means that sims never have to sleep, or eat, or use the bathroom. They can just fire off RTT on occasion, and go non-stop forever. Not bad for 500 pts.
As for lot traits, tbh, I think their advantage is less pronounced. While they boost some skills, they also force sims to compulsively engage in autonomous behavior that kind of offsets the advantages. For example, if you have the homey trait and a workbench, Sims will craft knife block after knife block until you force them to stop. Crafting knife blocks with the trait is less efficient than crafting higher skill items without it, so the advantage and the annoyance factors cancel each other out. The Ley Line trait can boost the chance of twins, but the natural chance is so small that it still amounts to a fairly low probability. Even with Ley Line + 1 parent fertility, twins are rare enough that the advantage isn't unbalancing. Adding fertility massage on top might boost the number of twins, but if you've taken the time to grind out Wellness, IMHO you've earned it.
I don't think lot traits need additional rules for balance sake. If the goal is just to keep things interesting, a randomization option might be appropriate.
but this one appears to be good too, I just haven't tested it myself:https://simsvip.com/2014/09/27/the-sims-4-mod-more-than-8-sims-in-your-household/
Burn It Down: An Apocalypse Challenge
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Lot traits will of course still be optional
By the way guys, technically having a mod that allows you to have more than eight sims on a lot is not allowed since it gives an unfair advantage over other players.
Taking a break from the sims for a while!
@SuzieSocks Thanks for the additional info. I misunderstood the scope of the problem. Have you tried leaving the lot in order to shake the unwelcome guest? That approach works in some similar glitches. If more extreme measures are necessary, maybe moving would help. Even if you return to the same lot, it might help in evicting the squatters.
Other possible workarounds.
1. temporarily play the stalker-daddy through manage households, for the sole purposes of making him leave.
2. Extreme Prejudice: use a kill cheat as a more permanent solution. lol. MCC lets you do it with one click, and I don't think they need to be an active household member. Normally I'd consider it cheating, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Alternatively, see if using in game cheats will allow you to deleted the sim. Fair warning that any of these might cause him to be culled from family trees, if that's something that you care about.
3. Move the Sim in and back out with manage household, if possible. If they live on a lot, make sure to use "sell furniture" so they don't bring their stuff, and then use money cheats to remove whatever money they brought. Temporary exception to the rules with the sole purpose of fixing a glitch, so IMO it's not really a violation as long as it doesn't create a benefit.
These are just suggestions, and I obviously haven't tested them in game, so no promises that they will work. Please keep us posted if you find a workaround so that other people can benefit. Sorry that people are having this issue.
Taking a break from the sims for a while!
Burn It Down: An Apocalypse Challenge
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Were you not able to release his spirit? If that's the case I'll have to write that down in the first post as well.
Taking a break from the sims for a while!