I can see that something they can expand on for stuff already in the game is canning as I have seen already, the other thing I am think that would be good is lighting to help reduce bills. Lights will turn off when no one is in the room or everyone is asleep. I have noticed that isn't in this game, but in past ones. The windmill on lots is a bad idea. Yes, wind power is a thing, but windfarms usually provide power for a vast area. Solar panels would be a nice touch, I know some people to get them for their own homes to help reduce their own bills. The only thing I can think of for new items is stuff made from recycled materials. Hippies could be a new aspiration, and a new world, a commune where you have just hippies living. But hey, forums are about sharing ideas with each other. Keep on keeping on.
- Solar Panels that you can place on a roof, which reduce your bills
- Wind turbines that can reduce bills (maybe too much animation work for little purpose though... I don't know that wind power is really something people use / can use on personal property)
- Recycle bin (outdoor trashcan): Every time you put trash in it, it stores / adds to a number. Once a week, when the mail comes, your recycle bin is emptied too (via a notification that it happened) and you're also given a notification about how your recycling impacted the environment (relative to how much trash you'd put in there over the week, ex: "by recycling, you helped reduce the pollution caused by waste by a factor of X%"... or if that's too complicated, no number stored, just each week, you get a notification saying you helped with no mention of "by how much")
- Compacted items (which cost less bills in the process)? (ex: mini-fridge, half a stove (seems like sims only animate on one burner anyway, from what I recall, so should be feasible), dish washer that is an independent item and takes up only 1 slot, radio/mp3player (super small of the size that can fit on a counter slot, and plays music), smaller counters? (1 tile instead of 4.. if feasible to do with animations). Basically, in terms of items, overall idea here is: Takes up less space and therefore less energy because it's smaller (not always true in RL, I'm sure, but that's the theme I'm brainstorming for items).
- 50s music station, like what you'd find in a Fallout game, with songs like "I don't want to set the world on fire" in simlish. Why? I don't know for sure why 50s strikes me as a good idea; I think because when I envision compact items and such, mixed with environmental consciousness, it's like a blending of mentalities; the future (of appliance size and technology) + going back to the past (be aware of, and taking care of, the environment). And the 50s music has that nice feeling that works so well in the dystopian mood of Fallout games, like you woke up and went backwards in time, and everyone is just singing about it for some reason. I don't know, I think I just like that type of music because of Fallout and am trying to justify it.
Maybe jumping the gun a bit without seeing the art the team has done, but eh, it's brainstorming.
~Well, we did have that giant water wheel in Sims 3, so maybe wind turbines would be possible? As for multi-purpose items I would love to see mini fridges make a return, and stoves too. Again we've had those in previous games so surely not too hard, right? I think other things like sofa beds or the drop down beds from Sims 3 would be great too.
Another but much less likely idea I had is tree houses, though I guess if you used pillars that were shaped like tree trunks, then had tree tops as roof accessories it could be possible. I might be getting a little carried away since this is only a stuff pack though!
I hope it is done a lot better than in Sims 3. In Sims 3, the whole eco-friendly thing was totally underwhelming and rather pointless. And I do hope that it will be about more than just energy-saving gadgets and appliances. I would prefer to see more of a living off-the-grid and off the land theme. Maybe a bit survivalist.
I've never really been much of a woodsy type, so the whole survivalist thing is a bit foreign to me. What kind of stuff would you want to see in something survivalist? Like... items that don't use electricity or something?
I mean, I know Outdoor Retreat has campfires, which allows you to do your eating without power. It has tents, which allow you to do sleeping without power. The only thing I think that hasn't been done in past TS4 content as far as the needs go, is managing hygiene without power. The campgrounds in OR have campground-ish bathrooms, but I'm not sure they can be placed on a home lot. And showering I don't think is addressed in an outdoorsy way.
Survivalism is not about camping or outdoor living; it's about being completely self-reliant, so that you can (hopefully) withstand any large-scale political or natural disaster. It basically takes the idea of off-the-grid living to extremes. So yes, you would want items that do not require electricity and you would also want items that could generate and store electricity, like solar cells. But you would also need to grow/find all your own food and make your own clothes, tools and medicines, etc. You would need the skills to do this.
Oh, ok, you're just talking about self-reliance. I was imagining like... person living in the woods type of deal. I guess that actually makes the concept broader.
My burning question is, how to handle something like solar cells in a way that is compelling gameplay. By that I mean, say solar cells just passively reduced bills... would that really be interesting? Or would it end up trivializing bills in general? I feel like there has to be some kind of trade-off. Like if you use solar cells, it it powers some items, but doesn't power others. But then, if the cut-off is too blatant, it could just restrict creativity.
Maybe not so much a way to make it more exciting as such, but slightly more realistic, would be to have the option to sell back any stored power you've not used? Say you have 10 solar panels, but your sims have only used 8 panels worth, at the end of the week, you get a little notification that allows you to either keep storing or sell off any unused power, does that make sense?
@Pinkyjj - there actually is an "auto-lights" feature in the game. Has been since launch but the only way to turn it on is in live mode - no access to it in buy mode. You click a light and the option wheel is turn on(this light, this room, all lights), turn off (this light, this room, all lights) or auto-light (this light, this room, all lights).
I'd like some more purpose to be added to gardening. I have used gardening in TS4 but quickly get annoyed and stop because it's too much effort for very little gain. (A sprinkler would help.)
Growing your own produce and using it as ingredients, should make the food taste better (or worse, if it's bad quality) and make sims feel healthy, proud of their labour or just happy to have saved money on reduced prices of cooking. It would be fun if high-quality and "perfect" produce gave special buffs, like the food tasting phenominal and the cook getting a confident buff that their secret is using the best ingredients etc.
Making jam and preserves, as many have mentioned, sounds so fun! I would love to have sims canning their own jam and selling it, eating it as a special snack on toast etc. It would also be fun if jam could be used as a special ingredient in baking. Herbs and flowers could also get more use as herbal remedies for illnesses and tense/uncomfortableness, as well as sims being able to create eco-friendly herbal/flower soaps and use or sell it.
Flower arranging would be great to have as a skill and give a use to flowers, because they have NO purpose besides being able to sell it. Maybe certain "centre pieces" can be placed in an arrangement and give off a certain aura?
As for appliances and energy-saving, there could be tinier appliances, as OP has stated, as well as alternatives for those appliances all-together, like being able to cook meals at a new "fire pit" and clay stove or whatever, and storing food in a new cupboard instead of a fridge, which doesn't use electricity. Food wil spoil more easily in there, though.
It would be cool if sims can draw water from a new "well" object to use in their homes. A water bucket will then be in their inventory, and if a bucket is in a sim's inventory while washing dishes or showering/bathing, the water from the bucket will be used instead of water from the pipes. Thus, using a well will reduce bills and allow sims to still have water if the utilities are cut. Maybe there can even be an option for sims to cut off their power and water from the phone, so sims can live "off the grid" if they wish to.
As for build/buy, personally I think of high-tech things when I hear eco, but this thread focusses on the earthly aspect of it, so I think African-themed stuff will work wonderfully. We don't really have any African stuff in TS4, so it would be fun to have as an option. Lots of clay, dried reeds, wood, colourful beads, art that focusses on wild animals and is usually in earthy tones like red and brown etc. I am a South African, so it would be interesting to see this in the game. It isn't my specific culture (my family is Western), but we often see it all around us at street stalls, museums, wild parks etc, and the modern versions of African decorating is actually quite cool as well!
Some African CAS items would also help to enhance the cultures that we can bestow upon our sims
We also already have "Woodland camping" theme stuff from Outdoor Retreat, so it would be repetitive and rather useless to do that theme again.
Oh, and as for laundry, personally I don't think it makes sense with this theme, but if it does make the final cut, there has to be eco-friendly alternatives like washing clothes in a tub and drying it on a washing line.
An eco-friendly trait should be added, and maybe an "Earth Warrior" aspiration where sims wish to live off the grid and save water and electricity by all means neccessary.
A modder already accomplished expanding the canning station in TS3. You could cook meals and can them as servings - or what they called rations. You'd open up the can and out popped a fully cooked meal ready to eat! This also prevented food spoilage. I played TS3 with really long winters. My farmer would cook during the shorter growing months and can it. They ate rations all winter long. I would make a pantry with floor to ceiling shelves and stack all my rations in there. Hovering over the jars, I could see what they were, and everyone could choose a different (or favorite) meal.
I absolutely love this idea!! That's so awesome hahaha! The canning of dishes also opens up endless possibilities for stories (Storing up for the Apocalypse, anyone? )
Hmm. Been thinking more about the back and forth discussion on solar panels and how they might work. How about something like this:
When you put solar panels on your roof, they are, at first, just for looks and can be used as only for looks if that's what you're into. However, if you also put a "Power Panel" object (another new object) on your lot (attaches to walls) then solar panels can be more than just for looks.
The Power Panel would have various options and upgrades, like:
- Install Solar Panels (this would only be available if your lot has solar panels on it somewhere and requires a handiness skill of something like 3): Once done successfully, your solar panels now start factoring into a reduction of bills. This then opens up more upgrades, some of which require special parts. Like...
- Optimize Wattage Output (handiness 5): Increases how much bill reduction you get out of the panels.
- Add Surge Protection (handiness 7): Normally if your Power Panel breaks, it can cause a power surge, knocking out all of the power in your home until you've repaired the Power Panel object, or installed a new one. Adding Surge Protection stops this from happening.
- Add Patented Llamacorp Suneating Layering (handiness 9): Further increases bill reduction by a lot.
- Add Sixamtanium Power Core (handiness 10 and you need a special power core part that you can buy online, or, if you have GTW, find on sixam): Only can be added if the other bill reduction upgrades are in place. Optimizes to the point that you're now getting paid each week, instead of having to pay bills. How much you get is dependent on where your reductions had put you in weekly bills. If they'd already brought your bills to zero, you get more each week than if the reductions left a lot of bills still to cover (so house size and the like still matters).
The general idea here is that there is a progression to it and a time investment in optimizing your power use. Plus it has a touch of do-it-yourself, with the handiness skill factoring in.
Comments
~Well, we did have that giant water wheel in Sims 3, so maybe wind turbines would be possible? As for multi-purpose items I would love to see mini fridges make a return, and stoves too. Again we've had those in previous games so surely not too hard, right? I think other things like sofa beds or the drop down beds from Sims 3 would be great too.
Another but much less likely idea I had is tree houses, though I guess if you used pillars that were shaped like tree trunks, then had tree tops as roof accessories it could be possible. I might be getting a little carried away since this is only a stuff pack though!
Maybe not so much a way to make it more exciting as such, but slightly more realistic, would be to have the option to sell back any stored power you've not used? Say you have 10 solar panels, but your sims have only used 8 panels worth, at the end of the week, you get a little notification that allows you to either keep storing or sell off any unused power, does that make sense?
Solar panels in liquid form. Aka, solar paint.
These things are real. As are solar roof tiles.
What it means, is that the entire outside of a building can be used to produce electricity.
Rather than paying for electricity, the power company pays you!
Growing your own produce and using it as ingredients, should make the food taste better (or worse, if it's bad quality) and make sims feel healthy, proud of their labour or just happy to have saved money on reduced prices of cooking. It would be fun if high-quality and "perfect" produce gave special buffs, like the food tasting phenominal and the cook getting a confident buff that their secret is using the best ingredients etc.
Making jam and preserves, as many have mentioned, sounds so fun! I would love to have sims canning their own jam and selling it, eating it as a special snack on toast etc. It would also be fun if jam could be used as a special ingredient in baking. Herbs and flowers could also get more use as herbal remedies for illnesses and tense/uncomfortableness, as well as sims being able to create eco-friendly herbal/flower soaps and use or sell it.
Flower arranging would be great to have as a skill and give a use to flowers, because they have NO purpose besides being able to sell it. Maybe certain "centre pieces" can be placed in an arrangement and give off a certain aura?
As for appliances and energy-saving, there could be tinier appliances, as OP has stated, as well as alternatives for those appliances all-together, like being able to cook meals at a new "fire pit" and clay stove or whatever, and storing food in a new cupboard instead of a fridge, which doesn't use electricity. Food wil spoil more easily in there, though.
It would be cool if sims can draw water from a new "well" object to use in their homes. A water bucket will then be in their inventory, and if a bucket is in a sim's inventory while washing dishes or showering/bathing, the water from the bucket will be used instead of water from the pipes. Thus, using a well will reduce bills and allow sims to still have water if the utilities are cut. Maybe there can even be an option for sims to cut off their power and water from the phone, so sims can live "off the grid" if they wish to.
As for build/buy, personally I think of high-tech things when I hear eco, but this thread focusses on the earthly aspect of it, so I think African-themed stuff will work wonderfully. We don't really have any African stuff in TS4, so it would be fun to have as an option. Lots of clay, dried reeds, wood, colourful beads, art that focusses on wild animals and is usually in earthy tones like red and brown etc. I am a South African, so it would be interesting to see this in the game. It isn't my specific culture (my family is Western), but we often see it all around us at street stalls, museums, wild parks etc, and the modern versions of African decorating is actually quite cool as well!
Some African CAS items would also help to enhance the cultures that we can bestow upon our sims
We also already have "Woodland camping" theme stuff from Outdoor Retreat, so it would be repetitive and rather useless to do that theme again.
Oh, and as for laundry, personally I don't think it makes sense with this theme, but if it does make the final cut, there has to be eco-friendly alternatives like washing clothes in a tub and drying it on a washing line.
An eco-friendly trait should be added, and maybe an "Earth Warrior" aspiration where sims wish to live off the grid and save water and electricity by all means neccessary.
Pirates!! http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/906481/pirate-gp-smuggling-dueling-live-on-ship-or-build-own-and-more#latest
I absolutely love this idea!! That's so awesome hahaha! The canning of dishes also opens up endless possibilities for stories (Storing up for the Apocalypse, anyone?
Pirates!! http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/906481/pirate-gp-smuggling-dueling-live-on-ship-or-build-own-and-more#latest
When you put solar panels on your roof, they are, at first, just for looks and can be used as only for looks if that's what you're into. However, if you also put a "Power Panel" object (another new object) on your lot (attaches to walls) then solar panels can be more than just for looks.
The Power Panel would have various options and upgrades, like:
- Install Solar Panels (this would only be available if your lot has solar panels on it somewhere and requires a handiness skill of something like 3): Once done successfully, your solar panels now start factoring into a reduction of bills. This then opens up more upgrades, some of which require special parts. Like...
- Optimize Wattage Output (handiness 5): Increases how much bill reduction you get out of the panels.
- Add Surge Protection (handiness 7): Normally if your Power Panel breaks, it can cause a power surge, knocking out all of the power in your home until you've repaired the Power Panel object, or installed a new one. Adding Surge Protection stops this from happening.
- Add Patented Llamacorp Suneating Layering (handiness 9): Further increases bill reduction by a lot.
- Add Sixamtanium Power Core (handiness 10 and you need a special power core part that you can buy online, or, if you have GTW, find on sixam): Only can be added if the other bill reduction upgrades are in place. Optimizes to the point that you're now getting paid each week, instead of having to pay bills. How much you get is dependent on where your reductions had put you in weekly bills. If they'd already brought your bills to zero, you get more each week than if the reductions left a lot of bills still to cover (so house size and the like still matters).
The general idea here is that there is a progression to it and a time investment in optimizing your power use. Plus it has a touch of do-it-yourself, with the handiness skill factoring in.
And this on the edge of another