Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
Your Recipe for a Great Game...
NRowe
Posts: 7,898 Member
- One, Two or More Sims?
- One or More Active Households?
- Which World to Live In?
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
- Occult Play or Realistic?
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
- Money Cheat/s, or No?
- Other important considerations?
2
Comments
-More active Households
-Active Household(s) in each world
-All worlds connect
-Realistic
-Normal lifespan with slightly prolonged adult lifespan (modded)
-Skill difficulty adjustment based on moods and preferences (modded)
-A week per Season (Spring Cleaning, Easter, Summer Holiday, Halloween and Remembrance Day as custom holidays, the rest only slightly adjusted)
-Multiple Mods, but no Script Mods and no CAS/Build&Buy CC (for Performance reasons)
-No Money Cheat, Just loans
-Changing Household after every Sims week
-Randomize traits
-No quit without saving
- one active household at a time but continue in the same save if I switch so I can encounter my own sims
- live in whatever world suits the vibe of the story
- all worlds are connected
- occult gameplay is essential
- any occult combination is possible, though vampires are rare
- lifespan : aging off or custom (about 2x normal) no correlation with real years
- seasons : 2 weeks with moon phase of 8 days
- holidays : love day, Easter, summer holidays, Halloween, all saints day, Christmas eve, Christmas and new years eve
- a few select mods but no big game overhaul mod
- cheats : some cheats allowed for story purposes. As long as the cheats don't give money, skills, aspiration points,... Those have to be earned
- weather effects off: no freeze to death
- NAP off: too much chaos
- fame off (not my cup of tea)
Note : this is my very personal favourite recipe. But everyone has different tastes. So not saying this is the recipe for everyone.
- 16 active households, which amounts to playing each for 1 week per sim year
- 16 different worlds (excludes MP, FH, DSV, BC, TT, MM)
- I don't really play unconnected worlds, just go where I like
- Current game has no occults yet but will gain them during play
- I occasionally play all occults, but I like spellcasters more than the others
- Lifespan = normal, ageing on for active household only (played 1 week per house) and I turn ageing on for NPCs for 1 week per year
- No Skill Difficulty Adjustment
- Length of Seasons: 4 weeks per season, holidays are Easter, Summer Bank Holiday, Halloween, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve
- No Mods at the moment
- No Money Cheats or any other cheats, apart from MOO for decor only
- NAPS off, fame off to start but certain chosen sims can gain fame, sadly dust off (can't stand the constant sniffing)
Most important considerations are to have as much variety as possible with sim numbers, ages, pets, traits, jobs, locations, hobbies & interests etc so that I have varied fun and I can experience as much of the packs as possible.
- Three households to start with, more sims and households to get added during play
- Starting households are most likely scattered over several worlds already in the beginning
- I always create clusters of connecting worlds, but which ones connect depends on the save
- Occult Play, but a sim's loyalties towards their peer group (culture, career, mob) are usually stronger than to others of their occult type
- Usually androids (custom), often spellcasters and werewolves, rarely vampires and aliens
- Aging off, manual aging and timeskips as needed
- Normal skill progression, sims YA and older get either a couple of skillpoints or helpful traits for free
- Manually changing seasons, holidays to be set as needed a couple of days before
- My regular mods plus a special folder with mods cc for this specific save
- Yes to cheats for the player, no for the sims
- A clear goal to reach, either "play x years" or "achieve this specific ingame goal", not every household has access to all careers/objects/means of income, households often compete for the goal
- Start with one or two sims, sometimes 3 if I want the child sim to be the focal sim. Expand to "heir and spare" for playing generationally.
- One active household, though I'll check in on others if needed
- Live wherever the story feels best
- All are connected, but there are "knots" of worlds where I'm more likely to travel to from the main one.
- Occults. All day, every day.
- Mostly Spellcasters, sometimes Werewolves or Aliens. Almost never Vampires.
- Normal Lifespan, or Long with manual age ups early on or when they've acheived their "goal" for that lifestage. (I can barely handle infants on normal life span. No way I'm going through that on long. Once they get to Toddler I can chill.)
- Normal skill progression.
- Two week seasons, with a "standard array" of Winterfest, New Year's, Love day (always coordinating with the winter or spring Romance Festival), Summerfest (usually coordinating with the summer Humor and Hijinks festival) sometimes Summer GeekCon, Fright Fest and Harvest Day.
- Currently running Vanilla, but MCCC and UI cheats are usually in the mix. Other mods as the story requests.
- Don't usually money cheat, but will do FreeRealestate when it's time to move.
- Always have a storyline of some sort. Maybe a goal, maybe a sequence of events, but some sort of story plan - including plans for the game to throw a curve ball.
-several active households, I switch between them depending on my mood
- basegame worlds, Brindleton bay and Evergreen Harbor are my residential worlds, the rest are community lot or vacation worlds which I use regularly.
- some worlds connect, some require extended travel
- Mostly realistic/family style gameplay but I have a few mermaids
- lifespan set to long but I turn aging off frequently
- no skill adjustment, never heard of this
- seasons 4 weeks long
- no mods
- cheats allowed and frequent used
- other- I use a lot of community lots and take my sims somewhere almost every sim day. I also frequently take my sims on vacations
I like to start with one or two sims
and then create more or interact with sims outside household as their "story" progresses
cause idk it just sort of feels like too many things have already been predetermined
and only way out is to ruin the happy ending
Multiple households me thinks
and thats how I started ts4 too
but now I've been playing multiple households for like 5 ish years and it has been pretty cool
I do sometimes wish I had just one silly household in one silly house
because that would be so much easier to manage
but then also I know it'd feel like downgrade now
because I love jumping between households ,
building whole worlds in my own style
and spotting sims ive played around while playing different household
like "aww look at Vlad and Judith having a date
and there goes Olive Specter chatting sims up in hopes to bring them to her death dungeon
all meanwhile I am actually playing this wholesome family that knows nothing bout that"
Forgotten Hollow perhaps as default
and pack worlds I'm excited about/fit particular story I am scheming
I don't tend to play much in base game worlds
since I have yet to really build them or have story that just screams this has to happen in willow creek
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
It's all connected
*insert guy in front of conspiracy map meme*
separate planets though
Britechester is close to Henford on Bagley and Henford on Bagley is close to Windenburg
Tartosa is like Greece or something on its own lonely here in the between
Tomarang is island of its own
but close somehow to Selvadorada which is jungle up hill from village in Sulani
and if you go by sea from Lani St.Taz then take train you get to Mt.Komorebi
Glimmerbrook to Granite Falls to Moonwood Mill to Forgotten Hollow
is one hecking confusing forest
that is impossibly connected to literally everywhere by magic or something
thats my only explanation for how i use it like its the backyard of every place
sylvan glade might be connected to the occult confusion forest too
and if we get fairy world it'll probably be part of occult confusion forest as well
Copperdale is close to Brindleton Bay and Evergreen Harbor
Evergreen Harbor and Brindleton Bay are connected via harbors
Brindleton Bay country roads (from sable square) lead to Chestnut Ridge
Chestnut ridge might also be close to Copperdale as copperdale has yeehaw vibes
Chestnut Ridge is part of Strangetown
which means it is close to Strangerville, Oasis Springs, Del Sol Valley
Del Sol Valley is close to San Myshuno
(san myshuno is also strangely close to brindleton bay)
San Myshuno is so close to Newcrest you can see it from newcrest
San Myshuno and Del Sol Valley are also close to San Sequoia and Magnolia Promenade which are close to each other
Newcrest, San Sequoia, Magnolia Promenade are all connected to Willow Creek
but are closer to San Myshuno than Willow Creek is
my brain hurts did I miss something
oh also weirdly forgotten grotto is in oasis springs, forgotten hollow, chestnut ridge and sulani simultaneously
don't even ask how that works i just decided it does because we only have one hidden lot thats inside cave
I like realism and occult together
cause occult doesn't really feel like occult without realism for contrast
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
All and everything really
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
One eternity to one week depending on sim but I play aging off
but then again my sims just age whenever and I don't keep track of years
none
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
4x 28 sim days = 1 sim year
1-2 Holiday /Season
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
No mods no cc
but I just don't want to use those anymore
at least for so long as we get updates and packs and all that
cause i just don't fancy the maintenance and trying to guess if my mods are broken or if the game is just broken
Yes but also no
I like to build whatever I want and move sims in with freerealestate
but after that they get no money cheats
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
- Usually one, but in my latest I'm up to 5, but they are all related (second gen).
- Could be any, I tend to move in game.
- WC, NC and MP connect, so does DSV, CR and OS, other than that, it depends on the save and what I need at the moment. Sulani is always isolated, as is Selvadorada and Mt Komorebi.
- Realistic
- Long but modified ages to fit (modded by MCCC). One sim year = 56 sim days.
- Not really adjusted, some are harder, but generally kept as is.
- Two weeks per season, holidays vary by save. 1 or two holidays per season, so a little less than one a week.
- Multiple mods
- Money cheats at start of game to either increase or decrease living standards. I like the idea of having a house that fits the sim, and will build it to fit, then adjust funds to match after.
- In my current save, historical as I'm doing the decades challenge, prior I've had other considerations.
- Active households? I can only actively play one household at a time but I have many playable households that I switch between. I probably have a hundred or even more. (Each are on their own lots but I may use residential rentals for some of them when any bugs are ironed out). I decide what household to play either by following a story that interconnects certain households or just deciding that I haven't played those sims in a while or just simply because I want to. The last reason is always a good enough one.
- My sims live in any or all worlds. I visit any of them based on whoever I am playing. Some neighborhoods tend to take on the character of their residents as they continue to live there. There are a few large families that have generationally grown up and some of them may tend to live in certain worlds but I use them all.
- About connecting worlds? Well, any sim can travel in between my worlds but I do give them the tendency to visit lots in certain worlds more often based on where they live. Newcrest is central for everyone and they can all go there. Willow Creek is also kind of like that and any sim can go to just about any restaurant that they want. Sims can vacation in any vacation world. Britechester accepts students from anywhere and is a neutral place for anyone studying.
Some notes though: Desert sims tend to stay in desert worlds (or neutral Newcrest) so Oasis Springs, Del Sol Valley and Strangerville are interconnected. Sulani sims mostly stay in Sulani but might venture to Tomarang now or Mt. Komorebi. Willow Creek sims tend to stay local including Magnolia Promenade. Windenburg is kind of its own place but it is near Henford or Forgotten Hollow. Some of the newer worlds like San Sequoia (just lightly explored) and Copperdale go together. I can relax a bit but I do tend to send sims to certain places based on where they live or travel. I have some nice community lots in several of the neighborhoods so sometimes I might be flexible about those.
- I definitely play in a style that is imaginatively realistic. I do have a little occult play because I've played a little bit with vampires. I have a few vampires and they are legitimately vampires. They are creatures of the night that bite and that are both amusing and tragic. They do socialize together and I have my own lore for them.
- Lifespan: For normal sims - meaning the majority of them - I have a slightly customized approach. I think I play on a normal lifespan but then I pause a lot whenever I want. It's not an epic lifespan. My sims are aging but I hit the pause button any time that I want. My rule for children is that they all reach certain levels of development. They all have essentially happy or loving childhoods with parents who love them. Maybe their parents get divorced or they might not have the wealthiest family but there needs to be love and positivity in their homes. That also means that I pause so that toddlers reach at least 3 and often more skill points in each skill, I've said that's a requirement to go to school in my game. Now, I often play infants through a lot of milestones though I don't force all of them. I pause if the parents are away all day so that they get developmental time together. Children are usually on normal except for vacations or family reasons for a pause. Teens have a longer span now so I may age some of them up sooner but I play them for about the normal span and then I allow them a few days if they need them before moving off on their own. I also pause sims at the various stages of adulthood for university, for some time to just relax and go on vacation or for personal, career or social development. I may also allow elders to pause a bit towards the end to enjoy themselves. I do leave death on though. The Grim Reaper is coming for them but I willingly give them extra time with the pause button whenever I want.
- Skill-building is normal. Any sim can earn any skill in the game. Keep working at them.
- 4 weeks per season; I like the gradual passage of time with subtle weather and seasonal transitions. I like a mix of different days in the year. For holidays, I have many of the usual ones - New Year's, Love Day, several with summer water activities, Spooky Day and Spooky Party Day, a Harvestfest and Winterfest. I've added a few culturally-specific holidays. It's possible that I might customize some more. If I play a household from a specific background, I may add other holidays. I also cancel out if sims are busy but they usually celebrate if they can.
- No mods or CC.
- About cheats? I don't cheat a lot but if I want to then I do. It's usually to set up a character that is new to the game in some specific role but I've done it any time that I want to make certain changes in the game. I'll use freerealestate to move townies or a group of random new sims into a house for example. I've also used money cheats to simulate inheritances or earnings from other income streams. If I think an excessive amount of items have broken recently in a house or that a sim is being overly billed, I'll use Kaching for a small amount of extra simoleons. I do not use those cheats all of the time though. Generally my sims are earning and making their own ways in the world. Many of them do buy their properties based on what they can afford. I sometimes use cheats to help a family afford to send a new YA child off to college or independence.
- Other? The goal is to have fun. I will say that sometimes I find a lot of fun in getting myself to play with households I might not have been interested in or pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I find they often do become more interesting. While I have plans for sims, I also like to go with the flow of the gameplay and allow for unexpected changes or connections. I have fun when my sims interact with each other or when I use different features in the game. Sims are allowed to have many different interests and to make use of community lots or events in the game. Sometimes I try to make myself do new things but I really do whatever I want and sometimes that's just letting a sim live out their days by filling up their needs or pursuing their hobbies and interests. They usually are pretty social though with families, romance, careers, pets and children. I can try to play some that are outside of that formula though. I have not played hardly any loners, that is generally not my style. I might let them be that way for a while but then they build relationships and friendships.
- One sim and a plucky hero adventure dog companion
- One Household
- Which World: all as necessary to follow the story. Lot's of moving around
- All worlds connect
- Occult play: Well the dog talks so not "that" realistic and the Sim is human
- If Occult Play, Which? NPC Occult welcome for any in the packs I own.
- Lifespan; Game set on long. Sim and dog are immortal
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) Just base game mechanics
- Length of Seasons - 1 week per season.
- Multiple Mods... so many mods... a plethora of mods
- No money cheats always a rag to riches thing.
- Other: Whatever I find fun.
C.
Traits: 🐶Dog Lover, 🎨Creative, 😑Loner
Social Media: 🐘@caerfinon@mastodon.social | My Stories: 🤷🏻🐕 Simmer Tales a comic look at Sims 4 | 🌐A Sim's Life - Comic observations
My CC: 🎨 Jac related CAS and Build CC | 🖼️ Film Noir Wall Decorations | 👩🎨Pauline King Art
My receipe for a great game is very easy. It only has one ingredient and that is:
I play since Sims 1 (with a few breaks) and I wouldn't have played for such a long time if I wouldn't love my Sims.
It doesn't matter where they live or how many of them there are or any other of the options above.
I love them and that keeps me logging in almost every day and we're having a ball.
I want to know what they are up to today, what and who they like and learn more about them.
I want to see them in new outfits, build houses for them and spend time with them.
This also makes it very easy for me to tell their stories.
Vlad and Jack, for example. They already existed in my Sims 3 game and I never get tired of them ^^'
And whatever I build, I always build with the Sims in mind I build for.
So this makes it also easy for me. I know what colors and style they prefer and what their hobbies are.
🎁 Best of Buydebug ☃️ Short trips to the Oggiverse - Short Clips 🎬 My Builds: Houses 🏘 Rooms 🛋 SciFi 👾 creatively edited Screenshots 🎨
If we are talking per household it depends on the household, I got everything from 1 to 8.
- One or More Active Households?
Multiple Households
each with their own stories, goals and characters, so they all have a different gameplay aspect to them. So I can play whatever I feel like whenever.
- Which World to Live In?
Any world that fits with the household
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
Right now I have two different savegames, one is more on the occult side, so I mostly use forgotten hollow, moonwood mill and henford (cuz I like it better than glimmerbrook).
- Occult Play or Realistic?
Both
- If Occult Play, Which?
All of them!
- Lifespan
The longest with ageing off
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment
Nah
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
Longest seasons, Holidays only when I feel like it
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
No mods, Im on console.
- Money Cheat/s, or No?
Yes.
- Other important considerations?
Building cheats, I love to build, also other cheats to make creating my characters just how I want them easier.
I also agree, that caring about my sims is important, which is probly why they are all a bit weird and I love occults, "perfect" characters bore me.
- I have multiple active households in my rotational saves.
- I'm partial to Tartosa, Windenburg, San Myshuno, and Del Sol Valley, but I'm open to whichever world feels like the best fit for the story.
- It varies based on the story. I have one story where San Myshuno, San Seqouia, and Oasis Springs are all suburbs of Del Sol Valley. They make up my sims version of L.A. In most cases though I worlds clustered together based on the real world city they remind me of most. Some trips between worlds involve air travel, narratively speaking, but the trips aren't long. Time and distance is abstract in my saves.
- A little of both. I love occult sims and it used to be the only way I'd play.
- Vampires. I really love werewolves but I don't have a story going where they fit in.
- Aging is always off, every save, everytime. I age sims up as the story requires, but time really doesn't matter in my stories because I feel like the game advances time much too quickly.
- I haven't done anything to change skill difficulty, unless you consider being famous a skill. I did use MCCC to ever so slightly increase the rate at which sims gain fame.
- 28 days seasons, but I wish I could make them much, much longer. Like realistic length, but then again since aging isn't a thing in my saves length of seasons doesn't really matter either.
- I collect mods as a hobby. That's a bit of hyperbole, but I do have quite a few big mods, MCCC, WonderfulWhims, T.O.O.L., etc, and dozens of small mods to block broken or annoying bits of gameplay.
- I very liberal in my use of the money cheat! I make it rain...
- Both of my active saves are the basis for SimLit so the main consideration is being openminded to the gameplay gifting me surprises that I can use in those stories. My sims are good at going 'off script' and giving me little surprises, or sometimes big ones, that take the story in unexpected and fun new directions.
All the sims. Only 1 home is left empty in every neighborhood.
- One or More Active Households?
I play rotational. I spend a week with each family. From Monday to Sunday.
- Which World to Live In?
I use every world. My favorites are Sulani, San Myshuno, and Brindleton Bay.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
In my version of the game, every world connects through San Myshuno. San Myshuno is the center and the worlds are around it. Each world has a mayor and local government. Each has a business specialty that can correlate to different types of jobs in the game. For instance, Willow Creek is my tech hub. It's where I have a lot that has research computers, a robotics lab, a programming center, that teleporter thing from the science career, and lab equipment. I can take my sims with careers that use those objects there to skill. I also create clubs of workers for those lots so that I see those clubs doing stuff when I'm playing other sims.
- Occult Play or Realistic?
Both. In my world the occult exists in an underground harry potter sort of way. Sims who are occult fanatics (which I love that they gave us this option) are the only ones who can cross the barrier between realms, but it's still only if they happen to meet my strict criteria of befriending an occult and the occult sim sharing their secret. It actually hasn't ever happened now that I think about it. My occult sims have chips on their shoulders and don't like outsiders...or each other.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
All
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
I don't care enough about this to know. I think I used MCCC to change the span of the younger years and elder years to make it more on the normal setting. The teen, adult, and young adult were left the same.
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
Yes. It's boring when everyone's skills are maxed out.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
I play with 27 day seasons because I rotate through many houses. I play each for 7 days so that means I get through 4 houses in a season. It's not ideal, but it's the best I can do.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
Yes. I don't know how people play without mods. I usually have all the bug fixes, some of the features, lots of build, and basic gameplay mods.
- Money Cheat/s, or No?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Depends on the situation. Is my family supposed to be established? Then yes. Is my family meant to be poor? Then no.
- Other important considerations?
The most important for me is to let things happen to my sims. Try not to micromanage and just enjoy the things that come along as the sim does their own thing. I dice roll everything that can be. Instead of viewing this like playing a household, I think of it as playing a city style soap opera where some of their lives are interconnected and they're all adding to the history of the town. I also play DnD style where I make choices based on the sim's personality rather than what I want to happen. That way I end up with lots of different types of sims with different personalities. I also make clubs for all of that and some.
I've decided on two-week seasons with a lifespan equal to about 48 days to 1 year. This translates to 36 days as infants (haven't even had them yet
University will be four weeks a semester. Pregnancy 38 days. It's not perfect; a year is closer to seven weeks (and not quite that) than eight weeks for a full cycle of seasons; but I'm optimistic.
My two Sims have begun in an apartment in Evergreen Harbour. I've always loved the apartments as starters for some reason. She's going to be a uni student (from home) and a future scientist (one of my favourites) and he's deliberately created as her opposite in many ways.
He happens to be a spellcaster; BUT he doesn't know it yet.
Will consider them able to travel to San Myshuno easily for festivals. Probably the desert worlds are a bit further away and they will have to move once she begins full time work at the lab (which looks desert based). Sulani, Mt Komerebi, Tartosa, Henford on Bagley and a number of others considered overseas and therefore not available for day trips.
Mods kept to an absolute minimum but MCCC, Fitness Controls and now Longer University Terms have been added as essential already.
No money cheats were used in moving in this couple though I did move a different household into their furnished apartment and evict it to bring the cost of moving in down.
Will look to add households into active rotation as proves appropriate. Hoping right now to get attached to this new couple and enjoy the significantly slower pace I've set for their lives.
Depends on the household, variety is good.
- One or More Active Households?
More! I love rotational play.
- Which World to Live In?
Almost all worlds.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
All connect, but sims prefer their homeworld.
- Occult Play or Realistic?
Depends on the family, occults are definitely allowed though.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
All.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
Normal. I have played long, I have played short, but currently normal.
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
Not needed.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
4 weeks season.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
Vanilla.
- Money Cheat/s, or No?
No cheats on main families, for side families money cheats are ok.
- Other important considerations?
Recently my biggest problem has been deciding who to play, so I'm testing a sceduled rotation instead of irregular one. Playing my 20 main families 5 days per rotation and also slotted in some days for semi played families which I have plenty.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
- One or More Active Households? 100+ households on rotation. A few played more than others, but a great chance to switch to quite diverse challenges and different builds and life situations.
- Which World to Live In? All available.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? I group my worlds into 8 regions, mostly based on climate zones and nature.
- Occult Play or Realistic? Mostly realistic, but realistic would be less interesting without a few occults.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) Vampires, werewolves and magicians are all cool. Never played marfolks.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) I think I use normal lifespan, but I play with aging off except from Newyears Eve, and with each season being 28 days, each sim year is 4x28 simdays. Meaning most of my sims will be around forever...
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) Not sure how top understand this. I focus on skills to make sims unique, either to match their personal goals, or to create conflicts. Very few reach the max skill levels, though.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays 28 days.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? Select few. I could not play without the UI cheat, my time with each household is too limited to ruin all activities thanks to a bladder failure...
- Money Cheat/s, or No? I use my own money system, so I cheat whenever needed to follow those rules. I rarely cheat in order to obtain a new goal, though.
- Other important considerations? Remember to switch household before it gets boring
One, Two or More Sims?
One sim but then branch off as their kids age up.
One or More Active Households?
As my sim's kids age up and move out, I rotate between the households. In other saves, I do enjoy rotational play though. I found that by having a connections (no matter how small) between sims helps with rotational play. It could be just they live in he same neighborhood (or apartment building if playing in San Myshuno).
Which World to Live In?
It depends on what I think my sim would want. Emilia Westbrook started in Windenburg, but Orion Xalvador lived in Strangerville. He's an alien and his ship crash-landed in Strangerville.
Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
I don't really play with any worlds closed off. I let my sims travel freely between the worlds. I do like having Sulani and Mt. Komorebi as vacation worlds though.
Occult Play or Realistic?
It depends on my mood. For the most part I lean toward realistic.
If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
For some reason in my game, I gravitate toward aliens. I don't always play them though. It depends on my mood but none are excluded if I play occults.
Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
I play on Normal lifespan modified by MCCC (2 or 3 extra days per lifestage). I consider one sim year to be based on seasons rather than sim ages. More on that in Seasons question.
Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
I don't do any skills adjustments.
Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
I typically do 28 day seasons. So one sim year is 28x4=112 days. But I've also used LittleMsSam's 21 day seasons mod.
For holidays, I have the default ones as well as...
-- Founder's day, which is the first day of the first season I play in. For example, if I start my save in Spring, Founder's day would be the first day of Spring the next time Spring comes around. It's to commemorate my founding sim. The traditions are similar to Memorial day in the US.
-- Summer vacation is usually halfway through the season and lasts a week. I usually send my sims to Sulani for a week. Each day has water activities or grilling.
-- Winter vacation is usually the days between WinterFest (Christmas) and New Years Eve. I send my sims to Mt. Komrebi. The tradtions are winter-related activities.
-- Other holidays depend on the save.
No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
Mods, mods, and more mods. I do not play my game without MCCC, Wonderful Whims, Lumpinous Relationships & Pregnancy Overhaul, Bienchen's Traits Overhaul, Whims Overhaul, MissyHissy's Custom Wants mod, and Ky-E's Lifetime Aspirations (adopted by NeedCoffee4That).
Money Cheat/s, or No?
For the most part, no money cheats. When moving sims to New houses, I may cheat if my sims are a few 1000 simoleons short, but I make my sims earn their stuff.
Other important considerations?
-- I start with a loose backstory and let the game (and mods) decide my sims' fate. I don't restart or quit without saving if anything happens. The only time I quit without saving is if my sim dies straight out of CAS, which has never happened to me.
If a sim gets pregnant from abduction, I raise the baby, no sending to homeworld.
-- Wonderful Whims has an attraction feature, and I only allow my sims to marry sims they find Extremely Attractive. Now that we have Compatibility from Growing Together, I also only allow sims they find Extremely Attractive and have at least Good Compatibility with. My sims can date whomever they want but can only marry the aforementioned sims. It makes it harder for them to find love, which in my opinion is a bit too easy. It also makes me take things slower instead of picking a random sim on the street.
-- When moving to New house, my sims take their furniture with them (apart from counters, plumbing, and lights...things that wouldn't be easy to remove in real life). The house they move to only has those things until I put their stuff in.
When rotating between households:
-- I rotate every Sunday and Wednesday at 6am. Aging for non-played sims is on/off when a new rotation starts.
-- Neighborhood stories are turned off for Played households. They're on but customized per non-played household. For example, only households with elders can retire. For single sim households, I turn off their stories in case I want them to marry one of my played Sims. Sometimes I'll move them to played households for reserve to stop Neighborhood stories.
Not all saves:
--No repeat aspirations (except family aspirations). Gen 2 can't repeat my founders' aspiration. This makes me really think about other aspirations and keeps me from doing the same ones. Same thing with traits. It gets me out of my comfort zone.
-- Sims must complete a degree.
The two saves I mentioned above have been my favorites of any sims game. I noticed that when I let the game guide me, I have a deeper connection to my sims, which makes me want to continue their lives. I like when my sims have obstacles to overcome (i.e unexpected pregnancy, divorce, etc.). Real life isn't easy so my sims' lives aren't. One of my Westbrook family sims couldn't have children (disabled in CAS) so she adopted. I rarely use features in the way they're intended. I used the stay over feature for one sim (not in the saves mentioned here) to spend the weekend with his affair partner.
This is super long but I hope it gives you some ideas.
Usually 1-4.
- One or More Active Households?
More. I have three main families Goths, Pancakes and Trouts, and side families which I play sometimes if I feel like it.
- Which World to Live In?
All, but currently I've been playing in Windenburg, Mt. Komorebi, Tartosa and Chestnut Ridge.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
Sulani and Mt. Komorebi are further away. If my sims get invited there they most likely won't go, unless they are rich, because then they have money to travel anywhere, but still especially Sulani is more like a vacation world. Trouts live in Sulani and they don't travel much.
- Occult Play or Realistic?
Mainly occult. All my main families have occults.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
Goths have a vampire matriarch and a ghost werewolf with two puppies (and the sister of the ghost werewolf will probably become a vampire), Pancakes are spellcasters and Trouts will have one merman as soon as he grows up.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
I play on long lifespan and sometimes I turn aging off, but I also age my sims when I think it is a good time for them to age.
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
I haven't needed one. My sims max out skills that they are interested in and I think most of my sims don't have too many maxed out skills.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
Each season is 28 days. Lunar cycle is 16 days.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
No mods.
- Money Cheat/s, or No?
Main families don't get money cheats, but side families may get a house to live in for free.
- Other important considerations?
My sims transfer a lot between households. For example, Morgan Fyres often goes to rock climbing with her father and when they do I like to move them in the same household. Similarly kids can visit their grandparents for a couple of days.
- I have whole worlds full of sims, but only a few that “star” in my little play
- Multiple households are active, and can rotate in or out depending on developments
- I don’t have a favorite world. The choice will depend on the story needs. Most of my main sims currently live in Glimmerbrook, HoB, Windenburg and “Mooncrest” (Newcrest+Magnolia Promenade).
- All worlds are a part of the overall world, but the occult lands are separate from the human lands. I use mods to keep them that way.
- I’m currently playing occults, but don’t always
- All occults are played, since this is a fantasy save, but Spellcasters dominate. I have all of the fantasy type packs, except for Batuu.
- Aging is off and managed manually when I want it.
- I cheat in basic skills to match the sim’s stage of life when created. No adult should just now be figuring out how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.
- All seasons are set for the longest possible time, and that’s still not long enough. Since they come around so often, I sometimes skip holidays.
- I use mods as needed to manage my game, but no more than that. Clothing CC is another matter.
- I cheat money in to match the sim’s status in life, and because I’m not really playing careers in this game.
- All of my worlds have a place in my game lore and are very intentionally populated. That has kept my game from going stale, because there’s always another story to check out when the household I’ve been playing gets a bit old.
Tales From The Myst
The Blue Moon Jukebox
-Yes, person I barely know, you have my blessing to hang out with Johnny Zest.
-No person with the mean, hot-headed and self-absorbed traits, I don't think you should get married.
I personally enjoy playing the game so much more than working on bug fixes.
>Autonomy on full blast.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/