Interesting. Do you know how it affects memories and wants? Like if they skill later, do they roll the proper want for six skill points, or do they think they have none?

They will roll for the sixth skill. They don't have memories of the skills set with mods though.

Use the testing cheats, and you can drag the points exactly where you want them to go, which can be based on anything from personal preference to a random roll with maxes and minimums chosen by you.

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that. It's too bad I don't like the simblender for this, as it would've been nice not to add to an already long list of rolls.

But then you are choosing for them, the simblender is random.

@PhantomKnight S won't kill Orlando because she needs more heirs for the businesses. Also, Aliana, Elissa and dozens of other people would surely try to kill her. Orlando is on good terms with pretty much everyone in Pleasantview.

As for your dilemma, maybe Herbert and Faith could divorce and Herbert could get a baby with someone else? Then, the baby could be taken away and adopted by Faith. That's how I would do it if I had Apartment Life :P

Dice are random, too, Jo! When I'm randomizing skill points I use polyhedrals. Just decide what range you'll allow, choose a die based on that, roll, and drag. Because you've set the range you never wind up having to delete points. Say you think an elder should have a few cooking points, because she's cooked before, but shouldn't max them because she's assumed to have lived in a city all her life and now she'll be doing campfire cookery, so you want her to have no more than five, but no less than two. That's d4+1. You decide charisma is universal and she's allowed to max it, but it's not survival-necessary, so she could have any number - straight d10, or, if you want a chance that she has no charisma skill, d12 - 2, with results of 1 and 2 on the die counting as 0, 3 as 1, and so on.

I guess you could, I forgot about dice. I only ever use Boolprop if I need an error report, I prefer mods.

Hrm. Okay, so, one of my households just got a genie lamp, and I'm wondering what you guys typically do with them for story purposes? I don't want to cheat my way to a ton of money (although, it technically isn't cheating) but I also don't see the point of any of the other wishes. Plus, the whole supernatural vibe to it breaks immersion for me personally.

The sim who got it is an artist, so I guess I could sell the lamp and do a family fund thing to add some simoleons to the household by acting like she sold paintings to an art gallery? Or I could treat it as overdue child support (she raised her two kids alone, the dad wasn't in the picture)? Any other ideas?

I've never gotten a genie lamp, haha...

How about paint it?

I have Cyjon's mod that expands the wishes and generally save lamps till I need them. My favorite is immunity from disease. If you put it in inventory you won't even have to look at it and it won't bother you.

She's an artist. She found it at an antique store and it works just fine as an end table decoration/conversation piece. If it ever is appropriate for someone in her family to rub it and make a wish, well, that's what happens when you're dusting, right?

I'd go with Sunbee's option in my hoods, as use of the genie lamp by non magical creatures is banned, usually. I've been playing a more realistic game lately so the lamp and aspiration rewards got the boot. Only evil witches are allowed to use genie lamps--a rule I instituted as a way to compliment their sucky spell set. So, my evil witches buy the lamp from normal sims for $1,000, because regular sims don't know the value of what they have. Supernatural creatures can sell the lamp to evil witches at a rate of $22,000 per wish (cost of a money wish, otherwise, they'd just use it themselves) though now that I think about it, this really only applies to vampires and aliens. Werewolves are supposed to have a ingrained hatred for magic and witches in my game, so it's unlikely that they'd make a deal or use the lamp. Plantsims don't care about earthly concerns like money and zombies are supposed to go feral over time, so chances are they wouldn't be coherent long enough to make trades and such. Good witches, theoretically could use the lamp, too, but they're are too good to do so ; they just keep the lamp as decoration.

Say it's a lotto ticket and they won.

Thanks for all the replies!!

Sunbee - I love that idea to be honest, so I might run with it. I did consider selling the lamp and family fund some money as a lottery win too, but the lamp is very pretty...

And Phantomknight, if I had witches or supernaturals in my 'hood, I'd definitely run with your idea! Sadly there's only two households so far and no creature to be found

I love this thread. Thanks for creating it! <3

Right now I have such a dilemma, I guess I just wanted to ask you guys for advice.
My sims Emma and Nathan Winchester both have the family aspiration. They have 2 toddlers and one baby. After the baby was born Emma rolled to wish to have 10 children. For a couple of minutes I blinked at the screen. Now I don't know what to do with this wish.

Please allow me to explain why this wish is such a dilemma for me. I only recently started playing TS2 again, after being bored with 4. I first moved back to 3, but reading everyone's posts here on the TS2 forum made me re-install the game and I'm having so much fun with it. Even more than I did 10 years ago lol. I created my own hood with my own townies, etc.
And here we are... Emma and Nathan are the first ones to have children. When the twins were born I couldn't stop staring at them. REAL babies!!! And they were very good parents, as in doing stuff autonomously... like the father would feed them before going to work. (that's so cute!!). Shortly, everything I missed in TS3 and 4 is happening in my game right now. So when they both rolled the wish to get another one, I thought.. sure.

Now after this baby was born, Emma rolled the wish to have 10 children. I've never had such a big family in the sims and can't decide whether or not to fulfill that wish. And anyway, isn't there a mod needed for that?

You don't actually need a mod, though there are mods that make it easier. Since it takes three sim days to carry a pregnancy to term, the oldest children will be able to go to college to make room for the youngest ones in plenty of time, and you'll need to extend the fertile period to have all ten; but you can do that with elixir.

If you want to get to 10 faster, you can use the Freetime perk and/or cheesecake to get twins, without mods; or you can install the Triplets and Quads hack; but in that case you'l either be sending teens to college early (and teens make big families much, much easier to manage!) or needing a Larger Households hack. Be aware that if you try to run households that are more than your machine can handle, it'll start crashing on you.

I suggest you lock the want for now and go for it. You can always unlock it if you change your mind. But remember - your other families will be having babies, too. You don't want to get too much of a good thing.

I'm glad you enjoy the thread.

Anyways, personally what I would do is I'd lock the want and treat it as more of a long-term goal. Two mods that will help with the process though is BoilingOil's Unlimited Sims (lets you have more than 8 Sims in a household) and twojeff's Triplets and Quads hack (which hopefully is self-explanatory).

I would also suggest getting some one tile cribs (there's other ones, but I just linked to the one).

Family sims after a few kids will nearly always roll that ten kid want. I haven't done it in years myself simply because it's too many sims in a family, I would rather have smaller more numerous families. Just know that its a common family sim want, not something rare or special. The last time I filled this want the couple had two sets of twins and 6 single babies.

Larger household mod:There are at least three of these available. I use one from here. You can do it without and if you are new to sims 2 I would say better not to as more sims makes for harder game play.

Trips and Quads mod: I personally for a new player would not. I think you might find 3 or 4 toddlers at one time overwhelming. Try eating cheesecake or forcing twins and see how you go with two before branching out to 3 and 4.

Shorter pregnancy/longer life span mod: Maybe. If your female sim is getting old there are many ways to give her more days.

For any kind of family play I always recommend toddler beds or sleep mats. Having toddlers put themselves to bed and get themselves up makes a huge difference.

Thank you guys so much!! <3
Yes, if I'm going to do this, it's probably going to be a one time thing hahaha. It's definitely a lot to manage. When I got the twins and they were babies I constantly checked on them. It's probably a thing I got from TS3, because babies and toddlers always needed something. Now the twins are toddlers, they can use the activity table and their social and fun will both go up, without the parents having to do anything. Wow, I have no idea why I forgot so much about TS2 and I'm thinking, why on earth didn't they put this is 3 and 4!

I didn't know about the cheesecake, so I'm going to try that and I'm looking at the one tile cribs right now. That would definitely be useful! I had already put in some extra pet beds in the house, because I noticed the tots kept wanting to sleep in the cat's bed lol. That's a life saver though, because they can go in and out themselves. So I will also go looking for some mats or beds where they can put themselves in.

Thanks so much for all your advises and I'll lock the want for now. :hugs:

The main trouble with pet beds (unless you add a mod) is the energy rating is very low. A toddler can sleep a long time in one then wakes up because they need to eat and pee and socialize and you can end up in a loop of low moods. A proper toddler bed or sleep mat is far and away better.

Phae's Tiny Tots sleepy mat was cloned from a dog bed. I didn't know that until I realized I had happen exactly what Jo said above. Since I love the sleepy mats I found the mod that fixed that, I want to say it was by Charity, but I know it's here at MTS. I posted the link in another thread just recently.

Charity made the mod here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=542654

I went to download it and it turned out that I already had them, oops.

I've done that kind of thing before.

Yes I found the motives a problem with the pet beds as well. But looking through MTS for toddler things I found this to be useful:
http://modthesims.info/d/253659

I used the toddler bed (not the single bed). They can get in and out themselves. But it also still works as a crib, so I think the motives are the same and parents can still put them in/out. I really love it so far.

It's a new year, so I'd like to hear new dilemmas!

So, the ex-NPC burglar got caught and is currently in jail at the police station (owned lot).

I like to play all playables but I have no clue about him except that he dislikes jail.
I unfortunately have no clue on the path he should take once released.

These were his wants the last time I play.

He's around since the beginning of the hood since 2011. (I think I'm currently playing gen 5-6-7).
He has some stolen stuff in his inventory but the owners are long dead. I couldn't decide if he should keep it (aka hidden loot) or the stuff was taken away from him after court.
His personality is 1/7/5/6/6 and his higher interests are work (8), travel (8) and crime (7).

Thanks in advance for your help.

What is his lifetime want? Anyways, without knowing that -- given his high outgoing score, personally I would stick him in the Music career. He could also try Politics, but I have a feeling that his past would haunt him....

His LTW is "Become General"
I don't think he'll work in politics. I plan to have two or three sims running for Mayor soon.
I also play semi-integrated so I have NPC and employees jobs.

Do they even let you in the military if you have a criminal record? Considering that 5 active, probably wouldn't be the best career choice for him anyways. Anyways, let's see if anyone else has some advice.

It seems that he wants to work and doesn't want to go back to his criminal ways! Perhaps when he is released from jail a business owner could hire him as part of a "reintegration" project to help released inmates/ex-criminals reintegrate into society? Or if he stops rolling wants for jobs before he is released perhaps take that as a sign that he doesn't want to leave his life of crime and put him into the Criminal career track? If you want to put him in a normal Eaxis job I think that Music would have the fewest barriers for an ex-inmate, out of the three that he has wants for.

See, I was thinking he'd make a perfect corrupt politician, but I guess that's just me. Criminals do join the military or some become criminals after their service. So I think the military would be a good second option. You could play him as trying to be reformed and using his former criminal contacts and experience in the underworld to advance in the military, or you could make him corrupt. Maybe he uses the military thing as a cover? Perhaps he steals military equipment and weapons for example, and sets up a black market. Or he runs a smuggling ring between your subhoods. Or he makes a deal with a suspect group of sims, like the hoods' criminals or supernaturals, and his (and consequently the military's if he does become general) alliance with such a group(s) makes things difficult for your local government. Maybe a war starts or more suspicious characters move to the hood, etc.

I don't really put too much weight in the wants for jobs, unless a sim rolls it more than once, but from his panel it certainly looks like he's desperate to at least appear like a normal sim. And is that a 'be saved from death' want? If you do have him turn his life around, I'd use that as inspiration. Maybe he's on a verge of a downward spiral and it's only after a near death experience he decides to change his ways.

That's a "beat the Grim Reaper" want with a corresponding "lose to the Grim Reaper" fear.

See how he plays in prison. Perhaps he's an adrenaline junkie and needs extreme situations.

Is his inventory full of stolen stuff? I'd grant him his wish and put him in the military, he has paid his dues when he comes out of jail.

He can sell stolen things and buy himself a new identity. And then he can do whatever he wants. Unless the past comes to haunt him.

Since he was a burglar, spent time in jail and has an interest in crime, I would keep him as a criminal. Pick sims pockets, sell the stuff he takes.

Maybe somebody could give me some ideas of what to do with the Pleasants, as I've made them quite miserable. I've been playing other families more, so the ages have got a bit out of sync.

Basically I needed to start a fire to test a mod I was making (to make fire spread faster) the mod worked (see below) and decided to make it part of the Pleasant's story.



So in this game, when Mary-Sue returned from work, rather than finding her husband in bed with the maid, she found the house on fire. Kaylynn and Daniel couldn't give the real reason they were distracted from the meal they were cooking, in the end Kaylynn got/took the blame and was fired.

Rather the deal with the devastation the fire caused, they decided to moved to new house. They bought one of the most expensive ones they could afford (to keep up appearances) leaving them with little money left to furnish it. They're still quite cash poor as most of their earnings go to paying the bills for upkeep.

To make things worse, shortly after moving in they all got sick (maybe the effects of burns and smoke inhalation) so that's restricted what they have been able to do (I have real sickness, so there was a real risk of one of them dying).

Daniel has now aged up to elder and hasn't seen or spoken to Kaylynn since the fire. He hasn't had any affair with anyone else either (but mainly because he hasn't had the opportunity).

Mary-Sue's has stayed younger (due to the elixir of life) but her career hasn't been going well (she's only had 1 promotion - I have a harder jobs mod). Her relationship with Daniel seems ok, but they haven't been romantic so I don't think they're really happy, maybe she suspects him of cheating, maybe there is just no love in their relationship.

Angela and Lilith have just aged up to adults (they didn't meet my requirements for college) but don't have jobs yet.

Angela and Dustin are still friends (but not lovers). He's an adult in the army now, living on his own in a small house. He's enjoying his own company having just moved out of his mum's overcrowded trailer. His brother Beau had moved back in with his fiance Katy, who he then got pregnant. Dustin couldn't stand their screaming baby, so scraped up enough money to find a place of his own. But now he's wondering if he should move back in - Beau died of the flu while his wife was pregnant with his second child. Brandi and Katy are now unhappy and poor, they have two kids to look after, everything in their house keeps breaking and they can't even afford a repairman. Brandi's youngest is still in college, but Dustin could move back in to help them and try to make sure his niece and nephew have a better childhood than he had.

Dirk has a new girlfriend and has been ignoring Lilith. Lilith hates her sister more than ever and generally doesn't seem to fit in with the family even when the rest of them are getting on well.

The Burbs ironically have by now have become the perfect upper-middle-class family the Pleasants always wanted to be. John and Jennifer are now elders and live happily in a big house with their two adult daughters. They have high level jobs and run their own business and have lots of cash. There is little drama in their lives. They could help out in some way, but I don't think they want their idyllic life interrupted!

So I guess my questions are:
1. Should Daniel and Mary-Sue stay together? Despite the fact Mary-Sue doesn't know Daniel cheated, and he hasn't cheated since the fire, they still seem to be staying together only because of the circumstances. If they do break up, Daniel could probably ask the Burbs if he could move in with them (no20KHandouts and now disposable income means no-ones living on their own, except in an empty lot). From Mary-Sue's perspective, she couldn't afford to pay the bills on the current house without Daniel, unless her or her daughters start earning more. Appearances mean a lot to her, so she would always want to live somewhere expensive. She could explain moving due to the fire, but having her husband leave her and having to downsize again due to lack of funds would be humiliating to her I think. Maybe her rich friend Cassandra can help in some way? But the Pleasant's are still wealthy overall, there are poorer sims around more deserving of charity.
2. Should Angela try to rekindle things with Dustin? They could be a cute couple and live happily together, though Mary-Sue wouldn't approve. Or should Dustin move back into Brandi Broke's trailer to help raise his dead brother's children - and if he does would it be wrong for him to get together with his dead brothers wife, (ACR will make it happen unless I forbid it!)?
3. What about Lilith? She doesn't get on with her parents or her sister, but she has no friends or lovers who could put her up. She seems the rebellious/alternative type who wouldn't settle for staying in a large but unhappy home. Maybe she could form a connection with a group of down-and-out sims and live a simple life with them?

1) Maybe Mary-Sue pays Daniel back for his cheating (I know she doesn't know, but it would still be Karmic) by flirting up a nice co-worker or other wealthy Sim? I know Mary-Sue kinda seems like the person wo isn't very interested in romance, but if the other party would be her equal in intelligence and ambition..... Alternatively you could make them have another kid.

2) I like the idea of Dustin marrying Beau's widow, it has something "dawwww" about it. It could be a ll nice, with Dustin overcoming his aversion to kids and becoming an awesome stepdad and them having even more kids...or it could end up hilariously bad and it makes both of them miserable. Angela and Dustin are my favourite Sims 2 couple and having the daughter of the "perfect" surban family marry into white trash is always hilarious (that being said is Dustin even white trash anymore? How successful is he in the military? Has he gotten his act together?) You could laso have Angela follow the dream of being a fishing boat captain by having her enter the Oceanography career.

3) I will be honest here and say that Lilith/Alexander is my favourite parring for Lilith. I've done it twice; once she became the mayor after marrying him and now she's working on being a cult leader. There are of course other options. Yes putting her together with other "alternative" SIms sounds fun, put them into a farm-looking house and be boho hippies that subside on selling their produce and sleep with one another. Alternatively you also have her stay at home and become a novelist.

1) Yeah I kind of like the idea of her getting her own back by having an affair herself. Getting together with a wealthy sim (like Landgraab as discussed at the start of the thread) would make sense, especially as she's having money issues herself. On the other hand, if she's mainly motivated by revenge or just doing something wild, she could have an affair with another romance sim like Don Lothario. I do also have a romance sim who is a wealthy divorcee, and runs his own business (though it's mainly just a way for him to meet ladies). So that might be a good compromise of the two in a way, he's make a kind of respectable replacement husband although he'd still be tempted to cheat so she wouldn't really be any better off, but maybe she likes romance sims she clearly like Daniel at one point.

2) Dustin marrying Beau's widow is probably going to happen yeah. If it does, they will definitely have more kids. She's a family sim, and the moment she moved in with Beau they successfully tried for a baby, and pretty much as soon as she'd given birth they tried again. So if Dustin does move in, they're going to spend a lot of their time making babies I think! (I'll let ACR decide). I think he'll be happy with that, he'll might have to give up on his dreams of being rich since she's never even had a job and both of them will be distracted a lot of the time with childcare and have more mouths to feed. Still I don't want all my sims becoming rich, in fact I often actively try to prevent it so that probably works out well.

Dustin is just a drill instructor at the moment I think, but he's rising through the ranks fast. He spends his time exercising and skilling at the moment, He has gotten his act together, the army has straightened him out. Maybe I should change his lifetime want to be top of the army career.

Angela will have to make her own way, but if Mary-Sue does have an affair and find another wealthy sim to marry, that opens up options for her, to either move in with Mary-Sue and her new husband or move to a smaller house with her dad until her career and love life are looking better.

3) I can see how Lilith/Alexander could make a nice couple - the problem is he's still a child at the moment while he's an adult, so she'd have a while to wait. I might put her with a group of misfits though to make a hippy farm like you suggest - I also have a teen that might want to run away from her trailer home, and a dormie that will have nowhere to live after college. I even have a plantsim, so I could have him spawn a plantbaby that would be an adult soon (they go straight to toddler and then adult I believe? I've never done it before), and he could then "lead" the group and plant the crops etc.

Thanks you've given me lots of ideas.

@simmodder, I don't think you have to move Dustin in to help out. He could send his mom and sister in law money and when you play the Broke lot, you can invite him over and have him repair and clean up the house, either though mods/making him selectable or through influence. I feel like Dustin, if he is doing well on his own, would find it hard to move back home right away.
As for the Pleasants, I always see Mary-Sue pushing her kids to marry well in order to bring money into the family and keep up appearances. And since Angela has the best relationship with her parents and therefore is the most likely one to stay home and carry on the family house & name, she usually gets the brunt of that pressure. Maybe Angela does get back together with Dustin but the two are kept apart because Dustin decides to move back home and is too busy with helping out around the house and work and because Mary-Sue is introducing Angela to a bunch of suitors who could better provide for her. Then one of them cheats or there's some big misunderstanding and they both marry people they never saw themselves with.

Either way, I'd let Angela have some sort of romantic relationship with Dustin; if your Angela is anything like my Angela, she has a hard time letting him go. She always rolls wants to make up/befriend him again if they have a falling out (though that could be popularity sim coding) and not long after that, she starts rolling random wants to see him or hang out with him, even if (or perhaps especially if) they haven't seen each other in a while. And, even though their turn offs may say that they only have a bolt of chemistry, they two don't have any qualms about throwing themselves at each other. I wouldn't be surprised if Angela fought Dustin's sister-in-law to get him back. :D

As for Lilith, she could move out on her own, but I was going to suggest that Burbs give her a job in their store to help her out, at least until she finds her calling. I did have her start an affair with Don once, and they even had a kid, but she became obsessed with him. Don freaked out when the baby came along and left (he didn't think things were so serious) and Lilith caught him cheating with someone else. Still, she rolled wants to befriend him again and fall back in love with him, long after everyone moved on and she hooked up with someone else (Dustin actually!). I guess both sisters have attachment issues.

@Phantomknight It is a real dilema for Dustin because I don't feel he'd want to move back either, and that he'd be better off with Angela, but it also feels like the right thing to do. Plus if he did get with Angela, he'd know her parents would never see him as good enough. Either way he will have to do something to help Brandi and Katy, I know I feel sorry for them at the moment.

I will probably let the game decide based on wants and autonomy, which means I think he'll end up with Katy since as an unattached family sim ACR will have her all over him (who she has had a good but plutonic relationship with so far) when he goes round to help. But you're right I should give Angela a proper chance too, if for no other reason than to keep things interesting.

I feel I've got my game modded to a have a good balance, getting a decent income is hard and some sims are poor but all can succeed with the right mix of hard work and luck. The fact that Beau was the first broke who went to college, but all it lead to was him falling for a family sim who he got pregnant straight away, and then dying, all outside of me planning it says to me maybe the Brokes as a family are supposed to stay broke (but there will at least be lots of them). I must be cruel because right now the idea of Dustin working his way up the career ladder and "marrying up" is therefore a bit less interesting to me than seeing him struggle to be a step-dad, even if it doesn't go well.

I'm also kind of set on the idea of setting up a hippy farm commune led by a plantsim now, but it doesn't have to involve Lilith and she could still work at the Burbs store either way, they'd pay her well too since she's one of the family (I just remembered you can overpay your employees).

Don't worry, you're not the only one! Dustin is probably my favorite sim, but I don't think I've ever let him have a normal happy life. Probably cuz I find it too boring for him. I don't even keep him and Angela together, despite the fact that's something they clearly want (at least when I play them).

Hahaha, well Dustin is my favorite as well. I have to admit I usually just turn him into a beach hippy. I usually change his aspiration to family (him basically acting as "dad" to his younger brothers having impact on him), marry him to Angela and they have at least 3 children. I really have to confess, as often as I have played Pleasantview, those two are the only ones I have never broken up...

An update in case anyone interested (sorry for bumping the thread if no-one is)

Daniel and Mary-Sue are still together. She doesn't know anyone well enough to have an affair with, and has no real reason to start one I suppose since she didn't catch Daniel doing anything. Daniels behaving himself for now so I'm keeping them as a couple.

Lilith got a job work in the Burb's shop, which gives her a nice income. Unfortunately she wouldn't stop fighting with Angela, so I had to move her out. But I decided she wouldn't really fit in a "hippy commune" type scenario after all, so I'll have to find some other roommates for her, she is the sim-bin for now.

I had Brandi and Katy invite Dustin round to help in the trailer, she didn't flirt with him at all she was too tired from looking after the twins. So I had Dustin invite Angela round to see if there was anything there - and she brought Daniel with her! I guess he must have found out she was going to Dustin's place and gone along as a chaperone! They caught up, but nothing romantic happened for that reason!

In the end Katy and Brandi couldn't pay the bills even with Dustins help, and the repo man came and took most of their stuff, including the fridge, the bath/shower, and the double bed! I decided Dustin needed to move back in, the money from selling his place meant he was able to pay the bills and replace everything that was broken or repossessed, he's been a great help with the kids, and to cut a long story short Katy is now pregnant with his child!

My game has thrown me a very interesting turn of events, and I'm hoping you guys can help me make it even more interesting.

My Sim Alicia Flex has rolled a want to get engaged to townie Henrik, and what's even more interesting is that Henrik has rolled a want to get engaged to Alicia. In my mind, Henrik is the town smooth-talking swagger man. He's a romance Sim, that spawned in some kind of reptile skin coat with a red scarf tied around his neck. He's always calling my Sims asking them to go downtown, and if some other townie calls he's usually part of the group they've put together. I hadn't considered him as a partner for anyone, I figured he'd just be that smooth friend pairing other people up and getting people to go out and have fun.

Alicia is my hood street performer. Pleasure aspiration, all she wants in life is to chill and have a good time. Loves music and games. Spends her evenings performing around town to pay the bills, or shooting balls at the pool hall. She dresses very differently from most Sims in my hood, showing midriff, animal prints and so on. Swagger is the word I would have used for her as well. She didn't show any interest in dating, just wanted to perform her music and chill at home. But she's the sister of Max Flexor and he thought he'd introduce her to some of his friends, so she's been on a bunch of dates now. Never rolled a want to get engaged, and surprisingly not that much ACR autonomy for any of them (I've set her OTS to no one and static so she'd keep an open mind).

Henrik hasn't been on any dates before, and although he did roll a want to get engaged he also rolled a want to have two loves. His fear panel shows fear of getting engaged or married to Alicia, but also fear of being rejected for engagement with Alicia. To me that says he does really like her and wants to be with her, but he's curious of what else is out there and not sure if he's ready.

All in all I'd say they are a great match. I'm surprised I haven't thought of it myself. Both of them have games as OTH, and they've got the same funky smooth style that is so unique in my hood. Haven't seen any other townies like Henrik. But I'm not sure. I feel like it's too soon for both of them, but at the same time, it's an unexpected twist of what I had in mind for both. What would you guys do? Should I pair them up? If so, should I do it now, or later? If later, what to do next?

EDIT: Forgot to mention I had planned for Alicia to have a casual thing with a townie named Nils. I built a public stage community lot for Alicia to go to, and he has a tendency to show up whenever she goes, and perform alongside her. I use my music autonomy changes mod so only creatively talented Sims can perform autonomously in public, and he's got 10 creativity. He's kind of "one direction" style, with the sideways bangs and the outfit. Definitely not someone I saw her dating in the long run, but as a fun thing performing together and getting silly.

Do you have any hacks to let adults go steady? I would have them do that for some time before getting engaged.

I'd have them get engaged and possibly married on the same date - an impulsive decision, but I'd expect playful pleasure and romance sims to be impulsive at times. How well it works out for them would be another set of story options.

I had a pair of romance sims get married on their second or third date, and they didn't roll wants for anyone else for ages and stayed happily married and faithful until one died. I've also had one couple end up with numerous affairs but both seemed happy to stay together, and a third couple that got together on impulse ended in divorce because of affairs and few common interests.

I'd be tempted to go along with what stitching said and have them do a wedding in Vegas style ceremony - get a bit drunk, one of them mentions marriage, the other goes "good idea", find someone to do the ceremony and then deal with the repercussions in the morning. From there I'd play it on their wants. Does Henrik still have a want to fall in love with two (or more) sims, does Alicia have more than a few wants to meet up with Nils, or do they both seem to find that being married works for them.

Get them married. Henrik could ignore his want for other people for a while. Then, Alicia could proceed to get too distracted by music and ignore their marriage, causing Henrik to pursue others.

It sounds like you're all in favor for going for it right now. I am thoroughly convinced that they should be together, but I think I'll wait for a bit. Henriks best playable friend is currently locked at home with a new baby, I think I'll wait until he's able to go out on the town again. I figure he can be Henriks wingman, but ultimately convince him that he'd be better off settling down. That gives me some time to finish playing Alicia as the free and single Sim I feel she is.

I had a family of seven living in a log cabin in the woods. No TV, computer or electronic games so it was sometimes a challege to keep them happy. So it was with the head of the household, Zephyr Carpenter. Who can blame him with teenage triplets, a toddler, a baby, and a pregnant wife, all supported by his high school teacher salary. Well, I made the mistake of sending him outside to gaze at the sky. I waited years for a satellite to crush an unwanted Sim and it finally happened recently. Wouldn't you know it - Zephyr got crushed. What are the odds? So now his widow is left with a school age child, a toddler, and a newborn. The teens have gone to university.
My dilemma, bring him back or let it run? I liked them as a couple and he was a good-looking Sim. I feel sad for the widow, who has never had a job. They had envisaged growing old together and it had been his want to have the baby he never got to see.

Maybe bring him back as a zombie? His wife could freak out for a while but accept him. Society could go against him for being a zombie.

Have her go to a witch and spend all her life savings to get him back.

I play to wants, so in my game, she will get engaged - and married too, if that want should follow. Sounds to me as if they will have a lot of fun, playing games together - and fun is not a bad thing in a relationship at all

I support the idea of bringing him back as a zombie, that way he can work to support his family for eternity (evil laughter, thunder)

I'm sure all the high school students would love learning with "Mr. Zombie" and he would be very dedicated, because he would have active interest in helping their brains become large and juicy, eventually he could even become Education Minister and he can be around to see his children and grandchildren grow up.

Thanks all, I'll see what the wants are - so far, of course, she wants to resurrect him. A zombie high school teacher appeals...

I know - but the disagree on my post confuses me. I mean, I play to wants in my game, so nobody can actually disagree with how I play my game - disagreeing, perhaps that it should be played that way then? But it is my game and I will play it the way I like to - so I don't really see how it can be disagreed to.
Somehow, I don't think anybody can disagree that having fun together is good for a relationship - it is actually essential in real life. Yet for two Sims both liking playing games - how on earth could they not have fun? Especially the pleasure one? In my game those two will probably have pillow fights and water balloon fights with their friends - while having fun. Or dance all night while having fun. Because they will have fun - in my game, anyway

Maybe the disagree is on the getting married being contingent on a want.

That may be - but surely wanting to get married before getting married is quite normal for many And fairly logical to do if one plays to wants.

Well since the disagree'r isn't saying I guess we will never know. I wouldn't worry about it.

True - more curious than worried, to be honest Moving on anyway!

Revival!

So my ex-burglar got out of jail, sold the items in his inventory and bought himself a new identity and a 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom house. He decided to pursue his criminal life as a pickpocket. After several attempts, he was successful twice.
The thing is he wants to be friend with the playables he met and I'm not sure it's compatible with the life he "chooses". I also forgot to tell that he's the telescope slapper.
The easiest way would be to change his aspiration so he could be "happier".
What are your thoughts? Thanks.

My criminals are friends with playables I trust that they are not robbing their friends (although I do not know that)
Not much you can do about him being the telescope slapper, except perhaps this: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=424402.

I wonder what would happen if the Cow Mascot meets Princess Applejack Jr. in College since she is a cow also. Do you think they would fall in love or something or become enemies? Just wondering and Princess Applejack Jr. is a Young Adult sim in my Sim Family.

They won't have any fellow feeling as cows. It all depends on how you play her, how they play, and how the attraction works out. Wait awhile and see. She's bound to meet one unless you ban the cow mascots completely.

Thanks and I was getting ready for that when she goes to college. I haven't created the family yet and I was just preparing a storyline for that.

I didn't know about this mod. I grab it. Thanks.

In my medieval hood I'm setting things up for a battle between the royals and the traitors who want to overthrow them. Have others had a battle story they can share as to how they actually did it?
I've got the likely males (and a couple of females) on each side geared up and ready and am thinking of moving them to an empty lot (decorated with trees, etc) which will be the battlefield, pose boxes to hand, and roll a number to see who dies... Of course only 8 can be on the lot at a time, so maybe after some have died I can add more (although there won't be a huge number of Sims anyway). Any more ideas?

Chris Hatch has a working battleground as part of his T&A EP. You could ask him if he would separate it out.

Forgive my ignorance - what is T&A?
I don't want to go to huge trouble for this story - just wanting ideas.

It' the adult version of Angels and Nurses, his family friendly mod ... lol.

Heimlichbourger worked up a whole system of randomly determining the progress and outcome of a battle, here: http://heimlichbourger.tumblr.com/p...d-warfare-rules
The Rules tag will also lead you to rules for recovery from various wounds.

Even if these rules don't suit your situation, they may give you a starting point.

Wow, pretty complex, but great idea. Thanks for that.

You can mod your userstartup.cheat file and get hold of a larger family mod to allow for more sims on lot (assuming your system will stand it). Personally, I'd probably do that on a community lot and use a transporter to move sims over and then make them selectable. That way they can go home afterwards without any further ado. On the other hand, if you're going to make sims die, it might be better to use a residential lot as it makes handling the gravestones easier. OK - scratch the community lot idea. I'd still use the transporter and make selectable method though and mod the game to accept larger family sizes.

So, I've been playing a version of Widespot, with various bin and CAS families and also the sims from Land Grant University (but living in the main 'hood, and studying at "Widespot College") for some time now. Since the very beginning I have had a playable state school, Widespot School. Widespot School is built on a residential lot, which is home to a "placeholder" servo, whose only purpose is to keep the lot playable - he doesn't interact with my sims at all and has a prisoner token so that he doesn't appear on community lots. I've had a lot of fun playing Widespot School (even though the lot lags something rotten!), as it gives children/teens extra chance to skill (if they want to) and allows for increased interactions between the 'hood's children and teens - which increases friendships and drama alike! :-D

Recently I moved a new CAS household to Widespot - the Landgraab family. The Landgraab family consists of Malcolm Landgraab IV (a clone of the original from Bluewater Village), his wife Tameka King Landgraab (she's a clone of the female townie who works at Malcolm's businesses in Bluewater Village) and their three youngish children - Malcolm V, Madeleine and Marianne. Like any good Fortune/Knowledge sim would, Malcolm IV rolled a want for his children to get into private school. In my game I don't play through the Headmaster scenario, I just use the School Changer to change the school type for the child(ren) - the factor that makes it difficult for sims to go to private school is the cost ($500 per child per day) rather than the scenario.

So, now as well as state school students I also have private school students in Widespot. Originally, when it was just the Landgraab children, I wasn't going to bother making a playable private school. But then Ida Juana Knowe rolled a want for her daughter and sort-of-daughter to go to private school - and


And then, the next rotation, teen Zea Land also rolled the want to go to private school. Tough, I thought. Your family can't afford it!


So, of course she can afford private school.....!

So now, with so many playable children and teens from several different families in private school, I am going to make a playable private school. My dilemma, if it can really be called a dilemma, is not whether or not to have a playable private school but rather how to distinguish it from the playable state school? So far I have come up with the following:

- better facilities - bigger premises, more specialised classrooms, a library, a gym, a swimming pool and so on
- a different approach to education - instead of children/teens having lessons in specific subjects they are free to study (or not!) according to their interests. So, if they want to spend all their time on one specific activity (swimming, working out in the gym, painting, making muffins, playing chess etc), they are free to do so! This is kind of a story-based decision - Zea rolled the want to get into private school right as she rolled the want to earn the Athletics scholarship, so I decided that she wanted to go to private school so that she could really focus on increasing her body skill instead of having to spend time studying things that weren't as important to her.
- a playable servo principal - the servo at the private school won't be a placeholder, he will be the actual Principal, designed and constructed by [the government? an organisation of some sort? a wealthy individual or family?] to serve as principal at SimNation Private School. Sims will be able to interact with him, though he won't appear on community lots as the private school is located some distance from Widespot (though is still accessible by school bus). He will be the only member of staff at the school, at least for now. Widespot School, in contrast, is staffed by a playable sim principal (Samantha Ottomas) and three playable sim teachers who teach specific subjects (Scot Land, Penny Weiss and Goldie Hart).

I was wondering if anyone has any other ideas of what I could do to make the private school "superior" to the state school?

@lauratje86 The private school students could go to competitions on behalf of the school. The cafeteria would be really fancy, with ice cream, soda and stuff like that. They could also have the students breed pets or start a small home business for homework, funded by the school. A fancy auditorium which is basically a movie theatre.

I've got a dilemma. Gabe is a teen who was in an orphanage run by a group of friends. A single woman let him live with her. They became enemies. She had twins with an unknown man who lived somewhere else. She cooked them and ate them both, so she got arrested. She ran away from prison and never came back.

Both the prison and the orphanage are now destroyed. They were bombed by a serial killer who also had magic, Erin "Death" Burb. At least that's what everyone thinks.

Gabe now lives alone. He printed some counterfeit money and was fined.

Anyway, the dilemma is that I don't know what to do with Gabe. Should he get a career and/or a girlfriend/boyfriend? I'm open to anything. He COULD assassinate Death for destroying the orphanage. It's a possibility his previous guardian did it, but she didn't have any magic AND she's missing.

History: When Matthew and Jessica Picaso moved to Strangetown, she was very ill. She had the flu and was pregnant, so she couldn't work. Matthew was having a hard time paying all the bills and taking care of her. He decided to rent out a room so someone could be with Jessica and they could get some extra money. At about the same time, Skip Grunt (Tank's son) was finishing college and got a job with law enforcement. He was the perfect candidate because he worked nights and needed somewhere cheap to live. Eventually, Jessica got over the flu and had twins. During this same time period, Skip and Jessica fell in love. She returned to work after the twins were born and Skip watched over twins. He grew attached to them and dreaded the inevitable day when he would have to leave. As it happened, the Picasos decided to expand the house (it was getting crowded) and needed the rent money that Skip brought in. So he stayed. He and Jessica found moments to be alone and she got pregnant. She knew it was Skip's, as she and Matthew had not woohoo'd for some time. She had the child and named him Scout.

Dilemma: Skip can no longer stand living with Jessica, being in love with her, and watching her be with another man. He also feels terribly guilty about having the affair because Matthew is such a nice and friendly guy. In addition, the Picasos no longer need the rent money and Skip has enough money saved to leave. The problem is Scout. He doesn't want to leave his son, but there is no way he can take him without admitting the affair to Matthew. This news would surely break up their marriage and Skip doesn't want that to happen, nor does Jessica. What can he do?

First of all, Matthew already knows something's off because he knows he's not Scout's father. They all have a good air-clearing talk and set up a polyamorous household. You can either have Matthew and Skip realize they're bi and have a full-on triangle, or a V relationship in which Jessica essentially has two husbands. You may have to experiment with modding jealousy to make this work, but with a little effort and good will all around there's no reason it can't work.

Cherry Curious (née Grunt, daughter of Tank Grunt and Erin Beaker) thinks that her marriage with Ren (son of Lola Curious) is about as solid as a marriage can be. Little does she know that the man she's grown old with has been having an affair with Belinda Goth (Bella) and has fathered a child by her. Of course this is despicable - even more so, considering that Cherry and Ren have their own grown up son (Micah) who has given them a granddaughter. When they were younger Ren and Belinda were actually engaged so they have a lot of history together - Ren wouldn't have cheated on Cherry with just anyone. Not that this excuses it, but Ren genuinely loves both Cherry and Belinda and wants to do right by both of them; he just got bored of married life.

Micah has no idea that his little brother Jesse even exists - he definitely deserves to know but I wouldn't want to see Cherry and Ren's marriage fall apart. Then again, Cherry is one of my favourite sims and I don't think she deserves to be married to a cheat. Should Cherry find out about the affair and lovechild or should Ren take his secret to the grave?

Leave it to fate? For example, send Cherry and Ren to a community lot, then teleport Bella in as well. Then stand back and watch. Sims can be awfully clever and avoid romantic interactions when it might get them in trouble. Some others... not so clever. Or maybe they just like draahmaah.

This may not belong here since its more of a play-style dilemma then a story dilemma?

I've started my cult. There are now 5 adult sims and two babies. Three of those adult sims are now pregnant by abduction so three more babies will join the household, plus another sim once he finishes college.

I'd like for them to all live together since they're a cult but I'm already starting to get a little overwhelmed and feel like I'm not giving certain sims my undivided attention. I can't imagine how it'll be once those babies are born and turn into toddlers

I've thought of maybe doing a big apartment lot where only members of the cult live and I can put a church as a common area BUT I wouldn't be able to control the other sims when I'd want them all to get together for ceremony.

Another idea was maybe just limit two families in a household and then have another lot as their church with a placeholder sim where I could play a day with aging off in order to do their ceremonies and meet ups.

Any other ideas I've missed?

Another option would be to just stick with it; once they have one alien child they can't get abducted again so no aliens babies after that. And those three that are expecting aren't married so hopefully no other babies until they marry.

I've had that issue where I've tried playing cult families too - you just end up with too many sims to deal with after a point

I'd stick with it for the time being, and have the current house be the 'main' one. Then as they gain more members/children grow up you can create more households nearby for a little self-contained community. I'd probably also put the church at the back of the main household so you can teleport all the other members in for the ceremony without needing to worry about a placeholder lot/sim. Plus you can always gather them together in group outings and invite specific groups over (i.e. all the ones who are pregnant for a relaxed afternoon; or all the educated leaders to discuss future plans).

I have the church in a large basement so it can be 'hidden' but I've made it a little complicated to get there (elevators and that secret passageway bookcase) so routing is a pain in the butt. I may ditch the bookcase as much as I like the idea lol I thought sims would automatically use it as a door as apposed to having to click on it for them to pass through lol.

Thank you for the suggestions, Astha123!

I have set up and started playing my private school now. So far I have played it for one day (one rotation) and I really enjoyed it. It's built on a huge lot - I used hmrnd3's Tsang School of Music & Dance as a base and furnished all of the buildings and changed the outside area a bit to make it into a functional school. It includes a large music/performing arts building with a stage, music studio, practice rooms and a small lecture room, a science room with microscopes, robotics workstations and chess tables, an art studio for painting, pottery and sculpture, a swimming pool, a large gym/fitness centre with various exercise equipment, ballet bars, punchbags and trampolines, a cafeteria with mini-kitchens where pupils can practise cooking (and with ovens for children to make muffins), a library with the Education career reward bookcase and a computer area and a large office/lecture room for the Principal. Outside there are also some facilities, including a playground, basketball courts and chess tables. Sims can gain all of the skills and several badges at the school and have fun as well!

I was basically trying it out on the first day, to see if it would work the way I wanted it to, and it was really enjoyable to play. All of the sims were able to do what they wanted to do (according to their wants and/or autonomous actions) - one chose to swim, one used a punchbag, two chatted and played together and made friends by the end of the school day, one played chess in the science lab and one spent the whole day playing on the playground. I'm glad that I decided to include a playable private school in my game! :-)

You need Pescado's autosecretdoor. If the sims route from point A to point B goes through a secret bookcase door, they'll automatically open it by themselves on the way.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/f...r=al%2Fhacks%2F


I don't use Authorized Personnel Only and autosecretdoor works just fine in my game without it.

AWESOME! Downloading it now

This isn't so much a story dilemna -- more a game-play dilemma, prompted in part by Voeille's "cheaty" thread, Goderguy's aging thread, and AndrewGloria's age-off playstyle.

I've never been so tempted to turn ageing off in my neighbourhood, or at the very least slow it down. The reason should be obvious to anyone who reads my tumblr. I don't want my sims to die. Well, Puck, mostly. I could stand with losing the others. But at the same time... I want to see them raise kids and then grand-kids, without it taking *years* of my time. It seems incompatible. If I keep playing at the same rate as I do, with the same number of households, it will already take me 8 months to play through adulthood. I'm not sure what to do.

Advice? Shared experience? Point and laugh at me for getting attached to pixels?

Get BoilingOil's personal aging mod. Link is in Gordegy's thread. You can turn off or slow down aging for every sim personally. Just remember doing it when you start playing with them. My children age normally until adults, then I change to once a week and elders have aging off. If I need for story purposes age them by normal way I can do it without changing aging mod.

I move elders to a separate hood where they retire - I hate (especially some of) my Sims dying. They are invited over for family reunions. And if you think that a dead Sim is still a complete Sim and still counts as part of the hood population, what's the point?

Turn aging off in certain households defined as "immortal" - fairy households, presumably. When they want family things, let them do them, and use cheats to age the children to the point you desire. You probably have to turn aging back on to do the cheats, but you can turn it back off as soon as you're done, and unless it's on at six in the evening no one will age in that household without your say-so.

Thanks, all good suggestions. And Justpetro said something that makes a lot of sense -- the sims are there *anyway*. Taking sim space or whatever. I think I might play it by ear and mix it all a bit -- keep Maxis' default ageing (although if I feel it goes too fast, I might halve the ageing rate for adults), then once my favourite sims get to within a couple of days of their last birthday... age them back down to adult, and send them to, well, not a retirement home, but an elven retreat of sorts.

I know myself; if I keep them all immortal, I'll just keep playing the same guys over and over again, and never get to see the next generations.

Ran into one: Mercutio Monty wanted a party, and invited all the teens in Veronaville and a few from outside too. While at the party, Juliette Capp caught Romeo Monty cheating on her with Ginger Newson (despite them not being in a steady relationship) and slapped him, triggering his lycanthorpe bloodlust. Now Juliette is a werewolf (because, thanks to a little rule I set up in my hood, you can't have both lifestates at the same time). Not quite sure what to do here:

1. It reveals that Juliette has been hanging out with that savage pack of werewolves - so would the Capp family consider her tarnished and cast her out? If so, where would she go? (I did consider Kent Capp, who seems to be more open-minded about these things than other).
2. She'd probably try to find a cure for the lycanthorpy, and the Summerdream family could help with that. But would she go back to being a vampire, or just become a normal sim? If she did become a vampire again, would her family accept her back?
3. What should I do with Ginger Newson? She wasn't even aware of Juliette, but is now the girl's target of anger. And an angry Capp isn't someone you want to cross...

I'm not sure how to suggest anything, ihate, because your dilemma is based on rules that you've made up -- and we don't know them. It seems based on Masquerade-type lore to me. I can only tell you *my* Consort Capp would never throw Juliette out, because he's a softie when it comes to his own family. But that's my Consort, and all my sims tend to have a marshmallow heart.

So, I don't know. Go for what seems the most fun to you, maybe?

Yeah, I guess I should explain some of the backstory, slipped my mind entirely. Anyways the Capps are vampires, the Montys are werewolves. You can't be both at the same time. The Summerdreams are good witches (although Puck might be leaning towards the dark side). Vampires and werewolves don't really like each other. The vampiric Capps think the Montys are uncouth and savage, while the lycanthorpe Montys think that the Capps are manipulative bastards.

The comment about the "lycanthorpe bloodlust" was actually Romeo attacking Juliette autonomously; not sure if I have a hack or if it's vanilla game behaviour but I work it into the story.

The Twilight struggle is real.

I'd say casting Juliette out would be the first thing to happen anyway, if they are prideful and anti-Werewolf then Juliette is tainted and neds to be removed. It could then be her motivation to find a cure and get back into her family's good graces.

Kent Capp is a good option for temporary accommodation, so are the Summerdreams actually.

Of course this all puts Juliette into a unique position to re-evaluate her life and what she wants. Does she want to go back to the family that turned their backs on her? Does she want to stop being a werewolf? Does she want to be neither a werewolf or a vampire?
Being human has its perks, as does being a witch.

She could even become head of a sort of "hunter" faction that struggles against both Werewolves and Vasmpires....and her closest ally would be....Ginger Newson

I think Juliette gets home arrested until family finds cure against lycanthropy. When it happens, her body is cured but her heart is broken.
There are two ways to go ahead.
If she is strong enough, she will hate men for entire her life. She will grow up to be unhearty and stepping in steps of her grandfather.
if she cannot stand her broken heart she will make suicide by taking poison.

Just my thoughts...