Problem with needs

Their needs do decrease a lot more quickly on TS2 than TS3 or 4. It makes the game more challenging, especially in the beginning when they can't cook properly so they make low quality food

"bishty;15020941" wrote:
Their needs do decrease a lot more quickly on TS2 than TS3 or 4. It makes the game more challenging, especially in the beginning when they can't cook properly so they make low quality food

If you want to see needs dramatically decreasing, play Sims 1. That game is all about keeping needs high. Luckily, Sims don't die of old age so it doesn't matter that they take a billion years to get promoted...

Sometimes I use the cheat to keep their needs up because then I'm focusing on their needs the whole time instead of playing (although it is a part of the game, but still haha)

Nope. The only need I ever have tank fast is fun and that's when they're skilling up or working on their term paper. But some sport channel or some red hands with a friend fixes their fun level pretty quickly.

Also depending on their personalities some needs will decay at faster rates. Social depletes faster for outgoing Sims but slower for shyer Sims. Fun depletes faster for playful Sims and slower for serious Sims. Hunger will decay faster for active Sims and slower for lazy Sims. Comfort decays faster for lazy Sims and slower for Active Sims.

Do you have the ultimate collection @SimFan298 or at least Freetime installed? With freetime you get aspiration benefits which is explained at the link I'm providing to Sims wikia that explains it in great detail but when you first start a new household your Sims by default should already have between 4-5 and you can use them to slow down your Sims needs which is something I always do first thing so checking on their needs is reduced due to the slower decay! I highly recommend using the aspiration benefits...

http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Aspiration_benefit

When my Sims are at University I usually keep the motives locked until they graduate. Bring up the cheat box and type MaxMotives, hit enter, bring up the box again and type MotiveDecay off. Just change off to on when you are ready to have them back. Sometimes it automatically turns back on when your Sim goes to and from community lots, so you'll want to check the motives periodically to see if they are moving.

needs started to drop faster after the introduction of the expansion, Free Time. That was so that when the aspiration benefits points allowed you to choose a 'benefit' that slowed down the decay of certain needs, it appeared as though it was helping, but before that expansion those needs decayed slower anyway.

When I first began playing years ago, I did have a hard time juggling my sims needs. It was even worse when my sims were pregnant, I nearly killed poor Dina Goth. It's a challenge, and you just have to practice different things until you find the right "pattern" that helps you stay on top of it. It's also more difficult with bigger households, trying to switch back and forth between the sims and queueing up tasks for them so that you keep all their needs up. You might find it easier to move some of the friends to a different dorm for a while, concentrate on your simself's needs for now. Have them meet up occasionally at one of the community lots to keep their friendships up. Once you've got the pattern down for keeping 1-2 sims needs up, then try a bigger household.

"DivinylsFan;15022511" wrote:
needs started to drop faster after the introduction of the expansion, Free Time. That was so that when the aspiration benefits points allowed you to choose a 'benefit' that slowed down the decay of certain needs, it appeared as though it was helping, but before that expansion those needs decayed slower anyway.

I didn't notice a difference in needs drop after FreeTime was released. What you might be experiencing is the needs decay rate multiplier that comes from the pop up that tells you how the Sim felt their week was. If they have a bad week, their needs decay faster. If they have a great week, they decay slower. If they have so-so week, the needs decay as normal.

Edit: I also hate that feature because it seems to be tied to aspiration. But not the average aspiration of the week. The aspiration they have at the time the pop up is generated. So they could have high aspiration all week, then their parent dies and tanks their aspiration because they feared the death of a family member and get the bad week pop up.

"bishty;15020941" wrote:
Their needs do decrease a lot more quickly on TS2 than TS3 or 4. It makes the game more challenging, especially in the beginning when they can't cook properly so they make low quality food

In Uni you have the cafeteria NPC that cooks for your sims though :)