My settings are:
-Babies: 3 days
-Toddlers: 7 days
-Children: 10 days
-Teens: 15 days
-Young Adults: 30 days
-Adults: 30 days
-Elders: 25 days
Total: 120 days. Sometimes I disable aging.
For seasons I set every season 14 days but I change them according to world I'm playing. For example Isla Paradiso is all summer (yay!).
Unless I'm playing in Moonlight Falls, I set moon phase to Waxing Crescent. Zombies rising from my sims backyard at Sunset Valley really destroys my story.
You didn't ask but my population settings are
-Enable story progression
-Allow pets
-Opt. household out of celebrity system
-Don't allow celebrities
-Don't allow supernaturals (unless in Moonlight Falls again.)
But one thing bothers me is you can't turn off mermaids. If your story progression is enabled game will populate mermaids. Only way to prevent it is to disable story progression.
