Your target might have the hidden Merfolk Woke trait (from successfully asking other mermaids). Interaction outcome tests if they are a mermaid & if your relationship is at least 70 OR (different L-tags) if they discovered one. I'm not sure why that last part is even there.
@kusurusu I checked and she does have the Merfolk Woke trait. You mean her having that trait could cause her to respond yes to the "Ask if Mermaid" interaction?
@liyanaidoExactly
tests required for successful ask if mermaid (found in mixer_social_Mermaid_AskIfMerfolk_Friendly):
<L n="tests">
<L>
<V t="trait">
<U n="trait">
<E n="subject">TargetSim</E>
<L n="whitelist_traits">
<T>199043<!--Trait: trait_OccultMermaid--></T>
</L>
</U>
</V>
<V t="relationship">
<U n="relationship">
<U n="relationship_score_interval">
<T n="lower_bound">70</T>
</U>
<T n="track">16650<!--RelationshipTrack: LTR_Friendship_Main--></T>
</U>
</V>
</L>
<L>
<V t="trait">
<U n="trait">
<E n="subject">TargetSim</E>
<L n="whitelist_traits">
<T>206170<!--Trait: trait_OccultMermaid_MerfolkWoke--></T>
</L>
</U>
</V>
</L>
</L>
@crinrictThat's how it works. If you want to know if your Sim has this trait (without mods) there's a special interaction called "Share Mermaid Discovery".
Ask if mermaid checks for trait_OccultMermaid_MerfolkWoke (TargetSim) and adds the same trait if successful. You can also get this trait if you ask about strange behaviour.
@crinrictThe reason it doesn't always work is because of another outcome: "if target no mermaid -> fail", and with multiple valid outcomes one is picked at random.
Overall there are three potential outcomes
1) fail if no mermaid (target)
2) fail if mermaid (target) and relationship<70
3) success if a) mermaid (target) and rel 70+ or
b) merfolk woke trait (target)
in our case both 1 and 3b apply
On XB1 my merfolk woken target (a vampire!) "admitted" being a mermaid after 5 tries.
btw, why is there a merfolk woke (target) check in the first place? No other file has similar code snippet
@crinrict sorry I didn't see this earlier. I can share my save file tonight. @kusurusu my sims live on a beach front lot with most of their house over the water. I've noticed my sim that's having the issues also has been choosing to swim around the entire back of the house to get inside rather than walking through the front door like the other sims. Could this also be caused by the merfolk woke trait? She also flips when she gets in the water like a mermaid so I wonder...
