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nynaet's avatar
nynaet
Newcomer
8 months ago

Free will options for childcare.

Hey, unsure if this is the right spot for this but started playing after a long break. Don't recall handling newborns and ifants being such an annoying task, infact I really enjoyed the milestones and all. I have free will off and yet whenever the infants especially gets the least bit cranky it starts filling their caretakers task queue when I'm already trying to care for them. 
It's making the game near unplayable for me where I have to take stress breaks over seeing mutliple parents try to care for the same child, replacing my actions with similar actions, putting the children in the wrong beds, queues being ignored and so on. I have free will off for a reasons, please make at least an option for wether or not you wish for childcare to be affected by free will. 
With the additional struggles of bugs where they refuse to pick kids up (Not sure why they do?) or end up in odd loops of picking the kid up, setting them down to pick them up again, the addition to infants themselves sneaking requests to have them do an alternative version of what I ask them to do and messing things up is becoming unbearable. IE: Asking for diaper change when trying to take them for a bath and vice versa, or the aforementioned issue of them going in the wrong bed, occasionally being put in the bed when I'm desperately just trying to get someone to feed them. With addition to them putting one of the two kids down to go care for a child that is already being cared for by someone else and the "please feed the kids or social services will show up" warnings popping up as a result of this whole ordeal.
I can understand that some might want or need the help with childcare, hence maybe adding options to having it affected. (If there already are they are well hidden.) I'm not trying to neglect them, I'm trying to care for them my way and the game messes with it in frustrating ways.
Also, perhaps seperate wishes and fears in options, I want the wishes but not the fears as the new social one pops up needlessly often and ruins their romantic meters completely. They upped romance to full, one sim went to work and when they got home the romance was in the red. Bit harsh, it's not that much fun to rebuild it. 
(If you get a fear you don't want to deal with go to options, turn off wishes/fears, save options, turn it back on, save options. Your wishes will reset but the fear will be gone.)
Thank you.

gameplay issue
never cc or mods

2 Replies

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  • michael56679's avatar
    michael56679
    Rising Newcomer
    10 hours ago

    Totally feel you on this—infant care used to feel more rewarding than frustrating, but lately it's been a real test of patience. I also play with free will off for more control, but it seems like childcare is one area where the autonomy settings just don’t stick. The queue overrides drive me nuts too, especially when every adult in the house suddenly drops what they’re doing to grab the same baby, only to cancel each other out or walk them to the completely wrong crib. It breaks immersion and honestly makes it more chaotic than helpful.

    The loop you mentioned, where Sims keep picking up and setting down infants—happens to me most often when they can't path properly to the interaction I assigned. Sometimes resetting the Sim helps, but not always. And don’t even get me started on how often they "decide" to bathe a hungry baby instead of feeding them like I asked. 

    I completely agree that a toggle for free will affecting childcare specifically would be a huge QoL improvement. Like, let me handle it myself if I want to, or give others the option to automate it. Seems like such a reasonable ask.

    Also appreciate your workaround on the fears, really clever, and I hadn’t thought of that! The new social fear is way too punishing, especially when everything else was going well. One work shift shouldn’t tank a relationship that’s been built up over hours.

    If you're still finding the in-game system too stressful, you might want to check out Nannyz, it’s not a fix for the bugs, but it’s a community resource that dives deep into childcare strategies, mod recommendations, and some pretty creative ways to balance autonomy with control. Helped me find some mods that reduced a lot of the micromanagement burnout.

    Hope they take the feedback seriously, this part of the game could be so much better with just a few thoughtful options.

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