@EeveeTinn--for me, it helps to 'know' the character a little beforehand. my current main household is based on characters from a story i started years ago but never did anything with. so i took those character ideas and made them into Sims.
i tried to stay true to what their personalities were going to be as 'real people', so i did use several of what could be considered 'negative' traits. or simply... just not perfect. so i have gloomy, hot-headed, jealous, clumsy Sims. all sorts. it's interesting to see how the traits play nice or clash with each other. some can be mean/argue with others if they're in a bad mood, some will complain, but it feels more realistic to me that way.
to move the story forward, i then started to create their friends, co-workers, love interests. soon i had an almost full Newcrest with these characters. i've played all of them to develop the skills they are supposed to have, meet the people they're supposed to meet, etc. and it's like the town is connected.
also, i play with ageing off because it takes me a long while to do everything i plan for them. or to play out the scenes i have in mind. i've only aged the main household up from YAs to adults, and it took me a year to do that... yes, a real-life year. 😉
when it's time for the children to grow up, i will have yet another household or two to play. so that would get me to... 12 played households i think. you mentioned you don't really like switching/rotational play. i've found that, with ageing off for both played and unplayed Sims, i really don't mind. it's more fun and relaxed this way IMO. you're in no rush and can stay with any given family for as little or as long as you want without missing anything.
i think it's also fun if you're playing one household (for example the parents in your game) so you can invite the sons/daughters over. it's really personal though, i know people who will only play one household per save.
@EeveeTinn--i agree. i often wish Sims could be more fleshed out, right out of CAS. when creating them, be able to set skills at a specific level instead of them starting as blank slates.
even being able to lock specific ones. for example, one of my characters is supposed to be a bad cook. so i have to keep cheating his cooking skill down. i think it'd be great if i could set it in a way it wouldn't improve, so he'd stick to easy recipes. it's not realistic to me when everyone becomes a top chef after cooking five meals. 😛
about traits, i also use the reward ones a lot. also makes sense to me because just like in real life, some people might need less sleep, or similar. so i do find them useful.
