BTW: Elder lifespan isn't random; they get the default 2 bonus days but there are things you can do to extend this. I posted the details on the forums awhile back:
http://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/comment/15736698#Comment_15736698
As for the gap between long and normal, yes, it does seem to be on purpose: long lifespan is 4x the normal ones, and short is 1/2 the normal one.
Could you explain what you mean by 2 bonus days? On top of what? Everywhere where I google lifespans it says Elder: Varies per sim. I assumed it was just like when your sim is in their 3rd trimester you also don't get a set time or date for when they are due. Something like that. Some take longer and some shorter.
Either way, I would propose to A] Double the amount of days for young adults and adults so that the childhood takes about roughly 1/3rd of a sims life instead of half. And B] Less important but maybe add a lifespan that is in between normal and long, like twice normal. It's not that bad to have 4 instead of 3 options!
Every age group has its normal transition threshold: That's what you see in "days until age up: X". Then they get 2 "bonus days" so you can plan a birthday party etc. That's the time when the age bar is sparkling and the sim hasn't aged up yet. You won't see "days until age up" on elders, you'll see "number of days lived" instead. However, you can still guess at the age progress because the age bar is still there. Elders are the only age group that can get more than the 2 bonus days everyone else gets. Having the active trait gives 10%, the long lived trait gives 25%.
The percentiles are based on the total number of days the Sim has lived, but it doesn't account for life resets. You can also drink cowplant essence for an additional 10 bonus days, and the wishing well from RG can get you an additional 5 bonus days if you wish for youthful vigor and get the right outcome.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for that information. However as that does still apply to all age groups that still doesn't change that it isn't really balanced that the sims spend almost half of their life getting to the young adult stage. So while I do think what you say is a partial workaround, the original point that I am posting here still goes. What I have currently done is change the days of the YA and A life stages from 20 to 40 in MC Command Center, which I believe makes it much more balanced out. I still hope the devs will read this topic and tell us their point of view on these numbers!
I will say that due to those numbers, the toddler patch did increase sim lifespans 🙂
I agree, they definitely made it worse, but I think if you look at those numbers they were already quite unbalanced even before the toddlers IMHO.
EA StaffHi @AlHollandiyah @Hadron1776,
In today's patch, Young Adult and Adult lifespans have been increased by 4 days each to accommodate the addition of Toddlers.
I know that's not exactly what your feedback is about, @AlHollandiyah, but I thought you would like to know.
Thanks for your feedback on this topic! 🙂
-Mai
That is actually a little step, I assume you mean 4 days on normal lifespans? I still believe that doubling the amount suits the balance a lot better though, but thanks for this update!
4 days on normal lifespan. This translates to 2 days on short and 16 days on long lifespans :D
Ah, ofcourse, thanks! That is the general formula. Well that would make the numbers like this:
That does indeed almost bring it back to the pre-toddler days. Still I think spending nearly half your life as a kid is not very realistic and also means that unless you pull out your party tricks with cakes or cowplants most grandparents will not be around to see their grandkids growing up. So I think some more days for the adult stages wouldn't really hurt, but hey that's just my opinion! In the end it's the devs who decide ofcourse! In the meanwhile I am just trying to find a good balance myself using MC Command Center.
