:: Questions For Rotational Players ::

1. Yes, kinda neat
2. Yup, my sims gain sentiments thru this
3. Yes, same save
4. Not always but I have 1 extra save in case I do need a backup
5. I just keep a note on my phone to remember anything

1. I do see couples in Romance festifal, and totally see family units at restaurants. BUT , most likely restaurant thing is caused by mod by bienchen (restaurantguestoverhaul)
2. yes in my game. my sim in family D , managed to get a "nice" dark red bar with sim from family A, at karaokebar. when loaded family A , that sim was furious with said sim in family D. but might be over time it would of gone, I loaded family A again pretty fast.
3. Yes, now, as its just in the beginning, Not many households yet. 1-2 per world, most singles still. Later I may let heir of each household (if there is one) be as playable, but let MCCC and NS take care of other siblings. I do not allow random townies in this save (mod).
4. Not always, but I try to do few times a week.
5. No, this is old hapid from TS2 , I use household description as mini in game-notepad if I need to remember to do something when I next play them.
6. No , but indeed if you have sims at school or at work, try to make the switch while none of that is not happening. I tey to usually make the switch at 4am game time. (gardening reasons too)


Just my pennies , I played for long time just one household. But now there is no way back.

1: Yes, I just put the Halliwell family in my play and went to the Magic Realm... and they were there in completely different outfits. LOL.
2: I also just put a set of twins in the Quarry apts of Eco Lifestyle. One in each apt. It's kind of a pain to play them rotationally because it doesn't seem to keep up equally. I have to make sure I have to do the exact same thing with each of them to maintain it so it makes it less fun. They do see their alternate selves out and about.
3: I do.
4: No, I just save. I should probably change my routine though. I am more emotionally involved in a couple of my Sims and their families in this save. It's only been going on for a year.
5: No, but the way the game opens in the main menu it shows me which family I saved last and that they 'missed me'.
6: I also play with aging off, it doesn't really matter to me when or who I play. I just see how I feel when I open the game and what storyline I feel like continuing or changing.

I think you'll do great with the way you want to do it. As you play you'll see what you like and don't like about things and that will make it more fun for you.

"Chicklet453681;d-1004742" wrote:
Let me just start off by saying ....... I'm 100% a total noob when it comes to rotational play. (The closest I have ever came to it was in TS2 when I made specific sims be neighbors in an apartment and would jump back and forth between them to play them).

But I have this very intricate inner-woven storyline in my head that I want to create and each chapter (aka play session) would revolve around a certain couple but also sometimes have "cameo appearances" from other story characters show up in my current play session if the story moves in that direction.

Here are my questions (so I know how to go about this):

When you're playing one household and switch to play another household, do you ever see your other entire households out and about in world doing things as a family unit, or is it just a random occurance of one of your played sims, but never the entire household? Such as a couple you play but aren't currently playing, do you ever see them out to eat in a restaurant together or do you see them at the Romance Festival "together" or are they just single sim encounters?

If you're playing a different household and you do happen to run into other "not-currently-being-played" household members out in the world, does what happen to them remain when you play that household again? What I mean is, let's say for some reason your currently played sim gets into an agrument with another sim, who is one of your "played" sims, just not the current played sim? So when I rotate back to that household will they have some sort of memories and/or relationship gains/failures show up from that encounter?

Do you play all of your households in the same save?

Do you always do a "Save-As" when saving? In case you need to roll back for some reason?

Do you create a different saved game name for each household you play in your rotation so you know where you left off with that particular household?

I always play with aging off, and most of my played sims usually have no need to work or do freelance work so they have a more leisure schedule, so does it matter when I "switch" households as far as days/times go or can I just switch whenever my story is at a point that I can put them aside?


See, I have always just focused on 1 household (usually 1-2 sims) and "played" them and created a save named who they are or what that save is about. Now, that household could be in the same world as other sims I play that are in the a different save. And I might run into a household member of those other "saved households" but I never really interact with them to drive a story. If I want to play that other household, I switch to that save, which then I focus on that household family only. So, essentially it's like my sims live in their own world that is never intertwined with my other sims.

So any useful tricks and tips for getting started would fantabulous!

Same answers at @SelinaKyles
Rotational gameplay is kind of wonky in the Sims 4 and doesn't come as natural in the Sims 2 (due to how the engine was designed.) But to make it work:

You need to think of playing each family in your rotation as playing out the same week in time. You play Family 1 on Week 1 from Sunday to Sunday. Then when you switch to Family 2 you're going back in time to the beginning of the week to play that family from Sunday to Sunday. Only after you've completed that week for every family do you progress to the next week with Family 1.

What this means practically with aging settings.

Auto age (played sims): set to ONLY ACTIVE HOUSEHOLD

Auto age (unplayed sims): set to OFF but switch it ON for only single family in your played families list (usually family 1).

If you always keep unplayed sims aging, then they will age too fast and each time you're playing the same week in time as your played Families. So only keep that last setting to ON with the Family 1 as you play them, and for all the other Families 2, 3 4... you keep that setting OFF.

Here are my answers to the questions.

Well, I haven't noticed it myself. But with Get Together, I do see clubs I've created gathering together.

Yes, interacting with other played households will affect them. Relationship changes, sentiment gains, occult transformations, death, pregnancies etc. will be applied to the other households. Every household progresses in that regard, and if you can also affect them through relationship influencing interactions and neighborhood stories phone calls.

Well... I have three saves with multiple households I play in. The oldest one has over 100 households I play with. So... yes and no. Both.

Sometimes. If I ever need to roll back, I can use the save recovery feature the game offers when you are choosing to load a save. Thus save as is rather to make alternative timelines or test my saves out.

Nope. The saved game name for me should remind me what households are there and what purpose I use the save for.

Well, it depends here. In most of the cases, it is "safe" to switch households and not come back to sims' lives going downhill. However, I'll bring out some exceptions when I don't switch households:

• When a sim is pregnant. Pregnancy will continue when you are playing with another household, thus you may come back to a baby with a random name left somewhere random.
  
• When a freelancer/acting/decorator gig is active. I complete the gig before switching.
  
• When a sim is turning into an occult. I want to be able to edit their new second form as soon as possible and then help them get their first powers.
  
• When my sim is in university. Leaving sims to do university work alone may lead them getting academic probation due to poor grades. For that, I have made a strategy where when the term ends, I enroll them in one course, have them study it for some days and then switch away.
  
• When an important event is scheduled.

"simmerorigin;c-18202710" wrote:


Rotational gameplay is kind of wonky in the Sims 4 and doesn't come as natural in the Sims 2 (due to how the engine was designed.) But to make it work:

You need to think of playing each family in your rotation as playing out the same week in time. You play Family 1 on Week 1 from Sunday to Sunday. Then when you switch to Family 2 you're going back in time to the beginning of the week to play that family from Sunday to Sunday. Only after you've completed that week for every family do you progress to the next week with Family 1.

What this means practically with aging settings.

Auto age (played sims): set to ONLY ACTIVE HOUSEHOLD

Auto age (unplayed sims): set to OFF but switch it ON for only single family in your played families list (usually family 1).

If you always keep unplayed sims aging, then they will age too fast and each time you're playing the same week in time as your played Families. So only keep that last setting to ON with the Family 1 as you play them, and for all the other Families 2, 3 4... you keep that setting OFF.

As OP said they play aging off, I let mine out of it, but yes I loosely will play week rotation too, when I have aging OFF all the time , but last week, with last household I switch it ON (LONG) to all. so , other families ages along.

Currently I have aging turned OFF and I play shorter rotations, as I still am pretty much setting things up and I dont want everyone to be at same age, so I will adjust all ages too before I let aging ON :)

1. Yes. Especially at festivals, parks, and restaurants (without mods). Sometimes it isn't 100% of the household though, it could be two or three members of a larger household.
2. Yes, sentiments and relationship gain/loss will persist. But, it fades according to the total amount of time that elapses. If active played sim 1 makes friends with inactive played sim 2, and then you rotate away and it takes you six sim-weeks to rotate around to sim 2, they might not still be friends and sim 2 may even have the "personal rift" sentiment that comes from a friendship dropping below friend status. In my rotational game I tend to spend the first day or two of each rotation having my sims socialize with the friendships I care about most.
3. I have multiple saves, but my rotational game has about 12 played households in it.
4. Nope. I live dangerously and roll with whatever happens. Well, mostly. I do make backups from time to time.
5. If you do that, you'll end up with essentially multiple copies of the save, which could all go off in different directions. Like if a household has a baby in one saved game, the baby won't exist in the other saves.
6. I don't play aging off, but it sounds like all you'll need to worry about is the gradual decline of relationships in households you aren't currently playing.

Have fun :) it can be really enjoyable playing a whole city.