A question for those who own all or most of the packs (Expansion, and Game packs)

My main save is a huge rotational save so most sims are born there and throughout their childhood I think which direction they'll go. Last time I started a new save I actually used the story function and it did help me decide what type the sim was going to be. Overall I don't want to make too specific plans in CAS but let the live mode shape the sim. I only give them one outfit per category at start for example, so I can add later. Same with likes/dislikes.

I have a huge main rotational save too. When I make a new sim, family or household, for that save, it is usually when I get a new expansion with new careers, etc. and will have them explore that. I also have a scenario rotational save which is newer and a bit smaller at this point. Most of the sims ( family or household ) I play in that save are made for a new scenario, and depending on what type of person they are Supposed to be I choose certain jobs/careers. Many times I have explored careers in that save that I haven’t explored in my main rotational save. I too have used the story function, only a few times though. In fact I believe I used it for one of my scenario sims once. I like rotational play because it is less boring, I change households when I want to play something different, and my sims know many other sims in their save that are in my rotation.

Playing the simple living lot trait if you have cottage living makes the game a little bit more challenging too, especially in the beginning. So do some of the other lot traits.

I wish the dev’s would bring out a simple clothing lot trait, so my sims would have to buy a piece of clothing, hat, shoes, jewelry etc. to open it up in CAS.

If it's a sim for a brand new game I have very little in mind when I start. Sometimes I will know what career they'll be in, or maybe they'll be part of a sub-culture. Most of the time I just start trying on outfits and applying makeup and let the character emerge, making changes as I go.

Right now I'm only making new sims to fill specific roles in one of my two rotational saves. I still don't have a vision of their final look or personality, but half of them will have a career path and lifestyle pretty well set in my head when I start. I usually give them two outfits in every category except formal and party. My sims just don't find themselves in those situations very often. Formal almost never, and party on rare occasions. It's not that they don't go out, they go out a lot. The night's out usually aren't prearranged events, just someone calls up the group and says 'let's hang out at X', so party wear doesn't figure in. I keep meaning to make it a thing and then I just roll with whatever they show up in.

I don't give them likes or dislikes, with the exception of disliking mischief. I don't give that to everybody, but I do give it to most of them. It's my way of trying to rein in the use of mischief. Like a few things it's so completely overdone to the point of being irritating instead of funny.

I haven't been playing as long as many people here, but the first thing I felt I needed to do was to get the town to look how I wanted. That's probably because I like creating things in games and it also increases my own enjoyment knowing I've put my own stamp on everything. As for my sims if they're not one of the premades or Maxis gallery sims I'll create their main outfit and then do the others as I play, but what sims I use matter less to me than the world itself.

I don't really have any specific career goals unless its for one of the premades, for example I want Jonny Zest to remain as an entertainer but I don't want Nancy as a crimelord when her husband is a detective so usually I make her a politician or put her in the business career. Generally for my own sims I prefer the easy money jobs such as writing or painting but the downside of that is that staying at home causes their social need to drop so I often find the military career a good fit and that was also true for me in Sims 3. When I bought Get Famous on sale I found I really loved the media career and also the acting (haven't had a bug with that yet except one odd costume change).

This is one of the reasons why I love doing Random Legacy Challenge style games. I've made my own tables to include some extra things (hobbies, different and more specific goals, occult sims, for instance) and don't hold myself to the hard rules of the challenge (it's a personal game and I won't hold myself to complete an objective I don't enjoy or to stay stuck on something for the sim's lifetime if I'm getting bored with it). Then, I try to find how the random rolls fit together and add things based on that.

When I create a new Sim, I usually use a random sim generator or a spin wheel picker to assign traits, aspirations, jobs, hobbies, etc. There are a lot of useful pickers on this site:

https://goodlilmousey.wordpress.com/helpful-links/

I particularly like the 'Roulette' one for injecting a bit of random chaos >:)

Why do you create a new sim for new expansions? Surely the game is about generations?

"Ilikebuilding;c-18185068" wrote:
Why do you create a new sim for new expansions? Surely the game is about generations?

This game can be whatever you want it to be :) Generational, one and done, challenges, scenarios, just building, just CAS. The beauty of a sandbox game is that people are free to play however they choose. There's no right or wrong way to play.

It's not a sandbox game. Many build options for example have to be unlocked, as do skills. They have to be gained. People can play however they like to of course, but I still wonder why some ignore the generational aspect of the game? It's a main part. Sims age and die.

I don't often start brand new sim i just choose premade to play in which its easier to choose direction cause you're like " well this would be bob pancakes thing to do"

only issue is when you get new premades that you don't know much of and you don't know yet what you want to make of their lives :sweat_smile:

or when you scheme for things you could do with packs you do not have currently

like the way I keep bottling all the teenage occult drama for when i get HSY but i mean do I really need HSY to play it not really to be honest just think it be fun to explore that pack like so