Economy in TS4 - please, fix it!

True. The only real way to make the bills a real challenge is to put your sims on a 50x50 or larger lot with a giant house that has the max amount of floors, takes up most of the lot's space, and is full of expensive stuff and decorations. I have one build like that, and it costs something like 70k-75k for the bills every time.

Career progression is too quick and easy; work-at-home strategies like writing, woodworking, gardening, and painting are too OP. It's actually hard to get a sim to be broke in TS4 unless you don't let them do anything to earn money at all or put them on a lot where the bills cost a good chunk of what they make.

"Placebo7;c-17491787" wrote:
I totally agree and think these are great points. For people who just cheat their way to wherever they want to be in games (I think this number is increasing), I guess this doesn't matter. But for people who play this franchise for the SIMULATION aspect, this is a problem, and TS4 is the worst iteration of it.

I have been playing TS2, and in that game it is actually a struggle to get families to have enough money to move to a bigger house. They get fired, random expenses happen, and overall, everything just seems more...proportional. This is like REAL LIFE. That struggle SHOULD be part of any sims pack. Otherwise, I get very bored. Lots of money, great, so now...I guess my sims can just stare at each other and feel "happy" since there is also no emotional reality in this game.

I'm kind of sick of hearing from players who use cheats, want their sims to live forever, and always be rich. Maybe there should be a separate game for them called "The Fantasies." As long as this game is supposed to be a simulation, economic concerns should be a part of it.

Thanks for the answer! My Sims are forever young and I want them to be rich, but hey, it is too easy anyway. No challenge, nothing. OK, I can make them simple fishermen for example, but still this game has no real revards (very expensive, upscale lots, luxury items etc.).

All that I ask is to increase the prices and make some items more expensive anyway (bathtubes, big screens, computers and many others). I think, that if someone wants to make "rich, forever young Sims" can make it anyway and the "motherlode fans" will do that regardless.

"SimsLovinLycan;c-17491860" wrote:
True. The only real way to make the bills a real challenge is to put your sims on a 50x50 or larger lot with a giant house that has the max amount of floors, takes up most of the lot's space, and is full of expensive stuff and decorations. I have one build like that, and it costs something like 70k-75k for the bills every time.

Career progression is too quick and easy; work-at-home strategies like writing, woodworking, gardening, and painting are too OP. It's actually hard to get a sim to be broke in TS4 unless you don't let them do anything to earn money at all or put them on a lot where the bills cost a good chunk of what they make.

Im affraid, that nerfing works like painter or writer could be risky, because people may protest, but they can make at least more expensive lots.
Thank you for the answer. :)

They should make writing books and painting take longer but keep the values the same. That alone would improve the "economy" of the sims.

If buying clothes and groceries were mandatory like in TS2 it would also make the gameplay more realistic, interesting and slow down the process of getting rich, which TS4 needs.

I think the biggest necessity expense for most average people would be the cost of the meal and bill, so it doesnt make sense that these two are too cheap in the game. I even once tried to find mod that alter the cost of the food in the game but couldnt seem to find one.

I think about florist career - this should be connected better with gardening. If you don't have flowers, you can't make a bouquet (orchid bouquet is OP). Same here with cooking. If you don't want to make garden, you can go to shop or order some ingredients by computer.
These are things, that can be done easily... they could introduce several degrees of difficulty. Old settings may be left as default, new ones would be optional.

@Sigzy05 I don't understand one thing... Writing a song takes more time than writing a novel. I don't know what the process of making music is, but creating 200 pages of the book itself takes a lot of time. I didn't check it, but it seems that doing homework (university) takes longer than writing a novel.

"Aericia;d-975473" wrote:
Why the fridge is more expensive than huge tv screen?

The fridge comes with a lifetime supply of free food, make sense for it to be expensive. :)
I usually play with motherlode and my sims still manage to struggle financially. Even when I cheat I still try to limit their collecting. Usually, they collect stuff if they have bills to pay in 48 hours and 0 simoleons in their pockets, but otherwise I try to collect stuff only if they need some ingredient they don't have. They are really desperate if they collect frogs. Fishing is strictly for the next meal. Also, it helps to be less productive in activities like painting, writing, gardening, you can use the spare time for other fun activities or travelling. Travelling can be expensive, so travel often and in style. Camping is for sims with 0 money in their pocket. Discover University offers skill classes for money, so you could try skilling up by paying for it. Instead of buying furniture and decor from the catalogue, you can set up a store with high costs and buy stuff from there. Normal price-up is 25%, but you can go upto 100%. Same with clothing, give them one outfit from CAS so they aren't naked, but buy all other outfits from the clothing store. Clean out your sims wardrobe periodically. Get sims to start a bad business or two. Have many kids and send them all to college. Have your sims eat often in restaurants, get them to invite all their friends and treat them to the most expensive food on the menu. In a bar, buy rounds of drinks for everyone present. Start a weekly house party tradition, hire a maid even if you don't need one, or even better, a butler. Refuse to learn the repair skill and call the repair man every time something breaks down, or discard it and buy new. Gift your friends often expensive gifts. If you have extra produce in your inventory you can use it to fertilize the soil instead of selling it. If you're bored on a winter night you can always burn money.

@crocobaura Thanks for a lot of good advice! I also make my life more difficult in my game. For example, I tell Sims only to fish ... But this is not the style of play that I like. I mean, I'd rather think about how to overcome the limitations of the game instead of making it harder if you know what I mean. I want to think about how to get money for a vacation in the game and not the other way round - how to get rid of money here to make it more realistic. I am happy when my Sims gain experience, get promoted and achieve successes and I would really like to feel that these successes matter, that they really influence their standard of living.
I can compare it to an RPG game where the monsters only stand and are non-aggressive. In such games, the player must think about how to pass the level and defeat aggressive creatures, not how to force these mobs to attack him.

The content should be connected... Like To open a flower shop or a grocery shop you would need a farmer supplier... The restaurants would be stocking up in the groceries... and so on... If you want a cellphone you would need a Tech shop.. Things would be so much more interesting if this game wasnt quest based and a simulation one

100% agree. Sometimes I build a non-accessible basement where I place many of the knight statues. It highers the bills a little bit. And it reduces my sims' fortune a little bit as well, lol.

Like I said, I think the system is flexible enough. If your sims work hard, be it in a career or collecting stuff all day why be angry with them for earning a lot of money? Your play choices made them rich and they should live an accordingly rich lifestyle. A sim who fishes every day is a fisherman, one who fishes once in a blue moon has fishing as a hobby. Limiting certain activities is not making the game harder but making choices for your sims. If you want items to be more expensive you can make them so by setting up an in game shop for this purpose. Think of it as an alternative to the in game flea market where you can buy items much cheaper. Really rich sims can start lots of businesses, you don't need to play them everyday (or at all if you don't like that aspect of gameplay), but it's something where you can realistically sink a lot of money, think of it as investing. For fun, you can visit these businesses with your other sims.