I was hoping for 14-15; 10 would have been unworkable. I think I can get by with 12, but as usual, the devil is in the details.
As I posted elsewhere, I am currently thinking 4 regular residential, one haunted residential (I'm now thinking about moving the Crumplebottoms in there if they are playable, perhaps with a young adopted niece or nephew), one rental lot. The rental lot I'm thinking I will put in the 64x64 farmhouse and I'll make it an agritourism center, where families can bring their kids to learn about farming. All of the above I can, and probably will, put in premade homes, at least if they're any good. I like to remodel extensively, but I'm not great at making the shells of buildings with the fundamental architectural details. So the premades are usually a good jumping-off point for me, and as much as people are raving about the builders involved, that sounds promising.
That leaves me with six to play around with. I expect I'll leave but remodel the pub. Then I'll need a restaurant or takeaway (retail) shop for the local cuisine. I'm curious as to whether the lot they show for the competitions is a selectable lot, or just one of those open community spaces that many of the neighborhoods have; if it's the latter, that gives us a bit more wiggle room. I was thinking a community garden, but given the amount of gardening overall in the community, that might be unnecessary. Instead, I might just make a generic community center that has all the hobby/activity objects that seem essential or appropriate. I definitely want a bookshop, I just have to decide based on what I have to work with whether I want to combine it with a bakery or make them separate. I would love to have a library, but I can live without it if there's a bookshop. I'm toying with the idea now of making a museum but in the style of a historic church, so that I could have weddings there, but also satisfy the museum whim when sims roll it. And having visited a few historic churches when I was in England and Scotland, it seems appropriate. A vet clinic wasn't really on my radar, but several people have mentioned it, and it does seem fitting. Has anyone ever tried using vet equipment in a home? I just thought of maybe having a retired vet who still keeps the basic equipment in her barn at home, and people could just visit her. when their pets are sick.
The four residential lots + one haunted residential would give me five households to work with, which is not a lot, but... aside from the other townies that will probably be spawned, I usually like to move out most of the premades. Maybe it happens eventually, but I've never had a premade culled, even when they are homeless, in all my years of playing, maybe because I usually edit them a smidge in CAS. I'm guessing that like the Sulani premades, they will come with that hidden trait that indicates that they belong to that world, which means they will end up roaming around the community lots anyway. So I think that should be sufficient to make the world feel alive. I generally don't love the premades enough to want to actually play them, but I like them enough to want to sort of keep them around as local color.
