How do you organize your noble mansions?

"Simmerville;d-997007" wrote:


How about your finer families? Do you go the full scale with 4 stories and a monster of a castle just to get enough rooms for everything even if it seems a tad extreme on the world map? Do you focus on a nice castle garden with additional smaller builds, or do they rather own the park lot next door going there for a morning stroll? Do you use the towers for specific activity? How do you organize servants ? Do you send kids to a boarding school to allow more servants within the 8 sims limit? Do you build secret tunnels in the 2nd level basement? Do you go bananas with golden decor and ceiling frescos or do you modernize the interior a bit?

Would love to learn how you organize your bigger mansions!

I play with sims of various backgrounds - rich, poor, middle class. I have an aristocracy and I do have a royal prince character, HRH Prince Lionel Van Haunt. He's a descendant of the Von Haunt estate. Currently that is still a public venue and he lives in a massive more modern palace that I downloaded because someone did a great job with it. It's very detailed and difficult with turrets and multiple wings. I mean, I could certainly build one but searched and found one that suited my sims. I put it on the biggest lot in Newcrest overlooking the river. There's a neighbor across the street who is very wealthy but in a smaller mansion. I think they are just 3 stories and they have an inaccessible wing that is probably a vampire lair that I haven't done much with because it's small but the rest of the house suits its residents.

They don't have much garden beyond the public river walking areas but they also don't go outside much. Their front area is mostly the very fine gravel that would suit horses. They have a butler and sometimes a maid but I've mostly played that household as an isolated married couple with their young heir who aren't that in love and the house is slightly a gilded cage. They do have a swimming pool and gym, a home theatre, many bedrooms and lounges. They spend a lot of time walking the corridors and being on different floors of the palace. A novelty for them is something like cooking their own food because they're so wealthy that they don't care that they have a butler. They do have a servants' wing but I haven't focused much on the servants there or had any that are playable.

I haven't used a boarding school yet because the young prince was a toddler. They're really characters among the rest of the world. The prince has had several affairs, one lengthy, all in secret. There were some dramatic fights including a brawl in the corridors.

I've thought about playing with the Von Haunt estate as a residence as well. I should add that the Villareals are all aristocrats in my game, not royal like the Von Haunts but they live the life of leisure. Sir Hugo actually married for love and recently died. His son, Juan Hugo, is kind of a teen heartthrob character, now at university. Luna married Sergio and they are mega wealthy. Their daughter had a secret relationship with the married prince but he is not divorcing Princess Claudine. Max is an aristocratic vampire and actually all of the original vampires are a little clique of dead aristocrats. Max never ages past YA and has no children.

I like having lots of different characters from different parts of society. They all interact in different ways. Obviously those scandal-making royals are kind of based on some of the recent modern royals but not precisely. I've just been playing a modern save and that's how things have played out. The royals have a stunning residence but aren't necessarily the happiest, probably the upper middle class are - well, and Hugo's family.

If they release more content for the rich and famous or for royals, I might have interest. I definitely play with the wealthy sims.