How Does Rotational Play Affect Progress?

There are different types of rotational players. Some go back and forth between their different pet households, others, like myself, stick to a specific household for a while and then move over to another household in the same save.

I can't speak to Discover University because I don't own it, but I've heard that it doesn't mesh well with rotational gameplay.

If you turn off aging for the the other households you want to go back to, while you play the one, the other families will be exactly as you left them when you come back to them, no loss of progress. That's one approach.

If you don't disable aging, children keep any aspiration benefits that they earned before you left. If they were in line for a character value trait when you left, they will gain that trait when they age up to young adult while you're playing another household. If a child is an A student, they will get the B grade when they age up to a teen while you're playing the other household. If a teen has a B or A grade when you left, they will have the associated career advantages as a young adult and onward, if you choose to come back to that household.

Jobs, on the other hand, don't progress without active participation. As for skills, they only progress if the sim is doing a skill building activity while on the same lot with a sim that you are currently controlling. Progress on an aspiration is unlikely, but they may autonomously do something related to their aspiration if they are on the same lot with a sim that you are controlling.

@Eleri Thank you so much! I didn't realize they could make any progress at all if I wasn't directly playing them, so that's good news. I could maybe invite someone over to play chess and help them along. I've been struggling to keep my Sims in one household just so I wouldn't have to do this XD

True rotational play comes from the Sims 1 and 2 era where progress was saved and time was frozen when you switch among households. It's not as easy in the Sims 4, which continued the single-household legacy focus of the Sims 3. It requires some setup, but you can do it by following this guide:
https://youtu.be/xKJzHOEXttE

In general, rotational play has a concept of "rounds" where you play the same exact period, usually 1 week, for each household. You synchronize time and calendars so each family plays the same period. After you finish your last household, you move on to the first household again and play the next week. With University, sims that move to university during that round form a new household appended to the very end of the last family in the list where they all complete university and graduate before rejoining their neighborhoods for the start of the next round.

In terms of progress: in true rotational play, households that are part of your rotational list should have NO progress when they are not active. B/c when you are switching to the next household in your rotation list, think of it like you are time traveling back to the start of the week. So you don't want to double book their progress and make them have any more progress than they should.

The only changes to non-active households in your rotational list are relationship changes that happen due to your current active household interacting with non-active Sims on community lots. This is how it works in the Sims 1 and 2.

About Discover University part.

Inactive sims will still progress the university week and will complete it. If they are played, they'll wait for you to come back so you can reenroll them (otherwise they'll reenroll on their own).
Now what grade they'll get... They are supposed to get their average grade, but the usual glitching may give them a F.

@simmerorigin That might be a little too strict to start out with. I agree that it wouldn't have been a problem with earlier versions, but I've got seasons, festivals, and whatnot. Thank you for all the information, though! I'll see if I can find a compromise, since Sims 4 is so different (except for those loading screens)

@EgonVM Thank you so much for answering that. I think I'll stick with any university Sims while they're enrolled, just in case. If my Sims get an F, I want them to deserve it from partying too much.

I'm not sure if it's completely fixed but I had an issue with failing students and rotating in uni but just a few days ago I was able to just rotate to finish homework and miss some time with them and one of them only got a b and passed everything else perfectly. Since you already got your answers I'd say try three households and see how you like to do it see what you enjoy more that helps.

@RedDestiny92 I think I'll let any university students finish their terms before switching around I have turned off aging, so aside from accidentally missing someone's first child... This is tricky stuff.

I suggest to leave aging off, because some of the Sims will age when you are playing rotationally.
When I had four Sims get pregnant, I only played with one of the Sims, but when she gave birth, the other three gave birth.
I keep aging off, so I can focus on each family a bit, and then move to the next one.

I play several legacy families in my main save, in a loose rotation that doesn't plan out things by strict week, and it works really well for me. I play vanilla so I don't have mods getting sims into mischief I didn't anticipate. (Also, I agree, it's best to leave aging off if you like having NPC friends or neighbors around for a longer period of time.)

I have all my legacy families get married and have kids at about the same time, so the kids can age up and go to school together. I play each family until the kid ages up to a toddler or child or teen, and rotate to the other families as needed/as I feel like to get their kids to the same age.

In terms of the more unique situations of pregnancy and university, I don't rotate for that time. It works best for me to have only one pregnant sim at a time, so I can focus on her and getting the baby to toddler stage. I also play only one set of sims at university at a time and don't leave them for the duration; they usually live in the dorms or in a house as a group, so they can all do their homework and hang out together.

@Umbreon12 Maybe I'll stagger my sims' pregnancies so I can be there for each one. Aging is definitely off!

@RoseQuartz Those are a lot of great tips! I was already starting to feel like I was missing out on the kids in the main family I had just left, but if I have others the same age, they could grow up together and I'd still see everyone.


I'm getting a lot of great ideas, and so excited to see so many different ways the Sims 4 community works with this!