How's the Cottage Living so far?

"kokoro80;c-17939528" wrote:
The welcome wagon event didn't happen when my sims moved in but I did get a bunch of townies just randomly enter the house and start sleeping in my sims bed, a bit rude considering they didn't even bring a fruit cake! There was a thunderstorm happening at the time so I figured maybe they were just looking for shelter.

The other thing is that sometimes the town gardening and grocery stalls randomly close when they are supposed to be open (it tells you trading times if you hover over the closed stall. My sim was there at 10am and the stall was closed but when I hovered over it, it said trading times were 7am to 6pm or something like that).

Certainly I haven't come across any major bugs that are badly impeding game play so far and I've been playing for 10 hours.

I am loving the simple living lot trait. Makes growing your own produce so much more meaningful in the game.

I've had the same issue with neighbors coming in and never leaving -- had one save where the grocery delivery guy stayed and ate a bunch of the milk bread I'd just ordered! (I wanted it for eggs and toast for breakfast). Starting that family over in a new house I'm building to see if that makes a difference.

"EmmaVane;c-17941196" wrote:

"Freygea;c-17941168" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-17941146" wrote:

"Kimmer;c-17940868" wrote:
I've been loving it. It goes straight to my second favorite EP right after Cats & Dogs. I've played it in two different saves. Yesterday I played with a family of parents, two children and a cat and today I played with a single woman.

I don't have any mods and I haven't had any other bugs or glitches but the weird new teleporting bug that also other players have mentioned and the old plants reverting to dirt piles bug that seems to be impossible to fix.
There hasn't been any more lag than the usual in HoB, which is great, I was afraid of it because I saw some early access videos with lag issues even though the game changers have powerful computers and they played only with Cottage Living and base game.

I'm very happy with this EP, there is so much to do and it's challenging. My Sim that I played with today didn't have money to buy ingredients for food and she was only able to get eggs from her chicken. I thought she was going to starve and I had to take her to another world to dig some collectibles to sell.

You can make mayonnaise with just eggs. Then you can eat it directly from the jar. It's disgusting.

I find myself tasting the mayo spoon every time I use it. I also drink pickle juice......I show myself out now. : )


I am loving the pack. No bugs and using cc and mods. I have already put about 15 hours in and heading in for more.

Pickle juice is tasty. Did you know athletes used to use it as an isotonic sports drink back in the day? It's got salt and sugar so it's quick to absorb.

A friend of mine saves the pickle juice when she finishes a jar, then puts in other veggies (like carrots or onions) so you can sort of pickle other vegetables. B)

"MasonGamer;c-17942683" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-17941759" wrote:
@MasonGamer

You can have cows/chickens/llamas on community lots but you need to use a workaround.

You have to change the lot to Residential, move a sim in, buy the livestock and resell the lot before changing the lot type to whatever you want.

The animals and shed/coop have all the normal interactions except for trading and buying animals. I assume ownership is retained by the purchasing sim.

I tested this with Generic and National Park, so it likely works with others too.

You can also place the various other animal types in game even on community lots.

Thanks I’ll try it!

Hmm game crashed a few seconds after… I’m going to take that as a sign ?, So I think I’ll just have a sim move in, and rotate the “caretakers” on a weekly basis. That or just create a new family for each lot…

It's quite challenging (and I love it!)

I'm playing with my usual family, and the main couple are retired sims who had level 10 jobs, so they're rich and still have a good income, so I don't have to worry about money. However, their lazy days are gone. ? My goal for them is to live as self-sustainable as possible, so they have chickens, a cow, some oversized crops, a fairly big garden, three insect farms, a bee box, a fizzy juice machine, a candle making station, a woodworking table and a flower arranging table. Oh, and also they have to deal with laundry and dust. They have Simple Living and Wild Foxes challenges on their lot, and I was thinking about adding Reuse and Recycle, but that would be too much. They also own some solar panels, wind turbines and water collectors, but they don't generate enough power and water for their house, so I can't go off the grid.

Anyway, I feel like I'm micromanaging all the time. My sims don't have enough time for their hobbies! And before CoL I didn't really knew what they should occupy themselves with. Now they are always busy, and I haven't even touched some new things. I've even bought my sims a Steel Bladder reward traits. Usually I don't do this because I find it boring, but now it can really help. ?

I'm obsessed with it!! I haven't spent this much effort on gameplay in a long time. I made a family of four to spread the work around (there's a LOT but it makes it fun!)
Some things that make it easier are that bunnies can help weed your plants, so when you get the bunny den put it near all your crops. That way the bunnies have to hop around them and once you ask for their help, they really do a lot!
Make all your sims on your lot animal enthusiasts to help each of your animals have friendships with at least one of your sims.
Sims can learn recipes for animal treats and such just by having them in their inventory, so if dad learns how to make a flirty treat, and you want daughter to as well, just move one of his flirty treats to her inventory.
Am I wrong or do the oversize crops never go out of season? I think in my game right now it is fall and everything is still harvestable. Anyone in winter? Are oversize crops still harvestable?
Also, I'm not 100% sure yet, but based off of the LPs I watched on YouTube, I don't think it's possible to win 2 first place ribbons at fairs. Like at the Llama fair, if you submit a Llama entry and a wool entry, one might win first, but not both. So I'm thinking only submit your best possible entry if you really want a first place ribbon. But again that's just speculation.
All in all I am having a blast playing and learning this pack. There's a lot more to discuss but my post is already quite long. ?

@Rapunzelblonde yes, oversized crops grow in winter too. :)

From since my last post I finally broke the 1000 simoleons barrier!? Unfortunately, food shopping takes the money every time lol. Having to feed a family of 6 sims with the simply living lot trait and no cheating is hard, but is so fun do! I found I am learning to mirco manage my sims in new ways, honestly it changed the way I played before as I am trying new ways to make money.

Is there anyone else trying manage a big sims family while playing the lot trait?

I love it! I feel that this pack was less hyped online than Home Decorator (which was rather a disappointment for me) and I'm having way more fun playing Cottage Living. I adore Henford, the gameplay feels fun and not so easy that it would become boring too fast.

I can now add that the EP is CHALLENGING, which is a good thing, although I find myself tired by the end of a gaming session. I have decided to switch houses (per rotations) on a daily basis, just trying to keep the crops alive and the animals Happy. Because we all must be happy, happy, happy. Oi! The Llama spits, the Cow knocks over the full pail of milk, the chickens won't produce chicks. I had only one before I began a brand new game save. Poor Sarah Jane got off on a very wrong foot with the Llama, she almost cried, which broke my heart. LOL This after trying to stay in one week per household. It's simply not working. So, I do that back and forth bit. She's finally met the Sim who became the love of her life in reality. Love Day is coming, so he'll invite her out on a date, since planning an Event is borked. Tried to have a simple dinner party between the families wherein, the suitable Sim and his parents would dine with the planned bride in the hopes of cementing the 'contract of marriage', if you will. Things were done differently in the 18th century among the Well-to-Do. Ahem. Got as far as the Host, the Guests, but no matter who I chose as the Caterer, it wouldn't let me choose the time or venue suggesting I had to satisfy all categories. Face/palm. I went back in twice, but no luck. It's borked. So, I used MCCC to develop the relationship between the families and as I stated earlier the Groom-to-be, will ask the intended Bride out on a date wherein he'll propose. We'll see how that works. If that's borked, too, I'll just have him include her when he goes to a venue. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But, that's only because EA has systematically dumbed down the game starting with Sims3. A baby can play Sims3 — with ease!

But, I do love the challenge. But the problems with the crops are sucking the life out my enjoyment of growing them in the first place. I've yet to make it to my first festival. Sarah Jane baked a blueberry pie that turned out normal. That won't come close to winning, I'm supposing. So, she'll have to purchase more blueberries to keep practicing. I'd like to see her win. The pumpkins seem frozen in a certain state of growth. They're green so far and not at all very large despite fertilizing and encouraging them to grow. I suppose once I figure out how it's to be done, things will be better. I am still loving it, despite it all. LOL

I like the way other packs help this one, Eco Lifestyle and StrangerVille for the power and off the grid stuff, Seasons for the beautiful Autumn and Winter landscapes and the skating rink, and Nifty knitting for the use of Plopsy to buy some woolly clothing for animals and other supplies.

What I'd like to do is now to make several Darts Club teams with Get to work to set up some darts league matches in the pubs. Not yet possible I think.