Off the Grid

Agree. The off the grid items also have very limited function. I have the base fridge, but can only make salad/fruit salad. You can't give a toddler a bath in the off-the-grid bath tub. You can't clean the off-the-grid sink, shower or toilet.

I did find a solution to the last. You need to get to Handiness level 4, and upgrade them to self-cleaning. My poor Sim had to live with a disgusting bathroom (while pregnant, with twins!) until she leveled up her handiness skill. But now her toddlers are filthy, because there's no way to bathe them. I thought toddlers could swim or wade, but I can't figure out how to make that happen. (Any tips would be appreciated.)

For lighting, I've only found candles and a torch. I put candles on wall shelves to save floor space.

Also the washtub to hand wash clothes can’t have the water changed because of the off the grid plumbing doesn’t work... also would love solar panels added so can have a little power but still be off the grid from main power

Agreed, I love off the grid game play, this lot added a charming touch to the style but still needs a bit of work. I'm still in awe of the fact that they gave the trait to us for free.

Agree with everything said and add that they really need to make the washtubs off the grid accessible too. It's the only time I would use one instead of a washer.

> @unsatisfied said:
> I also really want water pumps for off the grid. So you can wash dishes, drink water, change the water in the washtub! It would also be cool if we could boil water from the ocean in island living to drink, or make special dishes with. We need way more stuff, I just hope soon :(

You can't boil ocean water and drink it... That is a sure fire way to shut your kidneys down. You could on the other hand have some form of solar still for evaporating it to desalinize it. Or harvest rain water/spring water as most waterfalls that flow from inland sources are fesh water and could easily be boiled for whatever purpose you need. More irritated they only let us cook 2 items with gas, as I made Tuscan Chicken with Cauliflower rice for dinner in real life on a propane gas range...

Remember Sims Castaways? There were a lot of good ideas there which are perfect for off the grid. For example you had to get a water collector to supply running water to your lot. As an aside you could also swim in the sea and in lakes and ponds. And that was on the Sims 2 engine.

"Sindocat;c-17130410" wrote:

"unsatisfied;c-17130336" wrote:
It would also be cool if we could boil water from the ocean in island living to drink...

You can't boil the salt out of water. The water evaporates and you end up with everything else. To treat seawater to become drinkable, it has to be distilled, which is messy. Primitive living has never come up with a good way of desalinating seawater, and even with tech, it's surprisingly tricky. What Sulani does have plenty of, however, is freshwater streams. That's what actually made South Pacific islands habitable. A rain-barrel cistern would work, too.

I hope that the devs do revisit the "Off The Grid" Lot Trait to make it more representative, and it does seem rushed. Off the grid living is a thing I have done in real life, from time to time, and it is awkward and a hassle, but there are occasions where I could see wanting it for my Sims, and I'd like it to be implemented better.

Yes, that was my impression - that it just didn't get enough attention during testing, and I'm hopeful that some of the more obvious problems (mostly plumbing-related) will be corrected, like the inability to change the wash tub water or clean dirty things. (As another poster suggested, you can upgrade many things so that they don't get dirty, but one thing you can't upgrade is kitchen counters.) Toddlers and (I believe) dogs have an acceptable workaround: click on the parent and tell them to bathe the child or click on the toddler to ask for a bath. (It would be fun if you could dunk them in the laundry washtub, but they're probably too big to fit properly.)

It's sort of amusing that they seem to have considered electronics when they worked on this, but the plumbing got a short shrift. Tech people!

"Sindocat;c-17130410" wrote:

"unsatisfied;c-17130336" wrote:
It would also be cool if we could boil water from the ocean in island living to drink...

You can't boil the salt out of water. The water evaporates and you end up with everything else. To treat seawater to become drinkable, it has to be distilled, which is messy. Primitive living has never come up with a good way of desalinating seawater, and even with tech, it's surprisingly tricky. What Sulani does have plenty of, however, is freshwater streams. That's what actually made South Pacific islands habitable. A rain-barrel cistern would work, too.

I hope that the devs do revisit the "Off The Grid" Lot Trait to make it more representative, and it does seem rushed. Off the grid living is a thing I have done in real life, from time to time, and it is awkward and a hassle, but there are occasions where I could see wanting it for my Sims, and I'd like it to be implemented better.

Yes, for me it would be great when playing my ancestral game save. We're talking 18th century when they either used candles (if they were well-to-do, or just rush lights that lasted for an entire hour). Washing was done by use of a bucking tub and bat (the tub they gave us in the game would do nicely) and then hanging the clothes (after cranking the items through the box mangle to squeeze out the excess water) over bushes. TVs and radio wasn't back then, so they told stories after supper (which was really their cold leftovers from Dinner— what we now call lunch). Interesting to learn what we can and can't do with this lot trait.

> @CelSims said:
> ChrissyCoolest wrote: »
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> You can't give a toddler a bath in the off-the-grid bath tub.
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> You can, control the toddler and have her ask for a bath. Your adult will oblige. Counter intuitive as trying to do it as the adult clicking on the bath directly is greyed out.
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> Agreed though, the whole off the grid system seems like it needed a lot more thought and time put into it. Good start and still fun to play with, but really needs polishing.

Thanks for this. I didn't think of that option. However, there's still the problem about how to wash your dog. I might remind the Sims 4 team that bathtubs existed for centurys before electricity.

Yeah I completely agree I don't want to look for all the off the grid items they do need to add that