I've been playing rotationally like forever. With constantly increasing population, I'm currently down to just 1 simday per household before I move on. It feels a bit rushed and I realize that this way I miss some game functionality as several features require some focus to reach their right potential. Like gardening getting more fun if you actually allow your plant time to produce crops... I also tend to start quite cool home businesses etc, but the next time I play a house for 1 day, I might have forgotten what the fuss was all about :) Aaand, romancing someone is rather out of the question when you have only one day on your hands. I keep cheating bladder and sleep in order to have a little more time for what is unique for the house I play.Sooo... I've been considering a change. Still rotationally, but saying longer with each house. It means most houses will not be played more than every 5th or 10th year, but knowing I can always stop by for a day to fix babies/weddings/move-outs etc,, I'll stay longer with the houses I find interesting or that need my attention.But how long do you think it's needed to stay with a household to reach the potential of certain features? I was thinking minimum 3 simdays, but that might be too short for a few features? 5 simdays might cover it all? With 5 days I won't need to care about what weekdays they go t work etc.If you play on rotation, how long do you consider is needed to see your families get "into the loop" before you move on? I know this will depend on the family, but perhaps there is a general understanding that I've missed.

I tend to spend a season with my sims, which are set to 2 weeks. It isn't a set in stone rule for me but on average that seems to be long enough to work on grades, reputation, storyline, skills and career etc. I don't rotate in order so some sims are back in rotation sooner than others depending on which households I'm enjoying the most. If I need to, I'll add sims to household if I want to move on but have a Sim who's up for promotion or something... then they just return to their household.

tbh I just have no rules i move when i feel like it and if it makes sense in current situation or in my story planslike if i find myself sitting there like huh what now just filling needs thats the cue

On average I spend about 3 days per family but depending on the situation it could just be one day or about a week. Sure you get more opportunities with longer days played and the first day is normally chaotic as you need to catch up on stuff but if there's nothing except a check in that I want to do with some families one day is enough.

"Simmingal;c-18105173" wrote:tbh I just have no rules i move when i feel like it and if it makes sense in current situation or in my story planslike if i find myself sitting there like huh what now just filling needs thats the cueI do this as well. I play with aging off and choose when sims age up so there's no hurry to get things done. If I'm having fun with a household I'll stay with them a while, if not, I move on to the next. I have plans for some households and for others I'm just waiting for inspiration to strike.

I can't play a true rotation with the save I've got going. I may give it another try. since someone stated they hoped to learn more about one of the siblings in my story. I stick with her brother mostly because without me, he won't earn money, as I use a mod for his career. I tend to bounce between households just to make certain children are born (and properly named) for his nieces and nephews. What I did in the past, was have my rock star live with his sister, so that I could get her family set, before I'd let Erik out on his own. He no longer has to find a good woman, he's found her in the Sims4, so unless I pretend they're waiting on their house to be built and finished, he won't be living with his younger and only sister. But I may very well try this once again, but this will hamper the sister from having all five of her kids even so. I may simply do what I did in one of my story posts is highlight his sister. I most certainly will show her wedding when it happens.In the past, I even tried a strategy wherein, instead of beginning with said rock star, I would start with his older brother for one week, then on to the next household for one week, then onto the third household, again for one week. However, once I got to Erik's house I found it more than difficult to continue the rotation. I don't even try anymore.

Rotational (again) - how long per house?

54 Replies

wahini2024
4 years ago
I tend to spend a season with my sims, which are set to 2 weeks. It isn't a set in stone rule for me but on average that seems to be long enough to work on grades, reputation, storyline, skills and career etc. I don't rotate in order so some sims are back in rotation sooner than others depending on which households I'm enjoying the most. If I need to, I'll add sims to household if I want to move on but have a Sim who's up for promotion or something... then they just return to their household.
Simmingal
Hero
4 years ago
tbh I just have no rules i move when i feel like it and if it makes sense in current situation or in my story plans

like if i find myself sitting there like huh what now just filling needs thats the cue
susanleona
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
On average I spend about 3 days per family but depending on the situation it could just be one day or about a week. Sure you get more opportunities with longer days played and the first day is normally chaotic as you need to catch up on stuff but if there's nothing except a check in that I want to do with some families one day is enough.
rlc77
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
"Simmingal;c-18105173" wrote:
tbh I just have no rules i move when i feel like it and if it makes sense in current situation or in my story plans

like if i find myself sitting there like huh what now just filling needs thats the cue

I do this as well. I play with aging off and choose when sims age up so there's no hurry to get things done. If I'm having fun with a household I'll stay with them a while, if not, I move on to the next. I have plans for some households and for others I'm just waiting for inspiration to strike.
GalacticGal
Legend
4 years ago
I can't play a true rotation with the save I've got going. I may give it another try. since someone stated they hoped to learn more about one of the siblings in my story. I stick with her brother mostly because without me, he won't earn money, as I use a mod for his career. I tend to bounce between households just to make certain children are born (and properly named) for his nieces and nephews. What I did in the past, was have my rock star live with his sister, so that I could get her family set, before I'd let Erik out on his own. He no longer has to find a good woman, he's found her in the Sims4, so unless I pretend they're waiting on their house to be built and finished, he won't be living with his younger and only sister. But I may very well try this once again, but this will hamper the sister from having all five of her kids even so. I may simply do what I did in one of my story posts is highlight his sister. I most certainly will show her wedding when it happens.

In the past, I even tried a strategy wherein, instead of beginning with said rock star, I would start with his older brother for one week, then on to the next household for one week, then onto the third household, again for one week. However, once I got to Erik's house I found it more than difficult to continue the rotation. I don't even try anymore.
moderateosprey
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I posted my method in another thread for dealing with this, but the key to it is not to lock the sims into households, but think of each sim individually. Allow sims fluidity by moving between households.

Want a week to play University with your favourite sims, then move them all into a different house together.

You can also do this with smaller 'events'. Take a sim out to another household and when there, use the Ask to Join Household interaction. You can now play all the sims in that household. Do the same when going home. Travel back to your normal house and join it again.

You can also use a cheat code to do it the other way round. Invite a sim (or sims) to the current lot and when they are they arrive - cheat them to the household. I don't know the exact code as I use the UI Cheats for this (simply shift+click sim and select Add to Family).

You can use variations on these mechanics to set up a whole mass of different scenarios.

The trickiest ones to deal with are single sim households. I use various methods for dealing with these - from special sims that act as house sitters to leaving a family member or friend in the household so the single sim can travel and move into and out of other households freely.
Kathykins
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I play with aging off, default one week seasons. I can stay with a family for 2 weeks, 2 days or 2 sim years. It all depends what's going on in that family and if I get bored of them. I stay the longest with single sims, since I feel they are more free to do whatever comes to mind. If I want them to stay 2 weeks in Selvadorada, I can. I don't feel like doing things like that when they start having families. I never do vacations with more than 1 sim. When they get married and they get kids, I tend to get bored very quickly and move on to the next family.

The number of families vary per save, everything from 1 household to 15-20. Some families I've played extensively and others not so much. I can't play with set rotation times, since I forget so easily.
VWoodsong
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I don't have a set timing system for my rotations. Typically I switch households based on what might feel like a lead-up to the next natural story beat (to be picked up the next time I play that household). That could be anything from a few sim-hours long to a few sim-weeks, depending on what's going on. My main issue is not so much about when to switch as to make sure I never have too many separate story elements scattered around my worlds to make it plausible to give the individual parts the attention they need for the sake of a cohesive whole. That sometimes means letting go of certain households after playing "their main part" in the larger story, after which their part is either over or no longer a high priority. That is, they're left to fend for themselves, which itself can become extra bits of the overall story, but not necessarily essential bits.
simsimsere
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I play rotational irregularly and prefer to stay with one household for a bit longer. Sometimes I just pop in for a day or two especially if I can't settle on who to play. But for me the best experience is when I focus on the same household 1-3 sim weeks or alternate between two households that are related. 5 days might be enough, but feels a little shortish for me. I agree with @VeeDub that letting go of the households helps. It's really hard though!
telemwill
Seasoned Ace
4 years ago
I don't have a set amount of time to spend per family. I play with aging off so I can age up my Sims as seems relevant to their stories. I also have a mod that allows me to complete university in a week.

Sometimes I spend weeks with one family. For example, I completed the Strangerville story with one. I also recently spent a lot of time with the Landgraabs and Nina Caliente.

Usually I spend three or four days which is enough time to feel something has been accomplished towards my goals for that family. Right now I am experiencing planning Dina and Don's wedding. I just had an engagement party on the first day. Three days total will be enough to get them where I want them.

Some Sims may just get a day if I don't have a story for them at the moment. Katrina Gupta (formerly Caliente), her husband, Raj, and their daughter, Kareena have been seen a good deal in Nina's story and will participate in the wedding events for Dina and Don. I don't plan to age Kareena up. So a day will do for them.

The only problem I have with the way I play is how to decide when someone should die of old age. I wish I could just turn aging on for particular Sims. Now I usually do it by dice roll if their aspiration is complete.