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Disquietism's avatar
Disquietism
5 years ago

Rotational gameplay tips + show your spreadsheets

Hi fellow simmers and friends :smile:

I am a rotational player who plays all the worlds at once, but I sometimes get frustrated with some of the features, so I thought it could be nice to have a topic where we could all add our tips for how to have the best experience. Also, please feel free to mention any mods that you find useful for this type of gameplay.

I would also really love to see how the other players manage their households and keep track of everything, I currently only have a very basic spreadsheet with names, worlds, traits, aspirations. But I would really like to see what else could I track and how. I love micro-managing everything :smiley:

Here are some of my tips that came to mind:

1. Renovate and rebuild all lots and update all lots with new objects from all packs, for me personally, I just really enjoy visiting community lots more when I know that my sims will have a lot to do there. Of course I still have some of the premade lots or lots downloaded from the gallery, because it is a year long project to update everything. But in 90% of the time my sims only go to the venues and lots that are updated.

2. This might not be the case for everyone, but I hate premade sims, so I deleted all of them and replaced them with mine, because it makes me actually care for them and be excited to even see them passing by. It's actually fun and kinda scary to see the sims you care about getting into fights, etc. when you are just a bystander. I created a lot of npcs, so the game could use them instead of creating more randoms. With NPCC mod you can even set that your households will be used as npcs instead just sims from other households. I used to have it for quite a while, but then it kinda broke the immersion when I was actively playing these sims, so I changed it, so now only my npcs are used instead.

3. Try giving all of your sims different careers, and let some of them run their own stores, restaurants, vet clinics, etc. There is an awesome mod that let's sims keep their stuff that they buy in your store when you are actively running it. Seeing all of my sims shop there is just sweet and I am already excited to see their inventory after I switch to them. It's just a little thing that adds a lot to my gameplay.

4. I play with aging on only for my active household, occasionally on for npcs.

Some of the things I would love to know:
1) how many days do you play each household? - I don't have a certain amount of days set, but I am thinking about changing that to be more consistent.

2) What is the best time to switch between household - do you change it based on your sim's work hours, so their performance doesn't drop?

And anything else that comes to mind, I just want to look for some kind of inspiration to implement in my own gameplay.

I hope everyone is having peaceful holidays :heart:
tips

17 Replies

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  • handelgamer's avatar
    handelgamer
    Seasoned Ace
    5 years ago
    Since I do actually play randomly with every single premade, adopted townie-that-managed-to-move-into-a-home and my own Sims, I have actually set up a spreadsheet for what Sims I visited last. Since I reach a lot of families, even with the 200 limit, I try to actively take families that I haven't played in ages over to the unplayed bin sometimes. Usually when I reach about 175 Sims.

    But yeah, I also do a system of 15 days for families-with-kids and 5-15 for non-kid households. For the non-kid ones, I play until I feel I have done enough progress with aspirations and such. Aging off for everyone but the actively played household. Which means that sometimes I get in a weird time zone about ages but hey, we can have birthdays and potions of youth whenever.
  • ldm2's avatar
    ldm2
    Seasoned Ace
    5 years ago
    I actually renovate lots as I go along, instead of fixing them all up at the start. I add or remove objects as the households' needs demand it, or if I think a room looks better with a yellow instead of a blue wall, etc. I'm not much of a builder, so I use the premade lots, and don't change the exteriors much, but the interiors will eventually become unrecognizable from the original lot. Community lots I do fix up at the beginning, now I have renovated versions of the big parks in my library to just place when I start a new save, since I tend to start new games ever time I sneeze.

    Actual rotation, depends on what life span I chose. If I have a lot of households, it's normal & I rotate on a weekly (sim time) basis, usually Sunday to Sunday, switching at around 7 am. If it's only a few, then I go "annual", 4 weeks from spring through winter, on long lifespan. Pregnancies are halted in the last 4 days of the schedule, except in the case of alien abductions, I like to name the babies myself instead of letting the game do it.

    When I create sims I usually start with young married couples, and let their offspring branch out from there. Unless it's a premade or single family save, I only allow my sims to partner up with each other, NPCs are seldom brought into the picture. Right now I am actually playing a single family, I will start rotating when the kids grow up & move out. I'm thinking about adding a couple other families to it though.

    Other than that I don't really have any rules or tips. I keep track of them pretty simply on a couple notepad documents, one with the rotation order, one with potential baby & new family names, and with various plans for each family & future potential partners. Nothing fancy.
  • Disquietism's avatar
    Disquietism
    5 years ago
    Writing family names and baby names is so cute! Last week I spent creating about 25 japanese sims and families and I looked at the names and surnames on Behind the name website :)
  • guilhermesvf's avatar
    guilhermesvf
    5 years ago
    "Yautjagirl;c-17762476" wrote:
    "Forgeron;c-17762344" wrote:
    My main tip is: avoind pairing up people that don't live in the same world. Like, its ok for 1 or 2 people to date online and have a distant relationship, but in real life most of those relationships fail when they turn into long-term distant relationships. If they are distant in the short term, they might work better, but also... not everyone moves town/country. So, I don't have a system of mine to "randomize" someone that would date and move worlds, I just roll a dice and see if it tells me yes or no.
    Edit.: I forgot to say that sometimes i don't use the dice at all, if my sim likes to travel and meet new people, I just follow their personalities and let them move elsewhere.
    Of course, you can play whoever you want, but its more realistic like that and it helps me to focus on creating relationships with people from the same town when the game does the opposite.


    Yes, I don't mind my sims dating sims from other worlds, except for Sulani and Mt.Komorebi, I try to contain Sims from these worlds as they are more far away and speak different languages. But if my currently active sims developed interest/romance with sim from another world I would try to fit it into the story :) Windenburg is also a different country in my game, but since I currently only have one household there and they are married already it doesn't matter much.


    @Yautjagirl I say that because I've been reading a couple of simstories here and most people don't care and marry people from any world. I like some realism, and you know its not realistic. I allow only some sets of worlds to be "connected" like that, like Oasis Springs/Strangerville/Del Sol Valley, then Newcrest/Willow Creek/Magnolia Promenade, Britechester/Forgotten Hollow/Windenburg, Brindleton Bay/Evergreen Harbor/Glimmerbrook and Mt. Komorebi/San Myshuno. If Selvadorada was liveable I would pair it up with Del Sol Valley, and let Oasis Springs/Strangerville alone.
  • HaneulFier's avatar
    HaneulFier
    Seasoned Ace
    5 years ago
    "Forgeron;c-17762766" wrote:
    "Yautjagirl;c-17762476" wrote:
    "Forgeron;c-17762344" wrote:
    My main tip is: avoind pairing up people that don't live in the same world. Like, its ok for 1 or 2 people to date online and have a distant relationship, but in real life most of those relationships fail when they turn into long-term distant relationships. If they are distant in the short term, they might work better, but also... not everyone moves town/country. So, I don't have a system of mine to "randomize" someone that would date and move worlds, I just roll a dice and see if it tells me yes or no.
    Edit.: I forgot to say that sometimes i don't use the dice at all, if my sim likes to travel and meet new people, I just follow their personalities and let them move elsewhere.
    Of course, you can play whoever you want, but its more realistic like that and it helps me to focus on creating relationships with people from the same town when the game does the opposite.


    Yes, I don't mind my sims dating sims from other worlds, except for Sulani and Mt.Komorebi, I try to contain Sims from these worlds as they are more far away and speak different languages. But if my currently active sims developed interest/romance with sim from another world I would try to fit it into the story :) Windenburg is also a different country in my game, but since I currently only have one household there and they are married already it doesn't matter much.


    @Yautjagirl I say that because I've been reading a couple of simstories here and most people don't care and marry people from any world. I like some realism, and you know its not realistic. I allow only some sets of worlds to be "connected" like that, like Oasis Springs/Strangerville/Del Sol Valley, then Newcrest/Willow Creek/Magnolia Promenade, Britechester/Forgotten Hollow/Windenburg, Brindleton Bay/Evergreen Harbor/Glimmerbrook and Mt. Komorebi/San Myshuno. If Selvadorada was liveable I would pair it up with Del Sol Valley, and let Oasis Springs/Strangerville alone.


    I think that makes sense. I am the opposite because I'm the opposite in real life (pre/post pandemic). In my head, it's all one thing except for Sixam. I feel especially protective of Mt. Komorebi/Sulani because I personally just dislike the thought of them being separate/other/abnormal worlds. Mt. Komorebi to Sulani is like Hokkaido to Okinawa/NY to FL ... not that far. :)
  • RouenSims's avatar
    RouenSims
    Seasoned Ace
    5 years ago
    "haneul;c-17762824" wrote:
    My main tip is: avoind pairing up people that I think that makes sense. I am the opposite because I'm the opposite in real life (pre/post pandemic). In my head, it's all one thing except for Sixam. I feel especially protective of Mt. Komorebi/Sulani because I personally just dislike the thought of them being separate/other/abnormal worlds. Mt. Komorebi to Sulani is like Hokkaido to Okinawa/NY to FL ... not that far. :)


    In my game, Sims can walk from Strangerville to Mount Komorebi if they feel like it. :lol:

  • ldm2's avatar
    ldm2
    Seasoned Ace
    5 years ago
    @Yautjagirl Behind the name is my favorite name source too!

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