Rotational Play and University

"MHsimsFan;c-17358072" wrote:
Anyone played more with this? I just bought University today as I don't have any teen sims ready to go, but it was on half price so I couldn't resist. I was going to wait until someone came up with a good plan for managing the rotational play, even with a mod. But it doesn't appear that there is one yet. I have read through the other posts and was hoping someone who has been learning how to manage this can confirm my assessment below...

Currently, how I read it, is that you will need to play your university sim at least the length of the semester before rotating to the next family. That student then needs to 'not' re-enroll as you play the other families. However, they will need to move into another 'non-dorm" lot or a dorm which as been re-designated as residential or else they will be kicked out. When you come back to that sim, you will need to re-enroll them in university again and move them back into the dorm. Can they just pick up where they left off? Do they need to start all over again?

Yes, they will pick up where they left concerning the degree. The game doesn't really care what term your sim will start. Game is only counting how many classes they got. So if your sim already got a decent grade in 6 classes, you will mix a set of new classes for your next term. Each sim must take minimum 3 terms (each 4 classes), but if you fail with just one class/subject, you will need to take a final term for the one class only, so maybe it's just as strategic aiming for 4 terms.

The other students in the dorm might change though, so your sim will not always pick up with the social life as he left it. But I guess some NPC students are replaced occasionally anyway. Basically - the only difference is the moving out and back in between terms. Unless you clutter up your dorm room, I don't think there is a lot of hassle.

Added thanks @ChampandGirlie - needing to reapply for scholarships for each term is definitely a hassle... how could I forget about that - it actually costed my students a lot that I started next term before scholarships were granted.

As a fellow rotational player, I'm ok with switching households at the end of each semester but I'd like to be able to keep students enrolled and maintaining their scholarships while I play other households.

I understand having to move out if you aren't continuing but there should be a recognition that the player may be playing rotationally and so may just want to keep a household "in school" to come back to later. That would be more like how rotational play is in the rest of the game.

I'd also like to have a bunch of my own sims in different households peppered about and running into each other, only graduating when I finish playing them through the semesters. I hope that's something that they can patch in. I also like the ability to take breaks from university around the time of major holidays.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of "punishing" a sim by risking losing scholarship money just because I want to age up different sims in the same generation and to have some sims that I recognize at the university along with the new random students.

"ChampandGirlie;c-17358507" wrote:
As a fellow rotational player, I'm ok with switching households at the end of each semester but I'd like to be able to keep students enrolled and maintaining their scholarships while I play other households.

I understand having to move out if you aren't continuing but there should be a recognition that the player may be playing rotationally and so may just want to keep a household "in school" to come back to later. That would be more like how rotational play is in the rest of the game.

I'd also like to have a bunch of my own sims in different households peppered about and running into each other, only graduating when I finish playing them through the semesters. I hope that's something that they can patch in. I also like the ability to take breaks from university around the time of major holidays.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of "punishing" a sim by risking losing scholarship money just because I want to age up different sims in the same generation and to have some sims that I recognize at the university along with the new random students.

You can accomplish this after the first term - played Sims will remain enrolled indefinitely and continue in student housing while you don't play them, but they get "frozen" at the end of their last active term. This means you need to do the following:

1.) Enroll them all on the same day, and move them wherever they should go. You will only get to play one households first term, so I'd suggest not enrolling the others in more than 1 class.

2.) Play to the end of term one in this household. Immediately before re-enrollment is offered, exit the active household. You can try to juggle a couple households with limited class loads, rotating each day to get more control.

3.) Move onto the next household. You'll get to re-enroll that household in term 2. Play only this household through term 2, if you only enrolled them in one class in term 1 you'll control them for their 11 remaining credits.

4.) Keep rotating right before term ends. Each household will be on the start of their 2nd term in this round, but on the next round they'll all get to play their 3rd term. You can insert other households as desired as long as you rotate out of uni right before term ends. You'll never have to move out or lose your scholarships and it costs you missing control for only 1 credit in term 1.

Overall it's working pretty well for me rotationally as long as I don't miss getting out before the term closes out.

I do it the same way as starcrush. I play rotationally, but altered the time I switch household to Friday, 4.59 p.m., since DU came out. When I come back to a household in the next rotation, they will still get the same grade as they would have gotten when I left them. I take care that the term always starts on Monday for each student I enroll. That's the most difficult thing of it as it sometimes takes a few days to get the acceptance letter.

I've tried for several students and the grades remained the same. I do it a bit different than starcrunch though.
I just enroll the current household Sim(s) on Friday evening as soon as I start to play with the household. They then actively do their term which starts on Monday. Shortly before it finishes (4.59 pm), I save.
I then stay for another hour (6 p.m.) to see their grades, but do not save again. Instead I go to manage worlds without saving (--- This step can of course be skipped if you're not too curious to see the grades ---)
and then rotate to the next household. When I come back in the next rotation, the Sim can just start the next term, nothing is lost, they don't have to leave their dorm (if they live in one) and keep their scholarship.
That way, I play all my university Sims actively and control their grades.

"83bienchen;c-17358929" wrote:
I've tried for several students and the grades remained the same. I do it a bit different than starcrunch though.
I just enroll the current household Sim(s) on Friday evening as soon as I start to play with the household. They then actively do their term which starts on Monday. Shortly before it finishes (4.59 pm), I save.
I then stay for another hour (6 p.m.) to see their grades, but do not save again. Instead I go to manage worlds without saving (--- This step can of course be skipped if your not too curious to see the grades ---)
and then rotate to the next household. When I come back in the next rotation, the Sim can just start the next term, nothing is lost, they don't have to leave their dorm (if they live in one) and keep their scholarship.
That way, I play all my university Sims actively and control their grades.

Thanks for answering that. It's very interesting.

So, I started playing rotationally shortly before getting DU and just continued playing and learned a lot.

I have continued to switch households between 12 and 6 am on Sundays and I even have my families labeled so that I rotate through them in order. This means that my sims at the university have waited 5 or 6 weeks for me to return to them. I have put about 3 sims through university in this way.

By the time I leave them, they just need to take the final exams on Monday, but I have completed all other course work. All of them have grades of a B or higher. They stay in the dorms until I come back to them and I either get the prompt to re-enroll immediately or to move them out. I have had one sim finish two terms and them enrolled another sim and moved them into the same dorm. When I played, I got the prompt to enroll them both and continued as usual.

Playing this way, however, means I don't see their grades for each class, just an overall grade. And I miss their graduation. Which is fine, I mostly send them to Uni for the storyline and career boost anyway. But from what I am reading switching to a 6pm Friday rotation would correct that for me?

My biggest annoyance is that my sims usually find a spouse while attending university and while those NPCs show as graduated, they do not have the trait. I have had to use Carl's cheat guide to correct that, in the future, I'll try adding them to the household so that both spouses have the skills and traits that come from attending university.

Anyway, hope I added something helpful to the convo!

"starcrunch;c-17359453" wrote:

"83bienchen;c-17358929" wrote:

I then stay for another hour (6 p.m.) to see their grades, but do not save again. Instead I go to manage worlds without saving (--- This step can of course be skipped if you're not too curious to see the grades ---)

Not sure we're doing it differently, this is what I do too. Save about 4 or 5 pm see the grades but don't save, and then rotate away is how I do it, though I don't really think seeing the grades changes anything so I doubt it's necessary. Didn't realize it was always 6 pm though - it always has been but I wasn't sure if that was universal.

As I said, seing the grades is not neccessary. I wasn't sure whether you did it the same way as I do it. You explanation sounded a bit more complicated.

@tehemamma: If you switch households at 6 pm Friday you will still miss the graduation ceremony, which takes place on Saturdays. Also there's a problem with dorms and scholarships when you rotate at 6 pm.

I'm still a bit confused by rotational play and university. Based on the comments above, I am under the impression that even if you do play a sim through a whole term and don't enroll them in the next term, there are consequences. Does anyone know if MCC has managed to mod this? I always pause pregnancies with it when I rotate families and I'm wondering if something similar will be developed for pausing uni progress???

"mischiefluver;c-17315679" wrote:
I am a rotational player. Is that why I can't enroll any of my other sims in university after enrolling the first? My other sims turned in their applications almost a week ago and still have not heard back. So annoying! Do they have to go one at a time? How am I supposed to populate the world if they can only go one at a time?

@mischiefluver
Try to check on the computer, if your Sim is accepted. There is an option for that. Then you don't have to wait for the letter, it's a lot faster. :)