Sims take care of themselves

I could not agree more. I have returned to certain families while doing a rotation through the world and have found every manner of disaster in progress or had happened during my absence. How do three Sims with level 10 cooking skills starve to death in their own home? Why do pets run away because of a lack of attention? Whenever I play certain Sims they need to be in bed by midnight but when I return to them in the middle of the night they are partying at the nightclub or playing video games with a full energy bar. I was playing another family when I got a notification that something bad was going on at the Aldrich household. I saved my game then entered the lot in question. Dear Grimmy was having a field day there, reaping all four YA's souls in my absence, as well as 'taking the soul' of their dog. I never did find out where their cat ended up. I have had the dubious pleasure of fixing every plumbing fixture in a home upon my return as well as finding a stranger had been invited to move in. Said strangers were often unemployed, a slob, or a kleptomaniac. And had his sights set on marrying my main female Sim in that household.

Most of those unpleasant surprises happened during the early years of Sims4, and don't happen very often now. Some of that is because of mods I use and some of it is because the teams tuned the game a bit better through updates. I also turned off autonomy for all my Sims. But it would be nice if dirty dishes weren't left on every available table or kitchen counter in some of the houses I play. Or my gardening Sims harvested their crops on their own. At least the pets aren't sick or starving every time I return during a rotation now. That little issue caused me to not place pets in any home for a long time. I'd also like to see my employed Sims go to work on their own without my hovering over them. I don't have many career-oriented Sims as I prefer to play freelancers. But once in a while I like to have at least one Sim in a career. And it would be pretty sweet if those Sims went to work rather than hang out at the local bar or spend the day fishing in Granite Falls. I finally ended up changing his Aspiration to Angler so he could at least 'work' at doing something he enjoys. :)

Maybe sims don't do stuff because autonomy is turned off? My sims have autonomy on and aging off and I don't experience any of the issues you mention. If sims are dying when you are not playing them and other sims are moving in you should check if you have story progression enabled and turn it off.

"crocobaura;c-18233918" wrote:
Maybe sims don't do stuff because autonomy is turned off? My sims have autonomy on and aging off and I don't experience any of the issues you mention. If sims are dying when you are not playing them and other sims are moving in you should check if you have story progression enabled and turn it off.

That is my experience also, with autonomy on Sims with high parentl skill is very good at taking care of their toddlers. They also fullfill their needs in the order they are lowered. Crisis appear when I take them on adventures and their needs end up in the red zone.

I personally haven't noticed any disasters when I come back to the rest of my household after leaving them awhile. Perhaps I'm not away long enough?

With autonomy off or on, my Sims are rather helpless, or lazy, when left alone. With autonomy off my Sims will still ignore what is in the queue just to go outside and talk to their plants, cook food, BBQ or go for a jog. So, if they do this while I am playing them, what stops them from doing it on their own when I am playing another lot? I see them at the venues all the time while playing another Sim. Restaurants, nightclubs, coffeehouses, the gyms, parks, all being visited by Sims that should be at work or doing their freelancer gigs which where I left them. As I stated, a lot of this nonsense has been toned down over the years. But it still happens once in a while.

"Paigeisin5;c-18238672" wrote:
With autonomy off or on, my Sims are rather helpless, or lazy, when left alone. With autonomy off my Sims will still ignore what is in the queue just to go outside and talk to their plants, cook food, BBQ or go for a jog. So, if they do this while I am playing them, what stops them from doing it on their own when I am playing another lot? I see them at the venues all the time while playing another Sim. Restaurants, nightclubs, coffeehouses, the gyms, parks, all being visited by Sims that should be at work or doing their freelancer gigs which where I left them. As I stated, a lot of this nonsense has been toned down over the years. But it still happens once in a while.

I don't want to play a game where all sims are at work when I visit the park or in bed sleeping when I visit the nightclub, or can't stop to talk with you because they need to be somewhere else. It's bad enough that sims don't answer the phone after a certain time at night even to their friends.

"crocobaura;c-18238769" wrote:
It's bad enough that sims don't answer the phone after a certain time at night even to their friends.

Slight tangent, but... it would be great if they made the Best Friends designation more meaningful by unlocking the ability to make phone calls any time of day. Similarly, it seems like parents should take their children's calls any time of day, at least if they have the "close" designation once GT releases. Don't get me wrong, if I called my parents at 3 a.m., they would yell at me... but then they'd take the call. And vice-versa. Maybe siblings, too, if they are "close."

Weird, I've never had any of these disasters mentioned, and I play rotationally - my sims keep any jobs, manage to look after their needs and generally stay alive and intact when I'm not playing their houses. And I'm always gone for a minimum of a sim week, if not longer.

I'm a rotational player.

To avoid disasters and unwanted drastic changes I have the following settings established:
- full autonomy turned on (so sims take care of needs while I'm busy with other things)
- aging turned off
- neighbourhood stories turned off
- Eco Living NPC voting turned off
- wants and fears turned off
- lifestyles turned off

I don't want to go into a household and suddenly discover they now have 2 babies and 3 toddlers, a new spouse, a new career, hatred towards everyone in the family, half the furniture missing (stolen), granny hiding in her room for fear of death, and the teenager has grown up and moved out (aka nowhere to be found in any worlds).

When I come back to a household, it should be like I never left and can then continue on with MY OWN storyline and direction I want that household to go in.... not some random EA roulette wheel gameplay decision.

I thought there was an option for self-care when you click on the photo icon while away on another lot.