Ugh excuse me while I vent...

About the cell phone not working right away, in real life if power was deliberately shut off as per government order, it's possible they would also shut off power to the cell-phone towers and not allow the backup systems to kick in (To save energy as per the NAP). You could still turn on your phone until it's battery goes dead, but there would be no connection for communication or internet.

It is funny though (and dumb) that you can just step off the lot in game and it works. What do they do? Transmit interference EMP's to every house (Lot)? lol

"JunkyPoem;c-17974423" wrote:
Next holiday, Cook Grand Meal the day before & stick it in the fridge. Long as sims eat it on the actual holiday, the tradition is satisfied. Worked for me (but that was before lot trait updates). OR reschedule your calendar holidays & only sub the traditions with ones that won't be as 'challenging'.

I've gotten rid of the major premade holidays in Seasons—Love Day and their versions of Thanksgiving and Christmas all got binned. I replaced them with fun holidays like "Basketball Season Starts!" (the second Tuesday in autumn*) which has as its traditions Watch Sports and Grill Food. The start of NBA season on a Tuesday in October is the biggest day of my own fall calendar, so my sims follow suit.

I did, however, keep the periodic smaller holidays in the game, like Skill Day or Talk Like A Pirate Day (arr!) or whatever.

*my seasons are 28 days long, FWIW.

Eco Living gives me a fine because I use too much water. My home currently has no toilet.

I'd do as my sister did, when she got fed up with cooking the Christmas dinner one year. Go out to a restaurant. Of course you would have to have it in another world. :D

Sounds like living in Northern California from August to November. Darn PG&E shuts off the power if there's a slight breeze to prevent wildfires. TS4 is getting *too* realistic.

"Loanet;c-17974666" wrote:
Eco Living gives me a fine because I use too much water. My home currently has no toilet.

Well, look on the bright side, at least you didn't get fined for not having a toilet.

I think about how the solar panels, wind generators, and water collectors could improve my off-grid game play then threads like this pop up.

I feel you O.P., as I vented for the very same thing myself months ago.

There are three days that should have been power-conservation free: Tuesday for the geek-con, wednesday, and thursday for christmas and thanksgiving.
The latter two events are when you wanna pull your A+ game in the kitchen, with your upgraded fridge and stove, to create the fabled impeccable turkey dinner!

I wish they put that conservation day on fridays, when it's 'love day' time, to prevent your date to spend 3 hours on blicblock instead :/

"Loanet;c-17974666" wrote:
Eco Living gives me a fine because I use too much water. My home currently has no toilet.

Do you use... bushes? :#

"BatmanFanGirl;c-17972647" wrote:

"Calico45;c-17972645" wrote:
I guess your Sims were just as surprised as you so they didn't have them charged. ?

Sorry, a joke was probably the last thing you wanted to hear after your rant.

That is awful and figures. At least grills still work, though, right?

I haven't tried that, but I don't think you can cook grand meals on the grill?

yes you can not on all but if you have Island Paradise pack you can cook grand meal with the barbeque pit

I disabled naps a long time ago. They were making my sims mega mean, every toilet was pranked on every lot, there was a ton of white cake batter lying around, they kept giving each other fake bad news and constantly molding clay or looking into the future cube.
I play in Myshuno a lot and I can't effect the eco footprint there much anyway. Don't miss em at all!