University refresh

I wouldn't mind a refresh. I think Dine out needs one more, but University has a lot of potential that could be explored.

* More diverse studies with homework and final tasks that - at least some of the time - is tied to the subject for example paint a certain type of painting or go to a painting class (for art students), read and analyse a particular book or write a book (for language students), make a microchip, cook a meal, plant something...

* Make course books a necessity for passing, instead of the free homework booklets you get. Let the homework be reading the course book (as it would be). They should also be available in libraries for students with less money (as should all skill books). That way it would be more like the universities in Europe on which Britechester is based.

* Allow kitchens in dorms. Again this is common in many places in Europe where a dorm is a place where you share a kitchen and common area with the others.

* Allow for more varied Guest Lectures that covers all possible jobs in game, not just the ones in the pack.

* Add thermostats in all dorms and university buildings when seasons is installed.

* Merge the university club feature with the GT club feature when that is installed so that you can create your own clubs - where university student, Foxbury student or Britechester student is a trait you can use for membership, and university activities such as read homework, work on term paper, prepare a presentation could be activities.

* Make football an afterschool activity for children and teens as well (with hours and activity that fits the age group), add more afterschool activities in general (debate team, drama club, e-sport, school paper...) that then could have an impact on how easy it is to get into University or which scholarships you could get.

* Make it possible to not get accepted if your grades are too low, with the possibility of taking classes to up your skills so that you can get in

* Make riding a bike a skill that can be taught to children

* Make riding a bike something you can do together

* Create graduation party event

* Make it so that some careers are locked to those without a degree (doctor, scientist, education, astronaut...) - or that you can only reach a certain level without a degree (you can become a gardener and continue towards florist, but the botany branch would require a biology degree). Other careers such as entertainment, athlete or chef would like today just offer a jumpstart if you have a degree, but not require one.

* Add a bit more crazyness with the kegs- now they give a moodlet, but let that moodlet lead to autonomous actions or whims that are followed autonomously sometimes. Not the normal sim obsessive way, but things that happens every now and again. Like streaking, making out with a stranger, telling lots of (bad) jokes, starting a fight... let there be randomness to what happens and how often, creating some spontaneity in the game.

* Allow for holidays off if seasons is installed - so that students don't have lectures on wintersfest or new years. Let holidays be holidays for students too.

* Make the length of semesters be customizable or at least tied to lifespan - so that it's shorter on short lifespan than on long.

I'm sure there are many more suggestions to be made.

My own wishes for an eventual DU refresh would be the following :
- Add the careers that are missing diplomas (really, that seems like just an oversight)
- Let children ride bikes (and learn to ride them)
- Add more clubs for teenagers, like debate club, school newspaper and soccer team, so they can work on that and get scholarships
- Make some classes active, where you will do activities specific to what you are studying.
- Make some career levels locked unless you have a diploma (I wouldn't make it the whole career, as some people would forget why it's not showing up in choices).
- Make the Commons lots more alive somehow, so that sims who hang out there will do things (yeah, I should probably make clubs for that since it's an AI issue and unlikely to change unless they manage to do something about it with basegame, but it's worse on the Commons lots in my game)
- Maybe add a graduation party social event (for both uni and highschool, perhaps?)

-Britechester students can have a real dragon
-Semesters are shorter, so university isn't completely inferior to playing a regular sim's adult life
-More scholarship opportunities
-A proper fraternity/sorority system
-Interactive classes. Artists can go outside and sketch things, time can be spent studying, pulling pranks or chatting with other students
-More pranks (but also, a way to diffuse pranks other people have set up)
-Lighten up on the homework, so we have more time for extra-curricular activities and organizations
-Add more interaction and drama between the groups.
-And give us more. We only have a choice of 4, because six of the seven groups depend on which school you go to.
-More random events. Have your sim catch the other university's students going after your school. Streaking, parties, fights, protests. Make the world feel more alive and give us more things to get in on.

"SheriSim57;c-18103404" wrote:

"JAL;c-18102829" wrote:
I wouldn't mind a refresh. I think Dine out needs one more, but University has a lot of potential that could be explored.

* More diverse studies with homework and final tasks that - at least some of the time - is tied to the subject for example paint a certain type of painting or go to a painting class (for art students), read and analyse a particular book or write a book (for language students), make a microchip, cook a meal, plant something...

* Make course books a necessity for passing, instead of the free homework booklets you get. Let the homework be reading the course book (as it would be). They should also be available in libraries for students with less money (as should all skill books). That way it would be more like the universities in Europe on which Britechester is based.

* Allow kitchens in dorms. Again this is common in many places in Europe where a dorm is a place where you share a kitchen and common area with the others.

* Allow for more varied Guest Lectures that covers all possible jobs in game, not just the ones in the pack.

* Add thermostats in all dorms and university buildings when seasons is installed.

* Merge the university club feature with the GT club feature when that is installed so that you can create your own clubs - where university student, Foxbury student or Britechester student is a trait you can use for membership, and university activities such as read homework, work on term paper, prepare a presentation could be activities.

* Make football an afterschool activity for children and teens as well (with hours and activity that fits the age group), add more afterschool activities in general (debate team, drama club, e-sport, school paper...) that then could have an impact on how easy it is to get into University or which scholarships you could get.

* Make it possible to not get accepted if your grades are too low, with the possibility of taking classes to up your skills so that you can get in

* Make riding a bike a skill that can be taught to children

* Make riding a bike something you can do together

* Create graduation party event

* Make it so that some careers are locked to those without a degree (doctor, scientist, education, astronaut...) - or that you can only reach a certain level without a degree (you can become a gardener and continue towards florist, but the botany branch would require a biology degree). Other careers such as entertainment, athlete or chef would like today just offer a jumpstart if you have a degree, but not require one.

* Add a bit more crazyness with the kegs- now they give a moodlet, but let that moodlet lead to autonomous actions or whims that are followed autonomously sometimes. Not the normal sim obsessive way, but things that happens every now and again. Like streaking, making out with a stranger, telling lots of (bad) jokes, starting a fight... let there be randomness to what happens and how often, creating some spontaneity in the game.

* Allow for holidays off if seasons is installed - so that students don't have lectures on wintersfest or new years. Let holidays be holidays for students too.

* Make the length of semesters be customizable or at least tied to lifespan - so that it's shorter on short lifespan than on long.

I'm sure there are many more suggestions to be made.

As I don’t like the way university is set up in the first place, I would not like being locked out of a career as Dr. Or Scientist. Besides, people who bought get to work long ago did not have that restriction.

A toggle would be nice. I have a mod for locking careers and it’s nice but obvs not everyone would want that so having options is great.

I 'd be happy if they would stop dormies from bringing in so much food.
There should be a counter that stops it after two dishes for that day.

"SerraNolwen;c-18102857" wrote:
My own wishes for an eventual DU refresh would be the following :
- Add the careers that are missing diplomas (really, that seems like just an oversight)
- Let children ride bikes (and learn to ride them)
- Add more clubs for teenagers, like debate club, school newspaper and soccer team, so they can work on that and get scholarships
- Make some classes active, where you will do activities specific to what you are studying.
- Make some career levels locked unless you have a diploma (I wouldn't make it the whole career, as some people would forget why it's not showing up in choices).
- Make the Commons lots more alive somehow, so that sims who hang out there will do things (yeah, I should probably make clubs for that since it's an AI issue and unlikely to change unless they manage to do something about it with basegame, but it's worse on the Commons lots in my game)
- Maybe add a graduation party social event (for both uni and highschool, perhaps?)

Yes! Use clubs, it really helps bring the place alive, especially if you are playing groups of Uni students rotating between terms.
It's nice to see my last rotation of sims and their dorm-mates hanging out at the commons when I am playing the current rotation.
I was really surprised how uninspired the Student Commons were.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/f116/cireking213/09_25_20_11_24_41_AM.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

I never enjoyed sending my sims there. It was mainly good for a bite to eat.
Why aren't there Ping Pong tables in the Britechester commons? Those came with the pack.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/f116/cireking213/09_27_20_10_26_46_AM.png

I have some really great custom dorms on the Britechester campus, so there isn't much need to hangout in the commons.
But I also have another dorm I enjoy off-campus. It would really be nice to have a great commons for my off-campus to hang out between classes. It would really help with immersion for my off-campus students.

So I built my own, using the original commons as a base.
I also wanted it to look more like the rest of the campus.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/f116/cireking213/09_26_20_8_23_21_AM.png?width=1920&height=1080&fit=bounds

1st floor, cafeteria and student lounge for socializing and debates.
Plus an additional rest room.


I need to do the same for the Foxbury commons which seem even more desolate to me.

Funny side note:
Somehow, Britechester was given a conservation NAP, so my sims were without power for 12 hours.
The commons turned out to be very useful other things to do while the power was off. Plus, other Uni students from the clubs showed up. I just wish I had put in a shower. I made them wash their hands and brush their teeth for hygiene.

One of the problems I had was why were adults there I know we have mature students IRL but they don’t really live in halls and stuff overall I found the Discover University EP to be a shell of what I should have been I mean we didn’t eve have graduation or any society's or even student cafes or Frats or student nights in night clubs ( something that also needs an over hall.) it was jus so poor.

DU really does need an update the pack is just so empty seeing as they could not be bothered to add in actual classes the gameplay outside of class itself should have been there which it's not. They really should have improved parties/nightclubs and added in a fraternity/sorority system this also would have been the pack if any to create an interesting active world and that did not happen either.

I think the reason is we have stuff like I went to a lounge and walked upon poetry and tea and I'm like oh cool but sim got up and did poetry but there was no tea and this was during the week after they were done with classes my thing is If we have stuff like that in uni then why aren't we notified by either a notification or put it on the calendar of what to do in uni besides going to classes and doing homework. The only time we actually get notified is during the weekend okay what about during the week, we should or probably do have something but we aren't notified at all. At least I'm not.

"doogerie;c-18133412" wrote:
One of the problems I had was why were adults there I know we have mature students IRL but they don’t really live in halls and stuff overall I found the Discover University EP to be a shell of what I should have been I mean we didn’t eve have graduation or any society's or even student cafes or Frats or student nights in night clubs ( something that also needs an over hall.) it was jus so poor.

I actually like seeing adults and elders at university they need a higher education as well, I also see teens there as well makes me think they are checking out the schools to go to.

Out of interest, which expansion/game packs sold the least copies? There's no incentive to refresh something everyone already owns, but the refresh probably motivated a fair few people to pick up Spa Day.

I'm not sure what I'd add to university, except maybe a couple more things like the debate and soccer teams.