Your Recipe for a Great Game...

-More than 2 Sims
-More active Households
-Active Household(s) in each world
-All worlds connect
-Realistic
-Normal lifespan with slightly prolonged adult lifespan (modded)
-Skill difficulty adjustment based on moods and preferences (modded)
-A week per Season (Spring Cleaning, Easter, Summer Holiday, Halloween and Remembrance Day as custom holidays, the rest only slightly adjusted)
-Multiple Mods, but no Script Mods and no CAS/Build&Buy CC (for Performance reasons)
-No Money Cheat, Just loans
-Changing Household after every Sims week
-Randomize traits
-No quit without saving

- one or two sims at the start, expand the family to 4 or 5 later on
- one active household at a time but continue in the same save if I switch so I can encounter my own sims
- live in whatever world suits the vibe of the story
- all worlds are connected
- occult gameplay is essential
- any occult combination is possible, though vampires are rare
- lifespan : aging off or custom (about 2x normal) no correlation with real years
- seasons : 2 weeks with moon phase of 8 days
- holidays : love day, Easter, summer holidays, Halloween, all saints day, Christmas eve, Christmas and new years eve
- a few select mods but no big game overhaul mod
- cheats : some cheats allowed for story purposes. As long as the cheats don't give money, skills, aspiration points,... Those have to be earned
- weather effects off: no freeze to death
- NAP off: too much chaos
- fame off (not my cup of tea)

Note : this is my very personal favourite recipe. But everyone has different tastes. So not saying this is the recipe for everyone.

-A variable amount of sims, from 1 to 8
- 16 active households, which amounts to playing each for 1 week per sim year
- 16 different worlds (excludes MP, FH, DSV, BC, TT, MM)
- I don't really play unconnected worlds, just go where I like
- Current game has no occults yet but will gain them during play
- I occasionally play all occults, but I like spellcasters more than the others
- Lifespan = normal, ageing on for active household only (played 1 week per house) and I turn ageing on for NPCs for 1 week per year
- No Skill Difficulty Adjustment
- Length of Seasons: 4 weeks per season, holidays are Easter, Summer Bank Holiday, Halloween, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve
- No Mods at the moment
- No Money Cheats or any other cheats, apart from MOO for decor only
- NAPS off, fame off to start but certain chosen sims can gain fame, sadly dust off (can't stand the constant sniffing)

Most important considerations are to have as much variety as possible with sim numbers, ages, pets, traits, jobs, locations, hobbies & interests etc so that I have varied fun and I can experience as much of the packs as possible.

- No one sim households
- Three households to start with, more sims and households to get added during play
- Starting households are most likely scattered over several worlds already in the beginning
- I always create clusters of connecting worlds, but which ones connect depends on the save
- Occult Play, but a sim's loyalties towards their peer group (culture, career, mob) are usually stronger than to others of their occult type
- Usually androids (custom), often spellcasters and werewolves, rarely vampires and aliens
- Aging off, manual aging and timeskips as needed
- Normal skill progression, sims YA and older get either a couple of skillpoints or helpful traits for free
- Manually changing seasons, holidays to be set as needed a couple of days before
- My regular mods plus a special folder with mods cc for this specific save
- Yes to cheats for the player, no for the sims
- A clear goal to reach, either "play x years" or "achieve this specific ingame goal", not every household has access to all careers/objects/means of income, households often compete for the goal

- Start with one or two sims, sometimes 3 if I want the child sim to be the focal sim. Expand to "heir and spare" for playing generationally.
- One active household, though I'll check in on others if needed
- Live wherever the story feels best
- All are connected, but there are "knots" of worlds where I'm more likely to travel to from the main one.
- Occults. All day, every day.
- Mostly Spellcasters, sometimes Werewolves or Aliens. Almost never Vampires.
- Normal Lifespan, or Long with manual age ups early on or when they've acheived their "goal" for that lifestage. (I can barely handle infants on normal life span. No way I'm going through that on long. Once they get to Toddler I can chill.)
- Normal skill progression.
- Two week seasons, with a "standard array" of Winterfest, New Year's, Love day (always coordinating with the winter or spring Romance Festival), Summerfest (usually coordinating with the summer Humor and Hijinks festival) sometimes Summer GeekCon, Fright Fest and Harvest Day.
- Currently running Vanilla, but MCCC and UI cheats are usually in the mix. Other mods as the story requests.
- Don't usually money cheat, but will do FreeRealestate when it's time to move.
- Always have a storyline of some sort. Maybe a goal, maybe a sequence of events, but some sort of story plan - including plans for the game to throw a curve ball.

Start with an idea I either have never tried before, or haven't fully explored before.

-Mostly families, I don't play any single sim households
-several active households, I switch between them depending on my mood
- basegame worlds, Brindleton bay and Evergreen Harbor are my residential worlds, the rest are community lot or vacation worlds which I use regularly.
- some worlds connect, some require extended travel
- Mostly realistic/family style gameplay but I have a few mermaids
- lifespan set to long but I turn aging off frequently
- no skill adjustment, never heard of this
- seasons 4 weeks long
- no mods
- cheats allowed and frequent used
- other- I use a lot of community lots and take my sims somewhere almost every sim day. I also frequently take my sims on vacations

- One, Two or More Sims?

I like to start with one or two sims
and then create more or interact with sims outside household as their "story" progresses

- One or More Active Households?

Multiple households me thinks

- Which World to Live In?

Forgotten Hollow perhaps as default



- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not?
It's all connected
*insert guy in front of conspiracy map meme*

- Occult Play or Realistic?
I like realism and occult together
cause occult doesn't really feel like occult without realism for contrast

- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?)
All and everything really


- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? )
One eternity to one week depending on sim but I play aging off


- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan)
none
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays
4x 28 sim days = 1 sim year
1-2 Holiday /Season
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods?
No mods no cc

- Money Cheat/s, or No?
Yes but also no
I like to build whatever I want and move sims in with freerealestate
but after that they get no money cheats

- Can be either one or several sims to start with, depending on what strikes my fancy. Usually one, but grows as the game goes on.
- Usually one, but in my latest I'm up to 5, but they are all related (second gen).
- Could be any, I tend to move in game.
- WC, NC and MP connect, so does DSV, CR and OS, other than that, it depends on the save and what I need at the moment. Sulani is always isolated, as is Selvadorada and Mt Komorebi.
- Realistic
- Long but modified ages to fit (modded by MCCC). One sim year = 56 sim days.
- Not really adjusted, some are harder, but generally kept as is.
- Two weeks per season, holidays vary by save. 1 or two holidays per season, so a little less than one a week.
- Multiple mods
- Money cheats at start of game to either increase or decrease living standards. I like the idea of having a house that fits the sim, and will build it to fit, then adjust funds to match after.
- In my current save, historical as I'm doing the decades challenge, prior I've had other considerations.

- Each household varies and can have just one or multiple sims as they move through their lifespans. Most households have several sims because most of them are couples or families but there are exceptions. I've also sometimes thrown some random sims together as roommates or added some sims in a group who might pair off with my other sims or otherwise interact with them.
- Active households? I can only actively play one household at a time but I have many playable households that I switch between. I probably have a hundred or even more. (Each are on their own lots but I may use residential rentals for some of them when any bugs are ironed out). I decide what household to play either by following a story that interconnects certain households or just deciding that I haven't played those sims in a while or just simply because I want to. The last reason is always a good enough one.
- My sims live in any or all worlds. I visit any of them based on whoever I am playing. Some neighborhoods tend to take on the character of their residents as they continue to live there. There are a few large families that have generationally grown up and some of them may tend to live in certain worlds but I use them all.
- About connecting worlds? Well, any sim can travel in between my worlds but I do give them the tendency to visit lots in certain worlds more often based on where they live. Newcrest is central for everyone and they can all go there. Willow Creek is also kind of like that and any sim can go to just about any restaurant that they want. Sims can vacation in any vacation world. Britechester accepts students from anywhere and is a neutral place for anyone studying.

Some notes though: Desert sims tend to stay in desert worlds (or neutral Newcrest) so Oasis Springs, Del Sol Valley and Strangerville are interconnected. Sulani sims mostly stay in Sulani but might venture to Tomarang now or Mt. Komorebi. Willow Creek sims tend to stay local including Magnolia Promenade. Windenburg is kind of its own place but it is near Henford or Forgotten Hollow. Some of the newer worlds like San Sequoia (just lightly explored) and Copperdale go together. I can relax a bit but I do tend to send sims to certain places based on where they live or travel. I have some nice community lots in several of the neighborhoods so sometimes I might be flexible about those.
- I definitely play in a style that is imaginatively realistic. I do have a little occult play because I've played a little bit with vampires. I have a few vampires and they are legitimately vampires. They are creatures of the night that bite and that are both amusing and tragic. They do socialize together and I have my own lore for them.
- Lifespan: For normal sims - meaning the majority of them - I have a slightly customized approach. I think I play on a normal lifespan but then I pause a lot whenever I want. It's not an epic lifespan. My sims are aging but I hit the pause button any time that I want. My rule for children is that they all reach certain levels of development. They all have essentially happy or loving childhoods with parents who love them. Maybe their parents get divorced or they might not have the wealthiest family but there needs to be love and positivity in their homes. That also means that I pause so that toddlers reach at least 3 and often more skill points in each skill, I've said that's a requirement to go to school in my game. Now, I often play infants through a lot of milestones though I don't force all of them. I pause if the parents are away all day so that they get developmental time together. Children are usually on normal except for vacations or family reasons for a pause. Teens have a longer span now so I may age some of them up sooner but I play them for about the normal span and then I allow them a few days if they need them before moving off on their own. I also pause sims at the various stages of adulthood for university, for some time to just relax and go on vacation or for personal, career or social development. I may also allow elders to pause a bit towards the end to enjoy themselves. I do leave death on though. The Grim Reaper is coming for them but I willingly give them extra time with the pause button whenever I want.
- Skill-building is normal. Any sim can earn any skill in the game. Keep working at them.
- 4 weeks per season; I like the gradual passage of time with subtle weather and seasonal transitions. I like a mix of different days in the year. For holidays, I have many of the usual ones - New Year's, Love Day, several with summer water activities, Spooky Day and Spooky Party Day, a Harvestfest and Winterfest. I've added a few culturally-specific holidays. It's possible that I might customize some more. If I play a household from a specific background, I may add other holidays. I also cancel out if sims are busy but they usually celebrate if they can.
- No mods or CC.
- About cheats? I don't cheat a lot but if I want to then I do. It's usually to set up a character that is new to the game in some specific role but I've done it any time that I want to make certain changes in the game. I'll use freerealestate to move townies or a group of random new sims into a house for example. I've also used money cheats to simulate inheritances or earnings from other income streams. If I think an excessive amount of items have broken recently in a house or that a sim is being overly billed, I'll use Kaching for a small amount of extra simoleons. I do not use those cheats all of the time though. Generally my sims are earning and making their own ways in the world. Many of them do buy their properties based on what they can afford. I sometimes use cheats to help a family afford to send a new YA child off to college or independence.
- Other? The goal is to have fun. I will say that sometimes I find a lot of fun in getting myself to play with households I might not have been interested in or pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I find they often do become more interesting. While I have plans for sims, I also like to go with the flow of the gameplay and allow for unexpected changes or connections. I have fun when my sims interact with each other or when I use different features in the game. Sims are allowed to have many different interests and to make use of community lots or events in the game. Sometimes I try to make myself do new things but I really do whatever I want and sometimes that's just letting a sim live out their days by filling up their needs or pursuing their hobbies and interests. They usually are pretty social though with families, romance, careers, pets and children. I can try to play some that are outside of that formula though. I have not played hardly any loners, that is generally not my style. I might let them be that way for a while but then they build relationships and friendships.