- One, Two or More Sims? - One or More Active Households? - Which World to Live In? - Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? - Occult Play or Realistic? - If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) - Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) - Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) - Length of Seasons, consider Holidays - No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? - Money Cheat/s, or No? - Other important considerations?
One Sim usually. I like to build and experience a single sim's life first before adding other sims into the household. Plus makes it easier to determine if I want them to be single or in a relationship. Also, I like to match-make sims to have a more emotional attachment to them as a couple.
I only tried this one or twice, but I try to match it with the seasons to be realistic and not to drag too long. Otherwise, aging is off, and I age them up according.
Only use cheat to correct mistakes or errors. And for changing lots and etc.
- Other important considerations? Maybe memories. Using photo in home or having handmade crafts/furniture. Something that will provide nostalgia for your plays when looking over them or coming back to play.
@83bienchen Do you mean that you personally fix the bugs or do you mean that your game play would be ideal if EA fixed the bugs? This is you we're talking about, so it's hard to tell. :p
I don’t have a template that I use for all saves, but my current save is my favorite and most satisfying in TS4, so I’ll share it.
- I have whole worlds full of sims, but only a few that “star” in my little play
- Multiple households are active, and can rotate in or out depending on developments
- I don’t have a favorite world. The choice will depend on the story needs. Most of my main sims currently live in Glimmerbrook, HoB, Windenburg and “Mooncrest” (Newcrest+Magnolia Promenade).
- All worlds are a part of the overall world, but the occult lands are separate from the human lands. I use mods to keep them that way.
- I’m currently playing occults, but don’t always
- All occults are played, since this is a fantasy save, but Spellcasters dominate. I have all of the fantasy type packs, except for Batuu.
- Aging is off and managed manually when I want it.
- I cheat in basic skills to match the sim’s stage of life when created. No adult should just now be figuring out how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.
- All seasons are set for the longest possible time, and that’s still not long enough. Since they come around so often, I sometimes skip holidays.
- I use mods as needed to manage my game, but no more than that. Clothing CC is another matter.
- I cheat money in to match the sim’s status in life, and because I’m not really playing careers in this game.
- All of my worlds have a place in my game lore and are very intentionally populated. That has kept my game from going stale, because there’s always another story to check out when the household I’ve been playing gets a bit old.
- One or More Active Households? More. I have three main families Goths, Pancakes and Trouts, and side families which I play sometimes if I feel like it.
- Which World to Live In? All, but currently I've been playing in Windenburg, Mt. Komorebi, Tartosa and Chestnut Ridge.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? Sulani and Mt. Komorebi are further away. If my sims get invited there they most likely won't go, unless they are rich, because then they have money to travel anywhere, but still especially Sulani is more like a vacation world. Trouts live in Sulani and they don't travel much.
- Occult Play or Realistic? Mainly occult. All my main families have occults.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) Goths have a vampire matriarch and a ghost werewolf with two puppies (and the sister of the ghost werewolf will probably become a vampire), Pancakes are spellcasters and Trouts will have one merman as soon as he grows up.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) I play on long lifespan and sometimes I turn aging off, but I also age my sims when I think it is a good time for them to age.
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) I haven't needed one. My sims max out skills that they are interested in and I think most of my sims don't have too many maxed out skills.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays Each season is 28 days. Lunar cycle is 16 days.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? No mods.
- Money Cheat/s, or No? Main families don't get money cheats, but side families may get a house to live in for free.
- Other important considerations? My sims transfer a lot between households. For example, Morgan Fyres often goes to rock climbing with her father and when they do I like to move them in the same household. Similarly kids can visit their grandparents for a couple of days.
Disclaimer: These answers are based on my two favorite saves (Westbrook and Xalavdor families) that I've mentioned a lot here on the forums. This isn't how I always play my game though. It varies from save to save
One, Two or More Sims? One sim but then branch off as their kids age up.
One or More Active Households? As my sim's kids age up and move out, I rotate between the households. In other saves, I do enjoy rotational play though. I found that by having a connections (no matter how small) between sims helps with rotational play. It could be just they live in he same neighborhood (or apartment building if playing in San Myshuno).
Which World to Live In? It depends on what I think my sim would want. Emilia Westbrook started in Windenburg, but Orion Xalvador lived in Strangerville. He's an alien and his ship crash-landed in Strangerville.
Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? I don't really play with any worlds closed off. I let my sims travel freely between the worlds. I do like having Sulani and Mt. Komorebi as vacation worlds though.
Occult Play or Realistic? It depends on my mood. For the most part I lean toward realistic.
If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) For some reason in my game, I gravitate toward aliens. I don't always play them though. It depends on my mood but none are excluded if I play occults.
Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) I play on Normal lifespan modified by MCCC (2 or 3 extra days per lifestage). I consider one sim year to be based on seasons rather than sim ages. More on that in Seasons question.
Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) I don't do any skills adjustments.
Length of Seasons, consider Holidays I typically do 28 day seasons. So one sim year is 28x4=112 days. But I've also used LittleMsSam's 21 day seasons mod. For holidays, I have the default ones as well as... -- Founder's day, which is the first day of the first season I play in. For example, if I start my save in Spring, Founder's day would be the first day of Spring the next time Spring comes around. It's to commemorate my founding sim. The traditions are similar to Memorial day in the US. -- Summer vacation is usually halfway through the season and lasts a week. I usually send my sims to Sulani for a week. Each day has water activities or grilling. -- Winter vacation is usually the days between WinterFest (Christmas) and New Years Eve. I send my sims to Mt. Komrebi. The tradtions are winter-related activities. -- Other holidays depend on the save.
No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? Mods, mods, and more mods. I do not play my game without MCCC, Wonderful Whims, Lumpinous Relationships & Pregnancy Overhaul, Bienchen's Traits Overhaul, Whims Overhaul, MissyHissy's Custom Wants mod, and Ky-E's Lifetime Aspirations (adopted by NeedCoffee4That).
Money Cheat/s, or No? For the most part, no money cheats. When moving sims to New houses, I may cheat if my sims are a few 1000 simoleons short, but I make my sims earn their stuff.
Other important considerations? -- I start with a loose backstory and let the game (and mods) decide my sims' fate. I don't restart or quit without saving if anything happens. The only time I quit without saving is if my sim dies straight out of CAS, which has never happened to me. If a sim gets pregnant from abduction, I raise the baby, no sending to homeworld. -- Wonderful Whims has an attraction feature, and I only allow my sims to marry sims they find Extremely Attractive. Now that we have Compatibility from Growing Together, I also only allow sims they find Extremely Attractive and have at least Good Compatibility with. My sims can date whomever they want but can only marry the aforementioned sims. It makes it harder for them to find love, which in my opinion is a bit too easy. It also makes me take things slower instead of picking a random sim on the street. -- When moving to New house, my sims take their furniture with them (apart from counters, plumbing, and lights...things that wouldn't be easy to remove in real life). The house they move to only has those things until I put their stuff in.
When rotating between households: -- I rotate every Sunday and Wednesday at 6am. Aging for non-played sims is on/off when a new rotation starts. -- Neighborhood stories are turned off for Played households. They're on but customized per non-played household. For example, only households with elders can retire. For single sim households, I turn off their stories in case I want them to marry one of my played Sims. Sometimes I'll move them to played households for reserve to stop Neighborhood stories. Not all saves: --No repeat aspirations (except family aspirations). Gen 2 can't repeat my founders' aspiration. This makes me really think about other aspirations and keeps me from doing the same ones. Same thing with traits. It gets me out of my comfort zone. -- Sims must complete a degree.
The two saves I mentioned above have been my favorites of any sims game. I noticed that when I let the game guide me, I have a deeper connection to my sims, which makes me want to continue their lives. I like when my sims have obstacles to overcome (i.e unexpected pregnancy, divorce, etc.). Real life isn't easy so my sims' lives aren't. One of my Westbrook family sims couldn't have children (disabled in CAS) so she adopted. I rarely use features in the way they're intended. I used the stay over feature for one sim (not in the saves mentioned here) to spend the weekend with his affair partner.
This is super long but I hope it gives you some ideas.
- One, Two or More Sims? Varies. Some households have just 1 sim, while others have 8 + animals.
- One or More Active Households? 100+ households on rotation. A few played more than others, but a great chance to switch to quite diverse challenges and different builds and life situations.
- Which World to Live In? All available.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? I group my worlds into 8 regions, mostly based on climate zones and nature.
- Occult Play or Realistic? Mostly realistic, but realistic would be less interesting without a few occults.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) Vampires, werewolves and magicians are all cool. Never played marfolks.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) I think I use normal lifespan, but I play with aging off except from Newyears Eve, and with each season being 28 days, each sim year is 4x28 simdays. Meaning most of my sims will be around forever...
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) Not sure how top understand this. I focus on skills to make sims unique, either to match their personal goals, or to create conflicts. Very few reach the max skill levels, though.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays 28 days.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? Select few. I could not play without the UI cheat, my time with each household is too limited to ruin all activities thanks to a bladder failure...
- Money Cheat/s, or No? I use my own money system, so I cheat whenever needed to follow those rules. I rarely cheat in order to obtain a new goal, though.
- Other important considerations? Remember to switch household before it gets boring ;)
- One, Two or More Sims? Depends on the household, variety is good.
- One or More Active Households? More! I love rotational play.
- Which World to Live In? Almost all worlds.
- Which Worlds Connect and Which Do Not? All connect, but sims prefer their homeworld.
- Occult Play or Realistic? Depends on the family, occults are definitely allowed though.
- If Occult Play, Which? (All or Exclude Some?) All.
- Lifespan; Down to Details (One Sim Year = ? ) Normal. I have played long, I have played short, but currently normal.
- Skill Difficulty Adjustment (to Match Lifespan) Not needed.
- Length of Seasons, consider Holidays 4 weeks season.
- No Mods, Select Few or Multiple Mods? Vanilla.
- Money Cheat/s, or No? No cheats on main families, for side families money cheats are ok.
- Other important considerations? Recently my biggest problem has been deciding who to play, so I'm testing a sceduled rotation instead of irregular one. Playing my 20 main families 5 days per rotation and also slotted in some days for semi played families which I have plenty.
About The Sims 4 General Discussion
Join lively discussions, share tips, and exchange experiences on Sims 4 Expansion Packs, Game Packs, Stuff Packs & Kits.33,028 PostsLatest Activity: 17 hours ago
