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TheGhostGalleon's avatar
9 years ago

Lifespan problems after toddler update

Since the toddlers update I've run into a serious problem pertaining to: Sims lifespan. It took some simple math to figure out that since adding toddlers, it added seven days to their lifespan, but what it didn't factor in are the caregivers/parents lifespan. The Sims can have an infant in their young adulthood or adulthood, with a span of twenty days each, if selecting the "normal" lifespan option. Infants have three days, toddlers have seven, children and teenagers have thirteen each. That is a total of thirty-six days, almost the entirety of both young adult and adult lifespan! With that being said, you have a full four days to get busy making babies if you want to turn to an elder at the same point they turn to a young adult. So, essentially, being grandparents is out the window now, but my main concern is the young/adult Sim passing away before the children even turn into teenagers!

If your caregiver/parent Sim was to pass away before the infant/toddler/child Sim turns to a teenager, social workers will take your child away, and that is the end of your game. Your infant, toddler and child phase is an entire twenty-three days total, which means if you don't have your child in young adulthood, you will become an elder before it is even a teenager. With the teenager lifespan being thirteen days, you can almost count on your caregiver/parent dying before your teenager grows to a young adult, as the elder lifespan varies. Now, with all of that being said, if your Sim were to have an infant at any point during your mid to late adulthood, your Sim will become an elder either in their toddler phase, or early child phase, and have a likely possibility of passing away before they become teenagers. Having children before that time frame can be avoided if you're careful, but if you want to have two or three children, your Sim will get older and older, and your eldest child will almost certainly be burdened with raising their younger siblings.

The construct of lifespans in Sims 4 is much different than their predecessors. I remember playing Sims 3 and having parents live until their children were far into adulthood, which could actually get tiring. But with Sims 4, before the toddler update, I noticed my Sims were barely making it to their young adulthood. Even before toddlers I would occasionally have parents pass away before the younger siblings aged above teenagers. Now that they're adding a whole seven days to childhood? Forget about it. It's nearly impossible to balance a young adulthood life before children with a career, and still be able to have time to have children without passing away before they are adults.

I don't know why Sims did not notice the domino effect this update has had. It is very simple: add the equivalent or even close to equivalent days to young/adulthood if you are lengthening childhood. It is a balance, and it would be so simple to update. It seems like a big overlook, but it needs to be fixed immediately, my game is virtually unplayable until this is fixed!

P.S. I do not want to use mods or other means to fix this, I want the game I paid good money for to work efficiently like I expected to when I bought it.

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