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Mad Poster
#26 Old 21st Jan 2019 at 12:01 AM
Oh wow, thank you :o Will sure do come in handy.

P.S. Sorry for my bad english.
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Forum Resident
#27 Old 21st Jan 2019 at 6:19 PM
<Reads title, rolls up sleeves>

Oh yes! I love want-based play!

I have a few methods, so warning: This is gonna be a long post!

Toddlers:
Toddlers always want their skills, but if an adult doesn't roll the want to teach them, they aren't going to learn.

Schooling:
I theoretically don't make children or teens do their work. Some kids will roll wants for homework or learning to study consistently, but others almost never do, and so sometimes (just to even things out so that knowledge sims aren't the only ones that do homework) I'll interpret other wants as a desire to do well in school. Things like "Get an A+" is automatically taken as a desire to do some homework, as are 'Get into Private School' - since that requires good grades. Same with 'overachiever' wants. I don't necessarily fulfill those however. A kid from a poorer family rolling those wants is not going to private school, no matter what the want says. However, they can perhaps compete for a scholarship, decided by how many kids are in the pool of deserving students, and how high the grades are, and finally, by an RNG roll, but the parents also need to have the want to get the child into private school to make it worth doing, and the wants have to be persistent, not one offs.

For uni students, want based play is how I keep a nice range of GPAs. I have a mod that makes it impossible to earn an A+ without doing a term paper. When a sim has a full study bar unlocked, and a want to do the term paper, or make the dean's list, I'll lock the relevant want and aim to complete it (I send the students with the right requirements to the library in batches to do their term papers. I refuse to keep computers in the dorms though because they won't socialise, so it makes it even harder to get that A.)

The students that don't rage quit half-way through complete the paper and Earn the A, but the ones who's needs get too low and they quit to go eat or pee, don't get a second chance at it. So even among high achieving students, it's hard to make the dean's list more than once or twice.

For students who haven't unlocked the whole study bar, it's even harder. I don't make them earn a skillpoint unless they roll the want for one, or a fear of getting put on academic probation. Sometimes, it kills me but they roll the want for the WRONG skillpoint. Ugh. When that happens, it's frustrating, but it's clear that they don't want to study their course materials, so it's a wash. I send them to the relevant campus buildings - the Visual Arts Center, the Science Lab, etc. to earn the skillpoints they need, but I don't direct them to do anything when they get there. I let the advertising on the relevant skill gain objects do it for me. Once again, they either earn the point or they don't, and if they rage quit, they rage quit.

Finally, students on academic probation sometimes roll the want for the point at zero hour (6 hours before final). I have a mod that makes it take a little longer to earn each point, so they need to really roll those wants in a timely fashion. I have cheated exactly once and gave my student the skillpoint he was 3/4 of the way towards earning. Sometimes you get a Hail Mary so to speak LOL. I've had 5 explusions in Loste however, where the sim just refused to roll the right wants, and if they don't want to, I leave them alone. I have 30-odd students enrolled, so it's actually not a bad number (I wanted some, but not a ton. Same with pregnancies.)

Working:
If the sim rolls a want for a particular major while in college, that's what they declare. When they graduate, that will be the first field they'll take a job in (it makes sense, do what you studied). If they roll a want for a job in a different field, I'll let them take that - regardless of LTW. Not everyone gets their dream-job or does what they studied, and I like variation. If they don't roll any wants related to getting a job, then they don't. I have a welfare system set up, and they either apply for that or live with someone who is working. Usually, after a while, they roll a want for a job, and if it makes sense for them and their background, I'll let them have it, but I might interpret it the way I want to. Example: Mariana Gavigan is a stay-at-home mum to two boys, and pregnant again I believe. She rolled a want to get a job in Education, but she doesn't have a degree. My way of fulfilling that is to have her work at the local daycare part-time.

Romance:
If my university students roll wants to get married, I ignore them until Senior year. That's usually when things are serious, and I don't let them go steady until then either unless they genuinely aren't interested in anyone else. By senior year, if I see a marriage want pop up again (I like to see that the desire is persistent) then I'll lock it, and they can propose just before or shortly after graduation.

I always allow sims to act on their random 'flirt with X' wants. It's usually interesting since they occasionally want to flirt with someone they have no or very little chemistry with.

Any have a baby wants are locked post-uni, and if the sim is older and it's unlikely that they'll get pregnant, I lock the want and interpret it as wanting to adopt a child.

When it comes to marriage, it's sometimes a little harder to tell. I like to interpret wants and fears when I'm not sure, so fears like 'Fears the death of so-and-so' or 'fear of rejection for engagement' can also suggest marriage even when the wants don't, so long as they don't roll flirt wants for other sims. Same with things like move-out suggesting divorce, or breaking up if it's a couple.

Move out can also suggest a few other things. Vidcund is a good example of this: he rolled that want, and at the time was a father to alien twins living in the house with his two sisters and Lazlo. Looking at his personality and his recent behaviour, I interpreted that pretty literally. He moved out - without his sons. He wasn't really parenting them, and didn't really interact with them autonomously. In fact, no one really did, so when he moved out, his sisters gave his sons to Pascal who was already raising children of his own with Nervous.
Instructor
#28 Old 22nd Jan 2019 at 4:49 PM
I think I'm going to add a new rule to my gameplay: only hire maids or butlers for sims when they want them. I usually hire maids for every household, just out of habit, but for some families, its a waste of money. So, I think I just going to hire help when one sim in family rolls a want for one.



There's no drama, like Sims drama.

Currently Playing: Sims 2 again!




Mad Poster
#29 Old 27th Jan 2019 at 9:08 PM
There are wants and wants, though Probably due to this thread, I paid a bit more attention to how many wants I take seriously, and it surprised me a bit

Want to become a vampire.\
Me: No. You only think you do. And you are getting married any minute now, your party guests are on the way.

Want to drink another Sim.
Under no circumstances, you idiot - I like that sim. And you were the one that started the fight anyway.

Fear to change your baby's nappy?
See if I care - overcome that fear or tremble forever.

Want a skill point?
Not tonight, my dear, you have to prune the fruit trees. And you don't need one right now anyway.

Want to go to a community lot
Sure! Let's go! Let's invite all your friends to the outing!

Want to get fit
Well, you ate all that chocolate cake at the Henderson party and you will be late for work if you don't leave now.
After work - maybe you can have some time on the exercise machine after you cleaned this pigsty you live in.
No, you can't have a maid. Sorry. You can't afford one.

Want to play with the baby
She is asleep, not now.
She is too hungry, not now.
She needs a bath first, not now
Okay, play with baby - damn, now you need a bath.

I may not be a want-based player after all
Field Researcher
#30 Old 3rd Feb 2019 at 4:34 AM
I've been lurking this thread with interest since it was posted, and after my own playing with this style, I really think I've found my new way to play! I love the motivation score idea and now when I record the base stats of sims in the neighborhood, I always assign them a motivation score. The highest so far is Honey Sugar with 11, so I often direct her much more than her siblings, who have a lower score. Sims with under 4 in my game are pretty much free range, so Cinnamon Sugar with her score of 0 is pretty much a one sim ISBI since everyone else has a score of 1 or more.
But overall, I feel like I've really gotten to know my sims better with this system. I'm not really playing the sims I want, but the sims I have. Iseul Sugar always wants toaster pastries when she's pregnant, and I wouldn't have noticed this if I hadn't been playing by wants, and she always wants to keep her friends and family close, while still getting promotions and keeping up with her hobbies while her ex Gabriel Quiroz is all about gardening and their child atm. I want lock most major things like wanting a baby or getting married, and also those fears because they're major life milestones and they wouldn't really just vanish right away, so I'm going to try to fulfill them. There's a couple sims in my rotation that like skilling and getting those promotions without being Fortune, and there's also ones that are all about their kids and family without being Family. There was once a post by Peni that talked about training a sim's wants and I've kept that in mind ever since I've read it however long ago tbh.

My simblr
In the name of the Moon, i will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means YOU! ❤️
Lab Assistant
#31 Old 18th Feb 2019 at 7:17 PM Last edited by Boosterbear : 18th Feb 2019 at 7:19 PM. Reason: Clarity
Toddlers:
Toddlers want to learn their skills normally, but it's not often that their families will want to teach them. Generally I have it so that if a sim rolls a want to train the toddler, they will, but lately I've just been having whoever holds the toddler train the life skills that the toddler wants to learn.

Children:
I have mods in place that make Sims do their homework at 7 pm, and another that makes it so that they receive partial credit for the homework that they do. That way I still have some Sims close to failing and some with A+.

Teens:
I have InTeen and ACR in, so some of these are based on that. I play wants-based for the first seven days, what with romance and skilling and job hunting (more on that later) but when they reach the 'mini adult' phase, that's how I treat them. They go to a community lot and I have them "scope room" for their future partner, and it goes from there. Sometimes the person my teen is interested in has a clashing gender preference, and well, c'est la vie, they try again. I don't normally operate on wants after that point, since I use the scope room to determine if my sim wants to spend the rest of their life with this other person. Normally I'll also have their romantic interest move in, since that speeds things up a little.

Uni:
I have the expansion pack, but I don't really play it. If a teen has a want to go to college before they age up, I'll use the batbox to upgrade them to being a graduate.

Adults:
If my adults want a job, they typically have to roll a want for it. If they don't, I roll a d20 and if the result is 1-5, they check the computer for new jobs. Then I roll a d6 to decide which job they pick, or if they change their mind on wanting a job. If the adult has a LTW for a certain career, they check the computer every day to try and find it. As for skilling, I generally leave that up to wants.

Elders: Sometimes my elders will roll a want to retire, and then another to get a new job! Recently I had a Knowledge elder (Rayleigh DeBateau, daughter of Armand - side note, I now see why his genetics were meant to stay isolated) roll wants to keep seeing ghosts... Which kept making her die of fright. But she kept pleading for her own life (genie wish) and coming back. Just so she could roll a new want to see ghosts. I think she knew she was on her last day and wanted to go out on her own terms, or at least tease Grim!

Other:
One thing I've noticed is that if you fulfil certain wants, they'll repeat. Rayleigh kept rolling wants to go hiking every morning, until one day I forgot to send her, and the wants stopped coming. Her wife kept rolling wants to play piano in the evening, too.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." ~Theodore Geisel
"If what you are is just what you own, what have you become when they take from you almost everything?" ~Destroya, My Chemical Romance
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#32 Old 18th Feb 2019 at 9:10 PM
All these posts have dramatically changed my game play style - along with a few other things.

It has helped, the most, with me not having all my sims instantly reach the top of their professions before they are 5 days into adulthood.

I have always had a complex set of rules regarding promotions, but, in combination with a bunch of mods, particularly the Sim Blender Skill Limiter, I finally have high achievers and lower achievers.

If you want to read all my rules, check out the spoiler. They are not all about Want-Based Play, but in combination has made me really happy.



Wants-based play is also really affecting my relationships, which is where I am still struggling to figure out the balance.

For instance, I like my sims to stay friends with their friends. I like them to go out and to have people over. But it's pretty common want-wise for a sim to want to become friends with someone, then want to be best friends, and then never roll another want for that person ever again. And then, if they are a nature-hobbiest for instance, their wants are - chase butterflies, chase fireflies, eat hot dogs, get a promotion - so they don't have any WANT to see a friend, but their social is low and wouldn't it make sense for them to have a friend over or go downtown on an outing rather than stand around the house?

Or they have to work soon, and their social is low and they live alone, wouldn't they make a phone call just to chat even if they have no want to do it?

Keep telling me how you let your wants affect your game style, but extra info on dealing with building relationships would be really great now that I've got my skills and job play working so well.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#33 Old 18th Feb 2019 at 10:50 PM
The way I view it, sims don't have to have a want for everything that you do. So if they had wants to be friends, BF and BFF with a particular sim they had a want to be friends with them. Just because they stop rolling wants doesn't mean they don't still want to be friends just that are secure enough in the friendship to not need to roll wants all the time. Try taking them to community lots or on dates and wants will reroll. Try flirt>check out and scope room with sims who have no romantic wants. The Season also makes a difference. Romantic wants are more likely to roll is Spring. Make a group of friends and go on group outing>just for fun. Invite friends over for dinner parties or to play a game. Then see how they interact when given the chance to. You don't need to direct them to do things like talk or play, just let them freewheel. If they live alone and you keep them at home alone then they don't have a chance to autonomously interact. Sims are not going to roll 'go on outing' I don't think there is such a want. If they are lonely and have no one to interact with its the same situation as the job, you need to provide the opportunity. Remember autonomous action is every bit as good as a want. They wouldn't do the action if they didn't want to. if after providing the social interaction opportunity they decide to go relax on a bed or paint solo, then their loneliness is on them.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#34 Old 19th Feb 2019 at 12:18 AM
Another way that Sims can tell you who they fancy is to look at their thought bubbles -- especially the ones surrounded by cute little love hearts. Ginger Newson has just told me she likes my new townie boy Donald Dent (whom I've mentioned a few times recently in the Stupid/Random Questions thread). She has told me in no uncertain terms to get lost when I've tried to introduce her to other eligible local lads, but she feels she and Donald really have a lot in common. Somehow I don't think he'll stay a townie for long.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Scholar
#35 Old 19th Feb 2019 at 3:30 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Coriel_Muroz

Wants-based play is also really affecting my relationships, which is where I am still struggling to figure out the balance.

For instance, I like my sims to stay friends with their friends. I like them to go out and to have people over. But it's pretty common want-wise for a sim to want to become friends with someone, then want to be best friends, and then never roll another want for that person ever again. And then, if they are a nature-hobbiest for instance, their wants are - chase butterflies, chase fireflies, eat hot dogs, get a promotion - so they don't have any WANT to see a friend, but their social is low and wouldn't it make sense for them to have a friend over or go downtown on an outing rather than stand around the house?

Or they have to work soon, and their social is low and they live alone, wouldn't they make a phone call just to chat even if they have no want to do it?

Keep telling me how you let your wants affect your game style, but extra info on dealing with building relationships would be really great now that I've got my skills and job play working so well.


Maxis say Sims are social creatures, so I assume they want to forge and maintain relationships whether or not they have an active want for it. Most Sims make a phone call when they get home from work (unless they bring a friend home), or on their day off, and Popularity Sims may make as many as three calls. This is actually one area where I don't go by their wants, although I may lock a want in for later. Say they want to be best friends with someone, but although their daily relationship is 93, their lifetime relationship is still low and it's going to take a while to get it high enough for them to become best friends, I don't think it's worth them spending their phone call on that Sim. Lifetime will go up anyway, so I think it's better to wait until it's close enough that the want could actually be filled by phoning them. Usually, the Sim my playable will call will be one with whom they are not yet best friends, and with whom their lifetime relationship is less than 90. Sometimes, though, they will call someone with whom they are already best friends, if the relationship has dropped below 60, to prevent them from losing the friend.

As for taking a relationship to the next level, I don't always wait for the Sim to roll a want for it. Some of them seem to be a bit shy about telling me they're interested in someone, but are perfectly happy to flirt or whatever once directed to do so (if they look grouchy about it, I cancel the action). Once they're in love, I sometimes take the lead in getting them engaged or married and sometimes wait for one of them to roll a want for it. Roxie and Jonah are still not married, despite having lived together long enough to have a teenage son, because they seem quite happy the way they are. David Ottomas, as heir to the throne, had to marry Sandra Roth; he actually did roll a want for it (and so did she), but they would have been married regardless, for the sake of the Empire. I also just told Gabe O'Mackey to marry Patricia Wan, despite neither of them showing the slightest interest, because I'd followed the Maxis 'prompt' in getting them together and their failure to roll the necessary wants was annoying me! Normally, if they'd shown so little interest in each other, I never would have got them together in the first place.
Mad Poster
#36 Old 19th Feb 2019 at 5:07 AM
I have been playing a "Depression Riverblossom" in my retro set-up, fast rounds with no conscious storytelling or long-term planning, making decisions on the fly guided by the early-20th-century conditions I've chosen to use. Birth control and information thereon are very iffy in a rural 30s American-style setting, so when the couples' behavior and wants lead to a date that advances as far as a woohoo want, without either of them wanting a baby, I roll a 20-sider, and that's a try for baby. Andrew Martin rolled some generic date wants, so I arranged his panel in bolt order and he dated a townie, not very successfully, before meeting and hitting it off strongly with Cleo Shikibu. He happened to roll a want to marry her, but in any case would have done so after he knocked her up, want or no want, because that's The Right Thing to Do. Meanwhile, Cyd Roseland is swamped with work, having taken in the Critturs and trying to make a go of farming. He flat-out needs a helpmeet, and I had him scoping every walkby till he started rolling date wants. He's in love with LaShawn Cameron now, though he hasn't rolled any commitment wants. When he wanted to make out with her, he asked what she wanted, and she replied "Get married to Cyd," which is a clear refusal to put out prior to getting a ring, so on that understanding he proposed. Timing of the actual wedding will depend more on his selling one of the Crittur puppies so he can afford the arch (like hell is La Shawn settling for a civil ceremony) than it will on his wants; but between the farm, the house, and the dogs the matter is urgent - he has to marry whoever will have him, as soon as he can, or go under. As for Gabe and Patricia - they are very fond of each other, but a reasonable number of dates and household visits demonstrates that they simply are not sexually compatible. They got their relationship high enough to generate a single bolt at one point, but she told him a dirty joke and it vanished! Besides, he's (tut, tut) divorced and she's much younger; so I've fed him an anti-jealousy potion and we'll see which of several double-bolters, if any, she settles on. Honestly she seems perfectly happy as an independent single woman, making a good living writing novels. Nathan Gavigan has rolled more than one want to flirt with Priya Ramaswami, but he's a married man and behaves perfectly circumspectly, while she triple-bolts her husband and has gone out of her way to befriend his wife, so until and unless they both start behaving and wanting in a way to show themselves being overpowered by temptation, nothing will happen with that. Mary's gone and had twins, anyway, so I don't think he'll have time to stray for awhile.

Meanwhile, Jacob Martin can roll as many wants to go to college as he cares to; he's needed to help his father manage the property for the old women, with a promise of inheriting when they die, and he's not going anywhere. Neither are Gavin or Ginger Newson, the whole family having been taken in by Leod McGreggor to help him on the farm. Leod's not rolling any romantic wants, is working very hard, and has all the help he needs, so the admiring ladies of the town may languish.
Depending on how they behave, what wants they roll, and how the farm is doing, the younger Newsons may make it to University. At the moment, however, the Roth children and Jules O'Mackey are the only ones sure to get higher education.

As for Lifetime Wants - I'm not exactly ignoring them, but there's only one Journalism job available in a town this size, it's no place from which to pursue a musical, show business, or athletic career, and professional gaming isn't even a concept, so very few people are being allowed to pursue career LTWs, and men are more likely to have the opportunity to do so. I was letting Alexandra Teatherton keep on adventuring, but she burned to death when her heating stove ran amok over the winter, so Jason Greenman and Morty Roth have that field to themselves. Peter Ottomas is the only journalist in town, Patricia Wan is writing novels, Priya so far is settling for being a housewife who throws a lot of parties, and Stella Roth has opened a beauty salon and is doing very well indeed with it. She's grooming Trisha Traveller to manage the salon for her and will probably open a dry goods store soon, which we hope will provide more jobs in town. Wannabe criminals who find the job in the paper at a time when their fortunes are desperate (i.e., potentially Cyd, if LaShawn has too many babies too soon) will get their shot, but since the repeal of Prohibition opportunity in that area has fallen off in small towns. And I'll be using job stoppinators to prevent excessive job advancement in any case.

So this hood is heavily setting-driven, with the characters having fewer economic and personal choices than the sims of Drama Acres or Widespot do. If I were playing the hood in the 20s, or the 40s, or the 22nd century, the choices would still be limited, but in different ways. Within the framework of the setting, though, I'm letting the sims' wants trump my own for the most part. I don't care for single-member households, but at the moment Cyd and Patrica live alone (except for all those dogs), and Gabe will in a few rounds when he sends Jules off to LGU. If they get too dull I can always throw a monkey wrench into their lives. The Goodies have taken in a foundling, and I have seriously considered sending a tornado through either the Greenmans' or the O'Mackeys' properties, so that one family has to take in the other. Playing by wants and playing God are by no means mutually exclusive playstyles!

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#37 Old 19th Feb 2019 at 5:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
I have been playing a "Depression Riverblossom" in my retro set-up, fast rounds with no conscious storytelling or long-term planning, making decisions on the fly guided by the early-20th-century conditions I've chosen to use. Birth control and information thereon are very iffy in a rural 30s American-style setting, so when the couples' behavior and wants lead to a date that advances as far as a woohoo want, without either of them wanting a baby, I roll a 20-sider, and that's a try for baby. Andrew Martin rolled some generic date wants, so I arranged his panel in bolt order and he dated a townie, not very successfully, before meeting and hitting it off strongly with Cleo Shikibu. He happened to roll a want to marry her, but in any case would have done so after he knocked her up, want or no want, because that's The Right Thing to Do.


Yes, that reminds me, while I play to wants quite a bit there are also things in life that you just have to do, whether you want to or not. I don't see why sims can't be the same. If my childminder doesn't want to change a nappy/diaper well tough, she has to because it's her job. I sure don't want to go clean my kitchen up right now, but it's still me who's going to do it. Sim wants a bowling alley while living on a 1 by 1 lot? Well, in that case, it's a pipe dream and we all have those. Maybe instead they could have some other game. It's a balance of wants vs what needs to be done. The other thing is if something isn't showing as a want doesn't mean it isn't one, but it simply isn't wanted as much as the ones currently showing. Sometimes I jot down wants because I know it will roll away before I can fill it. So long as they rolled it once, I know it's something they want. It would be nice to if we could lock all the wants that we would like to fill.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Scholar
#38 Old 19th Feb 2019 at 5:49 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
The other thing is if something isn't showing as a want doesn't mean it isn't one, but it simply isn't wanted as much as the ones currently showing. Sometimes I jot down wants because I know it will roll away before I can fill it. So long as they rolled it once, I know it's something they want.


Exactly. I only lock the 'Have a baby' want when a Sim is actually pregnant, but if they've rolled it at any time during the day, even if it's disappeared again, they try for baby that evening because I know it will come back once the baby is on the way.
Scholar
#39 Old 20th Feb 2019 at 7:32 PM
Admittedly I haven't played in a while, but when I would play and only do certain things based on wants the way I used to do it was kind of based on the situation. For example in a romance scenario, I would only have sims propose and get married if they rolled the wants for them. If I had romantic interests already living together, then both sims needed the wants for engagement and marriage before either of those things would happen. If a couple was going to have a baby, it would only be if both sims had that want. I didn't do every single little thing based on wants though, and a lot of minor wants I typically would ignore, but I guess you could say that I determined major life events based on wants. Of course I don't always play like that either, and sometimes I just do whatever I want because I like to try and change things up from time to time.
Theorist
#40 Old 20th Feb 2019 at 8:07 PM
Well usually with wants in my game it's like this: My Sims get to do what I want.

Though sometimes, when the fancy strikes me and I think it could lead to an interesting storyline, I do follow their whims.

There's also some wants I usually fulfill, like the want to buy new clothes, it gives me an excuse to give a Sim a new look. I also have restrictions on how much offspring a Sim couple can produce, based on their aspirations (Family+Family: 3 children, Famiy+Other: 2 children, Other+Other: 1 child) and sometimes, if both Sims wish for a baby at the same time, I'll let them have an additional kid.

For stuff like First Kiss, First Woohoo and Marriage I also try to manipulate their want trees into spawning the wishes for those events before they happen, so that they go into Gold Platinum when they happen.

Avatar by MasterRed
Taking an extended break from Sims stuff. Might be around, might not.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#41 Old 20th Feb 2019 at 10:11 PM
Well my first sim ever got expelled from college and on her last exam! Even after getting on academic probation she rolled not a single college related want. It was tough seeing her fail, but she really wasn't interested. She also doesn't take care of her son that well and tends to find the fridge empty, (one time her mum brought her groceries) She's always off playing her guitar, I think her head is in the clouds.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
#42 Old 5th Oct 2020 at 9:23 PM Last edited by Rguerra : 5th Oct 2020 at 9:55 PM.
Sorry for ressurecting this thread, but I had a doubt about want-based gameplay and I think it's better to ask about it here.

What to do when a want involves another sim, but this sim doesn't roll the same kind of want? For instance, Sim A and B are engaged, Sim A rolled the want to get married, but Sim B never rolls the same want.

In those circunstances, I though to make a simple calculation for the Sim B "individuality" based on the personality points:

Outgoing + Active - Nice.

In my thoughts, those concepts represent the following:

Outgoing = The courage to speak against Sim A want.
Active = The willingness to go against Sim A want.
Nice = The willingness to please Sim A.

This way, if Sim B gets a individuality equal or above 10, he/she will not get married with Sim A just because he/she wants. If Sim B gets a individuality of 9 or below, they will get married to Sim A just to please him/her.

I only don't know what to do in the first case in some instances. Using the marriage example, should I keep Sim A and B engaged forever or should I break them up (with Midge's Friendly Break Up mod)?

Do you have something similar in your game for those cases?
Scholar
#43 Old 5th Oct 2020 at 9:36 PM
Some of this is the interpretation and also watching how the two sims in question act towards each other autonomosly. I've just had something similar, see my post today in "what's happening in your game" for the play by play. In this case not only did the uninterested sim not roll a marriage want but she started rolling fear wants as well. She also never rolled other wants about her fiancee. No call/invite/talk wants at all. When they showed up on community lots he would often follow her around but she more often than not ignored him completely.

I interpreted all this to her not really wanting to marry the other sim, so she broke up with him. However, I also have sims that are engaged that don't always roll the get married wants. They don't seem to ever roll those wants until they are adults so if it's YA's you arent' going to see it without a mod of some kind. Often I will send them on a date and that may trigger the "get married" wants to pop up. If they never ever roll them but still roll other wants showing their interest in their fiancee I let it go and they still get married.

It's really just open to your interpretation. Your thoughts involving their personality are sound you could also just 50/50 it with a coin flip. You could set odds and roll dice for them to stay together but not get married, break up completely or go ahead with the wedding as well. Lots for you to do in determining their fate.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#44 Old 6th Oct 2020 at 4:23 AM
@Rguerra
I like you idea for calculating whether they would agree or not. It's similar but different from the motivation personality calculation many make.
For me, that ends up being too much to keep track of.

I often only require one person to want something to make it happen. So if one person wants to get engaged/married, and the other isn't showing any indication that they'd be against it, then I let it happen.

Now recently, Danny Pleasant and Bella Dreamer got engaged. He had the engagement want; she didn't
He proposed, she said yes and immediately rolled the want to get married. He didn't. Not long after, he randomly and completely out of character woohooed with a neighbour. So they live together, but the wedding is on pause until Danny shows me how he's feeling.

Another thing I like to do, which I mentioned on a other recent post, is have Sims ask each other about their wants. It doesn't work for Sims who live together, but if they don't and one asks what the second Sim wants, and their response is to get engaged/married, then they have to decide.

Some Sims, it would be a deal breaker to not get married, but others understand.
Nina Caliente and Daniel Pleasant got engaged. I don't recall if one or both had the want. Neither ever had the desire to marry, but their relationship was super happy.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#45 Old 6th Oct 2020 at 5:07 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Rguerra
Sorry for ressurecting this thread, but I had a doubt about want-based gameplay and I think it's better to ask about it here.

What to do when a want involves another sim, but this sim doesn't roll the same kind of want? For instance, Sim A and B are engaged, Sim A rolled the want to get married, but Sim B never rolls the same want.


Unless Sim B has a fear of getting married or is actively rolling romantic wants for a different sim I would have Sim A either throw wedding party/go get married someplace/get married right away without an arch (depending on the two sims personality) Then it's up to Sim B to reject it if they really don't want it. To me, that is again one of those wants that are not important enough to show up on that sims want panel (probably due to their aspiration) but that doesn't make it unwanted. They are happy with whatever the other sim wants is how I view it.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Scholar
#46 Old 7th Oct 2020 at 12:03 AM
I put in an autonomous homework mod so that there’s a chance sims might scribble a little bit on it even if they don’t roll a want. I also added a mod that gives partial credit, so if the sims tried but couldn’t finish, they still get a grade. This way my sims can scrape by and rarely flunk. The “laziest” sims can manage a C- in my game.

If they don’t roll a specific want, like “do homework” but they *do* roll a want to get an A+ report card, I make them do what they have to do to get that report card. If they want to get a promotion, I’ll have them do what they need to do to get it.

For jobs, I try to keep them out unless they roll a want for a job. I also try to let them have the job of their choice. However— I play with higher and more frequent bills. Sometimes, just like real life, they *need* to work to keep the repo man away. I try to pick something that matches their interests, but sometimes I’m like .. hey you need to go for the money. Sorry. You had twins and you can’t keep cribs out on the lawn during a snowstorm. Go earn some walls.

I try have a story behind my “breaking in” and making them do things outside of what they want.
Lab Assistant
#47 Old 7th Oct 2020 at 7:29 AM
I like the idea of want-based play in general, I think I have too many mods in my game that make life difficult to do it successfully. If they're anywhere in the range of can't pay the basic bills to eat and not see the repo man, through "we're living on the lawn with no roof", up to "I technically have a house shell but the basement has a dirt floor and the rooms are all unfurnished" and "also I have huge student loans" (through a mod)... all those sims, increasing their income for me is considered a need. Maybe when I have leisure class sims, they can decide to work on not based on their wants.

But even for sims that are in that class (which right now is literally all of them), I will try to fulfill the wants they do roll, even though I won't restrict education/career gameplay for me based on wants that they don't roll. So if a romance sim has rolled a want to woohoo with five different sims even though he's already married, I'll focus on doing that even to the detriment of his marriage and career... but I won't totally ignore his family and career when he has a free moment. I also tend to play quite large households on very low budgets at times (10+ sims, especially in college) and I can't really manage the home if I can't just stick a bunch of sims with full needs in front of a bookshelf to skill while I focus on the big want that someone else rolled. Or if someone rolls a want to quit their job, if it's not their LTW want career, they're quitting their job. I just... won't prevent myself from getting them another one even if they don't roll a want for one. I also am pretty conservative about unlocking locked wants. I have a sim who was engaged to one sim (which he wanted to be), and then rolled a want to get married to her cousin who he dated in college. I locked it, thinking "oh okay I'll break them up then so he can get with the person he actually wants to marry," but then he ended up rolling a want to marry her, too. So he married her, and still has the want to marry her cousin locked, and I don't really have plans to unlock the want unless the cousin ends wanting to marry someone else. (I use BO's want thingamathing that lets you exchange aspiration points for other benefits to give everyone some extra want slots and locks so I can lock other wants even when something weird is locked.)
Mad Poster
#48 Old 7th Oct 2020 at 7:31 AM
I have started my town now so my two couples are mostly wanting to get working on building their homes on their homestead lots to prepare for when they start having babies though they've had to put all of that on hold to clear up their outdoor spaces to get ready for the coming winter since fall is half gone already in Dodge.School won't even be an issue as none of the children or kids will do any homework because they won't be attending school with no school available in town yet and nobody will attend high school to that won't be an issue until they have to add one into theit town.
I have a planned welfare system in place for sims who do get stuck or just don't seem to want regular jobs in the form of subsidized rentals in apartments.It means they get subsidized to live in town and raise children if they can't find work as that happens to some in real life.SOme sime will use hacked objects like hacked waste bins or mule mailboxes to avoid bills if they own a small home and don't earn much money to get off paying bills.I might put in a halved bills for now and switch it out if taxes go up.
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