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Theorist
Original Poster
#1 Old 24th Mar 2024 at 11:02 PM
Default Sims Personality/ Sign points
I debated on askin this in the Stupid Questions thread .. but did hope that it would have a bit more discussion so felt it might be better to be its own thread .. so what am I talkin about ..

When makin sims in CAS a sign/ personality is assigned to them based on the 25 points distributed over a number of different personality traits of sorts. When a baby is born in game the points given are most times exceed 25 that CAS sims are allowed. So I was curious ... what others do ... do you leave the newborn sims' points as given by the game, do you reduce them to equal 25? If you reduce them do you make sure you keep the baby's given sign/ personality? Or any other ideas, comments, suggestions or the like to add to the discussion ..

On the flipside, do you give CAS sims more points?

Please remember to be respectful of others with comments. That is the beauty of Sims in that it allows all to play to their own style. I can't wait to hear/ read what ya'll do.

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I think most times I don't really pay attention to the points so I leave them alone as to what the game gives them. I do notice that sometimes they can be VERY lopsided though and not at all a mix of what their parents are .. not that all children take after their parents in RL so why should it be so in game right ..

However, with my current set up that I'm doin I'm actually watchin the points and reducin them so that they all only get the allotted 25. Will I continue doin this when the hood gets ginormous ... no idea .. but for now I am.
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Inventor
#2 Old 24th Mar 2024 at 11:31 PM
The baby gets to keep his points. Having more is a reward for raising the baby from scratch. Quite often the personality is extreme. They may get squeezed one or two points through Encouragement to avoid a disasterous situation where they always flood a shower or can't run. I always touch the personality through Encouragement a little because round numbers there are not natural.

Zodiac is based on pseudoscience and I don't respect it. If I have two twins born, they can have different zodiacs, which should not be possible because they were born at the same time. I ignore that Zodiac exists and only accept that it is a perturbation for Attraction Score.
Theorist
Original Poster
#3 Old 24th Mar 2024 at 11:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by jonasn
The baby gets to keep his points. Having more is a reward for raising the baby from scratch. Quite often the personality is extreme. They may get squeezed one or two points through Encouragement to avoid a disasterous situation where they always flood a shower or can't run. I always touch the personality through Encouragement a little because round numbers there are not natural.

Zodiac is based on pseudoscience and I don't respect it. If I have two twins born, they can have different zodiacs, which should not be possible because they were born at the same time. I ignore that Zodiac exists and only accept that it is a perturbation for Attraction Score.


I am not one who follows zodiac signs in RL. In sims, I don't see them as RL zodiac but just as a way to give them a personality. I don't think I've used Encouragement much .. does do much of a difference? Maybe I should try that a bit more.
Inventor
#4 Old 24th Mar 2024 at 11:44 PM
It works very slowly, so you can only get one or two points with normal time passage.

With archetypical characters, the zodiac is not fun. They always get one of the exact same 12 personality patterns, which tie to one or two hobby enthusiasms and the same aspiration. You've seen one romance libra who can't run and is into arts, and you've seen them all. Only some NPCs get a variation if their personality is adjusted in the init.
Forum Resident
#5 Old 24th Mar 2024 at 11:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by jonasn
If I have two twins born, they can have different zodiacs, which should not be possible because they were born at the same time.

It's possible, but should be extremely rare. The birth date has to be right "on the cusp", and the firstborn twin should have the earlier zodiac sign, while the secondborn would fall under the following sign. Logically you wouldn't get twins with squared, trine, opposing or even sextile signs.

Alternatively, you could assume some factor in the horoscope is overriding the sun sign (3 or more planets in X, e.g.). That's if you really want the twins to have very different signs.

Astrology is such a "rubber science" (or rubber pseudoscience) that there are ways to explain away any result you want.
Mad Poster
#6 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 2:35 AM
I don't see any logical reason for the 25 point limit, so I let babies keep their "extra" points. Of course in my game in-game born Sims are vastly outnumbered by CAS Sims.

I occasionally give extra points to CAS Sims but seldom bother. If I do give them extra points I'll do it immediately after adding the Sims to the game. After that they are only changed by "encouragement" and similar slow in-game methods. I often change the personality points when making Sims in CAS, but try to do it without changing the Sim's star-sign. In Real Life I think astrology is nonsense, but I have to admit that my own star-sign is Libra, and I think my personality is a bit like the default Maxis Libra. I seldom make Sims in CAS with fewer than four Nice points, but if a child Sim is made in CAS with the pacifier, then I usually just take what I get, the same as I do with in-game births.

I am even more cavalier about "chemistry" I simply give all CAS Sims the same turn-ons/turn-offs as myself! It helps me to empathise with them!!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#7 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 3:23 AM
Quote: Originally posted by jonasn
Zodiac is based on pseudoscience and I don't respect it. If I have two twins born, they can have different zodiacs, which should not be possible because they were born at the same time. I ignore that Zodiac exists and only accept that it is a perturbation for Attraction Score.


Obviously the sim zodiac is based on something other than time of birth. Maybe it's like blood type classifications in Asian countries, or the way some people sort people into "Type A" and "Type B" or the whole Myers Briggs thing.
Forum Resident
#8 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 5:24 AM
I use the baby personality mod, which means that personalities of born-in-game sims are not connected to their zodiac sign. How I react to that depends on which neighbourhood I'm playing (and how fast sim years pass) - in Strangetown, where each sim day is half a year, I pick a zodiac sign from that half of the year that fits their personality best, while in Pleasantview I assign sims a zodiac sign based on when the sim was born, and it has nothing to do with their personality.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 8:30 AM
Babies keep their extra points.

Sims become more interesting the longer they are played. They develop other interests, take up more hobbies (I don't think I have EVER looked up the ONE true hobby, it will cramp my playing style).

I also tend to see sims as part of the community they live in, which means they need to be involved in owning or supporting owned businesses, sharing their knowledge and hobby tips on community lots, etc.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 2:29 PM
Twins having different zodiac signs is really stupid. Do EA not understand how zodiacs work lol? I changed a few sims' zodiac signs in SimPE, so they would have more bolts with their partner. Attraction is hard enough when they aren't identical in personality points.

How many extra personality points do born in game babies get?

Quote: Originally posted by Justpetro
Sims become more interesting the longer they are played. They develop other interests, take up more hobbies (I don't think I have EVER looked up the ONE true hobby, it will cramp my playing style).


It glows up on the hobbies screen, so it's hard to miss. XD
Mad Poster
#11 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 4:06 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
How many extra personality points do born in game babies get?


I didn't know, so I made a spreadsheet of all the Sims ever born in my game -- all eight of them:


Born-in-Game Sims are (as you can see) very rare in my game, so the sample size is small, but my born-in-game Sims have between 28 and 35 Personality Points. The two alien children (Titus and Andromeda Curious) both have 35 points; this may (or may not) be significant.

By the way the McBain twins, the first babies born in my game, are now school-age children. The rest are still babies or toddlers.

Do I hold the record for the lowest live birth rate in the Sims universe?
Screenshots

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Top Secret Researcher
#12 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 4:25 PM
Zodiacs aren't science, silly, they're magic.
(And this is also quite rare, but it's possible for twins to be born several days apart, which would increase the chances of them having different zodiacs)
All that aside, I tend not to pay too much attention to personality points at all, so I honestly hadn't noticed that they exceed the CAS limit. I do think they ought to turn out as a mix of the parents rather than random or however they're done, though. But I don't touch them and only use "Encourage" when I'm looking for ways to keep a parent and child occupied for an hour or two.
Honestly though, I think if they were going to put zodiacs in the game, a neat way to do it would have been to wait to implement it until Seasons came out and then have one or two zodiacs per season that are completely unique to the game. (Though evenly dividing five-day seasons might have complicated that, so perhaps they would have gone with four or six days instead.) After all, Sim world isn't Earth, so they doubtless have different constellations. I wonder what sort of zodiac signs a Sim society would have come up with. A llama sign maybe?

I've got one or two things on MTS, but most of my stuff is on my main site here:
http://simcessories.blogspot.com/
(Now recruiting budding creators.)
Mad Poster
#13 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 6:04 PM
I think zodiac was just a hangover from Sims 1 which was written in the 90s when zodiac was very trendy and used to refer to absolutely everything. I don't think it continued into sims 3 or 4 did it? I just ignore the zodiac sign completely.

Born in game sims inherit parts of their personality from their parents and then some are random, so they can end up with either more or less than 25 points. I just let them keep the personality they are born with, though I might have a parent encourage them if I think it fits the story or the child/parent's personality.

Edit: Actually, the description of the baby personality mod is roughly what I thought the vanilla game baby personality assignment was 0_o Maybe I have that mod and forgot I had it!

The 25 limit is pretty clever in that it forces a mixture of highs and lows in the different traits (unless they have 5/5/5/5/5), and means that extremes of personality (0 or 10) are rare because they are quite "expensive" and mean you need to plan around them for the other traits. I like this, and tend to treat 0s and 10s as extremes in my game. If a sim has multiple extremes then they have a very unusual personality, which is a lot of fun to play, but only when it remains unusual. If every sim was extreme, then it would get boring fast. (I think this is why I dislike traits, and prefer the personality point system).

In sims 1, it was possible to leave personality points unassigned though in sims 2 it isn't.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Forum Resident
#14 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 6:08 PM
Leaving aside the signs, which I think are a great way to differentiate in which month the sims were born and all the mysticism that implies, I really prefer the points system than the traits system, and I agree about what you say about the extremes and limitations. @simfreq I also like that babies born in the game get extra points and rare or extreme combinations. You always need more normal characters to make the weird ones stand out. xDD

Maybe the ideal would be points and some very specific trait system like that of some mods that already exist? (In reference to future games in development)
Theorist
Original Poster
#15 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 6:41 PM
Ok ya'll ... let's agree to disagree on the validity of Real Life zodiac, magic, and science. What is real to 1 person may not be to another ... luckily we get to have our sims do whatever it is we want them too .. so let's talk sims. :P

AndrewGloria ... now why didn't I think to look at a spreadsheet of the info ... luckily I (or anyone who wants to see their own) don't hafta actually manually do it all since that is part of what is given when you use SimPE and Export the hood. .... and I can compare the childs points to the parents ... while I don't think they're an actual mix of the points .. it'll still be interestin to see

I'm not sure I know what the baby mod is.. I might hafta go take a looksee at that .. someone have a link to it?

I never played 3 or 4 so not sure how they do it. I think I've said before that I like the idea of the trait system mod that was done for 2 .. but it seems very involved and a bit more complicated that my brain doesn't get so I've not tried it and doubt I will.

Again, I've not gone out and looked up the actual info .. does anyone know if the parents points play any part in what the child gets? or is it just totally random all around? I guess I could try and see if EAxis said anything bout it .. *thinks thoughtfully*
Forum Resident
#16 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 6:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CaliBrat
Again, I've not gone out and looked up the actual info .. does anyone know if the parents points play any part in what the child gets? or is it just totally random all around? I guess I could try and see if EAxis said anything bout it .. *thinks thoughtfully*


I think they influence because I have seemed to see the same personalities exaggerated or mixed, resulting in another sign. (With pacifier rolling) I've never felt like it's random, but I guess there are people who know the answer exactly.
Instructor
#17 Old 25th Mar 2024 at 7:14 PM
I like using the zodiac signs to give my sims a birthday. I use random.org to get a number between 1 and 31 and their zodiac determines what month they were born. In game it depends what season they were born and since im in Australia it is the opposite of what they would be in America. I just change their zodiac with the sim blender which you can also use to randomise their personality as well.
Mad Poster
#18 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 3:13 AM
I don't pay any attention to zodiac signs. And since I have a few mods that affect attraction, that zodiacs shouldn't matter. When I create a sim I have an idea what they are all about; old-fashioned, wild and crazy, selfish, lazy, whatever. Then I want everything to match what that means to ME, so I change traits (never mind how many points!) interests, even skills. When I play pre-made sims in custom populated hoods (which I love) I read the hood info and the individual bios, than I use the discretion to change LTW, traits, etc, to make them match not only the creators general guidelines, but my interpretations. So that mean fight-starter wants money, but also love - accidentially having a few kids -who he/she pretty much ignores. But they have a soft spot for kittens, or they like to make pottery.

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
Mad Poster
#19 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 4:04 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simsfreq
I think zodiac was just a hangover from Sims 1 which was written in the 90s when zodiac was very trendy and used to refer to absolutely everything. I don't think it continued into sims 3 or 4 did it? I just ignore the zodiac sign completely.


Sims 3 does have a zodiac that affects attraction/repulsion, but you can select it independently of... wait, there's no personality points.

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Lab Assistant
#20 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 4:28 AM
I personally don't like the wild, random swings in personality, especially since they're almost never balanced. I especially dislike how a sim born in game will either be max nice or max grouchy. I use a baby personality mod to reduce the swings from 0-2 points over or under the parents' personalities, and if that number happens to go over 25 points that's fine, but I do prefer 25 personality points. When a sim has too many, I find they essentially become "easy" where they're super nice, always outgoing, always cleaning up after themselves, etc. I personally prefer sims with rougher edges, flaws, or things that make life more challenging.
Mad Poster
#21 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 7:57 AM
I find it annoying that you can't pick the personality of a CAS sim exactly how you want it sometimes, either because you have points left over that you're forced to spend or not enough points. I would like unlimited points, so you can do as you please.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 9:43 AM
I have to mention babies being born with no nice points at all

I had one who picked fights everywhere he went. It was fun.
Mad Poster
#23 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 11:01 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Justpetro
I have to mention babies being born with no nice points at all

I had one who picked fights everywhere he went. It was fun.


I imagined this baby picking fights by trashing his crib or biting his parents lol.
Mad Poster
#24 Old 26th Mar 2024 at 1:34 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
I imagined this baby picking fights by trashing his crib or biting his parents lol.


He trashed his sister's doll house the moment he became a child, during his birthday party. So - yes, I can imagine that too! He also should have thrown a number of toddler tantrums. Perhaps he did and I mistook it for crying.
Mad Poster
#25 Old 27th Mar 2024 at 3:48 AM
I've noticed that when parents have low or no trait points their baby can (usually?) have the other extreme.

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
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