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Scholar
Original Poster
#1 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 5:57 PM
Default Sheffield
My current hood is based on Sheffield, England, in the early 1980s after the steel industry collapsed. I only started weaning off pure vanilla in January, so it doesn't have the 'look', but the basic theme is high unemployment. I used the homeless families from the bin and those from Bluewater Village, and I'm slowly playing in the university premades.

Initially, I rolled dice to determine what percentage of their Maxis-given wealth each family should keep: some lost nearly everything, while others kept most of it. Malcolm Landgraab III, being the cunning and devious businessman he is, managed to evade his creditors because I couldn't use familyfunds with his household name. I changed his name to Michael Langerak, and the head canon is that he transferred everything to an offshore account so it couldn't be found, then changed his name and came back with his full fortune, untouchable by creditors or the Inland Revenue.

Next, every Sim had to call work and quit their job. They are now allowed to apply for jobs only once a week. A Sim without a college degree can only use the newspaper and must roll at least 90 to take a LTW job and 94 for any other job. Graduates can use the computer as well, and their rolls vary according to their final grade - so a Sim who graduates Summa cum Laude has by far the best chance of getting a job, but some are still unemployed while some high school dropouts have jobs. They must play all chance cards, and every Sunday night (Sim time) there is a redundancy lottery in which Sims have, on average, a 45% chance of losing their job (the exact roll depends on their qualifications and career level, and in accordance with British law a Sim on maternity cannot be made redundant). Teens have a much better chance of getting a job due to assistance from their school work experience programs, and also have a better chance of being accepted back into that career after college, but they have to roll a want to get a job; since they leave for college at 18 (after only five days as a teen), this means most don't have jobs.

The main exception to the above is the Criminal career track: a Sim must have the appropriate LTW to apply, but any Sim who does have that want can look for opportunities daily and take a job as soon as it comes up. They are considered unemployed (since naturally they don't declare their income for tax purposes!), so continue to claim benefits. If, however, they get a chance card in which they get caught, they not only lose their job but are also prosecuted for benefit fraud.

The Military also has special rules, in that any Sim with a LTW will be automatically accepted unless they are of below-average fitness, and military spouses and offspring have a greatly increased chance of being hired. Also, a Sim who gets into the military may be able to look for their LTW job on a daily basis, if it's considered useful to the military (Medical or Education, for example), and will continue living in subsidized housing on the base if they transfer - they will still be regarded as being in the military.

One problem: I was paying unemployment and child benefits via familyfunds, but now I have several Ottomas and Newson families that isn't an option. I tried money trees but they're way too generous. I'm thinking of getting a very outgoing Sim (maybe a college cheerleader) and making it their job to be Paymaster: using money orders, they would pay benefits and also receive repayments from Sims who've wrongly sold off their landlord's furniture. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
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Instructor
#2 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 6:11 PM
Sheffield sounds very interesting! It has complex setting, and established system, and likely, and interesting story. What methods do you use to add new sims? And what inspired you to use Sheffield for inspiration?
At times I experience difficulties with over idealizing my hoods, so I think I could learn a lot from you. But very intriguing concept overall, and I am interested in seeing it develop .

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
Instructor
#3 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 6:14 PM
Sorry to doublepost- but my phone is giving me issues . But does your hood have a mafia, or a gang? Maybe it could use some organized crime . And how do you handle interpersonal relationships?

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
Theorist
#4 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 7:30 PM Last edited by Essa : 13th Apr 2017 at 9:22 PM.
@BlueAlien
Your rules are really interesting.
Is Monique's computer allowed in your hood? AFAIK to use the money order, the payer has to know the payee for it to work. You could also use Christianluv's wallet controller.

What I do to use family funds with no issues is to name the family after the head of the household using Simpe.
For example, the Thibodeau's household will becomes the Gaïa Thibodeau's household. I do the change with Simpe.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#5 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 7:30 PM
Wow, that's some complex rules you have going on there! Sounds like a very interesting hood.

I love that we can choose to play by rules this way, this game is so versatile!

Quote: Originally posted by BlueAlien
I changed his name to Michael Langerak, and the head canon is that he transferred everything to an offshore account so it couldn't be found, then changed his name and came back with his full fortune, untouchable by creditors or the Inland Revenue.

I love this- it's just what a Landgraab would do if they lived in 1980s UK! :lovestruc
Lab Assistant
#6 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 9:54 PM
I love your rules ! I truly do.

Also, simsample, does your avatar move or is it my eyes ?
Instructor
#7 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 10:01 PM
Pretty sure it does

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#8 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 10:02 PM
Quote: Originally posted by pannisim
Also, simsample, does your avatar move or is it my eyes ?

It's your eyes!
Instructor
#9 Old 10th Apr 2017 at 10:10 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
It's your eyes!

No! It's yours! They move!

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
Scholar
Original Poster
#10 Old 12th Apr 2017 at 1:15 AM
Thank you! I see some of the amazing things people do with the game, and I was afraid mine might be a bit too vanilla.

Emperor Crat I wanted to play a hood where getting jobs was more realistically difficult, and when I was a teenager in the '80s Sheffield was always in the news for having the highest unemployment in the country. It also meant I could use welfare benefit rules I was familiar with - I've made a few changes, but it's a very similar system - and university tuition was free back then, with grants rather than loans for living expenses (we didn't know how lucky we were!), which fits with the way Sims Uni works.

I don't really add Sims, except as spouses (and the Tricou sibs, via university, because Sharla is engaged to one of them). I encourage playables to meet as many potential partners as possible on community lots, then let the relationships develop fairly naturally. Sims make a couple of phone calls every day, trying to build up the number of friends they have, and ultimately they marry their best eligible friend of the opposite sex. If a Sim really doesn't have any friends of the opposite sex but has one of the same sex who is always on the phone or following them home from work, they join with that person instead. I think on average it gives me about one same-sex couple in twenty, and the occasional Sim who never marries. Sims try for baby when they have a want for it, and have a 10% chance (dice roll) of being told to try for baby when they just want to woohoo. I've tended to avoid cheating and divorce, but I think there's going to be more of it in Sheffield.

No gangs or mafia at present - I don't know how I'd play those.

Essa I can't use SimPE - it just crashes as soon as I open it. Monique's computer is allowed, but I don't have it. The instructions say "if you don't have any one of these EPs don't download it" and I don't have BV. Unless she meant that you must have at least one? I have the rest. Otherwise I might try Christianluv's wallet controller - I'd not heard of it, but I have his name exchanger and that works well for me. Thank you!
Space Pony
#11 Old 12th Apr 2017 at 1:25 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Emperor Crat
No! It's yours! They move!



HE is blinking the eye

~~~~Call me Ellu ~~~

My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
Theorist
#12 Old 13th Apr 2017 at 9:31 PM
Quote: Originally posted by BlueAlien
Thank you! I see some of the amazing things people do with the game, and I was afraid mine might be a bit too vanilla.

Essa I can't use SimPE - it just crashes as soon as I open it. Monique's computer is allowed, but I don't have it. The instructions say "if you don't have any one of these EPs don't download it" and I don't have BV. Unless she meant that you must have at least one? I have the rest. Otherwise I might try Christianluv's wallet controller - I'd not heard of it, but I have his name exchanger and that works well for me. Thank you!

That the beauty of this game, one can play the way s/he wants.

Too bad you can't use Simpe.
Top Secret Researcher
#13 Old 17th Apr 2017 at 6:03 PM
To change names I use Christianlov's LastNameCopier, I found it on MTS. You might check that out.

Your setup sounds very interesting. I am quite interested in reading more. There is a Mafia Career that I like, I found it here on MTS.

for info on changing the Mac Open File Limit check out my post here http://www.insimenator.org/index.ph...html#msg1628939
Curiosity killed the cat,
but satisfaction brought it back.
Scholar
Original Poster
#14 Old 18th Apr 2017 at 2:27 AM
The Universities

I'm playing the three Maxis universities, since I'm trying to use all the premades in this hood. Each college has a different purpose, and the entry requirements and way of playing the students varies accordingly. The idea is to have realistic proportions of Sims who don't get a degree (which means a lot of drop-outs, since nearly every Sim teen wants to go to college and will throw a tantrum if denied), Sims who get a mediocre degree, and Sims who graduate with honours.

Whichever university they choose, all Sims will spend the first semester in a dorm, and pay dorm fees of $500. If they stay in the dorms, fees after the first semester are $200. All dorm bills are paid out of the common kitty, and all dorms employ a maid (and a gardener, if there are hedges to tend). Any additional grant money is placed as objects in the Sim's inventory. Since I have the no 20k handout mod, Sims receive a share of the communal funds on moving out. One dorm is set aside as 'reception and processing', where Sims can arrive, do the aging-up scene, and put their additional grant money into inventory, or remove everything from inventory before returning to Sheffield.

Sims who move out of the dorms will usually live singly or as a couple with fully shared funds, although groups of friends may also choose to stay together, in which case they pay $200 into the kitty in their first semester and $100 per semester thereafter.

Academie Le Tour
The Academie is the equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge: it's an elitist establishment that accepts students from upper-class families (later, some Sims will have titles, but for now those with parents in the upper ranks of the 'respectable' career tracks qualify) and those who meet stringent entry requirements. At the moment, students need to have the Scholar's Award plus at least one other scholarship, either the Young Entrepreneur's Award or one based on skill level (things like dancing and pool, or the Orphaned Sim's Assistance Grant, don't count). Once all potential students are born in-game and have had more chance to gain skills, I'll change it to the Scholar's Award plus two additional scholarships. Since I only tell teen and child Sims to study or do homework if they roll a want for it, not many will make it to the Academie.

In order to ensure that the Academie has consistently better results than the other colleges, students here are 'tutored': every Sim is required to study at least one skill each semester, or to write an assignment if they already meet the skill requirements. To make it easier for me to keep track of their studies, students spend the first semester in dorms, but move out as soon as they can afford to do so.

La Fiesta Tech
I haven't added it yet, to avoid having too many premade students all at once, but eventually it will become the equivalent of a polytechnic, less prestigious than a good university but with a good reputation in industry. Sims will need the Scholar's Award or a skill-based award to get in, and will choose LFT if they want to follow a career in Science, Natural Science, Oceanography or Architecture.

Students taking science courses will be tutored (micro-managed), but students taking other courses will be less strictly monitored.

Sim State
Sim State consistently performs badly in academic reviews. It accepts students who can't get in anywhere else, and pretty much leaves them to their own devices, so the drop-out rate is high. Students generally live in the dorms unless they get engaged, in which case they move out as a couple.


And that, I think, is more than enough about the rules! From now on, I'll be focusing on my pixels' lives.
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 22nd May 2017 at 6:19 PM
I would love to see some pictures of your hood ,Sheffield, since that's where I am from.
Instructor
#16 Old 22nd May 2017 at 6:42 PM
Awesome overview of the universities! Can't wait to hear more

What's going on in your game group here: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdis...546&groupid=906
Check it out ;)
 
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