Sims2 My Big Life State Experiment: The Chimera Sisters

I enjoy finding out how other people play. The differences and the similarities both, sometime I learn something and in any case I find it interesting to find out how others play. You might be surprised at the number of people that play somewhat like you BoilingOil.

I think it would quite boring if we all had to play the same way, oh yeah that is MODs are for...so that we do not have to all play the same way that the Maxoids in their infinite wisdom intended. I very much appreciate the people who have provided Mods and Modded Objects that allow me to play how I want. It is not enough just to be able to add hair and clothes and makeup and objects and other content, though I would greatly miss the hair and clothes and objects etc. that I have added. It is the Mods and Modded Objects that allow one to change the way the game was designed to be played.

Most of the Majors in Simmy college only have two professors, but two Majors have three professors; Philosophy is one of them (as seen with Sanguine on the last page), and I believe that Physics is the other. So Sims with those Majors (assuming that I'm not wrong about Physics) will have a little more success with WooHooing their professors for easy grades, especially if they're Romance Sims or Popularity Sims with the right Aspiration perks. The "sexy hot tub" Aspiration Reward, Mister Mickles the Voodoo Doll and souvenir racks packed with Tropical souvenirs can also help, of course.

But yes, only interactions with the professors from a Sim's Major can improve that Sim's Class Performance. There's always that one professor who drops by every dorm and rings the doorbell often enough to be an annoyance; she's one of the Art professors in my game (this one right here, in fact, only she's named Laci Pederson in my game), but other Simmers have mentioned Drama professors doing the same thing. So my Sims can invite Professor Pederson in, chat her up and WooHoo her in the nearest double bed, but only the Sims majoring in Art (and who should already know her from going to Art class) will get any Class Performance out of it. The rest just get a full Social Need and maybe a friendship, a romance and/or a Memory or three.

More stuff:

(18-09-2018 08:52 AM)lordtyger9 Wrote:  That is what I thought to be true about the Professors. It is not as fun, but it is easier to Hack the Grades or use the bookcase and....Study {what a concept}.

Don't forget that Sims must first join the local Secret Society in order to hack grades. High Logic helps; Benne had a perfect 10 in Logic ever since she was a teen, and the only hard part was befriending three of the Landgraab Society's students; two of them lived in Castle Von Carstein with her, though, so even meeting that requisite wasn't too hard. After that, Benne hacked the hell out of her grades for at least two semesters; on the rare occasion when the Risk Level climbed up to Slight, I'd have her log off of that computer, move to another computer and start hacking her grades again. And she never once got caught by the Campus Police.

(18-09-2018 08:52 AM)lordtyger9 Wrote:  I do make all of the sims study and learn some skills. I do think most of my teens do have the want to go to college, I would make them do it anyway of course, but I have noticed that a lot of them do have a want to go to college, or they have a want to get a particular scholarship like the Extraterrestrial Reparation Grant or one of the others.

Oh! That reminds me: I just got another one of my Simmy teens to qualify for the rare Mendel Award for Oxygen Donation and Repletion scholarship! But his three teen siblings didn't qualify for the Mendel Award, so...more on that in a new topic.

(18-09-2018 08:52 AM)lordtyger9 Wrote:  I start my toddlers out with that toy that gives Charisma, and sometimes that is the only toy. When they are children I encourage chess, piano and painting.

I'm a big fan of Logic, so my Simmy toddlers always get the "put shaped blocks into shaped holes" toy. Logic is good for several things:

1) It helps Sims win games against other Sims. This can mean a somewhat steady source of income if they play poker, play Mahjong for money or hustle billiards.
2) It helps prevent Sims from getting fleeced by the Unsavory Charlatan.
3) It helps Sims hack their grades when they get to college and join a Secret Society.

It may also have something to do with how often Sims get money for using the more expensive telescopes at night, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

(18-09-2018 08:52 AM)lordtyger9 Wrote:  Unless they have a LTW that is going to use Body, Mechanical, Cleaning or Cooking I don't have them work on those past one point.

Well, there are cases to be made for those Skills too.

Body helps Sims win fights, including Fisticuffs! with the Charlatan. If your Sims don't have enough Logic to stop the Charlatan from picking their pockets while you aren't closely minding them, then they should at least have enough Body to smack the Charlatan around and get their money back (with 100 more Simoleons from the Charlatan's own pocket to boot). From her early teen years to about halfway through college, Jolene Lupina (the "Werewolf Zero" in my game) was earning a fairly steady income from visiting community lots and trouncing the Charlatan — even in her human form — whenever he would show up. She's a natural Fitness hobbyist, so a high Body skill came with the territory, and she had a Body of 10 well before it was time to go to college.

Mechanical helps Sims unclog toilets and finish repairs faster (or at all; Sims with low Mechanical tend to give up on repair work and leave it unfinished). Sims with higher Mechanical skill can use the robot station and craft fewer malfunctioning robots, as well as making faster repairs on what few faulty robots the Simmy robotician produces. In the case of repairing electrical doodads (from microwave ovens to computers to elevators), high Mechanical skill can also prevent them from being electrocuted. If you have any hopes of getting your Simmy hands on the Voodoo Doll without dying and being buried on Twikkii Island, a good Mechanical skill is a must.

Cleaning helps Sims clean plumbing fixtures and countertops a little faster, so it can be a wee bit of a time saver. Toilets tend to reach max nastiness after a pregnant Sim or a food-poisoning-stricken Sim pukes into them; after that, compare how long it takes a low-Cleaning Sim to clean that toilet with the speed at which a high-Cleaning Sim can clean a pukey toilet. It's not the most useful skill, but it helps, and your Sims' Environment gauges will thank you for it.

And Cooking is wonderful! A Sim with Cooking 1 has to settle for grilling hot dogs, while a Sim with Cooking 9 or 10 can grill ribs. And ribs tend to be a bit more Hunger-filling than hot dogs are. Plus, high-Cooking Sims don't burn food or set the stove on fire all that often. Low-Cooking Sims burn food and start kitchen fires all the time. That's one reason why I had Gaston De Chef and Claudette Gourmando (now Claudette De Chef) take over for the Cafeteria Worker very frequently while I was pushing them through college. They earned a bit more money, they earned a bit more Cuisine enthusiasm, and the fire sprinklers stopped flooding the kitchen on a daily basis...at least whenever Gaston or Claudette — and not the idiotic Cafeteria Worker with his whopping 2 or 3 points in Cooking — was manning the ShinyTyme stove.

(18-09-2018 11:39 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  And in the end, if the toddler learns neither, they will still walk and talk normally by the time they grow up to child, making moot all the efforts to train them. So what's the point of that?

Fulfilling the toddler's Wants and racking up the toddler's Aspiration Points. That's the point of that.

I check on my toddlers and their Wants pretty often, waiting until "Learn to Walk," "Learn to Talk," "Learn Nursery Rhyme" or the potty training Want come up. At that point, if the Todder's Energy isn't in the red, it's time for the nearest Gold-to-Platinum-Aspiration teen, adult or elder to whip up some Smart Milk, feed it to the toddler and see about fulfilling that Want. If I hit a "dry spell" where a toddler hasn't learned to do something yet doesn't have a Want to do it, that's when it's time to fulfill other Wants (like "Talk to [Sim]" or "Be Tickled by [Sim]") until another learning Want does come up.

If any one of my toddlers hasn't earned at least two Aspiration perks by the time they graduate into children, then I've failed as that kid's Simmy godfather.

(And seriously, toddlers can't pick Aspirations besides Grow Up because those Aspirations and their benefits are too mature for them, yet they can pick Aspiration benefits related to work? "This perk will help you get higher wages in any career path!" "This perk will help you not flub those job-related Chance Cards!" "If you get fired from a job, this perk will allow you to get your job back!" Hey! How about if we backburner that entire column of Aspiration benefits until my toddler's old enough to actually get a job? Sheesh!)

@Pizzatron-9000 You bring up many good points, most of which I agree with. The last bit, about the toddlers, though...

Many of my sims lead full, productive lives, working very hard to improve themselves, and line their pockets. I'm willing to have them spend *some* time hugging a toddler, talking to it, playing with it, what have you, even if only to cater to the toddler's whim. Because as long as it improves the relationship, it still has some function.
But I'm NOT EVER going to spend four entire days having my teens or adults try to get a toddler to roll even ONE skilling/learning want. You may not believe this, but I've had a few that only came up with their first learning want (learn to talk, of all things) only ONE fornicating HOUR before growing up to child! That's not even enough time to have them drink a Smart Milk!

Keeping busy with a toddler is good to fulfill their wants, to fill their aspiration meter, to rack up aspiration points, you say... But what good is a platinum toddler with no aspiration to achieve anything? Gold or platinum aspiration on a sim is good to have them perform tasks faster, gain more experience from them, learn new stuff faster. But if the toddler continues to ONLY roll wants to be snuggled, or played with, or (worst of all) be read to, and NEVER EVER wants to stop soiling their diaper every six hours, then I get very impatient with them.

Oh, by the way... There is only ONE thing that I use Smart Milk for: Toddlers who've shown that they like learning new things, will get one bottle of the stuff just before growing up to child. That way, they will be super-smart cookies for at least their entire childhood, learning three times as fast as normal.

In fact, I hardly ever use ANY of the objects from the Aspiration Catalogue. Sims' lives get far too easy with those

(22-09-2018 10:47 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Many of my sims lead full, productive lives, working very hard to improve themselves, and line their pockets. I'm willing to have them spend *some* time hugging a toddler, talking to it, playing with it, what have you, even if only to cater to the toddler's whim. Because as long as it improves the relationship, it still has some function.
But I'm NOT EVER going to spend four entire days having my teens or adults try to get a toddler to roll even ONE skilling/learning want. You may not believe this, but I've had a few that only came up with their first learning want (learn to talk, of all things) only ONE fornicating HOUR before growing up to child! That's not even enough time to have them drink a Smart Milk!

I've noticed that you seem to say "fornicating" a lot, usually if not always in the place where a more vulgar synonym would normally go. This forum has a word-replacing censor script in effect, I presume.

I can't say that I've had such bad luck with my toddlers, though; if anything, I'd say that your lack of toddler Wants is the rarity, not the Wants themselves. Usually, my toddlers will have one or two of those big toddler Wants the moment they graduate from infancy. So I'll lock one Want, feed the toddler some Smart Milk and get to work on the other one. So no, it's not like I have to monitor each toddler for four days just to nail those four primary Wants; most of my toddlers knock out all four of those Wants within the first day or two of toddlerhood, leaving my toddlers — as well as their Simmy parents, Simmy big brothers and sisters, Simmy Servos and Bigfoots who happen to live in the same house, what-have-you — free to focus on other things. Like playing Peek-a-Boo. Toddlers love Peek-a-Boo.

So anyway, then once that toddler hits high Platinum Aspiration, it's not that hard to keep him or her above Green Aspiration until it's time to age the toddler up to a child. Just a hug here, a talk there, maybe a tickle an hour or two later. That's just about all it takes. "Miracle Mite" childhoods will follow.

(22-09-2018 10:47 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Keeping busy with a toddler is good to fulfill their wants, to fill their aspiration meter, to rack up aspiration points, you say... But what good is a platinum toddler with no aspiration to achieve anything? Gold or platinum aspiration on a sim is good to have them perform tasks faster, gain more experience from them, learn new stuff faster. But if the toddler continues to ONLY roll wants to be snuggled, or played with, or (worst of all) be read to, and NEVER EVER wants to stop soiling their diaper every six hours, then I get very impatient with them.

Like I noted last paragraph, higher Aspiration colors are insurance against growing up poorly; your toddler may not have any use for Platinum Aspiration now, but just wait a day or three.

The "Grow Up Well" Want is another nice source of childhood Aspiration Points, while the "Grow Up Badly" Fear is a nasty bogeyman best avoided. Those two married lesbians and the Sim Blender in my Wilderfire household are presently pregnant with their ninth and tenth children, and the first four kids haven't even made it to college yet. Those first four kids were very taxing on both Moms when they were all poor and just starting out, so one of the boys ended up Growing Up Badly, from a combination of neglect (read: Mom and Mom being too busy with the other three kids and their needs) and a realized Fear or three. I didn't think that the Therapist ever visited toddlers or children, but evidently he can and he does.

I felt pretty awful about poor Kestrel being in Deep Red Aspiration when he hit childhood, so I've been doting on him ever since. I've also become much better at grooming my Simmy kids and keeping them out of the Red Zone, and even Kestrel was in Platinum Aspiration when he transited from Child to Teen. So I learned my lesson from Kestrel's misery, and he rebounded quite nicely because of that.

(22-09-2018 10:47 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Oh, by the way... There is only ONE thing that I use Smart Milk for: Toddlers who've shown that they like learning new things, will get one bottle of the stuff just before growing up to child. That way, they will be super-smart cookies for at least their entire childhood, learning three times as fast as normal.

Come now. The Smart Milk machine is what, the fourth item in the Aspiration Catalog? It's not like it's expensive, and each one comes with five bottles anyway. You can afford it.

(22-09-2018 10:47 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  In fact, I hardly ever use ANY of the objects from the Aspiration Catalogue. Sims' lives get far too easy with those

Now you're just talking crazy.

(But then, some of my Romance Sims invest more Aspiration Points in Love Tubs than they invest in Elixir of Life! I guess that's pretty crazy too. )

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  I've noticed that you seem to say "fornicating" a lot, usually if not always in the place where a more vulgar synonym would normally go. This forum has a word-replacing censor script in effect, I presume.

So you got the wind of that, huh? Yeah, Leefish has put some word-placing censor script in place. That's why you can't say the four-letter word for what chimpanzees throw, without the board software changing it to "rubbish". So I then go out of my way to talk about the S, the H, the I and the T to make my point. The more vulgar synonym is in fact what I meant to say, but the program would probably change that to "rubbish" or "****", so I deliberately write "fornicating" to drive the point home... Gotta be creative, right?

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  So anyway, then once that toddler hits high Platinum Aspiration, it's not that hard to keep him or her above Green Aspiration until it's time to age the toddler up to a child. Just a hug here, a talk there, maybe a tickle an hour or two later. That's just about all it takes. "Miracle Mite" childhoods will follow.

<...some snipping took place here...>

Like I noted last paragraph, higher Aspiration colors are insurance against growing up poorly; your toddler may not have any use for Platinum Aspiration now, but just wait a day or three.

How noble of you. My stance on that is that the best insurance against growing up poorly, is to NOT let it all depend on the higher powers. Call me a vengeful guy, but why would I award a lazy-hind-quarters uncooperative toddler with a "Grew up Well" memory and token, if they have done NOTHING to earn that? If they roll even just ONE worth-while want -- like Gain a Logic or Creativity skill-point, or, after level 4 gain so-and-so level 5 (or better) -- I will put some effort in. If they roll even just ONE want to learn a toddler skill, I'll make sure that they learn it as quickly as they can, because I want them to succeed, TOO! But not ALL the effort should be coming from me or their parents/older siblings. They must be willing to do their part.

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  I didn't think that the Therapist ever visited toddlers or children, but evidently he can and he does.

So far, it has never come to THAT in my game, yet. Teens and older may get such visits, but they would have to go really far to deserve THAT. Actually, so far, only ONE sim has ever met the Therapist... at least four times! He was not a very fortunate man, but that was his own choice.

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  I felt pretty awful about poor Kestrel being in Deep Red Aspiration when he hit childhood, so I've been doting on him ever since.

I'm not the fairy godmother. I will not hold my sims back from "Grow Up Well", but I'm not holding them back from "Grow Up Badly" either. I will amplify their efforts, but there MUST be something to amplify, or it's all going to that four-letter word again...

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  Come now. The Smart Milk machine is what, the fourth item in the Aspiration Catalog? It's not like it's expensive, and each one comes with five bottles anyway. You can afford it.

It's not about whether or not I can afford it. It's about how much I can make my sims achieve WITHOUT it. I didn't adapt Monique's Aspiration Notebook just for the fun of it... I did so, because I needed a good way to store the millions upon millions of Aspiration points that are never going to be used!

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  

(22-09-2018 10:47 AM)BoilingOil Wrote:  In fact, I hardly ever use ANY of the objects from the Aspiration Catalogue. Sims' lives get far too easy with those

Now you're just talking crazy.

Try me! I am crazy!

(22-09-2018 11:51 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  (But then, some of my Romance Sims invest more Aspiration Points in Love Tubs than they invest in Elixir of Life! I guess that's pretty crazy too. )

My sims, at least the ones that do well, use some Aspiration points on Objects that are not in the default Maxis book. Like temporary or permanent gender changes (although they don't change externally). If one woman gets a gender change, she can procreate with another woman. A similar thing works for men. A sim who makes enough Aspiration points, can also use them to buy Career rewards for careers (s)he's never been in. All that stuff is made expensive!

But, just to put a bit of a context onto all that I've said so far. So far, only that one sim that NEVER rolled a Toddler Skill want, had a terrible childhood. As a Teen, he managed to crawl out of that, mostly on his own. And only ONE sim has ever met the Therapist. Because I'm NOT cruel, even if you think I came off that way!

Actually, it's hard to imagine that anyone will ever have their sims be happier on average than the majority of mine. But that may just be a failure on the part of my imagination!

Oh I seldom ever read to Toddlers or Children. I usually do give out lots of Smart Milk, and I do usually teach toddlers to walk, talk and potty train them, since most of the time either one of the parents has a want to teach or the toddler has a want to learn but then I just let them take care of them selves except for putting them into their cribs. They usually grow up well most of the time, but I am not obsessive about how well they grow up.

Also I have several of jfade's items that one can buy using Aspiration Points, I particularly like the one that auto summons NPCs to repair things and that you can use to schedule various NPCs. Jfade has other nice items that one can buy with Aspiration Points like something attracts Wolves or something that repels them and several other useful items.

Also when my Sims are in college they will have be in a Greek House eventually and eventually they will be members of the Secret Society. Most often by the time they are in their second year.

I don't usually have a Therapist visit, if my sim is in the red I try to fulfill some of their wants if I can. I keep an eye on them most of the time.

(22-09-2018 09:33 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  Most of the Majors in Simmy college only have two professors, but two Majors have three professors; Philosophy is one of them (as seen with Sanguine on the last page), and I believe that Physics is the other.

My newest college Sim would like to inform us that Art is a Major with three professors.



I'll have to check Physics out and see which professors it has. Think that might be worth changing a Sim's major a few times?

(24-09-2018 12:25 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  My newest college Sim would like to inform us that Art is a Major with three professors.

<...snip...>

I'll have to check Physics out and see which professors it has. Think that might be worth changing a Sim's major a few times?

This is NOT the normal way, actually. Something must have happened to corrupt the game into thinking that one of the original professors was no longer available, causing it to generate another to replace them. Because NORMALLY, each Major has exactly TWO profs: one male, one female.

Corruption? Maybe. Or maybe it was something that one of my mods sneaked in. Just skimming through this page turned up Laci Pederson and Jace Gergis, but Justus Walter seems to be new. Dating Professor Justus still gave Kileighney a nice boost in Class Performance, so at least he works.

But then, Benne picked up a third professor (one Anthony Wilson whom I didn't capture in any screenshots...yet) in her Junior year, after I ran the Batbox for the first time. Maybe it's corruption itself, maybe it's part of corruption repair. Isn't it great how easily TS2 picks up bugs?

This page also suggests that there are two professors for each major, but it doesn't say anything about one man and one woman. Not to be a nitpicker, but where did you read that?

(22-09-2018 08:02 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  So you got the wind of that, huh? Yeah, Leefish has put some word-placing censor script in place. That's why you can't say the four-letter word for what chimpanzees throw, without the board software changing it to "rubbish". So I then go out of my way to talk about the S, the H, the I and the T to make my point. The more vulgar synonym is in fact what I meant to say, but the program would probably change that to "rubbish" or "****", so I deliberately write "fornicating" to drive the point home... Gotta be creative, right?

Sporkin' dadburned right!

(22-09-2018 08:02 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  It's not about whether or not I can afford it. It's about how much I can make my sims achieve WITHOUT it. I didn't adapt Monique's Aspiration Notebook just for the fun of it... I did so, because I needed a good way to store the millions upon millions of Aspiration points that are never going to be used!

Elixir of Life. I sink all of my excess Aspiration Points into Elixir of Life. Some of my houses have little storage areas full of the stuff!

Once you reduce the threat of death by old age, that just leaves the usual lightning strikes, falling satellites, Cowplants, standing in sunlight for too long and so on, all of which are preventable. But I've still had a few casualties.

(Speaking of which, I should probably put action to thought and get around to replacing Gothier Green Lawns with an even bigger cemetery, just in case. And the new cemetery should probably have some features that make sense. I mean, a television on a cemetery lot? Seriously, Maxis?)

(22-09-2018 08:02 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  But, just to put a bit of a context onto all that I've said so far. So far, only that one sim that NEVER rolled a Toddler Skill want, had a terrible childhood. As a Teen, he managed to crawl out of that, mostly on his own. And only ONE sim has ever met the Therapist. Because I'm NOT cruel, even if you think I came off that way!

Actually, it's hard to imagine that anyone will ever have their sims be happier on average than the majority of mine. But that may just be a failure on the part of my imagination!

Hey, my Sims tend to be pretty successful and happy too. It's just that every now and then, one of them slips through the cracks big time, like little Kestrel Winehaven, or Sarah Love going on vacation with that pack of werewolves and coming home in Deep Red because of all the howling. So I've made my mistakes (and who hasn't?), and I just roll with them, learn from them and move on. Such is life itself, eh?