One Person's Playing Tips by Mac

I've been giving Maikki a lot of advice on playing the sims, so I thought I'd pass on some thoughts here. Please understand that some of the tips are contained in the manuals or hint books and that some of them are simply a matter of personal taste. When I play the sims, I play to advance them in their careers and their social lives, and keep them alive by getting enough aspiration points to keep on buying the Elixir of Youth.

I don't play my sims to torture them. I do not use any hacks to add simoleans (kaching and familyfunds), to add skill levels, or to add aspiration points. I do, however, use four major hacks:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=64137
This is a wonderful hacked computer - it allows you to choose any career, to borrow simoleans at interest, to establish a savings account that pays interest, and to study any skills by pounding away at articles on the keyboard. I consider this one essential. It is also great for chatting or e-mailing.

http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=20.0
This is Sim Blender. I use it mainly to cycle through LTW to pick one to match the career I've chosen for the sim. It has a lot of other uses as well: Name changing, Teleporting other sims in, and changing relationships to name just a few.

There is another hack which was at simwardrobe.com which allowed a you to display and select a sim's chosen hobby (it looked like a purple vase). Alas, the site seems to be gone.

http://www.modthesims.info/d/445336
This is a new hack which allows you to add any neighborhood (or sub-neighborhood) sim to your 'phone book. You can then 'phone (first) and then e-mail any sim you add.

Houses: I tend toward fairly simple, small starter houses - 2x2, 1xn, nx1 lots. There are a lot of submissions of what I call "Edifice Complexes" - humungeous houses rivaling Versailles,
having a flat-screen telly in every room and tons of bric-a-brac. They do show off the creator's talents, but will be very expensive, and your poor sim will spend a lot of time just walking from end to end. For a sim, time is a crucial, limited commodity.

I try to start either in a house priced around 10-15K empty, or one just short of 20K at least partially furnished. I will then sell off the furniture I don't like, get one of the computers mentioned above, and take out sufficient loans to have 9-10K to furnish the house. I can usually pay off the loan in 5-6 days, depending on the starter career.

If your sim has a fortune aspiration or a tinkering hobby, you want to pick a house with a driveway or room to put one in. Fortune sims will get aspiration points for buying a car and tinkerers can advance in their hobby - and make a lot of money - restoring an old junker.

You just don't need everything. I really tend to play an "all business" game, with very few decorations or things my sim doesn't actually use. Essentials are the hacked computer above, a 'phone, smoke alarms in the kitchen and any fireplace, a burglar alarm, a burglar alarm for the car if you have one, and a lightning rod if you have Seasons installed (there are hacks which turn off the lightning). For the kitchen: A good fridge, a good stove, and two counters. Skip the sink and put in the cheaper dishwasher - no real benefit from the pricey one. Put in a trash masher, too. If you are really hard up, you only need one counter and a trash bin instead. You do want a really good stove and fridge to get the best hunger satisfaction. You only need more than two counters if you get a microwave or food processor, etc. In the bathroom, a simple toilet and a shower or tub. The pricey toilet looks nice but just isn't worth it - save it for when you're rich. You don't need a sink until you have babies. You'll need a tub for toddlers. You do want a bed with good comfort and sleep values. Your sim would lose precious time sleeping more in a poor bed. Always get a bookcase, you'll need if for studying. I often skip a hi-fi and sometimes even skip the telly at first. If there is room by the mailbox, put a small table nearby. When the sim gets the bill, he'll drop it on the table and can pay it quickly, rather than taking it all the way into the house and
all the way back - more time saving.

Careers and LTW. Pick the career you like, ideally suiting it to the personality of the sim. If the career is a Maxis standard career (other than University), you can use the Sim Blender to cycle through the LTW to get the appropriate one. Some LTW may not be available for certain aspirations. If your career is third-party or University, you won't be able to choose an appropriate LTW. I usually choose one of three - 20 Best Friends (the easiest - and a good match for a popularity sim), Earn 100K (good match for a fortune sim), and Max out all 7 Skills (This one is difficult, but is a good match for a knowledge sim).

Spending Aspiration Benefit points: Two into job: Life of Luxury and Business Instinct. If my sim is a knowledge sim, I immediately spend 3 to get to Eureka, otherwise I tend to save them until I get a 4th, then go for Knowledge as a Secondary Aspiration and get Eureka (it takes 4 points as a secondary). It's a toss-up for a fortune sim - spend a point for Skilled Negotiator and get immediate pay increase, or wait to get Eureka for faster skill learning and faster career advance.

When you first arrive in your new house, up to 3 neighbors will arrive at 1230. They actually are neighbors - from the nearby houses. After you meet them, you want to feed them, otherwise they will wander off earlier than usual. If you have a rectangular (not square) table, you only should place 4 chairs, two on each side. Otherwise, when your sim sits down to eat with them, he might find himself off at one end, able to interact with only one person.

When meeting new people, do two things absolutely first: Do a Flirt/Check Sim Out, and do an Ask/Do you like what you see. This will give you some indication of chances of success at friendship. If it's "yuck" both ways, you may just want to say goodbye. This also holds for people that accompany the sim home from work, although it might pay to be more persistant, since they start off with a daily score of 25. Also, NPC sims sometimes give goodies: Promotions, Higher Pay, Cheaper Shopping. One way of building friendship when the other sim says "Don't flirt! Don't admire!" is to Ask/Interests. Then check your own. If you can Talk/Hang Out and steer the conversation to common interests you can build quite a relationship.

If you are a popularity sim especially, although it often holds true for others, you get an extra bonus with BFF. When a friend gets over 50 in the lifetime relationship number, call them on the 'phone. This will result in the friend becoming a Best Friend. Shortly afterwards an item may appear in the wants: BFF forever with that friend. Just put a lock on it and wait two days. 5000 easy aspiration points - with no further effort!

Chance cards. There are career chance cards and if you have Freetime, there are hobby chance cards as well. Career chance cards only affect career (doh). On the other hand, hobby chance card failures are less punishing. I sometimes try career chance cards at lower levels of career when I have little to lose, never at high levels, and absolutely never at the top career level. Also, don't try them if you are about to be promoted anyway (see the job performance meter in the Job screen). On the other hand, if you are demoted, you do already have the qualifications for promotion and you get the bonus payment again!

You seldom need to have your sim play games on the computer to satisfy fun. Watching the TV cooking show or using the easel to paint also satisfy fun, chatting on the computer or e-mailing satisfy both fun and social.

BTW, at higher levels of creativity, don't use the "Paint portrait of...". This requires that the person being painted be present at the start and really limits poses. Use "Paint still life" instead. You can pose the subject (also use various posebox hacks ), then frame the picture and paint. Much more flexible. You can also do a self-portrait of the sim at the easel.

Career bonus objects: The real winners are the "I Object Litigator's Podium" - get simoleans as well as charisma, the "Books First for Learning" - study anything, and the "Golden Skull of Jumbok IV" - (allegedly) speeds learning. The businessperson's putting green gives sports enthusiasm as well as body, as does the athlete's punching bag. Some of the objects are simply fun, not conferring any particular advantage.

Finally, an oxymoron. Platinum is Gold. When your sim is platinum you almost always get promoted as soon as you qualify. When your sim is platinum, you can use all the special rewards (Youth elixir, etc) without fear. When your sim is platinum, you get aspiration benefit points faster. Therefore, when you get the magic lamp, there is really only one choice: If you are not already platinum or soon to be, take the "Peace of Mind" wish. Do the same for other members of your family. Then, if there are charges left, GIVE IT AWAY, preferably to a non-platinum sim in a non-Maxis career. "Peace of Mind" is the only wish to use!

Maybe this can be the start of a thread on tips for playing the Sims.

I find these very helpful, Mac. And new players are sure to gain a lot of valuable information from your post. I didn't realize that sims made a BFF in only 2 days (if they already had a BF to begin with). For some reason I thought it took a lot longer. I'm locking that want in all the time, now.

I am crushed to learn about Paladin's Place/Sims Wardrobe closing down. That was one of my favorite hack and mod sites for good, high quality dependable items and interesting ideas. Now I'm wondering if I got everything I wanted from there - I just can't believe he's gone

Astral Faery wrote:

I am crushed to learn about Paladin's Place/Sims Wardrobe closing down. That was one of my favorite hack and mod sites for good, high quality dependable items and interesting ideas. Now I'm wondering if I got everything I wanted from there - I just can't believe he's gone

Please do let me (us) know if you find this site open at all. I've been checking every few days.

One thing I forgot to put in has to do with 3rd party houses. The other day, Maikki was terrified, thinking that a sim was turning into a werewolf He was turning all blue. It turns out that it was winter and his bedroom was actually outside the house. I've encountered similar things in 3rd party houses on occasion when I tried to put up a ceiling light fixture.

Two things you can do to test: Try to put a burglar alarm on an outer wall. Try to put a ceiling light fixture in the room. If either of these fail, the house has a problem and should either be fixed or discarded.

I just read through everything you've shared here, Mac.
This is all SIMply terrific and very helpful.
Thank you so much for posting "One Person's Playing Tips".

Ari wrote:

And new players are sure to gain a lot of valuable information from your post.

Sir Mac wrote:

Therefore, when you get the magic lamp, there is really only one choice: If you are not already platinum or soon to be, take the "Peace of Mind" wish. Do the same for other members of your family. Then, if there are charges left, GIVE IT AWAY, preferably to a non-platinum sim in a non-Maxis career. "Peace of Mind" is the only wish to use!

I have never chosen any other and always make sure I share the leftover 2 wishes with other fam members, so they may have Peace of Mind, too.

Mac wrote:

There is another hack which was at simwardrobe.com ... Alas, the site seems to be gone.

Ari wrote:

Now I'm wondering if I got everything I wanted from there - I just can't believe he's gone.

WOAH! Bummer! After all these year, Paladin's Palace is no more?
What a shame!
We will all have to pool our Sims Wardrobe downloads together and help one another out, if we're missing anything.

Mac, thank you, again, for sharing these very valuable playing tips.
As always, I appreciate you being here with us.
Please feel free to keep adding to this thread, so that others may continue to benefit from your gaming experience & advice.
I have "stickied" your tutorial, as I have the others.

Just another thought (they keep coming to me):

About platinum, when going to work, try to go as a platinum, especially if you have all of the qualifications. Example: You've almost reached level 8 in charisma, say, and you have a want to get level 8 in charisma. Hold off on getting there until an hour or so before you go to work, then hammer charisma. You hit the level 8, and get all the aspiration points, get to platinum, and go to work.

Even, say, postponing getting 1500 aspiration points for buying a car. Hold off until just before you go!

Lots of ways to "game" the system!

OMG! It's up!! http://www.simwardrobe.com/ :wigglypig: I literally felt like my world came to a crashing halt because I thought this site no longer existed. I am so very very happy it's up!!!

Thank you Ari! I hadn't checked it in some time. To navigate to the things I use, go to Sims2, then Objects, then Other Objects. I use the Predestined Hobby Adjuster for every new sim, also the Seasons and Weather Controller to keep all of my sims synched on the same season.

Awesome! I'm glad the site is back up. I was just hunting for the seasons/weather controller the other day.

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You just don't need everything. I really tend to play an "all business" game, with very few decorations or things my sim doesn't actually use. Essentials are the hacked computer above, a 'phone, smoke alarms in the kitchen and any fireplace, a burglar alarm, a burglar alarm for the car if you have one, and a lightning rod if you have Seasons installed (there are hacks which turn off the lightning). For the kitchen: A good fridge, a good stove, and two counters.

That's how I tend to do my homes too, when I'm just playing and not setting things up for a story. I've never used (or really even noticed) the lightning rod, that's interesting.

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BTW, at higher levels of creativity, don't use the "Paint portrait of...". This requires that the person being painted be present at the start and really limits poses. Use "Paint still life" instead. You can pose the subject (also use various posebox hacks ), then frame the picture and paint. Much more flexible. You can also do a self-portrait of the sim at the easel.

That's one I learned really early on and have lived by from then on. The "paint portrait" option is really a hassel, it's useless.

Great tips! There's a lot of useful stuff there, especially for newer players.

SimEm wrote:

I've never used (or really even noticed) the lightning rod, that's interesting.

If you don't have it, lightning can strike your property, set things on fire (most things burn without being actually consumed) but can occasionally fry a sim. This may cause them to turn all black and smoldering, but also can be fatai. I have since used a hack which keeps the bolts away although thunder will roll around the neighborhood.

I posted on June 25 regarding parts of a house being "outside". Well, it happened again, only this time it was summer. I thought the sim in question was inside, in fact sleeping, when she came down with sunstroke - and (obviously) stayed that way all day. Again, when I tried putting up a hanging lamp and failed, and when I tried installing a burglar alarm, and failed, I realized that the upstairs was "outside". House creators should always do this check before posting and users of 3rd party houses should check them out before investing much time and effort into them.

A couple of unrelated ideas...

You invite a sim over and go out to meet him or her, then your sim wanders off to take a shower. If you have "Freetime" have your sim do birdwatching. This will usually keep him rooted to the spot for enough time for the person invited to come over. You do then have to cancel the birdwatching and go greet. Watching stars and clouds works, too, but can be dangerous to a male - he might get abducted and impregnated.

If you're like me and have lots of sims and lots of houses, consider using the suburbs. I'm still keeping my main hood small and compact - lots of 1xn and nx1 houses. But I've added both a city and a shopping district, to which I'm adding houses and sims. The sims in the main and the suburbs seem to seamlessly combine, walking by, emailing, calling, etc. Don't use the university for this purpose, though, since they will be reminded of classes and exams whether they are students or not. I haven't tried populating vacation spots - I don't think it would work. I do think, however, that you could have more than one shopping suburb and more than one city suburb - haven't tried it yet.

Thanks very much for this post. I found out some things that I didn't know mainly because I haven't played FT and AL as much as the earlier EPs. And it's always nice to get another person's take on the game. :)

It can definitely be problematic when you find out a house isn't season proof. Regrettably I've had to discard a few lots because of that, especially those with varied roofs that let in rain or snow.

BTW, I've had several shopping districts in my game with no problems whatsoever.

UGH! I hear you on the houses that aren't weather proofed. I was working on an adopt-a-family for one of Sugah's updates (quite a while back - but it still bugs me), and I used a Maxis house for the family. I moved them in and started setting up screenshots, but couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why the baby kept getting cold everytime he took a nap on the upper level of the house. I was new to Seasons, then, too, so didn't think right away that there were gaps in the walls around the upper level, to make the roof look a certain way. I was so mad, because I had already spent hours on the project, so I didn't want to move the family to a new house and start all over - and trying to close up the gaps would have ruined the roof design. But I ended up doing it anyway, because the family and lot was going to be uploaded here - I didn't want other Seasons players to have the same problem with the house. It's not like I expected Maxis to go back and update all their houses for Seasons, but it still peeved me and added hours to my project.

Boy Ari, that's a new one. I've only found the weather problem to be happening with 3rd party houses (of course, I mainly use 3rd party anyway). I remember rain and snow coming in (long before I was involved in this site) then Maikki had a sim turning blue and I've had some getting heatstroke "indoors".

Trying to add a burglar alarm and/or a ceiling light fixture is a pretty good diagnostic tool (If you can't install them, the house has a problem), although there might just be some situations where this failed as well.

Yet another house with inside-outside problems. 4 Ocean Grove (a MTS2 lot) is beautiful - big downstairs, with 2 big bedrooms upstairs and a dock over the ocean with a diving board. The problem: The 2 upstairs bedrooms are outside. Maybe you don't play ocean lots in winter so it might be less of a problem, but if you do, your sims can turn blue in winter. They might also get heatstroke in summer.

If, like me, you recycle old lots - moving families out of starter homes into larger homes as they get simoleans or have children - then reusing the now empty starter lot for a new starter family, you should be aware of this.

When you move a new family into the (old) starter lot, of course you'll install a fridge. The good news - whatever leftovers that the old family didn't consume are now in that fridge. The bad news - the "new" fridge won't have its full contents, and could run out at an awkward moment. Some things you should have the new family do right away: 1) Do a "Get Leftovers" even if you aren't eating right away - just to see what's in there. 2)Do a "Check Contents" to see how soon you need to replenish the fridge.

Simply put, the contents of the fridge, both prepared foods, and available contents are stored with the lot, not the fridge.

Alas, no narfing smilies...

The lightning bolts between two sims can be variable... If a sim likes a good cook and the other gets cooking skill, bolts might increase (I think the critical level is 6).
Likewise, if a sim dislikes fitness and the other gets more body, the bolts might decrease.

Yes, it is possible to increase chemistry this way. There are many other factors that affect chemistry as well - Cyjon did an in-depth study on this and it's actually quite interesting.
You can read about it here.

Thanks for the link, Ari Fascinating stuff there!

Just discovered something interesting... As many of you know, I'm married to a dancing girl, so I have a lot of dancing girls in my 'hood. In particular I have Alessandra Ferri and Gillian Murphy sharing a house. (To see them, go to Mac's hood). In point of fact, the dancing girl in my life is also a dancer in my 'hood.

Anyway, Alessandra and Gillian started out with 2 "Basic Barre" - in front of a mirror, of course. Then Alessandra got promoted to level 6 and was able to get the "Better Barre" as a career award. It allows not only "warm up" available on the basic barre, but "Ballet Exercises" as well. So I had Alessandra go to her new barre and do ballet exercises. To my surprise, Gillian was able to do ballet exercises on the basic barre! So it seems that the Better Barre passes its bonus on to any barre on the lot. (I've also noticed that a sim completing the highest level in the music and dance hobby can also do ballet exercises on the basic barre - regardless of whether a better barre is there or not.)

So all of you get out there dancing!

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So it seems that the Better Barre passes its bonus on to any barre on the lot.

That's good information, Mac.

How interesting!  I too do not play my sims to torture them, I help them to succeed in life. When they are happy, I am happy.  

I read your post, I also use similar tricks to help them achieve platinum mood.  If you have OFB or BV, it is even easier to help sims to fulfill the life time want of making 100,000 simoleons.  How?  I direct my sims to purchase the cheapest vacation home using the phone, which is about 18,000 (or less I believed), and then immediately sale it, you got a refund back, no depreciation what so ever, the neat thing is that, the game registered in the sims' memory of just making 18,000; my sims then purchase the same property again, and resale it again, this time she has just made a total of 36,000 simoleons (in game terms).  I then repeat the process 4 more times, because every time you buy and sale real estate, the refund was treated as your income (ha..ha..), after completing the number 6th sale, my sims will get her life time permanent platinum mood.  

I used the same trick to help all my new fortune sims, they achieve their life time want in just a few hours immediately after moving into a starter home.  

Did anyone use the same trick?

eliseluong wrote:

If you have OFB or BV, it is even easier to help sims to fulfill the life time want of making 100,000 simoleons.  How?  I direct my sims to purchase the cheapest vacation home using the phone, which is about 18,000 (or less I believed), and then immediately sale it, you got a refund back, no depreciation what so ever, the neat thing is that, the game registered in the sims' memory of just making 18,000; my sims then purchase the same property again, and resale it again, this time she has just made a total of 36,000 simoleons (in game terms).  I then repeat the process 4 more times, because every time you buy and sale real estate, the refund was treated as your income (ha..ha..), after completing the number 6th sale, my sims will get her life time permanent platinum mood.  

I used the same trick to help all my new fortune sims, they achieve their life time want in just a few house immediately after moving into a starter home.  

Did anyone use the same trick?  

I think a lot of people were using a trick similar to this around 2008 (not in the sims...)

But then a lot of people didn't get their life time permanent platinum mood, and worse, ended up broke in 2010.  Sims game is better, my sims never go broke.

Touche!