#gameplay notes

[pixeldistractions]

Gameplay notes on my Paralives timeline:

^ from Better Lifespans mod. And how it looks on my gameplay timeline.

Uh oh, I have a timeline spreadsheet! We're serious, folks. (Serious in a casual way, of course.)

Each full week is a YEAR of life for my paras, with the Better Lifespans mod and on extra-long, and that's really so different from how I have usually played my sims. My TS4 sims live 112 days for each year, so their timeline is 16 times slower! (And often, even slower than RL time, lol!)

But I'm enjoying that difference for my Paralives gameplay. And maybe I might even get through a couple whole generations in this game! Maybe (gasp!) I might even see some of these paras have grandchildren and then great-grandchildren and then even eventually DIE!?! 😱

Like, the idea of that for my sim babies makes me very sad. But for my paras, let's go! 😂

Maybe I'll feel differently about that after I grow more attached.

But I would love for this timeline to keep chugging along fast enough that I can't even get bogged down in story, which is good because that's not what I'm looking for from this game at the moment. It's truly not even ready for that level of involvement yet, even if it is fun to play as a game.

And that difference will be what makes it perfect to continue playing both games alongside each other. They each serve such different purposes for me.

Sorry, I'm not making a separate blog for my Paralives gameplay. Just as I don't have a separate blog for Minecraft or Manor Lords or Cities Skylines, when I'm in those moods. Nope. Not doing it. You get all of my pixel madness all in one place. 🤪

But everything will be tagged accordingly if you want to follow and/or block certain things.

And I'm still not sure yet about what kind of posting schedule might be best, so we'll probably experiment with what feels best as we go. When I am in sims story mode and have a chapter running, I would like for those updates to keep their usual daily/every-other 6pm-ish release time.

^ some useful cheats I’ll be happily using.

[lunar-cookies]

I started the LEPacy challenge in TS4 because I was stuck on TS3 for years, mostly because of how good it was for storytelling. When TS4 came out, it felt so empty that I just waited for more expansions to come out. But when I finally tried it again, there was so much content that it felt overwhelming.

I couldn’t tell what came from which pack anymore, it was too much, and I kept giving up thinking TS4 just wasn’t for me. But then I found this challenge—and it was exactly what I needed. It helped me explore the game step by step and actually enjoy playing TS4.

That was TWO. FREAKING. YEARS. AGO.

Adulthood is rough—work, kids, chores—and my gaming time is super limited. Not to mention I take small breaks to play other games too. So yeah, two years flew by. I don’t follow every rule to the letter because honestly, with my schedule, it would take me forever. Still, it’s been a lot of fun!

But I’m tired. I’ve played through 28 generations so far (currently on Horse Ranch, it takes me a while to edit and post pics here).

Some packs just aren’t my thing (like Horse Ranch, tbh), so it ends up feeling like a chore. I can’t wait to start a rotational gameplay with Sims I’ve had for years (I’m even thinking about bringing some TS3 characters into TS4!). Maybe even some storytelling again.

I might speed things up a bit—maybe switch to short lifespan. I really want to finish, and I’m close now.

Anyway… just rambling about the journey.

[ts4townie]

A note on my gameplay:

When I started the Starshine family, I deleted several premade families to make room for gallery townies. Very few premade remained, including Pancakes, Goth, Munch, Bjergsen, Vatore and Straud, and they aged up, had children, and some passed.

Now, I’m thinking of downloading premade families from TS1, 2, 3, and 4, and adding them to my current game. I can not emphasize enough that their ages will not make sense canonically. However, I’m imagining it as if they are all slowly moving in over time.

So, in the coming gameplay, do not be surprised if you see a young Nina Caliente and Bob Pancake’s daughter hanging out. Or, if you see Sofia Bjergsen’s daughter having an affair with Thornton Wolff. I’m not saying these things will happen, but they very possibly could.

[missy-hissy]

Just a little rambling on how I’m rotating while working with students at University.

When Discover University first came out, a lot of people (myself included) were wondering how the rotational players would work with the new system. It’s taken me a while but I’ve finally got a solution that works in my game. Each student needs 12 credits to pass graduate with their degree. In my game, the courses take an average of three years so that’s going to be four credits a year. I’m going to play the University students about twice a year, so I’m aiming for them to complete those four credits in two sittings.

What I’m then doing is switching households after they get their results but before they’re asked to leave the dorms. This way they can stay in the dorms while I work with other households but not progress through their studies without me! So I’ll be utilising the same system with my next group. It’s currently summer in my game but with the Autumn approaching, I’ve got a few plans in place for the start of the new term.

I’ve set up a Fresher’s Day holiday on the first Friday in the autumn. I’ll be using that in conjunction with Kiara’s New Student Day event. So I’ll be spending that first period with my new students who, this year, will be Elliott, Riccardo and Rohan Elderberry. They’ll play through their first term at University, before I’ll switch over at some point to the others. By the time the following summer rolls around, I should have these three with four credits each.

Probation And Suspension In my last playthrough, I decided that if a sim was suspended twice, they were expelled from the University. This actually happened with Will, Ethan and Ellie and is why neither of them received degrees, in spite of attending Foxbury.

This time, however, I’m going to change that. Right now, Tony is on probation, having done appallingly in his first term. If he gets suspended after the next term, then I’m going to have it that he cannot reenroll at the University until the following autumn. So he’ll have to get a flat and job sorted in between.

At some point I’ll get a more detailed look at the Uni system I’m using. But for now, this will suffice!

Thank you reading my ramble. Have a lovely day! 🌻🌼

[12raben]

Twinhills - Gameplay notes

After solving the flashing pink in my new neighborhood, I took a step back and thought: „Now that I have this nice city, who should be living here?“

Of course I wanted to play the MCC as well as the BaCC. This is going to work out like this: I'll borrow most rules from the MCC and sprinkle some flavour of the BaCC into it. The toppings are going to be some charts/chances from the Warwickshire Challenge.

I wrote a little more, but hid the rest to not block people’s dash with text. :)

The main „feature“ of the BaCC are restrictions, you have to unlock. Of course my medieval sims won't be unlocking electricity or running water.  Almost all community-lots will have to be owned by a sim or have to be paid with royal funds. Unless I unlocked a new level, which will gain a „free“ lot. (Having a free lot, right from the start, felt a little cheaty to me, but while building the residential lots, I quickly realised, that my sims will have get their waterbuckets and firewood from somewhere. And instead of giving them all a Giving Tree and a hidden rock of water fetching, which felt even more cheaty, I decided, that one free lot per level is okay.)

E.g. In order to move from settlement to Hamlet, my sims have to unlock a communal well, village green, Hedge Tavern, Weekly Market, Church & Cemetery.

Also, because I use religions in my game, I decided, that every deity gets a small place of worship for free. These are 1x1 lots, where my sims are going to worship the deities for now. The MCC includes Church, Monastery and such as community lots. I have a plan for those as well. Every place of worship for the 4 deities have to be unlocked to move forward in the challenge. (E.g. My spring-goddess’s temple is the village green. Most peasants worship her, so it makes sense, that her lot would be one of the first to be unlocked. I do plan to make a detailed post about my deities, so inspect more information about them there.)

The MCC by itself restricts certain careers within levels, but I will add some more restrictions to them as well.

I will ban as many NPCs as possible. The problem with that is, that there aren’t many options to marry off my single sims. That is why I decided to add the Almshouse and the Military Barracks as a reward for reaching the level Hamlet. I will play these households. My man at arms will work their way up the military career and hopefully save up enough money to move into their own fortress. I am not sure about the almshouse though... Maybe I will use this household to establish a brothel.

I definetly won’t be using the tax-sheets of the MCC. I really love the MCC, but that is to much math to keep track off. Instead I’ll be using set amounts my sims have to pay in taxes, though I definetly need to adjust the numbers. Most peasants were not able to pay their taxes on time. Fees and Fines are also reduced for now. As long as there isn’t a sim in law enforcement (my prison owner) there is no penality.

I’m not 100% sure, how everything is going to work, but I’m excited to finally play a medieval city again!!

[purplepxls]

When the game doesn’t want to start and takes 10 minutes to go from one floor to another... it's time for CC cleaning. Wish me luck!

[greeneyedsims]

With the start of Fall, begins the official school semester!

Sabien Cunningham, Sr. was so moved by Eden Clinton’s concern about the closing of the Twin Beech schools in Newcrest, that he made several phone calls to many influential leaders and donators and managed to broker a deal with the Township of Oasis Springs to pay for and build two schools:

Oasis Springs High School, in Oasis Springs, and Rosebud Primary School in Newcrest.  

This deal shows how significant education is to the citizens of Blythe Harbor and surrounding townships.  

OHS opened it’s doors for the first day of class on September 2, 100.  And, Marchon was very happy to meet some like-minded students who enjoy the same things he does, although, he missed seeing Eden in the bunch.  

This is the Tech Group - 1 class, with Marchon, Caleb, Adrienne, Yuki, and Miracle.  They study chess, charisma, writing, programming, and fitness, along with their mandatory homework assignments.  They will probably take field trips to the Oasis Science Museum and enter video gaming challenges for fun.

Gameplay Note:  I am trying out @redhotchilisimblr’s How to Make a School Without Mods tutorial because Zerbu’s Get To School Mod is no longer being updated.  She also built the schools, as well (I did a little tweaking)..thanks so much!

[pixeldistractions]

Totally gameplay with this bit. Like, I don’t even know how Jack is skilling so fast. And I have all kinds of slower skilling mods in play.

By the end of their first session, Jordan was only level 1.5 and Jack was 3.32. 😬