#gameplay notes

^ 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.)

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.

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.

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!

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. :)

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.

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.