Deeper MAXIS Hobbies, Part 2

As I have been playing for quite some time with my personality and trait system, I decided to update you on the changes I made in game. As always, feel free to borrow/steal/use them in your game and tweak them to suit you. Ask any questions, concerns or comments as well.

Deeper MAXIS Hobbies, Reduex


Based on a sim's one true hobby, I decided that they would have a corresponding skill strength. This means that they will learn that chosen skill faster (mostly through the Thinking Cap from the aspiration rewards and skill bonuses from SimBlender). Some hobbies will also have a boost in talent badges, meaning that they will start with a bronze badge (of thier chosing if multiple badges are available) even without studying.

Assigning Money Management Styles Based on Simology

I've been wondering how to add a bit more dimension to my sims, especially when it comes to debt and spending habits. Thankfully I came across an article about money management styles and I wondered if I could apply that to my sims.

Basically each money management style is seperated by traits, actually thier serious score and thier money interest score, so there's nothing new for me to randomly roll, I just look at my simmies' stats. Also, the nature of their money management style is pretty fluid as well. Here's a brief overview of the money management styles.

Traits, Part 2

As I have been playing for quite some time with my personality and trait system, I decided to update you on the changes I made in game. As always, feel free to borrow/steal/use them in your game and tweak them to suit you. Ask any questions, concerns or comments as well.

Traits
I have a list of 54 traits-most taken from TS3 list, others from personality profiles and myself. Things like grouchy and sweet were removed since the ingame personality/zodiac signs takes care of that. Also, I added things like witchy/vampire/etc to indicate if the sim would like to become a creature. I also added fertility, sexual preference and body type.

Apple Valley Academy

The newly renovated Apple Valley Academy is complete and ready for it's close-up. The school sits on the largest allowed piece of property (3x3) in the county and has a third level that is currently storage, but can be expanded if the need arises.

The first level features the principal's office, art classroom, music classroom, auditorium, library and cafeteria. Outside there is plenty of space on the playground, basketball court and school garden to relax and enjoy the crisp days of fall.

Antonio Herendez volunteers once a week to teach students the basics of art appreciation,

while Nicole Humphrey works part-time teaching music, or torturing her ears, depending on the student.

The cafeteria is stocked with healthy eating options such as mac and cheese, vending machines and the addictive coffee.

The library has a bank of computers as well as an ever growing book collection for student research.

Benjamin Endeavor leads an outdoor physical education class part-time whenever the weather is nice, otherwise the class is moved indoors,

much to the dispair of the secondary students who hoped to see Benjamin without his shirt once more. Students also enjoy the outdoor garden and fish pond.

The second level contains the dance room (and indoor physical education room), technical arts room, secondary classroom (6-12); lower primary classroom (K-2) and upper primary classroom (3-5).

Ilila Peterson manages to keep her students seated and focused as they compare their reading materials. Her classroom contains most of her travel momentos,

classroom fish tank (that the secondary students love) and bright, cheerful paintings.

Jasmine Frankson perfers a more laid back teaching style for her students as she allows them to explore the delights of thier surroundings. The students are surrounded with a classroom wombat, plant station, activity table, large table for reading and writing and plenty of floor space for fun and games.

Jesse Kent is just glad that he doesn't have to deal with taunts of "booger face" though he now has to try to teach his students the strange world of algebra. When students are not glued to their seats wishing for lunchtime, they can be found exploring the bookcase full of magazines and university information in the back.

Susie MacAstral doesn't have that problem with her dance class

her students are usually very dedicated,

nor do the students complain when it's their turn in the techincal arts room. Harriet and Henry work hard on their respective crafts while ignoring each other as siblings often do.
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Deeper MAXIS Aspirations, Part 2

As I have been playing for quite some time with my personality and trait system, I decided to update you on the changes I made in game. As always, feel free to borrow/steal/use them in your game and tweak them to suit you. Ask any questions, concerns or comments as well.

Aspirations, Reduex

At first I chose aspirations based on the family members. For example, if the parents were family and fortune then the children would be one or the other. Now aspirations are chosen based on thier personality, wants as a child, interests, traits and OTH-if known. Aspirations can change as the sim ages or based on a ROS, so they're more dynamic.

I assign aspirations as follows.

Fortune:
-personality= mostly serious, not lazy or shy sims
-interests = Money, Work, Crime
-OTH= n/a

Knowledge
-personality= mostly serious, shy and neat sims.
-interests = Environment, Paranormal, Weather, Sci-Fi, Health
-OTH= Science, Nature, Tinkering

Family
-personality=mostly nice sims, not lazy sims
-interests= School, Toys
-OTH: Culinary

Popularity:
-personality= mostly outgoing and playful sims.
-interests = Culture, Entertainment, Fashion, Politics, Sports
-OTH: Sports, Music & Dance

Pleasure:
-personality= mostly playful, lazy sims.
-interests = School, Toys, Travel,
-OTH: Games, Sports

Romance:
-personality= mostly outgoing, playful and nice sims.
-interests = Culture,
-OTH= n/a

Grilled Cheese (secondary aspiration only):
-personality= mostly lazy sims.
-interests = food
-OTH: Culinary

Behind the Aspirations
Aspirations mean slightly different things to me. They give me the why behind some of the wants that my sims roll up. They can also be described using some of the TS3 traits.
 
Fortune: This sim is very ambitious, disciplined, and at their worst is a workaholic. They can be a bit neurotic and snobbish at times, however they love art and the finer things in life to bolster their reputation.
 
Knowledge: This sim can be described as a bookworm, always reading and can be a bit clumsy. They can also be a whiz with technology, eccentric and often are geniuses.
 
Family: This sim often likes children and animals and are very family oriented. Decisions are made based on the family.
 
Romance: There are two versions of this aspiration in my game
-Romance-Commitment Issues: This sim often dislikes children, can be very flirty and is a great kisser and woohooer.
-Romance-Hopeless Romantic: This sim loves romance novels and stories of true love. This is how I try to reconcile those family/romance sims.
 
Pleasure: This sim can tend to be a bit childish and a couch potato. They are often easily impressed with just about everything and are often heavy sleepers. They are heavy party animals
 
Popularity: This sim is very charismatic and a natural sales sim. They can be dramatic at times and a party animal.
 
Grilled Cheese: This sim is a food addict with a narrow obsession with cheese.

Apple Valley Police Station

In the heart of the Metro lies a crop of buildings including the plain police station clad in white stone.

Once you enter the station you encounter the reception area where you must wait until or if you are allowed upstairs to the offices or holding cells.

The station serves as home to the Apple Valley police force and intelligence department.

During their daily routines they work on cases, uncover evidence,

and keep an eye on inmates in the holding cells.

Occasionally those inmates, who live far from the lap of luxury, 

receive visitors who must also be carefully watched through the visitor's speaking cell.

Otherwise, things are usually quiet around the station.

Deeper MAXIS Personality, Part 2

As I have been playing for quite some time with my personality and trait system, I decided to update you on the changes I made in game. As always, feel free to borrow/steal/use them in your game and tweak them to suit you. Ask any questions, concerns or comments as well.

Deeper MAXIS Personality-Reduex

I haven't really given MAXIS personality much play. Yes, my sims have it, but since I can control them even messy sims clean up thier homes. Recently, I've been looking at the traits in depth and really thinking what each one entails. So in addition to what the game programs them to do, I arranged for the personality traits to give me clues about various other traits (such as glasses/weight/career choice and aspiration/etc).

Neat: [5+ points] organized, neat-freak. This sim would color code recipes, clean up immediately and freak out over messes. Pays bills as soon as they come in, always remembers birth control (ACR birth control is on). Clothing is neat and ironed, hair is perfectly styled, more likely to wear a watch and leave for work or school as soon as carpool arrives. Gains cleaning skills much faster at a rate of 3:1 (for every third skill point they earn by studying, they gain a bonus one through SimBlender)

Messy: [4 or less points] disorganized, cluttered. This sim would have more clutter, lose bills and forget payments and birth control (ACR birth control is off). Clothing is wrinkled, mismatched, barefoot. Wears PJs most of the day. More likely to leave for work or school at the last possible minute, or late most days.

Outgoing: [5+ points] Attire is more trendy and skimpy, more likely to wear lots of jewelry, dyed hair. Gains charisma skills much faster at a rate of 2:1 (for every one skill point they earn by studying, they gain a bonus one through SimBlender). Gains friends much faster by having an initial relationship boost of 20 with all new sims (using SimBlender, relationships with new sims start at 20)

Shy: [4 or less points] More likely to have glasses, hairstyle will be such that sim can hide behind, attire is more conservative

Active: [5+ points] Wears gym clothes most of the day, more likely to be fit. Gains body skills much faster at a rate of 3:1 (for every third skill point they earn by studying, they gain a bonus one through SimBlender)
Lazy: [4 or less points] Wears PJs most of the day, more likely to be overweight. Automatic entry into secret society. Will ask sims to complete their homework, term paper and assignments.

Playful: [5+ points] Will play on playground equiptment to increase fun, chose play with interactions to increase fun, will wear hats and face makeup, attire is more trendy, dyed hairstyles. Have a very high dancing skill (modified with SimPE).

Serious: [4 or less points] genetic disposition to wear glasses :P attire is more conservative, more likely to be designated "genius" and allowed Smart Milk during toddler years. Gains logic skills much faster at a rate of 3:1 (for every third skill point they earn by studying, they gain a bonus one through SimBlender). Have a very high meditation skill (modified with SimPE).

Nice: [5+ points] More likely to perform errands for others, give gifts, easily influenced, will have an easier time making friends. Gains friends much faster by having an initial relationship boost of 20 with all new sims (using SimBlender, relationships with new sims start at 20).

Mean: [4 or less points] Likes to torment, argue. Will have a harder time making friends and will become easily furious with other sims and stay furious longer. Relationships grow at a slower rate by having an initial relationship decay of -20 with all new sims (using SimBlender, relationships with new sims start at -20).

I've Tasted and Now I'm Addicted

For some reason my game went from loading in 10 minutes to taking over 20 minutes to load. With a full doctoral course load and research responsibilities, I didn't have time to wait that long for a study break. I took out the download folder and everything loaded in 5 minutes. It's by no means the 1-2 minute load times that I've heard around the community, but 5 minutes is a pretty sweet number in my book. I know that I won't get to 5 minutes since I will use downloads, but to have a less than 10 minute load would be nice.

I know that I have gotten my download folder bloated and needed to cull it, but my piece meal effort of ingame deletion wasn't working. So what did I do? Start anew.

I took all the downloads out and redownloaded or moved over the files that I knew that I needed to play my game-things like skintones, signature hairstyles and genetics like eye color.

My Downloads folder is organized as follows:

Downloads>
--Buy Mode / creator / object
--Build Mode / type / creator
--Body Shop / type / creator
--Hacks & Mods / creator
--MAXIS
--Temporary / unopened & currently testing

My next step is deleting downloads with multiple recolors, like some of Piggi's object recolors or Fakepeeps clothing since I don't need multiple shades of blue for a nightstand and I don't need ten recolors of a dress that only three of my sims will wear. This part is more tedious. I don't know how much space I'll free up and if it will matter, but at least I won't have to shift through the recolors during gameplay.

To be honest, sometimes I wonder if this is a case of diminishing returns, more work on culling downloads to shave off a minute or two with load times...is it really worth it?

Assigning ACR's Ideal Family Size Based on Simology

Many people have a preset number of children in mind that they want to have and then no more. While others never really feel like their family is complete. Thanks to ACR's newest feature of "ideal family size" sims can have the same preferences.

I decided that a sim's ideal family size would be dependent on their personality and aspiration. We all know that family sims love children while romance sims could do without them most of the time. Also, pleasure and popularity sims would want less children than knowledge and fortune sims, but to to a smaller degree of difference.

 

Since I assign aspirations based on personality, I had to look to see if any aspirations were based on high outgoing or nice score. Since popularity is mostly outgoing, I assigned it a higher Aspiration ACR rank, also since knowledge had to be shy (low outgoing), I gave it a smaller Aspiration ACR rank so that my knowledge sims would at least desire some children. As a result, I coded each Aspiration ACR rank as follows:

family= 1

knowledge= 2

fortune= 3

popularity= 4

pleasure= 5

romance= 6

Looking at personality, I decided that the more outgoing a sim was, then the more likely they would like to have more sims in their family. Also since niceness was a requirement for the family aspiration in my hood, I decided that the nicer a sim, the more children they would like to have. As a result I developed a personality dependent score as follows:

Outgoing + ( 0.5 * Nice )

And the final ideal family size formula as follows:

Outgoing + ( 0.5 * Nice ) / Aspiration ACR Rank = Ideal Family Size

 
This formula fits into my spreadsheet quite nicely without having to collect any additional information such as interests or making the formula complex by considering family background (would those sims from large families prefer large families as well since they enjoyed the experience, or would they prefer smaller families in an attempt to give each child more attention)

Based on primary aspirations only, the formula gave pretty ideal results of what I envision each sim as desiring for their ideal family size. There were a few surprises, such as Jesse (Carr) Kent wanting 14 children since he's a very nice, outgoing family sim. Which leads into the next topic, that just because they have that ideal family size doesn't mean that they will have that many children. Thanks to ACR try for baby based on aspiration and my own birth control rules, then some sims won't have their ideal family size-sorry Jesse. I also noticed that as of now, the average ideal family size for my hood is 3.6 which fits into what the size of most families. I have also included a chart of how the fertile sims (teen and older) in my hood view their ideal family size.

Of course, the actual size of the family is also regulated by finances (can the couple "afford" another child?) , age (older sims have lower fertility rates with ACR), unplanned pregnancies, medical issues (the "barren" trait), spousal preference (for those sims who want 2 children vs 7 children) and of course their wants (if they both roll wants for a child, then I remove birth control, if the partner with the lower child tolerance rolls a want for a baby, then I also remove birth control) .

Veronika Kent Medical Centre

The Veronika Kent Medical Centre is located on the 39th Street block in Apple Valley Metro.

The 39th Street block us also home to many other local civic buildings

including the police department and a reputable hotel.

The centre was named after Veronika Kent, a successful architect and supporter of medical technology from the TS1 era of Greymount.

The clinic boasts of a recent renovation that added an a second level. The renovation has allowed for additional doctor offices, exam rooms and patient beds to be added.

The first level features several doctors' offices, waiting area, lobby and employee cafeteria.

The second level features exam rooms, surgery room, lab and patients beds.

Patients are greeted with a set of double glass doors that open into a spacious lobby.

Beyond the lobby, patients check in with the nurse on duty

and have a seat until they are called for their appointment.

Patients will either meet with Dr. Julio Wilsonoff, current Medical Centre Director (2005-2009) and General Family Medicine,

Dr. Suzanna McMillian, head of Obstetrics & Gynecology

or Dr. Donna O'Dale, head of Pediatrics.

Patients are seen in either one of two exam rooms,

depending on their age.

For patients that need sugerical care, a state of the art surgery lab is in process,

as well as the famous lab that discovered  the cure to the Plumbbob Virus.

While recovering patients can stay in comfortable beds before returning home.

Career Choices for Simmies

Sometimes my simmies have career related LTWs...other times, it's up to me to decide what career they go into. How do I do this? Several ways:

1. Look at the wants panel. Sometimes they'll roll a want for a specific career. If so, then I chose from one of those and they take the first one available and the one that fits their personality and lifestyle.
2. Look at a combination of personality, aspirations, interests and hobbies-which is what this post will talk about. Of course the usual, feel free to borrow/steal/use these in your game and tweak for your own hood.

Usually by the time my sims are teens, I will start thinking about their career and what they want to persue as their career. Here's the list that I use to think about which careers would work for each sim. It is not necessary for a sim to have EVERYTHING listed, but it's more like a score. The more qualities a sim has for that career, then the better suited that sim is for that career.

Athletic
-Personality = Active, Outgoing
-Aspiration=Fortune, Popularity
-Interests = Sports,
-Hobbies  = Sports, Fitness
-Traits = n/a

Business
-Personality = Serious, Outgoing
-Aspiration=Fortune, Family
-Interests  = Money, Work
-Hobbies = n/a
-Traits = workaholic

Criminal
-Personality= Active, Mean
-Aspiration =Fortune
-Interests = Crime, Money
-Hobbies = Fitness
-Traits = brave, rebellious

Culinary
-Personality = n/a
-Aspiration = Popularity, Grilled Cheese
-Interests = Food
-Hobbies = Culinary
-Traits = food addict,

Law Enforcement
-Personality = Active, Serious
-Aspiration = Family
-Interests = Crime
-Hobbies = Fitness, Sports
-Traits = brave

Medicine
-Personality = Serious, Neat
-Aspiration =Fortune, Knowledge
-Interests = Health
-Hobbies = Fitness
-Traits = n/a

Military
-Personality = Active
-Aspiration = Popularity
-Interests = Work
-Hobbies = Fitness, Sports
-Traits = brave, disciplined

Politics
-Personality = Outgoing, Serious
-Aspiration =Fortune, Popularity
-Interests = Politics
-Hobbies = n/a
-Traitsu = activist

Science
-Personality = Neat, Serious
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests = Animals, Environment, Weather
-Hobbies = Science, Tinkering, Nature
-Traits = eco-friendly

Slacker
-Personality = Outgoing, Playful
-Aspiration =Pleasure
-Interests = Travel, Toys
-Hobbies = Film & Literature, Games
-Traits = rebellious

Artist
-Personality = n/a
-Aspiration = Pleasure, Family
-Interests = Culture, Entertainment, Fashion
-Hobbies = Arts & Crafts
-Traits = n/a

Natural Science
-Personality = Neat, Serious
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests = Animals, Environment,Weather
-Hobbies = Science, Tinkering, Nature
-Traits = eco-friendly

Show Business
-Personality = Outgoing, Active
-Aspiration =Fortune, Popularity,
-Interests = Culture, Entertainment, Fashion
-Hobbies = Film & Literature
-Traits = trendy

Paranormal
-Personality = Neat
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests = Paranormal, Sci-Fi
-Hobbies = Science, Tinkering
-Traits = brave

Adventurer
-Personality = Active
-Aspiration = Popularity
-Interests = Culture, Weather
-Hobbies = Fitness, Sports
-Traits = brave, adventurous

Education
-Personality = Outgoing
-Aspiration =Knowledge, Family
-Interests = School, Toys
-Hobbies = Science
-Traits = patient

Gamer
-Personality = Playful
-Aspiration = Pleasure
-Interests = Toys
-Hobbies = Games
-Traits = rebellious

Journalism
-Personality = Outgoing
-Aspiration = Popularity
-Interests = Travel, Weather, Work
-Hobbies = Film & Literature
-Traits = n/a

Law
-Personality = Outgoing, Serious
-Aspiration =Popularity
-Interests = Crime
-Hobbies = Film & Literature
-Traits = n/a

Music
-Personality = Outgoing
-Aspiration = Popularity
-Interests = Culture, Entertainment, Fashion
-Hobbies = Music & Dance
-Traits = n/a

Architecture
-Personality = Serious
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests = Environment
-Hobbies = Arts & Crafts, Tinkering
-Traits = n/a

Dance
-Personality = Active
-Aspiration = Popularity
-Interests = Culture, Entertainment
-Hobbies = Fitness, Sports, Music & Dance
-Traits = n/a

Entertainment
-Personality = Active, Outgoing
-Aspiration =Fortune, Popularity
-Interests  = Culture, Entertainment
-Hobbies  = Music & Dance, Film & Literature
-Traits = n/a

Intelligence
-Personality = Neat
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests = Work, Travel
-Hobbies = Film & Literature, Tinkering, Science
-Traits = brave

Oceanography
-Personality = Active, Serious
-Aspiration =Knowledge
-Interests =Animals, Environment, Weather
-Hobbies = Fitness, Nature, Science
-Traits = eco-friendly

Let's use Si'Enya Warwick for this example. Her OTH is nature, aspiration is popularity and her traits are insecure, trendy and perpetual bachelorette. Personality: Neat 5; Outgoing 3; Active 7; Playful 3; Nice 7. Topic three interests: Environment=10; Weather=10; Animals=9

So we're looking for a career that needs a sim with an Active, Nice, Shy and Serious personality, that loves the environment, weather and animals; persues popularity and their OTH is nature. Which is actually strange that Si'Enya is popularity, she is better suited for Knowledge. I may have assigned her aspiration back when I was looking at the surrounding family members to pick aspirations. Ok, let's fix that.

So NOW we're looking for a career that needs a sim with an Active, Nice, Shy and Serious personality, that loves the environment, weather and animals; persues knowledge and their OTH is nature. Whew, makes more sense. Now it's time to start narrowing down the careers. We're going to narrow it down by Personality, Aspiration, Interests, OTH and traits (if applicable). You will see that you get a different list depending on how you narrow it down.

By narrowing the careers down according to aspirations we get:
Medicine

Science

Natural Science

Paranormal

Education

Architecture

Intelligence

Oceanography

By narrowing the careers based on OTH we get:
Science

Natural Science

Oceanography


By narrowing the careers down according to interests we get:
Oceanography

Architecture

Natural Science

Science


[one match only]

Journalism

Adventurer


By narrowing the careers based on personality we get:
Law Enforcement

Oceanography


[one match only]

Military

Athletic

Business

Criminal

Medicine

Science

Natural Science

Show Business

Adventurer

Architecture

Dance

By looking at all the lists we get a few career choices that stand out for Si'Enya

• Oceanography
• Natural Science
• Science

This is where it get's interesting and you have to get your creative juices stirring, let's look at Si'Enya's life so far. She's been hard at work trying to complete her bug collection and she has worked two summers as a camp counselor leading nature trails. We also have to look at the career caps (currently 2 playable sims per career with few exceptions)-thankfully all three careers are open.  We can eliminate oceanography as Si'Enya hasn't shown an interest in marine life during her teen years.

"I know what I want to do!"

"Excuse me, Si'Enya, you're interupting the process."

"Isn't this process about me?"

"Well...yea..."

"So shouldn't I have an opinion?"

"Um...ok...?"

"I would like to be a project leader."

"What?"

""I would like to lead researchers and students in entomology studies concerning the effects of the changing environment on our insect population and how the changes in insect population effect our environment. It's a very serious issue you know, why do you think I've been trying to catalog the insect species in Apple Valley?"

"Ugh...I thought you were collecting them."

"No and can you believe that I can't find the Paratrooper Spider, they used to be abudant in this environment, but I can't find it. Don't you think it has something to do with the changing environment?"

"Umm, yea...sure."

Well, it looks like Si'Enya has chosen the science career. Looks like a good choice.
If you perfer to have someone else do the work for you, then try Simmerville's Career Planner. You answer a series of questions for your sim and they provide a list of recommendations based on skill level, personality and family situation. I don't think they have the free-time career tracks added to the database.

Montalcino

Montalcino Vineyard and Resort is located several hours from Apple County.

The lower level features a world class resturaunt, on site market and breathtaking courtyard.

The upper level features several rooms that overlook the surrounding vineyards.

Guests are greeted with the vineyard's onsite market with local postcards and posters

as well as tables heavy with the freshest produce, milk, seafood and eggs delivered by local farmers each day.

The world class resturaunt boasts of an extensive nectar bar with vintages from the TS1 era

fresh nectar tasting stations for guests to sample the nectar of the day under the guidance of the host. After tasting such nectars, guests are welcome to view the process of nectar making and even try their hand at stomping the tender grapes to coax thier sweet juice out.

The resturaunt consistently serves delicious food that utilizes fresh herbs from the vineyard garden.

The chef prides herself on maintaining a fully stocked kitchen and offers cooking classes to vineyard guests. Guests can learn how to cook nectar crepes, chicken with black figs and lavendar, or even fresh basil salad.

The resort is one of the best, it has superb service that anticipates guests' every need including books from local author Elaine Mautneryia, customized tours of the surrounding area and a comfortable ride to the local airport.

The resort features clean and comfortable rooms that feature en-suite dining

or smaller rooms that adequately service your sleeping needs

and the spacious suite, also known as the Montalcino Suite

with private balcony dripping with plants that overlooks the vineyards. This suite is reserved months in advance.

When guests are not enjoying their lavish accomadations, they can be found in the breathtaking courtyard listening to the local radio.

The courtyard is complete with an area for weddings

and lavishly catered receptions

a space to relax in the hot tub

and plenty of seating areas and gaming tables shaded with hanging plants and grapevines heavy with fruit.

The courtyard is the jewel of the vineyard and resort.
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