Reggikko enters the fray

[reggikko]

Reggikko's entry is tres awesome, of course.






More pics and download here.

3X3 lot.
Luxuriously furnished: $174,707.
Unfurnished: $70,870.

Pescado, does this have enough bathrooms for you? 

Bribe: Will build up to 5 lots (residential and/or community) to Pescadoan specs. Alternately, will send Twinkies.

[twistingsims]

  WOW, very awesome and practical too, would that be a 5 x 5 lot?

[reggikko]

It's a 3X3 lot. Sorry for not saying so. I've been playing this house with the Curious brothers. It plays extremely well.

[J. M. Pescado]

It's a 3X3 lot. Sorry for not saying so. I've been playing this house with the Curious brothers. It plays extremely well.

Because I was thinking, "You know, your axe-murdering self needs a home, and what better than to torture you in your own Awesomehouse? Imagine how surprised (not really) I was to learn that it was made of
.

For instance, have you ever actually tried to use the downstairs bedroom? It seems to be lacking CRITICAL FUNCTIONING FEATURES, like, oh, say, a DOOR? Do all your sims meditate and then teleport into there or something? It goes without saying that such deficiencies will be penalized.

[reggikko]

 

Just slap a fricken' door in there, Pescado. I really forgot the door?

* reggikko is embarassed but laughs hysterically anyway

[J. M. Pescado]

Just slap a fricken' door in there, Pescado. I really forgot the door?

* reggikko is embarassed but laughs hysterically anyway

Yes, yes you did forget the door. At first I thought maybe that you had used an FFS door (are there any?), and thus I couldn't see it because I do not have that thing, so I went and looked at your screenshots on your website....and indeed, NO DOOR. I thought you said you tested this thing! How did your sims get in there again?

And there's a whole host of other assorted issues, such as the fact that your flowerbeds are being chewed up by wolves because you ignored the Awesomespec perimeter fence and I honestly have no idea how to shoehorn one on afterwards.

[reggikko]

What probably happened is that I was changing out doors and forgot to replace that one. I spend a lot of time dicking around with decor. When I put the Curious brothers in, I pulled out all expensive features so they could afford it and probably never noticed that that room lacked a door because I was replacing all the doors. You know, mass delete and replacement. Who knows. I had a brain fart. There is, in fact, a door to that room in my game and Pascal sleeps in there every night.

* reggikko laments the fact that she cannot win, now

[J. M. Pescado]

What probably happened is that I was changing out doors and forgot to replace that one. I spend a lot of time dicking around with decor. When I put the Curious brothers in, I pulled out all expensive features so they could afford it and probably never noticed that that room lacked a door because I was replacing all the doors. You know, mass delete and replacement. Who knows. I had a brain fart. There is, in fact, a door to that room in my game and Pascal sleeps in there every night.

* reggikko laments the fact that she cannot win, now

Technically, the missing door is merely a minor glitch. The lot has more serious mechanical flaws than a few misplaced items. But anyone could win. Even Kewhale...for the right price. There IS a reason why the "Bribery" section is weighted at 0.4.

[reggikko]

What mechanical flaws?

[J. M. Pescado]

What mechanical flaws?

You know, like the fact that you have no front-perimeter guard to keep off those wolves, the fact that despite being a post-NL house, you don't actually have a proper garage, which means you're stuck with annoying car alarms, the fact that there seems to be a fair amount of confusion over which level should be the Viewing Deck...It's just not as solid as, say, Kofi's design (which also had the garage weakness).

[Annan]

What mechanical flaws?

You know, like the fact that you have no front-perimeter guard to keep off those wolves, the fact that despite being a post-NL house, you don't actually have a proper garage, which means you're stuck with annoying car alarms, the fact that there seems to be a fair amount of confusion over which level should be the Viewing Deck...It's just not as solid as, say, Kofi's design (which also had the garage weakness).

Wait, what? I got a compliment from Pescado?

*Annann faints

[Sagana]

You actually use a perimeter fence instead of the visitor controller to control strays/wolves/animals/pests/anything? Perimeter fences are one of the major causes of lot lag - not that I expect that's a big problem on your lots <imagines them not having anything decorative of any nature and thus being pretty barren even when they're not ethiopian> but still...

<recommends people delete large amounts of fencing on downloaded lots to get faster play. awesome hacks don't lag lots>

[J. M. Pescado]

You actually use a perimeter fence instead of the visitor controller to control strays/wolves/animals/pests/anything? Perimeter fences are one of the major causes of lot lag - not that I expect that's a big problem on your lots <imagines them not having anything decorative of any nature and thus being pretty barren even when they're not ethiopian> but still...

Not true. Perimeter fences only cause lag when you choose a high-poly fence and run it ALL THE WAY AROUND THE LOT (about quadrupling its length). The anti-wolf and loiterer guard only needs to run across the front face of the lot to be effective., and if you choose a low-poly, non-ornate fence, it will cause no perceptible lag.

[Hegelian]

A fence is useless for security as long as we can't gate the driveway. You could put the driveway outside the fence, but then you run into unacceptable aesthetic and gameplay issues (having to dick around with going through a gate to get to the car). 

[J. M. Pescado]

A fence is useless for security as long as we can't gate the driveway. You could put the driveway outside the fence, but then you run into unacceptable aesthetic and gameplay issues (having to dick around with going through a gate to get to the car). 

Untrue, one can string the fence around the driveway until it touches the garage walls. A host of other tricks also exist, such as simply paving over the entire area with dirt-texture floortile, preventing digging without the use of a fence there. Remaining exposed area can be broken up through the use of things not susceptible to destruction, such as statues, trees, shrubs, or garden plots (not flowers!). For instance, a hedgerow has been seen used as an obstacle before.

[TaWanda]

Question about fences. I had a fence running along the front of the lot of my entry, but I kept seeing skunks on the lot. So I removed the fence, figuring it didn't keep out animals unless it was fenced all the way around the property. Guess I should have left it huh? Now I'm curious to know if a fence across just the front supposed to keep out all animals, all animals except skunks and penguins, or just the animals that dig in the dirt? Would not having any seasons patches make a difference?

[Khan of Wyrms]

A fence is useless for security as long as we can't gate the driveway. You could put the driveway outside the fence, but then you run into unacceptable aesthetic and gameplay issues (having to dick around with going through a gate to get to the car). 

If you are using a fence to keep sims out then you are correct, but the gate locks with a 'disallow pets' option that keeps critters out but does not impede sims movement, requiring no 'dick around' negotiation at all.


By the way, Regg, I thought the house was very cool, and aside from the massive amounts of high-maintenance foliage and missing fence/garage, there is not much I will change here. 

Question about fences.

See above, click on gate, choose 'Disallow Pets".

[TaWanda]

[

Question about fences.

See above, click on gate, choose 'Disallow Pets".

Except I didn't gate it at all as I had the fence run along the sidewalk, front path and driveway, and connected to the house itself to form a barrier. Putting in a no pets gate would make a difference? Methinks I need to go play with this.

[Khan of Wyrms]

Except I didn't gate it at all as I had the fence run along the sidewalk, front path and driveway, and connected to the house itself to form a barrier. Putting in a no pets gate would make a difference? Methinks I need to go play with this.

They still appear on the lot but are restricted to areas outside of the fence and correctly-locked gate.  Pets and critters appear at the sidewalk, so any fence *should* keep them out.  I say *should*, because if the fence runs right along the sidewalk and there is too many sims standing at the portal, then the critter may possibly generate inside the fence if there is open ground there.  This happens to me occasionally when sims show up for a party and too many are generated at the same portal at the same time, and also sometimes when the werewolf summons the pack;  Some generate on the sidewalk, some appear inside the fence.  I would guess that if a critter like the skunk showed up at about the same time it could just as well appear inside the fence.  Fencing the entire lot will not fix this, though, only placing the fence back a few spaces from the sidewalk can correct this, as far as I know.

In fact, I would hazard to suggest that JMP add this criterion to his awesomespec, if it is not already there;  Perimeter fence should not be along the sidewalk at the edge of the lot by the portals to prevent unwanted spawning of unwelcome critters or sims inside the fence. 

[Hegelian]

If you are using a fence to keep sims out then you are correct, but the gate locks with a 'disallow pets' option that keeps critters out but does not impede sims movement, requiring no 'dick around' negotiation at all.

You still end up funneling your sims through the gate(s) to get to the car, and it already takes too long for them to get in the damn car and go to work as it is. I could run a fence across the entire front, using a garage (assuming I have one) as part of the fence, but sims can still come through the garage door. And of course there are those pesky aesthetic issues.

There are no animals in my game so their intrusion isn't a concern.   

What I really want is a proper gate for the driveway instead of having to throw together some Rube Goldberg fence layout just to keep people off the lot if I want to (which I usually don't, so I don't use any hack-like visitor controller things except to ban Mrs. Crumplebottom and to make some restricted-client community lots (teen-only, for example)). Of course, the on-street parking gambit allows you to forego the driveway altogether.     

[J. M. Pescado]

You still end up funneling your sims through the gate(s) to get to the car, and it already takes too long for them to get in the damn car and go to work as it is. I could run a fence across the entire front, using a garage (assuming I have one) as part of the fence, but sims can still come through the garage door. And of course there are those pesky aesthetic issues.

Yes, but no one cares how long it takes them to get in the car/go to work. They'll do it eventually, and it's just work, so who cares how fast they do it? The carpool doesn't leave until everyone is onboard.

What I really want is a proper gate for the driveway instead of having to throw together some Rube Goldberg fence layout just to keep people off the lot if I want to (which I usually don't, so I don't use any hack-like visitor controller things except to ban Mrs. Crumplebottom and to make some restricted-client community lots (teen-only, for example)). Of course, the on-street parking gambit allows you to forego the driveway altogether. 

Driveway gateage remains something that is being looked into, but the fundamental issue is the inability to draw a fence or any other obstacle acrosss the main driveway tongue itself. By the time you get to the end of that, you're likely at the garage anyway, unless you made your driveway obscenely long for no explicable reason. As for "sims waking through the garage", that isn't really the issue. If they're doing that, you greeted them anyway. WOLVES cannot do this. And if it becomes a serious problem with them walking through, try using APO, that's the all-purpose riff-raff access control.

[reggikko]

By the way, Regg, I thought the house was very cool, and aside from the massive amounts of high-maintenance foliage and missing fence/garage, there is not much I will change here. 

Thanks. I don't usually put anywhere near that amount of greenery on a lot, but with aesthetics and such in the contest....shrug. Be sure to put a door in the master bedroom, though! Otherwise, PHAIL!! 

[Khan of Wyrms]

You still end up funneling your sims through the gate(s) to get to the car

I am still not quite seeing the problem with the gates, although lot-design or game-play styles might be the issue.  Normally, assuming the family has enough funds, I will place a sidewalk along the most convenient route to the driveway/car, and if not, a terrain-paint dirt or rock path.  Where the path meets the fence, there is a very good place to put a gate.  If one takes care to place the sidewalk/gate along the shortest route to the driveway/car, there should be a negligible effect on the time it takes to get to the car or on normal routing. 

[Hegelian]

It's not really a problem.   

Then again, neither is the thing they're supposed to prevent.

I am still not quite seeing the problem with the gates, although lot-design or game-play styles might be the issue.  Normally, assuming the family has enough funds, I will place a sidewalk along the most convenient route to the driveway/car, and if not, a terrain-paint dirt or rock path.

What constitutes the most convenient route depends on the starting point, which will vary from trip to trip (especially if you have more than one exterior door in your building). If you have more than one car, sims will frequently route across the lawn to get to the one in the driveway, if there's not a fence in the way. This can speed up the whole process,  preventing their being late for work, which, as J.M. points out elsewhere, is worse for job rating than not going at all.

Using a garage as a component of a fence system can work if it suits the overall design of the lot, but when money is an issue, my sims usually get a car before they get a garage (if they get one at all—it doesn't rain in my game).

[rohina]

1.95 for aesthetics. Your other entry is prettier.