More Awesome Than You!

Can anyone tell me, with the lighning bolt system, when you view who a sim has chemistry with, are the pictures in order of whom the sim has the most attraction? The reason I ask, is that if a sim had 3 bolts with several sims, is the sim listed first the one with the MOST chemistry, even though there are the same number of bolts with the others? I noticed that the order sometimes changes for no reason that I can see...

Another thing... with the little pink and red hearts that burst forth with the harp playing on a sim seeing a sim to whom they are attracted...  if there are two sims with whom a sim has the same number of lighning bolts with, will they preferentially burst into hearts on their preferred sim when both of those sims are present in the same room, or is it random?  I'd just like to know, because I'd prefer to match up sims with their first preference...  I know they are pixel people and it doesn't matter to them, but, it matters to me... I have a married couple with 3 bolts together, but they also have 3 bolts for their son-in-law... whilst no hanky-panky there (they are all well behaved), they both seem to want to play/talk/joke with that sim rather than each other; I'm wondering about introducing a bit of drama and splitting the couple up if one of the couple and the son-in-law would make a better couple... or maybe I should use a combo of JM's & TwoJeffs hacks to allow all three guys to be together...?

...can't wait to see how this thread turns out! :D

If you're talking about the relationship panel, then sims are listed ordered by Longterm Relationship level (with all sims who are on the lot always listed first). There aren't levels of chemistry within a number of lightning bolts - all three bolts have the exact same amount of chemistry.

If you want to make distinctions, you could check which sim your sim has the most interests in common.

I could swear I have a sim who has one bolt with her husband and about eight other guys, and her husband is dead last on the chemistry panel. (She has three bolts for another guy her age, so this marriage is doomed anyway, but it's comforting to think she really isn't that interested in her husband anyway. They only married because she got pregnant by accident as a teen.)

I have a surprise for you: even with 3 bolts with her husband, the spouse was interested in other sims, and not in her husband.

The way I measure the relationship between two sims is - check their behaviour and wants one about the other; and even if they want to flirt sometimes with another sim - this want dissapears, when they interact between themselves.

For instance, Bella Goth (now Knowledge sim), was at the community lot, and I befriended her to my sim. I openned her want panel (Merola's mirror), and saw the whole panel occupied with wishes pointing at my sim, and even a "flirt" wish. I suppose that in that moment she was lonely, and my sim fulfilled her wishes.

She left the community lot, and after 3 sim hours she came back. Again I checked her wants panel - but now it was occupied with wishes for Mortimer only.

My sim and Bella have 3 bolts, same as Bella and Mortimer.

The conclusion is, that you must observe your sims, and see if they fit in all areas (zodiac sign, interests, turn ons and offs, and daily behaviour).

 even Bad chemistry doesnt necessarily mean your Sim wont fall in love with another  sim.my Romance Sim Joe has bad chemistry with Kaylynn the maid and on a lark to see if the bad chemistry would prevent a sim from falling in love with another sim.
   so I set up Joe and let him work into best friends with Kaylynn I then had Joe do a bit of serious flirting ie caressing Kaylynn. Well he promptly fell in love with Kaylynn.
          Ive found a good indicator of how they are in regards to feelings for another sim is in their fears,.My Romance Sim Joe fell head over heels in love with his daughter in law Maria. I cleared the flags on both of them.
        However in his fear panel he fears getting engaged to his Son's wife  and  he also has a mega fear of her
      death!
 His Son who is Married to Maria  also Fears his wifes death and he fears rejection from his wife.Basically the fears indicate that Both Sims have extremely strong feelings for Maria..the Ironic Part is that both Males only have 2 bolts for Maria. 

I don't know if I like the whole attraction system. Three bolts is nearly fatal, they will starve themselves, pee themselves or whatever to do nothing but suck face, play, flirt and hug on each other. It's ridiculous. Two bolts seem to be fairly decent but they do still tend to spend an awful lot of time ignoring the most basic of needs from their offspring as well as themselves. One bolt seems to be about the best I have found so far for my style of play, just enough wants for each other without being manic. And without random flirts I don't have to worry about seeking others to flirt with as long as they are married even if they have three bolts with someone else.

. I like the bolt system because it tells me which sims not to pair up.I generally will pair a couple up only if they have at least 2 bolts for each other. a crossed out bolt or no bolt tells me that Sim A and Sim B are not going to work as a couple.1 bolt generally means I need to tweak something in their make up to increase chemistry.Usually its interests that need tweaking.

My very first date with my now-boyfriend lasted three days. No one peed themselves and we obviously didn't starve but we really didn't eat a whole lot either. So I guess we're three bolt types but a year and a half later and I still love our manic ridiculousness! :D

I also really think I need to break down and get NL soon. Ooh - It does sound like fun! But is it safe now? Most mod's updated? Glitches worked out? Or since I've already waited this long, should I keep waiting until the casual romance mod is compatible? Suggestions/input most appreciated. :)

and this is why they call me cranky pants.

heh.

I love the attraction system--it gives them a little bit of pseudo-autonomy--and I like them to tell me what they want. Also, it kind of makes it easier for me to break up marriages--couples have to have at least two bolts to be coupled (unless I'm planning on making them dysfunctional) but if either of them has three bolts for someone else who comes along--that's it! Three-bolt couples have to be married. And never, ever cheat. Because they are too busy sucking face with each other anyway.

I have hardly any three-bolt couples that I didn't deliberately make that way--lots and lots of twos, very few threes. So threes are inviolable unions, especially if they weren't achieved by tweaking turn-ons. (The one exception being the three bolts between one of my aliens and MY HUSBAND--he wasn't going anywhere, bolts or no bolts. Now it's gone down to two anyway, thank goodness, because she was obsessed with him, and she's happily married too.)

I just wanted to put this here because I thought it was funny. I just made a sim-Brynne, or Val, as I call her in my game because Val is my real name. I made her as authentic as possible, right down to her insistence of wearing sweatpants at all times. Trust me, she's spot on. I teleported in some of my favorite Bayfield boys, and have 3 bolts a piece for Josh and Justin. They can't get enough of me, with my sexy sweat-pants-clad ass! LOL

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/Brynne14/wantedgirl.jpg)

Great! I need a tormentable Sim-Brynne.

Tiffany Sampson & Kevin Beare are married in my game and have 3 bolts, but it didn't stop Tiffany autonomously falling in love with Jackson Ruben on a community lot and she only has 1 bolt for him.  Neither of them are Romance Sims - she's Family and he's Fortune, plus they're both fairly newly-married with new babies.  He was so far back on her panel he wasn't even visible, yet now she has regular wants concerning him.

I also like to get 3-bolters together, although I do watch carefully to see which they prefer if they have a choice and always go for the ones that were 3-bolts on their own if I possibly can (haven't deliberately broken-up any marriages to do it yet, but I can see it coming ...).  I have a collection of Sims in Uni at the moment, particularly two playable (m/f) and two dormies (m/f).  I made the dormies 1/1 for both sexes so they could make their own decisions, as a result of which both dormies are 3/3 for both playables.  The male playable is 3/3 for both dormies and the other playable, the female playable is 3/3 for the male playable and 2/3 for the male dormie (she's purely hetero) as well as 3/3 for one of her professors and the two dormies are 2/3 or 3/3 for each other, I can't remember which (2/3 I think).  The dormies both flirt with the male playable but not the female, the female playable follows the male playable around everywhere congratulating him and so on, but will NOT instigate any romantic interactions, neither him with her.  He is far more biased towards females than males (around 47/6 as I recall), yet the only person he has tried to instigate romantic interactions with (and failed up to now due to the other one being previously occupied) is the male dormie and when he has a choice of who to interact with on any basis, he goes for the male dormie first, then the female dormie and finally the female playable.  All these bolts were there from the start, I've not had to alter anything. It seems to me from all this that the two males prefer each other overall, so although there are 3-bolts for all these relationships, it does seem sometimes that some 3-bolters are more attractive than others to the Sims concerned.  

I have another Sim, Tanith, who is married to Don & Cassandra's son, Aristotle.  They went steady as teens, then drifted apart.  Years later, when they were adults, she made a beeline for him and autonomously started everything up again (this was pre-NL).  They got married and when I installed NL they had 2 bolts.  I only had to remove a preference for swimwear and add one for make-up or something like that for the third bolt to appear.  However, Tanith also has 3-bolts totally autonomously for Kennedy Cox of all people, who she's only met once and has a 0/0 relationship with, so in reality Kennedy Cox is probably her Mr Right insofar as they have 3-bolts without anything needing altering.  It's also interesting that Don has always got on extremely well with his daughter-in-law and they have 2 bolts.  I'm pretty sure they only had 1 when I first installed it, but they certainly have 2 now.  Bit awkward as they all live in the same house.  Don was due to die for the second time next time I played it, but Tanith was vamped on a community lot last night so I think maybe she will be turning Don into a vamp very shortly ...

Maybe she'll put one up on her website. However, she's pretty picky about who she lets join. :P

Great. I'll be peeing my sweatpants all the live long day.

Brynne, be careful...there was talk of a special code attached to you that would cause random accidents.  :P

Ah ha! Ha ha ha ha ha. You're killin' me.

I'm mooning you. You just can't see me.

At least you won't be forced to have bazillions of babies with fugly townies!

Not in my game you wont be however as one of your Favorite Bayfield boy is still unattached in my game. if you send me thee Sim Brynne I plan on arranging for you to meet Justin. Josh is taken in my game he has a wife and a new baby annd is now Perma Plat. Justin will be Perma Plat when He goes to work again. and then there's always Joe he's in love with half the neighborhood but not taken yet.Justin has nutty Idea's of falling in love with a sim he has no chemistry with .so maybe your just the ticket for him in my game.

Sure I'll marry Justin! Sim me is single!

I'm getting her packaged up right now as a matter of fact.

And whipping Rainbow. Let's not forget about whipping Rainbow.

Brynne, I want your Sim as well.  I can hook you up with the Sim of your choice, just send that to me?  :)  I won't even be mean to you.

I am currently in the process of creating an *ahem* Santa Sim.  He's old and has a long beard, and he's full of goodwill towards men!

Rainbow hung up her whip for good. I'm whipping Hook, now.

Woot!!  I get half the $4.99/minute, right??

Hook

Hmmmmm...that depends on how good you are, slave boy.

Justin could use a shoulder to cry on his boy are close to leaving for uni with Xander and the four teen girls. so 3/5 th of his kids will be gone.empty nest syndrome is about to bite Justin.Lexi and Tiffany will be home for a while yet they are still kidsanother thought just occurred to me you would actually get to live with Josh and Joe if you marry Justin in my game ;D

And people thought the Senate Chambers were boring. :D

Hook

Well, they have the truth now, Hook. 


Sim Brynne is in Peasantry.

Justin is eagerly awaiting your arrival in Romance City

Not nearly as much as I am, Bangel... ;)

well here ya go  you are engaged to Justin
(http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/Bangelnuts/snapshot_7090d1e1_7090d268.jpg)

Wow, that was quick. Brynne must be a hell of a karaoke singer.

actually they both are.Justin and Brynne had instant 3 bolt Chemistry. after barely Saying Hello.
            Justin Rolled the want to be engaged to Brynne during their First Date.So I made him selectable .
     I looked at his fear and how much he had to gain by popping the question and he had more to gain than
     lose so I let him propose  . she said yes. now she just has to wait for Justin to go Perma plat to marry him.
       it wont be long though because he goes perma plat with his next promotion.

To answer the original question, I am pretty sure they are sorted by level of chemistry--either that, or it's totally random. I just looked at the chemistry panel of one of my sims--she has two bolts for six different guys, and her LTRs with them are 79, 90, 84, 96, 0 and 0, in that order. Only one of them is on the lot (the 79 one) and he doesn't live there. She also has three one-bolt guys, and her LTRs with them are 9, 0, and 73, in that order--none on the lot.

;D, I wonder what Brynne's real life husband would say, should he see this.

If I understand correctly, the lightening bolt crossed out means that they are not attracted to that particular sim in the least, even less so than to sims without any bolt. So how come one of my sims has the crossed out bolts in the relationship panel picture of the sim he's not attracted to, but he 'wants' to 'talk to Ms. X', 'flirt with Ms. X, 'give backrub to Ms. X'?

Not only that, but those wants are continuously coming up, cluttering the wants panel. More Maxis sillyness?

What hubby doesn't know won't hurt him...lol.
Veilchen, I'd put money on the maxis silliness.

my guess in your case would be Maxian stupidity at its height :P as to what Brynne's husband would say what he doesnt know cant hurt him LOL ;D   I simmed My Hubby and made him a Romance Sim and showed him his sim self and he laughed about it

A crossed-out bolt means that one Sim is attracted to the other, but it isn't reciprocated.  To find out which way round it is you need to get them to "Check Sim Out" to see who has the pink hearts and who doesn't.  I've had several couples where the bolt was crossed-out and just one quick change made it jump to 3 bolts.  Often it's because one doesn't like the other's zodiac sign, or they hate their hair colour, or something like that.  Only when there are no bolts at all, crossed-out or otherwise, does it mean there's no attraction on either side.

Your Sim is definitely attracted to Ms. X, but something is blocking the attraction from her end.  You'll have to work out what it is and sort it out, should you want to.  That way you'll find out how many bolts they have and whether it's worth pursuing.  If not, you can always go back to how it was before.

Well Bangel, I wonder if he would laugh if you were the romance sim and carried on in maxis' idea of 'romance' ;D.

So Val, what aspiration do you prefer? Don't pick family, there are absolutely NO family sims in my game, and they are personas non grate in perpetuity. (Note: this is a personal preference only; my motto: whatever floats your boat, just don't hurt another living being)

Ah, so it's maxis logic: I'm not in the least bit attracted to you fellow, nay, even repelled at the mere thought of attraction... boy, I can't wait to jump yer bones.

Ancient, that's just what puzzles me, they are mutually crossed bolt sims.

I had one sim (the Burb guy) fight and break up with his wife. They are now enemies both are in negative relationships, they don't live together, and Jennifer (?) continually steals his paper and kicks his can, but he still gets those 'flirt, talk, backrub' wants with her. (How did they start fighting? Well how should I know... maybe I misaimed when I clicked the socialize-friendly/romantic button in the macro menu... accidentally...completely accidentally....ahem).
Anyway, that I can partially understand, maybe some residual feelings or whatever. I haven't played the ex-mrs. yet, so I have to find out how she feels, but I take the can kicking, paper stealing, and furious bubble as a hint.

With the bolts, they are always mutual - two sims will have the same number of bolts for each other. If any tweaking gets done, then both will display the new chemistry, because the chemistry is the average of attraction between two sims. So if the bolt is crossed out, it means that there is negative chemistry between them, not that there just isn't any and are neutral, they actively do not like each other at all, on average.


Velichen, with a teenage boy I too found him wanting interactions with another sim who he has negative chemistry with! The other sim is turned off by fitness though, and is not turned on by anything about the teenage boy. 

I'm putting it down to "sims don't always know who's good for them". Kinda like real life on occasion... sometimes people can be very stupid in recognizing when someone isn't good for them.

I dunno  since in my game My Hubby is single and with  his sim looks he is likely to stay that way ;D

Both bolts WILL be crossed-out until you solve the problem of what's blocking the attraction.  I don't know why Maxis made it that way, they should have done it so that it was only blocked for the one who didn't fancy the other, but they didn't.  Honestly, it's definitely right, try altering something and watch what happens.  Check their zodiac signs (some combinations are pointless insofar as one is attracted to one and that one is repelled by the other) and ditto the aspirations.  Also check the turn on/offs.  Ms X may hate facial hair or something else your Sim has.  I guarantee you that if you sort it out, at least one lightning bolt will mysteriously appear.

As I said, I've had it go from crossed-out to 3 bolts on more than one occasion.  It happened with the teenage Cassandra Goth and that white-skinned downtownie teen in my new Pleasantview.  She kept bringing him home and he was always trying to flirt with her but she didn't want to know.  As soon as I altered one thing, the crossed-out bolts became 3 bolts and Cassandra couldn't get enough of him. 

Oh, OK. I'll experiment with that. Not the first time the Prima guide was wrong!

I play myself as a Pleasure seeker. I like my pajamas, and I like to jump on the couch. Anything fun, nothing productive.  ;)
And hetero.

Oh, ok, I now understand. I thought that only the not attracted one would have the crossed bolts. I have to go in and try that one out. Thanks for the information. I was going at it logically, silly me.


That would be me trying to talk some sense into my 17-year old daughter, Knight ;D

Edit: cause I missed Brynne's post. You can be my very first pleasure sim then. I have monique's computer, any objections to working from home writing articles for a magazine/paper?

Brynne, what the dickens does this post have to do with this thread? 

LOL Ancient, it does look a bit disjointed the way Brynne and I posted those doesn't it? She has a Brynne-Sim, I want to 'attract' her to one of mine, and I wanted to know her preferences. Always corteous, that's me.

That's what I get for ignoring the "warning three other replies have been posted..." thingy.

in my game you are a popularity sim with max playful points and definitely hetero.you also are engaged to marry a sim with money. at last check Justin's assets total around a 1,000,000 simoleons with the house and furniture and everyone working except Jordan,Denise,Lexi and Tiffany.Josh,Jacob and Shellie are all celebrity chef's Justin and Jamie are coaches when they go back to work they will become hall of famers. Joe is an MVP in the atletic field.
   Maria is a vice squad officer .. so tons of simoleons roll in the door daily Josh,Jacob and Shellie are Perma Plat Justin will go Perma Plat when he becomes a hall of famer.

I think it has more to do with the fact that the sim-attraction engine is basically bolted onto the game and isn't correlated to the rest of it at all, like the want chain system (sims always progress from "Talk to" to "Flirt with" for anyone of compatible gender orientation, period, by default). All other factors are completely ignored.

interesting and sounds like that is the case

Yes, I noticed that in the chemistry the sims are sorted by number of bolts, but within-bolt categories, I was wondering if there was an order of preference/attraction, since I noticed what you noticed - the order in which sims appear in the list within-bolt categories does not follow the relationship order.

Which is why I wonder if there is a preference ranking, even within-bolt categories... anyone know for sure?

I don't think anything is sorted within bolt categories.  Not that I have noticed anyways.

When I have a sim who has chemistry with several other sims and have no predetermined plans of who to hook them up with..I'll just watch and see who they get the heart bubbles and wants for the most.

I do the same thing when I have a sim who has an equal amount of bolts with more than one sim and if that fails I look at interests,birth sign etc  to determmine the  best compatibility .I would not think of putting sims together who shared no common interests. My Romance Sim Joe is in love with half the neighborhood at the moment. but I f I were in the mood to Pair him off which I'm not. I would put him with Bella  Goth
   Joe has three bolts for Bella Goth,1 bolt for Brandi Broke and 2 bolts for Maria his daughter in Law and 2 bolts for his  former daughter in law Honey. however all things being equal Joe and Bella dont have enough common interests to sustain a committment in spite of the three bolt Chemistry.So Joe will continue to play the field and compete for Romance with the other nieghborhood Romance Sims.
    My Romance Sim Justin who is the Son of Joe  just got engaged to my Sim Brynne  with whom he has 3 bolts  with and  6 common interests. ironically both Val and Justin are Gemini's. Val is a popularity Sim and Justin is Romance.
   if you listen to Maxis those aspiration are compatible and I have found that to be true. birth signs arent supposed to be gemini/gemini but it doesnt seem to matter to Justin and Val

That's what I meant--I think they are ranked by preference because 1. they're ranked by number of bolts, and 2. within that, they're ranked by nothing at all obvious, so either it's random or they're ranked by preference. But preference makes more sense to me, and I just like to assume it is that way. No I don't know for sure.

I'm inclined to agree with you Kate, but, I noticed that the order changes sometimes... even though I've seen nothing change with those sims with respect to anything that should make a difference (have not changed turn ons/off preferences, or changed any physical things like hair, cologne etc, or adjusted any interests...) and they're all living in the same house, so I know what's going on with them. So why would the within-bolt order change?

I'm thinking of feeding two of the guys to cowplants and then ressurecting them so all relationships are broken and then allow them all to interact and see if any pairs develop on their own... trouble is, the guy who's the one everyone is nuts over (there are 6 other sims with whom he has 3 bolts...everyone seems crazy about him: he's a family sim who's completely shy, rather nice, rather tidy, rather playful, very active and a Cancerian, though I don't know why this combination shouild be so alluring) keeps changing the order in which his top three favourites appear in his attraction panel (there are 6 sims that are 3-bolters for this sim, and I haven't paid attention to whether the bottom three 3-bolters change order) so I don't know whether to leave him joined married or put him with one of the other two...

*sigh* I'm reading too much into air-headed pixel people, I think.