More Awesome Than You!

So, here's the diagram for AwesomeSpec v5: What the general topology of the house should conform to in order to be considered properly awesome.
(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/awsv5.png)
Areas not drawn to shape, size, or scale. Positions are entirely relative except where noted. Areas may be combined if function is not impeded or duplicated for redundancy during actual implementation.

Note the following:
1. The distance between the vehicle depot (you may or may not have an actual garage) / the schoolbus unload area (mailbox) and The One Desk should be kept short.
2. The One Desk should be located near sim parking areas, so that returning larvae will be able to locate instructors in close proximity.
3. Visitors should be confined to the main deck so that their movements may be observed at all times. They should be physically prevented from reaching areas where their activities can be disruptive, consume resources, difficult to interrupt, damaging to themselves or other sims, or not easily observed.
4. At least one bathroom should ideally be near the larva facilities, and one, preferrably more, should be visitor-usable.
5. A minimum front perimeter fence running from the very left of the lot to the very right of the lot should be maintained. It should not be broken except by lockable gates, or by merging into walls or impassable foundations. Areas of the lot that cannot be included inside the perimeter fence should either be paved over or disrupted by the placement of driveways, yard objects or fence edging such that no contiguous 2x2 areas remain. Flowerbeds must not be outside the perimeter.

Great info but there's one thing I'm not clear on....what does "The One Desk" mean.  Does it mean there should be only one desk?  Does it mean it is the closest desk that the sim will choose?  Or is it....something far more awesome than I can comprehend?

The One Desk is the desk that every single sim in the family will choose as the homework dropoff beacon, regardless of whether that desk, or any desk, is actually available for doing homework on (it doesn't matter where sims do homework, the rate doesn't change). Ideally, it should be the only desk, or all desks should be there, to minimize confusion. Otherwise there's a chance that a new desk placed inherits the lowest instance number and becomes The One Desk.

Ah, okay, that makes sense....
No wonder why my sims were obsessed with taking a long walk three stories up whilst ignoring a perfectly good desk set next to the kitchen door...sometimes the way the sims decide certain routes to things is just pure evil.
Thanks for clarifying.

My (half-done) adaptation of the AwesomeSpec. Only have a picture of the base area for now. Also, I only have Basegame and Uni installed right now, hence no garage.

(http://simspecials.sims2site.com/personal/lotv2.jpg)

My strays and wolves are still digging holes on the grass just past the sidewalk on the far side of the street...

That is not normally possible. I have never observed that on my lot.

Will get a screenshot next time it happens...

What do you need a huge foyer for? I generally make those 4x4 at most.

It's not really huge, necessarily. Rooms are not drawn to scale, so the sizes of the boxes don't signify anything, they just have to be big enough for me to write in. 4x4 is a reasonable size, although I tend to go a little larger simply because of the needs of the room. Mostly, it serves as a gathering point so that guests can be rounded up and bother each other without immediately scattering to the 4 winds.

Does it have to have a 2nd Floor to be Awesome?

No, but the barracks has to be located somewhere, and since it is typically unsightly and not at all interesting to watch, to reduce the groundspace needed, it is typically relegated to a non-visible deck so that the important things remain visible.

Next version!

Room Plan (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/databasefrd/AwesomeSpec%20Lot/roomplan.jpg)
Room Plan 2 (Barracks) (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/databasefrd/AwesomeSpec%20Lot/th_barracks.jpg)
Outside View (http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b394/databasefrd/AwesomeSpec%20Lot/th_outsideview.jpg)

This is as good as done, aside from teh playtesting, to make sure I haven't done anything stupid. It seems to have the Pescadoian Seal of Approval, anyway.

Nice, but those rooms are pretty big. For good lighting, you'll need the inner lights on even during the day (which you were probably going to do with the bathrooms, as well). You'll also want to make sure your sims are highly active so they can run everywhere.   :D

That's pretty much a given in nearly any house in TS2.

That's pretty much also a given. Lazy sims take hours to get anywhere, and making a tiny house simply means you lack space to hold all the necessary items and have massive traffic issues.

Is there actually an "AwesomeSpec v3: House Building In NL"?

Yes, but it was never posted as a public thing. It's basically the same thing as above, minus the addition of the perimeter fence.

This is absolutely awesome!!

I've always wondered what a real playable house could or should look like, layout and all.  This has definitely helped my decision on what kind of houses I either want to download or build myself.  Since the contest of awesomeness, a while back, I actually used a couple of the houses from that contest and what a difference it has made.

The baby stations/nursery idea is definitely a great idea and I now use it all the time!!

Thanks!  ;D

Quick question: Why put the cribs in a separate room than the nursery?

To keep multi-spawn from constantly waking each other up.

Hmm. I suppose I never noticed them doing that before. I guess I keep my toddlers on a fairly similar schedule.

Anything new we should keep in mind for Seasons AwesomeSpec?

AwesomeSpec 6 does not represent a noteworthy departure from 5. All the same rules apply, as all Seasons-related activities are optional, but you will obviously need more space for additional career rewards, which you hopefully planned ahead for. If you have backyard space, you can add an additional backyard greenhouse. If you had a basement or free space on the ground floor, you can even build an indoor garden or fishing area.

Does an indoor fishing area still freeze over in winter?
/me goes to try this out

Yes. A Fix for this is being investigated. The benefits of an indoor area are mostly that you're not outdoors, subject to the vagaries of weather and temperature.

This may be the wrong place to ask (if so I apologise in advance) but is there an Awesome Spec Dormitory available?

Well, this (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=7721.0) is built with Awesomespecs in mind. Haven't heard a word about whether or not it actually reaches Awesomespec status, but I can tell you it is great for rampage.

Hottubs and pools should also go inside the house (perhaps in or around the training center area?) or a greenhouse.  The constant fall of Thor's Hammer seems to have become an issue with most simmers as of late.  Outdoor businesses suffer the same.  Before seasons I could run a business in the backyard of those Maxis made houses in the default Downtown.  Now the customers or either running for cover or freezing to death.

Given the wide availability of weather control, it's not really a definite thing that hot tubs and pools MUST be inside, although obviously it helps. But since hot tubs and pools are nonessential items that sims never actually NEED, it's not important that they remain in service at all times.

Here's an example of Awesomespec at work in Castle Awesomesauce, Sim-Me's dwelling in Awesomeland Reloaded:

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/awesomeland/reloaded/awesomesauce/1.jpg)
This here illustrates a cool trick: Vampire motive decay during daytime is only updated when a sim passes through a door. This means if the transition from "inside" to "outside" occurs by stairs, archway, or elevator, as seen in the above image, no additional damage is taken until motive decay is recomputed when a sim's queue flips over to the next queued action (not continuation subactions!). Convenient, because "one action" is something like "going to work". Note that this applies both ways: You continue to take burn damage even if you go outside to inside, but through an arch, staircase, or elevator.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/awesomeland/reloaded/awesomesauce/2.jpg)
Observe, marked in green, the pet-feeding-cubicles. Pets fight viciously over their food dishes. Much like sims sleeping in the wrong beds, they also can't remember which one is theirs correctly. It helps to use APO to lock their dishes in seperate cubicles accessible only to them, so that they cannot eat from the wrong dish and cause fights.
Notice also the non-dark internal courtyard in this shot. Cool trick, eh? Previously you'd always end up with utter darkness as the game would treat the contained area as "inside" and drop it into darkness. How is this done? Well, the key lies in the next shot, and the apparently outdoors, yet still "vampire safe" "indoor" elevated area. Side benefit: Barbecue is realistically usable if you want to because it's not a ludicrous distance from the fridge.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/awesomeland/reloaded/awesomesauce/3.jpg)
Observe in this shot how the "outsideness" on the first level conducts following the blue path where the split-levelness is done. Also indoor gardening area and pool.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/awesomeland/reloaded/awesomesauce/4.jpg)
Conversely, note how this doesn't occur, by design, on the "second" level so that the deck area is treated as "interior" and thus vampire-traversible during the day.
Also, see kitchen and short paths to baby equipment, as well as the fun split-level link from the kitchen to the garden in the previous shot. Most of the space in the building is presently unpartitioned in case there ends up being more "must have" crap in the next expansions.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/awesomeland/reloaded/awesomesauce/5.jpg)
Lower level: The garage. Vampire lodging. See "going to work" routes to the sunlock located upstairs, usage-enforced by the positioning of the floor dividers surrounding the bathroom ejection ports: Since they must "pass through" the garage room proper to get out, APO will deny them permission to use the garage door and force passage through the sunlock on the main deck, so they do not take burn damage going to work via carpool, regardless of whether they go to the bathroom first or not from the Sleep Clock call.

See also Blue Track leading to the main deck for any visitors that happen to be dragged from work, so they are neither inclined to traipse, nor get trapped.

*gets out begging bowl*

Will you upload this so we can get a closer look?  I'd like to see it and fiddle with it.

Tiki idol in the pool area? Interesting. I'd love to see some more screenshots.
/me takes notes

Actually, there's no specific reason why it's there, I just put it someplace just because I had to put it somewhere.. It has since been moved. A few items have just been haphazardly placed just to put them in the room. Some have since been moved, like the rabbit head, the tiki, and a few other misc emitters.

I'd also like to download and investigate - I'm really bad with spacial relationships (particularly connecting two areas together and rotating things) so I'm rather confused about the whole "split-level inside/outsideness" thing and I doubt explanations would clear it up half so fast as being able to see for myself what you mean

Yeah, I'll figure out how to package that and actually make it fit sometime, without exploding my neighborhood in the process. And Kuronues are stupid and suck.

This is indeed very interesting, but I was hoping you might clarify this:


I read it over several times and I am just not getting it.  It looks like a sentence fragment to me, or should the 'but' possibly have been 'except' or 'even', even?  Whatever the case is I still am unclear as to the effect of the burn damage passing from outside to inside when using the 'sunlock' design.  Maybe I should just try it out, eh?

I read it as - vampire motive decay is only calculated if passing through a door, or if the queue is empty. Thus if the passage through outside is through arch, staircase, or elevator, as long as the vampire Sim is doing one action (like going to work), he will not experience the daylight motive decay until this action is completed.
In this house the exit door opens to a small hallway, and from there to the street there are only arches and stairways. Thus the vampire Sim will only experience motive decay once his action is complete -- if this was "go to work", this means he will already be safely off-lot before this happens.

Conversely if a Vampire Sim arrives back home during daytime, he will continue to experience motive decay while going up the stairs and under the arch until the first door is passed.

Yeah, the going outside part I understood well enough as that description is clear, it was the going inside bit that I did not grasp.  Still, if the burn decay proceeds as you describe then there is no advantage in the design when returning from work in daylight.  Not that there is a significant disadvantage either, as the going out benefit far outweighs the damage received from a few extra steps to the door upon return, especially when the damage upon leaving for work has been minimized.

I am guessing this will work the same for vampires at Uni, since they get only one command to 'go to class', similar to 'go to work'.  Will they just be able to walk to class like normal sims without depleting their motives to dangerous levels?  This is definitely something to play with, since damnable lazy vampires have previously had to be streaked to the portal and then streaked back to the coffin as they can't run on their own.  I would not miss the hilarity of that activity much.

Would appear so yes. I am adding a front porch with arch to my main dorm -- I have a vampire teen about to go to college, so it will be a good way to test. Apparently as long as the transfer to outside is not a door, you can benefit from this method.

This also opens up the amusing possibility of having a subterranean bunker where the only exit is an elevator.

This is correct. However, it is easier and more efficient to find jobs with evening returns than evening departures! If a vampire works from 1200-1900, he will leave at 1100, using the sunlock as described, and suffer only Indoor Awake damage, which is much lower than outdoor exposure, even if he walks it. When he returns, it will already be night, and he will take no damage at all. Even if he returns still during daylight hours, the additional burn damage from a small sunlock as seen there is much less, plus it is easier to persuade him to run!

Yes, this structure would produce the same benefits for Uni, but frankly, LAZY SIMS SUCK. The thought of being ETERNALLY STUCK with one is just to horrible to contemplate, so they do not become vampires.

I do not recommend this, as elevators are very clumsy and prone to holdups and queue-drops, which can be fatal in this case.

But was modifying the "if" clause. "You continue to take burn damage even if you go outside to inside, but [you go] through an arch, staircase, or elevator".

What's the reason behind "no free patches >2x2?"

I believe that will prevent strays from digging holes in your yard.

how did you make those vampire-safe semi-indoor rooms? just a covered deck that only leaves its cover by stairs, gates and doors?

Does the One Desk rule still hold now that there are game mods that assign a homework desk to each child and uni student?

MogHughson's desk locator for kids homework (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=312004)
... and uni homework (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=313224)

I'm aware of the necromancy rule, but this seemed the most appropriate thread for this question.

Most of Awesomespec rules assume close-to-base behavior. As such, the presence of mods is not factored into the rules, and your specific combination of mods may alter what is relevant: However, since you can't assume that anyone you may share the lot with HAS said mods, an exportable house cannot be built with the assumption of unusual mods. Example: Pool Hack makes it unnecessary to wall off pools to stop the swarm from constantly messing with it and then roaming the house in their swimwear afterwards, but not everyone has it, so you should build with the idea that the pool can be sealed off if you plan to export the house.

However, short door-to-desk distances are still considered desirable, with or without desk assignability, and building to standard "One Desk" behavior minimizes the number of desks you actually need. If you just absolutely cannot stand the idea of simply doing homework from the floor, in the same room, place your desks accordingly.

Aha, that makes sense then.

Is there an awesomespec for AL apartments?  Other than the 1 tile spacing rule mentioned in Enabling Build / Buy in Apartments (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=12847.0)?  Or do apartments not present many new traffic and efficiency issues?  I've forum searched and googled for "apartment" and "awesomespec", but still unsure, so thought I'd ask here.

As a residential lot, the rules for Awesomespec remain the same, the only apartment-based caveat being that you want to avoid placing rooms such that areas which must be "quiet" contact adjacement apartments. So, it's okay to have bathrooms or kitchens that are on opposite sides of a wall, but not, for instance, bedrooms or any place where red environment would negatively impact your sims. This, of course, gives you suggestions for which areas to pad with hallways and interlevel stairs. Other than that, apartments can be built to full or limited Awesomespec depending on your intended use.