More Awesome Than You!

I recently installed Uni and have my first permenantly platinium person.  He didn't actually achieve a LTW, he just sort of stuck platinum while I was using the lot debugger to re-roll some lame ass LTWs for him.   I figure, cool, let's see what playing a permenant platinum Sim is like.

 ::)  'kay, this is kind of boring.  I like playing the daily wants and keeping my Sims as happily happy as they can be, no matter how much work.  This Sim happens to be Daniel Pleasant, married to Kaylynn with one teenager, retired and cash strapped. 62 days old.

Up until now, Daniel was a challenge...Romance Sim, challenge keeping him happy without straying, you know? 

Now he's bored and I'm waiting for him to die.  No elixir for you!

We fired the maid and he cleans all day.  He cooks.  He just built a little garden and now he gardens. (Thank you Macrotastics!)  For god's sake, he's old and he putters!

For Daniel, this is what he deserves, honestly, I'm okay with that.  But I have Sims I really care about who are young and vital and close to LTW status.  Reaching for the LTWs is fun but....

Is this all there is?  What do you do next?

P.S.  How close to 62 is dying, in Sim general?  * tapping foot, hiding elixir *

I suppose the good thing to having your Sim in permanent platinum is that you don't have the constant hassle of fulfilling wants for them, which in a big sim family can be more stressful than relaxing while playing the game imo.

So then rather than having to fulfill wants, you can in theory let 'em run wild and free....doing whatever their little simmy hearts desires.

It's a bit like working all of your life, then having enough money to go nuts with  :)

As for a sim of age 62?

The bad news is I had a Sim reach 89 days old if I recall. Hopwever I did keep him quite fit and active until he died. I heard somewhere that if an elder sim becomes unfit and doesn't do much i.e: participate in living in general, than I think they may shuffle off their mortal coil a bit younger than expected.

I have not found any evidence to substantiate this claim.

I dunno.  Morty Goth was about 65 days old when he carked it, but my Danny Pleasant is about 70 days old and only half way through elderhood.  Not permaplat though, so I'm having to keep him happy with plenty grandchildren from Angela & Dustin and Lilith & Dirk.  He and Mary-Sue reconciled and he seems determined to be a good husband this time round. He does like talking to his four boys from Kaylynn though.  And he just keeps spinning up the grandchildren wants.  He's got three so far.

Simone Le Gassey, my first legacy founder, is a few days off of dying (she's about 75 I think) and permaplat.  She's just retired so she can babysit the spare grandkid Basil (the heir Ben is away at college).  I've been holding off playing the Le Gasseys much lately because I don't want her to die!  She's possibly my favourite sim!

What evidence J.M?
That if they're unfit and lazy that they die younger?
Or that it's just pot luck at what age a sim reaches before he dies?

Apparently Daniel wants to putter, huh, but he doesn't look very happy, platinum and everything, puttering around while his young wife (she gets Elxir) and youngest daughter are living life.  


Maybe that will work for my rich Sims.  Daniel and Kaylynn are always scraping.


OH MY GOD, 89?  

Sigh. Maybe they have to get a pool.   ;)

Kaylynn and Penelope (teenager) are integral to some good story lines... I can't avoid the house.  I hate killing Sims off, but this feels like euthinasia.  The most excitement he gets is when Kaylynn needs a smooch for her daily wants.

the number of days an elder has to live appears to be set at the time they age...

I usually use on of inge's shrubs to tell me how long they have, and routinely suck off about 10 days with merola's painting...  somewhere in the 70s seems to be about averages

Ness

Have you tried using the LotDeBugger to toggle-off the permanent plat?  At least then there is some purpose again to achieving wants.   Either Maxis didn't think all this LTW thing through enough, or didn't test it enough, because it's simply far too easy to achieve.  Now that the LTW mod isn't functioning anymore, my Sims are back to rolling stupid career wants and the same ones over & over.  The situation is even worse when you have zombies and now the vampires.

I have decided that I am probably going to extend the adult period by 10 years, then remove that 10 years when they become elders.  I just can't cope with near enough 30 years for every elder, and that's what it's going to be once my first graduates start making elder - I have one now who is literally hours away and many more to follow.  He is on hold at present because his girlfriend (he's Romance, never married!) is hopefully about to become my first vampire (I am trying SO hard not to cheat with this) and I can't decide whether to extend him by 10 years, have her bite him, or just let him age.    He's had late middle-age wrinkles and stuff for a while now to look the part.  All that romancing has taken it out of him.

Since Platinum People are dull, I try and put them in a household with a younger couple, and I just ignore them while I play everyone else in the household.  This doesn't work if the younger couple is completely baby crazy, of course, but often it works out well enough with the more reproductively restrained ones.

In fact, I find Platinum People so dull that I simply don't work toward Lifetime Wants.  I'll make gestures like put the Sim in the right job, but that's about it.  I'll fulfill the LTW shortly before they die of old age just to get the gold headstone, but only if it's easy.

I stopped using the Elixer of Life a long time ago.  Even without permanent platinum, Sims who have been around for a long time become less interesting.  They just don't have as much to strive for unless they're Popularity sims striving for the 30th best friend or Romance sims striving for that 30th love.  It's kind of nice for a Sim's story to end.

 - Gus

Oh my, I did not know that Inge's shrub (which I love, how many times have I said that) could give me the days remaining info.  I'll check that out tomorrow morning...children monopolizing Sim computer at the moment.

If I know how many days are left, I can make Daniel a decent story to go with them.  He's been good for plots up until now, needs a decent send off.


I figure that I could unstick Daniel some way if I tried hard enough, but what really concerns me is, say, my guy Maximus March who I raised from a toddler CAS and is one of my favorites.  *this* far from the Knowledge LTW of maxing all skills.  Another favorite, Elizabeth Dupree (Sims 1 recreate) who is nearly a Celebrity Chef.   These Sims are far from Elders....

I'm hoping that acheiving LTWs doesn't turn into a death sentence...although that is a sweet irony, isn't it?

Am I the only one that think that the platinum mood is good?

I use the JMP's  nodiscriminationage, and my elder sims work till the day they die; then I resurrect them, and they continue their jobs, like the adults. Each time they reach a Life Time Want, I change their job, and get one according the new LTW.

And I like very much the elders couples to live alone; they are busy most of the time with wants about the spouse, host their kids, and are happy to be alone - yes, even Daniel...:).

I didn't divorse him from Mary-Sue. Mary-Sue fired Kayilyin (I can't stand that maid), and hired another maid. I made her sexy and attractive - even other sims wanted to flirt with her, and Daniel fell again in love with her, and never showed a want for Kayilyin, even with the love sign. They made another baby, and are very happy...:). At the last days of Daniel, the tumbnail on the neighbourhood screen showed for the first time Daniel kissing Mary-Sue, and the "cheating sign" dissapeared...:).

In a life that never ends, you can achieve a lot of LTWs...:).

about inge's shrub - it's the days left shrub...

I've actually got three shrubs of hers that I use - the teleporter plus, days left and stay things - couldn't be without them!

although, the inventory in nightlife makes stay things a little useless...

I don't mind the permanent platinum - permanent platinum grandparents are great to help raise babies so parents don't have to miss work - I just find that once they reach permenent platinum and are elders, I get bored with them very quickly...

I think it's the mood thing - not worrying too much about the wants is fine, but some compromise where the day-to-day wants don't matter, but you still need to worry about keeping them in a good mood would suit me better - although, I know that's probably impossible...

Ness

I like the permanent platinum myself.  Even with that, I still find myself trying to meet my sim's wants.  After all, why should they suffer just because they are platinum, right?  Sometimes I go after a second LTW, depending on what it is, but usually, I'm just content that they're platinum.  I don't like the constant fluctuations in the aspiration meter, especially if a fear accidentally pops up.  At least with a permanent platinum, if a fear does roll up, you don't have to worry about them bottoming out.

Now I remember, thank you. Kids just went to bed, time to download another Inge Shrub! (for a mound of grey fatness, she's pretty handy)


I think what's missing is the next level of incentive....which is really the problem with career tracks, too, which are just too easy for a skillin', want playing Simmer to run up.

I'm hoping the business EP is structured so that it can't be conquered to Easy Street.  Real life is about reaching to get the next thing, not actually getting there...in my warped story book (which is the Sims stories I like to make).

I've heard about this cheating sign before, what exactly is it?  I think it was something along the lines of if the Sim is standing behind their partner, doing the thumbs-up, they're either being unfaithful or want to be?  Anyone got a rundown on what the different screens are depicting?  I didn't even realise they had any particular meaning until very recently.

I was under the impression that a sim's aspiration level as they transition to the next age tier was what determined how many days that tier lasts.

I have two perma plat uni grads, I've been cycling them through careers to earn the rewards, they get promotions easily because they are always in a perfect mood and they have good skills and the bonus for graduating Summa Cum Laude means they can get career rewards and good jobs very quickly. They are about to be elders though, no idea what I will do with them once I can't cycle them through jobs anymore.

I kind of let my permanent platinum people do whatever the heck they want and just leave them be for the most part as long as they aren't going around stirring up the shit (unless I want them to stir up the shit ;) ). Especially for the ones who are elders I figure they deserve it.

I have had some perma platinum immortals too. In my old neighborhood I had a zombie couple like that and my vampire in the one house I am playing now just reached her lifetime want. I kind view them as live in townies or npcs and make minimal effort to control them. Actually, since they don't have to worry about aging and dying or wants it's kind of like playing TS1.

Yes, I made a mistake there and it was brought to my attention in an earlier post.

When you open the family tumbnail, you have 4 possible relations showed:
1) One sim kisses the other - sign of great love
2) One sim puts a "v" with his hand over the head of the other sim - sign of a cheating and not-reliable sim.
3) A couple hugging, with hands around the waist - stabile and faithful relation of both
4) Two separated sims, no touching each other - that the worst, usually it showes in couples which are "tired" of each other, mostly elders.

In the first tumbnail Daniel makes the "v" with his hand over Mary-Sue's head.
In their last days as elders - Daniel kisses Mary-Sue.

The opposite I had with Brandy Broke and her new spouse: in the first tumbnail he kisses Brandi, and I got even the woohoo clip with each woohooing in the tub.
When they got elders, the tumbnail changed to "two separate sims", and I didn't get anymore the woohoo clip - it passed to Beau...:).

Perma Plat is kind of boring in regular play, but it's great in Legacy families. "Perma plat? THANK GOD. I never have to worry about you again!"

Where did you get that info, Gali? I never knew the family portraits had hidden meanings. Cool! I thought the "v" behind the head was like rabbit ears. My very first family ever created (long long long ago) had that sign, and the wife was doing the "v" behind her romance hubby's head. She was family. She was also playful. And she also wanted to cheat?! Oh, Maryanne Bayfield, you've disappointed me...acting all family-like and stuff.  >:( But I've seen it after that by romance sims as well, which makes more sense. Still, sweet little innocent Maryanne secretly wanting to cheat disturbs me.

And I have fun with the perma-plat sims. I have a full house, and a few are perma plats. They are the ones who can now do all the soap opera story lines without worrying about fulfilling goals. Now it's playtime! I have enough non-perma plats in the house to keep me busy, otherwise. I do have one platinum teen, though, and I'm not sure what to do about him. I wasn't even trying to go for his lifetime goal. It just happened. He got 20 best friends and that was it. Over. So much for the Pleasure aspiration.

I play differently that most people, I think. I have my set of characters, keep them at certain ages, and play them through various storylines. I haven't gotten sick of them, yet. And I still get surprises, which adds to the fun. Like my super-faithful popularity sim who just had his first affair. He didn't reject a flirt by a female friend of his, and thanks to no romance mod, he developed a crush instantly. I decided to let him go with it, because he really hasn't had much of a storyline in a while. Always the ever-faithful hubby to his romance-wife (who really, really tried to be faithful. Really, she did.), and suddenly he's fathered a child by another woman from a one-night stand. The wife has "adopted" the child, though, and is raising him with the father. This was very recent, so she still has flaming thoughts of the "other woman" while making out with her hubby, though. So I'm not going through all the life stages, retiring elder sims to make room for the newer generation, which is how the game was intended to be played, I know. But I'm content doing it my way. So, platinum or not, it's almost meaningless to me. I'm just looking for the next juicy storyline.

I think making Sims permanent platinum might have been a mistake.  I think they'd be more fun to play if it took longer for aspiration to decay instead.

Currently, it takes 8 hours for a Sim with full platinum to decay into gold.  It takes 16 additional hours to decay into green.  If achieving a lifetime want added 50% to this time, you would have 12 hours of platinum and 24 of gold.  Additional LTW's satisfied could add a similar amount, giving a purpose to getting additional lifetime wants.

At first I enjoyed playing perma-platinum Sims.  After a while, it gets boring.  The best use I've found so far for perma-platinum elders is staying home and taking care of grandchildren.

Achieving a lifetime want is a worthwhile goal;  it gives my Sims something to do.  Once it's achieved, about the only thing they're good for is having and raising kids.  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm tired of raising Sim kids.

Hook

Ah, yes. I understand Nightlife makes this a royal pain in the neck, and field reports suggest that this is going to be very, very difficult to resolve.

There are quite a few added elements to be considered, that's for sure. But the way it is now, romance sims, or, rather, "successful" romance sims, can not go on a date downtown, lest they be slapped by all 40 sims they have bedded, who, of course, are also out for a rousing night of karaoke. They must stick to backyard barbeques for the time being. And a game of myshuno, perhaps, if they're feeling really crazy.

Yes and until they fix it in a patch, do not "ask" another sim anything unless you wish to be romantic with that sim.

Learned that one the hard way.  :P

I know, what the hell's up with that? And who would go up to anyone, potential date or not, and ask "how much money do you make?", anyway?

Yep, kind of stupid--reminds me of how in TS1 if your sim paid a compliment to another it was considered a romantic interaction.  I was so happy they remedied that in TS2 then was completely mortified to see the whole 'ask' thing in NL is viewed as a romantic interaction!

Another thing I've seen that's really dumb is that when a sim has a 2-bolt attraction to another sim and that sim visits them, then when they tell that sim good-bye they stand there and suck face for a half-sim-hour even though they've never had any romantic interactions with each other in their lives, before the visiting sim leaves.

Ah well--I'm getting too tired--I'm starting to sound absolutely snarky here!

That one sounded like so much fun I had to test it! :)

I sent one of my "high body count" romance Sims to a neighborhood community lot and invited her next conquest to join her there on a date.  As long as everything was platonic none of the three other loves who were already on the lot seemed to mind.  But as soon as she did slow dance/head on shoulder one of the other Sims came over and slapped her silly.

This is only one test and isn't conclusive (there were some oddities with the lot:  I couldn't select any destination on the ground level of the lot, was the big swimming pool in Strangetown), but as long as you restrict the flirting to after you invite your date back home it looks like it's ok.

If anyone else has other experience, like simply showing up at a lot with a date causing a round of slapping, please let me know.  I know I've read about such things here, but need more info.

Obligatory on-topic text:  She was a vampire Sim (all needs green all the time) and was permanent platinum. :D

Hook


Hook

This one caused me a small problem.  I had a Sim I was about to send off to college and wanted her to be in platinum, so she asked one of her best friends over for a date.  Nothing romantic was done during the date, and by the time she was full platinum and ended the date (at Good rating), the other Sim told her goodbye very physically (a long round of tonsil hockey) and instant crush.

Then next day when the Had a Good Time note arrived in the mailbox, she was gone and her father got the note.  You'd think he was the one who had gone on the date from his reaction!

Hook

The first one is definitely wrong, I think, although it ought to be right.  As far as the second is concerned, I thought that at one time but apparently it also depends on how many of their wants and fears are realised, at least in terms of major ones.  This presumably means that by ignoring the wants of perma-plat Sims for the majority of their adult lives will shorten the amount of time they have as elders.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, of course.

As far as the dating jealousy is concerned, I think this must depend on the other Sim concerned.  Heather Huffington (the tart) had a date with one guy and did very well, although no crush or anything as they'd only been acquaintances at the start.  They made it to friends I think, but that's all.  She then called another guy on her mobile and as soon as he arrived the first guy came over and slapped her silly.  The stupidest thing in this scenario, of course (and it happens all the time) is that the new guy didn't bat an eyelid.  No reduction in relationship here at all.  Another case in point was last night when a recently graduated female was canoodling with her recently-acquired fiance.  An old guy she developed a crush on years back (which had turned into love somehow) appeared from nowhere and bashed her one . No reaction from the fiance.  No "Er, Lillian love, why is that guy slapping you?"  This makes no sense. 

What I want to say is an option to remove these crush and old love hearts in game rather than in SimPE, or some way of them disappearing after the relationship drops to a certain level like they used to in TS1.  I have loads of Sims getting "Had 2 Loves at Once" and more because of relationships with people they haven't even spoken to for a decade!  It even happens when they're minus in their relationships due to finding the "first love" cheating (in other words, no longer together), all because they still have a red heart in lifetime. 

Sorry, appear to have gone right off topic (again).

One problem with that is that you can get in an infinite loop.  I'm sure you know about the Entertain / Appreciate / Tickle loop that any Sim can get into, but which is particularly common for Family sims.  Prior to permanent platinum, maxing out the aspiration meter gives you a stopping point for a sim in that loop pestering another.  On occasion I'll take steps to fufill the non-social wants of a platinum sim, but generally I don't because it feels empty without the feedback of filling the meter.

 - Gus

That's exactly the scenario I was describing. Any of my successful romance sims (high body count, as you put it lol) who called a date to ask her out, was slapped immediately upon getting out of the car downtown. Every time. And like Ancient Sim said, the date didn't bat an eyelash. I think I would have to question why my date was slapped by all these women, but that's just me. Guess I'm a stickler for details.

I often put my permaplats in a second career (once they've reached the top of the first) to give them something else to shoot for. Since they're fairly broke, though, you probably don't want to do that :P I also have them paint for money and try to max out all skills. They also sometimes become stay-at-home parents if they have children or younger...it's always easier if there's someone at home to play red hands with the kids when they come home from school and boost the toddlers to platinum before they age.

Oh, and I don't think the "v" sign over the spouse's head is a sign of infidelity...I've had newly-created CAS couples do that. It might have to do with playfulness?

Jen

so, people are starting to get bored with the easiness that is to get sims in platinum mood!

i think that permanet platinum is great.

I mean, it would be great if it was hard for normal sims to achieve or at least keep the platinum mood.

however it's quite the opposite: it's very easy to get sims in platinum mood, so permanent platinum almost doesn't make a difference in my game.

It's very easy to get *some* Sims in platuinum and keep them there, harder for others.  Normally my Sims are in platinum most of the time.  I send popularity Sims to college and they may be out of platinum 3 times during the whole Uni experience.  But try a new pleasure Sim from CAS in college and don't have them start dating right away.  The first pleasure Sim I played was like that and I had to struggle to keep her in gold.  She only hit platinum a few times.  Hint:  pleasure Sims need dates. :)

The boredom comes in when you have Sims permanent platinum and all their skills maxed and all their friends relationships in the 90's, which isn't that difficult even without any hacks.  Without any long term goals to work towards, there's no "default" action when they have free time.  Might as well buy them a bubble blower just to keep them busy.

Hook

Yep, once my elder sims were in Perma Plat in my Legacy family I was like thank goodness, now you can play that guitar/drumset/bass until your fingers fall off, for all I care and I can focus on the rest of the family. I also use JM's lot debugger to reroll their LTWs and had them switch careers if I could (some sims have one LTW and when it's done, they don't get another one in its place). But as Hook said, if they are in Perma Plat and have all their skills, high relationship scores, it's hard to keep them interesting.

I kill them off  :D

You could also make an old folks home and drop several of them in there to rot away.

That is my thought as well.  Kids do that when having their pictures taken; giving someone "rabbit ears".

I usually make them go through an entirely different career, first, if they have career-based aspirations. That keeps them interesting, longer. I agree they lose some of their appeal when they're permanent plat.

I guess it depends on the plans I have for a sim. If I don't like a sim I'm more likely to let them achieve their goals because then I don't have to worry about them anymore ...

I have a set of triplets, based on the Triplets of Belleville, whom I plan to let get old once they reach permanent platinum. I want to keep them alive, as elders, as long as possible, and I think permanent plat will help with that. They're destined to be my neighborhood wise women/witches, just like in the movie ...

If a sim wants woohoo with 20 sims, and it works out, fine. But 20 lovers at once, forget it. 20 best friends is more doable but still not that likely.

I maxxed out skills for a couple in my old hood. It was a lot of work. Now I let sims practice skills when they're in the green, mood wise, but I don't push it. If they want to play pool instead, no problem ...

So ... it helps to have a plan. What do you want the sim to achieve? How much do you like them? How much do you like watching them struggle?  ;)

I think the rabbit ears means playful, too ...

I don't think those screens mean those things either.  I mean, in a household of eight, I might have only one of the couples snuggled up in the load screen, but in the house itself, you can't stop everyone from serenading, hugging, making out, etc.  Suckers are all over each other.

In any case, permaplat elders are good for several things in my opinion: they can watch the kids--I often set them to wake up at 3pm, and it generally works out that someone is always awake to feed the baby/toddler, teach, whatever.  If they show no desire to retire, then I leave them working, unless...one of the adult parents needs a job to obtain a LTW, in which case, they retire instead.

Of course, LizzLove's waterbed is fantastic for letting them fulfill their whoohoo wants autonomously (so long as I use some kind of security to prevent mismatches in bed).

That's what I was saying above. Gali, where did you hear that it meant infidelity? Sounds like a sim urban legend, to me.

I too find Perma Plat makes Sims less fun to play. I do try to keep them useful though. Once a Sim has maxed skills, maxed job, and is Perma Plat they basically become household staff. They cook, clean, garden, babysit kids (including encouraging personality traits and training them on skills) and basically do whatever else I can think of to keep everyone else in the house happy. When not busy I turn 'em loose and let them amuse themselves. They only problem with this is that now my non-plat Sims have so few distractions towards achieving their goals it has become even easier to make them perma-plat.
I guess too much efficiency is a bad thing?

I think the intention of the fingers in a V behind another Sim's head is the playful "bunny ears" thing, but I seemed to remember that it had an old connection to infidelity.  Looked it up on Wikipedia, and guess what?

'"Bunny ears" - Curled index and middle fingers, palm away from the signer, usually used singularly. When used jocularly (behind someone's head in a photograph, for example), they can be straight as well as curled. In Italy, Spain and Portugal, raising the two fingers behind someone's head can sign "donkey ears" (a metaphor for stupidity) or the very offensive corna (the horns of a cuckold), suggesting the victim's partner has been unfaithful.'

Taken from a larger article entilted "V Sign," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign

Phyllis

PermaPlat are excellent resources for the rest of the family....the SimVac!

Send all your other Sims off to work or school in platinum by cannibalizing granddad

HA! I never thought of that: An elderly zoo where the kids can suck aspiration from the old folks.  :P

hmm...  now that I think about it...  I'm almost quite tempted to stop getting LTWs for my sims...  If they've got a career want, keep them out of that career!

might make me keep interested in my elders a little longer - particulary when I've actually found some decent looking clothes for them...

*sigh*

if I ever get my computer working again!

Ness

Uh oh, I have several Sims portraits that have the infamous "bunny ear" signs  :(  It's funny because one Sim family I have, the wife constantly cheats on her husband, and the man she's cheating with is an elder ex-maid.  And *gasp* there's the bunny ears!  :D

I've also had Sims reach lifetime platnum halfway through adult because they had gone to college and reached the top of their careers faster.  I have two alien half-brother/cousins that are both ltw platnum and criminal masterminds.   ;D  They're kinda dull though, but I guess that's why they and their families live in the same house. 

I still haven't installed University and have often wondered about the point of PermaPlat.
Obviously it will be extremely useful in the Email Challenge, but I'm very boring, so most of my Sims are platinum their entire lives anyway.
They usually max all skills and top several careers as well, or just play in them until they get the reward. The only time I've used a SimVac on a resident was to let grandpa - knowledge Sim who'd done it all several times and wanted only things that took longer than he had, vac his grandaughter so he could get the Gold Tombstone. She plagarized his novel, so she deserved it.

I suppose PermaPlat could reduce micromanagement and I could stop frantically searching for things to spend those 350-500,000 Asp points before they die. :)

Add Greece to that list too. So as I see it, in mediterranean countries it signifies cheating more often than stupidity, whereas in Scandinavia (well, at least in Sweden as I know from personal experience) it's the opposite: signifies stupidity rather than cheating.

I had never heard of this.  When gali mentioned the cheating sign, I thought she meant the wedding rings wtih the knives through them!  I knew I'd never seen that on any of my families' screens, so I thought this was some part of the game I'd missed, and I do have some spouses who are stepping out.

I'm not sure about the bunny ears thing, but I do know the picture reflects, to some degree, the way a family feels about each other.

I know this because I had a romance couple who were constantly cheating on each other, and they went from lovey-dovey in their original picture to arms crossed, looking angry and back-to-back when he caught her cheating to back to lovey dovey after they made up.

Throughout it all their daughter just looked disgusted LOL.

Yes, I remember seeing this in the original Pleasants that came with the game.  Lilith looked disgusted, and Daniel and Mary-Sue had their arms crossed with their backs to each other.  I've never seen it with any of my other families because they are all happy, LOL.

hmm,
Made me actually look at how they load up. I had a family with a new baby and noticed their newborn was sitting on the floor as they smooched, I have seen that before, but not too often. I worried that my game had glitched but all was fine, they just weren't close to him yet?!

I had one once where the baby was kneeling in front of the family as if it were a toddler!  I've seen a few other anomalies, but they never really affected anything.

I like the perma-plats, because it's one less Sim to stress over when things get hectic.  These Sims are the ones who get to cook the meals, clean the house, etc.  If things are calm, then I just go back to shooting for wants, in particular, the power wants (such as "30 Best Friends") that are insane.

Admittedly, some Sims are nearly impossible to satisfy the LTW.

You just have to decide which sims are worthy ...   :D

Speaking of which..., I downloaded Inge's "how many days left" shrub and now I fear I have too much knowledge.

Daniel Pleasant has 7 days left.  That's just about right...the house is very active right now since I'm trying to get daughter Penelope ready to go to University (first Uni student!)  I'm feeling a little bad about letting him go as I haven't let any one of my real Sims die yet...but I think the timing is right.

However, there is a sweet elder man in another house who has only two days left!  He was CAS as an elder in a 3 generation family, and while I played the family with aging off in the beginning (I no longer do that), he's never had any Elixir.

His time has come.  Do I have the guts to let him go?   :o

He's so sweet.  A knowledge Sim.  He wears plaid shorts, a print shirt and loafers.  He likes to study, hang out with an elder network and shoot the breeze, cook for his grown son and recently grown grandson.

He's never had much of a story, more a bit player than anything else.  Sigh.

I know, they are just pixels.  :-\

Yes, they are just pixels, but isn't it funny how attached we become *sigh*  :)

The first Sim ever to die in my game was Herb Oldie.  It was a solemn moment, even though he had hula girls and a platinum gravestone.  I did not save the game.

The only other Sims to die of old age were in my Legacy Challenge house.  This was not solemn at all, as dying was part of the whole process, and I needed room for new generations. :)  I may have let one other non-Legacy Sim die of old age, mostly to let her Romance hubby start playing the field, which no one seemed to mind.

Hook

Well, King Charming bit the big one night and I did save and it sucked.  :'(  Son Duke and grandson Prince were beside themselves with grief.   Was a little teary myself.

I keep telling myself, woman, this is the way you play a generational game, you have to move through the generations.

I did like the insurance money though.  I don't play with money cheats anymore and it was a nice boost.

Wonder how much money Daniel will be worth to Kaylynn, she could use some cash.  ;)

I second that.  When I first bought TS2, I had somewhat of a Legacy family I was playing, and I had a difficult time letting the first generation mother just age to an elder!  Oh, and when she died ... well, I nearly couldn't play the family.  I was crushed.  They had grandchildren and great grandchildren and now she was gone and she had been the most beautiful sim in her younger years and her husband was equally as handsome.  Yes, you get very attached to them.

I'm so attached I just let all the generations keep on going. I play with aging off, and I have sims who are still at the adult stage, yet have great-grandchildren. I think the lack of certain age groups makes it too hard for me to go through with the aging. It's confusing the way I play, but I still have fun.

But isn't that a nice fantasy world?    :)  I can't remember how old they let people get to in Star Trek, but I'm thinking it was 130 or more.  What a nice world where Great-Grandma is still young and vital.  I can see why that would be so much fun to play.

I'm irritatingly realistic when it comes to my Sims, in a non-realistic Simmish sort of way.  I have two generations of Sims smushed into "adult" right now, due to liberal use of Elixir with my first gen of adults (no, not the Elder stoop! no, no boobs dragging on the ground!)...and I'm going to need to let the first gen Sims turn into Elders soon or it will make me batty. 

My first gen is really 40-50 in my mind, and the second gen 20 to 30...but really, most everybody is 29 days to Elder.  With a third gen about to go into University...it's time for the rest of the crowd to be moving up.   I just can't have everybody mushed together.

I hate the draggy boobs more than anything.  :P Just 'cause you're 65 doesn't mean you can't afford a good bra!

Hear, hear. Have they never heard of underwires?
 ;D

So true. I just can't do that to my sims. Young and beautiful one moment then bingo bango, pick those boobs up off of the floor. And the men with their six-pack abs, suddenly hunched over saying  "Balinga McCoy" to the lovely ladies in that weird Mr. Magoo voice. Nope, not in my game. Great Grandpa Joe still has those abs and is looking mighty fine, I must say.

Yes, mine is a great fantasy world. They are all smushed together, but I find ways to rationalize the fact that they're all adults. Try living inside my head for a day. I can rationalize anything.

I have way too many sims in perm platinum right now...LTWs are getting too easy to fulfill..especially if you send them to uni

I have quite the strange imagination though so my sims are always up to something.  Heck..I figured if I played TS1 for so long and back them my little pixels had no wants..fears...motivation at all..I can surely think up something for my TS2 sims.

I always keep the youngest child of a couple in the house so grandparents can help raise grandchildren.

As they get close to death the SimVac is the perfect device to make sure those skills don't go to waste..or making sure quickly aging adults get the job skills they need for a promotion. ;D

I hate the draggy boobs more than anything.  :P Just 'cause you're 65 doesn't mean you can't afford a good bra!

LOL.........Oh I so agree

i've created sims of myself and my boyfriend as couples in the game. They're only 6 hrs of real time off to meeting dear Grimmy...kinda weird watching and waiting for yourselves to die

Creating yourself in the game can be quite traumatic.

Someone on the Maxis BBS reported making their entire family for their young daughter to play.  Child was devastated whan granny met the reaper.  Something to keep in mind for those who create Sim versions of themselves.

Hook

My daughter freaked when a made-up mom caught fire and died. I had just bought the game and had no idea that might happen. Hadn't even found the smoke detector yet. Now whenever she hears the fire alarm she runs out of the room.

And that's a sim that wasn't based on anyone we know ... I can only imagine what seeing ME fry up would do to her.

So I try to keep it all firmly in the land of make-believe.  ;)

Oh my, no, that wouldn't do.  I don't have any of my family or friends in the game and It hink I'll keep it that way. :o

Daniel Pleasant went to his hula girl reward in the sky this weekend.   :'(  After my first one, the second one was easier.

Kaylynn held a tasteful family funeral, with a catered buffet.  Penelope, her daughter with Daniel, came home from University.  Angela & Lilith came, having become fast friends with Kaylynn over the years.  Mary Sue, a total bitch in my game, declined with "Count Me Out!" 

I thought it was nice of Kaylynn to make the gesture, don't you?

There was lots of mourning.  Angela and Lilth behaved themselves, no cat fights, having gotten more Pleasant to each other over the years.  (Used to not be able to have them in a room uncontrolled without hair flying everywhere.)

The insurance money does help in a time of grief.  Kaylynn got 18K, which she really needed...Penelope got 9K at University which enabled her to move into off campus housing with Beau (Broke) March.  Angela got another tidy sum. Lillith got nothing, but she doesn't need to know that as she still lives with Angela and it went into their joint checking account.  Family secret, shhhhhhhh

The Circle of Life. Maybe I can do this.

I'm still waiting for Simone Le Gassey to die, but I'm definitely going to be sad, as is the rest of her family - they all have fears of her dying!  They all know it's coming and it's not like she's bedridden or anything!  The ol' life bar is looking mighty slim, maybe a day or two left.  Kennedy Cox-Le Gassey's going to be heartbroken, he's only in the green aspiration and all his wants revolve around.... grrr ... buying pool tables and bowling alleys!  (Although he seems to like the look of his daughter-in-law Brandi Letourneau-Le Gassey, who swoons over anything in pants.  I'm going to have to watch them.)

The sim version of myself and the boyfriend are currently in college, having just gotten engaged (which is a bit more serious than where our 'real' relationship is up to - my parents are meeting his parents tonight!  Aaah!).  I do get a bit worried about a couple of the dormies though, who just wander into the room 'we' share and stare at my boy in that creepy stalker way they have.

I read an article somewhere in the mists of simtime, apparently most people create their own family when first playing the sims game. I'm pretty sure this article was about sims 1, but I can't imagine it being different in sims 2.

The first family I made in sims 1 was my own, I played them almost exclusively for the first while, had a couple of attempts to make myself subsequent to that, but don't usually make people I know at all in sims2. I do get inspiration for CAS sims from the students at work though.  ;)

I lucked out with Daniel. Kaylynn often had a fear of him dying, but the day before he was supposed to die, she spun 3 unrelated fears...so I didn't let her go back to sleep.  She had off from work, no sleep, drank lots of coffee, and she didn't have a chance to reroll the fears and have his death come up on the appointed day. 


Isn't that interesting.  Never had the least urge to do so in either game.

My Avatar is of a Sim who looks like me (or me at age 30 and 30 pounds ago), but she's not me in name or personality.

I'm always fascinated by the different choices people make in an open ended game like the Sims!

Actually Gali. I thought no. 2, where the Sim has that V sign behind his/her spouse' head, that that Sim was just Maxis way of showing their cheerful/playfulness. Not to indicate non reliability.

I also got another more fierce version of no. 4. The couple not only not touching each other, but both have their back turned AND glowering at each other over their shoulder. I get that each time after cheating.

And as for platinum people. If it is a Sim I really like. My favorite Sims, I don't really mind them having perm plat. True I don't have to keep their aspiration meters up but then I just find other things for them to do. Max up their skills, use them as a babysitters/tutors or concentrate on their social life. Or even get them another career to work on. One Sim for instance was an elder and widow and lived alone (all her kids had moved out to either College or to their own place).

That Sim had a childhood friend that lived next door to her and that household was packed with kids and grandkids and I just had her move in with her friend. She was never alone and was a wonderful babysitter. She was even able to help with teaching the toddler to walk and talk and potty train her and she died on that lot. I still miss her.

Kestran.

oh, making versions of yourselves in the game isn't that bad. It helps me conquer my fear over death.

I've never made myself or my partners, but I made quite a few of my friends in TS1. In fact, I played the family of my real-life best friends for more than 230 days - I saw the 100 days Easter egg twice.

Haven't made any real people in TS2 because - and this will make you laugh - the Create-A-Sim has too many options! There are so many ways you can tweak the face that, for me, it makes it harder to create sims that look like real-life people. With TS1, I just went for eye colour, hair colour and hairstyle, and presence/absence of glasses, and then imagined the faces looking right. With TS2, I need the sims to look *perfect*, and I'm not capable of achieving that ;).

I made my brother and his girlfriend, and then had them get married and have kids (something my brother refuses to do) - but that was purely to mess with him.  :D

The best way to conquer your fear of death is to actually try it. I've been killed 3 times already, so I can tell you it's really not that bad.

Zombie Pescado, mark II?

*sigh*  She passed away last night.  77 days young, 1 husband, 1 son, 2 grandsons, formerly Captain Hero and Business Tycoon (my first sim to reach the top of one career, never mind two! I guess I just wasn't trying before.  In other news, her son Adrian, who was previously the biggest doofus ever - even for a sim, has just hit the top of his fourth career.  He's been a Mad Scientist, Chief of Staff, Icon and now Ecological Guru).

Kennedy was crushed, but soon soothed by the purchase of a dj station.  I think the 20,000 simoleon inheritance has helped nudge him towards his own LTW of earning 100,000 as well (does inheritance count towards 'earnings'?).  He's a few days away from death so even if he does get there, he won't enjoy it for long.  He looks so lonely all alone in his bed!  And spends a lot of time sighing.

Adrian, on the other hand, got up in the middle of the night to have some pork chops, and then proceeded to spend about 3 hours crying.  Wuss.  Lucky he's also permaplat, so I can ignore him.

What is the 100 days Easter egg?  I have never heard of or seen this.  Is that 100 Sim days or real time?

In TS1, if you played the same house for 100 Sim days, you'd get a pop-up every day for the next few days telling you a little bit about some of the folks who worked on the game. There is a website somewhere that has all the cards on it, I can't recall offhand which one it was though. It was a cute little surprise to get after spending so much time with the same house.

EDIT: Found it! You can read all of the cards here (http://www.oddsim.com/100.htm) on OddSim.

Thanks, that's very interesting!

Interesting also how much emphasis Maxis placed on testing and debugging.  :o

actually try it = ask someone in real life to kill you?
man are you a vampire or a zombie or something?  ;D

i've always have a fear of death. That's cause i haven't experience one before. my grandparents all died even before i was born, so yeah, no deaths of someone close has occured to me.

but whenever a person dies in my game, even if i'm not close to the sim, my heart always jump and my limbs went cold when i hear the sound of Grimmy coming. That's also why i only play houses with tombstones at daytime haha :D at night would be too scary for me.

I recreated my entire family right after Sims2 came out. My Sim-parents made great ghosts...but Sim-Me and Sim-Hubby are in their second phase (they're clones, since both were built in BodyShop before the game even came out...I'll probably reload them over and over again as they kick off) and having a grand time cheating on each other with all the neighbors. My husband isn't a Simmer, but he loves hearing about his Sim's latest conquests. After 27 years of marriage (as of yesterday), it's fun to have this outlet for fantasies we'd never fulfill in real life. With University, there's also the fantasy of both our kids going away to college...

I'll admit, it was rather creepy the first time around, watching "ourselves" get old, and then die. Not nearly as creepy as Sim-Hubby being a JUDGE, though.  :D

As for those PermaPlats, I generally have them move out once they're Elders and go live with some young family where both parents need to work. They're a hell of an improvement over Nannies! Now that Nighlife has brought garages onto most of my lots, I build them little apartments over the garage, and they spend a lot of time taking care of the gardens, and teaching skills and sharing interests with the little ones while the parents are at work.

you're lucky. my boyfriend covers his ears and la-la-la like the sims does whenever i tried to tell him what he has accomplished in his grand sim life.

Yes, but is your boyfriend's Sim woohooing all the neighbors?  Guys tend to perk up a bit when they hear about such things. :)

Hook

First, let me say congratulations to Hairfish on 27 years of marriage!  I reached 21 myself this last August and my biggest question is where on earth has that 21 years gone?  It seems like only yesterday we were married! LOL

Now, back on topic.  Since I don't have University, the perma-plat thing was new to me when I git Nightlife.  Since installing NL I haven't done much except for play my Legacy family and my first generation is within a few days of death now.  I wasn't sure (especially after reading this thread the first time) how I would like this new aspect, but I have to say I honestly love it!  Trying to keep sims in a high aspiration was never one of my favorite features to begin with, so having some in perma-plat has taken much of the stress out of playing my game.  I still fulfill their wants--after all I don't see a good reason not to, and just enjoy playing with them.

It's also had a little different effect on how I play my non-pp sims.  I'm not stressing as much as I used to about trying to keep their aspiration meters as high as possible.  Oh yes, we still fulfill wants for good aspiration levels but I'm much more inclined to let them slide a bit, especially if they're not ready for a promotion.

that's about the reaction I get from pretty much everyone.

Since I don't have Uni or NL, I don't have permaplat.  I have sims who would be permaplat though.  I use them as tutors and baby sitters to avoid nannies completely.  I moved a bunch of teen townies in with one romance sim who had got to 30 loves at once and concentrate on them not him.  The idea was to grow them up so he could flirt with them too.   He can't encourage, but he can use career objects.  In another house I had 1 knowledge sim who knew everything - I gave him a succession of boyfriends and had him make friends with all the kids and teach them things (thanks to JM's hacks).  He and a partner adopted a really ugly kid, then I had him marry the maid and start a family.  I wanted to have him max all his interests, but that's technically impossible I discovered.

I've only had 3 sims die - one by accident during the headmasters visit, one was an elder I created in CAS to live and die in a starter home, thus creating a starter home with a gravestone for other knowledge sims to move into.  it was on the sims2 site.  The other was also created to die and provide a gravestone.  I was trying to set up a sort of elder challenge... I can't bear to kill any others off, but I have quite a few elders now...

re grandma - Buntah made some non-saggy meshes for grandma on TSR.  They're better...

Not if you use Merola's Multi-Painting.  ;)

I've maxxed out people on skills and I've never used Merola's painting. It just takes time, and patience. It helps if they don't have kids.

It's just kind of boring to do. The easiest is to have two knowledge sims live together and work on maxxing out their skills. I had a husband and wife do it, and that wasn't even her ambition. Sure made becoming a mad scientist easy, though. So they were both maxxed out, permanent plat, and then they had a kid ...

Now, I don't worry about it. I'm not really interested in going "perma plat" for the most part so I just have them work in a different profression, if it's a professional goal. If it's a personal goal I don't worry about it too much ... especially the crazy ones.

My pleasure sim's lifetime want is 50 first dates. Since she's only dated one guy and is now happily married, I already know she's not going to even come close. Besides, 50? Holy crap. I'd have to invent people for her to date. Especially since she is firmly straight. Can't even get a spark for other girls. I'm not sure there are 50 eligilble male NPCs. OK, probably, but who wants to date Goopy?

The previous poster was talking about maxing out interests, not skills.  Maxing out skills is easy once you know how to do it.  All of my sim kids are maxed out on skills before going to college.  Only the townies I have sent to college aren't, and if they work at it, they will be maxed out before they graduate.  The Skillinator helps here because you can set them skilling and forget about them and concentrate on your other sims.  But I have never tried maxing out interests.  I didn't know if it was possible, but I don't really pay attention to interests anyway. 

i've just noticed that i haven't even answer the question of this post *ashamed*

nowadays i let them roam about, watch their antics and laugh and poke at them. if there are babies in the house they are the 24-7 nannies. other times they are tutors. sometimes it's boring, sometimes it's fun.

Oh. My bad. Sorry. I don't pay much attention to interests, either ... though now that you can ask a sim their interests I'm thinking if you bone up on something your dream sim likes, maybe conversations would go better ... gonna check it out.

I'm trying to get everyone to share their interests. will that increase their interests in various topics?

There's a storage limit on interests.  You're good sharing interests until you hit that.  Once the game notices you are over the limit, it randomly chops things off other subjects until you are back within the limit.  So sharing interests or reading magazines can actually cause your sim to lose interest points!  Most people don't bother with share interests or magazines because of these random losses.  Otherwise share interests would be a really good interraction. - better than gossip which spreads corrupt and other memories around the place!  There's a thread here about efficient personalities which covered interests too.  Did you knwo interests change as sims age and you gain points at age transitions?
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=323.0

well i guessed bout it. just never saw it personally. thanks for the link!