How are YOU going to use the Lot Sync Timer?

[windy_moon]

So, JM has created what I think is truly the most Awesome Hack Ever.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=2386.0

(I'd say "thank you" but, you know....  )

I'm installing as I go along....played the same neighborhood for 9+ months, completely uneven playing, no notecards, up to the 3rd gen but with lots of 1st gens who haven't yet aged to elders.  (Me likes the Elixir, what can I say.)

Decided to start everybody on +50, just to have a place to start.  I don't know that I want to play every lot evenly, but I really appreciate having the information as to whom has been played for how long.  I miss that so much from Sims 1.   (but was too lazy to keep a written record of umpteen gazillion Sims, play big neighborhoods)



What are you doing?  Is this going to change your strategy or just ease your notekeeping?  I appreciate hearing because I always get good ideas from the MATY folks.

[SaraMK]

I'll probably give the Prosperity Challenge a go now that this exists.

Also, I restart the Maxis neighborhoods pretty often, and I think this might be good for keeping all the Maxis families aging evenly. I'm always managing to completely screw them up.

[BlueSoup]

Well, my plan was to play all the families evenly, as this is a new neighbourhood (yet again  ), and it would be easy to start them on it. 

Now I get a little bored with playing families, and I am concentrating more on finishing my E-Mail challenge.

[J. M. Pescado]

I occasionally get engrossed in a family and run it ahead a bit, but now with the timer notes I know exactly how far ahead. Then I save the relatively dull families for when I'm on the chat, running them on 2 or 3 while chatting.

[skandelouslala]

The Lot Sync Timer sounds very cool but I haven't felt a need for it yet, just b/c I am usually very obsessive about playing my families evenly anyways.  I have never kept track of days though, just aging.  Right now though I do have some elders in a 'hood that are supposed to be long dead so I've been playing those houses trying to get them to kill over.  I might download it eventually though, especially when I start getting bigger 'hoods.

[J. M. Pescado]

The Lot Sync Timer is meant to keep track of aging (not days specifically), as if aging is off, the timer won't tick.

The other handy feature is the ability to hop from family to family without going through the neighborhood screen.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, that is useful, I know you can do it with neighbours, but this means any lot in the hood can be next!

Just wish there was a way of showing how many extra days a sim has gained through drinking elixir!  I mean, the game should show their age as, say, 27 days (+21) till they become an elder.  (Just so it is clear why you have parents with children ranging from toddler to ten days older than they are!)

[FatedCircle]

I actually just started a Prosperity neighborhood a few days before this was released.  It's very nice for keeping track of how long I've played each family.  I was just going to keep track of it in my head, at least at first, but with this, I don't have to.  I can see exactly how long I've played, without having to count.  So, I just play the first family in the loop until I get bored, and then play the other families until they catch up.  Less work for me means FC is happy.

And the ability to go straight to the next family without having to go through the neighborhood is a most awesome feature, I would have installed it just for that, as I'm usually not concerned with time sync.

[Liss]

Yes, that is useful, I know you can do it with neighbours, but this means any lot in the hood can be next!

Just wish there was a way of showing how many extra days a sim has gained through drinking elixir!  I mean, the game should show their age as, say, 27 days (+21) till they become an elder.  (Just so it is clear why you have parents with children ranging from toddler to ten days older than they are!)

I think that would be a different object altogether, one that is specific to each sim.  I would love something like this too.

I play my rotations religiously and always wanted a way to keep track of all of them at once. This is absolutely awesome for me!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, that is useful, I know you can do it with neighbours, but this means any lot in the hood can be next!

Just wish there was a way of showing how many extra days a sim has gained through drinking elixir!  I mean, the game should show their age as, say, 27 days (+21) till they become an elder.  (Just so it is clear why you have parents with children ranging from toddler to ten days older than they are!)

I think that would be a different object altogether, one that is specific to each sim.  I would love something like this too.

I play my rotations religiously and always wanted a way to keep track of all of them at once. This is absolutely awesome for me!

Oh, it would obviously have to be a different object, and I imagine it would not be simple to do, but it would be very useful!

[laeshanin]

Wow. Amazing hack and totally awesome as is only befitting a true genius (overegging much but hey... ). As to how I use it, ah, that will be as the maestro intended it.

However, as it's now the "season to be jolly" may I wish all those who believe in it A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS and those who don't: Blessed Be and may your Yule be splendiferous! Happy holidays everyone...

[Ancient Sim]

I am still trying to work out how to use this in a long-established hood like my Pleasantview, because unfortunately it doesn't really help much when they're already totally mucked-up.  I suppose the only way is to work out in my head what the differences are and adjust the timers to fit - I presume that is how it's supposed to work, but I'm not sure.  I suppose it's yet another sign that I really should start all over again.

[Karen]

I am still trying to work out how to use this in a long-established hood like my Pleasantview, because unfortunately it doesn't really help much when they're already totally mucked-up.  I suppose the only way is to work out in my head what the differences are and adjust the timers to fit - I presume that is how it's supposed to work, but I'm not sure. 

I have a similar situation in my Pleasantview.  I have been installing this for a few families at a time, syncing them up together and then aging up as necessary.  To make things easy at first, I started with all the sets of adult or elder twins who were living in separate households.  With twins, at least you know for sure that they should be exactly the same age, so you can age up one or the other as needed.  I had one pair of twins, Jessie and Justin, where Jessie was in family A about to turn elder, and Justin was in family B, barely into adulthood with a wife and newborn baby girl.  I had to age Justin and his wife and daughter up a full 20 days in order to keep him in sync with his twin.  (The daughter went all the way from baby to teen in the space of a few minutes.)  But I think I like this aspect of it.  It forces you to play families you would otherwise neglect until they get way out of sync.

Karen

[maxon]

I play my rotations religiously and always wanted a way to keep track of all of them at once. This is absolutely awesome for me!

Well so do I.  And I have a system - I play each family a sim week at a time and always finish on a Monday morning at 5.30am.  Mind you I always save at 5.30am every morning as well. 

So I won't be using this particular hack (thanks anyway P*) because I always know exactly where I am at any given moment. 

Hmmm... I think I may have control issues.

_{* why can't you just include a bloody thank you button?  That would do it for me.}

[windy_moon]

I have a similar situation in my Pleasantview.  I have been installing this for a few families at a time, syncing them up together and then aging up as necessary.  To make things easy at first, I started with all the sets of adult or elder twins who were living in separate households.  With twins, at least you know for sure that they should be exactly the same age, so you can age up one or the other as needed.  I had one pair of twins, Jessie and Justin, where Jessie was in family A about to turn elder, and Justin was in family B, barely into adulthood with a wife and newborn baby girl.  I had to age Justin and his wife and daughter up a full 20 days in order to keep him in sync with his twin.  (The daughter went all the way from baby to teen in the space of a few minutes.)  But I think I like this aspect of it.  It forces you to play families you would otherwise neglect until they get way out of sync.

*eyes bug out*

Oh, dear, I don't think I could ever do that...age up a Sim that I liked in order to keep the neighborhood in line.  

That's how I got in the messy mess I have in the first place.  I e-x-t-e-n-d time in houses I enjoy for really l-o-n-g periods.  Never actually play "aging off" but do so defacto as I'll use the multi-painting to add days to toddlers and children who are too cute to let grow up, teens who are having a good time partying with their friends...and endless days to the most favorite of adult Sims I can't bear to see turn into elders.

What I like is the idea of a shove to play families that are not being played much now. They may become favorite Sims, who knows, if I push myself to play them to keep up with Joneses who are being played 10X as much.

Though no one may age that much in consequence.

In awaiting (anxiously) the next expansion pack, I'm trying to keep my play horizontal. (80 or so playable Sims, there's lots I can do.)  I am so excited to set my Sims up in business, I don't want to have to resurrect my favorite Sims to give them their shot at being "open".

Project I've been working on recently was a group of 8 teens.  Got them through teen hood as fast friends, got them ready for college, and I've been sending them off one by one.  When I'm up to all 8 enrolled, I figure getting 8 kids through University will take me a huge chunk of the time up until EP release.  (I'm a slow player!!)

Of course, now comes the Lot Sync Timer, all bright and shiny, and not appropriate for Univ campuses.  Getting that installed on all of my lots and figuring out how to best use it to play the way I like could suck up all the time between now and OFB.

 

[Karen]

Oh, dear, I don't think I could ever do that...age up a Sim that I liked in order to keep the neighborhood in line.  

I don't usually do this for families I *like*, but for the ones I've kind of forgotten about.  Especially if I'm trying to marry off one of my Sims and there aren't any single adults (other than townies) in my neighborhood at the moment.  I'll take a family with kids that I haven't played in a long time, age them up so the kid turns into an adult, and go from there.

I think it's interesting how different people have different playing styles.  My neighborhood tends to be heavily populated (130+ Sims in it at the moment) and it's all I can do to keep track of them, so the last thing I need is something to make them live longer.  I've never used "aging off" at all, and use the elixir (or Merola's painting) mostly to subtract days, not to add them. 

Karen

[BlueSoup]

I've never used "aging off" at all, and use the elixir (or Merola's painting) mostly to subtract days, not to add them.

When I was doing a Legacy Challenge, and particularly the Xtreme Start, I would be forced to wait the 7 days before I could marry or move in an NPC.  Since I really can't stand to have my Sims die so far apart, I would use the Elixir to even out their ages so they would die at approximately the same time.

[ZephyrZodiac]

It's strange, but the closer you get to your own meeting with the Grim Reaper, the more reluctant you are to let your sims get that old!

[BlueSoup]

In one of my previous Legacy attempts, I used a Self-sim of someone I really liked and I was devastated to let him get old and then die.     Now, I would kill any Sim and not feel any remorse whatsoever.  I s'pose a hazard of hanging around Pescado so much.