University Dos and Don'ts?

[Regina]

Okay--this is looking good so far!  So if I have #1 sim daughter move into a house while in college, then when her little brother and sister (they're twins) go to college they can move into the same house with her, and basically I should just be able to keep this whole family cycling through that house, and by the time her youngest sibling graduates she ought to have a child just about ready for college herself, so if I drag it out long enough that house should never be vacant.  Excellent suggestion!

I see there are different colleges in the neighborhood.  Which one works out the best?

I finally convinced my RL daughter that her sim-self should go to college when I told her that her sim-self doesn't have a career-oriented aspiration and that she'd be free to pursue her true love--art AND that the career reward object is an awesome camera!     Granted, I was going to send her sim-self to university, no matter what her real self thought. 

[Bangelnuts]

Okay--this is looking good so far!  So if I have #1 sim daughter move into a house while in college, then when her little brother and sister (they're twins) go to college they can move into the same house with her, and basically I should just be able to keep this whole family cycling through that house, and by the time her youngest sibling graduates she ought to have a child just about ready for college herself, so if I drag it out long enough that house should never be vacant.  Excellent suggestion!

I see there are different colleges in the neighborhood.  Which one works out the best?

I finally convinced my RL daughter that her sim-self should go to college when I told her that her sim-self doesn't have a career-oriented aspiration and that she'd be free to pursue her true love--art AND that the career reward object is an awesome camera!     Granted, I was going to send her sim-self to university, no matter what her real self thought. 

I use Sim State University

[J. M. Pescado]

Uni is much more interesting with NL installed. Finally, that Stink turn-on really gets a workout.

[Dark Trepie]

I think its kinda obvious that Sim State was ment for Pleasentview, La Fiesta was ment for Strangetown, and Le Tour was ment for Veronaville.  But you can attach whichever one you want.  You can even attach all three to one neighborhood if you don't mind sending your neighborhood down a quicker path to overpopulation explosion.

[Regina]

I think its kinda obvious that Sim State was ment for Pleasentview, La Fiesta was ment for Strangetown, and Le Tour was ment for Veronaville.  But you can attach whichever one you want.  You can even attach all three to one neighborhood if you don't mind sending your neighborhood down a quicker path to overpopulation explosion.

Nah, I try to keep them on a slow path to destruction--ergo the main reason I started doing the Delete All Characters code when starting a new hood.  No need for all those NPCs taking up space unless they're really needed.

Okay--mayhaps, since this is the neighborhood Strangetown, I'll attach La Fiesta!  I'll attach SSU to my other hood.

Now, I'm getting off of here so I might can actually play a little today!

Thanks so much to everyone for all your hints and tips.  If you all think of more, keep them coming--I'm enjoying the read AND no doubt am going to need all the help I can get to survive this!

[Sagana]

Me, I like to try out all the options at least a little before deciding I'm not gonna bother with those (tho I've never had a zombie, I just couldn't even find a reason for it). So, I'd suggest using one of the Uni's that has a secret society (I forget which one doesn't, but one of them doesn't), picking up at least one of the dormies or binned students (maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend of your main family) and testing the dorm a little, and maybe a greek house (I played that for about 5 seconds before I couldn't stand it anymore ;) and testing out all the commands and stuff. That should only take a few minutes - *then* start fast forwarding through all the boring stuff.  It's *really* easy to get 4.0 for any in-game born sim and especially fast if they've got their skills already at 8 for scholarships anyway. Don't forget to check out things like the extra chat options for students in the same major and letting a higher grade student teach a lower one to study (comes in handy for the Uni students that are already there) and the like.

NL does make it lots more fun tho. I've taken to running the game on the highest speed while setting them up to do what's necessary schoolwork-wise. I might let them earn some money tutoring other kids at the library or playing instruments or hustling pool, or working in the cafeteria - just for fun (my ingame sims usually don't need money) and visit the Uni lots, just to have seen them. But I don't fast forward all the way to senior as I think it's rather fun to spend time calling up a bunch of students in the directory and inviting them on outings - friends and dates both. My Uni kids spend most of their time downtown now and those years are actually about doing a lot of socializing (and sometimes a bit of experimentation ;)). When I get tired of it - I jump them to senior and graduate them :)

This is without my themed University story idea which I'm still working on and isn't in game yet.

Oh, I imagine you know it's not a great idea to have a baby while on campus? You can't do that without hacks anyways (unless you have a teen male that gets pregnant via abduction from the sphere thing) and I think there are hacks to fix it but just thought I'd mention it :)

[J. M. Pescado]

COLLEGE RAMPAGE is the key to Uni. Then I amuse myself with horrible dates. Dream dates are easy, but very boring. I'm trying to cause more horrible dates. With flaming bags of poo. Any tips for good horrible dates (not just poke/insult/slap over and over)?

[baratron]

I intentionally iinstalled the colleges into a different Neighbourhood than the one they were meant for, because I thought the sims would like to go to college somewhere different to where they've grown up. So my Strangetown has Academie le Tour, and my Pleasantview has La Fiesta Tech. Just a suggestion .

Oh, and all the colleges have a secret society as far as I know. But Academie le Tour doesn't have any Greek houses (fraternities/sororities) to start with, although you can make them once you're there.

[Ness]

the simple reason I always use academie is because of the lack of greek houses - in fact, I've never even been able to create one while there, not at all!

[Dark Trepie]

COLLEGE RAMPAGE is the key to Uni. Then I amuse myself with horrible dates. Dream dates are easy, but very boring. I'm trying to cause more horrible dates. With flaming bags of poo. Any tips for good horrible dates (not just poke/insult/slap over and over)?

Just give the first person you see a wolf whistle.  Your date will freak and you'll have an Insta-Horrible date.  I did this with Lazlo Curious to get rid of that crush he had on Crystal Vu.   

[Bangelnuts]

COLLEGE RAMPAGE is the key to Uni. Then I amuse myself with horrible dates. Dream dates are easy, but very boring. I'm trying to cause more horrible dates. With flaming bags of poo. Any tips for good horrible dates (not just poke/insult/slap over and over)?

Just give the first person you see a wolf whistle.  Your date will freak and you'll have an Insta-Horrible date.  I did this with Lazlo Curious to get rid of that crush he had on Crystal Vu.   

that'd be one way to get a bag of Flaming Poo   

[Twiki]

Any tips for good horrible dates (not just poke/insult/slap over and over)?

Ask the matchmaker for a blind date while you're already on a date. Instant bad date, guaranteed bag o' poo. You seem to be able to repeat it indefinitely until the Matchmaker wanders off the lot.   

[Bangelnuts]

Any tips for good horrible dates (not just poke/insult/slap over and over)?

Ask the matchmaker for a blind date while you're already on a date. Instant bad date, guaranteed bag o' poo. You seem to be able to repeat it indefinitely until the Matchmaker wanders off the lot.   

ahh dont forget the stink letters that arrive after a horrible date from said gypsy

[radiophonic]

Most important thing to remember with UNI is: Don't fall asleep playing it. 

[J. M. Pescado]

Just give the first person you see a wolf whistle.  Your date will freak and you'll have an Insta-Horrible date.  I did this with Lazlo Curious to get rid of that crush he had on Crystal Vu.   

No, that's a boring way to do it. Abusing the jealousy engine is no fun at all.

[Bangelnuts]

Most important thing to remember with UNI is: Don't fall asleep playing it. 

thats a big  tip for sure

[Kristalrose]

I built a co-ed greek house.  Okay, it started out as a Frat, but soon evolved as the guys started moving their girlfriends in.    I had the same advantages as having a rental house, but I also had the added bonus of free food and stuff from frequent campus visits, and the added challenge of befriending sims I wanted to move in.  

I have about 10 core families, so what I do is send a "Generation", which is 4-6 teens at a time, to a dorm.  From there, I have the generation (older siblings) before invite them to pledge and move into the Greek House.  

Another tip:  Get a group together with nothing to do and let them do "Group Research."  It adds to their social motive, it adds friendship points, it fulfills wants, and it improves their grades.  Just DO NOT invite the cow, cheerleaders, streakers, and other sundry dormies that you do not want relationships.  They will be calling your Sim long after they have graduated and moved on from UNI.

Also, another don't:  I made the mistake of putting a pool table in my Frat.  Never again.  They were obsessed with playing pool.  If I had a party, they'd all stand around that pooltable.  If I wanted them to build skills or study, they'd get bored and run for the pool table.  

[Andygal]

No, that's a boring way to do it. Abusing the jealousy engine is no fun at all.

Well you could always introduce the date to CowPlant-sama.

Of course then you'd miss out on the bag of poo.

[Bangelnuts]

I built a co-ed greek house.  Okay, it started out as a Frat, but soon evolved as the guys started moving their girlfriends in.    I had the same advantages as having a rental house, but I also had the added bonus of free food and stuff from frequent campus visits, and the added challenge of befriending sims I wanted to move in.  

I have about 10 core families, so what I do is send a "Generation", which is 4-6 teens at a time, to a dorm.  From there, I have the generation (older siblings) before invite them to pledge and move into the Greek House.  

Another tip:  Get a group together with nothing to do and let them do "Group Research."  It adds to their social motive, it adds friendship points, it fulfills wants, and it improves their grades.  Just DO NOT invite the cow, cheerleaders, streakers, and other sundry dormies that you do not want relationships.  They will be calling your Sim long after they have graduated and moved on from UNI.

Also, another don't:  I made the mistake of putting a pool table in my Frat.  Never again.  They were obsessed with playing pool.  If I had a party, they'd all stand around that pooltable.  If I wanted them to build skills or study, they'd get bored and run for the pool table.  

My teens head  to uni with all 7 skills maxed or they wait until they have them maxed playing with aging off has advantages

[Sagana]

Even with aging on, I manage to max at least 5 (or get 8 pts in 6+)... I cheat body tho (I use the mobile - I just hate training body really), so say 4+ is fairly easy to do (I use smart milk, that's the only aspiration reward, and whatever career rewards the family has earned).

[Kitiara]

College Rampage. Call someone, talk until friends. College clock makes it time for exam. Rinse, repeat.

[Regina]

I didn't just start off cheating my way through everything.

First off, I had a sim who was friends with Syera's sim-self's future love, George.  I had Abercrombie invite George to move in with him and George was loaded with tons of stuff in his inventory!  Then I used the NL aging cheat and turned George into a teen (I don't recommend doing this unless you are going to send said teen to college or unless you can shave off a ton of time from their life because they get the same number of days they had previously, so here George was with 28 more days of teenhood).  I used Merola's multi-painting to max his school grade (I was a little worried the social worker might come after him because he had an F- for a grade).  Once I did that I had him call for scholarships.  I wanted George to get another logic point so he could go for a scholarship, so went ahead and sent him to school the next day.  Syera's sim-self came home with him on the schoolbus and first thing off she started flirting with him!  (The wanton hussy! LOL)  George landed two scholarships for high skills, one for good grades and one for being an orphan.  The next morning he headed off for college where he could afford to move into a small rental house.  Then I sent Syera's sim-self off and she joined him in the house.  She had a few scholarships, too.

George's inventory included a pinball machine, dance sphere, a rug, stove, big stereo, $4,000 vase and a couple of other cheap items.  I let him keep the pinball machine, rug and dance sphere.

The pair are halfway through college living in a small two bedroom, two bathroom house I built for them.  It's completely furnished but not nicely by any means--just cheap stuff, and I think at the moment they have over $10,000 cash on hand.  Both are on the Dean's List.

I created a CAS sim and started him off in my other neighborhood.  Him I moved into a dorm and I'm not sure if it was him or me getting revolted by the stink of his dormmates that finally got to the both of us.  By the end of his freshman 'year' he was able to move out into a small house on his own.  He's halfway through college now, too, without any help from the college timer.

Overall, it's been a little dull.  The mascots, streakers and cheerleaders about drive me nuts.  I had one cheerleader pop onto the lot and hop into George's dance sphere.  I thought she'd die there before she finally left.

It seems to me it's a lot easier bringing up their grades by doing assignments than group research.  My on-his-own sim is also good friends with one of his profs and that has helped his grade some.  I think their relationship is at a high enough level now, though, that he's going to have to get on an intimate level with her if he expects anymore grade increases which he probably won't do considering he has a steady girlfriend already.

One thing I was wondering is that if you move new students into the household with existing students and the existing students graduate, do they keep any of the money they earned while in college?  George and Syera's sim-self have quite a little bank account going and while I sure don't mind handing off a fully-furnished house to the siblings I think they should have something for all their hard work.

[J. M. Pescado]

That depends on whether you have no 20K handouts or not. If yes, then they do. If not, then all the money is generally lost and you get a puny 20K. Or a massive, free, unearned 20K. Uncool. Aren't college graduates supposed to be broke?

[Regina]

Thank you, fish-man!