Macro Control: Macrotastics

[Mesha]

The same also applies to charisma.

[Kyna]

I was just coming back to say that Mesha.  Or to wonder if it was my game that was borked.

Different sim on different lot to before.  Only charisma lot on object was cheapest mirror.  As with the previous sims, he'd already called friends and his moods were all green.  Present on the lot were correctly configured bathroom (with BUY), kick the cheat, functional kitchen, correctly configured bed.  Even though his asp was high enough to use a thinking cap there wasn't one on the lot - I'm a bit wary about putting thinking caps on my lots right now, given the FT glitch with asp rewards that I've heard about.

[pcgeekri]

The Gain Body skill isn't working any longer in Skillinator.  I'm still using Bon Voyage.  I'll post again, I think Pescado may have missed my original post because the Macrotastics/Skillinator support board went to TwoJeff's ACR.

Edit:  I may have fixed it.  At node 19 in the BHAV "Interaction Gain Body" the false should be set to 1A but instead loops back to node 3.  Still testing but seems to be working.


Thank you,

Pcgeekri

[mommytotwo]

i have the latest update and am too having an issue with Charisma. There were 3 mirrors, and the business career reward on the lot, and the sim just jumped out of the action.

Another thing is I cued Macro/Hobbinate/Film & Lit for a sim. She watched movies for a while, then went to the computer and blogged about arts & crafts while still macro/hob/f&l. I wasn't sure if that's what was suppose to happen because her father in law was Macro/Hob/Tinkering, and ended up blogging about another hobby too.

[jsalemi]

According to a message from Pescado a few up, the Hobbinate functions aren't all working yet (only arts & crafts is working so far, if memory serves).  Patience, grasshopper.

[mommytotwo]

Ahh ok, looked a couple of posts up and didn't see that. Went back a page and I did, I somehow missed it when I read through the thread. I have 3 kids under 5, so I know ALL about patience. 

[Karen]

According to a message from Pescado a few up, the Hobbinate functions aren't all working yet (only arts & crafts is working so far, if memory serves).  Patience, grasshopper.

But the latest version is MUCH smoother than previous versions.  I'm not getting errors anymore.  From what I've seen so far, I think Hobbinate is going to make this EP trivially easy to play.

Karen

[Emma]

From what I've seen so far, I think Hobbinate is going to make this EP trivially easy to play.

Karen

Why? It just stops you manually directing your sim to hobbinate-it isn't like it adds enthusiasm or anything. Your sim would be doing it anyway. Like macro>garden>talk for example, instead of clicking on each individual plant/tree, it makes your sim go to each one just stopping for motive replenishing. You'd be doing it anyway, but with a lot more clicks of your mouse.

[jolrei]

From what I've seen so far, I think Hobbinate is going to make this EP trivially easy to play.

I see this as a fun vs. tedium issue.  As there is no way to "win" the sims, it is all about how well your story is running, what lulzy things your sims are doing, building the generations, fulfilling goals, or whatever.  If you have lots of fun giving constant directions to your sims for each and every task (I used to like this method), then by all means refrain from using macros.

What I found was that micro-managing a household of 6 or more sims got so tedious that it was no longer fun.  Macros are indispensible for this, and hobbinate is a logical addition to the macrotastics package.

[Karen]

And I'm not disagreeing with any of that.  I have been using macrotastics, skillinator, BUY, etc. since they were first released, and couldn't play without them.  All I was trying to say was that if the point of this EP is to acquire enthusiasm points, visit hobby lots, etc, then setting your Sims to Macro...Hobbinate will make that process more or less effortless.  (Nothing wrong with that, of course.)

I should know better than to make general statements like that about an EP that's been out less than two weeks.  I haven't played it enough myself yet to really decide whether I like it or not.  Of course I realize that everybody's playing style and reasons for playing are different.  That's one of the strengths of the game, that you can play just about any way you want.  I don't usually play with specific goals in mind (although I admit that the BV "uncover all the vacation secrets" thing was way more appealing to me than I expected it to be).

I imagine that as time goes on, I'll fold the "hobbinating" into my normal gameplay and it will become just another thing my Sims do as part of their everyday routine.  Right now I'm still getting used to it, just like everybody else.

Karen

[Emma]

I am pretty sure they just don't show up. The only things that you should have missing is 'macro>be farmer/fisherman' (seasons) 'macro>dig' and 'macro>seashell hunt (not sure of the actual term used?)' (bv)
I don't know about macro>garden, not sure if it was there for regular gardening pre-seasons.

You could always try it, debug on, in a test 'hood and if anything throws up errors, come back and post an error log.

[vikitty]

I'm not sure if Hobbinate is doing what it's supposed to be doing for me. If I ask a Sim to hobbinate, they immediately start doing mundane things like cleaning the cat food bowl, calling their friends (not to chat about their hobbies), and cleaning. O_O

[Emma]

Have you tried selecting 'concentrate' straight after the 'hobbinate'? What hobby were you trying to get your sim to do?

[vikitty]

I tried the Arts & Crafts hobbinate -- had an empty easel on the lot. Sim puttered about washing dishes, calling a friend (her social was already maxed out) and took the garbage out before going to the easel.

I had similar results with Nature and Culinary, but everything after those tests seemed to be fine. (Sims went straight for the kitchen for Culinary to eat, and went to the basketball court for Sports -- didn't test the rest). I'm not sure whether those first three hobbies are buggy, or if it was the hack just taking a bit to "kick in", if that's at all possible.

Hobbinate > Auto works perfectly; Sims basically just parked their asses at the computer and blogged about everything under the sun.

[J. M. Pescado]

This is normal. Sims take care of local business before going about their hobby tasks.

[nekonoai]

So far, the only hobbies that I've had to direct sims to objects are sports, games, music, and fitness. The others seem to find relevant objects. (I'm using the macros from March 7th, btw)

Tho I wish the arts people would use something other than the easel... I'm thinking of taking that away from them and seeing if they go to the pottery wheel or sewing machine. It was fine when they were kids and it was all they could use, but come on!

[J. M. Pescado]

So far, the only hobbies that I've had to direct sims to objects are sports, games, music, and fitness. The others seem to find relevant objects. (I'm using the macros from March 7th, btw)

I only recently added sports actions, probably in the most recent version. Games, the current version should be able to locate any of: Pinball Machine, Arcade Machine, Computar, Game Console. It will preferentially choose the Browse/Blog options on the computer if available, as they are quiet, inoffensive, and not shameless plugs for EAxis crap. Music requires a Standard Instrument of some kind or the test-directory Dance Positioner. Fitness recognizes Tai-Chi (req dance positioner) and any of the exercise benches (T+).

Tho I wish the arts people would use something other than the easel... I'm thinking of taking that away from them and seeing if they go to the pottery wheel or sewing machine. It was fine when they were kids and it was all they could use, but come on!

The Arts people use the Easel because I don't know of any other arts actions at the moment, other than the pottery and sewing machine, which drain energy. Energy-drain actions are bad mojo.

[Kyna]

What about viewing art repeatedly?  I had a sim with maxed out art hobby go and view his toddler's first scribble (which I'd put on the wall), and he got the zone glow while viewing it.

For games, will you be adding non-electronic games such as chess or playing pool, or are they already included?

[nekonoai]

I only recently added sports actions, probably in the most recent version. Games, the current version should be able to locate any of: Pinball Machine, Arcade Machine, Computar, Game Console. It will preferentially choose the Browse/Blog options on the computer if available, as they are quiet, inoffensive, and not shameless plugs for EAxis crap. Music requires a Standard Instrument of some kind or the test-directory Dance Positioner. Fitness recognizes Tai-Chi (req dance positioner) and any of the exercise benches (T+).

The Arts people use the Easel because I don't know of any other arts actions at the moment, other than the pottery and sewing machine, which drain energy. Energy-drain actions are bad mojo.

SO the sports people will use the f'n soccer and basketball objects now?
No board games?
The house I'm playing now [with moar breeding] doesn't have a TV and I'd like to keep it that way. The film/lit kid can f'n read books. I've also taken out the computer because they all want to blog all day long, and eff that.
Is violin a "standard instrument"?

Pottery and sewing drain energy? Even when in the zone? Most of my T+ are nearly in the zone if not already there... so would that still be a problem? I guess I could always have them macro skillinate/badginate pottery and sewing. But meh.

I'll hafta download the new hax when I get home. whee!

[Jelenedra]

Yeah, the game recognizes the chess set as a games hobby item. Very quiet.

[J. M. Pescado]

SO the sports people will use the f'n soccer and basketball objects now?

Yes, but I think they may also drain energy. They are thus chosen at lower priority.

No board games?

Haven't explored those, and most board games are nonfunctional without an oponent.

Is violin a "standard instrument"?

Yes.

Pottery and sewing drain energy? Even when in the zone? Most of my T+ are nearly in the zone if not already there... so would that still be a problem?

Wouldn't be much of a point if they already have the hobby maxed out. Hobbination attempts to max out the hobby and maintain it. Since the zone only exists when they are already maxed in the hobby, there would be little point in continuing it. Also, the zone has little or no effect on drains, they still happen.

I guess I could always have them macro skillinate/badginate pottery and sewing. But meh.

The other kicker is that those actions CONSTANTLY POPUP DIALOGS. This is just an annoyance you have to accept when grinding badges, there is no other way, but the combination of disruptiveness to gameplay flow and disruption of energy balance tends to remove it from consideration as something to casually hammer.

[nekonoai]

Wasn't the ZONE supposed to SLOW the drains? 

the llama game works fine with one player.

[J. M. Pescado]

Wasn't the ZONE supposed to SLOW the drains? 

Maybe, but slow isn't really something I recognize. I tend to consider such matters in binary terms.

[Trubble]

So the pottery thing. Either I'm going crazy or there's some borkage. Sim A had some pots in her inventory. She was skillinating away, making more pots, and now they're gone. All but 2.

[mitchellcjs]

Skillinating automagically sells the practice stuff.