Survey at Official Site

[trancejeremy]

The fact that OFB only came with 1 disk really made me angry, which is why I didn't buy it.

The amount of disks that came with each expansion of TS1 are as follows.  TS1-1 TS1:LL-1 TS1:HP-1 TS1:HD-1 TS1:V-1(Could have been 2) TS1:UL-2 TS1:SS-2 TS1:MM-2 plus a TS2 video disk.  The amount of disks that came with each TS1 expansion are as follows. TS2- 4 CDs or 1 DVD plus bonus DVD TS2:Uni-2 TS2:NL-2 TS2:Holiday-1 TS2:OFB-1 TS2:FFP-1.  Though, most of you probably already knew these numbers.

The thing is, for most of the expansions of the original Sims, they also came with updated versions of the files for previous eps (since the files had to be udpated to accomadate the new features of the EP). Otherwise they really could have fit on one disc. It wasn't until the last couple I think that Maxis discovered they could simply patch the old files, they didn't have to include entire copies of the old files.

This is actually how I got a couple of the eps (Vacation and House Party). I simply extracted them from the disc of a later expansion. Took some fiddling with the registry to prevent them from disappearing.

[Ellatrue]

I'd love to see natural disasters, and just weather in general. It provides plenty of new ways to kill of my Sims (I'm deranged, I know). As far of destruction goes, I think there should be home owner's insurance available. If you buy insurance, then after a disaster scenario is over, the insurance company will arrive and repair your house to its pre-storm state.

Heh. Or find excuses for why they won't pay for it.

"Sure, your home was hit by a hurricane, but since it was blown to splinters by wind instead of water, you are on you own. Have fun living on the lawn."

[SimMoon]

I know that there is weather coding in the game, Carrigon uses it for a lot of the weather packages she uses. I think Maxis is planning on using the weather in a future ep.. the question is this: Are we all going to have to upgrade our computers to run the next ep or will weather take out our graphic cards anyway? Rain is a bit scarey on my screen and I have a GeForce FX 5500. It dents the land and takes a while to stop. Sometimes, it wont stop. And the Lightning storms are fun... just don't leave a Sim out in them.

[BlueSoup]

Well, it's been sorta weird but I've noticed my game gets better with each EP, not worse.  Weather will probably be the one to kill it though.  As nice as it would be to have the option, I hope it's something that can be not used if we don't want to.

[Sagana]

It would be nice if you could have some parts of it or have it sometimes... as in, say you want seasons but don't want animated rain/snow etc. There could still be flowers at some times and snow on the ground at others or the like, skipping the inbetweens and animations. Or if you want it to rain/snow/whatever (perhaps for a snow festival or to rain out a parade or something) just this once, you could call it, but it won't happen automatically unless you set it that way.

If you see what I mean...

[Paperbladder]

Expansion Request List
-Fully Fleshed Scenario editor.  I just don't want an afterthought here, I want it to be at least as feature packed as WC3's Map Editor and if it doesn't contain a lot of features give it a script system such as Ruby or Python.  Heck, Civilization 4 is made mostly with Python.  It's sad to see a game that isn't about customization is ahead of a game that is ALL about customization on this aspect.
-Piracy.  I really want my sims to sail the seas and pillage trade ships for some reason.  It'd be a good way to use those useless water tiles, and with the Neighborhood view with NL I know that it's possible to change the background as they're sailing.  I guess they could add P2P networks also but it's not that exciting really.
-Restructured Wants system.  I know there's wants I never get because my sims are obsessed with their current want trees.  Also, what's up with LTWs?  Are they ever going to update them?
-Getting rid of Attenuation.  The current AI system follows Attenuation, a crusty old system from TS1 that tells a sim to use an object that Maxis thinks gives the most entertainment.  This is why sims bogart swings so often.  What should it be replaced with then?  Like a "Governor" in the Civilization Games, Free Will is run by what you have told them before.  Want them to be addicted to TV?  Have them constantly watch it.  Want them to skill constantly?  Start them off skilling a lot then they'll continue.   If this transferred to other houses too it'd give them distinct personalities.  Situational Awareness would demand too much from your CPU, and people already have problems with running the game quickly.
-More Careers that are unconditional.  Seriously, I don't want to send a Sim to University just because I want them to be an actor.  Wait, does that even make any sense?

That's it for now.

[eaglezero]

Expansion Request List
-Restructured Wants system.
-Getting rid of Attenuation.

WORD. If they did the first two things, the game would be SO much more fun.

[nikita]

Expansion Request List
-Getting rid of Attenuation.  The current AI system follows Attenuation, a crusty old system from TS1 that tells a sim to use an object that Maxis thinks gives the most entertainment.  This is why sims bogart swings so often.  What should it be replaced with then?  Like a "Governor" in the Civilization Games, Free Will is run by what you have told them before.  Want them to be addicted to TV?  Have them constantly watch it.  Want them to skill constantly?  Start them off skilling a lot then they'll continue.   If this transferred to other houses too it'd give them distinct personalities.  Situational Awareness would demand too much from your CPU, and people already have problems with running the game quickly.
-More Careers that are unconditional.  Seriously, I don't want to send a Sim to University just because I want them to be an actor.  Wait, does that even make any sense?

That's it for now.

Yah, I'd be all for that.  I especially like the idea of a "governor".  That would make my simming all the less annoying.

And aside from the Natural Science career, all the Uni careers are b.s.  Any idiot or scam artist could do them.  I'd also like to see University available to adults and elders.  They shouldn't have to go to the Uni campus but they should be allowed to get their degree in some way.

[cwykes]

don't bother trying anymore, It's full - got a message before I even got to the survey!

[J. M. Pescado]

-Getting rid of Attenuation.  The current AI system follows Attenuation, a crusty old system from TS1 that tells a sim to use an object that Maxis thinks gives the most entertainment.  This is why sims bogart swings so often.  What should it be replaced with then?  Like a "Governor" in the Civilization Games, Free Will is run by what you have told them before.  Want them to be addicted to TV?  Have them constantly watch it.  Want them to skill constantly?  Start them off skilling a lot then they'll continue.   If this transferred to other houses too it'd give them distinct personalities.  Situational Awareness would demand too much from your CPU, and people already have problems with running the game quickly.

The "Governor" in Civilization isn't really that deep. They don't "do what you have told them to do before" in any real sense, it's just that they tend to mindlessly repeat your last orders to build tanks, artillery, and mechinfs, and so you think this appears to be some kind of intelligence because you wind up with a useful number of tanks, artillery, and mech infantry.

As for making them addicted to something, in order to properly model the addiction to it, they have to benefit more from doing their chosen activity than normal sims do! So a sim that is addicted to TV should have a REASON why he's addicted to TV, because he'd actually derive more benefit from it than from another action, or another sim doing the same thing.

Of course, this means my neighborhood will rapidly fill up with compulsive flamingo and gnome kickers that keep doing it even when visiting. Which is cool. I can't imagine getting MORE benefit from kicking stuff, though. That's pretty godlike already.

-More Careers that are unconditional.  Seriously, I don't want to send a Sim to University just because I want them to be an actor.  Wait, does that even make any sense?

I don't so much mind "conditional careers" as I do conditional careers with arbitrary conditions that make no sense, like how you have to go to college to be an artist, but don't need to do this to be a doctor. Wuh?

[RainbowTigress]

Yeah, that doesn't make much sense to me either.  Some artists do go to art school, but it's not like having to go to med school for 8 years like most doctors I know.  But I guess Maxis' reasoning for this is that Uni didn't exist when they put out TS2 which included the original Medical career, and they had to think up some cool new careers for your grads to work for when they put out Uni.   

[Sagana]

I really hate that the Uni careers don't make sense. I wondered how they were going to handle not having had drs go to school previously, but it never ocurred to me they'd just *ignore* it :p

bah.

[MxxPwr]

...Everyone seems to bash every idea Maxis comes up with for expansion packs, so here's my question: what exactly is it you guys want in the next expansion pack? And no cop-out answers like "no bugs" or "for it to work out of the box", because we ALL want that

As a whole; a theme for an entire expansion pack: Sim Religion.

Now, I'm not talking about real-world religions, which could be trouble. I'm talking about things Sims would believe in:
Player Determinism vs Free Will
Nirvana vs Forever-Trapped-In-Characters-Folder-Hell
Attenuation vs Repetition
That kind of thing.

Impact it could have on the game:
We can chose PC Sims beliefs
Beliefs effect attractiveness/compatibility/relationships
Certain beliefs give you days off
Non-UNI-Related religious career track
Religious NPCs
Any other ideas?...

Now, my wish-list items for any EP:
Death Phone: Call up Grimmy. Pay him money. Kill anybody on the lot/any way you want.
Seasons; not necessarily weather.
Werellama counterpart for Vampire.

Just some stuff floating around in my head. 

[The~Simmer]

Everytime I try to take the survey I get this:   Sorry, but the survey is full. Hopefully, we'll catch you next time!

I guess I try back later and hopefully with get to take the survey, I'm all for the weather (they promised this A long time ago and never delivered on it).

[Lythdan]

The survey *is* full now.

[The~Simmer]

...ugh need caffine.....brain no thinking right.......please ignore my above comment the result of it just caught up with me LOL

[kacidama]

Any other ideas?...

Werellama counterpart for Vampire.

A werellama sounds like a terrific idea - I'm with that

[ElfPuddle]

ElfPuddle's EP wishes:

1) something to end Utopia...be it weather, seasons, even animations (in which case, I need a new computer)...my sims don't need beautiful late spring/summer 24-7. What's the point in coats if it's 80 degrees F and sunny?
2) (a dead horse, but one which MUST be beaten): my favorite modders and object makers hired by Maxi to test, fix, and de-feature the EP BEFORE it comes out!
3) LTWs and other tweaks to give my sims a reason to get degrees beyond the extra wants & want locks (if you don't have uni, you won't get them...sucks to be you!)
4) gardening and laundry...and other realistic touches...see (2)
5) AN EDUCATION MAJOR AND TEACHING CAREER...you could have good/bad memories of teachers, easier/harder grades depending on your teacher/professor, better homework help at home if your parent is a teacher....and yes, you must go to uni. to get this career
6) all of the above ideas from other posters

[J. M. Pescado]

ElfPuddle's EP wishes:

1) something to end Utopia...be it weather, seasons, even animations (in which case, I need a new computer)...my sims don't need beautiful late spring/summer 24-7. What's the point in coats if it's 80 degrees F and sunny?

Hail and acid rain would be fun. Sims have to stay indoors when there is hail or rain, because otherwise they get pelted to death or melt.

[ElfPuddle]

yes, that would be fun. I'll try to keep Sim JM out of the green hail 

[Paperbladder]

The "Governor" isn't perfect, but it's better than what we have now.  Macros are "Governors" kind of take care of this now but requires intervention.  It's probably too late to implement the "Governor" system into TS2 this far in the cycle, but it has a slim chance of happening in TS3.  Chances are, they'll use attenuation again but add more checks.

I'd only like the religion idea if we can make new ones and they actually don't make real religions themselves.  Custom religions must be able to limit actions or allow more actions, such as Attacking random people if you follow Pescadoism or slower skill learning for Sheepism.  Religions are very weak with only a few people, and with more the religion can get more benefits or improve existing benefits.  Pescadoists would only be able to attack people slightly earlier until the religion gains power, in which eventually they would be able to attack people with 100/100 relationship.  Using Power is strictly optional, a religion could remain weak forever no matter how many people worship it.  I should probably add that people per Religion should only affect the local game, it would be a disaster online.  Magic could be worked into this expansion also.


I've hated the idea that an expansion can't be altered once it's released.  Heck, I would get a booster pack that added many LTWs or University-required Careers instead of useless objects.

[J. M. Pescado]

The "Governor" isn't perfect, but it's better than what we have now.  Macros are "Governors" kind of take care of this now but requires intervention.  It's probably too late to implement the "Governor" system into TS2 this far in the cycle, but it has a slim chance of happening in TS3.  Chances are, they'll use attenuation again but add more checks.

Well, everything ultimately is "Attenuation", as you put it, even in real life. It's just that in real life, the values an object purports to advertise are filtered through your own experiences: A "fun" thing is advertised as being lots of fun: You try it. If it turns out to not be fun at all, your experience with is is negative, and you respond poorly to its claims in the future, depending on how smart you are: Smarter people learn more quickly that this is a bad idea, while dumb people may keep poking it at stubbornly certain that this is supposed to work, and then accuse you of cheating when you beat them anyway.

[MxxPwr]

...I'd only like the religion idea if we can make new ones and they actually don't make real religions themselves...

Or a base Maxis-made religion to start; with the option of creating a custom religion. The Maxis-made religion would make good opposition for any new custom one. I like that idea for a custom religion. I can see the Hamster Cult now. 

...Religions are very weak with only a few people, and with more the religion can get more benefits or improve existing benefits...

Similar to a Soroity/Fraternity in UNI.

[J. M. Pescado]

Or a base Maxis-made religion to start; with the option of creating a custom religion. The Maxis-made religion would make good opposition for any new custom one. I like that idea for a custom religion. I can see the Hamster Cult now. 

You mean like the BBS Sheep Cult?

[MxxPwr]

You mean like the BBS Sheep Cult?

For the Maxis-made? Heh, heh, yup. 

I can even see a couple of attributes for it:
(1) Every townie is automatically rewritten to be a Sheep Cult member.
(2) Those townies react to any negative action like Mrs. 'C' So, gossip, bragging, or being critical of another townie gets your PC Sim a stern lecture or a smack on the head.