Nothing weirder than a Maxis Nanny

[ZephyrZodiac]

I actually find that active sims get tired faster, but they head for the espresso machine while lazy sims opt for a snooze!  They get tired faster because generally they want to build active skills like body and creativity.  They also need to eat more often!

[RainbowTigress]

I think these are all good things. I really agree with JM's logic about lazy vs active sims.  The less time spent sleeping the better, and if you have two or more sims drinking espresso at the same time, they will socialize, which is a good thing.

[witch]

That's true. I just took all my sims to a community lot, they were all green when they left home, but by the time they returned they were knackered. It's as if the bars drop faster on a community lot. Anyway, they all had to caffeinate together and I just realised then how well they were socialising.

[gali]

witch, why don't you hang at the community lots the Merola's Multi-painting? I have it in all my communities, and take care that my sims can enjoy there a lot of time, and come home all green. Why torture them? - they don't deserve it....

[witch]

Thanks Gali, didn't know I could use the mirror on a community lot. I don't use it at home but on the c. lots it would be great.

Normally community lots are so bare of food, rest and sleep, that it hardly seems worth going. Lots of socialising though.

[phyllis_p]

Well I just had the oddest thing happen. At 8.10am the nanny was still not there. A message popped up, "did I have a nanny scheduled as it wasn't good to leave the toddlers home alone". Yes, I said.

8.20 - no nanny. Got one of the teenagers to ring and order a nanny, 'just for now'. Everyone got in the vehicles and left, but not before another message popped up, saying the same thing as before.

Nanny finally arrived, hopped out of the car. Car drove off. Another nanny car arrived, bugger I thought, the scheduled nanny finally arrived. But no. The first nanny walked to the second nanny car, got in and DROVE OFF!

Leaving 2 toddlers on their own for the day. Luckily I have the no social worker hack and Inge's bottomless bottle.

EDIT: OMG How tragic, I'm spending my evening babysitting virtual toddlers. I need to get a life!

I had something very similar happen -- have a post about it around here somewhere.  Someone said that it was because I used the cell phone to hire the nanny.  I haven't had a need for a nanny since then so I haven't been able to check it out, but I thought I'd mention it in case using the regular house phone is, indeed, the solution.

Phyllis

[ZephyrZodiac]

I've started putting Gnomon's flamingoes on community lots, saves having to tell sims to look at the painting and keeps the non-controllable sims around longer too.

[witch]

ta Phyllisp but my sims didn't have cells at the time.

I can't see the mind control mirror in buy mode on the community lot, so I'll have a fling with a flamingo. I did use one of Gnomon's flamingoes on the home lot, but it made the game no challenge at all.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I normally only use the flamingo of contentment, which only raises levels slightly, but on community lots why not - if you're prepared to use the picture, it's no different except all the sims are equally affected and you don't have to do anything.

Even when you don't normally use the flamingo, it's very helpful while toddlers are learning their skills as it keeps them going long enough to learn walking or talking in one go, and doesn't affect potty training, though it does mean babies never need a nappy change!

[veilchen]

Witch, don't use the mirror, its the painting you want. If you use the mirror instead of the painting, your sim might not be able to call a taxi to get back home. Merola's painting on the other hand, works just fine in the community lots.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I tried using the mirror once, on a home lot, and the teen who was going to college got stuck in his taxi, so I had to exit without saving and lose about three (human) hours of gameplay!  It was extremely annoying!!!!

[RainbowTigress]

Merola's mirror doesn't affect needs, it just lets you control sims who aren't normally controllable.  I save compulsively, LOL.  I have learned the hard way.  I did notice that once you move a teen to college or if other sims move out, they still remain selectable in the mirror, but I didn't mess with them.  Once you save and reload the lot, they are gone.

[ZephyrZodiac]

In this particular case, the teen had not had anything to do with the mirror, I was using it purely to find out how near death Roger Ebadi the Criminal Mastermind was getting!  He just wouldn't die!!!

[RainbowTigress]

I would imagine that they wouldn't actually die until they appeared physically on the lot.  As long as they are offworld, their needs can drain until they hit bottom but that's all until somehow they are forced back onto the lot.  One way is to use debug cheats and force them to teleport to the mailbox by shift clicking on it.  Installing or upgrading certain hacks seem to reset my sims as well, which is annoying because if they were at work or school, they get sent back home, the adults lose that day's pay and the kids lose a grade.  But at least they all have full motives.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Ebadi had kicked over the trash can for about the tenth time, so I'd stuck him in the roofspace but he wouldn't die!!!!

[RainbowTigress]

Did you try the cowplant?  I got tired of townies kicking over my trashcan, so I got Inge's fix for that.  I'd forgotten about them doing that!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Oh, I know there's a fix, I've even got it in my new downloads folder, but I don't really want to install it - it's not just Townies that do it, Mary-Sue Pleasant is a notorious trash-can kicker!  I don't put the hack in because it tells you something about the character of playable sims which you don't get just looking at their personality points!   For example, Keanu Broke (the youngest of the three Brokes in my game) has only one nice point, but I've never seen him do that, although he's and evil Punch-you-Punch-me player!  Shows that growing up with nice people makes a nasty sim nicer, while Mary-Sue is the reason why the Pleasant twins couldn't get along - she was obviously a destructive mother!

[RainbowTigress]

I remember Komei Tellerman doing it all the time, and my poor sims would always get sick.  I don't remember Mary Sue doing it, but that may be because I played the Pleasants a lot when I first got the game, and Daniel and Mary Sue were two of the first elders in my game to die.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I don't actually age that many of mine into elders, but in one version I got so sick of Mary-Sue and her "I want another kitchen counter costing more than 900 simoleons" that I let her age and then she'd wander round looking pathetic.  I've never seen an elder kick over a trash can, though.  She's done this in the current game, Daniel moved out and took Angela with him, Lilith went to college, Angela turned into a punk rocker and went to college, and Daniel finally agreed to move back with Mary-Sue - and that's when she started to kick over trash-cans!  It's when she's walked by a lot a few times and nobody's invited her in!

Komei was pretty bad in my other versions of the game, but he no longer exists in this one!

[RainbowTigress]

Wow, you're a Nimwitted Nuisance, and I've become a Dimwitted Dunce.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Never mind - I'm Zephyr-de-doo-dah at simfreaks now, and Heather's hidden the button so I can't change it to one that I choose!  And I'm supposed to be allowed to!!!!

[RainbowTigress]

Sorry, can't help you there.

[ZephyrZodiac]

No, of course not - Heather has ignored all my hints, because she invented my stupid title and doesn't want me to change it!!

[C.S.]

I can't see the mind control mirror in buy mode on the community lot, so I'll have a fling with a flamingo.

Witch, don't use the mirror, its the painting you want. If you use the mirror instead of the painting, your sim might not be able to call a taxi to get back home. Merola's painting on the other hand, works just fine in the community lots.

If I remember correctly, the Mind Control Mirror is in 'Shopping's decoratives, while the Multi-Painting is in 'Food's. I've got both in all of my community lots (which I remodelled and packaged for back-ups). The painting is great for kids (to keep their energy level up so the family can stay on community lots longer) and non-controllable sims from other families. I use the mirror to keep townies away from my sims when they appear and although there are only 2 left after I deleted all the other files, I don't want my sims to know them just yet. The mirror has been working fine since I got it for TS2, it's still working fine with the EP installed. When I have sims moving out, I save and exit the lot to move the moved-out sims into their own lots from the Family Bin, then went back to the 'host' family to make sure they are really gone. Haven't got any problems with the mirror so far  .

[witch]

Thank you.