Servo Death

[sintrinity]

I know this probably belongs in RetardoLand but...

I don't use the Servos much and was just wondering how they can die?  I know I read somewhere about the pool/hot tub which makes sense but what else?

I ask because I am playing Strangetown today and had that mean old lady buy a servo so I could hold the house while Ophelia was at college (knowing that the old lady would die long before Ophelia got back since I play somewhat synchronized about a week each house at a time).  So, sure enough, mean old lady dies and the servo is living amongst the ghosts waiting for Ophelia to graduate.  He buys a cleanbot (Monique's computer, those badges just annoy me) for the puddles of the drowned ghost and goes to work.

When he comes home the cleanbot has gone haywire and there is trash, weeds and puddles EVERYWHERE.  I have him repair the bot and they commence to cleaning when suddenly he turns to ashes and gets a visit from the reaper. 

I have no idea why he died unless it was the red environment score.  Other than that he was very platinum (knowledge sim seeing ghosts every other second) with all other bars almost full.  He was even getting fun from the cleaning up being 10 neat.  So.... I guess my question is - can a red environment score REALLY kill a sim?  Well, a servo sim?

[Mirelly]

Wow! You're lucky. I have tried 30 ways to kill a Servo and -- so far -- the only reliable way I found was to make it grab cake from the cowplant.

[sintrinity]

Ha!  Not lucky since he was supposed to be holding the house!    now I am gonna have to finnagle some finances around 

Actually I almost NEVER have any Sims die of anything but old age since I don't have the heart to take pool ladders or fire alarms from their houses and they never kill themselves accidentally on their own *sigh*.  I can't even kill them having them play with the "run with scissors" thingy.  They just live on and on and on until they annoy the hell out of me.

And I don't trust the cow plant anymore.  Once I put it behind a fence and locked gate but somehow the nanny managed to get the cake anyway  and the social worker came and got the kids.  Something was buggy at that house though.  Every now and again I would check and there would be a grave by the plant.  Sometimes of people the family didn't even know who I guess had just been walking by or something.  yet, if I managed to get an enemy over to visit they wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

I don't know much about the servos because I usually don't have space in my lots for an extra family member but just this once I find a use for one and poof!  He has to go and turn into a pile of ashes for no good reason.  Just my luck. 

[Jelenedra]

Had it been a long time since you had saved? I would've just exitted the lot without saving.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think I would too - but I think it may have something to do with those puddles that your servo died.  If you hadn't saved and exited, I would have suggested that you exit without saving, then re-enter the lot and have the servo move the tombstone of the drowned ghost to the cemetery!

[Jelenedra]

Does anyone else think it is funny that the old lady's house is full of NPC ghosts?

All those poor delivery men....

[jrd]

Not just those… you can find some of the TS1 Sims there as well.

[ZephyrZodiac]

And the maid!  I noticed that too - but it wasn't necessarily her that killed them!  Or maybe she went off her head when the social worker took Nervous away!

Which TS1 sims?  I didn't notice them, I must admit, but I didn't check out every single ghost!

[jrd]

The Roomies girls (Melissa and Chris) are buried in her yard, IIRC.

I think the old bat is a serial killer… I play her as one if I go into Strangetown in any case.

By the way, one extremely sad example of why Wikipedia sucks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-made_characters_in_The_Sims

The authors of that article are blissfully unaware of the true nature of townie naming…

[ZephyrZodiac]

How did Bella Goth become a townie in Pleasantview?

[jrd]

Technically she is a townie, but she's unlinked.

[ZephyrZodiac]

True, but there are townies and townies!  And she may be a townie, but she's not a Bendett, or a Gilscarbo, or a Livingston (all of which my townie families have been names in different installs!  And she's in the Default family like all the other dead sims.

[jrd]

Hey, I made the next rank ^.^


All unlinked Sims are 'default'. But as said, the Wiki article is crap. If I find myself bored next weekend I'll prune it maybe.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I think whoever wrote some of it was not born into an English speaking family - it says that Don Lothario is "engaged with" Cassandra Goth! - engaged with Cassandra Goth doing what, I ask myself.

Yes, and I do realise that all unlinked sims are default, but in Bella's case she is clearly flagged as a ghost and has the I am dead token.  Only the Strangetown Bella is alive, and although she is unlinked or something wierd, she does walk about the town and can be greeted and made friends with (just like sims who have been put with their house into the houses bin.)

[jrd]

Yes, and I do realise that all unlinked sims are default, but in Bella's case she is clearly flagged as a ghost and has the I am dead token.

She has not actually died in-game, and as such is not a ghost. Maxis simply unlinked her, and gave her that token. If you teleport Bella on a lot, she'll "die" with the "Bella has died on another lot" message, and then be grayed out in the Goth's family tree. Precisely why Maxis edited her so strangely.

[akatonbo]

If the lot was covered with trash, the Servo probably died by flies.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, I know, you have to edit her in SimPE first.

[sintrinity]

I did save but no worries.  I like the unexpected.  Mostly I was just wondering if it was a glitch or something I needed to watch out for in the unlikely event I bother with another servo.

I have to say I am not terribly impressed with the whole robots thing.  The only one I have found of any use is the sentry so people leave those ^%& trash cans alone.  The others I have used break and make messes way too much to be of any use.

I didn't think of the flies akatonbo.  Hmmm, it was night so I really couldn't see the outside well and I am not sure exactly when the cleanbot broke or how long the mess was there while servo was at work.  That must have been it. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Would flies kill a robot?  Very wierd if so! 

[akatonbo]

Prima guide says Servos can't die of old age (obviously), fire, starvation (obviously), or sickness, but all other deaths are possible. Incidentally, I've never seen a report of water killing a Servo. Making it run amok, yes, but not killing it.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I thought they shouldn't repair showers for that reason!  I wonder, though, if a ghost could frighten a servo to death?

[Meska]

I've stopped using Servos because I get bored with my sims but don't typically like to kill them off. Thus death by old age is a great and wonderful thing to me. In the past I had a Servo repair a broken sink without problem so I wouldn't think just mopping up puddles would be life threatening. It would be interesting to know what actually did in yours.

And as for Bella Goth... she does walk-bys like a typical townie in my game. I don't know how it happened. I had gone through and deleted all the townies that did not know any of the playable characters and then made my own townies using the transporter bush. I didn't think I touched her file in any way so was pretty surprised when I saw her go by the first time.

[akatonbo]

And as for Bella Goth... she does walk-bys like a typical townie in my game. I don't know how it happened. I had gone through and deleted all the townies that did not know any of the playable characters and then made my own townies using the transporter bush. I didn't think I touched her file in any way so was pretty surprised when I saw her go by the first time.

In what neighborhood? It's perfectly normal in Strangetown (where she IS a typical townie) but not in other hoods.

[sintrinity]

Looks like Akatonbo was right.  Moved a Sim into that house to wait for servo to haunt and sure enough he was purple.  I would attach the photos but I don't know how 

Case closed.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Still seems a totally wierd way for a robot to die!  Water causing a short circuit would make much more sense - but then, does anything Maxian make sense!