Here, for example - if buying from 'the community,' you mean the mayor (I'm not sure) and the mayor buys it with taxes, that's what I find unrealistic and have
been trying to avoid.
Yes, the mayor(ess) buys all the lots from the "invisible community" then sells them on to the citizens. But she does not use taxes solely to buy the businesses. Infact, when she buys them, they are just empty community lots. My storyline is how a group of travellers rediscovered an island previously inhabited by a Greek queen (don't laugh!!!) - so of course there wouldn't be businesses and only a few houses. Taxes, in "RL" go towards improving the general life of citizens, right? But the way I see it - instead of the mayor flat out giving the money to the poor to "improve their lives", she instead gives them an assest: a business.
I take your point on "tycoon sims" who make
their business by renting out lots to people, but my way is slightly different: with the mayor the only tycoon sim, the rest are "peasants beneath him". Instead of renting out the lots, he sells them: the goal here is not for the mayor to make money as (s)he has many other ways of doing that.
Basically, I play the same as you only my only tycoon is my mayor and she nevers goes "out of business" because she has taxes to reimburse her funds and she is level 10 on the politics career track.I cannot imagine anyone other than the mayor buying-to-sell/rent as my community consists of 36 (useful records, eh!) sims - there isn't any room for more than "one at the top".
I agree with your "motherlode" philosophy (does anybody else get annoyed spelling it so idiotically?) - I'd only cash them up at the beginning and let them chose how they want to spend it. But, OCD or not, I have to have a *reason* as to why the have so much money. I can't face two college kids with ten million in the bank - this kills realism instantly. Usually, my excuse is "they accquired their extra simoleans from previous businesses, jobs etc." but this doesn't work if they start out with £50,000 - or however much is needed to become a tycoon.
Honestly, I haven't found much at all I can't find some way to accomplish - since OFB
But what I mean is how EA (was it EA by EP3?) never included what we needed to create a realistic community. I may be going on about realism - but the first thing that annoyed me about the game was the £20k handouts, until I used my imagination to think where they could have come from. My favourite hack is my imagination
Without OfB, none of this would be possible. Well, I figure some brilliance out there would have found a way to imitate some of the functions but it's nicer that Eaxis released it as an EP, so we can blame somebody
...'work from home' things (novels, web design, etc., any work that can be done on the computer)...
Can sims webdesign? I hardly ever "play" the game - more devise stratergies and storylines + decorate/build/create.
Thanks for all your tips on the money hacks/cheats. I am quite reluctant to change my ways, I took me a dozen posts before I felt reassured enough to use the
blank templates, but I'm willing to try Monique's computer: what's the worst that could happen?
*Explosion in distance. It's my game
I'll be back later to
kick ass and play card games write some more - hehe. Yep, this is indeed is an intresting conversation!