Deadly expensive hot tubs

[J. M. Pescado]

That's why Awesomespec calls for hot tubs to be located in rooms or fenced areas that can be locked down.

[Ness]

We may have rain now, but it doesn't seem to actually effect much that the sims do.  Having seen a pizza left outside in the rain still get eaten, and watching sims paint in the rain with no damage at all to the pictures...  the rain seems largely irrelevant to them.

[AuKestrel]

Lightning can strike and kill sims in the love tub, at least on private lots.  I had a storm at my legacy greek house and two sims died from consecutive strikes in the tub.   

I concur - I had this happen today (for the first time, actually) and it took me completely by surprise. It was on a residential lot and they were using the love tub.

The interesting thing to me is that there were two people in the love tub but only one died.  It left her a widow with three young children and there wasn't even time to try to plead. I was most amused.

[Shivani]

The interesting thing to me is that there were two people in the love tub but only one died.  It left her a widow with three young children and there wasn't even time to try to plead. I was most amused.

Every time it's happened to me (normal hot tub), only one person gets nailed, regardless of how many people are in it at the time.  Weird, huh?

Kind of sad in a twisted way.  No newspaper headlines screaming "Mass Hot Tub Death at Downtown Singles Club!"

[dragoness]

Just a thought, but you could make a little "gazebo" for it, with walls full of floor-to-ceiling windows and a roof over it (what I'd do cause of lightning) or, just a small fence around it with a gate. Then you could lock 'em out when you want to.

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, a gazebo or roof is the safest way to go, because even if you reduce access, if you don't pay attention for a minute, the weather can change and "zap" a sim is dead.  Just now, I was away for a minute, wasn't raining when I left, got back, and found the Grim Reaper paying a visit. D'oh.

[J. M. Pescado]

If you cut off access, I fail to see how sims can get in there at all.

[BambuLimey]

I had a sim hit by lightning on a community lot, whilst waiting for the taxi home by the payphone. Prior to the strike, his energy was just about totally red, with other motives at yellow or higher.

He did not die, however. His bladder and hygiene motives were totally trashed, but his energy motive leapt up to about 0 (half-full). Other motives may have been reduced, but not drastically.

I didn't think too much about it at the time (after all, Sims supposedly can't die on a community lot), but having read this thread, it seems odd that he didn't die, if c/lot deaths have been enabled.

Just another case of Eaxian logical coding, I guess.

[trancejeremy]

If you cut off access, I fail to see how sims can get in there at all.

My point was, just reducing access to a sims hot tub isn't good enough, you also have to watch them like a hawk when they are in a hot tub because a storm can spring up suddenly, and zap, they are dead.

Unless you completely cut off their using the hot tub entirely, at which point why did you even buy one?

[Venusy]

Does putting the hot tub indoors stop lightning from striking it, or is EAian coding so borked that lightning can strike it anywhere at any time? I'd check myself, but the game doesn't run so well on this computer (combination of Vista, 512MB of RAM, and a graphics card that is listed as having "oddly poor performance" (or something along those lines) in Graphics Rules.sgr).

I had a sim hit by lightning on a community lot, whilst waiting for the taxi home by the payphone. Prior to the strike, his energy was just about totally red, with other motives at yellow or higher.

He did not die, however. His bladder and hygiene motives were totally trashed, but his energy motive leapt up to about 0 (half-full). Other motives may have been reduced, but not drastically.

I didn't think too much about it at the time (after all, Sims supposedly can't die on a community lot), but having read this thread, it seems odd that he didn't die, if c/lot deaths have been enabled.

Just another case of Eaxian logical coding, I guess.

As far as I can tell by reading the thread, they only die from it if they were in the hot tub at the time.

[jsalemi]

Does putting the hot tub indoors stop lightning from striking it, or is EAian coding so borked that lightning can strike it anywhere at any time?

Yea, indoors is fine -- lightning only strikes outdoors.  They got that part right, at least (for now, anyway).

[KatEnigma]

Does putting the hot tub indoors stop lightning from striking it, or is EAian coding so borked that lightning can strike it anywhere at any time?

Yea, indoors is fine -- lightning only strikes outdoors.  They got that part right, at least (for now, anyway).

Well.... that's not 100% true, but close enough. Just don't fly a kite inside a greenhouse. I had a kid get struck by lightning that way, which pissed me off because I'd placed it into the greenhouse just to avoid that.  But all my Sims now have hottubs either inside or in greenhouses. Because trancejeremy is right, it only takes a second for the weather to change. I had a new CAS Sim just moved into a house, and he was in the hot tub with the welcoming committee when it started to rain.  I tried to get him out immediately (I was honestly in a panicked "OMG, RAIN!!!!" mode), but you know how slow Sims are about getting out of the hottub when you cancel the action, so the lightning got him as he was crawling out. It then systematically struck all 3 visitors. It killed him and 1 visitor, the other 2 managed to live. Luckily, his wife was there to plead for his life.  That was the very first time I've ever had a truly accidental death on my lot.

Later on another lot, the Nanny spontaneously combusted after being in the hot tub, but I just let her die- she'd pissed me off enough by being in there with a baby screaming in its crib because it needed a diaper change. One of the teens had gotten home by then (and was changing the diaper), so I just let the witch burn, and good riddance! 

[J. M. Pescado]

My point was, just reducing access to a sims hot tub isn't good enough, you also have to watch them like a hawk when they are in a hot tub because a storm can spring up suddenly, and zap, they are dead.

How would you "reduce" access without cutting it off? Access is a binary thing: Either you have it or you don't.

Unless you completely cut off their using the hot tub entirely, at which point why did you even buy one?

Not for them to decide when to use it, that's for sure.

[Hook]

I did some tests during a thunderstorm.

You'd expect from all the info we're given that a lightning rod will keep Sims from being struck during a thunderstorm.  If this is true, it doesn't work for hot tubs.

They don't help if they're on the roof.  They don't help if they're on ground level.  They don't help if they're on ground level away from the hot tub, or if you have multiple lightning rods around the tub.  It didn't help to put one on a table on ground level.  No matter what I did, I had a Sim struck by lightning in the hot tub.  While I have seen lightning strike a lightning rod at ground level once, it doesn't seem to happen often, and certainly didn't protect my Sims who were in the hot tub.

A couple of amusing things.  One, a very outgoing Sim who got in the hot tub naked had burned pants on when he got out.  Lightning does strange things, but putting clothes on someone I've never heard about before.

Two, a stray dog on the lot at the time got a memory of the Sim dying, along with the Sims who lived there.  Well, the ones who *still* lived there, anyway.

One test, two Sims were stuck by lighting at the same time.  They both got out of the tub, and one was struck again.

If you have a playable Sim struck by lightning, they'll get out of the hot tub.  But if they have the little feet icon like they get when they're going to walk somewhere, they'll get hit a second time immediately.  If they don't have that icon, they don't get hit.

The final test I ran had 5 lightning rods.  One on the second story roof of the house, the highest structure on the lot.  A second on the roof of the greenhouse.  Two at opposite corners of the hot tub, and one on an end table near the hot tub.  Nothing helped.

Hook

[Hook]

More testing.  And more fun stuff!

A gazebo roof seems to protect the hot tub.  An awning will protect it as well.  The first awning in the catalog looks like a flat glass roof, not unlike the greenhouse walls, and looks pretty good over a hot tub.  It does cast a shadow, so it's not as attractive as it might be.

I took the lightning rod off the lot for a couple of the tests, and discovered that lightning will strike other objects, like trees, when you don't have a lightning rod.  With the lightning rod (on ground level) I don't think I've ever seen a tree struck.

One funny thing, there was a grave on the lot (Poor Joe Carr, pissed off one too many Sim in my neighborhood, and he's a MEAN ghost, too).  It was about 4:45 PM when his tombstone was struck by lightning.  He came out of the grave, complained as usual, wandered back and forth for a few minutes, then went back into the gravestone.

I ran a test with a swimming pool, and it wasn't the lightning magnet the hot tub was.  The cheap hot tub was just as dangerous as the expensive one.  I had a couple of my Sims play Marco Polo and saw a bunch of new swimming pool animations.  For example, they'll jump off the side of the pool.  Never saw that before.  But they didn't get struck while in the pool.

I did see The Cheat get struck once.  It didn't complain.

Hook

[SaraMK]

This thread is making me want to build a lot with nothing but hot tubs on it, and then proceed to greet any sim that passes by....

[MissDoh]

SaraMK, try that on a community lot, it is more fun.    Espacially if the idea of your playable sim becomes a ghost and drives itself back home attracts you, you will have a blast.

Hook,  I seen trees hit by lightning even with lightning rod on residential lot, I had one on the ground level and one on the roof.  Trees get hit way less with rod on residential lot but it still can happen.  The expensive telescope got hit a few times too.

I will try to put a gazebo  roof or awning thanks for the tip. 

The funniest thing that happened to me was a sim coming back home from work with a guest while there was a thunderstorm.  The guest got hit by lightning shortly after it got out of the car and decided to go back home right away.  That sim was not much of a host. 

[ZiggyDoodle]

I think this hot tub death is a myth.  Last night I left Brandy (Broke) Dreamer and hubby in the tub for six hours.  Their thermometers were in the red but it had no effect.  Switched from the above ground tub to the in-ground tub.  Same result.

My game is not patched for Pests or Seasons.

[MissDoh]

Ziggy my game is indeed patch for Seasons but I do not have the pet ep.

Did you saw my pics in the 1st post?  I doubt it is a myth. 

[KatEnigma]

I've only had that one spontaneous combustion, the evil Nanny, despite hours and hours of Sims in the hot tub, and I do have the patches.

The lightning, OTOH, seems to be a sure thing.

[ZiggyDoodle]

Did you saw my pics in the 1st post?  I doubt it is a myth.

Love your pictures, MissDoh; my petulant (jesting) post was because I'm jealous.  I thought maybe death-by-hot-tub would be a quick and clean way to some selective population control.   

I've built a pool.  Maybe I'll get lucky tonight and a major thunderstorm will roll in. 

[purplehaze]

I've since removed the hottubs on my dorm lots ( death rate too high from combustion and lightning), but before I removed them, I had a dormie get out of the tub, wander into the dorm to play pool and combust. I thought "That's It"...no more hottubs. I've pretty much cleaned out my fugly dormie pool. The new shiny game generated dormies are not as hard on the eyes.

[KatEnigma]

Did you saw my pics in the 1st post?  I doubt it is a myth.

Love your pictures, MissDoh; my petulant (jesting) post was because I'm jealous.  I thought maybe death-by-hot-tub would be a quick and clean way to some selective population control.   

I've built a pool.  Maybe I'll get lucky tonight and a major thunderstorm will roll in. 

You can always place the weather machine and MAKE a storm roll in. 

[purplehaze]

Or, have your Sim fix a trash compactor in a ladderless pool while running with scissors and flying a kite.

[LadyLiberty]

Hook,

Thank you so much for your grand experiments.  And thanks for thoroughly testing the glass awning.  That was what I had wondered about earlier in this post, but hadn't tested, as I am busy culling cc and learning to bin things, so my game has been out to lunch (I am near completion of my restored, utopian neighborhood thanks to the incredible information at this site).  I just couldn't imagine that the game would now have been designed to require buildings around all these lightning attracting things, but then you never know with The Sims 2, do you?  It’s bothered me no end, these burning trees.  Upon re entry to my neighborhood, I will place those rods, no matter how poor my Sims are, community lots not spared, either. 

Would you have tested the weather vanes, by chance, or has anyone else and I’ve missed it?  I have had a feeling they may be what is needed for the higher structures.  Either that, or they would be something to strictly avoid.

I really appreciated all your descriptions of the funny goings on, as well.  I can now understand why people were so glad you'd returned, and let me add, "Most pleased to meet you."