Microclimates in Uni?

[ZiggyDoodle]

On a lark, I added a pond to Loungerama Leisureland at Academie Le Tour.  I like frog songs.

Sent a YA there in the middle of winter and low and behold, she was able to catch a few fish in spite of deep snow and all other ponds (including the park) being frozen. 

Microclimate?  Magical community lot?  I do like the effect of the snow on the lily pads...

[SaraMK]

Well, I wish mine would do that. I have had some ponds stay frozen into the summer. Glitch, I suppose.

[Gwill]

That's a crazy deep pond.

I think it might be a part of the glitch that causes elements of a season to get stuck some times.  My downtown has summer all around, but for a while I had snow on one lot, because I tested it in winter, before I set the seasons.

[ZiggyDoodle]

I think it might be a part of the glitch that causes elements of a season to get stuck some times.

Wasn't the patch supposed to fix that?  Not that I've patched yet, as am hoping that the summer heat will do in some of my Sims.

I play on a rotation and am chagrined to admit that I've not made it through all four seasons yet. Or even three.   

[Tigerlilley]

*Tigerlilley laughs
I play similar to you Ziggy, but my rotation is usually a rough time line for the kids. I'll play each family until the youngest child reaches being a teen etc.
I love how some people are hardcore about their playing style, yet others are just out there to try all the features and see the different ways they can cause death and havoc.

[ZiggyDoodle]

I'll play each family until the youngest child reaches being a teen etc.

I don't have that kind of discipline, Tigerlily.  I play each family for a few Sims days in an attempt to keep things somewhat balanced...and from getting horribly bored as sections of my hood now look like an AARP convention.  Then off to Uni, which houses six private dorms and a couple of cowplants for culling purposes. 

But I do try crazy experiments, such setting up large farm run by Servos to supply the hood with produce and fish (still working on that one).  Or the time I turned Nanny Poppins, who used to be the Pleasantview nanny, into the Pleasantview slut.  She now lives in a townhouse downtown.   

[Eleonora]

Had this happen once in my game as well. Freshly dug pond didn't freeze over, despite snow being on the lot. However, some 12 sim hours or so the problem corrected itself, much to my dismay, since I liked my sims being able to fish in winter.

I've found seasons to be particularly useful for my game play. I used to rotate my families on a weekly basis, but it was a bit on the long side. Now I just rotate them once every season, 5 days is the right amount of time for me. Plus I can tell from the neighbourhood screen how far each family has progresses (season icon next to family name).

[jsalemi]

Plus I can tell from the neighbourhood screen how far each family has progresses (season icon next to family name).

Huh -- I never noticed the season icon in the family info.

[Ness]

I do the same, Eleonora.  I have the seasons in sync across the whole hood, rotate to the next house at the end of each season, and the season icons tell me where I'm up to in the rotation at any given time.  5 days is just long enough to be getting ready to want to rotate for most lots.  There are some where I simply drop in, advance to the next season, suck some life out of the sims there and then go.  Permaplat sims with all the kids at uni are just so boring!

[J. M. Pescado]

Lot Sync Timer is still good for doing fast-advance, just shiftclick and mash that "Skip Day" Button: Everyone ages a day, collects relevant daily paychecks, and season advances.

[Ellatrue]

have you considered adding something to adjust the seasons to the lot sync timer? It irritates me when the seasons are out of sync, I feel like I should be able to have it so that, say, on day 14, it will be the 2nd day of spring for all the houses using the lotsync timer.

[Zazazu]

Plus I can tell from the neighbourhood screen how far each family has progresses (season icon next to family name).

Huh -- I never noticed the season icon in the family info.

It's on the mouseover of the lot, listed right before the family name. I don't believe it shows once you've actually clicked on the lot.

5-day rotation is a good idea, actually. I've been doing 3 2-days and one 3-day, rinse and repeat, but if I don't play for a day or so I forget which lot I'm on. The lot sync timer doesn't fit either of my playstyles.

[ZiggyDoodle]

but if I don't play for a day or so I forget which lot I'm on.

Had the same problem with 16 families, six private dorms in Uni, and a couple experimental lots.  I decided to print a spreadsheet containing basic family info so I could mark the date each lot was played.  That's kept me from getting lost.

The downside is seeing that it takes me nearly a month to make one full rotation.  One reason why I never leave a lot until everyone is in bed. 

[jsalemi]

I feel like a throw-back -- I play each lot one day and rotate to the next.  Only time I spend more than a day on a particular lot is when a major event (like a birth) is very close. So most of my main hood (Pleasantview) is still in winter where it started.

Of course, with 40 or so families to play, it'll take a while to get to spring.

[ZiggyDoodle]

Of course, with 40 or so families to play, it'll take a while to get to spring

Do you remember where the bathrooms and phones are in each of your houses?  I sure don't.

[Sleepycat]

I feel like a throw-back -- I play each lot one day and rotate to the next. 

thats how I was playing my current hood and I liked it but recently I decided to play only 1 household...so I made everyone else in the hood into townies, some are still married too *laughs*  (I grew up all the kids to adults)


at some point I will get tired of only having 1 house to play but for now I'm enjoying it. I really like having townies that have real family connections to other townies and to my current household, it gives me ideas for my next hood.

[Sagana]

I really enjoy your Riverhaven. You do a great job with telling it and switching main characters too. This way seems like even more fun. Sometimes I just like to play one family and keep playing them too. When I'm switching off, about the time I get interested again, it's time to change.

[Sleepycat]

Thank you   

I've gotten really attached to my Riverhaven sims and at first I was worried that making most of them townies would ruin things for me but it hasn't. If anything I like some of them even more now because they're 'doing their own thing' and I can still write about them    It's fun having townie families/sims with backstories.

When/If I start a new hood, I may start off with a bunch of families and get them going with kids of different ages and then turn them all into townies (keep some of the kids as children and teens) and then move in a single sim to play and marry one of those townies and build a family and stuff.

[Zazazu]

Of course, with 40 or so families to play, it'll take a while to get to spring

Do you remember where the bathrooms and phones are in each of your houses?  I sure don't.

I always put a phone right by the entrance (never dual entrances, never ever ever due to stupid delivery people always picking the one to the walk-out basement). If it has multiple floors, I'll stick another one two tiles from the stairs. Bathrooms are trickier, but there's always one in the master suite and between nursery and kids room. Bottom floor potties vary, but typically I put one off the kitchen.

[jsalemi]

Of course, with 40 or so families to play, it'll take a while to get to spring

Do you remember where the bathrooms and phones are in each of your houses?  I sure don't.

Since I tend to have generational houses, where at least one kid moves in after getting back from Uni to keep the 'family fortune' going, I'm pretty familiar with most of the house layouts.  Of course, BUY and the phone hack make the question of locations kinda moot.

[vcline]

thats how I was playing my current hood and I liked it but recently I decided to play only 1 household...so I made everyone else in the hood into townies, some are still married too *laughs*  (I grew up all the kids to adults)

How is making the other playable sims into townies different from just not playing them and letting them stay in their houses?

[Zazazu]

thats how I was playing my current hood and I liked it but recently I decided to play only 1 household...so I made everyone else in the hood into townies, some are still married too *laughs*  (I grew up all the kids to adults)

How is making the other playable sims into townies different from just not playing them and letting them stay in their houses?

You don't see the plumbobs over their homes. Personally, I find excess plumbbobs distracting when trying to find a house in a crowded 'hood.

[vcline]

thats how I was playing my current hood and I liked it but recently I decided to play only 1 household...so I made everyone else in the hood into townies, some are still married too *laughs*  (I grew up all the kids to adults)

How is making the other playable sims into townies different from just not playing them and letting them stay in their houses?

You don't see the plumbobs over their homes. Personally, I find excess plumbbobs distracting when trying to find a house in a crowded 'hood.

Aha, I see.  If you turn everyone on a lot into a townie, does the lot retain its furnishings?