The Sims 4: The gameplay behind the scenes. Tips from buggy starship
I have a very slow-paced style of gameplay. I’ve been playing this way for the past few years because I enjoy living out a long, rich life with my characters. If you also like to take your time and savor the experience, then what I've written might help or inspire you. I equally enjoy following both fast-paced dynasties and long-term projects, but personally, I prefer depth and a slower approach.
*Colbert is chilling in the field, and I'm chilling too*
1. LIFESPAN, SKILL BUILDING, NEEDS
In the game settings, I have the lifespan set to "long", but I actually customize everything using the MC Command Center (MCCC for short—if you don't use it or don't want to, you can just skip this first point). I calculate it through seasons, since the length of seasons in The Sims 4 is unfortunately inflexible. Fourteen days is too short for me, while twenty-eight feels way too long, so I use a mod that changes the twenty-eight days to twenty-one (note: when installing, you’ll need to adjust the holidays in the calendar).
The number of days for each life stage is adjusted through MCCC on the in-game computer: MCCC Settings – Age Duration Settings – Select the lifespan that matches the one set in the game settings.
A bit of in-game math:
One year = 84 days
One season = 21 days
One week (which I count as a "month") = 7 days
Accordingly, I set pregnancy to last 63 days (nine months out of twelve).
The total lifespan for sims is 5880 days, and for pets it's 1071 days.
UPD. October 2023: I encountered a bug with aging that came with the "High school years" pack. For many years I used the math mentioned above, but then everything broke. Whether it was caused by MCCC or the game's buggy code, I don't know. I switched to the standard lifespan and turned off aging.
After much deliberation and several months of playing with aging turned off, I decided to take the risk again and set up a custom lifespan. This time, I have the lifespan set to "normal" in the game settings, with the life stages also adjusted to normal length through MCCC.
UPD. January 2024: New chart with shorter life stages.
The total lifespan for Sims is 2828 days, for cats and dogs it's 686 days, and for horses it's 882 days.
Ages are, of course, approximate: there are also long-livers (those who completed athletic life goals or drank a reward potion/elixir/whatever), and the children in the game don’t really look five years old. I do miss the pre-teen stage, but I use presets to slightly adjust the body shape for kids.
If you’re playing with 14 or 7-day seasons and want to apply my age breakdown, the last column on the right will help you. The numbers will be more forgiving (for example, in 14-day seasons a newborn in the bassinet is 14 days, an infant is 56 days, a toddler is 224 days, and so on).
With this lifespan I have more than enough time for skills and careers. So, using MCCC, I reduce the skill-building speed by 30% (in MCCC, this value is -3).
Skill learning speed in MCCC can be adjusted on the in-game computer: MCCC Settings – Gameplay Settings – Skill Settings – Skill Difficulty Adjustment.
For careers, I also set it to -30%, meaning the value is -3. Additionally, I use a fix from Zero (No Career Jumps), which prevents career boosts after graduating from university (I don’t recall getting any cushy job offers after getting my degree).
Career difficulty settings are again adjusted through the in-game computer: MC Career – Career Difficulty Settings.
I also tweak the rate at which needs decay (in the game settings, just below skill settings, there’s a “needs decay” option). By default, the value is 100, but I set it to 95-96. This percentage is enough to balance the game a bit without having to feed my sim five times a day. These settings also apply to pets.
2. GAMEPLAY
With the adjusted needs decay, the game becomes more comfortable. When I was twelve, I used to lock a sim in four walls, forcing them to insanely grind skills and have kids. Now my characters follow a routine.
If I’m not playing as a night owl active during the night, my sims need to be in bed by around 1 a.m. If they didn’t manage to finish their homework, knit that last pair of socks, or finish reading a book, then that's their (and my) problem.
In the morning, I have everyone eat breakfast, preparing just one serving (if the sim lives alone, or a family-sized serving if they live with others). With adjusted needs and a calm day, my sim won’t get hungry again until the evening (though if they’re more active, like engaging in sports or gardening, their needs will decrease faster). The day is structured sensibly: time for work/school, household chores, hobbies and skill-building.
I don’t forget about socializing: if the character isn’t a loner, I make sure they go out into town to meet friends, or invite them over (or visit them if they have a home, of course).
In general, I try to leave the lot a few times a week for different reasons. For example, an artist planning to sell paintings will head to the museum, roleplaying the sale to a collector happens there. A writer might visit the library, a party-lover will hit the nightclub, and so on. On weekends and Fridays, if it suits the character’s personality, I’ll send the sim to a bar, and during the week they might treat themselves by visiting a restaurant. Sims who work (especially relevant in San Myshuno) will often stop by food stalls.
Florence always travels to the center of Henford to sell her vegetables or preserves. I never sell them through the inventory.
You might notice that I sometimes post "dialogues", staged screenshots designed to reveal the plot. I actively use poses, usually with a more intense, "realistic" reshade preset, so I somewhat separate this from regular gameplay. However, if a scene can be played out in the game, I do it that way. I want the characters to "live" through what I’ve planned for them, as much as possible within the game's limitations.
*Gameplay hangouts around the campfire*
3. MODS
I love mods, but I’m not obsessed. I never keep too many because each update terrifies me, but nonetheless, here’s my personal top list:
1. First Impressions: I absolutely love this mod. Sometimes it completely changes the dynamics between characters and provides material for roleplaying.
For example, when I created Colbert, I thought he’d just be a polite background character, but his crush on Florence and the positive first impressions made me consider the possibility of a romance.
2. New social interactions by Katiemods (for friends and lovers): This has been the best mod for me lately. I've always wanted to hear more conversations between characters (I love dialogues, RPGs, and all that). It has a convenient menu.
3. Wicked Whims: Aside from the romantic and sexual interactions, I love it for the pose player. Unlike TeleportAnySim, the pose NEVER gets messed up due to adjusting the lighting or moving a picture to another room.
4. Basemental drugs: I use it for smoking and alcohol moodlets, adding a bit of realism to my game, but in moderation (I haven’t used the drugs feature, but I did once build a cocaine warehouse, which was quite amusing).
5. Calls by Kuttoe: A small, pleasant mod that adds variety to social life, also giving prompts for roleplay and reasons to leave the house.
6. Mods by Ravasheen: I use visual effects (handy for shoots when adding fireworks, for example), a camera with controls for in-game photography, and a mod to display these photos beautifully.
7. Keep sims in home region by Kuttoe: I get quite frustrated when I see someone from Oasis Springs in their winter jacket in the middle of a harsh Henford blizzard; this mod helps me channel my frustration into something else.
8. Besides these mods, I periodically update and install fixes that prevent the game from falling apart (weddings, parents pulling toddlers from chairs, banning jumps into winter pools).
Regarding CAS, I use default replacements for skin, eyes and eyebrows, as well as a background (#16 cinnamon) and lighting (the colors are significantly muted, so everything actually looks quite bright and rosy).
UPD. October 2023: My default eyes are now Simulantity.
4. MISCELLANEOUS
A collection of my very important thoughts that didn’t fit into the previous points:
1. I always focus on one city at a time (unless it’s a set of similar cities like Oasis Springs + StrangerVille). I carefully select buildings, keep an eye on the townspeople and their lives, and add NPCs if necessary. This helps me avoid spreading myself too thin by trying to manage all the worlds and going insane. When a character moves to a new city, I start building and populating it, while the well-developed and cozy world they left behind remains available to return to.
2. I experience moments of frustration when sims engage in nonsense, the game behaves poorly and everything irritates me: this is normal. I allow myself to take a break, never play through frustration to maintain my love and attention for my characters.
Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope something from what I’ve written has been helpful to you!
buggy starship:
