Show Us Your Sims!

(20-10-2018 01:40 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  See, all these years of Simming, and I never figured that the Garden Club was anything more than Tiffany Zarubin, Armando Cox and Matthew Smith. Those are the only three Sims who have ever come to my lots to conduct garden inspections! Where do these others come into play? Why don't they ever come over and start jotting down notes about my shrubbery and my ponds full of lilypads?

You can't tell me that none of your romance sims ever met Jill Smith, the whore in the black hair who is so easy to talk out of her red shirt and short skirt. She's Garden Club! Any of your sims visiting any comm lot that has a pool table, are bound to run into Toby Bruenig at some point, and Peter Sims too. They're Garden Club. Allyn Thomason is easy for Knowledge and Family sims. All these figures frequently report at comm lots. Like in every other community, some are more of the 'go out and meet people' types, while others (like the Tiff) pretend to be important on their phones...

On the matter of M. Smith showing up at Barefeet Mechanic's... if a Garden Club member walks in at a comm lot that your sim owns, I would actually be surprised to find the "Garden Club Inspection" option on his pie menu, to be totally Frank with you. And Harry as well, by the way. On your owned comm lots, I don't expect anyone to act as a Garden Club member, but only as a customer.

If it's a home business, however... THAT would be a different story... I cannot presume to predict what the pie menu would look like, there.

(20-10-2018 01:40 AM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  

(16-10-2018 11:41 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  That's poor photography, poor lighting and sims blocking a clear view of the surroundings. You can totally blame that on me, of course, but I refuse to take responsibility

It's night and I don't have the room to set up a hundred street lamps. Of course the lighting is lousy! I make no apologies.

I'm not asking you to apologize for the darkness! I'm asking you to apologize for your poor excuses! And for your horrible timing as well!
If you can't be bothered to put up proper lighting for whatever reason you use as an excuse, then all I'm asking you to do, is to take your screenshots during the hours that the sun is up! That's not unreasonable, because the sun is up half of the time. Actually, it's more than half of the time, because for a large portion of the dark hours, the clock will automatically go to triple speed, making those hours seem shorter!

Friend, do not try to outsmart me. I was born many days before yesterday! Really, it was your poor photography that made me miss that so-called "row 1". In fact, I'm still wondering if that row doesn't exist ONLY in your imagination!

Yeah, yeah, I'll take a better screenshot of the Verbena farm when I'm in-game next. But if you can't see that first row of veggies in that screenshot, old man, then you need to have your lens prescription updated.

But I've mostly met those other Garden Club Sims on community lots, and of course we can't ask them to do Garden Club inspections there. Unless someone thinks to check the Wikia, how are they going to know these Zarubin household folks at a glance? At least the Secret Society kids walk around college campuses in their uniforms to give their affiliation away; the Garden Club doesn't do anything like that.

But it's been a page or two since we showed off our Sims, hasn't it? I should get back in the game and take some more Sim-showcasing screenshots, maybe starting with Jazz there. Speaking of which, it's a given that restoring junk cars is a constant drain on a Sim's Hygiene...



...but did you ever wonder why the junk car's Buy Mode description mentions that the junk car increases Energy? As I finally learned from watching Jazz doing her thing at the right moment, it's because of those engine farts that I keep talking about. Every time the engine blows up, the Sim who's working on the engine gets a nice chunk of Energy back.





I reckon that the adrenaline rush which comes with being surprised will do that.

(Don't mind Jazz's little Bladder boost there; that's just from her having a shelf with three Gootentaugen Awards in the garage with her, placed there for the specific purpose of helping her spend more time restoring her junk cars. The shelf has enough room for ten awards, but I won't make her go looking for a new Journalism job until she reaches Media Magnate; those 8,000-point Wants for reaching the top of a career track are too good to pass up. I like to imagine that her forays into Journalism have mostly included writing for and editing magazines on automotive mechanics, because she's a real pro in that line of work. )

Yeah, I use buyable career rewards as I am a cheaty fish. Only for my storylines though, like using Sim blender to give made in CAS sims reasonable skills for an adult sim.

"Cheaty fish."

So how many Googentaugen Awards do your Sims have in an average household? Round up to the nearest dozen, score or hundred if you must.

(20-10-2018 03:32 PM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  Yeah, yeah, I'll take a better screenshot of the Verbena farm when I'm in-game next. But if you can't see that first row of veggies in that screenshot, old man, then you need to have your lens prescription updated.

Sure, blame it on my optometrist. That row is in the dark, in the shadows of that building, mostly obscured by sims, but why would you take any of the blame for that, right? It's not like *you* put that building there, is it?

(20-10-2018 03:32 PM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  But I've mostly met those other Garden Club Sims on community lots, and of course we can't ask them to do Garden Club inspections there.

*I* am a single-application guy; I don't have multiple windows open to look at the wikia while playing. That's not who I am. *I* recognized the Garden Club members by simply looking at their pie menu while trying to communicate with them, and noticing -- as I said a few posts ago -- that they had an option where my sim could buy a potion: Plantophic-C, which is the cure for plantsimism. Only Gypsies and Garden Club members sell that. Garden Club members don't really look that much like Gypsies to me, but then, *my* eyes aren't so good... Now how about *you* have your lens prescription updated, huh?

(20-10-2018 03:32 PM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  But it's been a page or two since we showed off our Sims, hasn't it?

Sure, distract us, why don't ya... OK, let's go back to the topic. It's your show, after all

(20-10-2018 07:04 PM)Pizzatron-9000 Wrote:  "Cheaty fish."

So how many Googentaugen Awards do your Sims have in an average household? Round up to the nearest dozen, score or hundred if you must.

One. I also use the jumbok. Did you know that putting a souvenir shelf with 5 far east vacation mementos near to the sim increases skill build? Looks less absurd than a thinking cap.

(21-10-2018 04:50 AM)leefish Wrote:  One. I also use the jumbok. Did you know that putting a souvenir shelf with 5 far east vacation mementos near to the sim increases skill build? Looks less absurd than a thinking cap.

I do that all the time! Some of my vacationing Simmy college students have even donated souvenir racks laden with Far East souvenirs to the dorms where they lived through college; Castle Von Carstein, Hillingham House and Fruityboo Farms have several such souvenir shelves. They make short work out of skill-building, assignments and term papers! Do those tasks with one or two of those souvenir racks, during Fall/Autumn, while you're under the effects of the Industrious perk from a recent vacation and your Sims will land solid A+ Class Performances with plenty of time to watch that Yummy Channel show where that poor Simmy Martha Stewart repeatedly immolates herself in kitchen fires.



A rack with five Mountain souvenirs will supposedly make non-romantic social interactions easier (though I've never really noticed much of a difference with those). Five Tropical souvenirs make romantic interactions more likely to succeed; even if you have lightning bolts in front of actions like Caress, Hold Hands or Make Out, the receiving Sim will often reject those Chemistry-unlocked actions...but will rarely reject those actions if there's a rack of Tropical souvenirs in the same room. And I've also verified that a souvenir rack full of clam shells, starfish, bowls of glass or whatever else your Sims dig out of the beach sand will sharply reduce the Bladder Need of any Sim viewing it.

I have yet to verify that viewing a souvenir rack full of voodoo dolls causes the viewing Sim to be attacked by bees. But really, who has time to visit Twikkii Island five times and repair the Witch Doctor's junky furnishings five times just to stick the voodoo dolls on a shelf where the Sims can't use them? Who has time for all that?

So what about the "Starstruck" Fame Stars from the Entertainment track? They don't do as much as the Gootentaugen Awards or the Jumbok statues, but they do boost Social pretty often. It's nice to have for those Shy Sims who don't get out of the house much.

Seeing the mention of all those perks you guys use, I'm getting more and more impressed with my own sims, who excell at all that they do *without* all these extras. Occasionally, a sim may find him-/herself in the presence of a Jumbok, a Gootentaugen, or a Starstruck (so far, I've only ever had one of each), but those occasions are sporadic at best. Souvernir Shelves? Never!

On the other hand, several of my sims know how to make Snapdragon bouquets. With four of those in a room, most sims only occasionally require a little energy boost. So, they have a reason to sit down in front of a TV with a cup of espresso... Everything else stays in shape while they work. Although the Pottery Wheel and the Robot Crafting Table do tend to make them lose some hygiene and/or comfort faster. And yeah, restoring cars is always a messy business.

And in a household with any Plantsims at all, I often don't even bother with Snapdragons. Yeah, I like reading about how you guys do things, but I appreciate how impressive my sims are even more, now.

Yea, I like to watch my sims simming about, with just an occasional nudge from me. Most of them are appalling underachievers. This is probably why the asylum challenge is one of my favourite challenges.

Yup, that is of course an important difference: I do a lot more than nudging. I look at their wants, make sure they have whatever items are required to acheive those wants, and then make sure they utilize the appropriated materials in a manner specified as sufficient to reach the desired goal! It is a completely different way of playing, that must have its effect on the sims' performance. Not a lot of loitering about, and much more achievement-driven grinding.

Also, not a lot of personal freedom for my sims, and very few surprising moments for me. I am aware that, from the perspective of many other players, my play style must seem extremely boring.