Sometimes it's hard to tell the cat food from the Erika food. http://t.co/2pkdh3N9BQ about 8 hours ago
According to the new Star Trek movie, in the future everyone just gets one enormous ice cube. about 12 hours ago
Isn’t the future grand? http://t.co/XF1QetwxPh about 16 hours ago
She promised to loan me a spinning wheel if I helped her load a couch into the back of a windowless van. Seems legit. about 17 hours ago
Hey everyone, if @perclexed turns out to be an axe murderer, start the hunt for my body in the @SerialKnitters parking lot. about 17 hours ago
If you're coming north to the San Juans for Memorial Day wkd I'll tell you a secret, here's the route locals use: https://t.co/ZBZETnuOlt about 19 hours ago
@kmkat And not as high as the Minneapolis bridge. about 20 hours ago in reply to kmkat
So basically what you're saying is, the Skagit River Bridge failed a saving throw. http://t.co/nzLRzIuFRK about 20 hours ago
@advicemonkey wow that looks amazing! about 20 hours ago in reply to advicemonkey
@pschiendelman there are a lot of options, none of which can gracefully handle that volume of traffic. I usually go across Fir Isl to Conway 08:32 PM 05/23/13 in reply to pschiendelman

Sims Saturday: Viewer Mail

By Erika, on August 22nd, 2009

Three excellent questions came in this week:

1. Melsa asked which traits Jerboa got. Apologies – I haven’t been very good at mentioning these, I shall strive to do a better job at that! Jerboa is Good, Charismatic, Genius, and Light Sleeper. (Light Sleeper is a lame one.)

2. Ayla asked for a genealogical chart. Which is an excellent idea, and something I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

Believe it or not, it took three hours to put together. First of all because I kept fussing with the layout. And second because there was a bunch of stuff I couldn’t find on the hand-written genealogy I keep beside me, like Kana’s last name. I had to dig out my old notebooks and page through until I found my original gameplay notes.

Anyway, it is completed! And I shall try to keep it reasonably up-to-date. Click here to check it out.

3. Yvette asked if I had any advice for a Sims newbie. I had to really ponder this one, because I’ve been playing since the first The Sims was released in 2000. (OMG THAT WAS NINE YEARS AGO I ARE OLD.)

As a general rule, I manage my Sims’ needs in the following order: Hunger, Bladder, Energy, Fun, Social, Hygiene. Sims can die of hunger, so that’s the big one to watch. They can also die of exhaustion, but usually this problem self-corrects when they pass out on the floor (or in a plate of food, whatever). I rank Bladder before Energy, because it’s so quick to fulfill.

I’ve had several close calls with pregnant Sims that I didn’t watch closely enough. Pregnancy makes you hungry and tired faster than usual, don’t ya know.

The more Sims you’re trying to manage, the harder it is to juggle everything. I start to feel a little harried when I have four or more Sims in one family. So my secondary advice would be to start small, with just one or two Sims.

Resources would be the next advice. I spend a lot of time looking things up at the Sims Wiki. If I have a super-specific question, I just Google “Sims 3 X” where X is the thing I’m wondering about. For example I finally got the Food Replicator this afternoon, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it. I Googled “Sims 3 food replicator,” and found tons of information on the first few results.

I guess the Prima guides are pretty neat, but I’ve never used them. Seems like it takes the fun out of things, to know EVERYTHING ahead of time.

And finally: cheat codes can be your friend. There are a lot of cheat codes (I’ll let you find those yourself). The most useful and popular is “motherlode” which adds §50,000 to your family’s account. In a world where waffles cost §11, “motherlode” can be a real life-saver.

To enter a cheat code, press Ctrl + Shift + C and a little window will appear at the top of your screen. Type in motherlode and hit Enter. (I think you might have to hit Esc to exit cheat mode, but I can’t remember for sure off the top of my head.)

I know a lot of you are avid Sims players – please leave your advice for Yvette (and others) in the comments!

4 comments to Sims Saturday: Viewer Mail

ayla

August 22, 2009 at 2:38 pm

Thanks!!! That’s super helpful.
Little Red

August 22, 2009 at 3:42 pm

In past Sims incarnations, I didn’t mind having a big family to manage (I am, however, also a fan of the pause button so I don’t miss exciting goings-on while I’m lining up queues of tasks). But in Sims 3 there are exciting goings-on happening on different lots sometimes! I am having to get over my need to see EVERYTHING… or I will have to play a family of one for a while.
lala

August 23, 2009 at 12:27 am

Okay, not to be dumb or anything, but my eldest sim, Jackie Jormp-jomp, died at work, and now she’s still a family member but I can’t do anything with her. And apparently I lack the google-fu required to get useful info about this problem. Thots?
yvette, but not yvonne

August 23, 2009 at 4:46 pm

i love how my name morphed. HA. lol. thanks for the tips, i want to find the $50k cheat code stat.