Back in the beginning, I used to rotate through the entire town and I'd only enable aging occasionally. There was so much to learn about the game and I didn't want to feel like I was racing the clock to get it done. I was able to immerse myself in the entire world I was playing in and get to know and love all of the premade sims. I had plenty of time to play sims until they got a promotion, or graduated from homeworld university, or worked through private investigator cases, or whatever, without feeling like I was getting "behind" with my other families. I would manually age individuals up as I saw fit, and overall, it was just great.

When I started doing challenges, I had to keep lifespan in the Normalish range, around 98-102 days, which is actually perfect when I'm not switching households for rotational play. It keeps things moving quickly, so things like the Legacy challenge don't get boring. Plus, the shorter lifespan means I have to keep my sims working hard to max skills and careers and accomplish multiple LTWs, etc. So it really is challenging, which is fun (although kind of exhausting).

But now, after playing so many challenges, the idea of "rules" and "winning" in Sims has gotten in my head and it feels like lengthening the lifespan would be making it too easy or "cheaty", even for normal, non-challenge games. Which, boooo.

What I'd like is to find a nice, happy medium-to-long lifespan to stick with (except for my Legacy, because that really does get boring, tbh) so that I can have more time to let my sims be people. But I don't want to keep aging off entirely, because I want to town to still feel like it's moving along naturally, just at a slower pace.

So, TL;DR, what do you all do for lifespan? Do you have different lifespans or age stages for rotational vs challenge games? What works best for you when it comes to distributing lifespan days among the age stages? And if you want to remind me that Sims is not for winning, that'd be good too! xD

B-but, I'm too addicted to winning! It's really becoming such a habit, though! D:

I simply can't fully put it into words that I really need to start playing the game for real...I-I'm so obsessed with all the Nraas modifications that I cheat the whole gameplay!

I am unwilling to wait for my sims' lives to pass, I fear the death date, so what do I do--I disable the lifespan! X~x"

I did this to myself...now I am officially bored of the gameplay. But I haven't grown out of Sims 3...no, no, no...not quite yet.

I want to enjoy the game without the grain of salt...but how can I do that, hm?

Apologies, but that really doesn't answer your engaging question...does it?

To make this not a self-takeover for this thread...(my apologies for my blabbering), when I actually did play the game, I elongated it to see how enduring am I of maintaining a family without freaking out when they get older because as the CAS freak I am, I can't bare re-editing the outfits all over again!

OK, I'm coming out of the closet for you...I am not a real gamer if I don't actually play the game, am I?! XD

Zero2Hero post_id=82564 time=1622171287 user_id=20151 wrote: [...] I can't bare re-editing the outfits all over again!

Oooooh, I feel so called out by this! xD It's like you totally get me.

Honestly, I really, really hate outfitting sims. I mean, I love getting CC and giving my sims a spruce, but I want to do it once and have them look fabulous in the same damn clothes until they die.

But with so many townspeople aging up, it's a constant battle keeping sims in outfits I can stand looking at for the next 30 days. So you've given a very strong argument for going back to my original "no-aging" scenario.

Zero2Hero post_id=82564 time=1622171287 user_id=20151 wrote: OK, I'm coming out of the closet for you...I am not a real gamer if I don't actually play the game, am I?! XD

Nah, you don't have to keep playing to keep your gamer status. It's a pretty sweet system. You can spend days/weeks/months doing "Sims-adjacent" stuff instead of actually playing and it all counts. Sims forums and videos, downloading CC, etc? It all counts. Complaining about Sims or even actively hating on Sims to anyone who will listen? Also counts. (Apparently.)

Sometimes I just lay down and take a few hours to think about what direction to take my Sims fanfiction in. Not only does this count, but also, those are really some of my best gaming sessions.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I beat the game sometime in late 2010, and it responded by borking my sims and loading an empty house.

Anyway, I know what you mean about having a set pace for your sims' progression and feeling like giving them more time makes things too easy or cheaty. If you want to address that directly, you could use Relativity to slow down skill gains proportional to the longer lifespan. Ani's No Free Work Performance might help too, although it also might be a bit more drastic than what you're looking for.

Or you could add other elements to your sims' lives, for example taking care of a couple pets will require a lot of time that they might otherwise have spent skilling. So they're not getting further ahead in what they already do, they're just adding more to their lives instead.

As for what I do, I'm currently using a normal lifespan, with the only change being that the toddler stage is three days shorter and the child stage three days longer. I'm also playing at least a large chunk of the town, so a longer lifespan wouldn't be ideal, although I've been considering switching it up a bit for one or two households.

A while back, I played a single household on a 1.5x normal lifespan, and it was great for that save. It wasn't exactly proportional—I think I had babies at 3 days and toddlers at 5, and added the most time to YA and A. It gave my sims time to actually date, not just lock down a partner and move them in. And they could do things like enjoy their premium nectar rather than just pumping it out nonstop.

It wasn't an easy transition though: I kept feeling like my sims should be more productive. One thing that helped was sending them on vacation and deliberately not accomplishing much; since time is paused on vacation, and you can take as many as you want, it felt like free space to do anything, or nothing.

puzzlezaddict wrote: ↑

May 28th, 2021, 11:20 am

Anyway, I know what you mean about having a set pace for your sims' progression and feeling like giving them more time makes things too easy or cheaty. If you want to address that directly, you could use Relativity to slow down skill gains proportional to the longer lifespan. Ani's No Free Work Performance might help too, although it also might be a bit more drastic than what you're looking for.

You're definitely right about Relativity being my friend here. I've lowered skill gains for some skills, because some things are just too easy even in a normal lifespan. But until you mentioned it, I didn't realize there's a single setting to adjust all skill gains proportionally to the current lifespan. That will simple things up so much.

puzzlezaddict wrote: ↑

May 28th, 2021, 11:20 am

It wasn't an easy transition though: I kept feeling like my sims should be more productive. One thing that helped was sending them on vacation and deliberately not accomplishing much; since time is paused on vacation, and you can take as many as you want, it felt like free space to do anything, or nothing.

I have the same problem wanting my sims to be productive, but I tend to panic about having a time limit and then I go overboard. Even on a normal lifespan, my sims will have experienced 2 or 3 lifetimes' worth of achievements before they age up to Adult, and then I spend the next 2 age stages waiting for them to die. There are only so many careers and adventures and LTWs I can do with one sim before I'm ready for a change, but I feel weird about moving them out and abandoning them to story progression.

(And as I write this, I realize that yes, that's exactly what I should do. Move the out and abandon them to story progression so I can concentrate on sims I still want to play. It's just crazy enough to work. )

And one more thing: vacation! You are so right about that. I've recently started letting my sims take proper vacations--not to the WA worlds, because there's too much to accomplish there, but to custom vacation destinations and such. Nothing to do but relax on the beach and stuff themselves silly at the resort buffet and maybe woohoo in a cave or fight a shark. No pressure. It's a nice break for me, too.

That reminds me of how in my last save, I was ready to move out one of the sim kids and her new husband, but I decided to send them to Shang Simla first instead. Since I wasn't going to play them forward, I didn't care about quests or tombs or the like, so I could just let them wander around and fulfill wishes. And of course woohoo like rabbits, without worrying about what else they could be doing with their time. It was their honeymoon, after all.

I have a whole system based on a 28 day "year." With an average life span of 75-80 years. Usually, I reserve this lifespan for my legacy. And I have pregnancy last 21 days. That puts me at 2240 days.

sayTaina - Hey, this is amazing. I'm so glad you shared! I like how you figured up your proportions in years and then based everything on how long you want your "year" to be. I tend to base age stage proportions on how much I like playing that age. Which, according to your chart, doesn't seem to be the most accurate way for me to be calculating it.

I don't do normal 7-day seasons (I hate winter irl and my sims are living my best life) so I would definitely have shorter "years" but this has really given me something to think about.

Probably not in your wheelhouse based on how you like to play, but here is mine:

Year - 40 Days Seasons: W-10 Spr-7 Sum-16 Aut-7
Baby 3
Toddler 37
Child 100
Teen 100
YA 160
Adult 200
Elder 170

I play quite differently than what I've read so far. I don't really try to win anything. I outline stories in my head, create households based on those stories and develop them based on chosen personalities and careers, etc. I load up a fresh town with those Sims, leaving a few EA families, if they fit into my story.
Then I just rotate through my favorites while I semi-micro manage the town. I let a lot happen 'naturally' too. But I usually have a main Sim, or a main family, or main couple, who's stories that I focus upon. Then as they meet others in town and develop friendships I will often rotate to that other sim household if I like them and see what I can do for them as far as career, relationships, house remodel etc. Then basically I just see how everyone does.
I have talked about some of my families here. In all-human Riverview my first couple died of old age a while back and I'm playing their 4 kids in 3 households, one of the "kids" is a great grand father.
The town has grown over my chosen "limit" of 120 Sims, but I have several elders ready to pass on and there are always a few accidents or other early deaths around town, so I should have that back down from the current 128 Sims soon.

I also have 2 other separate towns/games/stories that have separate families and townies. One is full of occults and is in Moonlight falls, the other one is in Monte Cristo, Vista, Zuma, whatever, and is also all humans but is of a completely different type of story fitting the town.

I do get bored though and when I do I just alternate to my Cities Skylines game and grow and design towns for a while until I miss my sims. Lately though I've been too busy and distracted to play anything.

indignantgirl wrote: ↑

May 31st, 2021, 9:17 pm

sayTaina - Hey, this is amazing. I'm so glad you shared! I like how you figured up your proportions in years and then based everything on how long you want your "year" to be. I tend to base age stage proportions on how much I like playing that age. Which, according to your chart, doesn't seem to be the most accurate way for me to be calculating it.

I don't do normal 7-day seasons (I hate winter irl and my sims are living my best life) so I would definitely have shorter "years" but this has really given me something to think about.

I can only stand to do this for one particular save. Having a Sim baby in my household for 28 days is...rough lol My legacy family went from 5 babies in Gen 1, to 3 in Gen 2, to 1 in Gen 3... And I've been stuck on Gen 4 for 5 years now lol Suffice it to say, it's not for a quick, action packed game.