Life is busy at Cradle Rock, with seven Sims. Time for a quick pre-game strategy post to help me put the tasks in order before my next play session. This is the third time I’ve written this type of post–I just checked, and both of the other times were when I had full houses, with seven or eight Sims!
Here are my goals and considerations, Sim by Sim, for my next game-play session.
Household
We’ve achieved many important milestones, and the household membership is, for the moment, pretty stable–time for another upload to MyLibrary! This way, in case of computer-crash, game-crash, or lost saves, I’ll still have the family available to continue.
Miracle
It’s Miracle’s elder birthday! She’s taken a vacation day so that we can relax and enjoy the party without worrying about her aging up on the way home from work or being too tired to have fun.
Miracle has held her game-placed CEO position since she moved in. She’s since earned the required logic skill points for the next promotion, but she still needs a few more charisma points. Miracle enjoys being largely autonomous, with just a few directions now and then. I might encourage a few charisma-related activities, if she seems interested. I’ll take cues from her as to whether she seems to want to retire or not once she’s an elder. She is ambitious and has been wanting that last promotion, so we may see if she can earn it before retiring.
During the next game-play session, the main goal with Miracle will be to ensure that she enjoys her birthday party and makes a wish before blowing out the candles!
Chandler
Chandler loves his autonomy, which he uses largely to play video games (he’s up to level seven), enjoy an occasional work-out, dance, chat with his kids, and spend time with Salix. He does enjoy painting, so, depending on the time and his energy level, maybe he’ll paint a little bit before or after Miracle’s party.
So Chandler will be mostly autonomous during the next game-play session. I hope that he stays clear from investigating strange lights!
Salix
Salix has just completed Body Builder, her third life-time aspiration. (Friend of the World and Soulmate are her other two completed aspirations.) She’s now chosen Musical Genius, and she’s focusing on piano. She’s at the milestone that requires her to compose four songs, and she’s started the first. Since it’s a party day, I’ll probably leave her autonomous during the party, and then, since she has the Seldom Weary trait, perhaps she’ll enjoy some music composition during the evening.
Salix is so much fun to play–her autonomous choices are generally to work out, chat with Chandler, Sugar, and the kids, and use the microscope. With the exception of exercise, which she will engage in to the point of exhaustion, she flits about from activity to activity.
Sugar
Oh, what can I say about Sugar! Sugar has just completed five adult aspirations, on top of the four childhood ones, for a total of nine aspirations! Her adult aspirations are the following:
- Mansion Baron (this was practically a freebie, due to the expanse of the family estate)
- Body Builder
- Musical Genius
- Friend of the World
- Renaissance Sim
She’s now working on Nerd Brain, and she needs one more trip to space to complete the current milestone. Perhaps she’ll take a trip after the party.
For her next aspiration, I think we’ll choose the gardening one. She brought home a little cowberry from space, so that obstacle to completing the aspiration will be removed. She loves to garden! It must be her Taurus sun sign, which keeps her grounded and in touch with the living things of the earth. She nearly always has a gardening whim, and she’s the first Sim I’ve ever played who doesn’t lose fun while gardening!
During the next game-play session, perhaps she’ll enjoy catering–she was an awesome caterer at the last party Miracle threw, and she really seemed to enjoy it. Then, I’m sure she’ll want to work on her aspiration–she’s at her happiest when chipping steadily away at the milestones.
The Kids
So! It’s verified! It is not a glitch but a feature that children build creative skill in addition to physical skill while playing Keyboard Commander. It doesn’t happen until they reach level 9 physical, but then, before they’ve reached level 10, they max out creative. JordanNicolleJJ (of Sims and Such) has verified that Sim kids earn physical in addition to mental while playing Arithmetic Attack and doing Research on Simpedia. Again, you need to first earn 9 skill points in the specific area (mental, this time), and then you can play Arithmetic Attack or Research to simultaneously earn physical. I haven’t yet figured out how to combine both of these tips, but it should be pretty amazing! What if… first, you concentrate on mental, and once you reach level 9, play Arithmetic Attack to simultaneously max out physical. Then, switch to Keyboard Commander to quickly max out creative. (I’m not sure if you have to be at level 9 to simultaneously earn creative, or if you can do so while at level 10 physical. It could be set up so that you have to be at level 9, in which case, the player might be restricted to only one of these short-cuts. Please, anyone–let me know if you find out, and I’ll update these tips!)
EDIT: Here’s my new approach to this:
1. Have a child reach level 9 mental.
2. Have the child play Arithmetic Attack to earn mental skill while simultaneously earning physical. Stop at level 9 physical. Note: If Arithmetic Attack doesn’t work, JordanNicoleJJ has verified that Research on Simpedia does. Also, it is, of course, not necessary to stop at level 9 physical–I just do so for maximum efficiency, as they can earn the final physical point in step three below, while simultaneously maxing creative.
3. Have the child play Keyboard Commander to max physical while simultaneously maxing creative.
So I’ve adjusted my approach to achieving child aspirations in order to be able to leverage this. With this generation, I’ve had them all build physical while working on their rolled aspiration. Once they were at level 9 physical, I had them play Keyboard Commander, so they could max out creativity at the same time.
All of these kids are in pretty good shape to complete at least three aspirations–and if I’m able to plan carefully enough, I think we’ve got a shot at all four for each.
I’ll have to watch out for the A grade glitch, which doesn’t recognize an A for the milestone of Whiz Kid if it is already achieved. onezero is at school on the current Sim day, so I think I’ll have her socialize or take it easy so that she doesn’t return home with an A. She has a high B now, and she’s completing the Rambunctious Scamp. I’ll try to have her ready to complete Whiz Kid on Monday or later that week.
The twins are each completing their third aspiration. They’ve earned their As and they have vacation available, so they’ll be able to complete their final aspiration, Social Butterfly, before aging up.
During this game-play session, I need to remember the following for the kids:
- Don’t let onezero earn an A yet–have her goof off at school.
- Have Tam and Doug finish up their third aspiration.
- If they complete the third aspiration before the party, then at the party, they can introduce themselves to 10 Sims and begin making the required friends needed for Social Butterfly.
- Over the weekend, wrap up Social Butterfly for all three kids. onezero can complete Whiz Kid during the week.
Ok! That wraps up the strategizing! I am ready for the next play session!
Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology 