Is it really hard to manage more than 5 sims ?

[Bloodfang]

I've been reading in a lot of threads that playing with more than 5 sims in a household is quite difficult and sometimes not fun.

What are your experience about this ?

 

I have always been playing with a couple and in Sims 4, so I have no clue on this matter.

I'm planning on creating a big familly : the main couple, one toddler and another kid. And also the lesbian couple which are their best friends lol.

[YAK★]

im playing three sims (2 adults 1 cup (just kidding) 1 teen) right now and thats very manageable.

I dont think 2 more would be much more trouble.

But then i didnt play a toddler yet.

 

 

[heat2008]

Yes it gets pretty difficult, but mostly because the AI is pretty stupid. I've played with 8+ sims, micromanaging all that gets annoying and letting the AI do what it wants tends to to lead to sims growing up to be useless.

[JesusKreist]

The AI uses the behavior the player gets by hitting "Autosolve" on low needs. That means the exhausted sim just returning from work is likely to take a nap on the couch in the living room or brewing a cup of coffee (but don't drink it) instead of a sleep in his/her bed. It also means a Sim who needs to go to work in 5 sim minutes can be taking a long and not necessary bubble bath. Childs and Teens do their homework when their needs are taken care of but as stated above it can take a while until the AI manages to do that. The AI does not take actions which Sims need to be good at their job i.e. write a book when the sim is in the writer career.

The AI in Sims 4 is braindead at times and does not replace active player decisions. Ever.

It takes precautions the Sims do not die due to negligence but nothing more.

And with more than 4 or 5 sims actively managing all of them can prove very stressfull while letting the AI handle them is bothersome.

[YAK★]

 

The AI in Sims 4 is braindead at times and does not replace active player decisions. Ever.

 

 

 

thats one true statement.

[Too_Funky1987]

It is a pain, at the moment I've got 5 men living together in San Myshuno and they're a bitch to control as they all have different needs at the same time. I often use TESTINGCHEATS ON and CAS.FULLEDITMODE in the cheats bar then right click and fill the needs up for the household. Then I can do the fun stuff instead of sending them to pee all the time!

[Bloodfang]

Mmmh maybe it will be more easier if they're all vampire?

There's only fun, hygiene, thirst and the vamp energy bar that is easy to fill

[JesusKreist]

A little but not soo very much.

Vampires are very social creatures and tend to "Show off Powers" quite often when left alone and that eats much Vampiric Energy in the process. Not when only one is done but when 10 in succession are done it is quite noticeable. And vampires on their own sometimes use vampiric powers which are of no use in the current situation. Like "Detect Personality" on the husband/wife. They can be left unchecked for longer than mortal sims but not having to pee is not that great a bonus as one may think.

It gets worse when more than one toddler enters the mix as they constantly demand attention. Very lifelike that one.

[heat2008]

Mmmh maybe it will be more easier if they're all vampire?

There's only fun, hygiene, thirst and the vamp energy bar that is easy to fill

I can't really speak on vampires yet as I don't have that pack but it's not just their needs. The AI is flat out stupid. For example, if you have a sim with the active trait AND have a basketball goal on your lot, said sim will be at that goal every other action.

 

Go pee, dream big. Eat food, dream big. Watch tv, dream big. Play the piano, dream big. Take a 3 pointer, dream big, take another 3 pointer, dream big, take a bath, dream big, sleep for 2 seconds, dream big, go back to sleep for 2 mins, dream big.....

 

Then, don't let there be a workbench on the lot, sims will spend their entire lives at that damn thing if it's not placed in a locked room.

 

Moreover, if you live in a big house with multiple functional objects like stoves/fridges/bathrooms, the sim will pick the most asinine object to use to do what they need. For example, if on a lot that has max stories (5 if counting the roof), you could have a sim on the roof with an easily accessible bathroom on the roof and they'll go to the bathroom that's on ground floor, skipping four floors and multiple bathrooms, just to go to the ground floor to pee. Or a sim will be hungry and do the same for food, pass a fridge/stove where they are for one, 2/3 floors away. Why?

 

Because the AI is shit, that's why. It's not impossible to play with a lot of sims, it's just a hassle.

[turtlbrdr]

Practically, the real issue in managing more sims, as other have pointed out, is the AI.

 

Unfortunately, it remains that the pipeline in how things are dealt with in the game is really inefficient. As more Sims and objects (possiblities are added) the pipeline gets sorer about it.

 

This mod: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=585420 helps to deal with it, and I've had a bit of success with it. Before installing, I had issues with 4 sims in the large house I play in (equivalent 4900 sqft.), but I am able to run 6 somewhat comfortably. It does have some quirks, but overall is better than the original.

 

The thing that miffs me is that EA still haven't fixed the pipeline, despite the complaints, and despite that this mod has be out, unchanged, and working since November. If something this simple could throw a patch on it, surely the Sims team can throw a fix at it.

 

 

Logistically, I find 6 to be my limit. I play fairly involved with the lives of my Sims, and I find that at this point 6 Sims takes a lot of overhead for me to manage. I am looking to downsize my active family.