How Should I Play? (need help deciding stuff :)

[Jamez735]

Hi!          

I've Finally Decided to get the Sims 3 for PC instead of waiting for it to come out on PS3.

Anyway I was thinking about my family and how I should make them  etc.

At first it was going be me (with my traits) and my GF with the traits to make my life easier.


Me                                              

Ambitious
Athletic
Computer Whiz
Genius
Charismatic

GF

Natural Cook
Neat
Family Oriented
Friendly
Handy

I was gonna be an International Super Spy who was secretly a Hacker!
and my GF was gonna look after the house and the kids

But then i thought that it wasn't very fair that I got to do all the fun stuff and she just sat around the house all day and look after the kids, so then I decided to give my GF a career.

If I had the ambitions expansion pack she would be a hair stylist, but I don't so I had to choose between artist (she likes art) and Rockstar! (she likes music)

But I thought Art would be better because she could make a lot of money from it and she could work at home so she'd always be in a happy mood!  


hmm traits.... well I was thinking about

artistic
ambitious ?
Born Salesman woman
perfectionist
Romantic?

I am really not sure about the above traits, does anybody think I should change them, if so, what to?

anyway, so then I thought, a hacker and an artist hmm.... no clean house, no garden and nobody to look after the kids (if we were gonna have any)


So then I decided to add my parents into the mix,(once the kids grew up I can move them to another mansion or something lol)

My gardener of a mum and my dad who likes fishing , both retired

I want my mum to be a good gardener who can also help around the house with kids & cleaning,

and I want my dad to be a good fisherman who is also handy, and can cook.

Could someone please suggest good traits for them.


Now onto my next problem, I don't want any of my Sims to die, but I want to freeze time when me and my gf are young adult, our children are children and my parents are elderly (can elderly still work, if not I want them to be adults,)

So when should I stop the aging process?

Thanks,
                James

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, Jamez735!

Traits for your mum:  Green Thumb, Neat, Family Oriented
Traits for your dad:  Natural Cook, Angler, Handy

[malteser60]

To stop time just turn ageing off when they reach young adult. If your two main sims have reached young adult but the children are still too young you can age up the children by buying the birthday cake, clicking on it and then choose the baby/toddler you want to age up. Same goes for your parents, if you want them to be elderly when you are a young adult.

Also elderly can still work.

[Branr]

Heh, if you want a real challenge, try to guide an evil, insane, unlucky slob with commitment issues to become leader of the free world.

[Jamez735]

Thanks everyone!

[Jamez735]

Okay now onto my next problem.
I'm gonna buy a house from the exchange but all of them look great, can you please help me decide?

I think I'll put my parents in this one when I move them out.

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=449334

But I'm not sure which one I'll use.  

I love all of these, but especially modern style ones.

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=449334
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=380800
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=778042

This one's funny.
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=1058572

Help me!

[Jamez735]

Wow, this one's nice!!

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=745491#

Help me!
 
Also, if you think that there is a nicer house that I didn't list, please show me.

ps. Are all these free?

[Saltypaws]

Yes, they are free.  This house is a large house, trying to find a decent place to put it is a problem.  The one place I know of is in Sunset Valley where the Landgraab's and Alto's house is, I believe there is a lot there that is big enough. 

[Jamez735]

Too big...  hmmm how about this one ?

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=380800

That should do when I'm just starting out, right?

[Schipperke]

As far as traits and occupations, I think everyone has different preferences, and the best way to play is to collect information (the Guide is an excellent resource) and then try out various possibilities.  A lot of the fun in this game, in my opinion, is in trying different things.  Who knows, you may well discover something that no-one else has mentioned!

[Pam]

These houses are all very lovely, but I have to caution you about downloading items from the Exchange.  True, they are free, but you don't know what kind of third party content may be used in them that could infect your game.  We're strongly against the use of third party custom content because of the damage it can cause to the game.  It's the source of many problems that players encounter.  If you're brand new to Sims 3, I advise that you use the houses already in the game for now until you learn more about how to find or build a house that's safe for your game.  It's easy to get excited about all the nice looking things on the Exchange, but you could end up deeply regretting it.

[Jamez735]

hey Pam, do you like my signature? 

[Saltypaws]

You will eventually come to know which builders on sims3 site you can trust.  There are a few that use no cc at all and will say so.  There are quite a few regulars that upload great homes to download to your game.  Like Pam said, just be careful, the game in itself has alot of gorgeous homes to choose from that you can modify into your own style for now.  Have fun and experiment and I didn't say so before, welcome to the forum.  How rude of me, lol.

[RoyalPlumbob]

Wow, this one's nice!!

http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=745491#

Help me!
 
Also, if you think that there is a nicer house that I didn't list, please show me.

ps. Are all these free?

I recomend Asante's Japanese Lake Retreat, it's a beautiful house. In fact the one I used for my first legacy, ah those were the days  . Warning, unless you play with cheats, you will not be able to have it as starter, it took 5 Generations of VERY hard working Sims to buy, but it was worth it. The only problems with the house are that it's too big for the spare lots at Sunset Valley, and if you want a new area for new items there isn't much place.

I could post some screenshots if you want, also because it seems like a house in the mountains, I erased Crystal Springs (64x64) and put it there, since those are of the few lots in SV that can hold it. The downside, is that your sims will have to run to it . Fortunately, I had a teleporter.