Tips for living as a homeless Sim

[Chuckles_82]

Yes, 2 naps in the rocking chair, and you're nearly fully rested. If you play a genie you can summon perfect food, and clap your hands and be squeaky clean Enthuse about other sims' work over and over (even if you're not charismatic, they won't get tired of any 'enthuse' interaction), And if you take something like athletic trait, you can ensorcel sims and have them enthuse to you about exercise (at the gym).

[jestina]

For mine I allowed only mostly negative traits. I did a homeless sim with loser, mooch, insane, inappropriate, and friendly. Bought the biggest lot in Sunset Valley and spent the rest of his starting money on trees and junk to fill the lot. He could only use whatever he found and his LTW was to be swimming in cash. He accomplished his LTW just before turning elder and even had a daughter with Nancy Langraab along the way. As a reward I let him throw a birthday party for his daughter and then spend most of what he had left on gifts for her...then he wandered off into the sunset to find another sink to bathe in.

You really shouldn't have any type of skill boosting traits...anything that would make the sim employable. That kind of defeats the purpose of trying to experience the homeless life.

[Turoskel]

I find mooch makes eating too easy personally, first time I tried to make a poor sim (not actually homeless just dirt poor) I gave her the mooch trait and she ate far better than my sims with fully furnished kitchens, always eating she was 

She was also a virtuoso, I hadn't been playing the game that long at the time so thought i'd have her earn money playing for tips but it was all just too easy, she earned 10,000 in just one tip session outside the Riverview bookstore. I realise now some of that is because she never left her guitar alone, her performance stat must have been huge hence the crazy tips.

I finally gave up with her when first Sherman Bagley asked her to move in then Jon Lesson, two very rich men, she just wasn't destined to stay poor it seemed.

[donatello]

I agree with Jestina. Stick as close as possible to being realistic. A good yardstick would be the answer to the question: How would I treat a homeless, dirty, annoying person who mooch off others in public who doesn't even have a job, nor seems to try to get one? Then imagine being that homeless person, and having to hear what is thought of you. And what the real reason might be for such misfortune. Suddenly "a lazy mindset" becomes "drained of motivation through consistent, universal rejection". Now try simulating that person's life. It sucks. It becomes a vicious circle, with no way out, and the capacity to think long-term becomes zero, as it doesn't apply to ultimate survival.

[jestina]

Right, it should be a thought provoking journey more so than just a challenge. Try to reason out why your character lives the life of a bum and can't just go get a job like everyone else. Don't go into a game like this with the same mindset as you do with your normal sim games. With my character, he tended to be schizophrenic...ie. he perceived the world around him as something different than reality.

[donatello]

And the sad thing is, sometimes crime (mostly if not always petty) becomes the only mode of income remaining besides the humiliation of begging for scraps.

[donatello]

As a matter of interest, I came freakishly close to living that life. It is a frightening thought. I spent many days of my life as a homeless nobody. That's why I KNOW what it's like. Selling every thread I have for a few slices of heavenly-tasting old dry bread. I'm not exaggerating. And when I had nothing left, it was scraps out of the trash. Very few retains the fight in their spirit that got me on my feet so slowly it seemed to not be happening at all. I'm 30 and own a backpack full of clothes and an ancient computer. But I have a job and I have my dignity. No-one can take that away. I'll do almost anything to keep those two things.

[Louise56]

I think I will try this challenge when I get Seasons om Friday. I don't think I will be very good at it. I'm a real softy.

[jestina]

I think I will try this challenge when I get Seasons om Friday. I don't think I will be very good at it. I'm a real softy.

Seasons will probably be an added level of difficulty in the winter time. Well, lightning during other seasons too I guess.

[thesimslover828]

I think I will try this challenge when I get Seasons om Friday. I don't think I will be very good at it. I'm a real softy.

It's OK my Sims have never gone hungry, it'll be harder because fish disappear when a pond freezes, but fish can also be bought. My Sims are doing good as far as needs are concerned, they just run out of cash very fast. When your Sim has the funds to buy stuff from the grocery store just buy the cheapest fish, Alley Catfish. Alley Catfish is also useful because it's the bait for Angelfish, which can help your Sim earn money fishing Deathfish. A fire pit can be used to cook the fish and it's only §295.00, and it can used for warmth and light as well, I hope it can help Sims get warm in Winter.

[jestina]

Well you can always loiter around the park...someone is bound to come along and plop down a picnic basket. I refrain from cooking on the grills...but have no problems with snatching the goods if someone else cooks on them. The main thing with playing a bum is you should avoid all the easy money methods they've put in the game. My sim pretty much just ate quick meals from the gym, a hotdog or burger if any were to be found in the parks, or he begged food off people he was visiting.

I wish I had gotten a screen capture of my homeless sims mood light candle collection. He had taken all candles he'd scrounged from trash cans and placed them all around the rickety picnic bench on his lot.

[donatello]

@Jestina: sounds like a heartwarming screenshot ...

[thesimslover828]

Well you can always loiter around the park...someone is bound to come along and plop down a picnic basket. I refrain from cooking on the grills...but have no problems with snatching the goods if someone else cooks on them. The main thing with playing a bum is you should avoid all the easy money methods they've put in the game. My sim pretty much just ate quick meals from the gym, a hotdog or burger if any were to be found in the parks, or he begged food off people he was visiting.

I wish I had gotten a screen capture of my homeless sims mood light candle collection. He had taken all candles he'd scrounged from trash cans and placed them all around the rickety picnic bench on his lot.

Yep I've never cooked on the grills either, My Sim has a child with her, so it's that much more complicated to survive. I bought the fish to make sure they would have food, I don't want them to die or him to be taken away. According to the rules I'm following, it says only fish and harvestables can be eaten . I have had my Sims eaten quick meals, but it doesn't say explicitly you can't. The fire pit also gives good moodlets, I have used buydebug but only got stuff they could buy with their money. My Sim has a garden and pond on her lot as well as a WA chest, I love those things. She got married, but I had her husband quit his job, I put a garden with Life fruit and Death flowers, to harvest the Life fruit for money although she hasn't harvested from there in awhile. 

[Cas]

I did something similar to this around a year ago, when playing the Lunar Lakes world.  The difference was I had my sim start as a homeless child (cast away on an alien world!).  I used a Twallian mod to allow me to play a child, who mooched for food, and slept on a park bench.  Eventually I bought her a sleeping bag.  My rules were, she had to go to school, but couldn't have any sort of job or build anything.

It was quite fun for a change of pace, and because she wasn't an adult, lots of options like harvesting and some collecting were unavailable, making it a little bit more challenging.

[FrostFlower]

I'm currently doing something like this. I created an elder, a child, and a cat, and moved them into an empty lot, trying to see if I could get them moved into a house by winter. For several days, they had nothing but two sleeping bags and the basic cat supplies. Then everyone got fleas, so I built a tiny room containing just a bathtub. When autumn came, I got a warning message about neglect and had to enlarge the room enough to drag the child's sleeping bag inside. Apparently, social workers are just fine with children sleeping outside in thunderstorms but severely frown on it when there is frost!