Question on Story Progression, Free Will, and Aging

[strongsoylatte]

Hello! I'm relatively new to Sims 3. I've been playing the base game for a couple of months now and I just got the expansions this week (everything except World Adventures, Supernatural, and Into the Future). First off, can I just say how helpful this site is. I used to play Sims 1 a lot but for some reason, I never really moved on to Sims 2. Now that I rediscovered the game through Sims 3, this site has been my go-to on things that are new to me.

So here's my question. I want to play a family that I could grow into different generations. Is it better to turn off story progression, free will, and aging? Or leave them on?

I don't really want my moved out sims losing jobs or breaking up their families or having illegitimate kids...at least not all the time. But I also don't want them to just sit there and wait for me to come back and play them again. Although I do plan to play each household in a sort of rotation so I could check up on their progress equally. Also, I don't want the rest of the town to just stand still and not age and live their own lives. When I was playing the base game, I found it very interesting how by the 3rd generation, I would see my 1st generation's friends' kids/grand kids walking around town.

So what would you guys suggest I do?

[bubbles]

This is a tough one. I would say leave free will and aging on because those will affect your current household as well as other sims around town. I would also keep story progression on but save the households to the sim in on a regular basis, just in case they move away or do something you are not keen on. Also, you definitely should switch households regularly, just so you can sort them out.

This is really a matter of personal opinion but I hope this helps a bit.

[strongsoylatte]

This is a tough one. I would say leave free will and aging on because those will affect your current household as well as other sims around town. I would also keep story progression on but save the households to the sim in on a regular basis, just in case they move away or do something you are not keen on. Also, you definitely should switch households regularly, just so you can sort them out.

This is really a matter of personal opinion but I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for the tip. What do you mean by "save the households to the sim in on a regular basis" though?

[bubbles]

Thanks for the tip. What do you mean by "save the households to the sim in on a regular basis" though?

Sorry, that was a typo! I meant to say save the households to the sim bin on a regular basis. Does that make more sense?

[strongsoylatte]

How do you do that? Is it different from the regular save? I always save my games every couple of Sim days because there are times when it just crashes out of the blue. I read it's because I'm on a laptop. It doesn't always happen but I get paranoid so I save a lot.

[bubbles]

To save a household to the sim bin, go to edit town. Click on the household and somewhere on the window (At the bottom I think) there is a folder icon. Click that and it will save the household to the sim bin. The sim bin is the section where you place the families from. Sims in the sim bin retain all skills I believe.

[strongsoylatte]

To save a household to the sim bin, go to edit town. Click on the household and somewhere on the window (At the bottom I think) there is a folder icon. Click that and it will save the household to the sim bin. The sim bin is the section where you place the families from. Sims in the sim bin retain all skills I believe.

Ok got it! I'm playing a test family right now just to see what's new with all the expansions before I start with the real family I'm planning to play. I'll try that with the test one first. Thanks for the help!