Neighborhood Stories

[MarianT]

I've been playing off and on with the new Story Progression -- Neighborhood Stories. I haven't explored all the facets yet, but here is what I've discovered.

Getting other Sims to get pregnant is fairly easy. Once you reach "friend" status, your Sim can "Discuss expanding the family." Sometimes the response is negative, but if the other Sim says they'll talk it over with their spouse, you can expect a nooboo to show up a few days later. Your Sim can discuss expanding the family with unmarried Sims, but so far I've not gotten a positive response.

Regarding jobs -- your Sim has to "Ask about career" first. After that, the "Ask Sim to pursue dream job" is available. Responses to this have always been negative for me, but Eliza Pancakes did call back to say that she was excited about her new job.

So far, I've not encouraged anyone to get married or even engaged, but Alice SKL and Geoffrey Landgraab are becoming friends. Marcus Flex thinks Liberty Lee is great, but Liberty doesn't seem too keen on Marcus. I'll have to wait and see. Sometimes, my Sim will get a call asking whether she thinks one Sim should get to know another Sim better. She always says yes, so we'll see if there are any results from that.

One thing I like about this approach is that I have almost total control. I can initiate the pregnancies or job changes or not. My Sim has not been inundated with phone calls, 2 per day at most. That might change as she makes more friends. And the phone calls always have negative options.

[Trip]

That's good to hear. I'll see how easy it is to brute-force other sims into relationships. Having babies from the same few married couples would be better than nothing but also boring.

[oshizu]

Is there a way to increase the likelihood of seeing the "Discuss expanding the family" option?
When chatting with family members who moved out of the dynasty house to live with their spouse, my sims have only seen the "Pursue dream career" option.
For the "pursue dream career," I realize my sim first needs to ask "Ask about career."

I'm wondering what I could do to have the "expanding the family" option appear.

[Trip]

@oshizu: I see the option with every sim, but very few of them respond nicely to it.

[oshizu]

@oshizu: I see the option with every sim, but very few of them respond nicely to it.

Lol, my sims don't ese that option with any family members. I wonder what convo option I'm not choosing to trigger it.

[reggikko]

I really like the recent additions to Story progression. I went through and marked special Sims (like Father Winter and the Magic Sages) to not have any changes. I turned off moving in and out because I don't want certain families to end up where they don't fit. In my test file, Kim Goldbloom moved to Sulani. No. LOL. I am allowing accidental deaths for unplayed households. Beware of this setting if premade Sims dying isn't something you'd be okay with. The very first day, Mortimer Goth died in a tragic Cowplant incident, Bella adopted a dog, and Rahul Chopra asked if he should pursue Bella romantically. After a few days, several couples are expecting and others have adopted. A few have adopted pets. Overall, I think this is great. No more ghost towns and actual housed spouses for Dynasty and Legacy players in later generations will be nice.

What I really like is that the feature is easily customizable down to individual households. Want Izzy Fabulous to move in, but not some badly dressed rando? No problem. Don't want any of the Goths to accidentally die? You can bypass their household. This is all new to me because I never played Sims 3, but it seems like the team is doing a really good job with this feature. I'm looking forward to the next addition. I'm hoping it allows engagements and marriages.

[Brian_Z]

I'm wondering if I'll recognize anything after a year's time!  I bet there's an update that dials back the intensity a bit.
I saw one notice, that a baby with a recognizable last name-- but I don't remember it!-- was adopted by another family.  I assumed the baby's mother died, but it just occurred to me that maybe the baby was simply given up.  I'm kicking myself now for not going to Manage Worlds to see if I could figure it out.

[MarianT]

After 10 Sim days, the Goths and Landgraabs both have babies at home, and Jess Sigworth is pregnant again. Some of the families in Sulani have had babies, and I don't know how many have adopted. The Goths and Landgraabs both have dogs, and I think the Jangs adopted a cat. I've had everything checked for everyone, but so far no one has died. I don't have any mods.

I think you do need to check on the Stories occasionally, unless you don't mind that the Sigworths have 3 children in their very small house.

My Sim did still get the calls about whether the other Sim should get to know someone and even to go out on a date.

I do like this addition, but plan to monitor it some. I'll probably turn off pregnancies and adoptions for a household after the first one. I don't really care about job changes, and moving in and out will depend on the save I'm playing. All in all, it does give new life (and not just babies) to the game.

[Brian_Z]

@MarianT  As far as you know, no one has died!  Seems that when you check stories at the mailbox, it tells you the most recent thing that happened.  I just got a popup that Brant Hecking's spirit was fading, I had no idea he was dead!

Aha! I just realized, if you keep clicking, you'll see older updates, until it runs out of updates for you!  So it was Zoe Patel's baby that was adopted.  And it was indeed because she died, apparently a mountain climbing accident.

[MarianT]

I thought only married Sims would get pregnant, but I just checked on Neighborhood Stories, and Jade Rosa and Paolo Rocca are expecting, as are Summer Holiday and Travis Scott.

Also, my neighborhood Sims are beginning to die -- from the usual, toilets that catch on fire, embarrassment, and hysterical laughter.

[scoed]

Lots of my sims are moving. more then a few babies. No one died yet besides my own sim who died fighting a fire.

[Auranaris]

I’m convinced the goth family is trying to complete the 100 baby challenge... so far 3 new kids in that family thanks to neighborhood stories!

[MarianT]

I think I've figured out how to play with the Neighborhood Stories so that I don't end up with houses maxed out with dogs, cats, and babies. I'm playing 10 families in rotation for a week at a time. Once every 10 weeks, I turn aging on for the unplayed Sims (active household only for the Sims I'm playing the rest of the time). At that time, I'll turn on Neighborhood Stories again. I probably won't leave it on for the whole week though. I've added 17 babies to my Sims world, which is plenty.

[Sonshine]

May I ask how you get this "neighborhood Stories? Which pack does it come with? I just got  notice that "Kim's Spirit is Fading Away..." I've never gotten that before today.

[oshizu]

I think I've figured out how to play with the Neighborhood Stories so that I don't end up with houses maxed out with dogs, cats, and babies. I'm playing 10 families in rotation for a week at a time. Once every 10 weeks, I turn aging on for the unplayed Sims (active household only for the Sims I'm playing the rest of the time). At that time, I'll turn on Neighborhood Stories again. I probably won't leave it on for the whole week though. I've added 17 babies to my Sims world, which is plenty.

That is a great idea!  I completely disabled NSS yesterday because some households had produced 5-7 children.
I've decided to just leave the baby-making up to MC Command Center.  At least with MCCC, I can limit the number of children per each sim's lifetime (or override that limit if I desire).
In the absence of MCCC, though, only enabling Have/Adopt Babies in well-spaced intervals is a terrific idea!