How do you play? Need some ideas please.

[Flynn Arrowstarr]

I tend to play single Sims and small families. Usually with Aging off, but Story Progression on. Makes things interesting when a Sim comes home with a Celebrity status, heh. I've tried a couple of Legacy challenges, but I hate it when my Sims die.

I like to make Sims to test out various game things. I created some traveling Sims when World Adventures came out, some Ghost Buster and Inventor Sims when Ambitions came out, and a pretty cool Celebrity/Vampire Sim for Late Night. I play them for awhile, and then transfer them to Mrs. Flynn for our own little private Sunset Valley. I've also made some Sims based on video game characters such as Niko Bellic from Grand Theft Auto IV. When the Fast Lane pack came out I created a small family where the wife looks like a she's from the 50s while the husband looks like a garage attendant. I mostly pick traits that fit whatever I'm aiming for in a story. Adventurous for traveling Sims, Eccentric for Inventors, etc.

We've purchased most of the furniture sets from the Store. My personal favorite is the Ultra Lounge set. The retro 70s theme is pretty cool. Now I just need to make a 70s style house. Can we say avocado, orange and brown, anyone?

Flynn

[Seabody]

I seem to spend all day just trying to satisfy their needs or their job that i don't seem to ever get chance to do anything else like gardening or collecting which I'd really like to do more of!

Gardening and collecting can be quite profitable paths. I'd reccomend starting a sim, and not getting a job. Just garden/collect.

[Saltypaws]

What I have started doing lately, is going back to some older families that I have made, fill the house up and when they are YA, find them a job and kick them out.  I follow them to see where they go and then change active household for a while.  I have to give them a little money, because they usually do not have any.  Once I am done, I go back to the original household and repeat when the next one turns to YA.  I usually have three to four households and go back and forth and it is funny, in the short time you are away, your sims are always on the move.  I have found them at a game, at a bar, park, library or just hanging out.  These guys do not like to stay home.  It can be a little hectic, but it is very interesting, especially when they have someone move in and they start their own family on their own.  Some progress in their job and some do not do anything.  I have always wanted to have a town with nothing but my premade sims, but have not got around to it yet.  Another idea is to go into a new town.  Play with just the townies and go from house to house and redecorate and move on to the next house.  The ideas are endless, especially if you go to the graveyard here on the forum of old challenges and find one that sounds good to you.

[simmum]

Thanks everyone for your response. So many and so useful I have all the SPs and all the EPs bar Late Night but should be getting that in a couple of weeks when i go home to the UK (currently living in the Far East so it's difficult to get hold of the games).

I'm just currently reading through Pally's story which is brilliant and is really inspiring me. i'm actually playing the Sargeants at the mo so it's intersting to see the path that someone else has taken them. In my family Bobby and Scout have just become elders and have 2 toddlers. Bobby has also become a private investigator to try to fulfill his LTW. I think i'm going to turn story progression off for a bit which will give me chance to get to know the residents of the neighbourhood a bit more rather than them all dying off before i get to know them! Is there anyway you can reset a neighbourhood do you know? I do like the idea of multiple households too which is what i tended to do in Sims 2.
I also like the look of the challenges which for some reason it had never occured for me to try. I do like the sound of the immortal one 

Just a couple of qu's that have occured to me:
I didn't know about the testingcheatsenabled cheat either. Is there a risk that it might screw up your game or is it perfectly safe?
What does the pack file do? and how do you save it/re-use it in the game?
 

[Seabody]

Is there anyway you can reset a neighbourhood do you know?

You can open a new save file in the same neighbourhood. That spawns a brand new game.

I didn't know about the testingcheatsenabled cheat either. Is there a risk that it might screw up your game or is it perfectly safe?

I have heard of issues if you save with TestingCheats on, but I've never experienced that. Touch wood.

What does the pack file do? and how do you save it/re-use it in the game?

What do you mean, pack file? Do you mean something downloaded from the Exchange or Swap Shop?

[pallyndrome]

Not sure what a pack file is. I've heard that having testingcheats on all the time can be dangerous, but I don't know if I'm right about that.

If you're going to turn story progression off, turn aging off too or they'll all get old and die. That means you have to count the days and age them up with birthday cakes/cheats, which is what I do. A bit of a pain, I know, but it's worth it. Glad you like my story!

[malteser60]

From what I know there's no issues with any of the cheats. The only thing you have to be careful of, I think, is some of the building cheats, such as 'moveobjects on'. Not because it will cause issues with the game itself, but you could inadvertantly cause pathing issues for you sims, and then you'll spend a few hours scratching your head and wondering why your sim is constantly stamping their feet and waving at you.

MrsFlynn will be able to tell you more in depth about the pack files, but essentially a pack file contains objects, so if you purchase a set from the store, it will come as a pack file which opens in the launcher then you can install it. One thing you can do is if you create a sim, you can save the sim, then copy and past the pack file (containing that sim) elsewhere on your computer. That way you'll have a backup of all your sims.

[TheChronicR]

I absolutely love all the functions of the testing cheats, but never had a single problem with them. Using them is perfectly safe, as far as I know. Although, be sure to turn off moveobjects, otherwise you'll get strange looking houses. Or even unintentionally delete your Sim and there's no way to get them back!

[Hosfac]

From what I know there's no issues with any of the cheats.

Cheats have been known to cause serious problems in game files in which they're used regularly, but this isn't exactly a common problem.

[TheChronicR]

Cheats have been known to cause serious problems in game files in which they're used regularly, but this isn't exactly a common problem.

I have cheated way too much in one of my save files, but never had a problem playing it. Maybe it's just my game. *knocks on wood*

[Hosfac]

These problems are rather uncommon, and it's possible that there could even be other issues that help them to happen.  But I have seen the SimGurus over on the official forums mention the possibility on a few occasions.

I'm likewise convinced that constant resetsim usage contributed to the untimely end of one of my dynasty attempts.  The game was bugged to begin with, but the more often I used this cheat to fix them, the worse the bugs got.  Eventually my founder became permanently stuck, and one of the 3rd generation members vanished entirely.

[TheChronicR]

These problems are rather uncommon, and it's possible that there could even be other issues that help them to happen.  But I have seen the SimGurus over on the official forums mention the possibility on a few occasions.

I'm likewise convinced that constant resetsim usage contributed to the untimely end of one of my dynasty attempts.  The game was bugged to begin with, but the more often I used this cheat to fix them, the worse the bugs got.  Eventually my founder became permanently stuck, and one of the 3rd generation members vanished entirely.

Yes, resetsim is rather complicated. I try to avoid using it if there is no serious problem. Deleting Sims via moveobjects is much more convenient, if you just want to get rid of the Sim. I guess your problems were caused by a bug spreading, rather than the cheat. NancyJ reported that bug in the Peter and Jack's Rabbit-Hole Adventures challenge thread. There seems to be no solution than reinstalling.

[Hosfac]

I guess your problems were caused by a bug spreading, rather than the cheat.

Yeah, that's basically what happened, but I credit that cheat with accelerating the decline.  The more I was forced to use it, the worse it got.

It was a dynasty, so deleting sims wasn't an option.

[Esther1981]

I don't agree with testingcheatsenabled messing with the game. I turn it on at the main menu, choose a family to play and it stays on until I shut the game off. I would be careful with moveobjects on but that's the only one I know that could cause a problem, i.e. accidentally delete a sim or worse, the mailbox. But having testingcheatsenabled on awhile doesn't cause problems. I've been known to play 6 or 7 hours at a time with it on the whole time. 

[Hosfac]

Depending on what you do with it, it could cause some problems.  Some of the testing cheats are rather advanced.  But for what you mainly use it for, I couldn't see a lot going wrong.  If I'm not mistaken, you're mainly a static needs/change traits kind of person, right?