Subhoods

[StrangeTownChick]

I looked for this thread and could not find it, but if it already exists I will be happy to post there instead.
How many subhoods (downtowns, universities, etc.) do you usually create? Do you only use the ones they give you or do you use custom ones as well?

For lack of any EP other than Nightlife after The Great Reinstall, I've created two subhoods, both downtowns. The first used the game's downtown template, except I removed all houses (except the House of Fallen Trees considering it has graves and I have no idea how much damage moving it might do, so I don't dare try) and placed all game-made community lots in it. I've also added a graveyard, a few more deco items, and created sort of a faux power plant, as well as one custom restaurant that ties in with the story of one of my families. I've renamed the whole downtown "3rd St." even though it's more than one street. (However, where I live we occasionally call the entire downtown "Broadway" because Broadway runs through the middle of it.)
I've also created a "vacation downtown" of sorts (like I said, I lack Bon Voyage and Seasons) called Summervale, using the Bluewater template. I've made a custom "pier" that comes right up to the ocean, and only a few ignorable inches of land seperate it from the neighborhood sea. It also contains "summer homes" which I will move the richer families to during my summer (it will be during theirs once I get Seasons).
So what custom subhoods have you created?

[Charmful]

There was talk of subhoods in another thread awhile back but the topic wasn't soley for it, and the discussion was bundled with another topic so I think this is fine.

As for my custom subhoods I have the three Game Universities however I spruced up a lot of lots and added restaurants, bars, and bowling alleys due to having the Nightlife EP. I have three totally Custom Downtowns all with custom community lots I made.

Memosa Bay: A downtown on the bay, very cosmopolitan city center with dancing, shopping, kareoke bars, music venues, cafes, and an ice skating palza. I relate it to Seattle in feel. Also I have a lot of apartments for sims to live in near the center plus a swanky-housed street for upperscale city sims to dwell in. The hippest spot is either Cross Corner Cafe or Sweet Marie's depending on what Sim you ask.

Scandalica City: A more rough and tumble downtown with pool halls, bowling alleys, diners, lower income housing/apartments. There's a distinguished city street strip of nightclubs including places called the 'Boom Room', 'Garden of Eden', and 'Endless Blue'

Pandora: down town in the desert, small, but all the life is concentrated on the Western side of the gorge. Think of it as a mini Las Vegas. A place for shady motel hook ups, escort houses, gambling halls, and quick weddings. The Hot Spot of this town is 'Pandora's Box' and it's the only downtown with a chapel, run by Father Richard Donahue.

[lil_princess_of_evil]

I usually use all 3 universities that the game provides, and then give them a theme as to what type of students they take. Sim State University currently takes all misc students. La Fiesta Tech has been designated for supernatural students, which I'm trying to get into playing more. And the third university, of which I cant remember the name, is for richer families to get their kids in with other richer kids for a more proper education. Sim State and La Fiesta tech have fees of $10,000 per student (with Moniques Hacked Computer), and the 3rd one has fees of $20,000 per student.

For the shopping district, I only usually have one. Since i'm in the BACC challenge, I have 2 to make the multiplier higher. Currently one is for military sims only according to the BACC challenge. All of the houses are exactly the same for lower military people, the senior officers + get nicer houses, and theres a barracks and military themed businesses and its own graveyard for an "honorable death" (for sims who died in the military duty). My other district is just the Bluewater Village one, though all of the starting residents have moved out of there and married into my main families in my main hood and its currently housing only supernatural families (they prefer a quieter subhood to not be judged). Since I cant use the businesses there until they are earned according to BACC rules, I just ignore them for now. I'll incorporate them in as people buy the businesses to run them. I modify the neighborhood to make it more supernatural looking. When I am not in a BACC challenge, I try to limit myself to 1 subhood.

I use all three vacation destinations since theyre all different.

I have only 1 downtown. I use the premade one but redo all of the houses except the Fallen Trees one.

[maxon]

Little Carping has two universities and one of everything else but including all the holiday destinations. All are custom.

Little Carping is a smallish village with some small shops, church, a pub, small library, fitness centre, primary school and a nice park. There's a caravan park (trailer park) on the outskirts and a farm, while the rest of the housing ranges from quite poor (terraces) to the Goth residence (not the one in Pleasantview). The shopping district is Carping Magna and is meant to be the local market town - quite densely packed with lots of community lots and shops, a small town hall, railway station, town pub, market, church, private school and so on. Though the centre of town is quite town-y (terraces), there are a lot of well-to-do properties outside the main centre. The downtown is Sirencester and is meant to be the more distant big city, again lots of community lots and shops, large town hall, big church, offices, blocks of flats, main hospital, large secondary school, prison and a large cemetery etc. etc. It also has a lot of neighbourhood decoration by Criquette (airport, bus terminal and so on). The two universities are very different and reflect the nature of my two main local universities (there are, in fact, 6 universities or moderate to large-sized degree-awarding institutions within 10 miles of my home - my home city has the largest student population in Europe apparently). The first and oldest university is Redbrick and is, as its name indicates*, an august and venerable institution dedicated to research and high academic standards. Metropolitan is a modern university running a lot of peculiar courses and an extensive outreach programme. Redbrick is situated to the north of Little Carping in an area of mature woodland and set in a striking natural landscape. Metropolitan is to be found on the southern edge of Sirencester and is made of a lot of concrete. The two university's staff naturally despise each other and there is intense competition between them. Just like home!

*Do Americans understand that term? I guess the rough equivalent would be Ivy League.

[Niam_h]

I don't normally have any sub-hoods, attached to my neighborhoods. Usually if I do, it's only the vacation sub-hoods. Occasionally I add a Downtown or a University. I'm trying to build a Medieval neighborhood, and wil try my hand at an in-hood University. I've seen loads of people do it, and I'm intrigued. When I do add sub-hoods, they're custom & I add my own Townies & NPC's. It's a lot of work, but worth it!

[SingleClawDesigns]

See I do the same thing with the universities nearly. Sim state is undergraduate/undeclared. Fiesta is Technical trade and Academie Le Tour is for the prestigious post grad degrees like politics theater, medical and such.

Vacation hoods I use but renamed, mostly to Asia for Far East, Cancun for Twikki and Yellowstone for the mountain one. Though I may add 3 more in so there's 2 of each locales Maybe China/Japan for orient, Cancun/Bermuda for Tropical, and Yellowstone/Alaska for moutain.

Bluewater is added for the sims then deleted once I move them out and a custom hood put in for that but used as an overflow for the main hood population. Downtown has 5 hoods with the premade one as central with dense apartments and little shops and the four others with varying degrees of commercial/residential and set to Downtown-North/East/South/West.

[TychoH]

I create only the subhoods that came with the game, Bluewater, the NL-subhood (don't remember the name, although I create it in every new 'hood) and the 3 BV-subhoods. These are the only ones that will come in my game, because I don't have the University EP installed and I don't like to create buildings. The main reason I create them is the pop-up when you load the 'hood which says 'not all of your EP's got a subhood' :P
I have a shop-clothes-at-home hack, which makes me happy since I don't like to let my Simmies to go out of their lot and Maxis gives my Simmies sometimes ugly clothes :) .

[katya_stevens]

It depends on the 'hood I'm playing and whether I've got any challenges running. All 'hoods have the default vacation sub-hoods added, with the occasional player-made vacation home added in. Some 'hoods have a default university added when I don't feel like making one, and my Downtown is very often the default one.

If I'm playing a regular or challenge 'hood, business districts are added on when I need extra space for houses/businesses.

I have one 'hood in my game where I took time to build and develop: Cresdale has its own main 'hood, two sub-hoods (Danport and Hillside Bay), its own University (Danport University) and Downtown (Arcadis). So far only Cresdale, Danport, and Danport University are finished as I took a long hiatus on building and developing.

Cresdale (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/cresdale1.jpg) is separated by a river marking the dividing line between the 'rich' area and the middle to lower-class area. The rich area (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/cresdale4.jpg) is large and mostly undeveloped, while the middle to lower-class area (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/cresdale3.jpg) is more built up, including the main shopping area.

Danport (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/danport1.jpg) is a small, rural area despite having the university pretty much right next door. There are two main types of residential lots: farm houses (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/danport2.jpg) for people with an interest in gardening, and regular houses (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/danport3.jpg) for those who don't. Both types have approximately the same footprint. It also has a fairly small (at the moment) business/shopping area (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/danport4.jpg) with a medical clinic, toystore, coffee house, church, park, diner, and a primary/elementary school. They still need a hairdressers, graveyard, and a swimming pool.

Danport University (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college1a1.jpg) is a very compact little place, but with a lot of lots. This is the one I'm most proud of, utilizing the lot resizer to create rowhouses for residential and community/school lots. There are four dorms: Mendell (6 rooms) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college2.jpg), Leighton (12 rooms) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college3.jpg), Merwin (9 rooms) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college4.jpg) (second floor (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college5.jpg)) and Pickering (6 rooms) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college6.jpg), two Greek houses (one sorority, one fraternity). and rental homes (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college8.jpg) are currently made to fit two sims, although can be modified if someone happens to have an accidental uni baby (or I can fit more residential homes around the Greek Houses). There are also what I've called course buildings (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college10a.jpg) fitted with various equipment suitable for studies in Film studies, Art, Architecture, Culinary arts, Dance, Game Design, Photography, Music, Marine Biology, Astrophysics, Biology, Computer Science, Forensic Science, and Medicine. There are three lecture halls (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college11.jpg) (used by professors and also students presenting findings) and a business school (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college12.jpg) equiped with almost all badge-giving items and Monique's computer to allow studying of restocking, sales, and cash register.

There are seventeen community lots: a library, bar, gym, haidressers, spa, student centre, study hall, coffee shop, arcade, quad park, picnic area, sports area, clothing store, grocery store, cyber cafe, swimming pool, and the university tower. The University Tower (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college14a.jpg) is a well-known landmark with a restaurant half-way up and, at the top, offers decent views of the campus (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Katya_Stevens/college15.jpg).

Of course, now I want to go back in-game and finish up the other sub-'hoods I've got waiting :lol:

[Peni Griffin]

I got the "no nag" hack for the associated neighborhoods (for which I cannot provide a link because of course all my bookmarks are gone in the hard drive crash) specifically so I wouldn't feel like adding a shopping district to Drama Acres just to shut it up. I didn't need the extra townies and didn't feel like going to the trouble to create an empty one.

I attached Bluewater Village, Three Lakes, and Sim State to Pleasantview so I could test installation properly. I also added Takemizu Village so if I can't get Drama Acres up and running right away (it's STILL in the process of recovery from the external hard drive) I can send Mortimer and Dina on a honeymoon there, though since I plan to play through Bluewater and University rounds and bring the Travellers back from Three Lakes before resuming play at the Goths I sure hope I don't need it! I moved some lots around in Downtown during the testing, and stuck in a few residences from the lot bin, including Tara Kat's. She and the Oldies are the only playables living there.

Drama Acres has a Downtown that's more heavily populated than Drama Acres - as Downtown should be, since it's the old center of town and Drama Acres only began construction after the Great Unobtainium Mine Disaster. It has a number of apartment complexes, a slum area behind the high rises by the bus depot, and a mix of business and single-family residences of different ages, styles, and desirability. I've added quite a lot of neighborhood deco, mostly to do with public transportation. I need to add an airport somewhere, once I find appropriate hood deco and space to put it; but airports should be on the outskirts of town anyway. Maybe I should put it across the highway from Entry Way into Drama Acres. Drama Acres is a new subdivision off the highway connecting Downtown to Sim State, and of course is a custom hood. Sim State has been expanded with the addition of a Campus Swim Center and a Campus Sports Center, and quite a number of residences from the lot bin since the dorms tend to glitch after awhile and I enjoy playing residences more, and I needed some big houses for my preferred big households. In addition to the ones on Peanut and Almond, I have some decayed stately homes near the Sim State Tower, on Crumplebottom and Landgraab Lanes, and Peanut Street has some woods in back of it, on the opposite side of which is Huckleberry, with a bunch of Seasons mid-range houses. Also lots of old-fashioned looking deco, the idea being to create the idea of a land grant college originally built near the Good Part of a smallish town which has since swallowed the old neighborhood. I have all three vacation hoods, and have added quite a number of residences to them for vacation homes, as those hotels are too expensive and inconvenient.

My Strangetown is a wide spot on the Road to Nowhere (I need a stoplight and a gas station for the proper ambiance; but the complete absence of gas stations makes me think that sim cars are solar-powered) and the only associated neighborhood is La Fiesta Tech. Its aesthetic is of the old rural center which still exists because the military base (invisible, but most townies are from there) and the college supply just enough cash flow to keep it going and attract a certain number of conspiracy nuts, cultists, and artists. Without those two institutions, the thinly-spread rural population would have to go a longer distance for its support services and more of them would probably fail. Once people start graduating from LFT, the town should start growing, and at some point I'll need to build a shopping district to accommodate the expanding economy. But that's very long term. (Unless, heaven forfend, I can't get Drama Acres going again and take Strangetown as my primary playground. Excuse me, I'm a little discouraged right now.)

[mangaroo]

I love the subhood functionality provided by Nightlife and OFB (particular the shopping hoods that came with OFB). It lets me play a complete "world" in the sense that the different subhoods I assemble reflect different lifestyles, values, and ways of earning a living.

Prosperity (my custom hood) has
• one custom downtown called Bentham. It's designed to look like the "old" side of an urban neighborhood, with brick and stone buildings ranging from the well-to-do city center to the grungy outskirts.
• five (!) shopping subhoods: Baskerville (http://www.modthesims.info/d/240800), the dusty farm town that hovers on the edge of a ghost town, with corrupt politics and teens who can't wait to move to the big city; Bluestone Beach, an upscale, gated community; Erewhon, a pastoral village where the elves live, not accessible to human Sims unless they are the spouse of an elf; Tinker by the Sea, the artsy seaside community where human children of elves move once they become adults; and Elsewhere (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=319898), the fishing village where all my oceanographer-LTW Sims move after Uni. (Nope, I didn't change the names of pbox's hoods. They were just perfect.)
• one custom uni, which I jokingly call Prosperity U. Later, I also wanted to attach Mootilda's Brainania (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=426826) because it is an amazing playing experience, but it's designed to facilitate very active skilling, which I don't allow in Prosperity (my Sims skill based on wants and autonomous action).
• ...and the three standard Maxis vacation neighborhoods. Fiddle. I don't know how to create custom secret vacation lots, and I like my Sims to have the option to complete their vacation mementos, so I'm stuck with the Maxis hoods.

Anyway, I also like the Megahood for this same reason. By attaching all the Maxis hoods as subhoods, you get a lot of neighborhood variety within the context of a single world where any two Sims can meet and interact. When I play a Megahood, I attach everything -- the three vacation locations, the three Unis, Downtown -- in addition to playing all the "main" hoods (yep, even Veronaville, the redheaded stepchild of Maxis neighborhoods).

[StrangeTownChick]

In my "vacation hood" I have a Day Inn which will /eventually/ function as a real hotel. (I have no idea how I will do this with a vanilla game. My game used to be capable of this. Then again, it used to be strawberry rocky road with sprinkles.)

[M.M.A.A.]

For Shopping Districts:

Im planning on using only when i need them, i.e. when my neighborhoods population is really large, because they are the only
type of subhood that is like a normal base neighborhood.

For Downtowns:

Not really, i dont want to see old Crumple their ruining my outings.

For Uni's:

I will soon create one only, as i only need one.

For Traveling Destinations:

Ill probably use the premades.