That line about attention was half joking, I started making the hood, then midway thought that if I spend so much time and effort making it I might as well share it, since I know I'm always hella excited whenever a new hood pops up. Also I had got ideas on what townies and NPCs I should add to it, which I think is something one would only really do if they're planning on sharing the hood, and otherwise would let random people spawn.

...or wouldn't they?

I expect a lot of people who have empty templates make their own townies and NPCs. That way they know they've got ones they like to look at.

I still love how much difference music can make in getting in the right headspace for projects... I've been working on my university project again and finding things like the soundtrack from Dead Poets Society or from Rudy are perfect for working on things like my Literature building or my football stadium!

I play without townies but NPCs are generated nice with default replacement face templates, hair and clothes.

I have two neighborhoods in the works and hope to share them though I won't be adding much to them because I want to make empty towns that are almost ready to go and any sims to be included with the towns will be templates I created in Body Shop on my old computer.I'll sset the town up to show pictures of a set up and played version for others to get inspired on setting it up and playing it.

It's frustrating that there's not closer to a 1:1 ration of effort-expended to quality-of-finished-product... I'm still trying to finish off my S.H.I.E.L.D. Triskelion lot, and I've put a huge amount of time into it at this point, but it's still clearly not as satisfying as some of my other lots that just came together so easily (Stormwall springs to mind... that really just kind of all fell into place and came out really really well). Like, it'll still be good enough to upload, but for as much time as I'll have spent working on it, I wish it would have come out better!

There's gotta be some law in SimCity that prevents complete strangers calling children. Because wow is it creepy when a elder like Carlos Contender tries to call my Sim children at 11pm, especially with his aspiration and the lack of a family relation!

I think you want the hack "Nopedostalkers" :P

432 babies have been born to my merfolk couple, nearly halfway there! at least 12 have the name Mae Lata though...

I was worried about Saaron's 100+ orc babies so thank you @Sims2Christain

@Pideli
Thank me for what? names?

I'm still experiencing sim burnout but I'm watching Pleasant Sims/Cindy's streams in the meantime and I am contemplating a megahood 3.0 with just Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville this time.

Megahood 1.0 was just PV/ST/VV/BWV added at all different times, and Megahood 2.0 was all hoods at the start because as I never played any premade sims prior to the last few months I wanted to at least try and get to know them all.

But as I've said a few times now how I'm beginning to struggle with how slow it's been going with thaaaaaaat many households.
I was having fun, genuinely, until about the point where I got to Bluewater Village - and pushed through Riverblossom Hills and then the burnout started.

This is why I think Megahood 3.0 should be just PV/ST/VV. I know with my brain it's going to bother me that there's hoods I'm not adding - idk if that's from being a completionist or just plain obsessive... But it's not worth it if I'm not having fun.

I still don't really feel like simming yet but when I do I think that'll be my plan. Not gonna do a BACC - I realized that only sounded appealing to me because of how rarely I play with OFB so also not worth it.

Fulfilling the "Painting worth 4500" Want was quite something. There's only two paintings that are worth more than 4500. That I didn't know.

I also gotten the feeling that everything is cheaper in Sims 2 that I'm used to. But that might be because of some cheaper bills mod I have. On the other hand there's a lot of Wants for buying stuff so you end up broke anyway.

If you have the Apartment Life expansion and your sim has a good reputation there's a bonus for discounts on purchases from networking.

No you showed that 100 babies isn't too much for the game because you have 400+

I don't think any of my Sims has gotten that good of a reputation yet.

The other day I created 10 sims based off some of my current favorite songs in an attempt to break my sims burnout (it didn't work), and now I feel like sharing them except that means taking a bunch of screenshots + figuring out what CC I can package with them vs what CC I should just link to + making non cc versions probably and aaaaaahhhhh laaaaaazzzzyyyyyy I don't waaaaaaaanna
I'll just leave them sitting in my folder for a while longer I think

I just wanna finish setting up my hood so I can start really playing. (until I just reinstalled recently I hadn't played in YEARS even though I missed playing and since I recently lost my husband it allows me to get my mind off my depression a bit by occupying my mind) I'm nearly done. I just have to go into the households in La Fiesta Tech and Land Grant University, put down the ACR/Batbox/Sim manipulator/visitor controller, set the ACR for the sims, clean up trash memories (if there are any) and upgrade sims (since everyone left is in Uni it'll only be upgrade for FT), use the FT points and put their info into spreadsheets (i'm not keeping track of a ton like I used to years ago, but I still wanna keep track of a few things, like aspirations, personality points, sexuality...).

So i'm NEARLY there. Then I plan to do rounds from Monday - Thursday and Thursday - Monday. I used to do one week each household but I think that's too long. I have Strangetown, Pleasantview, Riverblossom Hills, Widespot, Bluewater Village, Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech AND Land Grant University all connected. With all those pre-made sims AND all the bin sims placed. All of them. Plus a sibling pair household made for Widespot (Pleasure sims plus using a lighter and darker genetic skintone than the EA ones).

So. close.

I'm very sorry to hear you lost your husband-it does indeed help to play the game to get you through some of the worst of the depression that follows loss, and in this pandemic, it's so isolating as well.
At least the game will bring a smile to you and sometimes even a giggle. For a bunch of pixels, they sure are a bunch of comedians! Always up to something!

Decided to restart my "Megahood" since I forgot where I left off before my break LOL
I forgot how tedious it was to set up a megahood properly in an order I like-

Thank you. The pixels can certainly be silly lol.

Brandi could probably take care of her money situation if she sold some of her more expensive stuff, got a job, and hired a nanny for Beau and the baby when it comes. I read Dustin's bio and honestly came to the conclusion that Brandi has given up on him. So he's good enough to bring home the money while she takes care of her younger kids, but not good enough for her to parent him.

Interpretations are weird.

Yeah, Dustin's bio states that he 'just wants to be told what to do,' or something like that, which I interpreted as him wanting guidance that he isn't getting. Beau's bio confuses me, though, or at least I think it's Beau's bio that mentions something about a 'genetic destiny.' I'm not sure what that means...

Back to Dustin, I feel really sorry for him. He's just a teen and he has a lot of weight on his shoulders; trying to hold a part-time job in a shady career just to make money for his poor family, he's struggling with school, all the while he may be still grieving his Dad's death.

The first premade household I played was the Broke family. It was a terrible mistake. Brandi died while she was cleaning the bathroom in the middle of the night... I quit without saving and never touched the family again. It's an overwhelming family to handle when you just get started with the Sims 2.

I think the slowness of exporting my sims and recreating them in another neighbourhood has had a positive effect on my playing. I'd started to feel like I was too rushed but now with just a few households to play and just one or two new ones at a time I've slowed down and enjoyed the moment-to-moment gameplay more. It's nice to have a (semi-) fresh start, too. I've used it to get a few new mods as well, nothing drastic for now but the deafening silence of hobby instructors not calling as soon as someone looks in the general direction of anything hobby-related has been blissful.