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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 6:22 PM
Default How Do You Keep College Interesting?
I'm not sure if this as already come up, but I didn't see it on the front forum page and...yeah. ^^;

When you send your Sims to College/University, how do you play them through without being so bored you wanna shoot yourself in the head? Even with the hack that shortens semesters, I always end up using the boolProp cheat object that lets them graduate early...
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Field Researcher
#2 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 6:29 PM
What item is that? The Semester Tester?

I don't. I end up just using InSim. Set their grade and send them to final exam in two hours. XD
Mad Poster
#3 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 6:43 PM
If I send a Sim to college who has lots of skill points in everything (I've had some who've gotten scholarships for all 7 skills), I just have them work on talent badges--especially gardening. Ever since I've discovered how much fun having a Sim garden actually is, I seldom build a house without at least a small one.

To be honest, the cow mascots actually keep me amused. Especially when there's a Sentry Bot involved....
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#4 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:02 PM
Quote: Originally posted by DM was on fire!
What item is that? The Semester Tester?


Yeah, I think it's the Semester Tester. The golden apple thing.

Quote: Originally posted by AlexandraSpears
If I send a Sim to college who has lots of skill points in everything (I've had some who've gotten scholarships for all 7 skills), I just have them work on talent badges--especially gardening. Ever since I've discovered how much fun having a Sim garden actually is, I seldom build a house without at least a small one.

To be honest, the cow mascots actually keep me amused. Especially when there's a Sentry Bot involved....


I've actually never had my college Sims make a garden...maybe I'll try that. ^^ And what do you mean by "Sentry Bot"?
*shrugs*
retired moderator
#5 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:03 PM
I personally like to manipulate the dormies to cause their own drama with the visitors and NPCs. Even without mods/hacks, the "Influence" interactions can cause a lot of mischief on their own. >=D

Since they never graduate, the next playables that come through the dorm can stir the pot even more.


ETA: TUL, sentry bots are a type of robot you can build with OFB. They are a kind of home defense that zaps unwanted people like burglars, furious Sims, and the Cow Mascot.

I don't mind if you call me "MSD" or something for short.
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Perhaps someday I'll have leisure time back...
Scholar
#6 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:09 PM
I actually like college. I try not to get them to move in their own house, but put them mostly in dorms, and I often have them go out for lunch or go to the park to study. It's easy to do that since everything is in the same college and most everyone I know from dorms/playables.

And sometimes I also do what MSD does too, I love creating drama with those crazy dormies who will do whatever you want...

"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
- Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
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Instructor
#7 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:26 PM
I haven't gotten bored with them yet. My strategy is usually to make them study their butts off for a few days and meet all their requirements, then spend the second half of the term sleeping and playing soccer. And woo-hooing. College romances are fun.
transmogrified
retired moderator
#8 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:28 PM
If a particular craft (OFB or Freetime) has a role in that Sim's future, I have them work on that. No sense sending a roboticist home to inherit the family shop if he can't build Servos to replace those he sells. Beyond that, my Sims socialize or go to community lots in the Uni hood (since the semester clock keeps ticking, that helps time fly by). I let the game auto-push my students to class, but they don't do assignments/term papers or even build required skills unless they express it as a want. Not everyone is going to graduate with honors.

Mostly, though, I find that my enjoyment playing Uni is dependent on the atmosphere in the students' residence. The EAxis dorms can make the game seem so tedious. I send my kids to Babbelsim's Apple Plaza, Beatdoc16's LilyRose dorm, or Rosehill's City University. Each has a different flavor designed to reflect the backgrounds and stories of the students I send there. (I haven't found my perfect Greek lot yet, but I do maintain a Greek house on campus as well. Toga parties and free pizza!)
Instructor
#9 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:35 PM
People say that University is boring. I've never understood that!

For me, University is all about having my Sims make the friends their going to need to get the super-awesome jobs they want later in life. It's where my Sims meet/get to know better their future mates. My Sim load up on skill points while they're there, throw parties, and do all the crazy stuff they won't have time to do when they grow up!

I don't use cheats (well hardly ever). I don't send my Sims to any of the Eaxis dorms. All my Sims graduate with honors and with tons of friends. The whole experience is so frantic and overwhelming, I never have time to get bored!

Count no Sim lucky until he is dead.
Scholar
#10 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 7:55 PM
I usually enjoy playing Uni, I've got a structure where they can only live in the dorms through their Sophomore year and then they must move to alternate housing. Even worse I have Freshmen dorms and Sophomore dorms so they also change there. They have an opportunity to meet more dormies and I don't get bored playing the same lot forever. Once they move out they either go into a Greek house or they move to the on campus housing with or without roommates.

I've got quite a few fun community lots on campus so once they've finished their studies they date, have parties and just generally have a good time. I tend to match them up with their future life partner while in college unless I have someone else back in the main hood in mind (or they do) or they are romance Sims. I very rarely take them off campus since that does stop the semester clock hence the need for the added community lots in the Uni hood.
Inventor
#11 Old 12th Jul 2010 at 10:31 PM
Before I started creating business lots, I loved Uni. I have so much fun making my students do their term papers and assignments as soon as they get home on the first day of a new semester. After that, I only make them attend one class. But my sims always want to go to class. I think they find class restful. When they aren't in class they have to build friends, garden, go fishing, get jobs off and on at my pleasure and as punishments, maybe earn a flower/robotics/cosmetology/toy badge if they roll the want. But most of the time, except for gardening chores, they visited comm lots, had affairs and got to know a bunch of the secret society members. I don't even think about making career plans or matching them up with mates while they are at Uni. They make a bunch of friends because it is fun for me, not for some future job or marriage that may never happen.

I gave up on dorm life. My sims always live in houses because I make their parents pay for Uni. If the parents don't have money, I get money (donations/grants) from my rich sims to keep them from getting too rich. I created all my campus houses as a mini version of houses in the neighborhood. But all my campus houses had to be on big enough lots to have a garden. I was far too busy with my students to get bored. I even created my very own Greek House.

The only reason I'm not playing Uni these days is because I didn't add it to my custom hood and deleted all the campus buildings I created. All of the Maxis lots I used were drastically remodeled. It took a long time to build all new custom houses and business lots for my custom hood and I just don't have it in me to go through it with Uni. I think I'm much smarter with my buildings these days, but it still takes a lot of time. I don't want to give up that time now because my business lots are so much fun. And I always make my own lots instead of downloading because I have a rule that each lot should be unique. The town adopted that as one of the first town rules in my custom hood - no cookie-cutter buildings of any kind. Like mangaroo, the residences are all different to fit the personality of my sims which really makes it a hoot for me.
Field Researcher
#12 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 1:49 AM
I like University. I find that 3 playables+hot tub+ACR is fun. Especially if you rotate playing the playable sims.
Mad Poster
#13 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 2:02 AM
Quote: Originally posted by maybesomethingdunno

ETA: TUL, sentry bots are a type of robot you can build with OFB. They are a kind of home defense that zaps unwanted people like burglars, furious Sims, and the Cow Mascot.


You need a Silver Robotics Talent Badge to create that. Oftentimes I'll have a parent or older sibling make one and give it to the Sim going off to college.

You just have to watch it, because sometimes they malfunction and start zapping your Sim...turn it off and repair it, then turn it back on.

One time I had a college Sim making a Sentry Bot and a cow mascot was hanging around...I was saying, "Just you wait, cow, just you wait...."
Mad Poster
#14 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 9:30 AM
Quote: Originally posted by CleoTheMuse
People say that University is boring. I've never understood that!!


I can, easily. I guess my problem was that I always got stuck into the study/go to class rut. My computer was quite bad at handling community lots when Uni came so I barely went to community lots due to the lag.

Also I never liked the idea of having uni in a seperate hood (same goes with downtown and the other seperate sub areas which is why I never added them after trying them out for the first time). What made uni interesting for me later on, was discovering the hacks that let you run uni from the main hood + shortening the time they spent there.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 12:40 PM
Quote: Originally posted by TUL
When you send your Sims to College/University, how do you play them through without being so bored you wanna shoot yourself in the head?


I tend to get their full school bar and send 'em off to community lots to relax and meet people (including, hopefully, the love of their life). With Freetime, this means I set up a, say, Arts and Crafts society or a Gamers society for them to hang out in - lots of hobby lots (all on-campus so the semester time ticks away while they have fun). I also always have a stinky dive of a nightclub on campus, smothered in posters and spilt cheap beer, heh.

What I absolutely never have is a bookcase on a uni community lot, however, as it drives me mad when all the students swarm it and start studying, even though there's a band up on stage, rocking out!
Theorist
#16 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 12:41 PM
I usually hack them to the Secret Society, so that they could try how much grade they could hack (then never studying...) and call the Grim using the Resurrect-O-Nomitron although there's no dead family members and get scolded by him, just for the heck of it.
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 1:05 PM
I normally make my university sims get full time jobs with MogHudson's job noticeboard. At least it makes university more challenging :p
Inventor
#18 Old 13th Jul 2010 at 6:43 PM Last edited by jodemilo : 15th Jul 2010 at 5:54 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by hodsh1
I normally make my university sims get full time jobs with MogHudson's job noticeboard. At least it makes university more challenging :p


Me too.

Ani said:
Quote:
What made uni interesting for me later on, was discovering the hacks that let you run uni from the main hood + shortening the time they spent there.


Where did you get that hack Ani? I've been hunting for it for ages as wanted to do something similar in my game.

Well after several runs with various students, college can become a bit of a grindstone, but I've gradually built up a more customised hood by creating my own dorm which - if I do say so myself - is much more fun than the EAxis ones. 90% of the time I send my freshers there - they stay for the whole first year. I still haven't done a Greek house yet, but I created a boy's house and girl's house and usually integrate the dorm students in there when they're ready. Contains at least 5 sims (and often a 6th one who has graduated and just hanging around before they go back to the main hood - they usually brush up on skills and prepare meals for the others or do gardening).

I recently put in an apartment block in the hood (I have a hack which allows apartments in uni hoods) and use it as a breakout place for any sim I want to give a bit of tlc to or want to do stories with. I've also put in a couple of multipurpose clubs and student centres.

However I have installed the college adjuster in my game now as sometimes having to play an hour or so just to get students through one semester does get a little tedious.
Mad Poster
#19 Old 14th Jul 2010 at 9:01 PM
Quote: Originally posted by jodemilo
Where did you get that hack Ani? I've been hunting for it for ages as wanted to do something similar in my game.


Found it, thank God for google.
Alchemist
#20 Old 14th Jul 2010 at 9:12 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CleoTheMuse
People say that University is boring. I've never understood that!


Me either. I so miss University. For some reason I have a suspicion I'm not getting one in TS3
Test Subject
#21 Old 14th Jul 2010 at 10:04 PM
There are some really good suggestions here. They make me want to play Uni, which I normally don't want to.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 1:05 AM
I think working on a gardening talent badge is the best pastime. It doesn't decrease Comfort like the pottery wheel or robot crafting stations do, and it satisfies Fun.

The real reason--eggplant juice! Skill points!
Field Researcher
#23 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 3:06 AM Last edited by scarletwings : 15th Jul 2010 at 3:06 AM. Reason: bad BBcode
Quote: Originally posted by hodsh1
I normally make my university sims get full time jobs with MogHudson's job noticeboard. At least it makes university more challenging :p


Quote: Originally posted by jodemilo
Me too.


I've had this fantastic object in my game for ages, now, but never knew I could do this - thank you for pointing this out, guys (and to the amazing, magnificent Mog!).

Oh, the hours my students have wasted earning pennies serving coffee...
Lab Assistant
#24 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 4:03 AM
Inteen. :D
*shrugs*
retired moderator
#25 Old 15th Jul 2010 at 6:19 AM
This might could be made into a full-fledged "challenge" if it isn't already one, but here's another thought or two. Using whatever cheats or mods necessary, you could also try to leave some kind of student legacy or start a "school tradition."

For example, in addition to bills, every student must contribute X amount of money to go towards a new (coffee shop, hang out spot, better studying/skilling area, whatever). Only students with a good/bad GPA can use it, but students with a bad/good GPA cannot. Or, on the X days/hours before finals, anyone with a low GPA has the right* to bully lower classmen into doing their school work (and those lower classmen best stay out of sight if they don't want to comply...because failure to comply is a no-no). Or, every X days/hours some other drastic or special event takes place. Or, try to out-do the "Big Man/Woman on Campus" by making a name for yourself...such that they'd name a new lot (residential or community) after you (that is somehow related to the fame). Like a overly successful romance Sim might have a "lover's lane" type lot or a studious Sim might have a "quiet study" wing added to the library.

*Such right is not officially sanctioned by University administration, officials, and staff...cheating and bullying are strictly forbidden in the student handbook and code of ethics.

I don't mind if you call me "MSD" or something for short.
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Perhaps someday I'll have leisure time back...
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