The Sims (Strategy)

Jason Samuel, Dan Amrich and the design team of The Sims, GamePro

04/11/2003 12:28:27

Relationships

Friends are a resource as your career develops and being social is a need. The highest friendship rating is 100. Increasing that rating number is something each player needs to learn how to do.

Getting to know someone is the beginning of the process, when a neighbor comes to the house to make introductions make certain your Sim at least greets them. You can then ask the Sim to leave if you need to do something else. With that minimal contact they will at least be listed in the friends area and can be contacted by phone.

When a friendship first starts there will be limited interaction responses, mostly talk and ask to leave. As the friendship number increases more options will open up. The danger here is being too forward with the other sim. Don't engage in the more overtly friendly maneuvers if your rating is low. For instance, if you try to entertain someone and the friendship rating is in the 20s, more likely than not the other person will boo the performance which will really damage the relationship. The same goes for flirting, kissing and hugging. Don't be too forward too fast.

Once someone is a family friend you can get away with a lot more of the friendly actions. If something is successful, for instance telling a joke, try to add in more jokes when you talk to someone. At the higher levels, dancing, then entertaining, then joking will raise up the relationship fast. I would repeat those three often, get the friend to 100 then ask them to leave.

Your Sims can fall in love with multiple partners, but the trick is to never let one lover actually see their partner kiss their rivals. Send them to another room, distract them with a TV show, anything-but if they catch you cheating, it'll lead to fights and heartbreak (which, okay, is kind of fun to watch, but not too conducive to happiness). In other words, when it comes to affairs of the Sim heart, ignorance is bliss.

If you're really only concerned with playing one family at a time a great way to get lots of friends is to create large families for other houses in the neighborhood. These "feeder" families should be as big as you can make them. Put a fridge, toilet, telephone (so they can receive calls) and something to sleep on in the house. They will populate the neighborhood with potential friends.

If a Sim dies, placement of their remains is critical. If you take them inside, they become an urn, and the room's happiness rating will be affected. Outside, it's a tombstone, and that's cool as long as you don't stick it next to the barbeque or the swimming pool. Give the tombstone (or tombstones, as your pathetic case may be) some space on the side of the house and some pretty flowers.

Sean Baity, Assistant Producer

If you don't like the original "skin" (clothing) you picked for your Sim, buy them a dresser and they can change into any clothes you want.

Sims will try to find a counter to prep food on when you tell them to cook dinners. Make sure there is a counter near the fridge so they don't walk all over the house looking for a counter.

The Couch Potato Strategy: Don't buy beds…buy expensive recliners and sofas. Not only can you use them for sitting comfort, but you can also use them to sleep on.

Couple them with TV's and you get comfort and fun at the same time. Invite guests over and you can ask them to watch TV with you so you get social points while receiving comfort AND fun at the same time!

Career

Once you decide on a job it's important to get promoted at least a couple levels quickly to afford better items for your house. Promotion requirements vary with the job, the Sim will need certain characteristic levels, which will require time spent increasing the characteristic, probably an amount of family friends, and going to work in a good mood, which means going to work with most of your needs satisfied.

Balance is an issue with your career. As the requirements become higher and higher for each new level of job, it takes more and more time to increase your skills. If you start focusing all your time on increasing characteristics other areas of your Sim's life will suffer. Don't be a slave to your career.

Don't miss work twice in a row! If you do you'll get fired and be unemployed. Completely erasing any progress you've made in that field.

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