Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

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zaratustra
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby zaratustra » Sat Sep 20, 2014 6:13 pm

beatbandito wrote:I am totally carrying you guys.


what are you saving those points for you fool

I guess my next goal is... Hardly Hungry? Shouldn't need Fast Learner for those last 2 points, should I?

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Sat Sep 20, 2014 9:13 pm

Fast Learner is good for Sims who pick up four-plus skills in their lifetimes. If all you ever want to do is paint and write, it wouldn't be worth the investment.

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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Sep 25, 2014 7:57 pm

I hate to brush off irregular LP updates with "sorry, real life issues!" but ya know. Bedbugs. Kind of a thing.

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Anyway, the day starts with Beat getting a phonecall from some guy who saw him at the gym and wants to challenge him to a WORKOUT MEDLEY. For cash. I don't get it either. But after a quick aerobics session in front of the TV, Beat jogs to the local public pool for a dip. And gets paid.

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:whoops: The moodlet wears off hours before Silver leaves work, but mood directly affects job performance, so it's a small hindrance.

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On that means absolutely nothing since she was due for a promotion anyway.

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Getting contracted for a painting makes a lot more sense than getting contracted to work out.

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Speaking of, Beat's back home, vegging out in front of a cooking program. Maybe Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri are less obnoxious in Simlish?

...no, probably not.

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Before Zara starts on his painting, though, Brent invites him out for lunch. They head for the diner in Brent's tour bus, because that's the vehicle Brent takes everywhere now. Such is the life of an up-and-coming rockstar; you get a bus as your personal chauffeur.

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And after Brentai finishes lunch, those eggheads from the science center want some more references for ant charming. Apparently they need a different data set than the one Silver provided.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:07 pm

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Ah, the downside of being a go-getter: ya gotta go out and get. Since Zara is work-from-home and thus ineligible for promotions, the only way to shed this is to advance one of his skills to the next level.

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Despite his mounting anxiety Zara gets his painting done and delivered.

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Astrological signs are a thing added by the patch update. Beat wants to learn one of... a pretty random person, really. And that's a problem, because "What's your sign?" is a romantic interaction. And Cornelia Goth is married. And has the Unflirty trait. And just doesn't like Beat all that much. Gotta pass on this one.

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With Silver having finally read the five newspapers she needs to finish her job Opportunity, I call and cancel any further deliveries. Mostly the neglected newspapers just junk up the front yard.

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This was a weird one. Brentai is supposed to listen to the radio or someone playing guitar to finish the Opportunity -- but once I accepted it, all he had to do was go back to work. Maybe "be in the theater" counts as being exposed to music, but doesn't that defeat the stated purpose of the Opportunity?

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Anyway, Brentai gets his next promotion too.

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Ada finished her next book in the Anna Masionne series, but is starting to go stir-crazy from sitting in front of a word processor for so long. A quick trip to the modern art museum fixes that.

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Speaking of being handcuffed to a computer, Zara's trying frantically to fulfill his wishes by publishing his next project and shed his burdensome moodlet by improving his writing skill. But at the end of the day, he just can't take any more, and needs some time to unwind.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:14 pm

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There was a situation where three people needed to use a computer at the same time -- Ada and Zara to wrap up their current projects, and Silver to do an article for work -- so I used the household savings to expand the downstairs LAN.

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I also started Beat's personal gym with a treadmill and a stereo. (Mostly I bought the stereo for Brentai's Opportunity, not realizing he'd already met the conditions somehow.)

Having a separate room to act as the gym is important, because working out drains the Hygiene meter even faster than digging in the garden. And once your Sim starts to stink, it disgusts everyone else in the same room. If the room is used for nothing but working out, the effect can be mitigated somewhat. And since this is the empty corner of the upstairs, it'd be right across from the kitchen, and nobody wants to smell Beat's BO while they eat. Double-gross.

Stereos can be Unbreakable like most other things, or improved to have better speakers (having the stereo on gives a higher moodlet) or speakers wired throughout the house (so that the jammin' moodlet applies to everyone on the lot instead of just the same room). Beat wires the entire house with speakers, and finishes late at night...

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So that once he finishes, Zara gets out of bed and screams in frustration at the device that might, theoretically, disturb his sleep should it be turned on at night.

Then Zara turns the stereo on.

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Sure enough, it wakes Silver up, and she has a screaming fit about it too.

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Whatever, you guys are weird.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:18 pm

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Huh. Silver's the oldest of the bunch.

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Even old ladies get Opportunities.

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Brentai has met enough people to pass another Skill Challenge! This brings the total for the house up to three, well ahead of the Tyrant Team's zero.

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That's a wrap. Next on Cross-Forum Fervor: Silver ages!

Silver: LAPs 9984, Long-Distance Friend
Wishes: Have 8 Friends +1500, Write 5 Articles (3/5) +1000, Get a Promotion +1000
Skills: Charisma 6, Writing 5, Guitar 5
Opportunity: Today's (And Tomorrow's) Current Events (read 5 newspapers, currently 4/5 and the fifth is in inventory; she was just too tired to read when she got home)

Ada Bee: LAPs 2824, Extra Creative
Wishes: Write 5 Best-Sellers +3000, Write a Book Worth at Least $750 +3000, Write 10 Novels (6/10) +3000
Skills: Painting 7, Writing 8
Opportunities: A History of One (write a biography of Mongrel Grongrellson)

Beat Bandito'toole: LAPs 54,170, Fast Learner
Wishes: Discover 15 Stars (11/15) +900
Skills: Handiness 10, Logic 10, Cooking 6, Athletics 3

Zara: LAPs 12,309, Acclaimed Author
Wishes: Make 10 Vidyagames +3250, Finish Current Project +675, Make a Game Worth $3000/wk
Skills: Logic 4, Painting 7, Writing 8

Brentai: LAPs 16,740, Long-Distance Friend
Wishes: Meet Someone New +300, Go on a Date with Fiona +350, Reach level 8 of Guitar skill
Skills: Logic 6, Guitar 7, Charisma 4

Cash on hand: $610
Lot Value: $62,377
Skill Challenges: 3

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:22 pm

LP Rules update: It's possible to invest money in local businesses and reap the profits in subsequent weeks. This doesn't add any money to the household value as displayed in the game, but for purposes of scoring the Let's Play I'll count the cost of the investment as part of the household value anyway.

I think it's also possible to buy additional private lots and rent them out for zero-effort cash, too. If this is the case the Lot Value score of the secondary property will add into the household's own Lot Value for scoring purposes. (Since switching between active households fucks with Wishes and Needs, I'm not going to buy out a second property and move part of the team onto it.)

In fact, I think I'll just refer to it as "Assets" from here on out. Assets is a combination of Furnished Lot Value of all real estate owned by the team plus the cost of any business investments or buyouts.

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beatbandito
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby beatbandito » Thu Sep 25, 2014 8:25 pm

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invest all the diversities!
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Büge
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby Büge » Thu Sep 25, 2014 9:35 pm

I agree!
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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:30 pm

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We'll start back after a long absence with Brentai getting a phonecall from a teenaged girl.

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And Silver exploding the dishwasher. Of all the things in the house, I'm pretty sure the dishwasher breaks the most.

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Example shot for how "Wire house with speakers" works. Normally the wall would prevent Ada from hearing any music, but everyone in the house gets the positive moodlet now.

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Silver gets an opportunity to ghostwrite for her boss...

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Leading to some awkward phrasing in the dialog boxes. It only takes one ArticleBooks Books to finish the Opportunity, but finding the time to crank out a decent ArticleBooks Books can be difficult.

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Especially since writing articles is no longer an element of Silver's job performance that affects her career advancement. Her mood at work and her skills at Writing and Charisma are all that matter now.

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Speaking of writing...

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:41 pm

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The player's enthusiasm for business investment is soon reflected in the characters' wishes. From what I can tell everyone in the house gets this wish (and later ones like it) at the same time. And that's good, because it means everyone gets the LAP reward from one business buyout.

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Since it's Silver Song, bookworm extraordinaire, who was out in town when the wishes popped up, she gets to be the one managing the investment. The whole house benefits once the deal's done, so it doesn't really matter who does the negotiations (or whether they e.g. have the Charisma skill)... but it does mean Silver's naturally inclined to invest in the bookstore first.

Off the top of my head, the businesses available to invest in are the day spa, the diner, the bistro, the bookstore, the grocery store, the theater, the sports stadium, the hospital, the Legitimate Businessmen's criminal warehouse hub, and the science center. Public buildings like the library or city hall can't be invested in, but households can buy out public spaces like parks, beaches, and the graveyard.

Like the textbox says, after investing in a business you can fork over some more cash to buy it outright. This allows the household to rename the business and fire anyone who works there. It also pays more week-to-week. In a game without family legacy or immortality that might not be worth it from a purely financial perspective, but it's money in the bank for Let's Play scoring.

If you buy a public space, you can remodel it in Buy and Build modes, just like making changes to the Sims' house. As before, I'll count the lot value toward the household assets for scoring purposes. (In another game, I had the 2 family -- led by a self-insert guy named R 2, of course -- buy up all sorts of properties and rename them after themselves. The result was Grocery2, Hospital2, and even Bis2ro. Just after R 2 died his daughter bought the cemetary -- I wanted to name it 2Spooky, but you can't rename public areas -- put in a new mausoleum in memoriam, and got some landscaping done to make it less of a weed-choked shithole.)

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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:46 pm

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Beat gets out of the shower to answer his phone and accidentally knocks the spigot off in the process. Way to go, ya klutz.

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But since the call was an Opportunity for Beat to save the known universe, that, uh, may have been worth it.

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Zara has an Opportunity too, but not one so daring. Adventure is hard on the nerves, ya know.

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Aww.

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Beat wanted to see a ghost, so he went to the graveyard and met one.

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And offered to, uh, tell him spooky stories.

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You must accept. There's no choice. You cannot resist the inexorable flow of time.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:48 pm

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I never can remember to check the mail regularly. (This is an accurate mirror of real life.)

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Look at 'em go! I'm pretty sure they're all working on writing projects, but they're probably dicking around on Skype or something instead.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:51 pm

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Woo! Yay! Silver is an adult! We've begun moving into the second third of the LP!

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Let's eat some cake. Wait, this dining table only seats four...

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Ada is downstairs, by herself, eating her dairy-free, egg-free, cruelty-free vegetable loaf with a festive soy-based cream-cheese-like frosting. Because honestly, who wants to be around someone who passes up proper cake for vegetable loaf?

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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby Mongrel » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:52 pm

nosimpleway wrote:Image
Speaking of writing...

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...that's going to be my biography, isn't it.
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 8:57 pm

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Yep, everyone got this one at the same time, too.

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As Silver finishes her ghostwritten ArticleBooks Books, she attains another Skill Challenge! This one is for writing five publications in the same genre -- Ada and Zara have been switching genres to the most profitable ones each time a new one opens up, but Silver has stuck with articles this whole time, and that was her fifth. Any future articles she writes will be worth a bit more moolah!

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It's a best-seller too, which in terms of articles I assume means "really effective clickbait". Articles aren't generally worth a whole lot of money compared to novels, so between bestseller status and her new skill challenge achievement, that's about as good as it'll get.

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Meanwhile, Brentai hooks up with Bella to give her some "in-depth" "tutoring", if you know what I me--

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Er, never mind. He'll just, uh, go to work instead.

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And rock out for an impromptu audience. This is a good event to get, since it boosts the number of performances Brentai has given by 1, and that directly feeds into his career progression.

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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:03 pm

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Ada finishes her biography, and her even-handed treatment of the subject and thoughtful look at how Mongrel Grongrellson is more than just a running gag about forgetfulness takes the market by storm. Don't let the ironic title fool you, it's another best-seller, far overshadowing any negative press Silver published about the poor guy a couple weeks ago.

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Mongrel himself is pleased enough to fork over a couple thousand bucks, in addition to the usual royalties for penning a best-seller.

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It's enough to buy a new dishwasher. Since this model is automatically quiet, Beat can upgrade it to be explodeproof too.

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Since patching the name I've noticed an odd bug. Sims only get promotions when they leave work with their career advancement meter completely full. But then the game immediately applies their new work schedule, even though it should give them a full day off to adjust to any changes. This means that a Sim can leave work, get a promotion, be put on a schedule that demand they work later, then immediately take an advancement hit because the game thinks they're absentee. Going back to work for the rest of this phantom shift doesn't even offer any advancement or pay!

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And Brentai has to carpool home in a minivan instead of his bitchin' tour bus! So lame!

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:13 pm

zaratustra wrote:what are you saving those points for you fool


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This threshold.

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Beat's been saving up for the Moodlet Manager. It's a big deal, and here's why.

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Brent just got home. He's excited about his new position, but he had to work late, so he's bushed. In about half an hour he'll be seriously hampered by fatigue. See that little "sleepy" moodlet icon?

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pchooooo

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If a Sim has a negative moodlet, or even a moodlet that warns a negative moodlet is forthcoming (like Hungry, Sleepy, or Needs to Go), the Moodlet Manager will erase it. What really makes the device nearly game-breaking is that if the moodlet is caused by a Needs meter being empty, the meter will automatically refill. In this case, Brentai has a full Energy meter without getting a wink of sleep, freeing up several hours of his time to socialize or practice the guitar or take a relaxing bubble bath or whatever.

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Grimy and sore from a long workout? pchooooo

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Fainting from hunger? pchooooo

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Stressed out from long hours at work? pchooooo

The Moodlet Manager doesn't grant positive moodlets, unless filling a meter normally gives one and the Manager refills that meter. It won't turn Sleepy into Well-Rested, since that's an effect of the bed; and it won't turn Hungry into Good Meal, since that's an effect of the food eaten. But Sims can get Squeaky Clean just from having full Hygiene and Having a Blast from having full Fun, so those function as normal. (Since getting the new tubs people have been taking bubble baths whenever there's time, so even if the Manager gives Squeaky Clean, you're still missing out on Tranquil and Duck Time.) Even so, the time saved is worth the lack of a slight mood boost.

Sometimes the Manager misfires and adds the Exhausted moodlet, but... it's a negative moodlet. Zapping again will get rid of it.

It's also possible to zap people with the Manager and give them Exhausted intentionally, and since Beat has the Evil trait it's something he'll do to passersby whenever he's in public.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:21 pm

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Overworked from struggling with your next video... ga... huh.

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The misspelling is a reference to a major plot point in the book, and certainly not due to my own mistake.

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Having been up all night practicing his music, Brent heads out in the morning to check in with Bella on his tutoring. She's so happy about it she starts spontaneously twerking.

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Brentai uses the distraction to snag some victuals out of an unattended pic-a-nic basket.

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Image: "Who? What? ... Oh. Right, the girl I was going to ask out and then immediately dump before the patch install removed my wish to do that. What? Nothing, nothing. What's going on? ... I just got a sandwich out of someone else's lunch, but I think it's egg salad. ... Yeah, I know. Fart sandwich, right? I'll pass."

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By the time he's done on the phone with Zelda, the Bachelor family has packed up their violated picnic and gone home. So Brent sits down at some other pic-a-nic basket and helps himself to that instead.

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I'll admit, Zara isn't much of a player in these updates. Mostly he's working at one thing or another, either his next game release or some concept art. In this case he spent much of his time painting for Vita Alto, like that Opportunity that came up before.

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Before Brent heads home, he buys into two more businesses, giving everyone an LAP boost for that wish.

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nosimpleway
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Re: Cross-Forum Fervor! Let's Play The Sims 3!

Postby nosimpleway » Thu Oct 02, 2014 9:25 pm

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Normally I'd wrap the update with a shot of everyone in bed, but with the Moodlet Manager, nobody strictly needs to sleep anymore. So everyone's hard at work.

Silver: LAPs 23,036, Long-Distance Friend
Wishes: Reach Level 9 of Journalism Career (currently 7) +2250, Read 12 Books (currently 10) +1000
Skills: Charisma 7, Writing 7, Guitar 5
Opportunity: Proof of Concept (having written article, deliver it to the editor)
Skill Challenges: Feature Article Writer

Ada Bee: LAPs 14,887, Extra Creative
Wishes: Write a Book Worth at Least $1000 +3250, Write 10 Novels (8/10) +3000, Make at least $10k in Royalties (currently $8830) +7500
Skills: Painting 7, Writing 9

Beat Bandito'toole: LAPs 2610, Fast Learner, Moodlet Manager
Wishes: Discover 15 Stars (currently 12) +900, Upgrade 30 Objects (currently 21) +3500
Skills: Handiness 10, Logic 10, Cooking 8, Athletics 6
Skill Challenges: Electrician, Plumber

Zara: LAPs 27037, Acclaimed Author
Wishes: Make 10 Vidyagames +3250 (currently 7), Make 5 Bestsellers (currently 3) +3250, Make a Game Worth $1000/wk +3750
Skills: Logic 5, Painting 7, Writing 8

Brentai: LAPs 30,520, Long-Distance Friend
Wishes: Reach Level 10 of Music Career +6000
Skills: Logic 6, Guitar 8, Charisma 4
Skill Challenges: Celebrity

Cash on hand: $2630
Assets: $93,564
Lot Value: $67,064
Partnered With: Divisadero Budget Books ($7000), Everfresh Delights Supermarket ($7000), Little Corsican Bistro ($12500)

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