And the point of outings is?

And the point of outings is?

OK, being facetious. I know they boost your "rep" with other sims, and so forth, but I don't really get how to master them. Dates, I've mastered. But outings (this is a NL feature) are a strange critter. I've decided not to worry if the others have a bad time or not.

I have found that it helps to have someone along that you already know well. You can fulfill their needs, and it boosts the meter for the entire group. If you don't know anyone they keep rejecting you.

Of course, I did have one outing where after everyone was already having fun Spike decided to beat up on his least favorite sim, Smoking Jacket Guy (in my game he's Irfan Platz). And the outing went through the roof! Everyone loved it.

However, on a different occasion he also pounced on poor old Irfan and the outing abruptly stopped, with comments like "Don't drag me down in the mud with you next time."

Fortunately, Spike doesn't give a *** what other sims think. Usually, anyway.

So, anyone got any cool tips for outings? I always get wants like, "eat spaghetti" (and my sim's not hungry) or "be friends with sim who isn't here." And if I don't know anyone that well I can't exactly ask them what their wants are.

I did notice my sims always end up in the same outing groups. So maybe the point is to go on a lot of them?

I'll probably figure it out eventually. Just wanted a chance to start a conversation.

 

I'm going to hop on board with you here. I've had a couple outings, none went too bad, just around good time or whatever the middle is. I usually choose to "stay home" when asked. Though, once in a while I do feel adventurous.

 

Yeah, most of mine are "fun" or "OK." I've only had that one "rocking" or whatever the top of the scale is, due to Spike's well-timed fight.

Vampires are so amusing. He decided to just rip into poor old Irfan, pretty much on his own.

Mostly, my sims go out, they yawn a lot, and go home. I've also had half of the outing disappear as soon as they arrive. Spike was very disappointed one time when all the ladies departed ensemble! He doesn't really hang out with guys that much, other than to pick fights with them. He's got two male friends, and his lady "friends," with the exception of his lovely corpse bride, are more like conquests.

I wonder if it's because of my machine. Maybe the game automatically jettisons extra sims if your hardware can't handle a large group? I had Sophie Miguel visit once when the headmaster was already over, along with some work friend of Castor's. I just wanted her to meet Alec so he could get at least one date while still a teenager, and she kept leaving! I finally had his big brother call her, but Alec was the one who greeted her. She left right away (it wasn't that late), but at least he got her phone number!

For some reason, Alec just can't meet the ladies. He goes out all the time, and the only women he meets are adults already. He's got his first college GF lined up, though, so not a total loss. She's a cute redheaded, dark-complected chick with a sporty haircut. In my game she's Melanie Bui.

His younger sister has no problems meeting eligible men. Wonder why that is.

 

Outings serve the same purpose as dates or house parties, it's a chance for your sim to network while offering aspi point boosts. Dates are easier because you can see your date's wants/fears but it's possible to have a "rockin" outing without too much sweat. Just remember that the fun thermometer goes up when a member of the group achieves a want and down when they achieve a fear. It also goes up and down more slowly with the relationship scores (lots of green plus signs for up red minus signs push it down.)

Your first step is choosing a location. Try to pick a spot with multiple group fun items (bowling alleys, pool tables, DJ booth, etc.) and a restaurant. When going downtown almost every sim rolls the eat out with other sims want so as soon as your sim exits the car have him head straight for the maitre' de. For a large group pick "be seated at counter" as it gives you a better chance of sitting next to a sim you are already friends with, which enables sitting social interactions (the options with the little chair icons). Offer a toast to any friends sitting next you you (under the enterain menu) and while he does that, check out the thought bubbles above the group members' heads for pictures of food. Then order for the group based on what you saw (this boost aspi scores for any sims that have an "eat specific food" want.) After the food arrives you can (if you're friendly enough with your seat mate) throw a little food, steal bites, and flirt a little. After dinning, get up and mill around a little. Use the "ask: what do you want" interaction with each group member once and try to fulfill that want. Most sims just want someone to play with them. Then do a "scan room" and see if there is anybody worth flirting with, and act on any wants that roll because of it. If you see a couple of sims who are abviously friends (nothing but green plus signs for each other all night), influence one to prank the other. This usually results in a string of ventrill-o-farting that sends the fun meeter flying! Just to end the night on a good note, I usually like to gather the group on the dance floor to smustle till the clock runs out on a rockin outing.

 

I'm going to have to try all that out. I never thought of "asking." *duh* I'm a bit s-l-o-w at times.

 

See, I do all that, but sims who don't know my sim very well won't say what they want. Like I said, if I know someone in the group it's not that hard to have a good outing. Unless they want something like achieve a skill point, or something lame like that.

That happens to me a lot.

 

I've noticed that the sim who invited you on the outing will bring several of their friends. So your sim can influence the inviter to interact with the other sims, using the social interactions that your sim generally can't use since they don't know the other sims. Does that even make sense? I find that I usually use up all my influence points, just keeping everyone interacting with each other, which makes the meter go up.

 

Yes, that does make sense. Sounds just plain exhausting, but it makes sense.

I guess the outing could vary wildly depending on my sim. Spike, for instance, would influence pranks and fights while Xander would influence hugs and kisses.

 

I actually haven't used any Influence points yet. I just haven't really felt the need to...maybe I'm just not used to using them. I'm sure in a couple of weeks I'll be using them up like pens (okay, little inside-joke with my friends there--for some reason, every week I lose at least 3 pens! I assume my friends inconspicuously steal them and never return them, but we always joke around with it)!

 

You and I must be related. Some days I couldn't find a pen to save my life. I swear they grow little legs when I'm not looking.

Influence points are good for non-knowledge sims who are in college. They can influence others to do their assignments and term papers so they have more fun to party.

Knowledge sims seem to prefer to do it themselves.

However, all sims in college benefit from "influence sim to clean." Especially if they can't afford a maid.

Put that cow to work!

 

A few days after one of my first outings my sim received a call from Milo who claimed to have been a friend of the invitee. Anyway, he claimed to have had so much fun with my sim at the outing that we instantly had a 45 friend rating.


The helpful (?) tip box popped up saying that I had a few Sim days to convert this new friend to a real friend. The thing is I don’t remember Milo or anything extra ordinary happening that night? But hey I’m not complaining, I’ve just got a new friend without much effort.

 

Milo is now a contact. He counts as a friend until the blue is gone from his thumbnail in the friends panel. If you get the relationship above 50 for both Milo and your sim, he will stay a friend after the "contact time" has passed (usually 2-3 sim days).

 

I had a friend (a child) of friend (teen) call my teen and invite her to a group thing. My teen said sure, why not.... but when she got to the cinema only her friend was there not the inviter (child). Not that my girl complained about spending more time with her crush, but I thought it was kind of funny.

 

One of the things I like about outings is that if it goes well, your sim can get skill points or even get a promotion. I got a message one time that said, "Napoleon pulled some strings and got Suki a promotion at work!" Suki just happened to spend some quality time with Napoleon in the photo booth.

 

The only benefits I've gotten from dates and outings were Cleaning skill points and roses. Oh well.

 

I know, what's up with that? I don't mind, but I thought it was really funny when London got cleaning points from Spike, and vice-versa, on the same date. Especially when she's neater than he is!

Speaking of weirdness, I have a knowledge sim whose lifetime ambition is to have 100 first dates.

First of all, sheah right. 100? I don't think there are 100 dateable sims in the game!

And second of all, hello, KNOWLEDGE sim! Just what kind of knowledge is he trying to garner here?

I didn't change it because it suited my purposes not to. I'm not big on the permaplat thing anyway.

Just saying, it's a bit odd.

 

How do you change the lifetime want? I don't have Univ only NL but when I hover over the Aspiration meter it shows me what their lifetime want is (just saw this the other day).

Thanks.

 

Aside from hacks, there is one way to change it in game. Since you have NL you should be able to use the cement mixer looking thing under the aspiration rewards. It changes your aspiration, but that also changes your lifetime want at the same time (and also an option to change turn ons/off, but you can just leave those as well). Kind of sucks if you don't want them to change aspirations though. But I give an example:

Lila from my story thread is a knowledge sim who came with the lifetime want of becoming a criminal mastermind. I didn't want her in that line of work so I changed her to a family sim using the aspiration reward, that gave her a new lifetime want. Immediately she started wanting new kids and well, at this point in the game Lila and Ian already had 3 kids (I really need to get moving on my story thread!) and I had decided they were done with that option...at least for now...so I changed her back to a knowledge sim, this time her lifetime want was to become Chief of staff. I decided I could live with that and that's where she stands today.

I belive you can use the aspiration changer reward 5 times before it won't work anymore, and if you have enough aspiration points you can always replace it. Hope that helps!

 

Okay. I didn't even know about the cement mixer thing. I read the guide and eveything but I always seem to miss stuff (??). Anyway, I have a knowledge sim and his lifetime want is to become a mad scientist. Problem is he is in the medical career (level 6). I don't want to start him over in the science track. Also, my fam sim has lifetime want to reach golden anniv. I want to change it to marry off 6 children (being that is what I'm going to do with her anyway).

 

My sim, Kina Ailani, got a hot tub (the cheaper one, but I like that one better because you can close up on the sims. With the one in the ground, when you zoom in all you see is the empty air) from Goopy Gils-Carbo after a dream-date! I used to think he was just a big-nosed dork, but now he's a rich big-nosed dork!

Anyway, have you heard of the Grilled Cheese Sandwich aspiration? I read about it in a University walkthrough--the negative side-effect of one of the aspiration rewards gives your sim the Grilled Cheese Sandwich aspiration, and their new LTW is to eat 500 grilled cheese sandwiches! I found that hilarious.