Alien

An Alien is a life state in The Sims 2 for PC and Mac, console, Nintendo DS, and The Sims 3: Seasons.

In The Sims 2, unlike other life states, they do not have any special properties or abilities, other than their appearance. Technically, playable aliens who appear in The Sims 2 are merely Sims with an alien appearance. The alien eyes and skintone are not normally available in Create a Sim, but can be unlocked by using testingcheatsenabled to enter the CAS debug mode. In The Sims 3: Seasons, however, the alien life state is more developed, and aliens do have special abilities of their own.

While alien abduction can occur in The Sims, aliens themselves do not appear, and creating them would require the use of custom skins.

Culture
From what little information is given from the family history of Pollination Tech#9 Smith, a player can see what appears to be a complex culture on their home planet based on a hive mind. At least to an outside observer, their society appears to be structured in a way not unlike that of bees, where individual aliens have roles parallel to the functions within a hive. Birth Queens are the central, and seemingly only, reproductive system of the aliens, except for the work of the Pollination Technicians. It appears that whomever impregnates them has no marital attachment to them, and that the sole purpose of a birth queen is to breed. Colony Drones are the workers of alien society. What work they do seems unclear, but it is assumed that they do menial tasks that would be equivalent to a working class Sim. Pollination Technicians perform the work of abducting and impregnating male Sims. They seem to be recent phenomenon in Alien society, as there are no known Pollination Technicians that have bred with Birth Queens.

Growing hair may be seen as a societal faux pas in the unseen hive, as they appear to be able to grow it, but don't unless they retire or emigrate off-world. Clothing is highly suggestive for Birth Queens, while being a uniform for males in all avenues of work. Children are presumably taken away from their parents, as evidenced by PT9's lack of parental relationships (he has no memories of his parents, grandparents, or anyone else in his family except his wife and children).

Careers
Pollination Technicians are apparently allowed to retire from their assigned jobs, and are then allowed to settle on planets. Pollination Tech#9 Smith retired on his "favorite" planet, which is the one which Sims reside on. That he has a favorite obviously suggests that the Sim planet is not the only planet where the Aliens carry out their operations. According to PT9's careers panel, it appears that the Alien society has no outstanding pension plans for those wishing to retire abroad, as he receives none.

Young aliens, regardless of gender, seem to be able to seek higher education in Sim universities, which places the possibly sexist roles of Birth Queens as possibly being an optional career choice, as Stella Terrano is able to enroll in La Fiesta Tech with no difficulty. Or it could be possible that Stella may have been a sterile birth queen so considering she was unable to produce alien offspring she was given the oppertunity to go to university wherever she wanted and was outcast and forgotten about.

The Sims (Console and PC)
Aliens only take an interest in those who take an interest in them. The Sim returns a few hours after his or her abduction with a changed personality. At this point in time, 25 years before The Sims 2, Aliens are clearly just beginning serious research on Simkind, and have minimal knowledge of Sims themselves - though the pollination of Nestor Caliente would likely have occurred prior to the events of The Sims. It is also too far back in time to tell what type of Alien carries out the abduction.

In the console Story Mode, the abduction is rather more difficult than in Free Play mode. When a Sim is abducted, nothing is shown but the Sim acting frightened and freezing up going into the air. As in the PC version, the Sim looks as though he or she is being electrocuted and floats upward.

The Sims 2
In regards to Sims being abducted, aliens take the dignified and fair approach of only taking an interest in those who take an interest in them. The Sim returns a few hours later with a memory of the abduction, but, with one exception, is not otherwise affected. The exception is that adult male Sims will be "pollinated" by the NPC Pollination Technician, whose sole purpose is to abduct male Sims and impregnate them with their DNA. How this is done is unexplained, as is the reason for doing it. What is referred to by Sims as a painful, embarrassing, and frightening abduction is merely "pollination" to the aliens, which inevitably results in an alien-Sim hybrid.

The Sims 3: Seasons
In general, nonresident aliens do not take an interest in abducting Sims who have not taken an interest in them, though there is a small chance that a Sim walking at night will be abducted. A Sim who has been abducted will return with a negative "Abducted" moodlet that lasts 10 hours. If the Sim is a non-occult male who is an adult or young adult, there is a chance that he will receive a negative "Unexpected Weight Gain" moodlet after the "Abducted" moodlet has expired. If he does, he will give birth to a 100% alien baby. Apparently, these aliens do not create hybrids, but use abducted male Sims as host bodies for alien genetic material. How this is done is unexplained, as is the reason for doing it.

Aliens who have joined a family and become playable bring their UFOs along. They can use this to abduct Sims they know, but this is in the nature of an alien practical joke.

Physiology
Aliens are capable of growing hair on their heads and face just like Sims, however, they are only capable of producing black pigment naturally, as they don't possess genes that would create any other colors. They have dominant green skin that is universally the same tone throughout the species, with no variation. They also have dominant black eyes, seemingly with either black iris and black sclera, or a single use of one over the other, or even neither, possibly with the entire eye being the receptor. Alien ears can vary in shape, being either very small or pointed at the top, suggesting semblances of races, like Sims. Faces are almost always long and gaunt, with either small Sim-like noses or pressed up slits in the center of the face. However, it appears that some Aliens do have noses that are Sim-like in size and shape. Mouths usually have thin lips, or none at all, and the inside of the mouth is light blue, the gums being the most prominent. Teeth are essentially the same externally. Alien bodies have the same metabolic rate as those of Sims. They age at the same rate as Sims, and gain or lose fitness when they exercise or overeat just as Sims do, with no advantage to either. Since the inner mouth is blue, it is safe to assume that the blood of Aliens is blue also, indicating that it is hemocyanin and not hemoglobin that is present in their bloodstreams, an indicator that they are not mammals. If so, it is very inconsistent, as lifeforms with hemocyanin cannot eat the same foods as those with hemoglobin, whereas those Aliens who have chosen to live among Simkind eat the same food Sims do. As it is not known what Aliens eat on their own planet or ships, it is possible that those who choose to live off-world are first adapted to be able to eat the foods of their adopted planet.

Genetic Compatibility
They are startlingly similar to Sims, to the point that they can reproduce with one another with no ill effects. Hybrids typically either have minimal differences or major differences from their Alien parent due to the nature of genetics.

Life State Compatibility
Alien physiology can adequately support Sim-earth based life states, with minor alternate differences mostly associated with the skin tone and eyes.

Origins
Aliens only have dominant genes, and universally detrimental personality traits such as shyness and sloppiness have been selected against, most aliens have "perfect" personalities, such as Pollination Technician, who can father hybrid children with partially perfect personalities; but some aliens have more varied personalities such as Pollination Tech#9 Smith. This "hyper-evolution" suggests that aliens have been sentient for a lot longer than Sims have, which is more obviously manifested in the far more advanced technology that allows space travel.

Aliens appear to be a hyper-evolved extreme of life, as their species has virtually no variation beyond facial structure and body structure. All pure aliens have the same shade of green skin and have genes for black hair and eyes. This suggests that all forms of genetic variation, such as recessive genes equivalent to light blue eyes and grey eyes in Sim DNA, have been selected against to the point where only the most dominant genes have come out on top -- in aliens, recessive genes do not exist. Whether this change is due to natural selection or due to the alien's social structure is undetermined.

Since recessive genes are almost never lost, they may be dormant in Alien DNA, potentially playing a part in future Sims games as a source of genetic variation to add to gameplay mechanics.

As Sims, like humans, are most likely also descended from dark skinned ancestors, it is possible that aliens had a dark green skintone early on in their evolution, assuming that they migrated from a hot climate like Sims and humans did and that aliens are mammals. The skintone and eyes suggests that they may be descended from amphibious life or reptilian life. However, the presence of blue blood suggest that they have hemocyanin, which is usually present in cephalopods, gastropods and some arthropods. This suggests that aliens are the ultimate form of evolution, or they were genetically engineered some time in their history. It is also possible that aliens assimilate DNA of other species into their own, which suggests a motive for impregnating Sims, in hope of introducing the hybrid children into alien society and allow them to have children with other aliens, resulting in the Sim genome being added into alien DNA. This means that aliens may have hundreds, maybe thousands of ancestors and it would be nearly impossible to identify all of them.

Physiology
Hybrid children can inherit normal looking noses roughly 2/3rds of the time, though the remainder can inherit the infamous slits in the middle of the face. 80% of the time, green skin is inherited (100% with first-generation alien hybrids, though they can have children with Sim skin tones, assuming that their spouse isn't green). There are some cases of first-generation hybrid children inheriting Sim skin tones, allowing them to blend into society unnoticed, assuming they did not inherit erratic facial features. Flamenco Caliente and Jill Smith are both prime examples of this. The skin tone inherited can be that of the human parent or even of the abducted grandfather. However, there are times when only partial resemblance is inherited. Those with Sim skins never inherit black eyes, though it is possible for green-skinned hybrids to inherit dominant Sim eyes instead of black eyes. Typically, there is minimal ear difference. Long, gaunt faces are commonly inherited.

Since the alien parent usually has a perfect genetic personality (10 nice, 10 outgoing, 10 neat, 10 active), this is also partially inherited and passed on, which can last for generations before finally being diluted.

How to become impregnated by Aliens
There are five ways to become impregnated by Aliens in The Sims 2. Two ways are legitimate and three ways are via cheating, which poses a risk of the game being damaged if debugging tools are not used.

Normal gameplay

 * Telescope - A male adult Sim can stargaze with the Farstar e3 telescope until he gets abducted. The chances of this are at a modest 0.05%, which remains this way unless manipulated by mods or hitching a ride with the FreeTime aspiration point bonus. After the Sim is abducted, they will return a few hours later, pregnant with an alien hybrid.


 * Electro-Dance Sphere - If the player has the Nightlife expansion pack, male Sims can also be abducted using the machine if they have been abducted previously with either 2 telescopes, or if very lucky, the Dance Sphere. This method varies in effectiveness between 1.65% to 2.5% depending on how many times the Sim has been abducted previously, but the chances are significantly higher than a telescope, regardless of how low it can get.

Cheating

 * In-game Debugging Mode - Entering the cheat  then shift-clicking on the telescope and choosing "Debug - get Abducted". After this point, the process continues as normal. Freetime expansion pack have made this cheat impossible. All the Sim will do now is walk up to the telescope and cancel the action. Beware, using this cheat may corrupt your game.


 * The Tombstone of L & D - Initiating the  cheat, then, shift-clicking on any Sim and spawning the Tombstone of Life and Death allows the player to open up testing options to initiate quick pregnancy in any gender. The options "Make me alien pregnant" and "Speed up my pregnancy" in the pie menu make this the fastest, albeit riskiest method of all. Both options will work, regardless of gender.


 * Create a Sim Debugging Mode - Enabling the  cheat allows the player to hold Shift+N to unlock alien skintone and eyes, along with hundreds of other features hidden by the game in CAS. It is turned off by holding Shift+M. This method of cheating is the safest, as there is minimal opportunity for the game to crash as it likely would in normal gameplay. Furthermore, CAS only creates Sims without any varied recessive traits or extreme personalities that would be inherited with normal hybrids such as 0% chance getting abducted when stargazing as an alien-Sim hybrid, although these values can be edited by those knowledgeable enough to change these values in programs such as SimPE.

The Sims 2 for console
The player can select an alien skin in the console version of The Sims 2. If a Sim has an Alien skin, their eyes will be widened and colored black.

The Sims 2 for Nintendo DS
Aliens have a key role in the storyline of The Sims 2 for Nintendo DS. The town of Strangetown will be invaded by Emperor Xizzle and his minions. The Aliens appear a little less human as the ones in The Sims 2 for PC, though an alien hybrid Johnny Smithworks at the shop at retains a fairly human appearance apart from his green skin. A Sim can get abducted but cannot be impregnated, so Aliens are not playable. With the assistance of the Mod Bed the Sim can change their skin to resemble that of an alien. Strangely, Aliens seem far more hostile towards Sims in this game than in any other series.

The Sims 3: Seasons
Prior to the release of The Sims 3: Seasons, it was confirmed by EA that aliens would return in that expansion pack. Towards the end of the Seasons announce trailer at around the 1:15 mark, a Sim looks up and a bright light appears on and around him. It is assumed that he was being abducted, similarly to The Sims 2, but without the use of a telescope.

Players cannot create aliens in Create a Sim, as there were coding issues when developing Seasons. However, the alien skin tone and Alien Eyes Modifier, Alien Ears, and Alien Eyes sliders are available in CAS.

Technically, aliens aren't "occults" like other creatures. They are a new type of Sim with their own unique DNA that can blend with human DNA through WooHoo. That way, when a child is born, instead of there being a 50/50 chance of it being an alien, it actually determines how much alien DNA the child has and grants them alien powers based on how pure their bloodline is. As the game progresses over multiple generations, and there are more relationships between aliens and humans, part-alien Sims will find their gene pool depleting until their human DNA is predominant again, at which point they'll need to start a relationship with a new pureblood alien if they want future generations to gain alien powers.

However, this does not imply that there can be hybrid powers with other occult types. Should an alien WooHoo with another creature, there's a random chance the child may grow up as the other creature with dormant alien DNA. That may produce, for example, a fairy with wings that has green alien skin and a bald head. Such a "hybrid" would have only fairy powers though, but no alien abilities at all.

Aliens can work in a part-time job in a Science lab as "Test Subjects".

Aliens are unable to get plastic surgery due to "cultural differences".

Attracting Aliens

While a Sim is asleep, there is a chance that aliens will visit their lot and collect data from the area. When this happens, the Sim can get up and speak with the alien, eventually befriending them. If the relationship becomes high enough, the alien can be asked to move in. Aliens will be more likely to come to a Sim's lot if they use a telescope often and collect space rocks.

When attracting aliens, a Sim does not have to be asleep; however it is suggested that a Sim attempting to attract aliens have a high level of logic (around 8 points) and be carrying around 10 moonstones or space rocks. The Sim should be doing an outdoors activity at night.


 * Brain Power
 * This motive replaces energy for all aliens teen and older. Children and toddlers use the normal energy bar.
 * Keeping space rocks (meteors) provides a large boost in the motive.
 * List of powers:
 * "Mental Scan" - Easily learn a Sim's traits. Each scan reveals one trait of the selected Sim.
 * "Transmuting precious metals and gems" - Increase value or alter their geological composition which accelerates the natural process quicker
 * "Mind Control" - Transform a random guest into a servant for 2 Sim hours and force them to do your household chores.
 * "Recombobulation" - Rather than having to manually fix a broken object, an alien can simply zap it with their brain for a speedy repair.
 * Brain power lasts much longer and replenishes much faster than energy.
 * Restoring brain power is a separate option. Sleeping offers no benefit to aliens.


 * UFO
 * It is an alien's preferred vehicle.
 * Aliens can use their UFOs to:
 * Abduct a Sim or their friends (as a joke).
 * Invade a community lot. Sims in the lot below will run around in panic while the ship zaps around the area with its cannons. Some may end up with the singed moodlet.
 * Travel. The ship will disappear into a rabbit hole. Messages will frequently appear describing the adventure, depending on the destination chosen. Upon return, the alien will receive a long green moodlet, and may also bring home gems or space rocks.
 * Create violent storms.


 * Abductions
 * Aliens can abduct both male and female Sims.
 * They can choose any Sim to abduct.
 * Abductions do not require a telescope, but using one increases the chances of being taken.
 * Collecting space rocks also attracts aliens.
 * During an abduction, the chosen Sim comes out of his location, looks up at the sky mesmerized by colorful lights and then is caught in a "tractor beam" and taken to an unknown location.
 * As in previous Sims games with aliens, abducted Sims never know exactly what happens during the abduction.
 * Non-occult male Sims can be impregnated by them.


 * Interactions between normal Sims
 * A Sim can befriend an alien and use its UFO.
 * "The military (career) is prepared to spend generously to acquire intelligence from any alien that is willing to betray its own kind."
 * Aliens can raid a science lab for space rocks at night between 8PM and 6AM, but there is a chance they will be arrested and put in jail for several hours.


 * Other Abilities
 * Aliens scan objects around the neighborhood to record data.
 * They leave clues behind of their presence.
 * They can establish telepathic links to nearby Sims for taking care of their or the Sims' motives such as:
 * Drain the Sim of his or her motives
 * Transfer a variety of benefits directly to them
 * Boost another Sim by sacrificing their own motives
 * Summon a meteor to fall at their targeted location.


 * Impregnation and Birth
 * Sims have a chance to get pregnant after abductions.
 * An offspring from a impregnated Sim is pureblood alien.
 * Fictionally, impregnated male Sims are not pregnant. Instead the aliens experiment on them when abducted, resulting in their body being the host of the alien offspring during an incubation period.
 * Only Non-occult male Sims can get pregnant by aliens after abductions.

Trivia

 * In The Sims 3: Seasons, using the "buydebug" cheat, it is possible to gain access to an alien's spaceship without needing to meet or befriend an alien.
 * Unlike in The Sims 2, aliens in The Sims 3: Seasons are treated as an entirely new life state with their own set of abilities. However, unlike other life states in The Sims 3, aliens are not considered occults.
 * The fact that all aliens found in the Sims 3: Seasons start out bald may suggest that pureblood aliens are supposed to be incapable of growing hair. However, the game mechanics are no different when editing aliens in CAS; it's possible to give them any hairstyle.
 * In The Sims 3: Seasons, an alien's UFO can travel to the Moon, the Great Asteroid Belt or planet Sixam. It describes Sixam as being inhabited by nameless aliens. When an alien Sim travels there, he or she seems to be treated like an ignorant foreigner. ("Sixam" is Maxis spelled backwards.)