Weather-controlling machine

Weather machines are special devices that can be used to control and manipulate the weather, season, and precipitation. The machines appear in The Sims 2: Seasons, The Sims Castaway Stories, The Sims 3: Seasons, The Sims FreePlay and The Sims 4: Seasons. Each game, with the exception of The Sims 2: Seasons and Castaway Stories, has a different model, but all of them have essentially similar functions, namely to manipulate the weather elements in the game.

The Sims 2: Seasons
The Weathernaught 57X is an aspiration reward that was introduced in the The Sims 2: Seasons. It's a weather machine that allows Sims to change the season, extend the current season, maintain the current season indefinitely, or change the weather. It has five uses, which are indicated by five lights that are visible when its antenna is open. However, if the Sim using it is not in gold or platinum aspiration, it may cause meteors to fall on the lot for a few seconds. Luckily, if this happens, it will not use up one of the Weathernaught's five uses.

As the Sim using it pumps a lever, a parabolic antenna opens up. When the antenna is fully open, a bright beam shoots into the sky for a few seconds. If the Sim was changing the season, or extending the current one by a few days, the antenna will then close. If option to maintain the current season indefinitely was chosen, the antenna will remain open until someone turns off the indefinitely prolonged season.

If the Sim used the Weathernaught 57X to change the weather, the antenna will remain open until the created weather has run its course, unless someone turns it off before then. It should be noted that the machine can not only create precipitation, but banish it, creating a clear sky. If this is done, the antenna will remain open, and the clear sky will be maintained until it is turned off. Using the Weathernaught 57X to change seasons will not turn off the clear sky. The current weather condition cannot be selected, so the "Clear Sky" option can only be chosen if there is some sort of precipitation. However, once that option is selected, it will be carried out even if the precipitation clears before the Sim activates the Weathernaught 57X.

The Weathernaught 57X cannot control the outdoor temperature. Changing the season may not immediately affect the outdoor temperature, even if it is outside of the new season's temperature range. For example, if the season is changed to Summer on a cold Winter day, the outdoor temperature may remain cold until the next day.

If The Sims 2: FreeTime is installed, using the Weathernaught 57X builds enthusiasm for the Science hobby.

Trivia

 * There is a miniature sculpture of the Weathernaught 57X in FreeTime.
 * The chance card for the top level of the Law career involves a choice about whether "Weather Machines" should be legal or illegal. The outcome has no effect on Sims' ability to use the Weathernaught 57X.
 * The chance card for the University Guest Lecturer (level 6) position in the Education career refers to the Sim giving a lecture on the ethics of weather control devices, and being asked to state his/her opinion.
 * The Weathernaught 57X also appears in The Sims Castaway Stories as the "Ignis Ex-Machina". The player will obtain it at the end of the story from the helicopter pilot. Since "ignis" means "fire" in Latin, the name can be translated as "Fire from the machine", and may be a reference to "Deus ex machina".
 * Although it's a story reward in Castaway Stories, it has 5 uses, just as in The Sims 2: Seasons. It's a very expensive object, which costs about 15,000 resources. Players can choose clear sky, rain, or hail as the weather, and can also prolong the seasons.

The Sims 3: Seasons
The Sims 3: Seasons introduces two weather-controlling objects, The Cloud-inator 9000 and the Climatron Control Unit, both of which are available as lifetime rewards. Both objects are available for teens and older.

The Cloud-inator 9000
The Cloud-inator 9000 is a small, 1x1-sized lifetime reward which costs 30,000 Lifetime Happiness points. When purchased, it is placed in the inventory of the Sim that bought it.

The Cloud-inator is used by selecting it, choosing to either shoot a rain or snow cloud, and then deciding which available Sim to shoot the cloud at. The Sim with the Cloud-inator at hand will walk to the other Sim, aim the Cloud-inator at them and shoot a small cloud of smoke at them. The attacked Sim will panic and run around the lot for a few Sim minutes, and then the cloud of smoke will disappear.

Although The Cloud-inator has unlimited use, this object has only 3 uses which are always a success. If the Sim used the object for the fourth time, The Cloud-inator will not work and instead bursts itself, creating a storm cloud which then strikes the user with lightning, giving them the "Singed" moodlet.

Climatron Control Unit
The Climatron Control Unit is a lifetime reward which costs 40,000 Lifetime Happiness points. When purchased, it is placed in the inventory of the Sim that bought it. Outside of the inventory, the Climatron is a large, 4x4-sized object.

The Climatron is used by dragging it out of the inventory and placing it somewhere on the lot. The Climatron will now have one selectable option: Change Weather. The weather can be changed to either Sunny, Hail, Snow, Rain or Fog, however the weather the neighborhood is currently experiencing will not be selectable. Once a type of weather has been selected, the Sim being directed will turn on, operate and turn off the Climatron. The selected weather appears shortly after the machine turns off.

The Climatron has 5 uses which are always a success. If the Sim uses the object for about 6-7 times, The Climatron will start malfunctioning and the Sim will be struck by lightning. If the Sim still attempts to use more than 6-7 times, The Climatron will either not work, or instead strikes the Sim with lighting again.

It is also possible to control the seasons without the weather-controlling machine by enabling testing cheats and shift-clicking on the ground.

The Sims 4: Seasons
Weather-controlling machines are set to return in The Sims 4: Seasons.

The Sims FreePlay
The Weather Machine is the main part of the Climate Control update for The Sims FreePlay, which was released June 6, 2013.

In May 2013, a friendly green alien, Osiris, landed in Sim Town, giving the players a certain amount of limited time goals they needed to complete in order to get limited edition teleporter. As this event finished, the following notification appeared, revealing a tip:


 * Great job helping Osiris with his research!


 * So what's coming up in the next update? Well, Osiris is going to start work on some kind of new device... so be sure to tune in to see WEATHER or not he needs your help!

Osiris is back with new goals that players need to complete for a weather machine. The Weather Machine was separated into three models, depending on number of goals players completed:
 * Basic Model - Although this particular Weather Machine has limited functionality, it can switch between day and night with the touch of a button!
 * Upgraded & The Snow Park - This upgrade to the Weather Machine allows you to create snow! But that's not all... Once the Weather Machine is upgraded to create snow, you'll get access to the all-new Snow Park where you can go snowboarding, have snow fights, ride the ski lift and more!
 * Fully-upgraded - This final upgrade to the Weather Machine allows you to create storms at your Sims houses!

The machine can be bought in the Home Store under the Electronics tab, for 70,000 Simoleons, and can only be placed once per household.