Aspiration bar
The Aspiration bar is a bar showing a Sim's overall mental happiness. When the player puts their cursor upon the bar, information will be shown, and the Lifetime Want will also be shown if The Sims 2: University or later is installed.
Daily Aspiration
Sims can fill the bar by fulfilling wants, but fulfilling fears decreases the aspiration bar. In addition, a Sim's daily aspiration bar will decrease gradually over time, unless he or she is sleeping, meditating, or at work or school. Also, the aspiration bar does not decrease while the Sim is in class[TS2:U]. In general, the higher a Sim's aspiration level is, the more quickly it will decay. Learning the Lifelong Happiness[TS2:AL] life skill will reduce the rate at which the aspiration bar decays.
The aspiration bar has a finite capacity, which increases as the Sim ages.
| Life stage | Aspiration bar capacity |
|---|---|
| Toddler | 3000 points |
| Child | 6000 points |
| Teen | 9000 points |
| Young adult Adult |
12,000 points |
| Elder | 15,000 points |
There are 6 aspiration levels. Each has its own name and description, which depends on the Sim's aspiration and life stage. The 6 levels are as follows, starting from the lowest to the highest:
| Level | Percentage of Aspiration bar capacity |
|---|---|
| Deep Red | below 5% |
| Mild Red | 5% to 10% |
| Lower Green | 10% to 20% |
| Upper Green | 20% to 25% |
| Gold | 25% to 35% |
| Platinum | 35% and above |
When the daily aspiration bar stays too low for too long, the Sim will perform desperate actions. If it hits bottom, the Sim Shrink will come to heal the Sim, and the aspiration bar will rise a little bit. Until FreeTime, accomplishing a Lifetime Want gives a Sim Perma-platinum status, in which the Sim's bar will remain at maximum until he or she dies. With FreeTime, fulfilling a Lifetime Want would reportedly boost the bar to platinum, and cause it to decay very slowly.[1] In practice, many Lifetime Wants, even those for FreeTime careers, still refer to the Sim receiving perma-platinum, and it appears that fulfilling Lifetime Wants still grants it.
When viewing a Sim in SimPE's Sim Browser, the level of his or her aspiration bar is shown by two scales. One, labeled "Blized", shows the current level of the aspiration bar, and runs from 0 to 1200. For toddlers, children, teens, and adults, it shows one-tenth of the Sim's current aspiration score. The other, labeled "Current", appears to reflect how long the bar will remain at its current level, and runs from 0 to 100. It will be at 100 if the bar is at maximum, and drops as the bar drops, but does not appear to be a percentage. Being able to view these scores is useful because a Sim's aspiration bar will occasionally be reset to a low green level when he or she is moved into a new lot, even if he or she had attained Perma-platinum. If this happens, the player can use SimPE to reset the Sim's aspiration level.
Lifetime Aspiration
As of The Sims 2: FreeTime, a Lifetime Aspiration bar is added. It accumulates points throughout a Sim's lifetime, and as it fills, the Sim will occasionally receive points which can be spent on Aspiration Benefits. A Sim gains (or loses) Lifetime Aspiration points each hour. How many points are gained or lost depends on the Sim's aspiration level and life stage. In general, the shorter the life stage, the greater the hourly adjustment will be, so the level of a toddler's aspiration bar will have more of an impact than the level of an adult's. Young adults are a special case. Regardless of his or her aspiration level, a young adult's aspiration bar will barely change from hour to hour. Sims also receive points for certain important milestones, such as learning to walk, getting married, having a child, or advancing to a new life stage. If The Sims 2: University is installed, Sims receive points when they graduate from college.[2]
Filling a Sim's Lifetime Aspiration bar to its top will give a Perma-platinum status, as well as a special memory.
This is the list of milestones that can be achieved for a boosted Lifetime Aspiration.
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Despite what the Prima Guide says, getting all Vacation mementos, learning the Nursery Rhyme, and falling in love don't contribute to the Lifetime Aspiration at all. The milestones can only be achieved once, so repeating them does not help. CAS Sims will receive a default amount of Lifetime Aspiration points based on age and the assumption that they start in low green aspiration. They will start with the following number of benefit points:
- Toddler: 0
- Child: 2
- Teen: 3
- Young Adult: 4
- Adult: 5
- Newly initialized Servos also receive 5 points.
- Elder: 6
This may also apply to townies generated to replace ones that died or were made playable.
For pre-FreeTime Sims, including all those pre-made by Maxis, their starting aspiration level affects the number of Lifetime Aspiration points they start with. This may affect the number of benefit points they start with. Teens and young adults who start in gold or platinum will start with 4 and 5 benefit points, respectively. Elders who start in deep red will start with 5 benefit points. Babies, like toddlers, will start with no points.
This can make pre-FreeTime Sims who have achieved milestones miss benefits, since that will not be considered when initially assigning Lifetime Aspiration points. Also, while CAS Sims have default points, they will not be credited with having achieved any of the milestones that they have theoretically passed. For example, Sims created as parents in CAS will never earn the Having a Best Friend, First Kiss, First WooHoo, Growing Up to Adult, nor Having a Child milestones. This will be a large drawback compared to single CAS Sims. The most beneficial life stage to start to earn the most milestones is toddler.
References
- ↑ The high aspiration value (25,000) of Lifetime Wants ensures that they will fill the aspiration bar regardless of its level.
- ↑ Contrary to popular belief, research at More Awesome Than You showed different milestones than in the Prima Games Guide
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