Townie: Difference between revisions

|caption = ''[[Ivy Copur (teen)|Ivy Copur]], a Townie in ''The Sims 2''}}

'''Townies''' are a class of [[Non-playable character|NPCs]] in ''[[The Sims]]'', ''[[The Sims 2]]'', ''[[The Sims 3]]'', and ''[[The Sims 4]]''. They are the biggest class of NPCs. Introduced in ''[[The Sims: Hot Date|Hot Date]]'', Townies are [[Sim]]s that are similar to playable Sims, except that they don't live in any of the households. They are full-fledged Sims with jobs, skills, and personalities. In ''The Sims 2'', they even have [[Aspiration (The Sims 2)|aspirations]] and, once ''[[The Sims 2: Nightlife|Nightlife]]'' is installed, have turn ons and turn offs.

As mentioned above, Townies were introduced in the ''[[The Sims: Hot Date|Hot Date]]'' expansion pack. Townies at this time were only "native" to the [[Downtown (The Sims)|Downtown]] area (though they could come over when invited once a Sim knew them) and were generated whenever a Sim went to a Downtown lot. These Townies all had the last name "Townie" and were deleted as soon as a Sim left Downtown. The only exception to this was if the Sim had a relationship with a Townie, that Townie was then saved so that the Sim could continue the relationship. With the addition of other expansion packs which had their own [[sub-neighborhood]]s, this was changed, so that the Townies for an area were created when that area was added to the neighborhood, and were no longer deleted when playable Sims left their "native" areas.

Until the release of ''[[The Sims: Makin' Magic|Makin' Magic]]'', marrying a townie could cause a problem known as the "Urban Renewal Loop", in which the game would get stuck in a loop while trying to create a replacement for that townie.

Since the Somebodies of Studio Town normally wear high fashion instead of everyday wear, the game will try to give a newly generated Somebody a random High Fashion [[Skins|skin]] instead of the default High Fashion skin. However, it cannot properly handle assigning a custom High Fashion skin to a newly generated Somebody, and will crash if it tries. Since ''The Sims'' doesn't distinguish Maxis skins from custom skins, and since there aren't too many Maxis High Fashion skins, it '''will''' often try to do this, especially when populating Studio Town in a newly opened neighborhood.

* In ''[[The Sims: Hot Date|Hot Date]]'', they are known as "townies". (Some players may use the ''Nightlife'' term "downtownie" when referring to them, but that's a retrofit.) All Downtown-based townies have the surname "Townie". There are also special townie stereotypes, with a fixed appearance/personality matrix.

* In ''[[The Sims: Vacation|Vacation]]'', they are usually called "vacationers" or "tourists", but are organized into families with random last names. (Tourist NPC families usually consist of 3 or 4 Sims and always contain both [[adult]]s and [[child]]ren.)

* In ''[[The Sims: Unleashed|Unleashed]]'', there are no new human townies; instead, neighbors will pay a visit to [[Old Town]]. There are, however, [[pet]] townies in the form of stray dogs and cats who wander the neighbourhood, all sharing the surname "Strays".

* In ''[[The Sims: Superstar|Superstar]]'', the townies in [[Studio Town]] have the last names "Anybody" or "Somebody". The "Somebodies" are on the [[Fame (career)|Fame]] track, while the "Anybodies" are not.

* In ''[[The Sims: Makin' Magic|Makin' Magic]]'', the townies in [[Magic Town]] have the last name "Strange". This is probably because other Sims consider them strange, but it could also be a nod in the direction of the fictional magician Stephen Strange. All "Stranges" have wands, though they will not use them autonomously. Even though children can visit Magic Town, all "Stranges" are adults.

* In ''[[The Sims 2: Open for Business|Open for Business]]'', [[Bluewater Village]] and each new shopping district generated its own townies.

* In ''[[The Sims 2: Bon Voyage|Bon Voyage]]'', two new types of townies were created, both of which could only be found in the vacation [[sub-neighborhood]]s. These townies are unemployed. If invited to a house, they may remain as houseguests for three days.

* In ''[[The Sims 2: Apartment Life|Apartment Life]]'', many new townies were created that appeared in every neighborhood. They were each a part of a certain [[social class]], and frequently appeared as roommates and neighbors in [[apartment]]s.

** [[Social class|Social Class]] townies]], unlike regular townies, have their own gestures and favorite stories. Their presence indicates how high the class of a residential lot or apartment is. For example, if the apartment is surrounded by high class lots, and the apartment itself is luxurious, [[Social class#Tech|Techies]] and [[Social class#Socialite|Socialites]] will be more likely to occupy vacant apartments and walk by. Only Social class townies occupy the vacant [[apartment]] slots and are available as roommates pool in computers, newspaper, or ads.

# In ''[[The Sims 2: FreeTime|FreeTime]]''. If a hobby chance card results in bringing a fellow hobbyist home, that Sim may be in a different life stage than the Sim who brought them home.

In ''[[The Sims 2: University|University]]'', young adults attending their first classes in a major are considered to have "Met the Professors" in that major. They receive a 15-point Daily/5 point Lifetime Relationship with them, and do not bring them home. Usually, young adults who "Meet the Professors" in their major meet both of them, but sometimes, they only meet one.

In ''[[The Sims 2: Nightlife|Nightlife]]'', Sims can call the [[Gypsy Matchmaker]] and ask for the Matchmaking Service. For a fee the Gypsy will summon a Sim that matches up with the Sim who is paying for the service (the more that's paid, the better the match), and that Sim may be a Townie.

Business owners can also hire Townies as [[employeesemployee]]s.

In ''[[The Sims 2: Apartment Life|Apartment Life]]'', if the apartment building that a playable Sim is living in has vacant apartment slots, [[Social class|Social Group Townies]] will move in. Once they do, Sims may introduce themselves to them. There won't be a Welcome Wagon instead. Alternatively, Sims living in an apartment could advertise for (or choose) a roommate to live with them, using the phone or computer. Only Social Group Townies can become roommates. Roommates however, are selectable, but unplayable, just like [[pet]]s. They have a satisfaction meter and will leave if it falls too low.

Since Townies are fully made Sims, it is possible to make them playable. There are two main ways of doing it.

Adult/Elderelder Sims who are engaged to a Townietownie can ask the Townietownie to become their spouse. If the Townietownie accepts, they move in, usuallyand givingbecome thea Simplayable money andcharacter, taking their new spouse's last name. Theand Townieusually is then madebringing a playablefew characterhundred withor a relationshipfew of Married/Joined to the Sim who popped thethousand questionsimoleons.

If a Townietownie known to a playable Simsim dies, they can be resurrected using the [[Resurrect-O-Nomitron]]{{Vgversion|TS2:U}},the [[Genie#The Sims 2|Genie lamp]]{{Vgversion|TS2:FT}}, or [[Spells (The Sims 2: Apartment Life)|Spells]]{{Vgversion|TS2:AL}}. The Simsim resurrected will be made playable and added to the family.

A dead Simsim can be temporarily added to a family using [[Tombstone of Life and Death]] using the "Add Neighbor to Family" option. They will stay on the lot briefly (long enough to resurrect a family member with the Resurrect-O-Nomitron) before disappearing or becoming a ghost.

Players with the ''University'' expansion pack can hit the "Go to College" button while in the neighborhood view. From there, they can choose tothe place"Send oneSims orto moreCollege" teenagesim Towniesbin inbutton to create a collegenew household; all teen townies will be among the available sims to send. When the household is placed in a college residential lot, any Towniestownies in it become a playable characteryoung Young Adultadult students of the college.

Once ''[[The Sims 2: Nightlife|Nightlife]]'' was installed, the Townies were divided into two subclasses. The second subclass was given the name "Downtownie". As a rule, Downtownies have more money, more skills, and better jobs than regular Townies.<ref>Once expansion packs are installed, the game may randomly increase the number of skill points various regular townies have when they are spawned in-game. If this happens, those townies will have roughly the same number of skills that the downtownies have.</ref> However, Downtownies (like the original Townies in ''The Sims: Hot Date'') are restricted to the Downtown area unless invited elsewhere. Downtownies may autonomously call Sims and invite them on dates or outings.

Tourists and explorers in ''[[The Sims 3: World Adventures|World Adventures]]'' are only available in the native areas. There is a [[Non-Player Sims Only Lot|Townie lot]]{{Vgversion|TS3:WA}} which can be set from [[Create a World]]. Only homeless townies can move into this lot and the household will never be selectable.

Ghosts of deceased Sims can be found in many nookslots and crannies[[graveyard|graveyards ]] of a world and they can potentially be [[Oh My Ghost!|resurrected]]. In ''Ambitions'' players can generate random ghosts by [[Transfiguration|transfiguring]] spirits.

The vast majority of townies in ''The Sims 4'' base game are unique in that they appear to be entirely randomly generated once the game begins, rather than there being a pre-created starter "townie pool" as part of the game files as there was in ''The Sims 2 '' and ''The Sims 3''. In this game, townies are added to Household Management under the "Other Households" tab, in which they can be edited and made playable by moving them in. Randomly generated townies are attached to a saved game rather than to a specific world such as [[Willow Creek]] or [[Oasis Springs]], and as such, can turn up in any location within the game. Many townies generated with ''[[The Sims 4: City Living]]'' also feature Moroccan, Japanese and Indian names. ''The Sims 4'' base game initially had no pre-made townies (all were randomly generated once the game began). However with [[The Sims 4/Patch 73|Patch 73]] the base game included [[Alex Moyer]], a pre-made sim for the game's tutorial. Once the tutorial is over or if the player skips the tutorials and play the game, Alex Moyer becomes a regular townie. This makes Alex the first ever pre-made townie for ''The Sims 4'' base game.

Expansion packs for ''The Sims 4'' introduces numerous pre-made townies. In ''[[The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs]]'', the game ships with [[Captain Whitaker]] (a stray ghost dog) and [[Mayor Whiskers]] (a stray cat), both of which are pet townies that roam around in [[Brindleton Bay]]. In ''[[The Sims 4: Seasons]]'', [[Santa Claus#The Sims 4: Seasons|Father Winter]] (named Clement Frost) will generate as a pre-made townie, although he only shows up during Winterfest holidays and not randomly around town. With ''[[The Sims 4: Get Famous]]'', the expansion features several pre-made [[Fame (The Sims 4: Get Famous)|celebrity]] townies, such as [[Baby Ariel]], [[Brytani Cho]] and [[Izzy Fabulous]]. A few pre-made [[Mermaid|mermaidsmermaid]]s appear as townies with ''[[The Sims 4: Island Living]]'', such as [[Nalani Mahi'ai]] and [[Ukupanipo Hekekia]]. ''[[The Sims 4: Discover University|Discover University]]'' introduced a few townie professors, such as [[Jing Fen]] and [[Lana McKinnon]].

There are fourfive main groups of townies in ''The Sims 4'', depending on the [[content pack]]s that are installed. They have an equal chance of being generated if their location is not important:

* ''[[The Sims 4: City Living|City Living]]'' generates townies with ArabicMoroccan, Japanese and Indian names, who can typically be found in [[San Myshuno]]. They often (but not always) have the Chopstick Savvy and Spice Hound [[Trait (The Sims 4)|reward traits]].

* ''[[The Sims 4: Jungle Adventure|Jungle Adventure]]'' generates townies with Hispanic names as locals of [[Selvadorada]]. They all generate with points in the [[Selvadoradian culture]] skill.

* ''[[The Sims 4: Island Living|Island Living]]'' generates townies with Polynesian names as locals of [[Sulani]]. They canare beusually either normal [[Sim|normal Sims]]s or [[mermaid]]s, but they can be other [[life state]]s as well.