User:SimDestroyer/Sandbox
The Sims 4: City Living
Overview
In the map view, an apartment complex can be recognized by a building that has a light blue outline on it when hovering over it. On top of the building, there is a grey/green icon with a white plumbot indicating that there are residents in the building. If there is no plumbot icon, there are no households living in the apartments. When selecting one of the buildings, a new view of the building is shown with all of the apartments and their interior. Unlike previous games, apartment buildings in City Living can not built in other worlds, and are only available in San Myshuno.
When hovering over an apartment in the special view, it will show the cost of the furniture, the deposit/rent, the lot traits and the household that lives in the apartment, if any. Apartment buildings usually have 2-4 apartments per building and up to 4 families can live in the same complex. Clicking on one the apartments shows the description the apartment has and more information on the lot traits. The options the player can use such as moving households in and out or going to build mode is the same as with normal lots.
Apartment living
Landlord duties
Landlords are NPCs who the Sim has to pay the rent for. Sims can call landlords to help on things such as clearing out pests, repair broken objects and fix plumbing or faulty electrical wires. A Sim who has a good relationship with the landlord will have them wanting to fix broken objects more frequently. If the landlord is called to way too much, they will refuse to fix whatever problems are in the apartment.
Paying rent
Rent is due on a weekly basis. Sims can pay the rent by clicking their apartment mailbox located in the common area, on the computer, or on their personal cellphones. The amount of the rent depends on the apartment. Some low-end apartments have very cheap rent and richer apartments will have more costly ones. If the rent has not been payed by a Sim who is a teen or older, their utilities will be turned off one by one until the rent has been payed, similarly to bills.
Pests/Filth
In San Myshuno, some apartments have a special lot trait that can't be removed by the player. This lot trait adds special pests and filth to the apartment such as cockroaches, mice and sludge filth that leaks through the sewers. These pests will give Sims tense and uncomfortable moodlets. Sims can try to exterminate them by themselves, but there is a chance of a failure and making the pest even worse. The landlord can easily destroy them, but it is depended on the relationship the Sim has with the landlord.
Fire
A fire that occurs in an apartment building will be noticed by Sims living in the building. When a fire breaks out, Sims will leave their apartments, then panic. They will not gather around the fire, unlike on normal residential lots and some Sims in the household will immediately extinguish the fire. If there is a toddler in the apartment, an older Sim will carry them out.
Bulletin board
All common areas in apartment buildings have a bulletin board that can be used by Sims. They are usually used as a way to check out the latest festival and to leave either a passive-agressive note or an affirming note based on the Sims' mood. Neighbors will occasionally leave notes on the board that Sims can read. If a Sim reads a note leaved by their neighbor, a notification will appear telling the notes content and the Sim will gain a happy moodlet.
Building in apartments
As apartments are located inside big buildings with other residents, some elements in Build mode have been restricted. Players can't remove outer walls, windows or doors. However, inner walls can be added and removed the player along with wallpapers, flooring, columns, and fences being modifiable. Basements and fountains can't be built in apartments, but for some reason pools can be.
Some apartments have special objects that can't be in any form of way be removed by the player. These include special fireplaces, memorial plaques, sewers, mouse holes, pipes, and electrical wires. On the other hand, all normal build mode objects are available in apartments expect for rocket ships.
Lot traits
Every apartment in San Myshuno have pre-selected lot traits in them that can be modified by the player. However, some apartments have special locked traits that can't be removed. This is because some shells have objects (or pests) in them that require these specific traits.
Neighbors
Living in an apartment complex comes with it's own upside and downsides, with one of them being close door neighbors. Sim can socialize and befriend with them, become enemies, or even find a new romance. The apartment buildings in San Myshuno have usually one pre-made household in them, but the player can add as many households the building can occupy. Unlike other residential lots, the game will not create random townies to live in the apartments. Instead the player has to put manually their own neighbors if the pre-made ones have moved out, been deleted, or died.
Sims who have high friendly relationships with their neighbors or any other Sim can give them the key to their apartment, allowing them to walk into the household apartment anytime they like. The key holders come out randomly in the day starting a social event which is usually things such as pop ins, game nights, and normal hangouts. Players can cancel the Sims' social event whenever the player wants. After doing that the key holder will disappear, with no relationships being reduced. Additionally, Sims can revoke the keys from the key holders.
While Sims are cooking or doing something "cool", neighbors will knock on the Sims' door and ask if they can come in. Sometimes neighbors will be bored and ask the apartments Sims to do something interesting, and sometimes they might ask to use the shower if their apartment is having water problems or shower problems. Sims can deny and accept all of these requests and when accepting the neighbor will come in, do the things they want to do, and leave.
Fog of privacy
Apartments occupied by neighbors will turn grey with a ceiling type texture on top. This helps distinguish which part of the building belongs to the players Sims' apartment.
While the other apartments are covered in a fog of privacy, players cannot see objects or Sims inside it, but can see the layout of the apartment. In order to view the content of the apartment, Sims must knock on the door and be welcomed in.
Welcome Wagon
Newly moved households will be welcomed to the neighborhood, similar to when a household is moved into a normal lot. The neighbors will come to greet the new residents with gourmet fruitcake, and the arrive about 3 hours after the household has moved in. If the neighbors are not greeted within a couple hours, the "Welcome Wagon" event will end and the neighbors will leave with a decrease in their relationships with the members of the household.
If there are no neighbors in the apartment building, Sims from other apartment complexes in the neighborhood will come instead. If there aren't Sims living the neighborhood, there will be no welcome wagon at all.
Visiting the neighbors
Neighbors will not invite themselves over to the Sims' apartment. They can be invited into the apartment through the cellphone, by talking to them when they're in the common area, or by knocking on their door. When a neighbor is visiting, they will autonomously try to enjoy themselves. The neighbor will leave on their own sometimes later, or Sims can just ask them to leave.
Sims can also visit their neighbors apartments, but when doing so a loading screen will appear. After that, Sims can knock on the door and if the neighbors are in the apartment, the Sim will usually be invited in. While visiting the neighbor Sims can do pretty much the same things as in their own apartments, but they can do inappropriate actions such as sleeping on their beds, cooking food, or taking a shower. The neighbor will warn the Sim from doing these actions and if it's continued, the Sim will be kicked out and can't go in again for a while. This can however be avoided by purchasing the "Always Welcome" aspiration reward trait.
When trying to visit the neighbors or ask them to hangout, the following conditions must be met:
- The neighbor must be on the lot
- The Sim hasn't been kicked out of the neighbors apartment recently
If a visiting Sim leaves trashes on the ground, unfinished paintings on the easel, dirty and broken objects, or steals objects in the neighbors apartment and leaves, when the player switches to play as the neighbors, everything will remain in the same state as they were when the visiting Sim left. If the Sim visiting is still on the apartment when the player changes to play as the neighbors the visiting Sim will still be there, but in a different position.
Mingling in common areas
Neighbors usually come out from their apartments into the common area to pay rent, take the trash, or go to work/school. It is a good opportunity for Sims to socialize with them. The neighbor(s) will eventually return to their apartments.
Neighbor toddlers will never get out from their apartments, if the Sim isn't visiting them.
Errands
Neighbors aren't always available to be interact with as they will still have own responsibilities. They will go to work and school, and their schedule depends on their career and the career level. They will depart as soon as the work hour starts. Playable neighbors won't gain or lose any salary, work performance, school grades or career level when another household is being played.
Neighbors seem to never go to sleep and are usually available at any time of the day or night, unless everyone is at work or school. If Sims call their neighbor in the night, the neighbor will answer and say that they are sleeping, even though they're completely awake when visiting them. Sometimes the neighbors aren't also available when Sims try to ask them to hangout.
Complaints
As Sims live in close quarters in apartments, a lot of the things they mostly do is everybody's concern. If Sims make noise very late in the evening, at night, or very early in the morning, a neighbor might come to the front door and ask if the Sim could be quiet. Sims might respond willingly or shrug to the complainer, with both reducing the relationship. If the Sim who made the noise won't answer the neighbor at all, they will call that Sim a horrible neighbor and walk back to their own apartment.
Noise
Noise made by the playable Sims can be annoyingly loud for the neighbors. The more noisy activities the Sims do, the more likely neighbors will complain. The types of activities that can create noise are:
- Playing stereos in the loudest option
- Playing an instrument
- Using the microphone
- Singing in the shower
- Singing karaoke
- Playing the DJ booth[TS4:GT]
Throwing a social event such as a house party or a costume party in the evening can be very hard for the Sims to achieve, as the party can easily end at night, and neighbors will likely complain about it. It is suggested to throw these parties in the afternoon for no neighbor complains.
Neighbor noise
Neighbors will also produce their own type of noise. The probability of the noise production can also depend on the lot traits of the apartment. If the quiet lot trait is locked into the Sims' apartment, the noise will never happen. Apartments locked with the lively neighbors lot trait will instead cause the neighbors to produce noise even more frequently.
When neighbor noise is produced, all sleeping Sims in the apartment will wake up and everyone will gain either an angry or a tense moodlet. Sims can either knock or pound on the neighbors door to make them answer. Some times the neighbor will not hear a Sim knock on their door, but will react immediately when a Sim is pounding on it. When a neighbor answers the Sims complain, they will either accept it or just shrug it off, both reducing the relationship between the neighbor and the complaining Sim.