I decided it’s time to figure out the Ideal Family Size for my Sims so that maybe I can keep the number of families from blowing up too much, too quickly.
So I looked up online to find people who posted things like that online. Found several people who posted what they did, but I was highly interested in 2 sets that I found: Apple Valley Blog and a post on a thread on MTS by Katya Stevens.
Both referenced assigning a numerical value to each aspiration and both had the same numbers for each aspiration:
- Family – 1
- Knowledge – 2
- Fortune – 3
- Popularity – 4
- Pleasure – 5
- Romance – 6
Apple Valley’s formula is: (Outgoing + 0.5 Nice)/Aspiration ACR Rank
Katya’s formula is: ((Neat + Outgoing + Active + Nice)/3)/Aspiration ACR Rank
So I ran the calculations for my current Sims and most of the differences are 0-1, with some fairly drastic ones depending on their personalities. So what I decided to do is use both of the formulas. The lowest value will be their ideal family size. The difference between the lowest and the highest will factor into how willing they would be to have more kids once they’ve hit their ideal family size.
If a Sim has a LTW for a specific number of kids, that becomes their ideal family size.
How do I calculate if someone is able to convince their significant other (SO) to have another kid or if they even are convincing their spouse to do so?
- In order to even do this, the Sim with the higher ideal family size has to want another kid or to woohoo. Which want they roll will factor into how much they try to convince their SO to have another kid. Can only be done once per day if they roll a woohoo want, once in the morning and once in the afternoon if they roll a try for baby want (I will lock in the baby want until they go to bed for the night). Chances have to be rolled when both Sims are available for trying. This simulates the desire to have more vs the ability to make time to make it happen.
- If the SO has a want for a baby, it’s an instant success. I view this want for them as they’d be ok with another kid, but they aren’t going to be proactive. Unless it’s to fulfill a family member’s LTW – will take into consideration number of siblings still likely to have kids for the 6 grandkids LTW. I will not lock in the try for baby want for the Sim who has the lower Ideal Family Size at all. So if the want drops before the one with the higher Ideal Family Size is ready, then oh well.
- Base success chance rate is 35%.
- Take the Aspiration ACR Rank of the Sim with the higher Ideal Family Size for the Primary Aspiration and multiply that by 5.
- Take the Base success and subtract the value you got in Step 4. So a Family Sim would end up with a value of 30 and a Romance Sim would end up with a value of 5.
- Take the average of their Logic and Charisma skill points for the Sim with the higher Ideal Family Size and multiply that by 5.
- Add the results of 5 and 6 together. So a Family Sim with a maxed out Logic and Charisma skills would end up with 80. A Romance Sim with maxed out Logic and Charisma skills would end up at 55.
- Count the number of kids that exceed their Ideal Family Size and multiply that by 10.
- Take the value from Step 7 and subtract the value from Step 8 from it. So the Romance Sim from the example in Step 7 who already had 1 more kid than their ideal family size would go from 55 down to 45.
- Take the difference in the Ideal Family Size calculations for the SO and multiply that by 10. Add this to value from above.
- Randomize a number between 1 and 100. If the number is at or below the value from 10, the SO is convinced to have more kids. If its above the value from 10, the SO is not convinced.
An example of the above that could actually come to pass in my game at the time I’m coming up with this: Sean and Randi Briggs.
Randi’s personality, skills, and aspiration as it relates to the calculations:
- Outgoing – 2
- Active – 6
- Nice – 5
- Neat – 9
- Logic – 9
- Charisma – 9
- Aspiration – Family
Apple Valley puts her Ideal at 5. Katya puts her Ideal at 8
Sean’s personality, skills, and aspiration as it relates to the calculations:
- Outgoing – 8
- Active – 6
- Nice – 3
- Neat – 5
- Logic – 8
- Charisma – 8
- Aspiration – Family
Apple Valley puts his Ideal at 10. Katya puts his Ideal at 8.
They have 5 kids already so they’ve hit Randi’s Ideal Family Size. So from now on, Sean has to be able to convince Randi to have kids in order to achieve his Ideal Family Size.
Neither have a kid related LTW. Sean’s dad does technically have a kid related LTW of 6 grandchildren, but that’s already been achieved and will get marked as such when I load up his lot next as they’ve had 5 kids already and Sean’s twin Maxwell has had a kid himself already. And he has 2 younger sisters as well who are likely to have at least a couple of kids. So there isn’t an auto-win button.
So let’s imagine Sean’s rolled a try for baby want and Randi has not.
- Base chance is 35%.
- Sean’s a family Sim so I multiply the Aspiration ACR Rank of 1 by 5 and subtract that from the Base Chance. Taking the chance to 30%.
- Sean’s got 9 points in both Logic and Charisma so the average there is 9. I multiply that by 5 and that is 45. Taking the chance to 75%.
- They have 5 kids which is equal to Randi’s Ideal Family Size. So the chance remains 75%. If they had had a 6th kid already, it would have gone down to 65%.
- Randi’s difference between the higher Ideal Family Size calculation and the lower one is 3. I multiply that by 10. That brings the chance to 105%.
Sean has an 105% chance of being able to persuade his wife to have another kid. He can’t fail to persuade his wife currently.
Another couple that this will affect is Stephen and Uline Montes. I ran the calculations and Stephen has a 52% chance to convince his wife to have another kid.
The only time I will flat out ignore a baby want is if both parents have satisfied or exceeded their Ideal Family Size. They’ll only have more if Risky Woohoo gives them a baby.
Will use this for a time and see how it plays out and will adjust if needed.
Wildwood Heights 