How many times have you sat down to start your very own Sims 4 legacy family but have quickly given up? Or maybe you’ve made it three generations but now it’s too hard to manage? Or maybe, you just got bored! If you’re determined to start your very own legacy family in The Sims 4, here’s six helpful tips you need to succeed!
1. Give Your Sim an Interesting Backstory
You can’t honestly expect to get attached to a sim, or their family, without an interesting backstory to start. Even if you’re not sharing the story, you personally need to connect with your sim in order to keep playing them! Whether they come from an unhappy childhood home or they are just bad at finding love (I’m looking at you, Hannah McCoy!), an exciting backstory will help pull you in. It doesn’t have to be lengthy but it has to be just enough to really understand your sim. It will help guide the choices they make and where they go on their journey.
2. Start with One Sim and Work Your Way Up
If you’re able to control multiple sims at once without a pause, props to you! But in my experience (and I’ve been playing since The Sims came out in 2000!), it’s best to start with one sim in the household and slowly expand. Once you really get to know your first sim, you can add in a roommate, a spouse, a child, etc. (But only one at a time please…unless you end up with twins!). With each sim you add, spend time getting to know their personality and expanding their character. Once you do, you’re ready to add more to the house!
3. Don’t Take a Break When You Have Toddlers in the House
When I say don’t take a break, I don’t mean, don’t get a snack, or don’t take a day or two off from playing. What I mean is, if you’re heading towards a vacation or a busy work month and you know it will be a while until the next time you sit down to play, try to get through that toddler stage first.
When you’re playing consistently, you get into a groove and it’s easier to manage a house of toddlers (or a large family in general). However, when you take a break from playing for weeks or months at a time, it can be impossible to get back in the groove when you’ve got a large or hectic household.
Fear not though: I know we all sometimes have to unexpectedly take a break and we can’t just plow through! If you enter your game and find yourself struggling, spend more time with your adult sims traveling to other lots while the toddler goes to daycare until you find your groove again.
4. Never Leave a Sim Behind…Except Maybe One or Two
As your family ages up, you’ll undoubtedly want to follow them on their respective paths. Depending on the size of the family though, this can be quite overwhelming! Pick your favorites and follow them. I normally like to keep this down to three kids at maximum. Undoubtedly, one of the siblings will be a bit more of a loner and end up with a lesser story, never ending up with a family of their own. It’s easier to manage a couple or even three offspring legacy households than four or more! I also make sure to keep future generations down to one or two siblings per house until I have less households to manage as previous generations pass away.
5. Switching Households is the Key to a Successful Sims 4 Legacy Family
Do not feel obligated to keeping your family all within one household! Not changing up your story will be the first main reason you grow bored and decide to quit your legacy family. Instead, move the children out and follow their journeys, creating new stories.
How Do You Manage Switching Sims 4 Households Without Falling Behind?
I know, that sounds easier said than done! However, there are ways to make balancing different houses easier, without falling behind in the life of a certain sim:
- Turn on Long Lifespan: You simply cannot manage multiple households on a shorter lifespan unless you don’t really care about their careers and relationships.
- Spend a Week on One Household: Spend a week working on your sim or household’s skills, career, love life, or just living life and bonding with their other household members.
- When Needs Drop, Switch Households: There are always those sim days where you run your sim ragged and then have to frantically fulfill ALL of their dropping needs. Instead of spending time on their needs, switch to another household. After spending just a day, or even a week, at your other sim’s house, you can come back and your family’s needs will be up again!
- Have One Household That’s Full of Night Owls or Works Irregular Work Shifts: If your sims in one house are off to work and school throughout the main part of the day, and you’ve already gotten them to a career level or grade level you’re happy with, play another household during these hours! Maybe the sim in your other house has a job you can follow them to, or maybe they work nightshifts instead! Whatever the case may be, get the most out of your playtime by switching during these opportune times.
6. Don’t be Afraid to Make Their Lives Messy
I know we all love when our sims are in a happy relationship, or they’re finally at the top of their career, and life is just going oh-so-well. But honestly, that’s boring. The more perfect your sim’s life is, the less interesting it is for you to play. I’m not saying make their lives miserable (at least not all the time). What I am saying is, don’t let them fall into a rut! Take them out on the town, give them some adventures, or just find Summer Holiday. I’m sure she’d love to stalk your sim’s spouse too!
The Story of My First Sims 4 Legacy Family and How I Changed Things Up…
How It All Began
In all seriousness, when I created my very first legacy family years ago, my sim Amanda was a single writer who moved into her first apartment in the city. She ended up meeting Akira Kibo at the Spice Festival and fell in love. Eventually, he joined the criminal career and was always mean to her. They would fight constantly and she would cry on her friend, J Huntington III’s shoulder.
Pregnant with their unborn child, she left Akira and moved to a tiny home in Oasis Springs. There, she wrote books about her life, did yoga under the sun, and lived the simplest life she could. Eventually, J spent so much time with her and her daughter that despite his noncommittal trait, they fell in love. I changed his trait as it didn’t seem fitting anymore…people change after all, why can’t sims?
The Third Generation
Eventually, their children had children of their own and I focused on two in particular. They were complete opposites: I referred to one as Mr. Perfect and the other…well he wanted to be a rapper and changed his name officially to P’Snizz.
As the generations continued the “Perfect” family line was always full of overachievers. Success was in their DNA and most of them went on to complete multiple aspirations, achieve top skill levels, and somehow do it all while raising a family.
The Snizz line, as my sister and I referred to them, was always full of bad luck, dying unfortunate deaths, or every couple of generations, there would be a sim that defied the odds of destiny and found happiness.
The Fourth Generation
P’Snizz married an erratic sim who spent every penny he earned on useless junk for their tiny one bedroom apartment. They had two kids: their daughter Nikki would sleep on a park bench and their toddler Macy slept on the floor in her own stench. After all, they couldn’t afford nor fit a bathtub in their apartment. P’Snizz’s wife eventually killed him by trapping him in the bedroom during summer with the fireplace on. Eventually, Nikki ran away with Macy and raised her as her own. She defied the odds by starting a successful flower making business. She was never wealthy but she was happy.
And beyond…
My legacy family eventually went up until 11 generations. At that point, my game started getting too glitchy to continue! Through generations I had sims experience the unexpected. From fighting the mother plant in Strangerville to living homeless on the streets of Evergreen Harbor. I had sims open grocery stores, robot shops, teach yoga classes for a few bucks, or make millions by selling their art. There were times I even sent teenage sims to a deserted island for a Survivor Challenge. Throughout every generation, I kept it interesting and I never stopped changing up the story to become something new.
Challenge yourself. Don’t be afraid to let the story truly begin.
I hope these tips have helped inspire you to start your very own Sims 4 legacy family! What’s the longest legacy family you’ve played?
For more tips and tricks on how to keep your game interesting, check out these Top 10 Sims 4 Gameplay Tips.
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