Misc tip – The fastest way to learn to drive

The Generations expansion pack adds some new interactions at various life stages.  When it’s time to teach teen sims to drive, there is one tip that I like to follow every time.  I can usually get my adult sims to fulfill their lifetime wishes before their children become teens, so I will almost always have one of them use their lifetime reward points to purchase the Motive Mobile van and then make it that sim’s default vehicle.  I direct my teen sims to ask that parent for help learning to drive and just let them go at it.

Normally when a teen sim is learning to drive, the fun bar tanks for both the teen and the adult instructor during the lesson.  Using the Motive Mobile, all the needs for both sims are constantly fulfilled so they can stay out longer.  I usually find that they will continue until the teen has reached level 2 before they stop the lesson, but then I direct them to start the lesson again and they complete level 3 and the teen learns to drive very soon, almost always within 12 sim hours of starting the first lesson.

Even better with this vehicle is that I can send them out after dinner and have them working on this skill overnight while the rest of the family sleeps, and they are also both ready for work and school in the morning with no extra effort.  And since the teen sim is out with parental supervision, she doesn’t get caught for curfew violations.

Most likely to…

Do you remember those “most likely to…” proclamations that were made in your high school yearbook?  Teen sims, with the Generations expansion pack, have a chance of earning one of those in award form when they attend graduation ceremonies from high school.

I had a teen sim graduate this week; she earned the award ribbon shown here as “most likely to rule the world.”  There is a Ruler of the Free World lifetime wish, but my sim wanted to grow the perfect garden instead.  Maybe I’ll have her drink a young again potion and try that wish later…

In the meantime, her award is mounted on her bedroom wall to help with the room décor.

A souvenir from prom

When you send your teen sims to prom, they will almost always come home with a photo from the event.  The photo shows the teen sims in the formalwear outfits that they wore to the dance, and if they went with a date, the date will also appear in the photo.

Prom photos are a little more interesting than other photos because of the poses that sims take when they are being photographed.  Once the sims get home with their souvenirs, the photo can be placed in the house like any other decorative object, helping to give your sims the decorated or nicely decorated moodlet, depending on how many décor objects (especially if they’re more valuable) are in the room

The best night of their lives so far…

As teen sims age closer to their young adult birthday, they have the opportunity to attend one of the most anticipated rituals for their age group, senior prom.  They will get to go assuming that the Sims 3 Generations expansion pack is installed, of course.

A couple sim days before their last teen day, teen sims will often look forward to attending prom.  You may see a wish pop up that they want to attend.



This is a fairly easy wish to grant, it just takes a little time.  Usually about the same time as this wish appears, there will be a message telling you when prom will occur.  In this case, my teen sim got the wish to attend prom on Monday and the game notice told me that prom was scheduled for Thursday.  Now is the time that you want to get your teen sims’ formalwear outfits planned and find a date for your sims.

A date for prom isn’t mandatory, but when a sim attends with a date, especially one she is good friends with, she is much more likely to have a good time while at the prom.  Sometimes your sim will get a secret admirer note from another teen sim, so use that as an indication of which other teen sim to pursue for a date.  The next time your sim meets him, check the romantic interactions for the interaction to ask the sim to prom.



As with all the other romantic interactions in the game, either gender can initiate this interaction, and there is also no restriction requiring that prom dates be of the opposite gender.  Sims don’t judge, they go with it.  Once your teen sim has asked another teen sim to the prom, she will usually get the wish to attend prom with that sim.  The disadvantage here is that if you promise this wish along with the previous wish to attend prom, you now have two wish slots occupied; depending on how much else you direct your sim to do, this could restrict how many more lifetime reward points she is able to earn.

When prom day arrives, the game will display a notice about three hours before your sims’ ride arrives.  This is your last chance to make final adjustments to your sims’ formalwear.  Sims go to prom in style, renting a limousine for the ride to school, and if your sim has a date to the prom, they will usually ride together.
 


In my case, prom day coincided with Snowflake Day, which is why my sim and her date are dressed in their cold weather clothing, but it also looks like someone left the sunroof open in the limo.  Usually this will be the first time that your teen sims have ridden in a limo so they will have that memory pop up as well.  The limo behaves exactly like the daily school bus and takes your sim and her date to the school to attend prom.



When your sim arrives at the school and enters it to attend the prom, you will see a new memory and if you want, you can share the memory online right away.  I’m a little split on whether or not to share too many memories.  On one hand, there is a badge that you can earn for your SimPage on TheSims3.com for sharing memories, but how many memories can you share before your player wall makes it look like you’re not getting anything done except playing the Sims?  This is a question that each individual simmer should ask himself; I will usually only share the most significant memories such as when lifetime wishes are achieved.

Anyway, back to the prom.  Depending on your sim’s relationship with her date and her mood when she leaves for prom, there are a number of different possible messages and outcomes from attendance.  In my recent game, Stacy’s date decided now was the time to try to advance their relationship beyond just being friends…








Things were going so well for Stacy and Peanut that she was even selected as prom queen!



Naturally, being chosen as prom queen added a hefty reward moodlet as well…



Like all things, prom comes to an end at 10:00pm sim time.  Well behaved teen sims are advised to head straight home after the dance.



The message notes that there is a photo or two in my sims’ inventory, but I didn’t see any this time.  Usually, there will be a photo of your sim and her date both in their formalwear, in poses similar to the greeting card photos that they can get at the seasonal fairs or at City Hall (if you have the Seasons expansion pack installed).  My sim didn’t have a photo from prom, but she did have another souvenir.  She got to keep the crown she received as prom queen.



So is it worthwhile to send your teen sims to the prom?  It can be.  The experience I showed here isn’t always going to grant your sims the same rewards.  But no matter what happens, your sims will have some new memories and could come away from it with more lifetime happiness points.

Bad boys… and girls…

One new set of interactions added with the Generations expansion pack are pranks.  Pranks can be played by teens on various objects including chairs, sofas, loveseats, sinks, showers, baths and toilets.  Booby traps can even be set against specific sims, depending on the trap selections.  Once a prank is staged, the game shows a glowing orange/red dot under the booby trapped item.



In the case of this screenshot, the teen sim placed a whoopie cushion on the left side of the loveseat.  Rebellious teens or teens who are in the midst of a mood swing are more likely to have the desire to pull pranks and if you’ve got free will turned on, they are likely to set booby traps on their own, especially if they’re alone.  The victims of the pranks will get different moodlets depending on the severity of the prank, the sims’ moods upon falling into the trap and the sims’ relationships with the teens in the household.  It will often result in one or more negative moodlets for the victim.



Here, the adult sim of the household sat on the chair where the whoopie cushion was staged, resulting in a 1-hour long Pranked moodlet and a 3-hour long Embarrassed moodlet.  This time the victim sim did not see who set the prank, so he looked around the room angrily for a moment and then stayed seated to read his book.

Be careful when you have teen sims set booby traps.  If an adult sim sees a teen sim setting a trap, it could lead to a scolding from the adult sim, which would reduce their relationship points as well as give them both negative moodlets (and the booby trap itself will not be set).  But rebellious teen sims can gain positive moodlets from successful pranks, and with practice, they become better at setting traps and are caught less often.