So I am back and playing The Sims 2 again, I am making a Neighborhood, not for a challenge but simply for an idea that I have had for a long time now.
It is a small simple village, all the food is grown in the local farms or fished up by the river. Anyway I have been stumped on what to do for the Downtown and the Business district.
All the businesses will be owned by the villagers, but I have no clue on what to do! What should I put in both of these sub hoods? Or maybe I should just put all the businesses Downtown and maybe use the Business district for something else?
Advice on what types of business I should build would be helpful as well! I know that I will include a Grocery place, Bookstore, a Restaurant or two. But I have hardly touched OFB aside from the few small stores I had I never really experienced the expansion, so any tips would be appreciated!
Need advice on some subhoods!
- Ani-Mei
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Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
Gotta have bars, what small town doesn't have its own watering hole? Maybe one of those mom and pop clothes stores? If you have FT you can make your own clothes on the sewing machine with a gold badge.
Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
Good point! A small little tavern perhaps for the sims to relax after a long day of work in the farm.
I have the ultimate collection and that is a pretty awesome idea! Just have to work out all those teddy bears to raise the skills. Thanks for the ideas.
I have the ultimate collection and that is a pretty awesome idea! Just have to work out all those teddy bears to raise the skills. Thanks for the ideas.
- shannonagins
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Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
A toy store. A furniture store. A salon. Bookstore. Bakery. Café with individual plates to sell. Community pool.
Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
Ohh, nice ideas! I'll have to look on how OfB works some more, but I'm excited.
- Scribal_Goddess
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Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
So, a list of things I've done with different shops over the years:
- Farmer's market. I only play mine in summer and fall. But it sells vegetables, fish, and crafts.
- Toy store: you can get those sewing machine bears and the stuff from the OFB Toy bench, and other stuff from the kids' catelogue.
- Arcade. Dump all those obnoxious electronics in there and a vending machine. Also, you can throw a big screen TV in a seperate room for a "movie theater."
- Parks. I find that 2x2 or 3x3 is the best lot size for a municipal park: Put in a bunch of benches, streetlights, and play equipment. Mine's got a very large sand pit. (CC, unfortunately... search "sand box" on MTS.)
- Art gallery. Just sell paintings and sculptures, whether they're pottery wheel or sim paintings or whatever. Add a space with a pottery wheel and easel for your owner to work on their own art or to give lessons.
- Concert Hall. Make a restaurant with a stage and fancy tables, hire someone to play piano or some other instrument.
- Daycare: you need hacks to run this as an actual business, but if you download the Simbology school and meeting hacks and take a good look at how to use them, you can summon kids and toddlers to the lot during the "school day."
- Salon; make over your townies.
- Community pool: you can combine this with a community sports field as well.
- Pet store (make sure you've got the patches for Pets, also make sure that you "train" your dog to eat pet food. You can use simPE to set them as trained for that if you run into problems though, as the game makes it ridiculously hard to keep your animals fed.)
- Farmer's market. I only play mine in summer and fall. But it sells vegetables, fish, and crafts.
- Toy store: you can get those sewing machine bears and the stuff from the OFB Toy bench, and other stuff from the kids' catelogue.
- Arcade. Dump all those obnoxious electronics in there and a vending machine. Also, you can throw a big screen TV in a seperate room for a "movie theater."
- Parks. I find that 2x2 or 3x3 is the best lot size for a municipal park: Put in a bunch of benches, streetlights, and play equipment. Mine's got a very large sand pit. (CC, unfortunately... search "sand box" on MTS.)
- Art gallery. Just sell paintings and sculptures, whether they're pottery wheel or sim paintings or whatever. Add a space with a pottery wheel and easel for your owner to work on their own art or to give lessons.
- Concert Hall. Make a restaurant with a stage and fancy tables, hire someone to play piano or some other instrument.
- Daycare: you need hacks to run this as an actual business, but if you download the Simbology school and meeting hacks and take a good look at how to use them, you can summon kids and toddlers to the lot during the "school day."
- Salon; make over your townies.
- Community pool: you can combine this with a community sports field as well.
- Pet store (make sure you've got the patches for Pets, also make sure that you "train" your dog to eat pet food. You can use simPE to set them as trained for that if you run into problems though, as the game makes it ridiculously hard to keep your animals fed.)
- MichelleCYoung
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Re: Need advice on some subhoods!
If you have the mod that allows sims to gain skill points on community lots, I HIGHLY recommend a library. In fact, I used to have a "Community College" lot that I just loved, which included a podium to train sims on badges, as well. A "professor" who had a gold badge could stand up and lecture, and his students had to sit at the tables, with the appropriate notebooks (You have to have both the podium and student table slots downloaded), and teach classes in salesmanship or whatever. It was a good one-stop learning center for your sims, and it was also a great place to meet potential spouses who were also building up their own skills.
Add a few career rewards, and you can target your townies, and train up potential mates before they move in.
But really, even if all you have is a reading room (and no skill gain mod), what town is complete without the public library?
Also, depending on what expansion/stuff packs you have, you might want to build a nice playground, for the kids to enjoy, and the parents to relax on some benches and chat with the neighbors.
If you have FreeTime, definitely add a sports field, with some soccer and basketball courts. If it's a small town, and you want to add flavor, maybe make it the local high school. I can't tell you how many times I've lived in a place where the only option to play basketball or soccer was at the local high school, and only after hours, when school was out.
How small is the town? A one or two room school could be a blast to play, especially if you have the mods. I highly recommend Slmlogical for that. Likewise, Slmlogical has some mods to allow you to build a prison, so if you wanted a Sheriff's Office, with one or two cells, that could be fun, too.
Are you looking at these things from a "story-telling" perspective, or just looking for some appropriate lots for your playables to enjoy when they're not at home?
If it's modern, small town, add in a grungy bowling alley and/or roller rink.
My last suggestion for a small town is the "haunted" house. This could be a community lot, or a playable's lot. But you know how it is. Every small town has that one house that the kids always gossip about, and they sneak off to the grumpy curmudgeon's house at night to dare each other to knock on the door and run.
Add a few career rewards, and you can target your townies, and train up potential mates before they move in.
But really, even if all you have is a reading room (and no skill gain mod), what town is complete without the public library?
Also, depending on what expansion/stuff packs you have, you might want to build a nice playground, for the kids to enjoy, and the parents to relax on some benches and chat with the neighbors.
If you have FreeTime, definitely add a sports field, with some soccer and basketball courts. If it's a small town, and you want to add flavor, maybe make it the local high school. I can't tell you how many times I've lived in a place where the only option to play basketball or soccer was at the local high school, and only after hours, when school was out.
How small is the town? A one or two room school could be a blast to play, especially if you have the mods. I highly recommend Slmlogical for that. Likewise, Slmlogical has some mods to allow you to build a prison, so if you wanted a Sheriff's Office, with one or two cells, that could be fun, too.
Are you looking at these things from a "story-telling" perspective, or just looking for some appropriate lots for your playables to enjoy when they're not at home?
If it's modern, small town, add in a grungy bowling alley and/or roller rink.
My last suggestion for a small town is the "haunted" house. This could be a community lot, or a playable's lot. But you know how it is. Every small town has that one house that the kids always gossip about, and they sneak off to the grumpy curmudgeon's house at night to dare each other to knock on the door and run.
Badass Alphabetocalypse (Complete!)
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!