The Sims 2 Guide and FAQ

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1. The Sims in Sims 2
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Welcome to the wonderful world of The Sims 2. In this FAQ/Guide the plan is to 
give you all the information you need to play the Sims 2 happily for hours on 
end, as I'm sure you did with The Sims for the last couple of years.


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1.1  Understanding Your Sims
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The Sims 2 has seen the introduction of a few new features that influence the 
way that your Sim will behave, however it is important to not get to carried 
away with your Sims Wants and Aspiration, and keep an eye on your Sims primary 
needs.

These needs are what your Sims will strive to fulfil before any other. The next
section will cover these primary need. 


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1.2 Your Sims' Needs
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Your Sim has 8 primary needs that will constantly need to be monitored and kept 
in the green. If too many, or indeed any, of these need get down to zero, your 
Sim can die.

It is important to note that all these needs work differently and often some 
need will effect your Sim more than others. This will depend on what need it is 
and will also be impacted by the personality of your Sim.

The 8 needs of you Sim are, Hunger, Energy, Fun, Social, Hygiene, Comfort, 
Bladder and Environment. Below each need is looked into further.


Hunger  - Personally, this is the most important of the 8 needs, although you 
          don't need to keep this full, if it gets to zero your sim will die. 
          It is important to note that if you are sick, or pregnant, then your 
          hunger bar will decease faster.

Energy  - Your Sims energy will go down as you Sim does activity. There are 
          three ways to increase you Sims energy levels, sleep, nap and drink 
          coffee. If your Sim runs out of energy, when the bar goes red, your 
          sim will collapse on the floor and sleep there. If this happens you 
          will need to wake you Sim and put them to bed.

Fun     - This is another important Sim need as if this need is not looked after
          then your Sim will refuse to learn new Sim Skills and will be more 
          grumpy. There are a lot of ways to increase your Sims fun levels, the
          best of these is the play Computer games. You can also chat online 
          read a book, watch TV, and dance. Some activities that increase fun 
          also help towards you Sim Skills, like painting, playing chess and 
          stargazing. Each Sim will have different things that they prefer to 
          do to keep fun up in there lives, and this can effect how fast your 
          fun goes up.

Social  - This is one of the need that is impacted by your Sims personality. If
          your Sim is Outgoing then they will need more interaction with other 
          Sims. A good way to keep the social bar up is to eat meals with other
          Sims. When socialising, the higher level activities will increase your
          Sims social bar faster, things like hugging, kiss and entertaining 
          work better than just talking. Also, some things can increase both 
          social and fun, like watch TV together, playing games together and 
          dancing.

Hygiene - Hygiene will decrease throughout the day, however some events can 
          cause this to decrease faster, such as working out or peeing your 
          pants. Take a shower or have a bath to increase this, you can also 
          wash you hands to help this. When you Sim is sick, hygiene will also 
          drop faster.

Comfort - This is your Sims comfort level, and something that you should be 
          aware but can be easily handled. Your Sims comfort will increase 
          whenever you sleep or sit down. Some items are able to increase your 
          Sims comfort better than others, so it pays to get a better bed and 
          chairs.

Bladder - This is pretty easy, you just need to tell your Sim to go to the 
          toilet. If the bar gets down to red, your Sim will have an accident 
          and pee their pants. Drink coffee and being pregnant will cause your 
          Sims bladder bar to go down faster.

Environment - This is how your Sim feels about the room they are in. The best 
              way to keep this up is to have the room well lit, so put in plenty
              of lights. The environment rating will go down if there are dirty 
              plates, or other mess and the room rating will also be decreased 
              by cheap furniture. You can also increase the environment by 
              putting up pictures and other decorations.