The strategy side of The Sims tends to really shine through when it comes to managing a Sim’s needs. Keeping everybody happy can be a real challenge. The further back you go in the series’ history, the greater the challenge gets. It’s particularly a problem if you have a specific plan for your Sims, but they won’t stop complaining about dirty dishes.
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Much like real people, how fulfilled a Sim’s needs are decides whether or not they’re happy and thriving. Letting their needs fall too low has consequences: some annoying, some serious. Thankfully, there are a few ways of keeping on top of them.
What Needs Are In The Sims 2?
The Sims 2 uses eight needs to determine a Sim’s overall mood and well-being:
- Bladder
- Comfort
- Energy
- Environment/Room
- Hunger
- Hygiene
- Fun
- Social
These needs naturally deplete over time. You need to make sure that Sims stay on top of them to manage their health and happiness, but if you have Free Will switched on then your Sims should fend for themselves too.
You can check if Free Will is turned on in Game Options. Go to the Options Menu, then select Game Options and look in the House Specific Options section. It should be on by default.
Some needs are more important to keep full than others. The Environment need dropping, for example, is a lot less serious than the Hunger need becoming empty. A Sim who isn’t happy with their environment will just be in a bad mood, while a Sim with an empty Hunger need will starve.
Simmers who have mostly played The Sims 4 might want to particularly pay attention to the Comfort and Environment needs at first, given they’re not explicitly in later entries to the series. Later games replaced these needs with Moodlets.
How To Max Needs
The main way of taking care of a Sims’ needs is by monitoring it in Live Mode and manually queuing up related actions. You can do this by clicking on different items that are relevant to your Sim’s needs. For example, a bed for a Sim with low energy.
There are normally multiple ways of filling a motive up. Some key ways include:
|
Need |
Ways of filling it |
|---|---|
|
Bladder |
Using a toilet. |
|
Comfort |
Sitting on a high-quality sofa or chair, taking a bath, or sleeping in a good bed. |
|
Energy |
Sleeping in bed, napping on a couch or bench, drinking coffee. |
|
Environment/Room |
Decorating the area well using items from Buy Mode and clearing away any trash or dishes. |
|
Hunger |
Eating meals and snacks. |
|
Hygiene |
Washing hands, having showers, or taking baths. |
|
Fun |
Dancing, listening to music, watching TV, reading books, playing video games, and a lot of hobby items like the guitar or easel. |
|
Social |
Interacting with other Sims, chatting on the computer, making phone calls. |
The Hunger motive will fill up more if Sims eat better quality food, so get your Sims to spend a little time learning how to cook as soon as you can. This will help prevent house fires, too.
Similarly, owning a food processor helps to improve food quality, meaning your Sims’ Hunger need fills up faster.
Filling The Environment Need
The Environment need is a little tricky to nail, especially if you’re going back to The Sims 2 from a newer game. Your Sim’s home should be well-maintained, clean, and free from anything gross like rotten food, trash, or dirty dishes.
If your Sim’s Environment need is really low, then there’s probably something that needs to be cleaned up hanging around, even if you can’t see where it is. Take a look around to see if any dishes have been left in weird places.
If your Sim has pets, make sure they haven’t made a mess anywhere, as this tanks the Environment score (as you might expect).
Another way of filling the Environment need is by buying your Sim some home decor items. The Decorations section of Buy Mode is crammed with choice, including plants, statues, and wall decorations like posters.
Wall decor may be the most convenient way of decorating your Sim’s homes, as a lot is cheap and it doesn’t get in the way of other items. It’s also worth spending some time looking for cost-efficient options that offer a higher Environment bonus at a lower price.
Clicking on an item brings up a summary that tells you more about it, including how much of a motive buff it offers. Look for items with higher numbers and your Sims will benefit from it.
Use Cheats For Maxing Needs
If you really don’t want to worry about your Sim’s motives, you can use cheats to fill them up. To use this cheat, press Shift, Control, and C to open up console cheats. Next, type up or paste the following command:
boolprop testingcheatsenabled true
You’ve switched testing cheats on now, which unlocks a lot of extra capabilities. To sort out your household’s motives, shift-click the mailbox and select House. Then, click Make All Happy.
Technically, there’s another cheat on the mailbox titled Make All Motives Static. However, it doesn’t seem to currently work on The Sims 2: Legacy Edition.
There’s another cheat you can use to max out your Sim’s needs. You need to open the cheats console (again using Shift, Control, and C) and enter this command:
maxMotives
This works similarly to the above method but is slightly faster to get going. However, if you use the boolprop method, you unlock a lot of other cheats at once.
Tips For Keeping Needs Full
Even though keeping your Sims happy is half the game, sometimes you might want the option to focus on other parts of gameplay, like starting a business or getting into a hobby. Fortunately, there are a few tricks for keeping Sims as happy and healthy as possible, with minimal work on your end.
Choose Personality Points Carefully
When you make a Sim from scratch, you choose their personality points for them. Some areas of personality are very closely tied to your Sim’s needs, so choose how dramatic you make their personality carefully.
The more points a Sim has on the Shy to Outgoing scale, the more social interaction they need, for example. Think of it as making them introverts or extroverts: Extroverts are going to need to spend more time with other people to feel energised.
The Neat to Sloppy spectrum is another part of personality that’s important for your Sim’s needs. Sims with more Neat points are better at taking care of their own hygiene, and their need drops at a slower rate than other Sims.
They’re also good at keeping the house clean, so their Room need will suffer less.
Sloppy Sims, on the other hand, are bad at cleaning up after themselves (and cleaning themselves in general). However, they’ll sometimes pee in the shower, meaning they deal with their hygiene and bladder at the same time. Gross.
Fun is perhaps the need that’s affected the most by a Sim’s personality. Predictably, Neat Sims enjoy cleaning while Sloppy Sims lose fun from it. How Playful or Serious a Sim is also dictates how much fun they get out of certain activities.
Playful Sims generally have more Fun, while Serious Sims can get more pleasure from doing quiet activities like chess.
Buy High-Quality Items
As a rule of thumb, more expensive items fill needs up quicker. There’s some variation with this, especially if there are multiple needs to keep in mind (such as beds filling comfort and energy), but by and large, this is how items in Buy Mode work.
As much as your household can afford to, try to invest in more expensive items. This is especially important when it comes to items used all the time, like:
- Beds
- Fridges and ovens
- Showers
- TVs or stereos
Ideally, you want to own at least one decent-quality item that satisfies each need. Some items address multiple needs at once, which is useful for making this manageable even on a budget. For example, a good bath could fill your Sim’s hygiene and comfort at the same time.
Another reason why it’s good to invest in more expensive items is because they mostly break less easily.
Unlock The Eclectic and Enigmatic Energizer
Sims can use Aspiration Points to unlock exclusive items in the Rewards tab of Live Mode. The most useful item for taking care of your Sim’s needs is the Eclectic and Enigmatic Energizer, which boosts all of their needs temporarily.
Your Sims gain Aspiration Points by completing Wants, but be careful! They can lose them when Fears come true.
The Eclectic and Enigmatic Energizer costs 14,000 Aspiration Points, so if you want it, you’d best get saving. Unfortunately, your Sim can only use it five times, so it isn’t a lasting fix. It’s useful in a pinch, though.
Try to make sure they only use it when their Aspiration is at a high level, otherwise it can backfire dramatically and empty their needs. Luckily, it isn’t fatal.
Next
The Sims 2: How To Max Creativity Skill
Here’s how to crack Creativity in The Sims 2: Legacy Edition.