Quick Links
The Sims: Hot Date expanded your Sims’ horizons by giving them a chance to get out of the house by heading downtown, and get together with other Sims who take their fancy. The DLC revolutionised how relationships are built and maintained in the game, making them a little harder to handle in the process.
If you’re playing The Sims: Legacy Edition, you’ll probably have already noticed a few of Hot Date’s features, including the compatibility system, the lifetime relationship bar, and as the name suggests, dates. Figuring out how to make these systems work in your Sim’s favour can be pretty challenging, especially compared to the romance system in later games.
How Do Relationships Work?
Sims have two relationship bars with everyone they meet: a Daily Relationship and a Lifetime Relationship. The two work together to decide the overall nature of the relationship. When you open the Relationship panel, you can see two bars underneath each Sim. The narrow bar at the top is the Daily Relationship, while the thick bar at the bottom is the Lifetime Relationship.
Two Sims can have different relationships with one another. This means the other Sim might not feel the same as your Sim does.
The Daily Relationship bar changes often to reflect how those Sims have recently interacted. The Lifetime Relationship builds more slowly over time.
Although the two bars are separate, the Daily Relationship affects the Lifetime Relationship. The more positive the Daily Relationship is, the more positive the Lifetime Relationship will become.
The Lifetime Relationship also builds when two Sims spend time together on the same lot. This makes building strong relationships between Sims who live together much easier, while also showing how important dating is for relationships.
Forming Romantic Relationships
Romantic relationships are notoriously hard to build in The Sims. First, you need to build a friendly relationship with the Sim you’re interested in. After that, you’ll need to make a move by using a Flirt interaction like Growl or Check Out. To start a Romantic relationship, two Sims need at least 70 points in their Daily Relationship bar. After that, a successful Flirt interaction will lead to a Crush forming, which is indicated by a pink heart.
Sims have to be even closer to fall in love. Sims with at least 70 points in their Lifetime Relationship bar can fall in love after a Flirt or Kiss interaction, as shown by a red heart.
How To Build Relationships
Hot Date added more than 40 new social interactions, making it more interesting to build relationships than before. You’ll need to get to build relationships to unlock them, though.
Make sure your Sim has met the Sim they want to date by using the Greet interaction. After they’ve met, you should be able to monitor their relationship in the Relationship panel in Live Mode. Using social interactions with Sims is key if you want to build a relationship with them. Regularly use interactions like Talk, Gossip, Tell Joke, and Admire.
Sims tend to like to get to know each other before they’re happy to Flirt, so try to get the Daily Relationship strong before taking things any further. Once you’re Friends, try some light Flirt interactions like Backrub.
Spending time around other Sims is also a good passive way of building relationships. This is useful because it can be tough enough to keep Sims happy without worrying about getting to know another Sim too. If you’re building a relationship with a Sim you don’t live with, you’ll have to be ready to invite them to your Sim’s house or take them out somewhere. This is because you can’t visit other Sim’s houses in this generation of The Sims.
Try not to repeat the same interactions with the same Sim over and over. If you do the same interaction three times in one hour, regardless of how much the other Sim likes you, you’ll get rejected.
Do Relationships Decay?
The Daily Relationship is quite volatile and changes a lot. If Sims don’t interact for a day, they start losing relationship points.
The Lifetime Relationship can also decay, but it takes a much longer time. This reflects the longer amount of time it takes for Lifetime Relationships to build. Similarly, while Sims spending time on the same lot ignoring each other can help to build their Lifetime Relationship, it can make the Daily Relationship suffer.
If you want to build a relationship between Sims quickly, try to make sure they interact at least daily.
How To Ask Sims On A Date
If your Sim has their eye on someone, you can invite them Downtown to go on a date.
Downtown was a new area introduced in Hot Date, giving your Sims somewhere to woo whoever they like. Here, they’ll be able to go to restaurants or buy their dates sweets, lingerie, and flowers.
When your Sim returns to their home lot, the time will go back to what it was when they left. While that might seem janky, it’s useful for trying to balance jobs and relationships.
Click the Sim you want to ask out and select Invite Downtown. If the Sim agrees, they’ll gain a couple of relationship points, call a cab, and head out together. The option only appears once you’ve built some relationship with them, so make sure you get to know the object of your affection a little before jumping in. Sometimes you also need to open the social menu a few times before it appears.
Going downtown alone costs 50 Simoleons, but it’s free if you bring a date. If you choose to change locations on your date, though, it’ll still cost you.
Your Sim can also ask out Sims that they meet in Downtown. Greet the Sim, start to build a relationship with them, then look for Let’s Date? under the Ask menu.
If you ask a Sim you live with to go Downtown with you, you’ll only be able to play as the Sim who asks and the other Sim will be fully autonomous.
You can also go on dates to Old Town, or even take a romantic prospect to Vacation Island. However, Downtown came with Hot Date, so it’s set up to work really well for dates.
Heading Downtown
Your Sim has nine lots to choose from in the Downtown area, including beaches, malls, and parks. Each lot has a range of different activities to choose from, like shopping or going to a restaurant.
You might want to make sure your Sim has some extra Simoleons washing around before heading Downtown. Even the ice cream is an eye-watering 20 Simoleons a scoop.
The Landgraab Mall is a decent starting place for dates since it gives you the option of grabbing a bite to eat in the diner or buying gifts for your date.
If you want to count your Simoleons, try heading to SimCity Beach or Crumplebottom Memorial Park instead to watch the ponds or grill some food together.
You can’t save while Downtown. Your household will be saved before they go home, and when you leave Downtown, the game will autosave again.
Shopping And Giving Gifts
When you head Downtown, you’ll probably notice just how many activities revolve around shopping. Your Sims can buy flowers, jewellery, toys, magazines, sweets, and more. The main purpose of this is to give gifts to your date to help improve your relationship. Select a display stand and choose an item to purchase that sparks your interest (and fits your budget). Some options include red roses, diamond rings, and even copies of The Sims.
Once you’ve got your items, click on your date and select Give Gift. A menu will appear listing any giftable items your Sim has in their inventory. If your date is happy with what you’re giving them, this should help to build your relationship very quickly. Throwing Simoleons at the problem really can fix things.
Buying Clothes
While Downtown, your Sim can pick out some new threads for themselves or their date. This gives you the chance to change some of the default outfits that you haven’t been able to choose for your Sim previously.
If your Sim or their date arrives inappropriately dressed, buying them a new outfit can sometimes help. But, if there’s a clothes-changing tent around, then your Sim can change into one of their normal outfits for free instead.
The types of outfits you can buy for your Sim or their date include:
- Formalwear
- Winterwear
- PJs
- Lingerie
- Swimwear
The clothes vary in price depending on which category they belong to.
Different clothes rails sell different types of clothes, so take a look around to see what your options are.
Eating At Restaurants
If you’ve picked a lot with an eatery, like Landgraab Mall or Solana Towne Center, then your Sim and their date can grab a bite to eat together while enjoying a game of footsie.
Find the restaurant podium on the lot and select it. An Order Food menu will appear. When clicked, a few meal options will be there to choose from, varying in price. Select whichever meal you’d prefer, and your Sim will be seated momentarily. Your Sim and their date will sit together and talk during the meal, building their relationship the whole time.
You don’t have to do anything else here as your Sims will autonomously socialise and enjoy their meal. But, if you want to, a few new interactions will appear:
- Gossip
- Cuddle
- Admire
- Play Footsie
As well as looking cute, it gives you the chance to build more relationship points with your date.
Sims occasionally run into a bug in the booth where they can’t keep interacting with their date and their date gets stuck. If this happens, fix it by getting the Sim you’re playing as to call a cab and go home or somewhere else.
How Do I Know If Sims Are Compatible?
Two key features determine the compatibility between Sims: astrology and interests.
Astrology And Compatibility
The Sims uses astrology to determine compatibility between Sims. Every Sim is assigned a star sign based on their personality points, according to the 12 zodiac signs from Western Astrology. For example, one Sim might be a Pisces while another is a Leo.
You can check your Sim’s star sign by looking at the Personality tab in Live Mode. In the bottom left, it’ll say what your Sim’s sign is. If you hover over or click on your Sim’s sign, you’ll see a brief summary of the sign’s characteristics. Most importantly, it’ll also tell you which Signs they’ll be most or least compatible with.
As soon as you meet another Sim, their star sign will be added to their summary under the Relationships tab. You can then use this information to figure out if the relationship is going to be star-crossed or doomed from the start.
Interests And Social Interactions
Adult Sims can have varying levels of interest in 15 different topics. The amount of interest they have in each topic is randomly generated.
Sims with similar interests are more likely to get along because they’ll keep an interesting conversation going for longer. The longer Sims talk for, the more relationship points they’ll gain.
The best way of finding out what another Sim is interested in is straightforward. While Sims are talking, look out for what images come up in the speech bubbles above them, and see if they align with the information in your Sim’s Interests panel. You can also select What Are You Into? under the Ask menu while interacting with another Sim to learn more about their interests.
If you want to change your Sim’s interests, you can do so by buying magazines while Downtown and reading them. Different magazines relate to different topics, so look out for hints in the magazine titles.
