Friendships (and Enemies)

Now that we’ve explained the four basics of socialization—LTR, STC, commodity, and decay—let’s look at how relationships bloom and wither...and what you can do to affect the course of these relationships. Naturally, Sims want friends. Social is a need, after all. Socializing and having friends have a number of different effects on the course of your Sims’ lives. Developing positive LTRs will:

Fulfill wishes: Some Sims desire to achieve certain LTRs with other Sims, as noted in their wishes. The wish will say which Sim you need to develop the desired LTR with. Some Wishes are more basic, and just desire a certain social, such as just chatting or kissing.

Boost Mood: Social is a need and unless your Sim is a Loner, dipping into negative territory with the Social need will lead to negative moodlets. Negative moodlets pulls down the overall mood, which curbs your chance to earn Lifetime Happiness Points.

Promotions: As seen in the Simology chapter, most of the careers use Relationship with Co-Worker (or a similar idea) as a metric for promotion. You can use tones to meet and chat with co-workers at the job site, but socializing with co-workers outside of work hours can help fast-track promotions.

Friendships are a universally positive thing. Having a friends, particularly in an expanded social circle, opens you up to a wealth of opportunities for receiving good moodlets. Positive moodlets are the key to earning those coveted Lifetime Rewards. Friendships can

Decay and normalization are not confined only to friends and pre-marriage Sims. This also applies to familial relationships, such as father or wife. However, the bonds of blood are far deeper than those of friends, so it takes a lot more to adversely affect a familial relationship. Not that it cannot be done. Oh, you can absolutely sour a familial relationship with insulting socials.

result in such pleasing moodlets as Flattered or Nicely Decorated, such as if you are invited over to a friend’s house that has some great environmental bonuses.

You’ve seen the general list of LTRs, but now you need to understand how each one is achieved. Because a color bar is used to measure LTR instead of numbers, use the numbers in this table to approximate the amount of the bar above/below the center of the bar needed to achieve the LTR. Some LTRs are achieved by specific socials. Some are achieved by a combination of LTR and a specific social.

LTR ACHIVEMENT

Achieving these LTRs is done through conversations—and conversations are made up of socials. But there is much more to a conversation/STC than just employing a handful of socials. A Sim’s personality is hugely important in determining which socials can be used—and should be used. And it’s not only the traits of the Actor that matter. Learning the traits of the Target is also quite important.

Traits and LTRs

An outgoing Sim, such as one with a Good Sense of Humor, is adept at telling jokes. Telling a successful joke slows the daily decay of an LTR and is pretty effective at normalizing relations with an enemy.

However, knowing that the Target Sim has No Sense of Humor should moderate whether or not you try to increase friendship by telling jokes. Perhaps talking about books would go further, especially if you discover that the Target Sim is a Bookworm. This makes learning traits an essential part of the socialization game.

Performing trait-related socials is a good way to learn a Target’s trait. For example, giving an Amorous Hug to another Sim with the Hopeless Romantic trait reveals that they are indeed a Hopeless Romantic. Being mean to a Target Sim and eliciting a return insult can reveal a Mean-Spirited Sim.

Use our complete list of socials in this chapter to determine which socials are best to use on certain traits—and which socials you can use only if you have a specific trait.