I love the Sims 1, but I think we can all agree that when it comes to needs, it ain't easy STAYING green. As much as I enjoy the challenge, it kind of gets in the way of storytelling. I've been trying to get Bob and Betty to conceive, but Bob's been too depressed to even kiss his wife. Social is the worst. I can have him eat, sleep and poop. But if he's still red overall, he won't interact with anyone long enough to get his Social need taken care of.

How do you deal with your sims' needs in a way that makes sense from a storytelling perspective?

You might find the "SkyLego 07 Kit" very handy http://simsky.parsimonious.org/ensimsky.php

Thanks, but it's a little too cheat-y and visually unappealing. I was thinking of something like a therapist or a self-help book.

This is the main reason why I haven't played TS1 in so long. It's such a great game with fun features, but you hardly have time to really do anything fun when you're too busy keeping your damn sims from complaining.

Is there no way to adjust the rate at which their needs decay? Are you saying I need to...move on?

Then maybe 1 of these would help http://www.simlogical.com/sl/downloadpages/motives.htm

Thanks, I'll give them a whirl. I just wish there was a less cheat-y way to handle the Social bar.

EDIT: I found something! http://www.woobsha.com/gnohmon01.html

Supposedly, it allows your sims to continue talking to each other while doing other things. I haven't tried it yet.

Have them watch tv? They will talk and this will raise social. Eating together should help as well. And as long as you don't try the intimate kissing interactions, he should be fine with simply chatting.

I tried, but Bob kept getting up as soon as he was done.

Well I know when I played sims 1 I didn't cheat-because I didn't know cheats were a thing you could even do! I just played carefully. Number one play wise to get along was always go to work, skip a day, go to work, skip a day. I also always made couples so they were built in socializes for each other. Then use the money to buy things that help needs such as a better bed, fun items ect.

The problem with Betty and Bob is, Betty is abrasive and meals with her tend to drag the relationship down until other interactions get them up properly.

Eating meals together is key. Get them to eat at the same time, better yet have Betty invite people over and fix dinner for them, when Bob is hungry, and social will start creeping up, to the point that he'll be willing to do stuff again.

Thank you!

I will try having the Goths over for dinner one night. It shouldn't be a problem since Bella and Betty are friends. Maybe they can help Bob get out of his rut.

When Sims have conflicting interests, their conversations will ruin the relationship. Get them on the same page. I usually cheat for this because it would drive me nuts to have them increase points in one interest by reading, only to have another interest drained. Getting that right balance was more work than I cared for. I used the "Free The Magic" sculpture for adjusting interests.

When it comes to keeping the social bar green, Sims with pets or family members have it a lot easier than single Sims. Shared activities make for great socializing opportunities, but Sims will exit the activity when certain other needs are met such as hygiene, comfort, or fun. Betty is active, so she probably wants to play basketball. Bob is a bit lazy, so he probably wants to hang in the bathtub. They are a difficult couple that way. But, as someone pointed out, a little daily smooching does wonders. So does a few dances or the "love" bed. Or let them fill their social bar with other people. Maybe they aren't really meant to be together.

This happened to my sim and nothing could shake it. I got her a cat I made her boyfriend whom she loved, but nothing would clear up her depression. It was probably a glitch, but eventually I got annoyed and killed her.

generally speaking though the take a day off, let them work a day strategy works quite well. it was my go to strategy for mood and relationship maintence. Good luck with Bob.

You killed her? Way to put her out of her misery!

Bob and Betty are finally doing better. I had Betty move in with the Goths for a few days before moving her back in via Inge's teleporting bush ("fern" in TS1). I placed the InvisiYak object that I found on the Secret Society of Woobsha website in their house so they could talk to each other while engaged in other activities. It really helped with his depression. I bought them a cooler filled with beer (also from Woobsha), but I like to think it was Betty that gave him wind beneath his wings.

Anyway, they're doing a lot better and recently had a new baby boy that I named Brandon.

I love the idea of the cooler filled with beer. I'll have to check that out, especially for the Hatfield Hillbilly family that I downloaded.

Here you go: http://www.woobsha.com/betteroutdoors01.html

It also comes with Iced Tea, SimCity Soda and a few fruit juice alternatives for children.

Awesome! Thanks! Can't wait to try it out!

I never had any problems with Bod and Betty, all you got to do is tell jokes back and forth and you will get there on the first day maybe the 2nd day but that's all it takes for me any way.

Don't they stop liking socialising if their social bar is full as well? I've had Bella Goth round a couple of times and I'm talking to her and hugging her and then all of a sudden a bubble flashes above her head with two faces and she's like "no." Then we're not friends anymore.

I thought that meant that they didn't like what your Sim talked about. But who knows, I would peg Bella for an introvert (and have her social bar fill quickly with just a little chit chat).

It's just so hard though. I get home from work and I'm like let's invite Bella over for dinner see if we can't get our relationship a little higher so we don't lose her as a friend during the day and miss out on a promotion. Meanwhile my Sim is dying of exhaustion and I'm like no you will hug her one last time! It's hilarious but then when you finally get promoted only to be faced with making another family friend... it's exhausting work.

Take the occasional day off and invite a friend that is not too close to your Sim to lunch downtown. Friendships will flourish. If your Sims relationship is too high with the friend, the friend will develop a crush and that could have bad consequences. If that sort of thing doesn't bother you, then go for it.

I once had a single Sim climb to the top of the career ladder by playing with the concoction station all the time. All of his friends came in the form of fans who had major hots for him. He'd kiss them when they showed up and then sent them on their way. He never went out of the house, other than to work, and he soared through the promotions.

What the - I never had a spontaneous crush develop!

My strategy for maintaining friendships, Mr. Valentine, was to take every third day off from work, since you have to miss work two days in a row to get fired. I played in three-day rotations. Day 1 was for working and skilling, Day 2 was for socializing, and Day 3 was a buffer, in case something happened (like a baby or a fire) on Day 1 of the next rotation.

Personally, I found it was too much work to maintain more than four friendships per sim, so my strategy, when starting with a single sim, was to spend Day 2 out meeting people and making friends. Once I had two or more friends, I would start inviting more than one over at a time - thus allowing the friends to start befriending each other. (Always say Yes when they ask if they can bring their friends.) The ideal guest list is three sims - while you're schmoozing one the other two can be amusing each other, and four sims will fit in a hot tub and all gain social together. When you only have two friends, get them to watch TV with the active sim on the couch. Once a sim had four best friends, it would be time to seek for a spouse. Often I made playables who would be perfectly compatible (and had reciprocal pun names; for instance Telly Prompter might marry Marian Vizion and take her name to become Telly Vizion), in which case it was just a matter of hitting community lots with each of them till they met. Or, if I wanted someone to marry a townie, I would mouse over the thumbnails in the relationship panels and pick someone with a suitable starsign. (I miss being able to mouse over and see the star sign.)

Once married, the spouse and the original sim would both be responsible for maintaining four friends each. In that case, Day 1 they would both go to work; Day 2 the original sim would stay home and invite people over; Day 3 the spouse would stay home and invite people over. Sometimes they threw parties, but typically they would invite the three out of their four friends the relationship was lowest with, to make sure the relationships didn't decay out of friendship.

Once more than eight people became necessary for promotions, it was time to have kids. Kid relationships were harder to maintain than adult ones, but if I made time for the family to go out to community lots occasionally, always said yes when asked if a friend could bring someone (which generally included their kids once they started having them), and worked hard to build relationships with kids who dropped by, they would generally manage to get and keep the numbers up.

I really, really recommend rotation play with Sims1! The friendships are very hard to maintain in that game, but working each friendship from both sides, and building circles of friends that can be mutually supportive, makes it much, much easier.

Those are both very helpful tips thank you both!