I have recently changed the way I play LTW's in my game (again!). A while back I'd become fed up of the limited choices with regards to LTW's, and I started this thread about suggestions for extra LTW's that I could incorporate in my game. But now I've kind of gone the other way - hardly any of my sims have LTW's any more, as I've changed the way I decide what a sim's LTW is.

In my game sims are not assigned a LTW by me when the become teens. Instead, I keep an eye on their wants/fears throughout their lives to see what they seem to be aspiring towards and choose LTW's accordingly. So instead of having a set LTW that I assume that the sim wants to achieve I look to see what their low-value wants are and see whether or not their wants imply that they have a life goal of some kind. After all, not everyone has one aim in life that, if achieved, will make them happy forever, right? I know I don't! And a lot of my sims don't seem to have one either - they don't consistently roll wants to achieve any one major goal over time.

For example, in previous 'hoods I'd played Hamilton Beech as having the LTW to reach the top of the Politics career. When I started playing my current Widespot I intended to play him with that LTW again. But, despite being a Popularity/Fortune sim, he has never rolled the want to be promoted, or to gain skills/friends required for promotion. So obviously his career is not that important to him, right? This is the opposite of Goldie Kimbrell (née Hart), who is also a Popularity/Fortune sim. As a teen Goldie rolled the want to be in the Athletics career, then after university she rolled the want to be in the Athletics career again. Now she constantly rolls wants to gain the skills required for promotion, and when she has the required skills she rolls the want for a promotion. As soon as she's been promoted she starts rolling the skill wants again. So, the way I see it, she is very keen to become a Hall Of Famer (perhaps because she wants to follow in her father's footsteps and do something that he would've been proud of?), so if she ever achieves that I will make her perma-plat.

There are other major goals that some sims seem keen to reach, not just career-related goals. For example, some sims repeatedly roll wants to earn more money, gain more skill points, make more best friends, have more dream and/or first dates or have more babies/grandchildren. These wants also correspond with LTW's, so if sims consistently roll them over time I may make them perma-plat at a certain point - for example when they earn $50,000 (I play with lower salaries, so $100,000 is infeasible), or have 4 grandchildren.

So, I'm wondering how other people play LTW's? Do you use the ones that the game gives each sim, do you set them yourself, do you ignore them completely? Does the LTW "outrank" normal wants, so to speak, or vice versa - if a sim has the LTW to be a Celebrity Chef but rolls a want to work in the Science career, which want to you go by? Do your sims have to roll wants related to their LTW in order for you to allow them to work towards it, or does the fact that they have the LTW mean that you tell them to do whatever is necessary to reach it? Are there any factors that limit the ability of sims to reach their LTW's - for example certain careers that aren't allowed in your 'hood, limitations in how far sims can progress along certain career tracks, player-imposed infertility for sims or anything else? Anything else you'd like to share?

I always thought that it was a silly oversight for sims to roll wants for a career unrelated to the LTW if it was career based. Seriously, not helpful lol.

If a sim rolls a want for a career track that's not their LTW, I usually put them in the track they've rolled a want for, unless it seems super out of character. If the LTW is not in the career track they want to go in, the LTW would be something that they daydream about and that they enjoy daydreaming about, but that they know they won't really accomplish. Kind of like how I've picked out where I'll live once I hit the lottery for $300 million, and figured out where I'll shop for clothing and how often I'll go to aikido class and where I will volunteer for how many hours each week to be sure I get out of the house sometimes because I certainly won't need to work.

And then I get on with my life, just like everybody else, only a little happier for having had that nice daydream.

I really dislike the LTWs, I enjoyed the game more before they got introduced! A lot of the time the ones they roll either don't fit the image I have of the character, or the plot I have for their storyline, or for the pre-mades they'll roll something completely out of character. Plus so many are career-related and my sims careers aren't necessarily huge parts of their lives - for this reason my favourite LTWs are the ones like 'reach golden anniversary', and 'have three children graduate from college'. But again it influences how I have to play which I'm not fond of - I like setting what my sims' aims and ambitions are - what if I only want them to have 2 children total, and then only 1 to graduate?

I suppose I just ignore them completely for the most part, but then I feel bad for the sims! So I'd rather just not have them altogether - also permaplat annoys me because it makes the game too easy/unrealistic. I'm really not one for realism in sims games, but the constantly happy thing is not normal.

Such a negative post..sorry!

It really depends on the sim. Some sims have a LTW that fits with their personality. They might try to persue it. For instance, Darby Trent would like to get to the top of the law career. One of the first wants he rolled out of CAS was to get a job in law enforcement and he constantly rolls wants for skilling and promotion (although currently he's obsessed with getting a wife, because 'it would look good to the partners of the law firm'). So, he's going after his LTW full tilt and will probably get there.

On the other hand, some sims might want to go after their LTW, but other things get in the way. For instance, Kori Tennison wants to top the adventurer career. However, she needed a job and as such started working as a gumshoe for a private detective, and since then has worked her way up to a private detective in her own right. It satisfies her adventurous nature. If she ever got the chance to get into the adventure career, she'd probably take it, but the chances are low. She's engaged, just moved to a new house with her fiancé and she's pregnant. It's a difficult pregnancy as well. So, her LTW might never happen, but if she sees the chance, she'll take it.

Some sims are lucky, in that their LTWs are the same as those of their partners. Sophia Stacks and Wilburn Lowry are very much in love and both want to have 50 dream dates. However, like for Kori, their busy lives often get in the way of actually going on dates. So this is a LTW that might get fulfilled, but probably in their golden years (if they're still together then).

Other sims don't seem to be interested in reaching for their LTWs at all. Pamala Reier wants to max 7 skills, but hardly ever rolls the want to skill. She's more interested in getting a relationship and running her business. Hetty Banes wants to become a professional party guest, but shows no signs of actually wanting to get up off her ass and getting a job, let alone working towards the top of a career. Seth Travere has the same want, but is currently in the entertainment career. He's not really into getting promoted, though, nor in actively looking for opportunities to change careers.

So yeah, the games' LTW doesn't always get realized. Sometimes it's just the sim dreaming of something, other times it's something they want to do but life made other plans. Some are lucky enough to achieve their goals, whether by lucky accident or hard work, depending on the sim and the situation.

Sometimes I play according to them, and sometimes I just flat-out ignore them.
A lot of the time my sims aspirations are based on life events, as well as family (such as that 2 family sims will probably have mostly family and popularity aspiration children) -so it's kind of annoying when multiple sims in the same house roll for the same (or similar) lifetime wants. Because really what's the difference between being the mayor or becoming a rock god? They both require skills building and gaining family friends, so having multiple siblings all trying to get the top of a career is boring so sometimes I reroll, or I just decide to take them down a different path altogether.

I check mine when my sims age up and if it fits they get to keep it, but if not then I will change it. I have a pretty broad definition of it fitting but sometimes it just comes out wrong. In the megahood I've changed a lot. Most of them have something in their blurb but their lifetime want is something totally different. I know with the base game sims it's just because there were no lifetime wants in the base game, but for the later EPs a lot of them just don't make sense and are stupid.

I tend to think the LTW is like a dream, not everyone gets it, but some of them might. And sometimes life circumstance doesn't always fit to that dream - like when you first play the Burbs, Jennifer's bio says "Jennifer used to dream of being a soccer superstar, but now she's quite happy to focus on being fashionable and stylish instead."

So in my hood, she works in the Journalism career. I think that in her youth she was mocked for her sports interest and took on an interest in fashion to fit in. So she took a job at a magazine to follow her "dream" of being a fashion writer, and did like fashion and all that stuff too, but when she gets to the level that she gets to edit a sports column, that's when she's really going to remember her dream and go in that kind of direction. I have set her LTW to be a superstar athlete. My thinking is that their dream job is not always achieveable or available, so I don't mind them rolling wants for other jobs. I mean, it's possible to have a dream of being a Mad scientist but also want to be a doctor, after all. Especially if one seems easier to get to right now. Like when they both want and fear having a baby.

To use the example of the graduate 3 children/have 6 grandchildren, these are risky ones for a sim to have because they rely on the whims of another sim. I set my sims' ideal number of kids in ACR so I go by that, if they don't want that many children, then they don't get to keep that want. (For grandchildren as long as they want one that's enough, but less likely to happen). Then I just play as though they are the annoying parent who puts their dreams on their offspring and is always badgering their kid for grandchildren or when they're going to get married. For the graduation one I think that's more achieveable, I tend to make them invest a lot in their childrens' education like sending them to private school, helping them with homework, having a lot of skilling items around, perhaps insisting they practice, etc, and just have them sort of expect that their children will go to university.

I never feel like I have to play to achieve the LTW but I see it as a sort of idea in the back of their mind that they've always sort of had their heart set on/never really let go of even if they haven't taken any steps to get there. I also don't think they are always aware of their own LTW until later on when something makes them discover it.

I don't think I've ever actually achieved one - how weird is that?? I think when I get close I'm going to install a fragile permaplat hack. Yes achieving their goal should make them happy for a long time, but not forever.

I play to my sims' LTWs, but just because they have one doesn't necessarily mean they'll accomplish anything for it.

A career LTW outranks normal career wants in the sense that the LTW career is the one, the job a sim will be happy doing the rest of their life. I have personality-based calculations for what other jobs they'd be suited to, and if a sim rolls one or more career wants that aren't in their ideal list, I lock as many as I can and see if that career comes up before an ideal or LTW one.

For non-career LTWs, it's a little less set to random, but still not guaranteed. Marry off 6 kids? A sim with that LTW is most likely to be part-Family, but that doesn't guarantee they'll have those 6 kids. Even if they do, what if one or more of those 6 has no inclination towards marriage? Joseph Kraemer has two children with Meadow Marshalls, but neither have wants towards marriage despite Elise Marshalls wanting to see her eldest settle down. Graduate 3 children from university? Good luck if you end up with low-motivation children who see no point. Have 6 grandchildren? Better hope you have enough children of your own to guarantee that.

Also, in regards to wants, for non-career LTWs I just leave it up to chance/ACR/InTeen/whatever. For career LTWs it depends on a sim's motivation. A high motivation sim will be able to breeze to level 10 of a career or skills without needing the wants -- being high motivation is in itself justification for being a high-achiever. An average motivation sim has to roll wants beyond level 7 (in both career and skills), a low motivation wants beyond level 5.

Of course, I also have education requirements for certain jobs, so good luck to a low motivation sim that wants to reach the top of the Natural Science, Politics, or Science career (all require a doctorate degree which means 4 years of undergrad, 2 years masters, 4 years doctorate for a total of $37,000 [which unless from a mega-rich family ends up being debt], entering the full workplace six years later than the typical sim, and a lot of hard work).

Because of all this, I have five perma-plat sims in Cresdale -- one from having 6 grandchildren (Elise had 10 children, odds were very good she'd accomplish that), one from maxing all skills (Kevin, and if I could go back and undo it I would as he got them from eggplant juice), and 3 from topping careers (two high-motivation sims and one determined average motivation).

I tend to ignore them because they are rediculously random and hardly ever fit the character I pictured the sim to be.

I still play the same way, either to a LTW the sim has rolled/I rolled for them or to one I made up for them. Except for my grass roots/commune island hood. I don't bother with LTW there although I guess if someone wants 6 grand kids I would go for that. So that hood is different. With my other two self sufficient hoods I tend to ignore daily wants for a specific career for CAS made sims as they were made specifically to fulfill a certain role, such as being the new DR in town. I do my best to make sure they fit by giving them the right aspiration and tweaking their personality in the hope they will roll the correct career, but sims can be suborn. Born in sims are different as there is more leeway there into which field to go into. Playing with motivation levels also relegates some to never going to Uni even if they somehow rolled the medical field or scientist. If you have no motivation and didn't skill much over your childhood/teens that will stay as a day dream only. Those sims are more likely to wind up behind a till or given a job like gardener or maid. I still play to their wants as it was their wants and autonomous actions that got them there in the first place. David Ottomas is the towns pest control man as he had no motivation and any free time he has he normally chooses to watch football on the telly. His life wouldn't be going anywhere except his wife Candice is a hard core criminal who is very smart and driven. David doesn't give a thought to how they got enough money to afford that plasma TV or how his son attends private school, he thinks his wife is a business woman. Of course if she ever get's caught life may change.

I happily reroll LTW's until I get something I think suits the sim. They'll look for a career that fits their LTW, if they have a career LTW, and with my lifespan mod they'll eventually find it, but, life may have gotten in the way in the middle. If they didn't go to Uni, they won't get promoted nearly as fast or as far as a sim who did. If they live in certain sub-neighborhoods, if they find their LTW career, they will have to move elsewhere. Erin Beaker wants to be an Icon, but there is no Show Business in Strangetown. If she finds a slot, she'll have to move to the urban area of Downtown or Belladonna to take it. Of course, if she's married by then, he may not be willing--or able, if he's part alien--to move.
Some sims will choose or happen to live where there are always entry level jobs open in the field their LTW is in, such as Military in Strangetown. That sim simply signs up at the recruiting center (er, the sim blender).