Meteor

Death by Meteor

A meteor ground zero.

See also: Death

Death by meteor is a form of death in The Sims 3, introduced in The Sims 3: Ambitions. It is the successor to Death by Satellite which was seen in The Sims 2.

Whenever a Sim is standing in an open area, there is a very small chance a meteor will fall directly on top of them. Whenever a meteor is about to fall on top of a Sim, a large shadow will appear around them and ominous music will play. A message will appear stating that your Sim wonders why it suddenly got dark. All Sims on the lot will run outside to look up curiously at the sky, and the meteor can be seen if the camera view is in the right position at the exact moment it falls. Also, if the player zooms out at the right time, the meteor can be seen streaking across the sky. When a meteor hits, a mushroom cloud appears. The player has plenty of time to move the Sim out of harm's way, but if they do nothing the meteor will crush the Sim. Using a telescope outside increases the chances of getting hit by a meteor.

The impact of a meteor also creates fires and Sims standing near enough will get singed. The ground will be littered with scrap metal and space rocks.

A meteor can also hit buildings. Sims will automatically leave the building if a meteor is approaching. Those who do not exit the building in time will die.

Meteors never fall directly on children, though they may still get crushed if they stand close enough to the impact zone of a meteor aiming for a larger adult Sim.

The ghost color is orange with small hint of black with smoke rising from it and thus different than if the ghost died from fire. The tombstone depicts a meteor.

Incoming meteor

Unless mods are used, it is almost impossible to be hit by a meteor, so this is a very uncommon form of death. Only one premade Sim, Steward Curious, died from being hit by a meteor.

The only types of Sims who cannot die in this way are aliens, ghosts (playable or non-playable), babies and toddlers.

In Seasons, it is fairly easy to kill Sims with meteors, provided you have an alien in the household. They can summon meteors at will, and if they summon them in crowded places such as schools or festivals, the chances of the meteor hitting multiple Sims is very high.

Related

In The Sims 2: Seasons, using the Weathernaught 57X with low aspiration carries a high chance that meteors will fall from the sky and start fires. Sims in range of the meteors can be set on fire.

Notes

• If The Sims 3: Pets is installed, pets can be hit by a meteor, and cats stalking prey have a larger chance of being hit by a meteor.
• While meteors are extremely unlikely to kill Sims that are not controlled by the player, should the player controlled Sim be shadowed by a meteor while in close proximity to NPC Sims, the NPC Sims then become impossible to save because they will stand inside the shadow and look up until the meteorite impacts. Multiple NPC Sims can be killed in this manner.
• In rare cases, a Sim currently inside a rabbithole can become the meteor's target. In this instance, all Sims inside that rabbithole are at risk.
• SimBots can be killed by meteors, and inventing increases the chance of being hit by a meteor.
• If The Sims 3: Seasons is installed, an alien can summon a meteor.
• If The Sims 3: Into the Future is installed, meteor showers will appear in dystopian Oasis Landing.

Gallery

A female Sim that died by meteor.

Male Mummy that died by meteor.

The tombstone of a Sim that died by meteor.

A Dystopian version of Oasis Landing being pulverized by meteors.

A frozen Sim about to be crushed by a meteor with many onlookers

The aftermath of a meteor landing, with a crushed Sim underneath it