Sub-neighborhood
Al Simhara, an example of a sub-neighborhood
A sub-neighborhood or sub-world is a neighborhood or world that can't exist solely on its own. Sub-neighborhoods were first introduced in The Sims: Hot Date, and each subsequent expansion pack for The Sims added a new one which fits that pack's theme. They were designed as places for community lots and townies to be, and as places Sims could travel to and from.
In The Sims 2, playable sub-neighborhoods are not automatically associated with a neighborhood. The player must decide which, if any, sub-neighborhoods of a given type will be associated with a neighborhood. The Sims 2: Nightlife and The Sims 2: Open for Business each included a sub-neighborhood intended to showcase aspects of that pack. However, those sub-neighborhoods also expanded the main neighborhood, giving Sims more places to live as well as more places to go. The Sims 2: University and The Sims 2: Bon Voyage included sub-neighborhoods designed to give Sims places to go to college and on vacation. These types of sub-neighborhood are "restricted"; Sims can only go to them under certain circumstances, and can only live in them for a limited time. The Sims 2 also gives players the ability to create custom sub-neighborhoods of any type using terrain templates that were included with the game, or by using SimCity 4 to create custom terrains.
In The Sims 3, sub-neighborhoods are included in the World Adventures, University Life, and Into the Future expansion packs. Like the vacation and college sub-neighborhoods in The Sims 2, the sub-neighborhoods in World Adventures and University Life only allow Sims to live in them for a limited time. However, the sub-neighborhood for Into the Future allows Sims to stay indefinitely. Like The Sims 2, sub-neighborhoods are not automatically attached, unless they are visited by a Sim or edited by the player.
Except for college sub-neighborhoods in The Sims 2: University, sub-neighborhoods exist in a sort of "time warp". No matter how long Sims spend in one, they will return home no more than a few hours after they left. It's not only possible, but common, for them to return when they left.
In The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat, The Sims 4: Jungle Adventure and The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu, there are vacation worlds that can only be visited for a limited time, like in previous games. The Sims 4: Get to Work and The Sims 4: Get Famous include secret neighborhoods that contain active career lots, which can only be visited during work hours or (in the case of the hospital) when a pregnant playable Sim is going into labor. The Sims 4: StrangerVille has a secret lab where most of the pack's story takes place. The Sims 4: Realm of Magic has The Magic Realm, a secret hub for spellcasters that can be accessed through a portal in Glimmerbrook.
The Sims[]
Sub-neighborhoods in The Sims are often referred to as community areas. Except for Downtown, Old Town, and Magic Town, they contain 9 community lots laid out in a 3x3 grid. (Downtown has 10 lots laid out in a 3-4-3 grid. Magic Town has 9 lots, but three are residential.)
Each community area has its own cab service and its own rules about who can go to it, so it is not possible to travel directly from one to another.
The Sims community areas, by expansion pack, are:
| Expansion Pack | Community area | Who can go there |
|---|---|---|
| Hot Date | Downtown | Adults, either alone or with a date |
| Vacation | Vacation Island | Entire household, or an adult with a date |
| Unleashed | Old Town | Entire household, or an adult with a date |
| Superstar | Studio Town | Individual adults |
| Makin' Magic | Magic Town | Entire household in Balloon Cab; individual child or adult via A Hole in the Ground |
The Sims 2[]
If Nightlife or later is installed, Sims can travel directly from any sub-neighborhood they can reach by taxi, car, or walking to any other sub-neighborhood that can be reached in the same way.
The Sims 2 sub-neighborhoods, by expansion pack, are:
- Pets (secret)
- Weather (secret)
- Hobbies (secret)
- Magic (secret)
Gallery[]
The Sims 3[]
The Sims 3 sub-worlds, by expansion pack, are:
- Al Simhara, Egypt
- Champs Les Sims, France
- Shang Simla, China
Various Sim statutes result in the game prohibiting them from travelling to sub-worlds until the Sims have returned to normal, according to BuffTransform in GameplayData.package, including:
- Tragic Clown.[TS3:SN]
- Toadified.[TS3:SN]
- Zombie.[TS3:SN]
- Being in werewolf mode.[TS3:SN] (The game has no problems letting werewolves in human mode travel.)
- Having been given the Flight of Felicity.[TS3:SN]
- Having got the "Glowy on the Outside" or "Feeling Blueish" outcomes from the jelly bean plant.[TS3:SN]
- Being in "Inner Beauty" mode.[TS3:SN]
- Feeling colored effects from a nearby Spectrum Mood Lamp.[TS3:SN]
- Having been poisoned by a PlantSim.[TS3:UL]
- Being in Bot mode with the Bot Fan trait.[TS3:ITF]
- Having had their skin color change from a colored dew bottle (except the Rainbow and Grey ones).[TS3:ITF]
- Wearing the Quantum Power Suit.[TS3:ITF]
Additionally, the "Travel" option is greyed out on brand new savefiles, with the hover note saying "Save At Least Once." Pets[TS3:P] are banned from travelling (and even from being placed in sub-world homes from the family bin), unless NRaas Traveler is installed.
Sub-worlds may lack various features by default, even ones that can pretty easily be added to them by players:
- The World Adventures ones have a near-total lack of rabbit holes (except mausoleums), and of gym and public pool lot assignments.
- Sims University lack bistros, spas, hospitals, and mausoleums. Since NPCs can in fact sporadically die at university, the lack of mausoleums is especially odd.
- Oasis Landing lack supermarkets, diners, soccer stadiums, and gym lot assignments. This may possibly have been a conscious choice by developers, in order to emphasize Oasis Landing's reliance on food synthesizers and Plumbots.
- Sub-worlds do not have festival grounds[TS3:S] by default, nor any that were designed for them in the lot bin.
The Sims 4[]
The Sims 4 sub-neighborhoods and sub-worlds, by pack, are:
- Civic Center (secret)
- Scientist Neighborhood (secret)
- Plumbob Pictures (secret)
- The Magic Realm (secret)
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