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Space Pony
Original Poster
#1 Old 8th Aug 2019 at 5:38 PM Last edited by gamefreak130 : 27th Dec 2019 at 8:35 PM.
Default [TESTERS WANTED] Skills Lose Progress Beta
This mod is now feature-complete, can can be found here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=636370

Hi all,

I've got a new mod in the works, but unfortunately I will have limited time for extensive playtesting, so I'm wondering if some of you would be willing to try it out and see what you think. It's still a bit rough around the edges, but it should be stable enough.

This is a pure script mod that makes skills lose progress over time, similar to the social group influence from University Life. Note that the University Life expansion is NOT required for this mod to work. Now, even if a sim has mastered a skill, they have to continue to use it or risk losing their hard-earned skill points.

When a world is first loaded with the mod installed or when a new game is started, any skills that are at 0% progress will be boosted to 15% progress to prevent immediate level dropping. When skills are leveled up, the progress bar will start at 10%, and when a skill decays by a level, the progress bar will drop to around 90% to prevent immediate reacquisition of dropped levels.

All skills that appear in the skill journal (except Collecting and Consignment) will decay. In addition, the following hidden skills will be subject to decay:
  • Diving
  • Lycanthropy
  • Spellcasting
  • Skating
  • Snowboarding
  • Snowball/Water Balloon Fighting
  • Table Tennis
  • Waterskiing
  • Windsurfing
Generally, any rewards earned from leveling a skill will stay with a sim even after that skill decays. The handiness skill is one exception that I know of at this time; the build mode discount at level 10 will be lost if the skill drops down to level 9.

If a sim masters a skill but then it drops back down to level 9, another certificate will be mailed if the sim masters the skill again. Personally, I think the certificates are generic enough that this is a non-issue, and they can be sold for 1,000 simoleons apiece

This mod was built (as usual) on 1.69. Compatibility with other mods *shouldn't* be an issue, as this is a pure scripting mod. Only English language games are supported at this time. The base rate of decay and the jitter amount used for randomizing decay can be changed by editing the "Gamefreak130.SkillsLoseProgress" XML resource.

Besides general critiques and bug reports, I'm looking for some feedback regarding the following:
  1. Is the rate of skill decay balanced, particularly at levels 8 and 9? Generally, dropping a full level from a filled progress bar should take anywhere from 10 to 30 days of inactivity.
  2. Is the boost given to skills on first load and on level up balanced? Generally, it would take 2 to 3 days of inactivity before skill levels are dropped.
  3. Is the progress penalty given to skills when they drop a level balanced?
  4. There is now a hidden pool of skill points that is used when a sim masters a skill to prevent immediate level dropping; does this seem balanced?
  5. Are there any skills that currently decay that you think should not be subject to decay?
  6. Do you think some or all hidden skills besides the ones listed here should be subject to decay?
  7. What would you think of a NRaas-style settings menu to enable or disable decay for individual skills?
Thanks in advance for all the help

"The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had." - Eric Schmidt

If you enjoy the mods I put out, consider supporting me on patreon: www.patreon.com/Gamefreak130
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 12th Oct 2019 at 7:59 PM Last edited by jje1000 : 12th Oct 2019 at 8:18 PM.
Bumping this up as this is the first time I've seen it! Would definitely make gameplay more unpredictable, though I think losses will need to be factored into the gameplay loop to keep them from being too discouraging/punishing.

This of course, is coming from someone who dislikes 'decay' mechanics for blemishing my perfect characters, but also wants those mechanics to make the game more realistic and dynamic- take this with a grain of salt!

Some questions/answers/notes @gamefreak130 :

- A menu would definitely be appreciated, especially for fine-tuning (i.e. selectively freezing skill loss)
- Are NPCs subject to these losses? It might best to limit these mechanics to active sims.
- How would this impact different lifespan settings/NRAAS relativity? Maybe a multiplier in the menu?
- Looking over all the skills, I think they're all fair game for decay

- Maybe instead of a partial-filling of a sim's skill bar, skill bar progress should be timed to decay to '0' per level, and then a second timer counts down on the actual skill level. Once that time reaches '0', the skill level is lost, and it reverts to the first timer to start the process all over? I do understand that it would take much more coding to account for this though.
- I wonder if there might be some sort of buff if your sim reaches skill 10 that their skill loss is decreased dramatically? This sort of creates an end-game reward where you no longer have to pay much attention to a sim's skill loss

- I wonder for gameplay purposes if it might be better if regaining skills might work like this:
1. Regaining lost skill levels takes around 1/2 the time as the original (aka you're relearning a skill)
2. However, partially-filled skill bars take the same time as the original to refill (aka you haven't haven't mastered a skill level, so you're essentially starting from scratch)
3. I understand this sort of requires keeping track of skill levels, so maybe as an alternate version, it could just be that sims just get a skillboost regardless?
Scholar
#3 Old 11th Dec 2019 at 11:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by gamefreak130
Besides general critiques and bug reports, I'm looking for some feedback regarding the following:
  1. Is the rate of skill decay balanced, particularly at levels 8 and 9? Generally, dropping a full level from a filled progress bar should take anywhere from 10 to 30 days of inactivity.
  2. Is the boost given to skills on first load and on level up balanced? Generally, it would take 2 to 3 days of inactivity before skill levels are dropped.
  3. Is the progress penalty given to skills when they drop a level balanced?
  4. There is now a hidden pool of skill points that is used when a sim masters a skill to prevent immediate level dropping; does this seem balanced?
  5. Are there any skills that currently decay that you think should not be subject to decay?
  6. Do you think some or all hidden skills besides the ones listed here should be subject to decay?
  7. What would you think of a NRaas-style settings menu to enable or disable decay for individual skills?


So I've been playing with this mod installed for about a week now. So far, it works very well. I think the rate of skill dropping is very good and seems to go well. I do think an Nraas-style settings menu would be very helpful because there are definitely some games where I won't want certain skills to decay but others that I'd be happy with. So the ability to enabled/disable individual skills in save games would be a good idea, I think

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Mad Poster
#4 Old 11th Dec 2019 at 8:33 PM
This is a pretty cool idea for a mod. I'll have to play with it a little, I think.

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