The Sims 3 Aging and Lifespan Guide
Stages in The Sim Lifecycle, Settings, and Aging Down or Up
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The Sims 3 features an aging system not unlike that of reality. Sims go through various states from baby, on to todder, childhood, through the teenage years, and finally young adulthood. They will age up into full adults, and finally into their Elder years. The life cycle comes to a close there, as that Sim will die of old age. We have an incredible amount of power over the aging process with The Sims 3's options menu, and gameplay offers us a few options to age Sims up, down, and even freeze them. The options available to you depend upon what expansion packs you own.
Lifecycle
The following are the life span for each age group. This is fully customizable from the options menu.
Baby: 3 daysToddlery: 7 days
Child: 7 days
Teenager: 14 days
Young Adult: 21 days
Adult: 21 days
Elder: 17 days
Elders don't die immediately, and may live longer than the 17 days. Some may last weeks past their expiration date, just like humans.
Modifying Aging
Adjusting Settings for Life Length
We are given the ability to set how long Sims will stay in each life state. This can go from short, medium, normal, long, to epic life span. You can shorten or extend any life stage by going to the The Sims 3's options menu (clicking ... in the bottom left) and using the sliders in the game menu. You can also disable aging entirely from this location. This is the most basic option but most powerful method of changing the aging settings. Let's now focus on the options given to us by gameplay.
Become Athletic for Longer Life
Sims who have run for many miles will naturally live a longer life. Complete Athletic skill challenges to get this perk.
Ambrosia and Life Fruit
Ambrosia is made with the cooking skill and will reset a Sim's age to the beginning of their current life state. This is available to all players but requires high cooking skill, fishing, and some gardening. One Sim doesn't have to do all of this. Others can gather the ingredients for the chef. Learn more about Ambrosia at the linked guide. It can also bring the dead back to life when fed to a ghost. Life fruit will shave a day off your Sim's age, so you may not need to go so far as to make Ambrosia. Ambrosia gives an amazing moodlet, however.
Birthday Cake
Another option available to all Sims 3 owners. You can advance the ages of your Sims by using the birthday cake. Find this in the parties section of 'Buy by function' in Buy Mode. This magical item will age up Sims to the next state. Use this if you'd like to skip earlier stages of life. Remember, if your Sim's children don't perform well you will not get to choose their traits as they age up.
Aging Up - Trigger Age Transition Cheat
Look to the cheats page to learn more about this. You need to enable testingcheatsenabled true, then shift-click your Sims. That will allow you to select trigger age transition, among other things. This isn't necessarily faster than birthday cake, but it's an instant birthday/age up if you are already cheating.
Aging Down - Young Again
The Sims 3 Generations adds several new options for manipulating age. The first is the young again potion, which will reset any Sim back to day one of being a Young Adult. This is available as a potion made from chemistry (logic skill) as well.
Locking Age - Age Freeze
Taking this potion new to Generations will freeze a Sim's current age. Everyone around will grow older, but this Sim will stay the same. Grab a death flower for true immortality.
Rediscovery Youth Through Cloning
One of the new Lifetime Rewards with Generations is the ability to buy a clone voucher. This will produce an offspring for your Sim that is effectively them as a child.
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