Top 10 Aging Actions in The Sims: FreePlay

08. Sleep - The Zzz Meter

This one is a very tricky part of the daily routine for several reasons, and not the least being that the timers vary considerably based upon quality of the bed. There is also the fact that the meter can be filled by far more than just a bed...

You should also consider that we are only including the shortest available task option for each, and not the entire range, since the whole idea here is to get the attached meter filled / refilled as quickly as we can possibly do that.

So to keep things equal our approach to this should be as formal as our coverage of the other metered elements, and here we go!

Achey Breaky - $600 - 1-Star - Power Snooze (5m)

Color - Ranges from SP/LP to $ - 2-Star - Power Snooze (4m 30s)

Color - Ranges from SP/LP to $ - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Designer - $7,000 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Japanese - $6,500 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

King Nappinkahmuns - $6K - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Le Tired - $5,600 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Night Sky - $6,000 - 1-Star - Power Snooze (5m) Toddler

Neo Tokyo - 20 LP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Nosferatu's Chamber - 6 LP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m) Haunted

Oriental Four-Post - $6,000 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Petty Pallet - $1,500 - 1-Star - Power Snooze (5m) Preteen

Pink - $3,000 - 2-Star - Power Snooze (4m 30s) Preteen

Pink Racecar - 15 LP - 2-Star - Power Snooze (5m) Toddler

Pink Teen Bed - $5,600 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Quiltinator 5000 - $18K - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Red Racecar - 18 LP - 2-Star - Power Snooze (5m) Toddler

Scandinavian - 30 SP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Serenity - $28K - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m) Preteen

Sk8ter Teen - $5,600 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Sleep Around the Clock - $3K - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Sleepy Head - $1,400 - 2-Star - Power Snooze (4m 30s)

Sleep-O-Matic 9000 - 10 LP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Snooze Master - $5,500 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Stable(ish) - $1,800 - 1-Star - Power Snooze (5m) Preteen

StarDream Sleep-O-Bot - $3,000 - 2-Star - Power Snooze (4m 30s) Preteen

Transylvanian - $5,600 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Unicorn - 25 LP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m) Toddler

Valentines - $3K - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

White Chaise - 5 LP - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m) Preteen

Ye Olde - $5,600 - 3-Star - Power Snooze (4m)

Note that the Cribs for the Infant stage are essentially the same bed but they have no quality or differences in terms of rating, and so are not included here. They are also generally considered to be a special object in the game, since they represent the symbolic womb.

The Advanced Sleep and Rest Report

Now that we have properly covered the formal take on the Zzz Meter, and we have acknowledged the reality that your Sims - just like real people - need a certain amount of eye-closed viewing of the back of their eyelids, we are ready to delve into the rest of the story.

Humans need sleep - without it they will slowly go insane, as they begin to see things that are not there, and their body and brain chemistry gets distorted and out of order. There is a bit more to it, but you get the idea...

Sims need sleep for different reasons - with the only consideration for them being that Zzz Meter. As long as it gets filled - no matter HOW it gets filled - all is right in their Sim world. So we need to explore some hacks for the filling of that meter without following the normal process.

Gamers tend to follow the path of the least resistance - often without consciously thinking about it. Call it muscle memory, call it convenience, call it what you want to call it, but in the end what it amounts to is going with the easy solution. For our purposes - hacking sleep - that is a very good thing.

The reason it is good is because there are a half-dozen different ways that we can get that meter filled - some more attractive than others. But the two most attractive methods that do not involve a bed happen to hack into some significant time savings in a manner that is not morally repugnant.

Hack Number 1: Please Be Seated

It should probably be obvious on the face of it that you can get light rest on pretty much any flat surface that is reasonably comfortable.

The fact that your Sim does not actually have to sleep to recharge the Zzz Meter, that simply resting their eyes is sufficient is a dead give-away that this is just the hack for the Zzz's!

The following Tasks will suffice and as you can see, appear practically anywhere and anywhen that a Sim can sit quietly! Need proof? Look at the Task bar and you will see, on the far left that it is imprinted with the Zzz Meter Symbol!

Bean Bag Chair - Daydream - 15 XP - 1m 36s

Black Poolside Dining Chair - Ponder - 15 XP - 2m 42s

Blue Deck Chair - Daydream - 15 XP - 1m 36s

Egyptian Couch - Daydream - 15 XP - 1m 36s

Inflatable Tube - Relax - 30 XP - 2m

Park Bench - Daydream - 15 XP - 1m 48s

Pharaoh's Dining Chair - Ponder - 15 XP - 2m 24s

Pink Deck Chair - Daydream - 15 XP - 1m 36s

Pink Striped Towel - Relax - 21 XP - 1m 30s

Purple Inflatable Chair - Relax - 30 XP - 1m 48s

Wood Deck Chair - Ponder - 15 XP - 2m 24s

Xmas Couch - Daydream - 15 XP - 2m

From the examples above you should get the idea that the alterniative to spending a full 4m in bed for a power nap can be hacked by spending less than half that time laying out in the sun on a towel... If that is not convenient, you are still better off on a Bean Bag Chair or taking in the breeze on a nice comfortable Cnavas Deck Chair - we are just saying.

The math for this is simple - when the meter is less than half empty, a chemical approach is the way to go, slurping down a noce cup of joe - but when the meter is half or more depleted spending 1m 30s in the sun on a towel will fix you right up and save your Sim 2m 30s of their life they won't have to regret never getting back!

Hack Number 2: That Coffee is a Drug

There is a very good reason that a lot of physicians advise their patients to avoid drinking coffee after six in the evening.

Significantly more than 80% of adults in America drink that bitter but eye-opening beverage, and of that significantly more than 80% we are pretty sure we can find loads who will offer the opinion that just a single cup can often help keep you awake for several hours...

The primary agent in coffee that stimulates is a chemical called Caffeine. Contrary to what you may have heard, Caffeine is not a drug - at least not the sort that appears naturally in more than 60 plants found in nature, coffee beans being one of them - and coincidentally tea leaves being another. Just for the sake of full transparency, we personally believe that a good hot cup of Billy Tea is just about the finest sort of beverage you can drink on a cold winter morning...

Just don't drink it after six in the evening.

In the world of The Sims: FreePlay there exists a pretty fair number of appliances whose function it is to brew up tasty hot beverages that your Sim should probably not drink after six in the evening - these appliances offer the following in terms of their function:

Antique Tea Set - $4K - 3-Star -

Budget Boiler - $500 - 1-Star -

Daily Grind Coffee Machine - $7,500 - 3-Star -

Grind-O-Matic Coffee Machine - $750 - 1-Star -

Hey Brew Coffee Machine - $2K - 2-Stars -

King Kettle - 4LP - 3-Star -

Mr. Tea - $1,500 - 2-Star -

The above appliances offer something of a hack that will nicely serve in the place of proper rest, in a proper bed. Review the following Tasks to see what we mean:

Appliance - Task Name - Task XP - Task Timer

Antique Tea Set - Traditional Tea - 12 XP - 48s

Budget Boiler - Traditional Tea - 12 XP - 1m

Daily Grind - Espresso - 9 XP - 16s

Grind-O-Matic - Espresso - 9 XP - 20s

Hey Brew - Espresso - 9 XP - 18s

King Kettle - Traditional Tea - 12 XP - 48s

Mr. Tea - Traditional Tea - 12 XP - 54s

If your Zzz Meter needs fall from about mid-meter toward full than this is the obvious solution.

Pretty much any of these Tasks will go you well to filling that meter. More important though, they require far less time to do it than even the briefest of the sleeping Tasks. A nice hack in other words

Posted: 12th Jan 2015 by CMBF
Tags: The Sims FreePlay, iPhoneiPad, GameCube,