Questions on ageing etc. (new update)

[HordePrime]

There's still a number of crucial things about this new update that I don't understand yet:

After successful completion of the new Life Dreams quest, what exactly causes a sim to age (naturally)?
Does it just happen automatically as time goes by, regardless of what you do?
Does it relate to the actions a sim does? - If so, is it only certain actions or every action?
Is it related to the length of an action - is it directly proportional (so, a two-hour tasks ages a sim twice as much as a one-hour task)?
If I use LP to complete a task quicker, does the sim still age the same amount (and make the same progress towards their life goal)?
If a sim stays at home and does absolutely nothing ever, will they still age?
Is the rate of ageing the same for everyone, or do some sims (younger ones perhaps) age quicker?

I've read that a complete life cycle from birth to death takes about 41 days of actions. So, would I be correct in assuming that I can do any combination of tasks to make up that 41 days? - So I could hibernate 41 times or plant garlic 123 times or whatever? Are these 41 days distributed equally across the different stages (toddler, preteen, teen etc.)?

I'm still not sure how Birthday Cakes work now. Is it just a means of advancing to the next stage quickly? - How does this affect the above life cycle? If I use birthday cakes to get a quick senior for example, do they still have a life cycle of 41 days, or is this shortened proportionately?

Are the life dreams always the same for each personality, or is it random?
How many life dreams does/can one sim have - just one?
Do all life dreams take the same amount of time to complete, or does it vary?
If a sim finishes their life dream, do they get the orb then, or only when they die?
Can a sim only earn a maximum of one orb in their lifetime?

Can I have multiple sims with life dreams relating to the same personality at the same time?

Sorry for asking so many questions at once, my thanks to anyone and everyone who is able to answer.

[hiser1974]

I don't have an answer to all your questions as I'm still figuring things out myself in my test game.
But this is what I have for now. Don't k now how accurate everything is, as I haven't done any extended testing.
I will be doing some more testing this weekend, hopefully I can get some more answer.
I find this update is confusing, it raises so many questions.

Sims age when they do an action, no matter what action. So use the toilet counts as well as hibernating.

The rate of aging is differnet for each lifegroup:
These are the estimates from Perturbees FB page:

• Babies: 1 day
  Toddlers: 3 days
  Pre-Teens: 5 days
  Teen: 8 days
  Adult: 18 days
  Senior: 7 days

Birthday cakes can be used to advance to the next stage quickly, althoug there is also an option in the age controlerr to advance a sim. This costs lps, I don't know how much.

You can have multiple sims with the same personality, so also with the same lifedream.
Each sime can have only 1 lifedream.
I don't know for sure if the tasks for the life dreams are always the same. I think not as there seems to be some different tasks, at least for each different age group.

[Desiree]

Do you know how canceling an action impacts aging? So if I kept my sims hibernating 23 hours of the day, cancelled the action and put them back into hibernation would that " count" as active game play and age them?

[sonlightmom]

I'm so confused as apparently are a lot of other people. So if we go on playing this game, ignoring all of the orb bits, eventually all of our Sims are going to just grow up and die? So are you saying that my cute little toddlers are going to grow into pre teens in 3 days and there's nothing I can do (without orbs) to stop that from happening? I really like my Sims as they are and don't want them to grow up or age.

[blackbrit]

Do you know how canceling an action impacts aging? So if I kept my sims hibernating 23 hours of the day, cancelled the action and put them back into hibernation would that " count" as active game play and age them?

Perturbee's comments on that are here:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=232&start=50

[DiTori]

Hiser1974 you are wonderful for testing these things out!

[Palmjill]

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1436&start=10

Check out rajcaz's helpful experience post on possible life dreams.
And the FM orb FAQ clearly states one orb upgrade per life cycle.

[HordePrime]

Does anyone know for certain yet whether I can avoid a sim ageing by simply not ever having them do anything?

Also; at what point exactly do you get to assign a life dream to a new sim?
Do you do it when you first click to have a baby, when the baby comes (24 hours later), or when the baby becomes a toddler (24 hours after that)?

Which is more advantageous; doing nothing but life goal tasks as a toddler until they age naturally, or ageing the toddler as quickly as possible and do life goals as a preteen/teen/adult? Is there an ideal ratio/combination there?

How realistic is it for an existing adult to complete a new life dream before they die? - Is that possible, or is it so difficult that you would need to use time as a toddler/preteen etc. too?

Thanks.

PS: Is it possible to get the new Orbs out of a mystery box? - That would definitely be something to work towards.

[markmi]

Does anyone know for certain yet whether I can avoid a sim ageing by simply not ever having them do anything?

Also; at what point exactly do you get to assign a life dream to a new sim?
Do you do it when you first click to have a baby, when the baby comes (24 hours later), or when the baby becomes a toddler (24 hours after that)?

Which is more advantageous; doing nothing but life goal tasks as a toddler until they age naturally, or ageing the toddler as quickly as possible and do life goals as a preteen/teen/adult? Is there an ideal ratio/combination there?

How realistic is it for an existing adult to complete a new life dream before they die? - Is that possible, or is it so difficult that you would need to use time as a toddler/preteen etc. too?

Thanks.

PS: Is it possible to get the new Orbs out of a mystery box? - That would definitely be something to work towards.

You don't have to complete the Life Dreams Quest, you can just ignore it. I've updated and my sims are all just fine and are not aging.

[sonlightmom]

Does anyone know for certain yet whether I can avoid a sim ageing by simply not ever having them do anything?

Also; at what point exactly do you get to assign a life dream to a new sim?
Do you do it when you first click to have a baby, when the baby comes (24 hours later), or when the baby becomes a toddler (24 hours after that)?

Which is more advantageous; doing nothing but life goal tasks as a toddler until they age naturally, or ageing the toddler as quickly as possible and do life goals as a preteen/teen/adult? Is there an ideal ratio/combination there?

How realistic is it for an existing adult to complete a new life dream before they die? - Is that possible, or is it so difficult that you would need to use time as a toddler/preteen etc. too?

Thanks.

PS: Is it possible to get the new Orbs out of a mystery box? - That would definitely be something to work towards.

You don't have to complete the Life Dreams Quest, you can just ignore it. I've updated and my sims are all just fine and are not aging.

Your Sims are not aging? How is that possible? My poor toddlers are 25%ish aged already and I would really like them to stop. I don't want them to turn into preteens.