The Sims™ 3

The Sims™ 3

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How to Hobo: A sims guide
By Altruistic Muffin and 1 collaborators
Every dreamed of seeing the world, is the everyday life taken a toll on your happiness, then take it to the streets and become a hobo, where the treasures are usually junk and the trash just as smelly

This guide will teach how to play sims as a hobo, it requires no expansion packs and is simply just a another way to play sims.
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Getting started: The Dream Home
Hobo living means that you and your sims/family are dependant on the "genorsity" and gullibility of your friends and neighbors. Essentially being a hobo means that you are unable to provide for yourself in a more convienant fashion and must relay on altenatives in order to live and thrive. In order to do this your family will need to first move into a very basic home with very little room. Besides some windows keep it empty and if its your first time you should put in a basic bed, dumpster, shower and toilet. after that you will need to remove almost all funding you possess until mabye you have around 100 or 200 left to pay for the first couple of taxes.(to remove money just plant some trees or somthing)

Traits
Heres a list of traits that are helpful to your sim as they progress in the hobo world

Kleptomaniac(required): This trait allows your sim to steal from people when your in their house/property. You are granted to steal 3 times a day and only when no one is watching, what you steal is up to luck as your sim will go about and "borrow" what he pleases. Also this trait allows you to rummage through neighbor's trash cans for goodies.(seeds,gems,trash,rubber duckies,etc)

Mooch(highly reccomended): Mooching allows your sim to mooch food and cash from other sims which is essential to survival as a hobo. Before attempting to mooch try to talk a bit with that sim which will help increase the chance for them to give you some dough.(mooching doesn't get alot of cash, but hey its something ok)

Loner(helpful): Good when you have to spent alot of time alone and as a hobo(if you have no family), you do. This trait will give you a bonus of +15 mood while you are alone and you won't be urged to be social, friends were too mainstream anyways...


Lucky(helpful): Lucky means that your sim will have better luck with well everything and some days just wake up even luckier than usual, they also have a better chance to find items when dumpster diving.

Good sense of humour, friendly, charismatic(useful): These traits will aid you in making conversations and relationships last longer and can help you with mooching and your overall day to day life.





How to get money & items
Now that you have picked your traits and built your dream shack, its time to face the world. Since your a hobo you must get your money and items elsewhere by:

Stealing: I don't think your friends will mind if you just take that off their hands. I mean your doing them a favour that thing is hideous.

Dumpster Diving: a great method for getting random junk to fill your house, but you will get really smelly in the process.(Use this and stealing as your only method for obtaining furnature for your house)

Fishing: good way to get a trinkle of cash.

Collecting bugs/seeds/rocks: nice side hobby that provides some modest home furnishing and cash.

Opportunities: these events sporadically occur and if you accept them they will get you an assorment of bonuses.(money, skill points, secrets unlocked)

Trashcans: One mans trash is another mans treasure -Macklemore

Gardening: A bit of a noob move,but if you don't care for a challenge then make one, provides free food and constant cash.(shame on you)

Mooching: Mooching allows the player to mooch free food or money off another sim, to increase your chance to get cash try to talk with that sim for a bit, mooching will not get you alot of cash though.

Explore catacombs: Who better to explore havens of the undead than your local hobo.



Needs
As any human being you have needs, and with your house practically empty you must gather what you can to get by. Here is a list of essential needs.(those not listed rarely are cruical to survival)

Hunger: Mooch food from people, go to the park and eat from a picnic basket, plunder neighboorhood and community gardens.(don't buy food)

Bladder/Hygeine: your shack, neighbor's home, community bathrooms.

Energy: Neighbor's bed(they will get mad, but let you sleep) your bed, coach(if you don't have a bed), park benches,the floor.




Rules
Being a hobo and the diffuculty of being one is dependant on the idea of having limited resources and opportunites as a result I've compiled a set of rules.

1. Jobs, don't get one

2. Besides buying you starting house, you may not purchase any furniture, you may still buy additional rooms and expand your house later

3.Cheats, Don't even try

4. Don't sell the furniture you find, what you get is what you must decorate your house with.

5. Don't sell anything you find thats too valueable. example: expensive ores, meteorites, bugs.

6. Don't be stupid, if you have to be do it somewhere else
Other ways to play
If you want to be a true hardcore hobo then you can have no house and opt for an empty lot and spend your days roaming the street surviving only on the community and stupidity of your neighbours.

Try surviving and living while supporting a family with kids

Try buying alot of expensive items using cheats then keeping them in the family inventory, this way you will be forced to keep up with your insane taxes.

Have your sim try to romance everyone in town just to mooch off their money and food.

If you want the game to be easier then you can sell furniture...


Additonal Info
This idea of being a hobo is just a different way to play sims in which people that may have played the game traditonally may want to try something new.

Should your sim find a mate then you 2 shall live together happily as a hobo couple and your spouse must relieve themselves of any jobs,money, or home of which they possess.

Make sure to milk your friends and neighbor's for as much as they got, when you come "visit" take advantage of their free bathrooms, books, pools and televisons.

Use libraries, gyms and community pools accommodations sparingly or not at all if you want a challenge. Gym have free food at the fridge there and they have showers, toliets and lounge chairs to sleep in, libraries have skill books and computers, and pools have showers and toliets

using the money you have you can expand your house from a shack to a mansion then decorate it and furnish it with all the things you "aquired" over time.

Have fun with it.
110 Comments
stoned abraham 14 Jun @ 6:50pm 
Surprised you didn't mention the Frugal trait. Did a rags-to-riches playthrough where I had like 5 hobos doing pretty much what you describe here, but each of em had Frugal in order to nonstop dumpster dive. The amount of gold, silver, iron, and gems, as well expensive furniture they acquired was well-worth their constant need to vomit lol Yeah they're worth like 1.5million now, countless generations. I said screw it and built em a luxury home.
jet4571 24 Jan @ 10:37am 
You don't need kleptomaniac to rummage through trash cans or dumpsters. Any sim can do it but slob is the best trait for it since they don't care if their hygiene is red so they don't get a negative moodlet after doing it. As for stealing stuff it's not the best way to make money so if you want to make money without a job collecting collectibles pays better and you can do it in front of other sims as many times as you want..
Heartfire 16 Nov, 2024 @ 9:40pm 
I done this without any home, it's not hard because if you want food, you just have to go to where people bbq, or finding apples or other things it's far too easy, even with a house its tons easier, i just slept with any bench and did not make any income with stealing because you don't need to. As a hobo it's not about income it's really about adventure and survival that's about it. the guide you have is far too easy with an already easy game, i also never visited others homes you just don't need to, people hang around wherever you go to it's what the base game does anyway. It's very possible without your guides, you really don't need any advice, it's surprisingly easy
amandawolfkawaii 23 Oct, 2024 @ 7:46pm 
I made my sim get pregnant, divorce her husband, gave her enough for a plot (after giving her a sleeping bag and guitar) and made her be a mother while struggling with money :3
NailEater 7 May, 2024 @ 9:52am 
one with nature mod is super useful for a hobo playstyle
MeltedPrincess 6 Feb, 2024 @ 7:41am 
Not me thinking about Linus from Stardew Valley lol
Hanley 15 Jan, 2024 @ 3:44pm 
Why bother your house when you can do everything in the open world?
When I do homeless run I sleep on park branches and eat leftover bungers from other sims doing BBQ. Later you can get a tent or sleeping bad and put it in public area, it is very fun.
Sushi-Bowl 27 Dec, 2023 @ 6:47am 
why not just buy land? why a house? thats not homeless buy land and do everything else u said
Devs 2 Nov, 2023 @ 6:01am 
Ambitions pack is also helpful. You can "salvage" furniture and electronics that cannot be sold, and there's a mod that lets you repair the electronics. It's still useless for selling it, but that old radio now plays music for you.

I have also found that sleeping bags have zero negative moodlets when being used.

Food might be a bit tricky if you have seasons, you may want to have a very small garden somewhere so you can survive the winter. You could nap in the gym or laundromat during those cold days.
Maleventum 6 Aug, 2023 @ 4:06am 
No need for a shower in your house or ask for food, eat and shower at the gym. You can always harvest plants and eat them.