There will be one more founder generation post after this one, probably a short post due to the fact that I powered through the founder. (I almost always do.) Gen two is in the house, you'll meet gen two by the end of this post. See these two casually playing catch. Life won't be so idealistic for much longer. Money from book sales has helped fund the upper level expansion. About selling books, going for at least 5 in non - fiction or fiction early on with a child is a good way to earn quick cash for the bills, however for the money needed for adding a second level if you start with one like I did, start writing the more expensive books as soon as they become available. In hindsight (so perfect it is) I could have had the upper level much further along if I'd started writing bigger books sooner. After two short days of skilling; and yes once the entire back wall was up and covered I started her on painting, which I wish I'd done sooner - you'll see why later, which was the only skill she didn't have any points in yet; it was time for Grey's big transition from teen to young adult. Due to her bad school grades game mechanics assigned her the loner trait. Her LTW is renaissance sim. Sorry, dark steel grey sims don't show well in poorly lit homes. Dear Grey, Congrats you are now a YA. Time to earn your way in this digital world. Used random.org to roll 1 die to find out her career. It rolled a 1. "Roll of 1: Architect / Athletic / Business" not really what I was looking for but it will have to do. Grey has to work on Architect as it's the only professions based career on that list. Without ambitions installed this is the only profession that's getting lifted until journalism and/or military are lifted and I have more freedom to pick their jobs. Base game rules for lifting architect are:
Okay Grey time for your first job, welcome to the world of business, then you may (yes you Have to) go to the park to meet and greet as many townies as possible. In a way we are off to the races. Most of what she needs to get done is going to happen fairly quickly. Especially advancing up the work ladder, thanks to being a workaholic & ambitious. Looking around for a mate will come a bit later as I want her to master the celebrity challenge first for that friendship bump. She also needs that bump to help with the four good, or better friends, she's going to need to be eligible for getting a mate. Thanks to having already written 5 non-fiction books, writing a hit non-fiction was fast and easy one part done. Dear player, I see your sim has just started a new job and you probably want them to advance fast. Here let me fix that for you. ~ Game Mechanics Good bye Papa Steel. you made it to 99 (?100) sim days of age. ...... and what the heck, you're faded now why are you getting a job at the diner?????????? Dear Grey, I know you're sad & heart broken that your dad, Papa just passed I have more bad news for you. No more fresh food until you get married. Nor are you allowed to mourn Papa's fading. Ready set go ... Not bad Grey, not bad. Now it's time to switch jobs and start the climb over. Oh and don't forget no matter how much those men gush over you, you area Sagittarius which means you can only pair up with one of these signs Aquarius, Aries, Gemini, Leo, or Libra. Sorry no love at first sight for you or any of your descendants. Nice job, looks like politics really may have been your field but that's it you've completed 3/5th's of what you need to do now it's just art & mechanical skills to finish. For a loner being stuck home isn't to bad, Grey only needed off the lot once or twice a week. The final stretch with the art skill was the hardest. She could have had it finished sooner if: I had gotten her an easel sooner, which would have meant writing different books early on; secondly I realized that one of the rule changes was the lifting/removal of the old only one canvas a day rule. Something else I hadn't realized which might have sped things along, was that as an inappropriate sim she was allowed to sponge bath. She didn't need to stay stinky for so long. It seems like every time I play this challenge I learn new things about the sims themselves & the game mechanics or I discover something about the challenge I hadn't previously noticed. Dear player, I notice your sim is doing really well for herself. Let me fix that for you. ~ Game mechanics Hiccups aside Grey did finally clear the last two skill requirements with a nail biting 8 day's until elder. She also had to return to writing to boost her income to replace the stolen items. Now it's time to find a mate, so glad I didn't take the moral purity handicap, or it would have been game over. Grey was left with two choices as two sims had already turned elder and the teens I'd hoped for had incompatible signs. One was far more receptive to making out than the other, but in the end .... ... there can only be one. Welcome to the family Doni. Doni is half way through politics and is only 3 or 4 sim days younger than Grey. He's also naturally athletic, but no athletic skill time for him to race the clock for both the athletic & charisma skills. Since they got married with a bun in the oven, and architect is cleared let the expansion begin, up or down only though out is under politics. It also means cribs will be gotten since space is no longer on a tight premium. Food storage is now in the basement, because even though he doesn't have the neat trait Doni has already cleaned up saved food on me. Hello Donte, welcome to the apocalypse. Grey still has a few days so two it is. Yes I moved quick to insure back to back babies. This was an odd glitch, Donte aged up with a girls hair. I think I know why, and outside of restarting and carefully scanning each townie I planted I don't think it can be prevented. Hopefully the glitch vanishes from the save by generation 3. Might help if I relocate save cleaner too. Yes I took him into cas to fix it. To fix a glitch it's not considered cheating. :) From here out you'll be seeing him with an ea coded boys hair. Donte gets to read tot books. I still don't train tots until education is lifted when playing an apocalypse. For me it adds to the game. Daphne was welcomed in with Grey being at 0 days to elder for 2 days. There will be no additional simlets for generation 2. Since I saved and exited right after Daphne was born I have no clue who will be the heir. Not going for name themes or alphabet clusters those are just the two names I thought of when it was time to name them. :) Final note regarding game mechanics.
When you place a table light on the grill the game makes the grill a part of the light. So no a sim can not cook on a grill with a lamp on it but they can tune the lamps settins from the grill.
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Take two is going much better, so far. I borrowed a few tips from some fellow players. Tip 1 was have the elder have the slob trait, and have the child have a soup for the days meal and the elder can lick the bowl clean. Tip 2 was to have the elder, be an adult at first and as soon as the bookstore run is done tce age them to elder, which also allows to set as parent & child. Tip two had an additional advantage in that you won't need mastercontroller to set a family relationship between the elder and the child. First run I discovered that even though they were best friends, the elder & child would never share the bed, but the game mechanics will allow parents & children to share the bed. I also started with a completely empty lot this time, and adjusted income according to the rules. I never realized how much of a difference it made in what a sim can start with. Take one I had started them with the sparse bunker, after adjusting income they only had 1,507 for books and a computer. Take two, I was able to get 6 starting books (3 garden, 3 tot skill) and get them started in a semi posh starting bunker. I'm building above ground this time as a change of pace from the usual underground shelter I usually play. When I got Grey & Papa onto the lot Grey had lost 2 days of age in cas on me so I adjusted the child age to 12 days for the entire town. When Grey transitioned to teen the child age was readjusted back to the 10 days given by the challenge rules. Without further ado, here are Grey & Papa Steel 2.0; they have the same network and traits as before. Their starting shelter. I do not know if they can grill with the light on the grill, but I'm going to test it next time I'm in game. ;) Grey spent her first 10 days either at school or home working on books, unless it was a comm's day. Her days would usually start about 4 am, with a partial soup leaving the rest for Papa, and then she'd write until it was time for school. For breaks from writing she would either play chess with Papa, or workout to the stereo. By the 9th day both sink and toilet were busted, and she had earned enough money for 3 wall segments and a counter. Because Mondays are mob days, Grey spends little to no time writing. This way she doesn't loose to much in the way of family funds. Oddly the game has been paying them 1,200 every week. That doesn't get used and goes straight to the mob. Transition time. Grey had A's in school and was allowed to pick her trait, the random roll yielded inappropriate, sigh. Now the fun really begins, no more worry if Papa will die of old age before she transitions, since a teen can live solo, you just can't make a solo teen household in cas (without cheating). Dear Grey, wish I could let you read a skill book but I can't so good luck with the grill. Please don't catch fire. Since I'm base game only and had to pull the career mod for the challenge, I'm hoping the roll for her starting career will yield a path that won't show in the paper. Her first day as a teen went fairly well, big sigh of relief that the grill didn't catch fire. (Oh, and first blooper. When I was spending their limited funds I accidentally bought 3 windows instead of only the two allowed.) Oh dear ... not such a good week after all. The only upside is the neighbors followed the burglar up, which added two new sims to Grey's known sims list. Grey continued with her routine, make sandwiches, write, call people on comm's day, work out, fix the plumping, and learn skills. She may have an F in academics, but her skills are coming along very nicely. Grey has written 15 books: 5 fiction, 5 non fiction, and 5 scifi. She will be starting Drama or Mystery next. So far she's only had one hit. She got a baseball so now she drags Papa; who hates the outdoors, has mastered chess, and is 94 days in age; outside to play catch. I'm hoping he'll be outside when grim shows, but odds aren't in favor of such, but she's just a few days from her next transition so maybe she can drag him down to the park, with hopes of an off lot fade. The upper level is coming along nicely, and now that she's starting on books that earn more I might get her a ladder so she can practice painting. Meet Grey Steel, again. I aged her down in cas to child, new save - new sim. I was happy when she kept her ambitious, workaholic, and lucky traits. From here out her traits are random. Meet Papa Steel, Grey's assigned guardian. Hates the outdoors, unlucky, slob, natural cook, friendly. He loves hot dogs. After 1 trip to the store he is senile and uncontrollable. There network consists of: City Hall, the Big Park, the library, 90 James Dean Drive, 78 & 79 Dragnet Drive Additionally I updated the rest of the town. Removed a couple of empty houses, because I had accidentally placed a few to many. Rezoned all remaining lots to community no visitors allowed, and brutally ran all homeless out this time. Although I did forget to go around and fix my planted townies, oh well. First attempt ended with the social worker, header image, showing up two days before Grey became a teen because Papa Steel f'd up their food supply. So take two is going to have some readjustments. Here's a copy of my entry form.
Player name: Melinda (***Just for fun***) Apocalypse Family name: Steel Occult Set Up chosen: NA, base game only Advantages: none Handicaps: (copy pasted from the wiki)
World used: BYO Neighborhood http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=4186997 (granted industrial island would be a better fit, but I really need a break from industrial island.) EPs used: None, not even store content :( Network (community lots): Big Park, City Hall, Library Curfew Day: Wednesday's Will be trying for one of the following end requirements: (copy pasted from the wiki) "Look at all the Shinnies!" You must have every possible "Base Game" gem in every possible cut on your lot. Below is the gem list and cuts required.
"The Landlord" You must own 5 level 3 lots with one of the level 3 lots being the Big Park you started with at the beginning of the challenge.
"The Writer's Guild" The household Sims must have written, collectively, a best seller in every book category in the list below.
Took a bit but I think I finally have the town set up the way I want it. Although I might have one or two houses to many, so I need to delete a few so that not counting the founders house there are only 30 houses. I also need to edit a few lots to see why sims were getting stuck. I also need to fix some of the sims in cas. My approach to populating the world was to take my sims, and fill the larger 'compounds' (borrowed the Brokes trailer park from Riverview) with groups of 8. I filled about 12 lots this way. One lot was set up as an orphanage. I then let nraas storyprogression handle lot relocations, within 2 to 3 sim days the sims had spread out around the entire town, including a few relationship surprises. I have a sim set up for founder, who I'll be using. Since I've opted for a rainbow range of colors for the town, I picked steel grey hex code for the founders color. She looks pretty neat, the down side is she's not very photogenic in a barely lit room, let alone in the full light of day. Meet Grey Steel. Traits: Charismatic, Workaholic, Ambitious, Lucky, Great Kisser LTW: Renascence Sim; reach level 10 of 3 skills If I had ambitions or store laundry content installed, I'd pre-pick medical for the first lift. Since I don't, jobs fall to the luck of the draw on what is offered 1st in the paper. For heirs, the goal this game is to go with sims who are the closest blends of both parents. Game play outside of a few glitches went well, and her selected traits helped the career ladder climb go so smooth I never had to have her ask for a promotion. I did run into the stuck time glitch because I forgot to have the mods run the homeless out of town. I also forgot to delegate all empty residential lots to community lots. As with most of my past challenges I did the trial run with a below ground bunker. Starting with just 1 level and the barest of furnishings. By the time, she reached level 10 of the paper assigned career track the home was decently furnished. There is one non regulation chair, which I thought was okay because it's under the cost limit and only has 1 (+) for comfort, so I'll have to ask about it. A big mistake I made was forgetting to get the grill early on, even though it doesn't get used until after there is more than 1 sim in the house. Something I reflected on while building the lowest level is that starting with an above ground shelter might be a better option, as adding on will go faster. Plus windows. I don't fret space overly much, as I've successfully managed houses of 8 in an 8x8 for several generations before. So to me to levels of 8x8 is luxury accommodations for an apoc start. It's all in how the space is managed, so things that are considered regular such as cribs get banished from my personnel list of items to include. Yes it would keep the babies happy but they will sleep on the floor, another factor is that a crib like all other 2+ square items can't be moved around until after athletics is cleared, so other than the bed I try to minimize items larger than 1 square until after athletics. One other glaring variation, I have not downloaded any store content into the base game which means no laundry, and no laundry hamper. Although there are dirty laundry piles available in buydebug. The lack of dirty laundry was a nice factor, as my sim didn't constantly have a negative moodlet from the stinky piles everywhere. While very sparse in furnishings the park proved to be very popular, and no your not imagining it but there are duplicates of all the sims that got planted, triples in a few cases. I probably spent most of my time sim watching at the park while the founding sim was off at work. Since the park is part of the network my sim spent almost everyday after work there, except for the one curfew day, which for those with SN is the day of the full moon. One of the changes I'll make between the test run and actual game play is until my founder has met 25 sims I'm only going to have her great other females first. That way once it's time to meet coworkers & male teens/children (best way to get a ya partner) she gets the instant boost on the friendship. There is one major not a glitch potential fail situation, for which I happily take the cheat points ding on to fix. If your sim is working a career, like science, where they can get singed at work, you are s.o.l. for any bedroom romance beyond making out on the bed. As in no woohoo or try for baby options are available. All other regular romance options are available. If a sim gets singed while a YA, they will appear to change on their transition to Adult, however they will still have the singed moodlet. Which causes them to switch back to the singed appearance at a later time. The only ways to get rid of the singed moodlet buffer in game mechanics without using a mod, is to have the affected sim take a shower or bath. Swimming might work, but it's not something I've play tested. On a side note, the singed buffer on a near black sim makes them look like their walking around with nothing on. lol. Feeling the need for a break from the Verdes, so I'm going to switch over to an Apocalypse Challenge play for a while. I've stashed the other save out of the way so it doesn't have anything happen to it by accident.
For full Apocalypse Challenge rules check out the wiki. There's also a facebook group for the challenge. While not what many would call barren looking world or a disaster struck world like Rflong's Industrial Island, for the AC I'll be playing BYO Neighborhood by auntielynds from the exchange. It's a decent size world and it is completely empty, so it's going to take me a few days to get it set up as I want it & populated with a starting population. So it's going to take me some time before I create my founder or pick the options I'll be playing. I'm thinking of going rainbow colors for the sims this round, I love seeing the genetics play out. As to it's lush greenness, I'll pretend that it's all fake plants. ;) I'm still playing base game only, with the only added content being from Riverview. As to the mods for the AC I need to strip down to only the following: overwatch, error trap, storyprogression, and no cd. The other mods, especially the empty fridge mod, are incompatible with the challenge as you can't go harvest plants as needed without naturalist cleared. Ps, I'm journaling/charting the progress here instead of WP only because on weebly I don't have to worry about running out of room for media. |
The Restrictions
Additional Handicaps - Applies to all generations
Rite of Passage: In order to prove their worthiness as heir, before your sim can marry they must have made at least 4 good friends not including their future spouse. The Age of Aquarius: May only marry (or breed with) sims with compatible zodiac signs The Eyes Have It: All heirs must have the same eye/hair color as the founder. No Country for Old Sims: With a lack of proper healthcare, sims don't live very long and easily die of common diseases and complications of elder-hood. Elders living more than a few days are a rare occurrence. Change the Elder lifespan of your sims to only 4 days for the entire challenge. Greedy Gangsters: Not only you have to pay the mob on Mondays, now you have to do it on Thursdays too! You must continue your Monday payments even after you lift Criminal. Archives
September 2019
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