I sometimes feel like the apocalypse challenge isn't hard enough. Most likely this is due to the number of times I've played through the challenge since I learned about it when Ts2 was the Sims game to play. So through this page of the blog I'm going to explore idea's here and there for s3 as well as s4 on ways to tweak the challenge for an added level of challenge. My current curiosity "will the game mechanics work", and one I've had several times is can an apocalypse start in an empty world. Those who've read or browsed my old Avani family story, might recall that I started that apocalypse in an emptied out Sunset Valley and then had to fix the world and reboot my start after a fashion. With s3 completed by ea/maxis and no new add on's coming out it is now safe to hazard that the base mechanics of the game (if you own all ep's & sp's) won't be changing anymore. Before showtime came out, if you did not have rabbit holes or at minimum a city hall civics rabbit hole on your town's world map you were pretty pooched. Ambitions and Showtime however added professions to the game mechanics, and I can say without doubt that most, if not all, professions are available from the newspaper with no rabbit hole building's on the map. This does not mean I'm going to explore my idea of an empty start just by having sims work professions, as some of the professions get a little buggy even when playing out of a pre-built world. One other concept I'll be exploring, is one that I've been tossing around for several years now ever since the Generations Ep added the Daycare career track, which is to split education into two or more clears.
Additionally I think it's doable as a skill based set of independent clears, except for the ECE - Daycare component. Resources I'll be using to test idea's:
Premise or back story if you will: Your sim as well as other refugee's (30 houses & households) have managed to survive the global meltdown by getting away from civilization and finding a remote place to stay. As the last arrival to the area, your sim brings the news that civilization as it was known is completely gone. There are small random pockets like this one across the globe (if you have WA or ITF), but travel is hazardous if not downright lethal, and it's best to not try to travel at all if you want to live a long life. Trust is minimal at best as competition begins to form amongst the survivor's for who would make the best leader or what is most essential for the communities survival. Based on the information from caw population each of the potential career paths will require your sim to have at least one good, or better, friend in the community to help back your sim and name the family as a pseudo community leader. For this harder aspect of the challenge you'll be starting out with the Disconnected handicap. Which means the only place available to visit will be the worksite and the big park. Worksites will vary based on the clear. Meals: Unless the More Cheese Please advantage is taken, your sim is still limited to the one meal a day limit. This does cut into your sims available work time for building up skills, since once they get really hungry the only thing they will do is sleep and talk on the phone on comms days. Additionally, until hopelessness is cleared the only food allowed is the canned soup. After hopelessness is cleared the only added food is the mystery stuff hot dogs/veggie dogs. Phones: I hadn't given much thought on them, oops! Will need to decide if enough wire was run to connect the existing lots through a limited switchboard, or if a lone cell tower and satellite survived for limited use. Adding an advantage to the potential list of advantages/disadvantages: Born for This: With a -5 point penalty for those who like to score the challenge - roll the clear to be attempted before entering cas so that you tailor your sims traits & ltw towards the clear. If taken your sim is not allowed to attend uni, or take any uni related advantages. Haven't explored if it's compatible or incompatible with any of the other advantages or handicaps yet. Important note, even with selecting traits tailored towards the clear don't forget to add the slob trait. For that matter there's a lot I haven't completely explored or thought through, such as the phones mentioned above, beyond some very basic concepts. Income: Some of the clears include a skill that can potentially generate income. In addition to the twice a week zeroing of funds, I'll be exploring limits on how a sim can maintain a basic income for food and paying the bills. In addition to any other income based needs, such as owning a lot if need be as the work site. Ps, for best game mechanic results it's strongly recommended to start with a completely empty world which means a player made world. Some possible worlds:
List of Clears from S3AC Rules
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