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Rebuilding Viper Valley and The Apocalypse Challenge

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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    The protection is paid to the crime boss (cleared by Life of Crime/Criminal Mastermind). There are several ways you can approach this. The simplest is once a week, sell everything you own back to the store if it was more than 100 simoleons to purchase new. Then you buy it back from the store at full cost - you are essentially loosing around 60% due to depreciation. If you don't like the idea of selling your stuff - keep a detailed list of everything you purchase each week, then once per week, use the family funds cheat to reduce your money by the amount you would loose by selling and rebuying all your goods. If you don't want to sell everything back or use cheats, then figure out your simoleon amount of protection each week, and buy enough goods - like big lemons, etc, to make up the amount you would pay in protection, and then put those goods in your family inventory - they will never be taken out, they will never be sold.

    Look in Life of Crime/Criminal Mastermind for a complete description of these rules :)

    God Bless,
    mik
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    hey all - how's your apocalypses going? I started a new one in Rflong's Ice Station. It is running smoothly and my first heir just aged to teen Dad cleared medical and mom is working on culinary. They are working through awfully fast, so I may take some of their days away and give them to the child age category, and maybe bump childhood to 10 days instead of 6. That means instead of 25 days, young adult and adult would only have 23 days each. Does anyone remember what aging was at in Sims 2? I would like to return to that since they seem to have fixed the mood bug for good now.

    In other news, I'm working on a new world called Centauri Shores. It is an earth type planet that circles Proxima Centauri. Sims reached that planet after 1400 years on a generational colony ship (I may have to figure out how to make the ship one of these days ...).

    The premise for this world and the apocalypse is that the colonists finally reach Proxima Centauri's 4th world and touch down. Unbeknownst to them, their landing rockets set off a chemical chain of events in the atmosphere that will put not only them but all life on the planet in jeapordy. The air turns foul, the plant life turns toxic, even the grass, and nature just basically goes crazy. After 6 weeks of terror and tragedy, there are only 10 colonists, 10 Pink aliens and 10 Blue aliens left on the face of the planet. It is up to your sim to rebuild the world, stop the cataclysm that is destroying everything and bring hope to the new race of sims that will conquer Centauri Shores.

    It will be a large world, be prepopulated with 30 sims (10 normal, 10 pink and 10 blue) have between 2 and 5 legacy lots to choose from, of varying price ranges so you can customize your challenge, and all rabbit holes up to Pets will be included. NOT all Night Life lots or Generations lots or Pets lots will be there, however. I'm going to try to keep it to around 35 total community lots and no more than 35 residential lots. There WILL be room to expand if you want to add lots later, though. I'll make sure there's flat areas prepared for accepting Edit Neighborhood changes.

    This world is going to be lush, the vegetation hasn't died - it just has turned very toxic.

    I'm still working on sculpting and laying roads. I am hoping to have pics for it in a few weeks.

    In the mean time, I'll be working on Challenge rules this week to finish getting things ready for Show Time. I'm not sure that ST is going to give us sweeping changes. There may be an alternate way to clear Film Actor/Director, but I'm not sure. We'll have to see how game play works out.

    Anyway - how is everyone doing? How are your sims? What generation are you on?

    God Bless,
    mik
  • thecubthecub Posts: 9 New Member
    edited January 2012
    My current apocalypse is by far my most successful attempt yet. I must have tried at least a dozen times with Ashleigh's rules and only twice did I make it to the third generation. Right now my fifth generation triplets are about to become children. They'll be working on Politics, Ghost Hunter and DaVinci. After Mom lifts DNA (currently at level 4) she'll have another child who will try Amazing Naturalist.

    This is actually my third attempt with the current rules. I quit the first attempt after two weeks because it didn't seem right to play in a lush, green neighborhood like Sunset Valley. I downloaded Viper Valley and tried again. My founder lifted the Athletic restriction and then he got married. He had the Slob trait so food was no problem when he was alone, but with two people in the house I realized how difficult the Culinary restriction really was. Ashleigh's version had no restrictions on group meals or leftovers. I became aware of other differences between her rules and the current rules, and I realized that a lot of my former strategies would no longer apply. So I scrapped that game and tried again, and now I'm up to week 26 with about half of the restrictions lifted.

    I think my current game is a lot more successful than my previous attempts because I've learned a lot more about the game in the last year and a half. I've also played many of the challenges over at Carl's Sims 3 Forum. After learning about winning strategies from other participants, and thinking outside the box to come up with my own ideas, I've learned how to push my sims to the limit. For example, my generation 4 heir maxed the Athletic skill, had 5 points in five other skills, completed two Charisma skill challenges, and was best friends with five potential spouses - all while he was still a teen. By pushing my sims as hard as I can, they can use their skills and abilities to benefit future generations.

    I've had a very busy week at work and I've hardly been able to play my game for the last several days. I've got a lot of catching up to do...
  • rambleramble Posts: 70 New Member
    edited January 2012
    mikitta47 wrote:
    Anyway - how is everyone doing? How are your sims? What generation are you on?

    I could summarise my family in what thecub said:
    thecub wrote:
    My current apocalypse is by far my most successful attempt yet.

    I was on 5th (or 6th, depending on how you count it) generation when my computer suddenly died a couple of months back. However, I'm hopeful that I will be able to transfer the game files from my backed up hard disk to the new computer. I'll just need to remind myself which EPs I had installed at the time and make sure they are all installed...

    The said family was almost through with the challenge, with only 7 restrictions wholly (2) or partially (5) unlifted. It shouldn't take long for me to finish the challenge if I only had time to locate the backup game file and start playing 8)
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    thecub - wow, sounds like you are doing GREAT! What fun to play all these different challenges :) I wish EA would put more book keeping things in game - like who got to level 10 in what career in the family, how many generations have passed - things that could go in the memory journal - it would make keeping track of legacies so much easier!

    ramble - I hope you get set up with a new computer soon! What a bother to have that happen to your hard drive. I'm glad you had your game files backed up!

    Well, I haven't actually PLAYED Sims3 in over a week LOL!! I've been working on Centauri Shores and Birdie Atol. The second world isn't a challenge world, it's a small island, though you COULD play it as a regular legacy and I'm including a legacy priced lot for that purpose. I should have it ready to post to the exchange in a few weeks, assuming I stay motivated to work on it. I usually keep 2 or 3 projects active at the same time so I don't get burned out looking at the same scenery constantly. It kept me sane when working on Rattlesnake Ridge :)

    I may take a little time tomorrow and play my Holmes legacy. See if I can get the mom through Culinary. Clearing Medical and Culinary for the first two careers of the challenge almost makes it like cheating!

    God Bless,
    mik
  • VRStevensonVRStevenson Posts: 4,396 Member
    edited January 2012
    Ive never followed any legacy rules of any kind so starting with this may not be the wisest thing, but im going to do it. lets see if i can follow the rules!!
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    Welcome VRStevenson!!

    When I first started playing Legacy style, I started w/ the Apocalypse. Something about it just clicked for me. It gets addicting after a while :D

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Hello All!!
    I've been reading through all the rules and I've just started on this challenge. It seems very difficult and I get bored easily so thought I may be up for the challenge. I've read both sets of rules and am trying to figure them out.

    I downloaded Rattlesnake Ridge and LOVE it! I've built my home on the largest empty lot, 8X8, on pillars. I've bought all the required objects and have made it through my first week.

    Edna is my sim I chose to start with. She got her job from the newspaper and it turned out to be in Althletics. Not what I really wanted, but oh well, that is the rule. She has actually done really well and is at level 4 already at the end of the first week. She is now used to being smelly and it hardly bothers her at all!
    I've also paid my first week's protection money.

    I have a few questions and I hope I haven't messed up too bad at this point.
    I've moved in one of my co-workers to be Edna's husband. (They are taking it slow because she doesn't want to have children until she reaches the top of her career.) They were at the best friend level when she invited him over. Hopefully by inviting him over, I didn't break any rules. I don't know how else to get to the romantic stuff without him coming to my house and I know I can only go to work and back.
    Also, now that he is moved in, I have a question about food. I know I can prepare 1 meal per day. Can I save the leftovers and eat them either the next day or later in the day. I can't tell if it is limited to only "Preparing" one meal or only eating once per day. Plus if they go to work hungry, then they usually eat at work. So would that count as the 1 meal of the day?

    Thanks for your help!
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  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Ok, I found the answer to my first question! Calling best friends seems to be ok, they have to romantic OR Best friend status, so I'm ok on that one.

    I still don't know about the leftovers, I'm guessing, NO to eating leftovers but would like to know for sure. I did put some leftovers in my refrigerator, but have not used them yet. With the cheap frig, they only last a day or 2 anyway, so it won't be that much of a help anyway.

    Another thing, what would you suggest that I do with my "Husband to be"? He is in the athletic career also, he wants to be a musician, but I know that since he is already employed, he can't just quit. I don't need 2 people doing athletics, so what do you think the next best thing for him to do would be?
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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    Are you following Ashleigh's rules or the rules on the Wikia - they are a little different. The Wikia rules follow Pinstar's original challenge more closely.

    1. Left overs - if you have made a group meal, you may not store left overs in the fridge. BUT you can leave the food sit out and your sims can eat spoiled food if they are desperate. You can prepare food one time per sim day, but as long as it is not put in the fridge, it can be eaten at any time.

    2. Your co-worker. Weer you at the top of your career before moving him in? If not, you broke the rule. You cannot invite ANYone to become a member of the household until Hopelessness is lifted - that means, when your founder has cleared the first career.

    3. Because of the lack of walk bys, depending on where you place your founder, and how many non-player sims you have wandering around, you are allowed to go off lot to any other lot within 5 lot spaces of yours. You CAN cross the road, but you can't go through intersections. So if Founder Fred lives at the end of a cul-de-sac, he can visit everyone who lives within 5 lots of his on that road, so long as he doesn't have to go across any intersections to do so. He can also visit any community lots within that distance. This helps immeasurably with meeting potential mates.

    Since this is your first attempt at the challenge, don't worry terribly about having to start over. You can move the co-worker out for the time being and then work toward romance once you have Athletics cleared.

    I hope this helps clear things up a little.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    AHHHH!! No, I'm not to the top of my career yet! I've been looking at both sets of rules, so I guess I didn't see that about being at the top of the career first. Ashleigh's rules say that Hopelessness is not lifted until all over restrictions are lifted. So, that is a big difference.

    SOOOO, I guess I should move him out. He's not going to be of any help that I can figure out to lift a restriction anyway. He's almost an elder.
    There's a house across the street that is empty, so I guess I'll move him there so I won't continue to break that rule.

    Ok, so if I move him out, once I reach the top of my career, I can ask him to move back in? If he is an elder, I can't control him directly, but can I still Try for baby and make my heir? Or should I find a younger mate?

    Thanks for your help! It's a lot of fun so far, even though I made a mistake!!


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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    It's entirely up to you weather you decide to marry him in or not. You could also just try for baby with him and hope you have enough money saved up from your career to get you through till your heir reaches adulthood. But if you want a spouse that has a chance of lifting a restriction - go for a younger sim :)

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    I'm completely overwhelmed!! LOL!! This is so hard!

    I married the same guy, just because I was running out of time to find a younger one. By the time I reached top of Athletics, he was an elder and almost out of time. Even so, We got married and had 2 pregnancies before he died.

    A son with the first pregnancy and then twin boys with the second. I had just enough time to get the boys to children and teen before I turned to elder. I hate elders! Not controlling her is killing me. I must admit, I've had to cheat a few times. I can't stand for her to stand around and not do something productive.

    So, the plan is for the first son to lift the elder restriction. Comforting the children or whatever it is called. So far so good! He got 5 of creative and got the painting done just in the nick of time. Shoo... So, now just working on the writing skill. I've not done the writing skill much, so I'm not sure how hard it is to get $4000 in royalties. It sounds impossible! Plus 5 best sellers and one hit.. Yikes.

    I'm not sure what the twins will do. They are still children, so need to get them out of school.

    The whole teen not going to school thing is killing me too. Mom keeps scolding him for missing school.

    Another question is once I figure out who is going to be the heir and get him married. Can I move one of the other brothers out? I can't control all those people.
    I'm hoping I can get medical next. I'd love to have a bath!! Or culinary would be great too.
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  • thecubthecub Posts: 9 New Member
    edited January 2012
    jobug1015 wrote:
    I'm completely overwhelmed!! LOL!! This is so hard!
    Hang in there. It gets a little bit easier with every restriction you lift. :)
    So, now just working on the writing skill. I've not done the writing skill much, so I'm not sure how hard it is to get $4000 in royalties. It sounds impossible! Plus 5 best sellers and one hit.. Yikes.
    The best choice for writing is Children's books. You'll need level 3 Writing and level 4 Painting skills. Children's books are short so you'll be able to write more of them, which should increase your chances of more hits and best sellers. The royalty payments are pretty good considering how short the books are. Also, make sure to read every book you write. Your writing speed should increase after you read a certain number of books (I think it's 15 or 20.) I've managed to get §4000 in royalties while still a young adult so that shouldn't be too difficult for you.
    The whole teen not going to school thing is killing me too. Mom keeps scolding him for missing school.
    Just have the teen Apologize and Beg For Forgiveness. That should get rid of any bad moodlets. If a teen is having a mood swing they won't have the Beg For Forgiveness option, but Mom should have an option to Let Off The Hook or something like that. Just make sure to watch their relationship scores. The relationship takes a negative hit each time they get scolded. My founder was best friends with his sons when they were children, but by the time they got through their teens they weren't even friends anymore. So make sure to keep their relationship scores up.
    Another question is once I figure out who is going to be the heir and get him married.
    I'd probably stick with the Comforting Child. If he's staying at home to write he won't be working regular hours, so he should have more time for meeting a spouse and taking care of children. He also won't have to miss time from work after getting married.

    Good luck with your challenge. It does get easier as time goes on. And remember, if you can make it through a challenge this difficult, you can make it through anything! :)
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    TheCub has some awesome pointers!!

    A hint about the writing - the more books you write in a genre, the faster you write them, also the better they become. I didn't know that about reading the books too - I'll have to incorporate that into my game!

    As for moving sims out - once you have cleared Military, you may. But not before then.

    Overwhelming - I agree, it gets easier as time goes on and you clear restrictions :) Hang in there. The next generation will get so much simpler! Especially once you have comforting children cleared.

    Oh, and by the time you have finished the challenge, your entire concept of how to play Sims is going to take on a whole new light. You will find yourself breezing through things that you thought were difficult before TS3AC :D

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Thanks for all the tips, I'm making some progress, but it is still hard.

    My founder sim is still alive. I'm just waiting for her to die. I hope she isn't glitched though. She died earlier today while I was playing, but my game crashed so I had to restart, and it was last saved the morning before she died. So, I've been playing again for an additional 3 days and she hasn't died again yet. I have the problem with random crashes and I'm not sure why, but it is really getting on my nerves.

    All the boys are now teens and honestly, I'll be glad to see her go. Keeping up the relationship when she scolds them every day for skipping school is about to do me in!

    My sim, Emmett, is working on the comforting child. He's doing good. Working on getting to 10 painting before he ages to YA. I have I think 3 days, so should be fine, I'm at 7 now, almost 8.

    The other 2 are just working on random skills, since I don't know what they will be doing yet.

    Just a funny side note, Emmitt's bestselling book right now is a children's book. He's only written 2, the first was a flop. My Mommy is a Zombie is doing pretty well! LOL! I'm trying to name all the books something end of the world related. It's pretty funny!
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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    LOL I like the name of your books!

    I'm on Gen 3 now, though my Gen 2 spouse had to quit journalism because she didn't have Friends relationship with her boss (required because of forced days off for graduation). She was just about ready to hit level 6. BUT now she is in Military, and it's going to be ok, because she has 10 in athletic. She just needs to get a good relationship with the boss and one co-worker before the other daughter ages up to YA and graduates. The first daughter just aged up and she got a job in Law Enforcement. The second daughter is working on Comforting Children and got to level 6 in painting before aging up, painted a BRILLIANT portrait of her elder father when she hit level 7 as a teen, and is level 5 already with the writing. I have her paint a large painting once a day, and then she writes. I've churned out 3 Brilliant paintings so far.

    The mom and eldest daughter need to hustle to get the friendships going - hopefully their co-workers will show up at the park. Dad cleared Politics, his parents cleared Medical and Culinary. It's going well. Still hard, though - especially with so many people in the house hold to manage.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Sounds like you have it all going really well!

    I've not painted anything Brilliant yet. What are some things to do to increase the chances? Do you know of any tips?
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  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    If my Founder doesn't die soon, may I have permission to kill her? LOL!!

    Seriously, I'm giving her another couple days and then she may have an accident. She should have died 3 sim days ago like before my game shut down.

    She almost burned the house down preparing the meal for the day. I had one of the boys ask for food, so she started cooking some hotdogs on the grill. Well, the bus came and they skipped school and of course she stopped everything, hotdogs on the grill and had to scold all 3 boys. So, the grill catches on fire! Thankfully, it was contained to only the grill, but that was a bad day! LOL!
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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    OH NO!! LOL - I've had sims like that. But they were absent minded, stopped cooking waffles and went off to READ while I was busy with another sim in the house hold. Luckily her eldest child was brave and the fire was put out pretty quick - but regardless... I feel your pain!

    As for deaths - there is a random window after the max number of days, where a sim may continue to live on. I had one sim that lived for 3 whole sim weeks after he was supposed to kick the bucket - and I was ready to do him in too, because he was just obnoxious! Hang in there, maybe momma will die soon.

    Once the kids are teens - if there are uncontrollable elders in the house - I have the teens do the cooking since I can direct them.

    As for painting brilliant paintings - it has a lot to do with how many paintings they have completed, what their stats are and weather it's a portrait/still life or just a regular painting. I get more brilliant paintings when I do still lifes and portraits than with just avarage small, medium or large pictures. There's a painting skill challenge, after you have painted so many pictures, you have a better chance of brilliant pictures, too. Other than that, I don't know what advice to give - but to keep painting.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Mama has passed on!! Woohoo... may she rest in peace and not haunt her sons!:)

    My oldest son did not make the comforting child!! ARGH! He aged up before I got to level 10 in painting... I was close, but not quite there. SO, I'm going to find him a wife and let the next generation try to do it. Once the twins age up, they will get jobs and hopefully help lift some restrictions.
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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    You did know you get 10 days to have aging turned off, right? Just in case you get one of those humps where all you need is a few more days to clear this one pesky thing.

    I had to use it for Comforting Children to get the painting to 10 in the teens, and then for Military - my spouse in military was just ONE more day away from clearing it, but was in danger of dying of old age.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Ahhh, you know I remember reading that and forgot all about it!! Do you just turn aging off for a day or 2, or extend the life stage? LOL! Oh well, I'll try again with the next generation!! :)

    I had to move a park closer to my home lot. I was not having ANY walk bys and only one house across the street. It's not much of a park, but sims tend to gather there anyway. :)

    My oldest has met 2 ladies that he is trying to become friends with. I wish we could tell how old a sim is, I'd hate to move a lady in that is almost an elder. You just can't tell! One is unemployed and the other works at the grocery store. Not much to pick from!

    The second son turned to YA, and he lucked out and got Military. The other twin hasn't aged up yet for some reason. Should be any time now. I'm hoping he gets a good job too. We are running low on funds, since no one worked after Mama turned elder and lived forever. The protection tax is going to be due soon and I don't think we will have enough to pay it all.
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  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited January 2012
    Just turn aging off - keep track of how many days you use. I used up all 10 of mine to get my sim through Painting and her mother through military. She was this || close to promotion - basically two work days of working hard. And it took me 4 days, because military only works every other day at that level.

    I have a sim stuck too - he's almost 120 days old and JUST WON'T DIE. It might have something to do with all the exercise, too, though. I may make a rule if an elder sim won't die by the time they are 130 days old then you are allowed to use testingcheatsenabled true to age them to their next life stage.

    As for your house - sounds like things are getting tense! Good that your sim got Military because that's one of the big ones. One way you can keep money coming in to the household is to have one of the teens write books. They can do that even if journalism hasn't been cleared, and get the royalties. It keeps them occupied while they have nothing else to do but work out, and once you are writing pretty fast, you can write 3 books a day (doing it all day).

    It's ok if you added a park since this is your first go with the challenge. Next time you start, you will be more savvy with everything that you want around you before the play starts :) And then you will still be amazed that you miss stuff LOL! I've played through the AC three times for Sims 2 and this is actually only my third go with Sims 3. I've gone all the way through once, and then two other times my family bugged so bad I couldn't play them by the fifth generation.

    God Bless,
    mik

  • jobug1015jobug1015 Posts: 1,854 Member
    edited January 2012
    Your right, if I make it through this one and try again, I will plan stuff out a little better. I just picked one of the biggest lots and didn't pay attention that there was nothing around it!! I'm not sure I'll survive this one though! LOL!

    I think your right about the exercise too, it does make sims live longer. I didn't think about that.

    I only have 1 computer, so I had the oldest writing books first. He finished 2, I think, then he started with painting. The second boy started writing too, he finished 1 or 2 books. The royalties wasn't very much, but it did help some.

    Here we go to see if I can get the oldest married.. wish me luck!!
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