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Rebuilding Viper Valley and The Apocalypse Challenge

Comments

  • NightRowanNightRowan Posts: 19 Member
    edited June 2011
    In regards to new features from Generations, I'm thinking that the romantic option of giving flowers should be restricted by The Amazing Naturalist.

    After School clubs would obviously be restricted by Military and Education, and Ballet and Music Club would also need to be restricted by Rock Star.
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Oooh I didn't realize there were clubs :O I do agree - no flowers till Naturalist is cleared. Probably no gift giving at all till master thief is cleared or super spy? or both?

    I talked to hubby and after some discussion on the expansion in another forum - it would seem that EA has fixed the specific bugs that have really affected me. So, I'm going to bite the bullet and get it.

    However, I won't be installing it on THIS machine until I'm done with Rattlesnake Ridge, since I'm so close. Don't want to bork up CAW.


    Comforting Children ...

    I honestly don't like how uninvolved this restriction is as written right now. I can see your issue with suppression, Ang. However I really want the restriction tied to more of a career than just skill up to half way yada. It doesn't FEEL right to me. Remember that if a rule change comes along and you have already lifted the restrictions it governs - you are grandfathered in. Don't worry about it till you play your next challenge.

    However, weather Comforting Children is put into the venue of Day Care + suppression until the career is cleared for those with Generations or not, it's going to receive a change to bring it more in line with the effort to clear other things, like DaVinci and Naturalist - both of which take considerable effort to obtain.

    I still like the idea of getting painting level 5 by the end of childhood + level 10 by the end of the teenage period + a masterpiece by the time is an adult and before elder, and writing level 10 with a certain number of best selling hits in the children's genre and a certain amount of money earned before the sim reaches elder. Though in order to do this, you would need AT LEAST journalism cleared in order to write anything but non-fiction and if I tie things to a self employment career for those with Ambitions - then you will also need military and master thief cleared (so the sim can have a self employed career AND go to city hall to register for it).


    Hmm Bare bones - no self employment or other restrictions, so it can be lifted right away ... how does this look
    Alternate Rules
    Painting
    - Before child reaches teen - painting at level 5
    - Before teen reaches YA - painting at level 10
    - Before Adult reaches elder - 1 masterpiece.

    Writing
    - Before sim reaches elder - writing at level 10, 10 best sellers, 20,000 in royalties.

    Miscellaneous
    - Best Friend status with an elder sim.

    If you have Generations, you can choose to use the suppression rules - one child per generation must attain level 5 in painting to keep their elders sprightly until someone clears the Day Care career OR you can use the alternate rules, but you are not allowed to have sims in the Day Care career at all for the entire challenge.

    For those using the alternate (non-generation/daycare rules) clearing comforting children IS their career. That is the only restriction they can lift.

    For those using the suppression rules with the Day Care Career, attaining level 5 in painting as a child does not exclude them from lifting another restriction once they become adults.

    Thoughts?

    God Bless,
    mik
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    Gah... I keep getting confused on something.... every time I think I have it straight I get bamboozled again. (cry)

    I've just cleared Journalism... (and science)
    Military was already cleared...

    I've had NO ONE in Criminal.

    Can I walk to a job of MY choice?
    Or do I first need to clear Criminal??

    All the Ambitions careers have Military as a prerequisite but not criminal, so I'd decided my next heir would walk so she could choose from any job... But reading through the Journalism rules, I see the criminal bit, which makes it appear that criminal Master Thief should be also listed as a prerequisite. :(

    --- Another thing.... On another computer yesterday I can't log in from, I saw discrepancies between the 'lifetime rewards' wiki page, and the rules...

    I don't remember off-hand for certain what they were.. I'll try to post later to tell you...

    However there's another one (I don't think the same one?)
    Teleportation Pad -- rules limited by Military and Alien Tech...
    In the Reward Doc it's limited by Science. (ONLY science)
    OK.. maybe this is the one I saw yesterday... But I think there was another one too...


    Another Question.....
    Can my TOC scientist do "Try experiment on"?
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Ambitions careers don't need master thief cleared. But they DO need Super Spy cleared (I need to amend that) because on so many of them you have to go into other sims houses. I've got a sim in Private Investigator right now and he's got to go into many houses quite often. I'm not scoring this challenge, and if I were, I would have lost on generation 2 LOL. So - yeah - all the professions REQUIRE Military and Super Spy to be cleared AT THE MINIMUM.

    With the professions, You don't have a boss, per se, and you really aren't working for yourself so much as you are working for the city. Any self employment careers (writing, photography, painting, sculpting, inventing, etc) DO need master thief cleared.

    So -
    Restrictions to lift in order to do the professions
    1. Military
    2. Super Spy (law enforcement)
    Restrictions to lift in order to be self employed
    1. Military
    2. Business
    3. Master Thief (Criminal)

    As to the special lifetime rewards, the ones you get something to help you do things with, like teleport, improve your mood, etc ...
    Restrictions
    1. Science
    2. Alien Technology
    3. Item Specific restrictions
    Food Replicator - Culinary
    Teleportation Pad - Super Spy
    Map to the Stars - both Film careers
    Moodlet Manager - not sure on this one, maybe both Music careers?
    Body Sculptor - Athletics
    Collection Helper - Naturalist
    My Best Friend - DaVinci (already made a robot)


    To answer your question - yes your TOC Scientist can experiment on things :)

    God Bless,
    mik


    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    mikitta47 wrote:
    Ambitions careers don't need master thief cleared. But they DO need Super Spy cleared (I need to amend that) because on so many of them you have to go into other sims houses. I've got a sim in Private Investigator right now and he's got to go into many houses quite often. I'm not scoring this challenge, and if I were, I would have lost on generation 2 LOL. So - yeah - all the professions REQUIRE Military and Super Spy to be cleared AT THE MINIMUM.

    With the professions, You don't have a boss, per se, and you really aren't working for yourself so much as you are working for the city. Any self employment careers (writing, photography, painting, sculpting, inventing, etc) DO need master thief cleared.

    So -
    Restrictions to lift in order to do the professions
    1. Military
    2. Super Spy (law enforcement)
    Restrictions to lift in order to be self employed
    1. Military
    2. Business
    3. Master Thief (Criminal)
    OK.. I should have Super Spy cleared soon...

    But I'm still confused... what you answered and the rules don't completely mesh...

    Master thief forces you to accept the first job available via paper or computer... Not just journalism... Is that supposed to be only forced in journalism??

    Otherwise you need master thief for ALL careers...
    -Normal careers
    -Professions
    -Self employment.

    So...
    To walk and get a job, do I still have to use the computer or newspaper to choose a basic career?
    Or can I choose any basic one now, - Any profession once I unlock LE Super Spy, - and any self employed once I unlock Master thief?
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Well, if you look in the paper or on the computer you can look at professions - if you don't have Master Thief done, you have to take the first one available in which ever one you chose. In other words - if Master Thief is not done, and you want to put your sim in a profession, like Stylist or Fire Fighter - you look in the paper or on the computer under Profession and you take the first one offered. You aren't restricted to ONLY Career Jobs, you can take Profession Jobs as well so long as Military and Super Spy are cleared.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    If you don't have Master Thief cleared, you either have to do the paper, the computer or roll a die for your work.

    For Ambitions Careers -
    1. Fire Fighter
    2. Private Investigator
    3. Ghost Hunter
    4. Stylist
    5. Architect
    6. Re-roll (or insert Day Care if you have Generations)

    For Jobs
    1. Business or Law Enforcement
    2. Music or Education
    3. Science or Culinary
    4. Journalism or Medical
    5. Military or Criminal
    6. Political or Athletic

    If you have cleared things out so you have numbers without jobs, just shuffle the jobs a bit so every number has a job assigned. Roll a 6 sided dice (like a die you get in a Monopoly game) and take one of the corresponding jobs or careers.

    If you choose from the paper or the computer - they randomize for you already and you get what you get. You can't walk to your place of employment.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    Re: Generations...

    I just heard that if you throw a wedding party, you receive gifts in the mail for a few days afterwards....
    I don't know if that is also the case for a private wedding.

    Obviously, if it's only the Party that has wedding gifts mailed to you, unlocking parties would be required to receive the gifts...

    But if you get them on private Weddings as well, you may want to set some restrictions on if you can open them, and if you can keep them, or have to shunt them to family inventory (if they don't already go there), like Celebrity gifts.

    I don't have the EP yet, so I can't test, but when I saw someone else's comment regarding this in a group I'm part of, I thought I should pass it on.
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    I had heard some very positive things concerning bugs being fixed with the expansion so we went ahead and got the expansion. Hubby has it on his computer now. I won't be putting it on this machine till RR is done or I hear the general borkedness with CAW is fixed. I'll play tonight late and get a feel for the new features.

    Dae - you make good points with the gifts. I'll do some testing. In general, it will be like it was in TS2AC - any gifts you receive can be left on the lot where they spawn. BUT if they all spawn in the mail box - then you might have to designate a basement storage room for them, or stick them under the foundation of your house if you don't want to throw them into the black hole of your family inventory (remember only a select few things can be removed from that inventory).

    Another thing to consider with gifts - is it JUST weddings you can give and receive gifts? If they made it like TS2, you can get a gift from a best friend or a romantic interest who hands it to you.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    First impressions ...

    Day Care career will be tied to it's own set of restrictions that are Generations specific. We'll keep Comforting Children as is with the changes I've proposed to bring it in line with the difficulty of clearing other careers.

    Day Care
    Requirements - Military, Education and International Super Spy

    - Kids can't do after school activities (also restricted by education)
    - Kids can't go to boarding school (also restricted by education, politics, L.E. DNA and L.E. Super Spy)
    - Kids may not play in or own tree houses (also restricted by Naturalist)
    - Kids may not play on the playground, ride the playground horse or play in the sand box on community lots, nor may they use any other playground equipment anywhere else.
    - Sims may not buy any playground equipment at all for their home, except for the cheapest hopscotch panel item.
    - Kids may not play submarine in the tub
    - Sims may not pull pranks
    - Sims may not use the slip n slide (also restricted by naturalist)
    - Kids may not use the dress up trunk
    - Adults may not Woohoo in the shower, the tree house or other odd places. They can only woohoo in bed (they have to watch after the kids and don't have the freedom for all those imaginative places)
    - Adults may not leave on the "free" vacation
    - Sims may not use strollers for their toddlers
    - Sims may not use The Claw interaction with their toddlers
    - Teen sims may not break curfew at all
    - Sims may not ask about Alma Mater
    - Possibly more to come ... have to think on it


    The expansion is very good - EA actually outdid itself. I won't know how much is fixed till I have it installed on this computer, but on my husband's set up it runs very nicely. There's still an issue with too many cars, but they aren't quite so bad as they used to be. The bad moodlet bug does seem to be fixed as well. I tested a sim on the new bunk beds and got the well rested moodlet with no ill effects.

    NOW .. here's something that needs to be discussed. I believe the patch gives everyone the sliders to customize sims aging? Can anyone verify that for me please?

    Here are my proposals for sims life spans ...

    1. Babies - 1 day
    2. Toddlers - 3 days
    3. Children - 7 days
    4. Teens 14 days
    5. Young Adult - 25 days
    6. Adult - 25 days
    7. Elder - 15 days

    That gives us a total of 90+ days, since elders can live a bit longer than their max life span. It also gives us 50 days, instead of 40, in which to clear a career and start a family. For the founder that means less time with aging off. We could also make YA and Adult be 30 days each and remove the aging off caveat entirely. That makes the lifespan be 100+ days from start to finish. That's what I'm leaning toward. What are your thoughts?

    Reading to children. You can read skill books to children now. This is going to be allowed from day 1 in the challenge.

    I'm thinking I'll allow the hopscotch panel item (the cheapest one) since it builds athletic for EVERYONE, including kids. It also builds fun.

    The chemistry set will be restricted by science.

    Flowers and gifts - I need to go back to the TS2AC to see what restricted those. You can give flowers or gifts as a part of social interactions. I had the option right away. Also, you can go out on dates - so that is going to be governed too.

    Bunk Beds and Elevated Beds - you can have the cheapest of these (they are the white metal tube variety, have an energy of 4 and a single + comfort rating). They are a bit less expensive than the bed you are allowed right away, too.

    Sleeping bags - allowed, but you can't sleep on the ground in them. They have to be on a foundation or in a basement or on a floor on stilts until Naturalist is cleared.

    Ghost Stories - allowed - it's a social interaction where the sim shines a flashlight into their face and you get some graphics effects.

    Teens learning to drive - haven't figured that one out yet. But it will be restricted by science and L.E. DNA for sure LOL!

    That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure more will come to me as I play the expansion.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • Anghara130Anghara130 Posts: 233 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Hi Mikitta,

    I can definitely verify the individual age range sliders are in game and working (at least for me). I also agree with your ages as you list them, because they make sense.

    There is a major bug with Romantic interactions - not everyone is reporting it, but man did that mess me up! Luckily I wasn't playing the Kings, but a regular vanilla couple who both have the Surrounded by Family LTW, not gonna happen for them, they started flirting and suddenly got creeped out and now they're not talking! *shakes head*. A quick peruse shows AwesomeMod is now in testing and has fixed this one, but as that's the main mod I use I haven't checked the rest of the core mods.

    Flowers and Gift giving were restricted by, iirc, the S2 versions of Intelligence, Business, and the acting one? I can't find my notes, and it's past my bedtime, but I wanted to check in before heading off....

    night all! Sleep well, or should that be Sim well?
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    I just installed the Generations Patch...
    (No EP for me yet...)

    I immediately encountered a bug or few...
    I want to know if others are experiencing this (these), or if it's a glitched lot, so I need to move out and rebuild.

    First thing I noticed, but minor... My sims all get an "Unfinished Room" moodlet (-10) in portions of the house where they've never gotten it before...
    It SEEMS the moodlet is anywhere there is a stairway leading down.. The bottommost floor is the only floor without the moodlet.
    I get this whether I have a fence around the stairs or not.
    -I'll keep watching and try to narrow down the cause on this one.

    *BIG bug.... I no longer get a carpool, or have my Sims automatically leave for work. - My main sim at the moment got a "Late for Work" memory before I realized this was happening... His boss gave him an excused absence due to the glitch however.
    - Is anyone else having this problem? After Sim one, I manually sent my other sims to work 30 minutes after their ride should have been there... and the elementary school student was late and rode his bike to school. (bad apocalyptic parents)

    I saw other annoying things, but I'm not sure yet if they are bugs or features... (like Sims without the Neat Trait interrupting scheduled actions to go wash their hands.. for a very long and thourough washing)


    *ALSO, I potentially cleared a restriction... But I want to doublecheck regarding rules/allowances on it... It was potentially bugged by the patch too. :)

    When I realized Main Sim Sergio was late for work, and that the carpool simply hadn't arrived, I sent him off to work. (as I said above, I decided to ignore lateness since I'd had him ready for work and free to leave when his carpool should have gotten there)
    At almost the exact moment when he was fading out of existance to reappear in his ride (I think it was his carpool vehicle, even though it hadn't been there when I got the "late" notification) I got a "Sergio sees a strange shadow" notification.... and it disapeared as he reappeared inside the car.
    I immediately paused the game, and looked everywhere for the big shadow that should appear from impending meteor strike.
    There was none over the car, none at his job, none at his house.
    -I saved the game as a backup save. (darn, just realized I forgot to save it again with another name so that I would keep that moment and be able to go back to it!! DOH!!)
    -Since the meteor seemed to have disappeared, I let him go to work, (job level 9 and due for promotion) and kept looking for the meteor shadow so I could send a sim or 2 to the site to watch for it. I never found the shadow, but as I sent my wife sim outside to have her watch the front yard just in case, I saw the meteor on the ground. - It's "officially" off the home lot, as my sims have to walk several feet off the lot to get to the road, so no one at home got "singed" or had a "watch" or "look up" or whatever the interaction is... But I still consider that spot part of the home lot. -- In the picture you can see the wife going to pick up the meteor right in front of their lot, a few yards from the house. (and the kid running to grab his bike to go to school.. lol)
    --I'm thinking the no shadow thing was EITHER a glitch due to the update, or a glitch due to it not actually hitting a "Lot"
    original.jpg
    I went ahead and had her tour the science facility with the meteor. So... Can I count this?? (please please... LOL)
    original.jpg
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    Daedreem wrote:
    *BIG bug.... I no longer get a carpool, or have my Sims automatically leave for work.

    OK... I think this has been solved...
    I ran through another day, and 2 carpools came.. it was a weekend, so no bus.

    - I forgot to check to see if the "unfinished room" nonsense is still there or gone.

    I only have 3 mods...
    2 object mods, and one (core?) mod that I forgot about.

    I knew the 2 object mods wouldn't cause an issue on update, and when I patched the game, I left them in and delayed updating them.

    The "Digsite Fixer" mod (Update IS available) is what caused all or some of my problems.
    The bad thing is, things got worse when I updated it. (Seemingly ONLY for the family that I played while it needed update)

    I opened every one of my 'hood save files... Free play ones and challenge 'hoods, because an oddity of the new "Box of seeds" update (one of my 2 object mods)requires that it be deleted and completely replaced.. this hasn't been needed on other updates.
    Every 'hood I loaded to check for and remove boxes was running just fine.

    The ONE hood I played before updating the "digsite fixer" however has some VERY annoying problems.... But not so annoying I'd go back to a pre-patch update and lose my meteor. :)
    For some reason ALL MY SIMS lost ALL RELATIONSHIPS... -- Well... as in, how well they know each other.... The game remembered BIOLOGICAL relationships... (son, daughter, aunt, etc.)

    So my husband and wife were no longer friends, OR even married... etc.

    To speed up fixing it, I cheated to drag the families relationships with the household back up to where they'd been previously... Then I had Sergio and his wife re-court and re-marry. (Go on a date was an option, even with only the patch.. however I didn't allow them too)

    Luckily, sergio job level 9 already had a 99% full job performance bar, so despite red faced "hold meetings" and "co-worker relationships" (previously light green) he was able to get his TOC promotion.
    (Business, CLEARED. :) )
    And the only other sim with a job has to remeet all of her co-workers and befriend them, so her progress is slowed, however she'd only had the job a couple days so it's not too far of a loss.

    The Child Sim had only gone to school about 3 days, so not too many lost school relationships for him either.

    It's an extreme nusiance... but could be worse.

    Note to self... Don't forget the digsite fixer mod next update!! :)

    PS.. a side effect of my sims needing to rebuild their relationships with each other, is, they gained LOTS of Starpower...

    My hubby WAS 4 stars.. (or 3? but I think 4.)
    He's now 5.
    Wife was 3.
    She's now 5.

    Well, I'm at least a generation from film career... so hopefully this won't affect.
    - I plan to start a new challenge if/when I get Generations anyway.
    ========================================
    Oh!! Almost forgot...

    I found a new problem that will affect Challenge rules.

    -- When Sergio and his wife remarried (as far as the game was concerned they'd never been married, so this will happen with others) (Private ceremony, BTW) The game gave me a pop-up saying it was giving him "several days off to settle in"

    The wife had no job so got no days off obviously. He'd just been promoted to level 10... so if he had to quit, no biggy... however I'm ignoring it for now rather than making him quit.

    The days off were not an option... just the same as days off for the mom when you have a baby, or the baby grows to a toddler.

    - So... Do our sims need to plan to quit their jobs on their wedding day from now on?
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    The meteor ... you had sims watching for it, the sim who got the notification got out of the way, it landed just off the property line - I think it's allowed :P

    The relationships - that's odd for sure.

    Time off for getting married - hmm, that makes things sticky. for the founder, it's not a big deal because they have to reach TOC to clear hopelessness. It would mean, under current rules, that they would have to quite their job. But for subsequent generations, they would either have to clear THEIR careers or get married before they got a job in order to stay within the rules.

    Let me play with things a bit and think on it. For NOW, we'll suspend the rule for honeymoon period only until I make a determination.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    mikitta47 wrote:
    The meteor ... you had sims watching for it, the sim who got the notification got out of the way, it landed just off the property line - I think it's allowed :P
    >8=============
    mik

    Yay!!!! I finally got my Alien Tech!! :D

    Thanks!
  • NightRowanNightRowan Posts: 19 Member
    edited June 2011
    RE Aging

    I like the proposed aging changes except for shortening the toddler stage. If toddlers are allowed to read toddler books you really need those 7 days. As for the Young Adult/Adult life stages, I would keep it simple and go with the 30 days so that you don't have to bother with turning aging off at all. Seems simpler that way.

    I was never sure whether toddler books were covered by Business and Journalism, or if it was Business, Journalism, and Actor.
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Business and journalism.

    I may lengthen toddler if we can read skill books to them. Let me play around with things a bit, play test them and all.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    Just curious... is it purposeful that "map to the stars" is only covered by Alien Tech, or is it an omission?

    Gotta run!
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Should be restricted by both film careers too.

    God Bless,
    mik
  • DaedreemDaedreem Posts: 48
    edited June 2011
    mikitta47 wrote:
    Should be restricted by both film careers too.

    God Bless,
    mik

    It's not listed either place...
    One has no lifetime reward restrictions, the other has only complementery entertainment.
  • RileyRiot2010RileyRiot2010 Posts: 166
    edited June 2011
    Hi, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but with generations, when sims graduate the game forces everyone in the house to take the day of the ceremony off work/school.

    What does this mean for the older siblings who are already halfway up their career?

    Happy Simming,
    Riley
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Being forced into a situation changes things a bit for that situation. It's like children HAVE to go to school because doing otherwise means the social worker comes and gets them. What happens if you do NOT go get your diploma. Do you not graduate? Does that mean you don't get the enforced time off? Same thing with marriage - you are FORCED into a certain amount of time off. We need to play test this to see what it means for the challenge. It may mean we have to amend the rules to work around it. It may mean the founder's heirs HAVE to marry either before or after their career is cleared prior to Master Thief being cleared. There is also the whole issue of the teens getting grounded for skipping school - do they get in trouble every single day forever prior to education restrictions being lifted?

    These things really do change the flavor of the challenge, don't they?


    On a related note - the gifts you get from getting married go directly into family inventory - aka the big black hole. You just leave them there and ignore them. Any other gifts you receive either take up one of the three spots in your inventory (before athletics is cleared) or you can move them to family inventory. However, you can send thank you notes.

    The lifetime rewards things - yeah it needs updated. It's an enormous document, so I appreciate things like this being brought to my attention. I'll do my best to get to it soon, but no promises right now.

    I noticed there are quite a few new LTR to categorize as well. Also need to get a complete list of the new interactions, socialization and other new things to be able to account for them in the challenge.

    I am glad that I can integrate Day Care into the challenge in a way that I don't feel a compulsion to make those without generations have to clear an alternate form :P Everything it restricts is EXCLUSIVELY Generations in nature. If we are lucky, future expansion will give us a true Naturalist career path or a new Career that could stand as an alternate to current DaVinci rules. I do kind of like having the alternates available.

    God Bless,
    mik

    God Bless,
    mik
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    hmm - playing around with Generations stuff -

    Graduation - it happens weather you are there or not. You get the awards and diploma regardless. I haven't tried it with a teen who does not go to school, but I assume there is something similar. IF we find out that a truant teen gets removed from the household, then Education restrictions will have to be amended.

    Ages - going to set it on 25/25 for YA/A. 30 days is too long. BTW, they did fix the mood bug (YAY) and it seems that skilling is also fixed (YAY). You will still need overwatch for the cars though (booo).

    - You will get a 10 day aging off free pass to use whenever you need it throughout the challenge to help you clear a devastating emergency (ie you will age up before you can have an heir). You only get 10 days, so keep track.

    Babies - since they are only babies for 1 day, you may not age them up at all with the birthday cake.

    Toddlers - since they are toddlers for only 5 days, you may not age them up with the birthday cake.

    Children, teens, Y.A, Adults and Elders - you may age them up if you want and the requisite restrictions have been lifted.

    Imaginary friends - Toddlers and children may play with them to their heart's content but upon aging to Teen, the friend must be sold. You can sell the friend at any time in the challenge regardless of restrictions still in effect.

    Chemistry set - restricted by science. You may make ALL potions. I need to get a list of them, but here's a short order summary of what you may use and when.

    - Make Imaginary Friend Real - you may not use it at all.
    - Ninja potions (teleport) - restricted by Military and Super Spy.
    - Stink Potions - unrestricted
    - Potion of Restore Youth - you may ONLY use this to turn your spouse you just married and moved in into a young adult. You are restricted to using this 3 times throughout the entire challenge.
    - Gotta pee potions - unrestricted
    - Sleep potions - unrestricted

    and I can't remember the other 4 potions off hand.

    Celebrity status - I'm not sure if it's a bug associated with the NRAAS mods I have installed, but I can't maintain my celeb status. It keeps dropping. I'll check it on a mod free sims folder.

    If you are getting God-awful stop and start lag ... it may be due to too many ghosts on your lot. I finally cleared Paranormal in my family, moved every single tomb stone off the lot and my lag improved immensely. I'm not sure how to deal with this prior to Paranormal being lifted, since we can't touch the tombstones before hand. It's a problem on MY machine, but my husband's ultra beefy 16 gig of ram handles it like a champ ...

    Forced days off due to family milestone (marriage, death, birth, graduation).

    Births - mom is still the only one forced to take time off due to birth. The rule for time off for pregnancy and birth remains the same.

    Graduations - Need to play test this, but I believe if a sim does NOT go to graduation ceremony, no one in the household is forced to take time off.

    Marriage - You will have to time this well. Before Master Thief is cleared, you will either have to marry in a sim BEFORE you start your career path or AFTER you have cleared it.

    Deaths - I think it's forced on the whole household. Can anyone confirm this? If so, this will be the exception to the rule. If you are forced to take days off because a sim in the household dies, you may keep your job, since you don't have a choice in the matter. Even during an apocalypse, employers have some simanity ...

    God Bless,
    mik
  • mikitta47mikitta47 Posts: 2,250 New Member
    edited June 2011
    Thinking of changing things slightly for Naturalist. I've tried twice and failed both times. Very annoying. Individual almost has to be born with Angler and green thumb to clear it.


    The incoming changes ...
    The Amazing Naturalist

    Prerequisites - **Ambitions Expansion**, Master Thief, Music-Symphonic, Military, Business and Science.


    “Why do they call it nuclear winter? Because everything is dead. The snow you see is toxic ash.”

    Any and all plant life in the region is dead. Nothing grows anymore. Natural and organic food is non-existent. With no plants to hold the soil together, the whole region is plagued with dust storms that block out the sun and whip across the land. Fish, the ones still left, are horridly mutated and weak. The survival of their species is in doubt.

    NOTES: The sim attempting to lift this restriction must work gardening and fishing up to level 10 before they are allowed to garden OR fish, using books, the TV or classes at the Science Center and the Grocery Store. In order to lift this restriction, not only must the sim in question be level 10 in those two skills, they must also have a collection of 5 rare or ultra rare Beetles and/or Butterflies (there are 2 rares and 1 ultra rare of each afaik in the base game), grow a perfect garden and present the perfect aquarium (as per the Lifetime Wants) AND if Ambitions is owned, they must reach level 10 as a self employed gardener OR as a self employed fisherman (**ignore this if you don't own Ambitions**). Assume that the bugs, fish and vegetables are being sold to the science lab for experimental purposes.

    -EXCEPT for the sim attempting to lift this restriction, no sim may grow a garden.

    -EXCEPT for the sim attempting to lift this restriction, no sim may go fishing.

    -EXCEPT for the sim attempting to lift this restriction, no sim may harvest any plants on the home lot or on community lots or collect any seeds from anywhere in the neighborhood

    -EXCEPT for the sim attempting to lift this restriction, no sim may collect bugs or butterflies.

    -EXCEPT for the sim attempting to lift this restriction, no sim may purchase or use the fish bowl or the large aquarium.

    -Sims may not stock ponds with fish.

    -You may not place any landscaping items (Flowers, bushes, trees)

    -You may not alter the ground color except to paint a darker mark on the corners of your lot so you can see where your boundaries are.

    -You may not buy or place any items from the “plants/trees/rocks/flowers" menu in build mode.

    -You may not place meteorites you have found anywhere on the ground.

    -You may not buy ***** with flowers from the buy tab.

    -You may not give flowers to your romantic interest

    -The Family house must be on a dirt or desert landscape.

    -Autumn Salad, Fruit Parfait and any other dish that requires vegetables or fruits may not be prepared, ordered at restaurants or bought pre-made.

    -Sims may not prepare, purchase from community lots or eat Sushi, Grilled Salmon, Lobster Thermidor or any other dish containing fish.

    -You may not shop for groceries at the local market.

    -You may not use the recycle bins.

    -Sims may not purchase or use water sprinklers. Family members MAY help the Naturalist sim water the garden, but they may not weed,fertilize or harvest.

    -Sims may not use the water tool from the landscaping menu.

    -Houses MUST be built on a foundation/deck and/or be built on pillars, or be built as a basement Ala fall out bunker. (You may still have objects on the ground, but walls may not be placed on the ground level)

    -Sims may not purchase the Super Green Thumb lifetime reward.

    Once a brilliant naturalist emerges from the family, they invent a plant serum that lets plants use toxic ash as fertilizer without making the plant itself toxic. With this serum in wide supply, the region begins to return to life. Food can actually be grown again and people can have lawns. With plants once again anchoring the soil, the raging dust storms cease and the sky can once again be seen. All natural science restrictions are lifted.

    Making you only have one or the other of the two careers I think makes it slightly easier. FWIW, fishing is the easier career to work up to max, especially once you start collecting death fish. They sell for between $800 and $1500 simoleons apiece. You can do either, but going for the gardening Career, unless you have Green Thumb trait, takes all day long, especially with not having the sprinklers available.

    It really depends on your preferences, though :)

    What do you guys think of these changes?

    God Bless,
    mik
  • Anghara130Anghara130 Posts: 233 New Member
    edited June 2011
    I think if you can't do it how it was written, most of the rest of us don't stand a chance! I'm guessing that as I see Naturalist as being almost the last lift you can actually do (because of pre-requisites and the need for kids to read books) that you've got teenagers out scouring the world for bugs and seeds and butterflies, while reading fishing and gardening books, and then as soon as they can actually plant stuff they can race on, because by then, believe me you should have plenty of seeds to get going with!

    But yes, making them do both the fishing and gardening career did sound a bit much. So maybe only the one career is better. I could try this with a regular sim in a regular world.... and I'm going to take a punt on you knowing you put the spawners for the rare and ultra rares into Viper Valley? So you should have known where to look to get all the butterflies and beetles (ooooh!!!). I'm not saying unfair advantage, because it apparently wasn't since you've struggled with it, and I know the spawners do spawn random bugs and butterflies as well as the rares right? So it's still chance what they come up with.

    Overall I think the restriction will still be hard to lift, but maybe not impossible now?
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