I just found this thread today via a Google search. I loved the story! I'm the author of the Land Rich, Cash Poor challenge and it was a delight to read someone else playing it. Very well done. I can't believe I've been active on the TS3 forums so long but totally missed this. I guess I don't come to the Sims Memory Lane forum as often as I should. Now, I'm tempted to reinstall TS2, update all the mods I used to have, and try this challenge out again. At one time I had 2 stories based on this challenge uploaded to the TS2 Exchange, but that's now gone, of course.
I remember playing a home business in this challenge, so I was surprised that the version of the rules on The Sims 2 Challenges Podcast site don't allow for that. I found another version of the rules on my computer from 2009 (although the challenge is older than that) which included a variation for a home business. You've inspired me to post the rules on my blog and I've included the home business variation.
I have memories of agonizing over what to unlock and what to buy (I went for a shower before a toilet, lol), building a greenhouse to garden (I don't recall how gardening worked with the crazy season order before buying the greenhouse), initially selling fish with the entire store outside during the first winter, and finally making enough money for a rather large house and an enclosed home business (and with 4 or so kids).
I only bought TS3 in Dec., 2013, and a few months later looked up the Land Rich, Cash Poor challenge to try and adapt to TS3. I didn't see it working well either so I never did anything with it. An older challenge of mine, Toddlermania, was a bit easier to adapt to TS3 but ultimately the TS3 version of Toddlermania is much less difficult than the TS2 version.
Anyways, thanks for the memories, and I'm glad you and others have had such a fun time playing this challenge. I had a great time reading!
@TreyNutz Oh! This is awesome! I'm glad you found this. I really liked the story you posted of this on the sims2 exchange. I tried to post my own story back in the day, but I never could finish it, I have to do my stories in bits and pieces.
Did you ever finish the challenge @AthenaOnyx ? It's been very fun to read
I'm planning on it. The laptop that I was playing it on decided that it no longer wants to play games. I moved it to my computer that runs on Windows 8 and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
Where should I begin? Wants, maybe.
Okay, Dirk wants to improve his cleaning skills, and Andrea wants to go on a date and get busy.
So. Andrea gives Dirk that come hither stare right when he's cleaning the toilet.
When Dirk and Andrea get there they aren't hungry, so, they go to the deck to work up an appetite.
Andrea tells a dirty joke about a hotsy-totsy sim from the planet Saturn
that Dirk thought was hilarious.
They do some dancing.
And, they start speaking the language of love.
Eventually, soon Dirk's thinking the same thing that Andrea's thinking. They spot a hottub
and make their way over to it just as they realize that it's raining.
Even though they aren't hungry they decide to order dinner, it is a restaurant after all.
Dirk proposes a toast,
"To your beautiful eyes and to our next child, may he or she be as wonderful as our first."
"I'll drink to that," Andrea says, as she realizes it stopped raining.
Quickly she jumps up and makes it to the hot tub, because they only have 40 seconds until they both turn into a pumpkin.
On her way there she can't help but swoon with passion for Dirk. Okay, Okay, she's really checking out another guy, but we can pretend.
They make it to the tub in time.
Mission accomplished...
well, we'll know tomorrow whether or not the mission was doubly successful.
When Andrea and Dirk get home they are dog-tired.
Andrea quickly slips off to bed, but Dirk needs to dismiss the nanny.
Now, finally Dirk can get shut-eye.
But, no! His spot has been stolen by a little thief.
He decides he'll just have to trade beds for the night.
What else is Dirk to do, she looks too cute sleeping there to wake.
Four days left in summer. The computers broke so let's buy a better one,
and some more walls. We could use some more room now that we're trying for a baby.
Andrea decides to put the new computer to good use and continues work on blogging about arts and crafts.
It just happens to be a beautiful Saturday so they decide to take Eraina to the Oasis Community Pool. (By Sparklypotato, http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=519993)
When Eraina arrives she wants to catch a rainbow trout, take a photo, play a game of marco-polo, and... Read up on couples counseling?
Andrea the first one to jump into her bikini,
but due to her fear of walking the plank
she wasn't the first one into the pool.
That honor belongs to Eraina.
Dirk briefly gets into the pool and he and Eraina play a game of marco-polo that's so short lived that I didn't even have time to snap a picture of it.
Dirk & Andrea take turns taking pictures with Eraina.
It starts raining just as they are about to get into the pool, the lightening got so bad I just sent them home.
The next morning we complete the walls of the new family room by buying 12 new wall panels and moving around the walls that once made up the bathroom which is now a hallway.
Maybe by tomorrow we'll be able to finish it.
A & D are up pretty early. Like usual Andrea wants to go on a date and collect butterflies which just isn't practical right now. Dirk wants to learn a logic and some body skills so I here they are...
But, then I remember the other little goal I set for them, and then so did they...
And, they're off.
If Andrea doesn't get pregnant this time she will go down in history as my least fertile sim in history. Don't worry, Andrea, you're still awesome.
Is the hand holding new or am just noticing it for the first time?
What? A chime? Did I hear a chime?
Then they have some of that delicious post-woohoo sleep.
I know the house isn't ready for company, but it's Sunday so when Eraina wakes up I let her invite her friends over.
This is Tosha.
And, this is Tessa.
The girls do some fishing while they discuss school.
Eraina's the first to catch a bite.
Eraina starts a game of tag.
She asks Tessa to join but she's too busy fishing.
Finally, Tessa puts the pole down and she's "it."
Soon, Tosha drops out of the game, and starts to play some chess all by her lonesome. Dirk needs to learn some logic so he joins her.
And, we're back to fishing.
What's this?
Well, if that ain't the cutest thing you ever did see!
In the morning we complete the bathroom walls, carpet and paint the walls. It's going to take a few more trucks to get everything where we want it, but it looks pretty cozy.
Dirk & Eraina go fishing until
it's off to school for Eraina.
A a quick trip to the bathroom has Andrea wondering if she's pregnant.
Sure enough, the baby bump arrives.
Like a trooper, Andrea goes to work for the next couple days.
She does pretty good at work despite her delicate condition.
I just hope all this coffee isn't harmful to developing pixels.
Meanwhile Jerome earns his golden cashier badge and a raise.
We're still waiting until one of our employees becomes manager material.
Caryl is still on her silver flower badge.
Yet, with two employees the store runs like silk.
We were able to sell a lot of expensive paintings,
and made $6000 over the next 2 days.
Meanwhile, everyone's excited about the pending arrival of little Stella or Devin.
Dirk looks understandably nervous about having another child. Buck up, Dirk, you made it through much worse.
Yet again, someone has stolen Dirk's spot. This time I don't think he'll be able to trade places with his thief.
Too soft-hearted, Dirk opts to sleep on the couch.
It's the first day of winter and with no snow on the ground we can buy four items.
Eraina's been wanting a birdcage and to tell you the truth so have I. So, we get one of those.
A sink and a new refrigerator.
And, a bird named Hawkeye.
Since Andrea's about to pop, I decided to let them stay home.
Andrea blogs; Dirk hikes. Fortunately, he's back for the big event:
the birth of little Devin Andrick. Now they have a boy and a girl.
The aging is on for good now.
Little Devin is put in his crib, and Andrea contemplates changing the color scheme.
If I'm going to sell crafted stuff, I always start with flowers, because the snapdragon solve the problem of employees having take bathroom breaks. With snapdragons all anyone has to worry about is energy. I put the snapdragons next to the register, behind the register, in the breakroom along with the espresso maker.
It's always easier to sell stuff from the catalog, in my regular neighborhoods I always open a "Welcome Mart" that carries all the stuff that the sims need to get started out. I set it as low as I can make a profit. I usually have a husband and wife team so that I don't have to pay anyone. As business progresses, I hire employees and raise prices, raising prices slows sells and makes the business more manageable. Right now, the Andricks are selling at expensive. I have one employee man the register, while Dirk (because he has the most charisma) sells (using basic sells, because they don't cost too much energy and do not threaten the customers like hard sells), while Andrea restocks. Occasionally, I'll have Dirk dazzle a customer into selling a ridiculously expensive painting which takes my undivided attention and a lot of Dirk's energy, but it's worth it because I make a grand from that sell. In general, I just have one of the owners go around and do an individual 'basic sell' with each customer. The trick is to price things just high enough that they sell themselves, but not so low that you can't keep things stocked or customer's satisfied.
If you see a line, have one of the owners jump on a second register and/or have one of the owners talk to the next customer in line. Golden register badges are wonderful things, because the possessor of one is quick with the register keys, but it takes a while before a sim can earn one. Never let a manager sim go on auto-pilot because we all know left to their own devices sims are not-so-bright, but they are nice for when you don't want to come in one day. But, you have to call in to get paid for the work that they do. I can't remember how many badges an employee needs to qualify for a position in management, but the best badges for a manager to have are the golden register, sells, and a golden crafting badge so that they can make stuff while business is slow.
Meanwhile, if I'm selling crafted objects, I have an employee working on making more of them. I make sure I have 25 of each, once I have 25 then I make sure I have 50, and then 100. Again, it's better to just sell stuff out the catalog, typically, if I'm not selling craftables I just have the employee make snapdragons because I hate worrying about motives and I like for all my sims to have them.
When one of the household sims gets low on energy I let them get a shot of espresso, when one of the workers gets low I send them home. Sometimes I take this as my cue to send the owners home, but sometimes I'll call in backups. Typically, I slightly overpay the employees and give them raises as they earn badges (when hiring employees I make sure that they aren't too skilled in the wrong areas). The Andricks' employees are fairly paid, because the Andricks are more limited because of the challenge then most sims, so, when an employee gets a new badge I need to give them a raise immediately so they don't quit.
Meanwhile, look out for customers with clipboards and make sure they're happy, because they can make or break you (especially in the beginning). If you make them happy they'll give you the best of the best award which will help you sell items where you place it. In the case of the Andricks I keep it next to the expensive paintings. If you don't make the clipboards happy they'll write a bad review and you'll lose a lot of business.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have anymore questions.
Comments
I remember playing a home business in this challenge, so I was surprised that the version of the rules on The Sims 2 Challenges Podcast site don't allow for that. I found another version of the rules on my computer from 2009 (although the challenge is older than that) which included a variation for a home business. You've inspired me to post the rules on my blog and I've included the home business variation.
I have memories of agonizing over what to unlock and what to buy (I went for a shower before a toilet, lol), building a greenhouse to garden (I don't recall how gardening worked with the crazy season order before buying the greenhouse), initially selling fish with the entire store outside during the first winter, and finally making enough money for a rather large house and an enclosed home business (and with 4 or so kids).
I only bought TS3 in Dec., 2013, and a few months later looked up the Land Rich, Cash Poor challenge to try and adapt to TS3. I didn't see it working well either so I never did anything with it. An older challenge of mine, Toddlermania, was a bit easier to adapt to TS3 but ultimately the TS3 version of Toddlermania is much less difficult than the TS2 version.
Anyways, thanks for the memories, and I'm glad you and others have had such a fun time playing this challenge. I had a great time reading!
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Ceea's wishlist
And now I want to play it again...
Twists In Time And Space (Updated December 2nd 2018. New discord server!)
Bob Bobson (Updated August 12th 2019)
I'm planning on it. The laptop that I was playing it on decided that it no longer wants to play games. I moved it to my computer that runs on Windows 8 and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
I start working on it again soon.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Okay, Dirk wants to improve his cleaning skills, and Andrea wants to go on a date and get busy.
So. Andrea gives Dirk that come hither stare right when he's cleaning the toilet.
This Perfect Paradise by Jessi2014. Here's the link: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=556671
It's a very beautiful restaurant that looks out into the ocean.
When Dirk and Andrea get there they aren't hungry, so, they go to the deck to work up an appetite.
Andrea tells a dirty joke about a hotsy-totsy sim from the planet Saturn
that Dirk thought was hilarious.
They do some dancing.
And, they start speaking the language of love.
Eventually, soon Dirk's thinking the same thing that Andrea's thinking. They spot a hottub
and make their way over to it just as they realize that it's raining.
Even though they aren't hungry they decide to order dinner, it is a restaurant after all.
Dirk proposes a toast,
"To your beautiful eyes and to our next child, may he or she be as wonderful as our first."
"I'll drink to that," Andrea says, as she realizes it stopped raining.
Quickly she jumps up and makes it to the hot tub, because they only have 40 seconds until they both turn into a pumpkin.
On her way there she can't help but swoon with passion for Dirk. Okay, Okay, she's really checking out another guy, but we can pretend.
They make it to the tub in time.
Mission accomplished...
well, we'll know tomorrow whether or not the mission was doubly successful.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Andrea quickly slips off to bed, but Dirk needs to dismiss the nanny.
Now, finally Dirk can get shut-eye.
But, no! His spot has been stolen by a little thief.
He decides he'll just have to trade beds for the night.
What else is Dirk to do, she looks too cute sleeping there to wake.
Four days left in summer. The computers broke so let's buy a better one,
and some more walls. We could use some more room now that we're trying for a baby.
Andrea decides to put the new computer to good use and continues work on blogging about arts and crafts.
It just happens to be a beautiful Saturday so they decide to take Eraina to the Oasis Community Pool. (By Sparklypotato, http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=519993)
When Eraina arrives she wants to catch a rainbow trout, take a photo, play a game of marco-polo, and... Read up on couples counseling?
Andrea the first one to jump into her bikini,
but due to her fear of walking the plank
she wasn't the first one into the pool.
That honor belongs to Eraina.
Dirk briefly gets into the pool and he and Eraina play a game of marco-polo that's so short lived that I didn't even have time to snap a picture of it.
Dirk & Andrea take turns taking pictures with Eraina.
It starts raining just as they are about to get into the pool, the lightening got so bad I just sent them home.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Maybe by tomorrow we'll be able to finish it.
A & D are up pretty early. Like usual Andrea wants to go on a date and collect butterflies which just isn't practical right now. Dirk wants to learn a logic and some body skills so I here they are...
But, then I remember the other little goal I set for them, and then so did they...
And, they're off.
If Andrea doesn't get pregnant this time she will go down in history as my least fertile sim in history. Don't worry, Andrea, you're still awesome.
Is the hand holding new or am just noticing it for the first time?
What? A chime? Did I hear a chime?
Then they have some of that delicious post-woohoo sleep.
I know the house isn't ready for company, but it's Sunday so when Eraina wakes up I let her invite her friends over.
This is Tosha.
And, this is Tessa.
The girls do some fishing while they discuss school.
Eraina's the first to catch a bite.
Eraina starts a game of tag.
She asks Tessa to join but she's too busy fishing.
Finally, Tessa puts the pole down and she's "it."
Soon, Tosha drops out of the game, and starts to play some chess all by her lonesome. Dirk needs to learn some logic so he joins her.
And, we're back to fishing.
What's this?
Well, if that ain't the cutest thing you ever did see!
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Dirk & Eraina go fishing until
it's off to school for Eraina.
A a quick trip to the bathroom has Andrea wondering if she's pregnant.
Sure enough, the baby bump arrives.
Like a trooper, Andrea goes to work for the next couple days.
She does pretty good at work despite her delicate condition.
I just hope all this coffee isn't harmful to developing pixels.
Meanwhile Jerome earns his golden cashier badge and a raise.
We're still waiting until one of our employees becomes manager material.
Caryl is still on her silver flower badge.
Yet, with two employees the store runs like silk.
We were able to sell a lot of expensive paintings,
and made $6000 over the next 2 days.
Meanwhile, everyone's excited about the pending arrival of little Stella or Devin.
Dirk looks understandably nervous about having another child. Buck up, Dirk, you made it through much worse.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Too soft-hearted, Dirk opts to sleep on the couch.
It's the first day of winter and with no snow on the ground we can buy four items.
Eraina's been wanting a birdcage and to tell you the truth so have I. So, we get one of those.
A sink and a new refrigerator.
And, a bird named Hawkeye.
Since Andrea's about to pop, I decided to let them stay home.
Andrea blogs; Dirk hikes. Fortunately, he's back for the big event:
the birth of little Devin Andrick. Now they have a boy and a girl.
The aging is on for good now.
Little Devin is put in his crib, and Andrea contemplates changing the color scheme.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
Hi, Everyone, I'm going to come back soon, but my professor is getting antsy. So, it's work, work, work, right now.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
If I'm going to sell crafted stuff, I always start with flowers, because the snapdragon solve the problem of employees having take bathroom breaks. With snapdragons all anyone has to worry about is energy. I put the snapdragons next to the register, behind the register, in the breakroom along with the espresso maker.
It's always easier to sell stuff from the catalog, in my regular neighborhoods I always open a "Welcome Mart" that carries all the stuff that the sims need to get started out. I set it as low as I can make a profit. I usually have a husband and wife team so that I don't have to pay anyone. As business progresses, I hire employees and raise prices, raising prices slows sells and makes the business more manageable. Right now, the Andricks are selling at expensive. I have one employee man the register, while Dirk (because he has the most charisma) sells (using basic sells, because they don't cost too much energy and do not threaten the customers like hard sells), while Andrea restocks. Occasionally, I'll have Dirk dazzle a customer into selling a ridiculously expensive painting which takes my undivided attention and a lot of Dirk's energy, but it's worth it because I make a grand from that sell. In general, I just have one of the owners go around and do an individual 'basic sell' with each customer. The trick is to price things just high enough that they sell themselves, but not so low that you can't keep things stocked or customer's satisfied.
If you see a line, have one of the owners jump on a second register and/or have one of the owners talk to the next customer in line. Golden register badges are wonderful things, because the possessor of one is quick with the register keys, but it takes a while before a sim can earn one. Never let a manager sim go on auto-pilot because we all know left to their own devices sims are not-so-bright, but they are nice for when you don't want to come in one day. But, you have to call in to get paid for the work that they do. I can't remember how many badges an employee needs to qualify for a position in management, but the best badges for a manager to have are the golden register, sells, and a golden crafting badge so that they can make stuff while business is slow.
Meanwhile, if I'm selling crafted objects, I have an employee working on making more of them. I make sure I have 25 of each, once I have 25 then I make sure I have 50, and then 100. Again, it's better to just sell stuff out the catalog, typically, if I'm not selling craftables I just have the employee make snapdragons because I hate worrying about motives and I like for all my sims to have them.
When one of the household sims gets low on energy I let them get a shot of espresso, when one of the workers gets low I send them home. Sometimes I take this as my cue to send the owners home, but sometimes I'll call in backups. Typically, I slightly overpay the employees and give them raises as they earn badges (when hiring employees I make sure that they aren't too skilled in the wrong areas). The Andricks' employees are fairly paid, because the Andricks are more limited because of the challenge then most sims, so, when an employee gets a new badge I need to give them a raise immediately so they don't quit.
Meanwhile, look out for customers with clipboards and make sure they're happy, because they can make or break you (especially in the beginning). If you make them happy they'll give you the best of the best award which will help you sell items where you place it. In the case of the Andricks I keep it next to the expensive paintings. If you don't make the clipboards happy they'll write a bad review and you'll lose a lot of business.
I hope this helps, let me know if you have anymore questions.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.