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Challenge Blog: Rookie's Ultimate Sim Challenge
AlHollandiyah
Posts: 1,121 Member
I'm going to do something that I will probably regret, LOL! I am a bored TS4 player that decided to get into TS3 for a while and I haven't played TS3 for more then just snooping around trying to get a feel of it, so I have practically no experience whatsoever. Which is ofcourse the perfect timing to take on a huge challenge like Llandros' Ultimate Sim Challenge. What could possibly go wrong?
For preparation, I am currently watching the first couple of videos Llandros made about this challenge (his season 1 playlist) to get a feel of what I need to have to start off with. And a couple of do's and don'ts. Then I will start by making my ultimate sim to be. I want to make a female sim because to me it is a bit cheesy to have to do "everything a sim can do" but rely on others (partners) to have the babies for my ultimate sim. No no, if you go all the way, you go all the way.
I invite anyone who is bored enough (just teasing) to follow this topic to feel free to comment on anything I post here. What did I miss, what shouldn't I have done, and what should I definitely not forget? And that starts right now with a name. Her last name is going to be Allstar, and I'd like a name with an A for a first name. Shout out any ideas you'd like to share with me!
I will be keeping track of my progress in this google doc, which is a copy of my TS3 Complete List, adapted to this challeng! Anything missing in either doc? Be sure to let me know!
As for all the ways of having a baby in TS3 that are mentioned in the Odds and Ends section: I made a more detailed list including the occult type of babies, and linking certain ways to the seasons in which you are the lifestate or live in the town necessary for that lifestate. You can find that list in my comment in the original topic and maybe in the future also in the original rules if Llandros decides to adopt my idea into his challenge rules.
For preparation, I am currently watching the first couple of videos Llandros made about this challenge (his season 1 playlist) to get a feel of what I need to have to start off with. And a couple of do's and don'ts. Then I will start by making my ultimate sim to be. I want to make a female sim because to me it is a bit cheesy to have to do "everything a sim can do" but rely on others (partners) to have the babies for my ultimate sim. No no, if you go all the way, you go all the way.
I invite anyone who is bored enough (just teasing) to follow this topic to feel free to comment on anything I post here. What did I miss, what shouldn't I have done, and what should I definitely not forget? And that starts right now with a name. Her last name is going to be Allstar, and I'd like a name with an A for a first name. Shout out any ideas you'd like to share with me!
I will be keeping track of my progress in this google doc, which is a copy of my TS3 Complete List, adapted to this challeng! Anything missing in either doc? Be sure to let me know!
As for all the ways of having a baby in TS3 that are mentioned in the Odds and Ends section: I made a more detailed list including the occult type of babies, and linking certain ways to the seasons in which you are the lifestate or live in the town necessary for that lifestate. You can find that list in my comment in the original topic and maybe in the future also in the original rules if Llandros decides to adopt my idea into his challenge rules.
Post edited by AlHollandiyah on
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Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
Today I spent a couple of hours looking for the lots that Llandros used as well as a good location to place them. I think I have a general idea. I noticed that the alchemy lot is already placed in Sunset Valley automatically and I want to place the Greenhouse and the fruit market near it so my sim won't need a taxi.
As soon as I have these buildings done and my sim made I will probably share some screenshots of both!
I hope you manage to go over it. Sunset Valley is a nice place to start and there's a lot of room for everything.
I still have to get used to watching everything at once, school, schedule, opportunities, the blog, getting to know people, and whatever there is to do more. I did turn back on my decision to not upgrade her dorm room, because I had the money and I thought it would pay off in the long run. So I bought her a proper bed that I will keep dragging around wherever she moves, and an all-in-1 bathroom. And I temporarily stored the bed that was in her room. Which is ofcourse in a dorm, because cheap and I want her to save money.
Overall I think I am doing fairly well, but I am running in to 1 MAJOR issue: Of all people she has met there is not a single werewolf to be found. I saw witches & fairies, but that is not what I need right now. Any tips on that would be MOST welcome!
Aside from that it is now friday night and she passed all her exams with flying colors. She also managed to get level 10 social networking, including the meet 25 sims challenge, and she is at level 5 charisma. She also maxed her Rebel Influence (thanks to Llandros showing how to protest and pull it off!) So for now I think I will spend the weekend on the next Charisma levels and social networking challenges, as well as getting the blog more followers! And getting bitten, please!!
On a side note: saver is really a life saver in the game for me! Being kind off ocd-ish I have previously lost myself in freaking up about backups all the time, even to the point that I could never get a challenge of the ground properly. But this time not! I set up saver to make an automated save every sim day at 6 and 18 and keep a total of 8 saves. Now I get prompted twice a sim day to make a backup save and each time it automatically selects the next number out of 8, starting back at 1 after that. I haven't been able to play without any worries for so long it feels awesome! Do check it out if you play a huge challenge like I am doing! Or if you just like backups as much as I do!
That means that somewhere around tuesday evening she will have achieved our first supernatural goal, and can start working on Lycanthropy! Which is just as well, because she already had the social networking skill at 10, and she also have charisma on 8 now too. And she has also gained all but one challenge from charisma (which was more tedious then difficult with the transmogrifier app) and 2 of the social networking ones. Ofcourse, having just started, we are nowhere near selling 5 5star blogs, but hey, what we could do, we did!
And that is me calling it a day for today! Please let me know what you like to see or what you didn't like, or any tips that you have for me! Or even just that you have read this! I love to share my progress in this challenge with other players, and I just know that other then copying what I saw Llandros do I am still quite the rookie and you probably have plenty of tips that I could learn from! Thank you very much for reading this, and see you at the next blog!
And as it turned out, her hair was CC from 1 of the worlds. So I could go 2 ways: Find out where the hair is and try to download it. Meh. Or find another hairstyle. Which took me more then an hour, because I am picky. That also prompted me to tweak (just the colors of) her clothing a bit, so as to make it easier to see what kind of outfit she is actually wearing! Here is a collected screenshot of the result!
The side goals for this week were to finish her 10th level of charisma and get her blog to 5 stars and selling it, which she both managed to do! She also managed to meet a couple of new celebs and got both her 2nd and 3rd star! Now that is what I call progress! I also cleaned up the mess that she called her friend list, with the app, she is now best friends with anyone she knew that is a werewolf or a celeb, and an acquantance with anybody else.
Then ofcourse there are the werewolf goals. She has gotten the alpha dog reward, not because I find it so usefull but we have to get it anyway before she us cured so why not now. She also bit Luco, which got back to her a day or so later saying rumours were spread she had not been very nice to him, can't remember the exact words. But it didn't really affect her so whatever. She also hunted in a pack with 1 other werewolf and is now almost at level 7!
As soon as she graduates I will post screenshots of her degree and her graduation outfit. Which is btw also something that I really wonder about. In Holland when you graduate you just wear your best clothes, and those are different for everybody. I have never seen those black dresses with the square hat things outside movies. EA probably took a lot from the US culture wise....
Instead of, like Llandros, booking myself in for daycare right away I decided to take 1 week off (she deserved that after the hard studying), travel to Shang Simla, buy the chests and the gear I need later, and go on some more hunts! I also want to spend that week on consigning the surplus collectibles in the hope that I can afford her a bit of a better home!
Now I am in the process of searching for a suitable house for her. As it is said in the challenge you have to have roommates in at least 1 world. I want to have that out of the way, so I am searching for a good lot that has potential for having roommates AND daycare specific rooms. The thing is every house with more then 1 or 2 bedrooms has kids bedrooms, which are not so suitable for roommates. So the search is still on! If anybody has a good tip please let me know. The empty lot that I have reserved for her new house is 40x40 but a house that is 40x30 is also welcome!
Breaking in to edit: 5 minutes in to my save I finally got the money for all the items that I consigned, including a number of large tiberium crystals that were valued at around 40k, but apparently sold for 80 to 90k. I. Am. Absolutely. Flabbergasted! This is unbelievable! I am guessing picking "born saleswoman" as a university degree bonus trait paid out. Literally! Time to get her a nice house and car!
I then proceeded to first change up the Landgraab mansion to my needs in Edit Town. I started by selling some stuff I didn't want, like paintings and other useless decor, the fireplaces (too bulky and too risky) and skill objects that she can't use yet. I also removed the empty rooms that were only used as chimneys, making the existing rooms a bit bigger, and adding back the 4 pieces of wall that were missing next to the chimneys on the 3rd floor, and upgraded the existing bathrooms.
I then proceeded to place a simple spiral stairway going up to the 3rd floor, and made a 2 roommate 'wing' on each side of the 3rd floor, with a big bedroom with 2 single beds (the dudes will have to share) and for each two their own private bathroom, so I can have 4 roommates for her, as is recquired to do at least once. I also made an extra door in the 2nd floor hallway that makes the right wing with 2 bedrooms private for Amber and her family, effectively banning all the roommates from anything besides the stairs and the tv room on the 2nd floor.
After I had her buy the house and move in to it I placed my chests and my gem cutter in her bedroom as well as a desk for the laptop that was downstairs and can now only be used by her! I also sold the existing bed for the one that she used in University which is (as far as I could tell) the bed with the best specs available. And I plopped her all-in-one bathroom between the two surfaces in her giant master bathroom, for if she is in a hurry, because why not!
Last of all I extended the hedge around the backside of the garden, and also at the front of the house, to keep paparazzi from just strolling in. All in all, most players will still recognise most of the house, but I love the way it turned out! Next time she will probably hire a maid, get roommates, and if it is past thursday sign up for the daycare career so it will start on monday! And set up her house for the first two kids! Plenty of stuff to do coming year!
In the East Wing, where the roommates are going to live, I made the bathroom slightly large so that the hallway has the same size as the West Wing, and made a double sink. I also gave them both a same set of two nice chairs with a little table, and recolored some of the existing furniture to blend them in better. I also got 2 nice female roommates, which I immediately befriended.
Then in the living room I prepared the house for the 2 to 4 toddlers that I am expecting to get in my daycare job. I put down some toddler furniture, and emptied the useless office space so I can later furnish it for the teens.
I am also about 3/4th of the way towards level 2 daycare in 2 days, so I am guessing that goes alright. Both days both kids showed "feeling great" but both days I got a 'great' on 1 kid and a 'good' on the other. I wonder why I get only 'good' while they are feeling great, and if I can't even manage to get 2 kids at great, how am I going to do with 3 of 4 toddlers? Is it because I am attempting to teach them stuff (potty / talking) also? I mean, Llandros just feeds and changes them, tickles a bit and then basically keeps them in the swing all day, but that feels kind of lame to me, having kids myself.... any tips are most welcome!
I also decided to turn the 2 tiny balconies into 1 bigger one, and put some empty pots on it. Because as soon as she found herself a husband I'm going to have him plant the last remaining life fruit so she will have a bigger supply. Here are screenshots of what it used to look like and what it looks like now:
I also changed the settings of Nraas Saver from twice a day (6 and 18) to 4 times a day (0, 6, 12 and 18) because I experienced a number of crashes yesterday and this way I will have less to redo, and miss less opportunities. It is also a good point to pause the game and think about what to do next, AND it helps me keep her a bit on a schedule. I kind of have a habit of making my sims nolife on the weirdest times, and this new setting will help remind me to send her to bed on time!
Last of all I updated the empty room and made it into a daycare room, to make the living room less like a furniture storage....
There is just 1 tiny detail. He hates kids. Soooooooo. As I was originally planning to create her a partner in CAS, but then reminded myself how much she liked Gus (in the bite-in-action screenshot earlier in this topic), I am planning to have him take 'therapy' to solve his hate of kids, and then replace that trait with something else. Maybe he will discover that he loves gardening as an outlet for all his unsolved emotions. Who knows. I think that sounds like a plan. And because he will move in as a friend first rather then a partner, I made the future kids bedroom into a full bedroom for him.
He said yes! They won't actually marry untill thursday as I don't want her to get days off when her daycare career has only monday to wednesday anyway, and I want to get it over with. Which also meant that I had no more need for 2 bedrooms and finally decided to turn the bigger one in a nice study with an alchemy station and a gem cutter, and a desk with a laptop for both of them. With an archway between the two rooms for easy access. I choose the bigger bedroom for the study as a bedroom doesn't need to be that huge. This is what it has become:
And then I broke one of the challenge rules for the first season. It said that at least one season you have to have roommates, and they have to stay for the entire season. But I've had them for a couple of weeks, and they keep taking others into our home, getting in our way when Amber is talking to someone (did someone mention a third wheel?) and being a general nuisance. So I decided to quit that part. I've done it, and its just not my thing. Now the house is strictly for Amber and Gus and whoever they invite.
Due to several major glitches of my save and all it's backups, I have unfortunately lost all my progress and have to start over. Which is a MAJOR plum! First of all I found that the story progression mod I used has matched up all townies before I even got to meet them, then the game started crashing on map view, crashing on loading, not saving properly, and then when I just thought I had it all fixed, no more kids showed up at her daycare. Which was the final drop. Considering I was only about halfway season 1 and too much is going haywire I am doing a clean start. Let's just hope the glitches will be a past thing, and nothing else will happen....
Also, due to having to restart, and wanting to focus this thread on the progress in the save that I am actually playing, I removed all of the screenshots in the above posts. As soon as I loaded her back in to a fresh save (and probably tweaked her a bit, clothes and traits and the likes, now that I know the game better) I will post a new Hello this is Amber screenshot of her and her outfits!