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New Challenge! The Life Coach, or Where There's a Whim, There's a Way
RhiLTC
Posts: 20 Member
Sims 4 Challenge: The Life Coach
In this challenge, you are a life coach who has a plan for a sim that has hit rock bottom. They lost sight of their life goals and will have to work hard to turn their life around. In exchange for your help, they agree to follow your instructions for three actions per day. Be patient – old habits die hard, and sims can’t develop good habits when they are miserable!
*NOTE: All of my examples in this challenge is for the Bodybuilder aspiration because that’s the only one I have play-tested.*
Start your sim as a young adult with an aspiration, but select three traits that work against that aspiration. Always choose at least one bad-mood-causing trait such as Gloomy, Hot-headed, or Eccentric. Ex: Sim aspires to be a Bodybuilder but is Lazy, Glutton, and Gloomy.
Goals:
1. Achieve the aspiration
2. Change all three “negative” traits to “positive” traits with the re-traiting potion
a. Bodybuilder: Lazy to Active, Glutton to Foodie, Gloomy to Happy
Limitations:
1. Other than trait-inspired whims (trait whims), you can only order your sim to do three things per day. You can do unlimited trait whims.
2. If a trait whim is showing, your sim has to satisfy it before doing anything else. No dodging this rule by dismissing or pinning whims!
3. If your sim is angry, sad, embarrassed, tense, or uncomfortable, you must take care of whatever is causing that mood before any other action, including trait whims.
4. You can only buy and use potions from the rewards store.
5. You must replace each trait with a separate potion.
Challenge Modifiers
When I play-tested this, I toggled my rules to keep the game challenging and fun. Below are examples of what you can do when the game seems too easy or starts to turn into a slow grind. Pick whichever modifiers fit your style, and try out the Story Mode!Easier:
1. Buy/create Potions of Youth to play indefinitely.
2. Set lifespan to “Long”
3. Make forgiving “house rules” about the 3 orders per day limit. For example, you can choose to waive the 3-per-day limit on holidays and goaled events as they usually require more than three actions (this will make earning satisfaction points much faster), or you might waive the limit when recovering from a bad mood.
4. Start your sim with a job that matches their aspiration (works well for Bodybuilder).
5. Set your sim up for success with an encouraging environment from the start. This includes buying workout equipment, coffee makers, etc.
Harder:
1. Forbid Potion of Youth
2. Set lifespan to “Short.”
3. Make the 3-per-day rule stricter by saying that answering the phone or door, buying and selling items, and/or drinking potions count as one of the three actions.
4. Have your sim work a job that is wrong for their aspiration. For Bodybuilder, this means choosing any non-athletic job.
5. Keep the environment discouraging for your Sim. For Bodybuilder, this means avoiding exercise equipment until a milestone requires it and stocking the house with only the furniture a lazy glutton would own, such as microwaves, comfy couches, high-dollar TVs and computers, and a bath tub instead of a shower.
6. You can only change a trait for every skill your sim has maxed.
a. Note: I play-tested this and it worked great for the first two skills, but the third skill was always a grind because I usually had already achieved my aspiration.
Story Mode:
Start your Sim in a look, house, and job that all match their current traits (hard mode basically), and make positive changes as they achieve milestones. For Bodybuilder it would look like this:
Milestone 1: You can start buying exercise equipment and swapping your furniture and appliances for ‘healthier’ ones (sell the microwave and buy stove, sell the tub and buy a shower, etc.)
Milestone 2: You can start working as an athlete.
Milestone 3: You can give your sim a makeover to match their new body and confidence.
Milestone 4: All whims are free (assuming you still need to change any traits – if not the challenge is over at this point)
Important Notes!
1. Bodybuilder Aspiration: I highly recommend changing out the Lazy trait first, because you cannot complete the second aspiration milestone with it. Your sim will always stop Pushing the Limits before one hour is up because the trait causes them to be “excruciatingly fatigued.” I even tried using a Moodlet Solver potion and it did not work.
2. Bodybuilder: I recommend starting your Sim "out of shape" but not necessarily the widest body type, first because people can be thin but out of shape or heavy but healthy, and second because I've noticed some body types look a bit strange when they've reached "maximum body potential"
3. You can tell trait whims when you hover over them and the description says “From being [trait]”
4. The only way to fail this challenge is for your Sim to die before completing it. Therefore, your choice of whether to use the Potion of Youth will really change the gameplay. I'm pretty confident if you use all of the Harder modifiers your sim will become elderly or die before achieving the aspiration by the way.
Please send me any notes, questions, or experiences with this challenge! When I have time I will post my latest play-through and maybe a different aspiration!
Post edited by RhiLTC on
12
Comments
I had never had my Sim win the lottery. Then not long ago I was playing for fun and decided to turn it into a Rosebud Challenge.
*~! BooM !~* Sim wins the lottery and instant Rosebud achievement completed.
Thanks for the question, it's a case by case and depends on your play style:
-If it's my fault that they aren't doing what they're supposed to do, like I forgot they needed to go to work or I sent them to do something and they passed out on the way, then I count it.
-If there's just an error like they set their incomplete salad on the floor because someone left a plate on only counter space, then I don't count it. If your version has Sims who often pee their pants without your intervention, then yeah probably just send them to the bathroom without counting it!
-There are some things that a Sim will do until you or urgent needs stop them, such as chess and talking in the mirror. So, I usually don't penalize myself for stopping those things.
However, as you might notice from an earlier post, this is no longer Lorraine's depressing house -- because she almost immediately won the lottery after I set up this game! I have to spend some more time remodeling a small mansion for her and updating her wardrobe. However, money doesn't solve all problems! While she can quit her job and enjoy more luxury, you can't buy willpower or self-actualization. I'll post my modified rules later, and in the meantime I'll pull up a different character who will hopefully *not* throw a happy little wrench in my plans
First of all thanks for posting this challenge, I'm trying it now myself & already learned some new stuff while doing this (never been so aware of the _trait_ whim).
However, I run into days that my sim is just waiting in the bathroom, since there is not a trait whim or an emotion to take care of. Did you put your sim on 'normal' autonomy? Like that they will automatically do something or is it normal that on some days they just don't do anything?
Love to hear anyone's inputs on this!