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New Challenge - "The Notable Sim Challenge"
Pegasys
Posts: 1,135 Member
I came up with the idea for a new challenge. It's got roots in the Legacy Challenge but also incorporates from other challenges. I have not playtested it yet but am starting today to see how workable it is 
In some ways it is similar to the Everything Challenge but with more time limits, planning and challenge. ( I have been thinking about this for some time before I even learned about the Everything Challenge. )
This idea arose when I started looking and realizing my sims were never really completing many things in the game. Despite playing the game for a gazillion hours, my sims still haven’t completed all aspirations, careers, etc. The Notable Life is not just a playstyle, but a goal-oriented challenge that combines flexibility to keep things interesting, simplicity in the setup and rules, as well as a specific time element that adds to the challenge.
The Notable Sim Challenge
Background:
Your Founder Sim has come from a prosperous, long line of high-achievers. Though s/he has traveled to their new homeland with only $20k simoleans, and no family or friends, the pressure is on to continue the tradition of unique achievement. By living a full life and reaching their goals, they will continue to protect the family name throughout the generations.
The idea of this challenge is that each heir has to complete all of the following in order to have a Notable Life:
Duplicate aspirations or skills don’t count toward their Notable Life. It will start easy enough, with the aspirations, skills, and careers you’re used to using, until you run out of your comfort zone and are forced to pick something new. The difficulty arises after the usual skills (Charisma, Logic, Fitness, etc.) have already been maxed by previous Sims, and your sim needs to choose something new. Because of this, at some point the challenge will grind to a halt but the goal is to keep it going as long as possible.
If the Legacy sim/Heir doesn’t complete all of these goals within their lifespan then they have failed - they have tainted the family lineage and tradition, and the Challenge is over.
Part of this is also to produce a time challenge, as well as a motivation to use aspiration reward points.
Rules:
The Founder and Heirs
Where They May Live
Spouses and Other Sims
Finally:
Upon the death of a Notable sim, their tombstone should be placed in a special graveyard, with the epitaph stating their Notable Aspiration, Skill, and Career achieved.
Scoring:
The basic scoring is simple:
Each “Notable” (Unique)…
Generation - Each generation producing a Notable Sim = 1 point
Aspiration - Each unique aspiration = 1 point
Skill - Each unique skill maxed: = 1 point
Career - Each maxed career = 1 point
Collection - Each unique collection: 1 point
Part-time job maxed: 1 point
Death type: 1 point
Party - Gold Starred: 1 point
Each Unique Child Aspiration achieved: 1 point
Each Unique University Major with an A-average: 1 point
(Note: I'm considering allowing aging off for a portion of time during Uni - need to test this.)
Although whims are not included in the scoring, they are a part of the challenge for the Founder/Heir. Each Notable Sim must complete at least 100 whims, which can be checked in the Stats area.)
Scoring Example:
You make it to the 4th generation, and the heir completed their Aspiration and Skill, but dies before reaching the top of his/her career. Over the challenge your sims have have 2 completed collections, 2 child aspirations, and a spouse maxed Dancing. The final score would be:
3 completed generations = 3
5 Skills Maxed = 5
4 Aspirations Achieved = 4
3 Careers Maxed = 3
2 Collections = 2
2 Child Aspirations = 2
————————————————
Total: 19
In some ways it is similar to the Everything Challenge but with more time limits, planning and challenge. ( I have been thinking about this for some time before I even learned about the Everything Challenge. )This idea arose when I started looking and realizing my sims were never really completing many things in the game. Despite playing the game for a gazillion hours, my sims still haven’t completed all aspirations, careers, etc. The Notable Life is not just a playstyle, but a goal-oriented challenge that combines flexibility to keep things interesting, simplicity in the setup and rules, as well as a specific time element that adds to the challenge.
The Notable Sim Challenge
Background:
Your Founder Sim has come from a prosperous, long line of high-achievers. Though s/he has traveled to their new homeland with only $20k simoleans, and no family or friends, the pressure is on to continue the tradition of unique achievement. By living a full life and reaching their goals, they will continue to protect the family name throughout the generations.
The idea of this challenge is that each heir has to complete all of the following in order to have a Notable Life:
- They must complete at least one Aspiration. After reaching YA, this aspiration cannot be switched/changed until completed.
- They must max at least one skill.
- They must reach the top of at least one 10-level career (or create a 5-star restaurant or vet practice). This cannot be a part-time or odd job.
- They must complete at least 100 whims.
- They must have at least one natural-born child to continue the family legacy.
- They must achieve all of this within a Normal lifespan, with no gameplay cheats. However, all aspiration rewards are allowed, except only one Potion of Life may be consumed for a Sim during their lifetime.
- Here’s the rub: In order to qualify, each maxed Aspiration/Skill/Career must be different than any before. In this way, each sim/heir becomes Notable.
Duplicate aspirations or skills don’t count toward their Notable Life. It will start easy enough, with the aspirations, skills, and careers you’re used to using, until you run out of your comfort zone and are forced to pick something new. The difficulty arises after the usual skills (Charisma, Logic, Fitness, etc.) have already been maxed by previous Sims, and your sim needs to choose something new. Because of this, at some point the challenge will grind to a halt but the goal is to keep it going as long as possible.
If the Legacy sim/Heir doesn’t complete all of these goals within their lifespan then they have failed - they have tainted the family lineage and tradition, and the Challenge is over.
Part of this is also to produce a time challenge, as well as a motivation to use aspiration reward points.
Rules:
The Founder and Heirs
- Each generation can only produce 1 Notable Sim - the Founder or Heir.
- The Founder sim must be a Young Adult Human. Custom content is allowed, as well as any mods that don’t significantly affect gameplay (mods that make gameplay easier are not allowed).
- You can choose any traits desired, although it is recommended to randomize traits (and based on those traits, select the aspiration/skill/career).
- The Founder’s aspiration, once chosen, cannot be changed until/unless it is achieved. For future heirs, they may “try out” an aspiration as Teen, but once they become a Young Adult, they must choose an Aspiration (or keep the existing one) that cannot be changed.
- Once an Aspiration/Skill/Career is achieved/maxed, it is removed from the pool of eligible/“Notable” goals. An heir (or anyone in the household) can choose to work on another aspiration or goal. This will add to the final scoring, however achieving the goal will also remove the Aspiration/Skill/Career from the pool of eligible choices for future generations, so choose wisely.
- An heir must be natural-born, including an alien resulting from abduction, although his/her siblings may be adopted.
- There are no specific succession laws. The player can pick which child becomes heir. It is actually recommended to select a younger child for the heir if time gets to be tight for meeting the challenge.
- If the heir has not become Notable (completed all their achievements) by the time their children have aged up to YA, that is fine - however, the current heir must become Notable before death. Once the heir has become Notable, the next heir can be chosen from the offspring still living within the household.
Where They May Live
- The Founder can start on any lot, and in any house they can afford without cheats. This is not a “build from the ground up” challenge, (although you can make it so if you desire). Throughout the challenge, your sims may move as they see fit. However, if they move out of the family home, they must take a proportional amount from the family funds based on the family size. In other words, if there are four people in the household, then the departing sim receives ¼th of the household funds.
- The succeeding heir can only move out once the previous heir has become Notable.
- Outside of children, nobody can be added into the household except the partner/spouse of the Founder/Heir. Siblings, children, and Sims who have reached Notability can stay in the households, but if they move out, they cannot move back in.
- Building up a mass of wealth is not necessary for this challenge, except for the aspirations that require it.
Spouses and Other Sims
- The spouse/partner of a sim is not eligible to become Notable. This recognition is only passed down through the bloodlines. The spouse does not need to do anything except contribute their DNA. They may be a support spouse, or you may have them fulfill goals to earn points (see below).
- Having a spouse maximize a unique skill or career, or complete an aspiration adds to the final score, and removes these choices from the pool of eligible choices. However, no matter how successful the spouse is, if the heir does not complete his/her goals, the challenge ends.
- While it may seem like a good idea to give the spouse an easy goal to complete while the heir is working on their goals, keep in mind, once anyone completes that goal, it cannot be used in the future. Which means that you will have to balance the easy goals with the harder ones. If the Founder/Heir has a difficult career to complete, you might want to balance that with an easy skill or aspiration.
For example: Your Founder’s spouse is a stay-at-home parent who happens to max the Cooking skill. This will add a point to the final score, BUT Cooking can no longer be used as the Notable Skill for a future sim who might also want to complete the Master Chef Aspiration. - Spouses can also earn points for part time jobs, minor skills, and help in gathering items for collections.
Finally:
Upon the death of a Notable sim, their tombstone should be placed in a special graveyard, with the epitaph stating their Notable Aspiration, Skill, and Career achieved.
Scoring:
The basic scoring is simple:
Each “Notable” (Unique)…
Generation - Each generation producing a Notable Sim = 1 point
Aspiration - Each unique aspiration = 1 point
Skill - Each unique skill maxed: = 1 point
Career - Each maxed career = 1 point
Collection - Each unique collection: 1 point
Part-time job maxed: 1 point
Death type: 1 point
Party - Gold Starred: 1 point
Each Unique Child Aspiration achieved: 1 point
Each Unique University Major with an A-average: 1 point
(Note: I'm considering allowing aging off for a portion of time during Uni - need to test this.)
Although whims are not included in the scoring, they are a part of the challenge for the Founder/Heir. Each Notable Sim must complete at least 100 whims, which can be checked in the Stats area.)
Scoring Example:
You make it to the 4th generation, and the heir completed their Aspiration and Skill, but dies before reaching the top of his/her career. Over the challenge your sims have have 2 completed collections, 2 child aspirations, and a spouse maxed Dancing. The final score would be:
3 completed generations = 3
5 Skills Maxed = 5
4 Aspirations Achieved = 4
3 Careers Maxed = 3
2 Collections = 2
2 Child Aspirations = 2
————————————————
Total: 19
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Comments
EQ
You can read the start of the challenge on a blog I set up, beginning with Chapter 1.1 here.
This is my first time documenting a challenge publicly; if you have any recommendations or feedback, please feel free to comment!
Sim Stuff by Pegasys
Aurora is now an Adult and working through her Aspiration and Career, but a couple of things have slowed down her progress.
Chapter 1.2 is now available.
Sim Stuff by Pegasys
Sim Stuff by Pegasys