Version 1.3 This challenge is currently being play-tested and rules could be changed or improved.
Will any brave souls join me in play-testing this challenge? I would love your feedback and comments as you play through.
Smith v Jones Best Life Challenge #SmithvJonesChal
‘Best Life’ Livin’ Large and Living Small rotational game play challenge
Have you ever wondered which of these gives a family a greater advantage: Tiny Home lot traits
or the advanced career placement that results from graduating from University? This is a rotational gameplay challenge to help figure out which of these is the greater advantage.
In this challenge you have two YA couples, new SIMS with no skills. Each couple will go about life in a different manner. They will be neighbors, hopefully even friends. Each couple will have three children unless the final pregnancy results in multiples then the couple keeps all the children. Each family can have up to three pets if they want including bowl fish and rodents.
You will play each couple rotationally for one week from Sunday 8 am. This challenge is played on long lifespan.
Requires: Discover University and Tiny Living.
Smith Life Path
Mr. and Mrs. Smith buy a tiny house with their starting funds of 22000. Lot size no larger than 30x30 or 20x40. Mr. and Mrs. Smith will always live in a home with the Tiny Living Residential trait. (up to 100 tiles) Mr. and Mrs. Smith will begin working immediately either at a job, or freelance, or by registering with the ministry. At any given time, between the two of them, they can only attend two university classes in a week. (One can work part time and take two classes, or they can both freelance and take a skill course the same week or however you want to do it). They are free to change careers should they choose to do so.
Allowed for Smith Only
Digging for treasure, painting, harvesting wild plants
Gardening Career, Painting Career, Scientist Career
Part-time and Odd jobs for adults, teen career Labourer
Nature Aspirations, Painter Extraordinaire Aspiration
Loves Outdoors, Clumsy
Own a restaurant
Buy street food
Always welcome (try to get this for everyone in the family)
Not Allowed for Smith
Collecting Posters and Snow Globes
Acting Career, Athlete Career, Lawyer Career, Doctor Career
Owning a Photo Studio and fashion photography freelancing
Dining out at a restaurant (unless someone else is paying), going to a Spa. Can do yoga or meditation at home or the gym, can get a free massage from a friend in someone’s home.
Acting Club for Teens, Teen Careers Babysitter, Retail or Lifeguard
Owning or using the AquaZip, visiting Sulani if they don’t live there except for work as a Conservationist if applicable
Student Loans
Butler, maid, pizza delivery and nanny
Adults must not brag about tiny house
Thermostat
Jones Life Path
Mr. and Mrs. Jones will both be full-time uni students on the alternating weeks when you are playing them, until each of them graduates. Full-time is three or four classes. If they have less than three classes to finish then the last term will be the remaining classes for degree completion. (don’t re-enroll when you are at the Smiths or they will fail classes). They will rent on or off Campus while in school. They must be able to afford their initial rental in San Myshuno with their starting funds. Once they have both graduated and started to work, they need to save up a 10% down payment for their future home while renting in San Myshuno. Build or Download a fabulous McMansion for them minimum value 350 000. Lot size 40x40 or bigger. Once they have the 10% saved (and money for bills is good too!) they will buy their home with freerealestate on. Keep a spreadsheet with the initial price of the house and lot before depreciation. When they buy their house use money cheats to take away the down payment and subtract it from what they owe. Each Saturday when you are playing them (so every second Saturday) take away 30% of their household funds as a mortgage payment and subtract the amount from the amount owing for the home on your spreadsheet. You are not to change the outside walls or do any significant renovations or redecorating while they owe for the house. Feel free to recolour the children’s rooms as they age, sell items that are no longer needed, and small changes like that. Their home will be in the same neighborhood as the Smiths.
Allowed for Jones Only
Collecting Posters and Snow Globes
Acting Career, Athlete Career, Lawyer Career, Doctor Career
Freelance Fashion Photographer
Upon graduating they should start a career related to their degree, one that allows them to start at a high level. They can change careers within their specialty meaning the careers where they start with advanced placement.
Mansion Baron, Fabulously Wealthy
Teen careers babysitter, retail, lifeguard
Snob, Jealous, Genius, Geek
Owning a retail lot
Dining out at restaurants, going to the Spa
Temporarily buying a home in Sulani for Vacations (add house sitter Sim to household and move the Joneses out and back in having sold the Sulani lot, or use mod by littleMsSam to maintain a vacation property anywhere in the worlds)
Student Loans
Butler, maid, nanny and pizza delivery
Professional Slacker Reward Trait
Frugal Reward Trait
Thermostat
Not Allowed for Jones
Tiny living lot trait
Nature Aspirations, Painter Extraordinaire Aspiration
Gardening Career, Painting Career, Scientist Career
Painting, digging for treasures (they can send the dog), harvesting wild plants
Teen Career Labourer
Odd jobs and part time jobs after graduating from University.
Owning a restaurant
Buying food from street vendors except during a festival.
Camping only lot in Granite Falls or Selvadorada. They must rent a vacation home with proper beds and all the utilities while on vacation.
Game file set-up:
Try to have all the lot types you will use in your game file. I suggest putting a park and a café in the neighborhood where the couples will live.
Townies or others is up to you.
I suggest using two-week seasons so you can experience all the seasons with both families. I’m using LittleMsSam’s 21 Day Seasons instead of 28 so I can do all the festivals alternating between the households. I have made my own roster of 12 annual holidays for these families.
Long lifespan
Other
Allowed does not mean required or recommended, it just means it’s available
Switch households Sunday at 8 am.
Clubs and groups are allowed
Families can earn points for scout badges should your young SIMs want to join Scouts.
Roommates should be Ok if you want to have roommates
Children once YA cannot earn money for the family, but they can cost money by going to University. If a YA child is not a student, they need to move out.
Gameplay mods are fine as long as the mod does not favour one family over the other. Any advantages gained from using a gameplay mod should be applied equally to both families.
Rotational Gameplay
University
The first week of gameplay for Mr. and Mrs. Jones is kind of a right-off. You will be waiting for acceptance letters and scholarships. Have both of them apply for University early in the week. Once they have their documents they still need to wait until after Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s week of play before starting school. Do not enroll in University during the first week of play with the Joneses. Early Saturday morning while you are playing the Smiths, dash over to the Joneses and enroll in university classes. If you have cheats enabled, you can do this by right-clicking on the SIM. You don’t even need to unpause the Joneses to enroll in this manner. You can just as easily have them walk over to the mailbox if you prefer. By enrolling early each Saturday morning, the school week runs Monday to Friday. Do not enroll them on the alternate when you are playing the Smiths or the Joneses will fail classes.
Recovering Needs
When switching households Sunday at 8 am, it is permissible to bring all the Sims back to the home lot and fill needs. This is because un-played played Sims get up to all sorts of unruly behaviour when left to their own devices. Otherwise, gameplay cheats should only be for getting unstuck and managing the mortgage.
Completion
Challenge ends when the first initial Sim becomes an Elder or when all the children have moved out. Elders can finish raising children to adulthood so the family gets all their points as long as there is still one living parent.
Should you get yourself into some kind of serious mess, so much so, that you can’t play out a family’s life path despite all your best efforts at creative problem solving then you fail the challenge.
Scoring
Depends how the kids turn out 😉
This only applies to the three oldest children in each home if there are more than three
For each Happy Toddler +1, each Top-Notch toddler +2
Each child skill level 10 +1 or if child maxes all four skills +7 (but not +4)
Each child aspiration completed +1 or all four aspirations +7 (but not +4)
Each child who gets all scout badges by age-out +10
Teens who graduate high school with A+ + 7
For each skill 7 or higher when teen ages out +1
For each character value bonus trait when the teen ages out +1 or for all five +15 (but not +5)
Child taken away at any age -20
Jones: paid off their house +20
Smith: Household funds in excess of 350 000 +20
So, who did better: The Smiths or The Joneses?Link to my playthrough
Comments
Version 1.0 to 1.1 no changes to the rules. Edits are for clarity.
Explicitly allowed scouts
Pulled out rotational game-play considerations to their own section. More clearly explained university enrollment.
Version 1.1 to 1.2
I added the sentence: 'If they have less than three classes to finish then the last term will be the remaining classes for degree completion.' to Jones Lifepath because the game will only allow a SIM to finish their degree but not take any courses extra to the current degree during the university term. Last term of their degree might end up being part-time.
Version 1.2 to 1.3
Collection day at the lab would put the Joneses at odds with the scientist career. If I have to take an active career from Jones then fair is fair I also have to take one from Smith. Smith lose doctor career option.
Q. Are kids or teens allowed to be in scouts?
Q. In my experience there is a lag in the time between applying and being accepted to university.
Were you able to enroll right away? I may have just not checked on the application soon enough.
I have stated that the family can get points for scout badges earned by the children and teens. I did not explicitly state anything about being allowed or not allowed to be in scouts because there’s so much in this game, that basically, if something is not stated is not allowed then it’s allowed. Maybe that‘a too open-ended? I could state in the other section that scouts is optional but it’s a good way to earn points for the family.
Regarding enrolling for university initially, the first week of gameplay for Mr. and Mrs. Jones is kind of a right- off waiting for acceptance letters and scholarships. Once they have their documents they still need to wait until after Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s of play week to start school. I will pull the notes about university out of the life path paragraph for Mr. and Mrs. Jones and create a paragraph explaining how to make university work in a rotational gameplay in the the other section so it’s more clear.
Oh My! you are having quite the adventure
**Still Lurking**
Smith Family
Jones Family