Beginning the Challenge
Please use the following Legends, so you know which rooms I am referencing to:
Ground Floor Legend/MapThird Floor Legend/MapThe Cast
There are 8 total houseguests: 5 INMATES (Joker, Harley, Ivy, Bane and Snake), 2 GUARDS (Steele and Selina), and 1 WARDEN (Wayne). You are allowed to fully control 3 INMATES. You are not allowed to control the other 5 sims in the household, except to give basic need commands (for instance: Eat, Sleep, Shower, etc). Otherwise, the other 5 characters are on their own.
If you need help deciding which 3 inmates to choose, additional information on the characters can be found in Post #2.
The Challenge Overview (AKA, "What do we need to do?")
There are five levels/floors to this challenge:
Level 1: The Ground Floor
Level 2: The rooms on elevated foundation on the first floor
Level 3: The Second Floor
Level 4: The Basement
Level 5: The Third Floor.
Your sims win the challenge when they complete all 5 levels and have uncovered the mystery behind the prison. All sims start on the Ground Floor, and can only reach the next level/floor when they complete Challenge Objectives for the level they are on.
The Challenge ObjectivesLevel 1: The Ground Floor
Inmates should only be wandering the following rooms: Inmate Cells/Showers, Cafeteria (includes the library and woodworking areas), Courtyard.
Guards are allowed on the entire first floor.
To reach Level 2 of the challenge, your 3 sims must complete the following requirements:
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Handiness level 5
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Fitness level 5
2 User-Controlled Sims can get jobs in the following careers: Astronaut (interstellar smuggler branch), Criminal (Boss), Scientist (Mad Scientist), Agent (Villain Branch). You may also join a career if you feel like it could align with the story/plot. For instance detective (if you have get to work), or military (if you have Strangerville). If you wish yo go to work with your Sims, you may do so, but it is not necessary. The 2 sims who go to work must reach level 3 in their careers.
Level 2: The rooms on elevated foundation
Make sure you have completed all requirements from Level 1.
Unlock the gate to the high foundation rooms. Unlock the door to the Observation Deck, the Guards' Room, the Guards Breakroom, the Warden's room and the Surveillance room.
Your inmates now have access to all rooms on the first floor, except the basement entrance. When accessing the Guards' rooms, The Warden's room, or the surveillance room, the inmates cannot occupy the room at the same time as a guard or warden. So for example, if you are using a computer in the surveillance room, a guard cannot be in the room and see you do this.
Hint: You *are* allowed to use other characters to distract the warden/guards, to intentionally keep them out of a room. You can also enter a room when the guards/warden are preoccupied with another activity (e.g. showering, exercising, etc). To reach Level 3 of the challenge, your 3 sims must complete the following requirements:
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Mischief level 5
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Programming level 5
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Logic level 5
All 3 User-Controlled Sim must reach Fitness level 10
Level 3: The Second Floor
Make sure you have completed all requirements from Level 1 and 2.
Go to the 2nd floor and unlock the door to the bedroom. Select the door, and allow access to only your three inmates. This is their new hideout. Your sims no longer need to sleep in the jail cells. Have them claim the three beds. These are quality 10 beds, which means your sims should fill their energy requirements faster and sleep less. You are also provided with a high quality bathtub, to help remove the Tense moodlet. You are also given a better quality laptop than those available on the first floor.
To reach Level 4 of the challenge, your 3 sims must complete the following requirements:
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Handiness level 10
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Logic level 10
1 User-Controlled Sim must reach Rocket Science level 5
Level 4: The Basement
Make sure you have completed all requirements from Level 1, 2, and 3
Please do not hover over or click the following spoiler until you have reached this point in the challenge.
Story Advancement:
Narrator: In summer, the heat is oppressive. There's a cloying sweet scent of death that seeps from the ground. The smell permeates your clothes, your skin, and clings to the muggy air... I awoke last night, and found myself thirsty. I went to the tap and held my mug there, but nothing came out. Just a dry rattle. But then, from deep underground, a rumble. A deep mechanical groan that seems to shake the very foundation of the prison. The faucet started to flow, but only a thick rust-colored sludge flowed out. I must be dreaming, I thought. But then the stench came... Lord, the smell. This is real.
Here is a legend/Map to the basement:
Your inmates now have access to: The Sewer Maze, The Underground Oasis, The Science Laboratory, and the Underground Bunker. Please lock the "Entry to the Third Floor" door until your sims fulfill the requirements for Level 5.
You may use the underground oasis to grow plants you would like to sell to help pay bills. Or you can research the plants, or get microscope slides from them.
The Science Laboratory will only show up if you have the "Get To Work," pack. If you did not choose a scientist career, you may not be able to use all the features here. If you *did* choose the scientist career, you *are* allowed to use the cloning device, the ray gun and any other item you receive from your career.
The Underground Bunker provides a few of the highest quality computers for your sims. Use these to help with the requirements to reach the roof. You may also choose to sleep in the beds in the bunker instead of the 2nd floor bedroom.
To reach Level 5 of the challenge, your 3 sims must complete the following requirements:
2 User-Controlled Sims must reach level 10 in their career
2 User-Controlled Sims must complete 2 aspirations each, 4 total. If you choose an aspiration that involves more than one controlled sim (for example, getting married) the aspiration will only count once. If you are having difficulty, you can also complete 20 whims on each of your 3 sims, for 60 total.
Level 5: The Third Floor
Make sure you have completed all requirements from Level 1, 2, 3, and 4
Your inmates now have access to the third floor. Unlock the basement door to the third floor.
Your sims now have access to: The Command Center, the Rocket Launch Pad, and The Telescope.
To escape the prison, your Sims must fulfill the following requirements:
Build and Fully Upgrade a rocket ship.
Launch your inmates into space! Congratulations! Your inmates have escaped, you've won the challenge... right?
Spoiler (hightlight to unveil):
Did you solve the mystery of the prison? What's causing the smell and what's causing the fog? What's causing the rusty-sludge that flows through the prison pipes? Who's behind all this?
I don't think this is over.
Read post #3 for the Prison Escape Challenge, Part 2.
Comments
Come check out my Prison Escape Challenge.
For the time being, please feel free to speculate what is happening beneath the prison.
Come check out my Prison Escape Challenge.
Unfortunately I'm more of a reader when it comes to challenges, so I'm more interested in reading about you or anyone doing a Prison Challenge. I hope someone comes along and update their progress!
The challenge was brewing in my head while I was building though, so I knew that I wanted to make each floor have progressively better items, so people won't need to replace beds/computers, it would already be ready for them as they leveled up in the challenge. The characters took about 2-3 days to make in CAS because I literally chose all of their outfits for every occasion using only base game items. It shows a lot of packs, but I think it's because I used the randomizer. I use PS4 so I had to transfer my screenshots to my computer, then I had to label the images and write out the challenge rules. That took about 3-4 days. Playtesting and making sure the lot works took me another day or two. There was actually a moment of panic when I had the sims move in and they couldn't even go inside the lot xD I thought, OH MY GOSH.. Did I just spend 2 weeks building for nothing? Thankfully another user told me to save the lot to the library, bulldose and replace the lot using the library save and that worked.
So yea. xD Before writing down the challenge step-by-step I swear it was a gigantic jumbled mess in my head and tablet 8'D It was like untangling Christmas lights 8'D
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@mercuryfoam Thank you! I'm glad you like the build ^_^ I totally understand about reading the story buy not doing the challenge. When I have an idea for a household, I'm super hyped... But by the time I finish building a lot and creating the characters, I'm already too tired to play with them 8'D
Storytelling is probably my weakest point. I enjoy building the most. I actually hadn't created the backstory until I was sitting on the forums typing up the challenge rules.
For those who are only interested in the story and not necessarily doing the challenge itself, here is a screenshot of the basement:
There is the lab, but there's also the sewers, the oasis, the bunker and varying rickity cots all down there. It's a given that there's a science testing facility in the basement, but I'd love to hear what other people think why these other locations are down there, what they're used for, and how the different rooms might be connected xD If anyone would like to speculate or write a story/lore based on the prison, I'd love to see that. I do have the story ending brainstormed, just not fully written out yet.
Here's what happened on Day 1:
^ I have seasons installed, and it was raining. Atmospherically, it was giving me the creepy vibe xD
I moved the Sims in and I was busy taking screenshots... By the time I remembered to lock the doors, the Joker was already halfway down the basement ladder...
*WHERE HE WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO TO..* Anyways, he's causing me trouble already and he wanted to go "Troll Teh Forums" and apparently cause a fire (if his whim icon is anything to go by). At least I know his personality is on-point. xD
The guards all congregated in the guard breakroom.. I did NOT group them there, they just went there on their own, and started watching romance on a blank tv. Pretty sure this place is haunted, but I didn't put that Lot Trait there
Three of the inmates tucked themselves in bed and went to sleep. Bless their little sim AI hearts.
Come check out my Prison Escape Challenge.