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The Island Elemental Twins: Random Ideas and Challenge Rules Thread
Metior_Ice
Posts: 3,103 Member
To avoid cluttering the "What Happened in Your Game Today Thread?", I'm creating this thread to share the various rules I'm giving myself while playing the households I'm writing stories about. I'm making up my own challenges based off of existing challenges, and I'm playing the challenges in different packs.
Sometimes, I get random ideas and reactions to the gameplay that aren't story relevant or semi-story relevant, I'll share that here too. I'm pen to discussing ideas that are mentioned here. The main point of this thread is to lighten the frequency I post in another thread and consolidate all my ideas in one place.
This thread may be a bit random, but the primary focus will be sharing ideas in regards to various self-made challenges. I play on the console, so I won't be thinking of any challenges that can be done with mods. Still, I would welcome anyone that shares their ideas for challenges that require mods.
Sometimes, I get random ideas and reactions to the gameplay that aren't story relevant or semi-story relevant, I'll share that here too. I'm pen to discussing ideas that are mentioned here. The main point of this thread is to lighten the frequency I post in another thread and consolidate all my ideas in one place.
This thread may be a bit random, but the primary focus will be sharing ideas in regards to various self-made challenges. I play on the console, so I won't be thinking of any challenges that can be done with mods. Still, I would welcome anyone that shares their ideas for challenges that require mods.
User ID in the Gallery is Metior_Ice. My Active Discussions https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1004466/metior-ice-s-merfolk-story-thread#latest https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/1000738/what-are-your-merfolk-doing-today#latest
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https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17962879/#Comment_17962879
My challenge for my Elder Heir households is essentially a rags to riches style of gameplay. For Alen, he'll be caring for animals and starting out running a vet clinic. My idea is that the Vet Clinic in Brindleton Bay was shut down for mysterious reasons, and there are a lot of sick pets. The world of Brindleton Bay is sick because of the poor care the Cats and Dogs are receiving. The Cats and Dogs are the Heart of that world, so the state of the animals will be reflected in the story I'm telling.
The way I'm approaching this is that Jack will spend everything he has to get a vet clinic up and running to help heal the animals, and the world. So, the household funds will be zero because everything will be dedicated to the vet clinic. This will be my first time running a business without relying on households that are guaranteed to buy up the entire store. So, the extra income will be a buffer to keep things running.
Because pets are involved, Jack will have more income than normal for a rags to riches challenge because I want to ensure the pets are cared for even though Jack will struggle to care for himself. I'm only going to give the vet clinic enough funds to be functional with a buffer just in case there are any unforeseen elements. I've had cats and dogs for a long time, but I admit that I haven't experienced much of the content in detail.
Technical Details:
I cheated the neighborhood to make it Industrial, but the industrial element will naturally decay to neutral over time. As long as the Neighborhood is in an Industrial State, the home lot will have the filthy challenge that makes everything get dirty quicker. Water and Power is produced via industrial means.
Jack will have to overpower the industrial elements in the neighborhoods with green elements to remove the Filthy Challenge. He can not remove the on lot industrial elements.
Thanks to city living, there are wallpapers and floors that look like they need maintenance. Jack has a roof over his head, but things are far from their highest quality. If he wants appliances that aren't used, he'll need to buy them from a retail store. Unfortunately, retail stores cost more than the catalog. The walls and floors can't be improved unless he has the money to replace the wallpaper and floors. He'll have to decide if new floors and wallpaper is more important than the appliances. As long as things are filthy and the walls are covered in mold, he'll have to watch out for the creepy crawlies.
To get rid of the creepy crawlies, he'll have to remodel his entire home. Not a single room can be left with mold covered walls and subpar appliances. He'll have to raise all of his money for the remodeling from the vet clinic. He'll be allowed a limited allowance to withdraw from the clinic.
Weekly, he can withdraw up to 500 Simoleans for the pets, and he can withdraw up to 1000 Simoleans for the home renovations. Business operations have costs that must be balanced.
I'll probably revise this as I play out Alen's Story for his first rotation.
I created a small room that goes in the basement of my builds. this room is the main cause for the industrial effect, and it won't be something that can be removed.
Running the vet for a single day cost me around 700 Simoleons. So, if I cheat 1000 Simoleons, my sim only makes a profit of 300 simoleons. If I do this five time a day, my sim will only make a profit of 1500 Simoleons. Every week, my sim will take 1500 simoleons from the business funds to increase the standard of living at home.
Alen should break even this way. He'll need to take 10 patients daily for five days to turn a profit.
So, I'm going to cheat the net profits so he's paid for his vacation like most sims are during vacation holidays. Unfortunately, the Vet Career doesn't pay vacation time when you're the owner.
The summer season has a week long holiday themed around the island festivals. This holiday would result in a very powerful sad moodlet if Alen missed it.
Alen makes around 1000 Simoleons before wages are deducted, and he has two employees. So, for each day of vacation, I'm going to give Alen 600 simoleons. This means that once the holiday begins, he'll get around 6000 simoleons for 10 days off. That 6000 will be his total income that will go into the business funds, not household funds. I'll use the 6000 to develop the vet hospital, but he'll only pull from the business funds if he absolutely needs to.
So, My Revised Rules after a little experience running the vet clinic.
Alen will have a Vet Clinic with the latest equipment, but this equipment cost him everything he had. As a result, he has nothing but a worn down house without any furniture or appliances. The house is inhabited by 7 abandoned pets that have not been properly cared for. The house provides shelter for the strays, but Alen is sleeping outside wherever he can find comfort.
He can run his clinic as long as his employees aren't tired, and he can withdraw as many funds as he wants from the business to develop his home. He must leave 200 simoleons in the business funds so that he can operate his business.
The abandoned house inhabited by strays is both filthy and infested with creepy crawlies.
To remove the filth, the industrial smog plaguing the neighborhood needs to be cleaned up.
To remove the creepy crawlies, the house needs to be remodeled with all the essentials needed for a functional home, and it needs to not get filthy as often.
A big part of the challenge is the untrained pets. Cats and dogs will prevent your sim from getting a good nights rest, they need to be properly cared for before your sim, and you can't lose a single animal to animal services.
Auto aging must be turned off, the death of a pet will not be allowed. The sim must care for all pets. As a vet, aging down and up the pet from Adult to Kitten or puppy is allowed.
To do this:
1. I created a room with Island Living torches that stay lit
2. The room itself has walls and floors with an industrial footprint. The ideal walls come from Dine Out.
3. I used industrial generators and industrial water production from Eco Living.
For the Vets that help with the clinic, I custom made them.
Vets can't have maxed skills.
It's recommended that they have:
Level 4 Vet
Level 5 Charisma
Level 5 Handiness
It is recommended that they are unplayed and have a pet.
Eventually, the desired vets will become available for hire, and hiring vets is important for the challenge. Employees get tired, and this effectively limits the amount of income you can make.
1. They can't have maxed skills.
Level 4 Vet and Level 5 in Handiness and Charisma are the max possible if you want them to show up.
2. They can't be played households.
But, you can move them to the played household after they are hired.
3. Giving them a pet increases the chances of them becoming customers and consequently increases the chances of them being available for hire.
4. Allowing new customers will generate new sims you can later delete until the sim you want shows up.
Every new customer refreshes who is available for hire, and every customer that is later deleted increases the chance of the desired sim to show up.
Interestingly, it's only the sim I'm playing that encounters this bug. The employees can bill patients without any issues.
Many items were flickering and shaped like pyramids. The Flickering was significantly worse while moving the camera and slowed when the Camera stayed still.
Since I don't know when to give up, I started playing around with debugs and instantly enacted some NAPs. I know that NAPs are a significant feature that came with the Expansion Pack, and I know that certain NAPs, exclusive to Evergreen Harbor, have an influence on the way the world looks.
And that's when I noticed something that I think others missed. The glitched objects are inworld items that are affected by the NAPs exclusive to Evergreen Harbor. As soon as I started enacting NAPs, the objects that were glitching disappeared in some areas. However, this did not fix the problem.
The Green Initiative also helped because it removes stuff that is glitched in game. I should emphasize that the items that were glitching were directly connected to the two Evergreen Harbor NAPs that directly affect the appearance of the world.
But, I also noticed that items that appear in world after the NAPs are passed are more stable than the items that come before the NAP. The propeller statue is something that appears when a NAP is passed. That space did not glitch before or after enacting the NAP. So, I can confirm that the glitched items are tied to the NAPs but not everything associated with the NAPs are glitching. Items that appear and disappear depending on if a Particular Evergreen Harbor NAP is active are more stable and do not glitch. There are exceptions to this rule.
More in the Spoiler, including the possibly temporary Solution.
The Eco Footprint does not affect anything in Evergreen Harbor. The NAPs are a critical part of this bug.
Oddly, I did find something that worked. When I restored the License for all my games, it did fix the bug. I did not have to redownload or reinstall anything. I also didn't have to delete my save again. This bug started with a brand new save after a patch.
Evergreen Harbor after I restored the License.
Without Any Naps active
With the Green Initiative Active
I forgot to take a screenshot after the other NAP is active, but the bugged items aren't what comes after enacting a NAP.
He's going to follow the Rags to Riches Challenge like the other heirs, but his challenge will be tied into an Eco Lifestyle. Aiden will have to make his money by selling the items he fabricates and completing gigs as a freelancer. I know that Rags to Riches normally allow getting a job, but I felt that Jobs that require being proactive can be an exception to the rule. Similar to Brindleton Bay, Evergreen Harbor is in a sorry state, and it's up to Aiden to clean things up. For Aiden, he'll have to overcome an even more powerful Industrial Footprint because he has access to more Green Items from the Eco Living Pack.
Rule #1
Aiden can only make income by selling items he fabricates, taking gigs, or selling water and energy he generates that require fabricating items he would otherwise sell.
Rule #2
Aiden can't use the catalog to buy anything other then:
I may update this list as I explore the limitations of Fabrication. I'm aware that candles can be fabricated, but I don't want to restrict myself to that.
Rule #3
Aiden needs to make most of what he uses in his house. So, he'll have to become handy, a skilled fabricator, and a painter if he wants to improve his living standards.
Aiden's Core Traits:
Maker
Child of the Ocean
Greenfiend
Aiden will start his challenge between a rock and a hard place. Some nefarious individual sealed him in a shipping container after putting him in a deep sleep. Over time, the seal on the container rusted thanks to the water Aiden was in and the salty sea air. He's finally woken up, but the world he found himself in is nothing like Sulani, and it seemed like everyone has given up on it. There are no neighbors and no one around. A thick smog fills the air and the sea is polluted. Someone has caused almost irreversible damage to the world.
Also, I had an encounter with a Darkfin. lol. That will be fun to share.
Basically, I get paid for sending items for approval, but the task doesn't check off. My sim is losing job performance because the gigs essentially fail in spite of multiple items sent for approval. What makes it odd is that I can constantly receive pay for everything I send and never complete the last item on the gig check list.
Prince Jason will live in a Penthouse in San Mushyno that needs to be fixed up. He'll be playing in the rags to riches style with a twist. Jason will be able to get a job, but he's unable to make money any other way.
The Galen Royal Family used their wealth and influence to keep crime and corruption out of San Myshuno. From behind the scenes, they worked tirelessly to keep the city safe and skies clean. The Galen Royal Family was also decimated by the Shadow of Morbius and now, San Myshuno has become a city of corruption. Jason will have to rebuild the Ironworks Warehouse (Formerly Fountainview Penthouse) into a proper home, but he'll have to do it while rebuilding his family's legacy.
Rules:
Jason will have to pick a career associated with City Living.
If he gets a significant other, they can get a job and assist with income.
Jason can only acquire income through his career or by winning City Living Contests.
I'm choosing the social media career branch because Jason is working to make San Myshuno better, but I don't want him in the political spotlight for doing so. The Merfolk Royal Families and their roles in the world are unknown to humans.
Per the Rags to Riches theme, Jason will start with no money, but because he's in a penthouse, he is not without things. Jason is allowed to have useless decorations that don't have interactions and used items. These items can later be sold if there is a need for income.
The priority of this challenge is investing in the property. By investing in the property, the bills will become more expensive. From testing things out, Jason and Whitley had the incomes from Mid-Level Careers each and they still didn't have a lot of money to spend because of bills or buying things to meet the requirements for the Mansion Baron Aspiration.
The Goal of the Challenge is to build a penthouse that qualifies as a mansion for the mansion Baron Aspiration. Only the smallest Penthouse, Fountain View, can be used.
The player can sell the decorations or keep them, but they can't start with the things they need to complete their career tasks.
Akira Ningyo
The Darkfins
Damion Morbius
Kealoha
and then, finally the legacy households.
This makes the rotation order:
1. Zalrian (4 months)
2. Mua Pel'am Pod (1 Month)
3. Azure (1 Month)
4. Eon (1 Month)
5. Turei (1 Month)
6. Galleon (1 Month)
7. Finley (1 Month)
8. Sol (1 Month)
9. Galen (1 Month)
10. Ningyo (1 Month)
11. Darkfins (1 Month)
12. Morbius (1 Month)
13. Kealoha (1 Month)
14. Kailani (1 Month)
15. Floren and Gully (1 Month)
16. Human Legacy (Undecided Name) (1 Month)
Not much as far as rules are concerned. This will be a more standard Rags to Riches start, but like the others, I'll be using one of the smallest lots possible to build a mansion for the Mansion Baron Aspiration.
So, it'll be another micro-mansion.
While Jack had his farm, Alen had his vet clinic, Aiden fabricated items, Jason worked from home in the Social Media Career, Akira will be different. He'll be a Yoga Instructor and make all his money teaching wellness.
Akira's Rags to Riches goal is to master the Wellness Skill and Build a Micro Mansion.
For the Twins, Dylan and Zephyr:
I'm thinking Nyx and Sarah Darkfin will be the ones that give them a hard time.
For Aiden and Helios, I think Archer Darkfin will be their antagonist.
I think Freddy will be a good antagonist for Jason.
From what I understand, there are more features to the game than what I got to. You can grow a meat wall with vertical grow beds and you can fabricate a device that instantly changes the Eco Footprint. Aiden is a Freelance Crafter, and I noticed that certain gigs are impossible to complete. If you place items in world, the gigs should be possible to complete. Here are a few Screenshots.
If you "Send to Client" via the computer under the "Freelancer" option you will get paid for sending the item, but you don't get any credit for it. Essentially, you get paid for your work, it won't count toward your career tasks, and you spend bits and pieces that don't get refunded. If you are low on bits and pieces, this can be a problem for completing the last freelancer task.
The Client will send a notification after it's sent via the computer, but this notification is deceptive.
But you will get paid.
It just doesn't count toward your career, and this is the real problem. You lose career progress as a result of this bug. The bug is extremely exploitable because you can send the client dozens of what they are looking for through the computer and make money for each item sent, and because it doesn't count toward the career task, it's essentially an endless source of free money as long as you have bits and pieces and the gig is active.
If you select an item in world that has the gear symbol, you can also "Send to Client"
The item disappears, you get credit for the task, and you receive the same notification from the computer.
Because I was playing a challenge for myself, I did not intentionally exploit the bug, but I'm stubborn and identified it when I got bad responses from the client after the gigs expired.
Rugs do not have an interaction in world, so those gigs will always fail. Part of me expected there to be at least a color preference since you can buy dyes to fabricate with, but it doesn't really matter what an item looks like, its color, or the emotional aura if it's a candle.
An exception to the rule will be elementals.
Water and Air Elementals will always be merfolk with any type of tail color, usually something that reflects their element.
Fire Elementals will always be spellcasters.
Light Earth Elementals will be merfolk until fairies get added to the game.
Dark Earth Elementals will always be Vampires. Dark doesn't equal evil. I'm thinking of a sun and moon theme.