Penny 5x5 part 1
I started a brand spankin' new game today (**these posts are from 2016, just reposting here for safe keeping). I decided to do an offshoot of one of my other challenges. In this one you start in a completely empty of every Sim and house, I leave all the buildings but not a house in sight. My sim starts on a blank lot with no money at all. The object is to earn your house by collecting, dumpster diving, stealing (after you earn back your neighbors) or any other way you can think of. For each $10,000 you earn a 5x5 block to start building your house, plus you earn back a family or sim of your choice from your library. For the first few days you have to camp out at the fire station and get creative with socialization, I allowed my sim to chat with the tourists that always show up until her needs were in the green, mine was a loner and she still got the lonely moodlet.
Empty of houses Sunset
Meet Penny Nickels (creative huh?
)
The lot she chose
Penny is going to be an Illustrious Author, so I got her started painting right away luckily they have an easel at the fire station
While doing her collecting rounds I decided to have her explore the catacombs, she found a soulpeace gem (or something like that), next trip in she found a Pink Diamond! Did not sell either of those.
Pink diamond after she earned her first 5x5:
Did lots of dumpster diving
Made tourist friends
after a few days and loads of collecting, dumpster diving and painting, which she leveled up in rapidly, she earned her first 5x5! not bad for a cute little starter.
I decided to move in Jamie, Dylan, their parents and unfortunately Rebecca, who is the sister of Jamie and Dylan (maybe she can behave in this town)! Both Jamie and Dylan took a shine to Penny right away
.
I was going to have her go for Dylan, but Jamie seemed more interested, usually I would not consider Jamie available but since Belle (his wife in all my library saves of them) is not in town yet and in this library save of the boys Jamie doesn't even know her (yet), he's fair game until she moves into town!
Penny and Dylan
Penny and Jamie
That is where I will leave off for today. Tomorrow she should get her second 5x5 and we'll see who moves back into town.
Some of Penny's paintings, she is a level 9 I believe.
I love this one and didn't sell it
Oh My....
Her second masterpiece, kept it. It reminds me of Mars, maybe she can give it to Mark (Watney) when he moves into town at some point:
Comments
First off she got up on the wrong side of the bed...or just decided that the side of your bed doesn't really matter if you are a Sim!
She earned the second 5x5 and boy was the extra space nice!
She and Jamie were getting along great, she was constantly throwing wishes for him and he was calling her to chat at least twice a day, he was also sending her love notes and gifts
Her second 5x5 also meant she could move another family or Sim into town, I decided to stir things up a bit and had Belle's family move in, I switched houses to have Jamie meet Belle (his always and forever in all my games) but Jamie was at work so I switched to Dylan. Dylan met Simon, Belle's sister by the Bistro, I thought this was hysterical because waaaay back when I first created Simon I created him to be the boyfriend of Dylan (mainly because Belle and Jamie were engaged and living together with Dylan and throwing another girl in the mix always had Jamie flirting with her and it peeved me.....and Belle). I thought Simon would cure this and it did for about a day, then Simon started flirting with Jamie!! So the boys broke up and now are both strait. Them meeting just brought back flashbacks.....and boy was I tempted!!!! Simon will be back with his always and forever (in all my games) Summer when she moves back to town
So now for Penny it's either Dylan or Seth (Belle and Simon's brother), who I know she will get along with, they have 3 traits in common, and come on he's adorable!
Or she could go for Sebastian (Belle, Simon and Seth's brother), who was Evil but I changed his traits a bit, now he is dramatic
Belle:
Jamie and Belle:
True love!!
Back to Penny, here she is making friends with Annabelle at the cemetery, come to find out Annabelle hates art and Penny is a huge artist, not good. Penny ran into the zombie bear in the catacombs that is why she is toasted
Some of todays paintings:
EEEEEEKKKKKK!! what the hay is that a demented demon bunny?
No way I was selling this one!
Kept this one too!
Your standard fruit:
I call it "blobbage":
Surfer Dude:
Cute Fairy:
Pretty Winter Scene:
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
This was the add on from yesterday that I forgot to take pictures of
Went to the Alchemy shop and did some beekeeping, the honey and beeswax bring in some nice $$
She (okay...it was me!) started getting a little weird in her still life subjects, this is her butt....
As is this:
As is this...Yikes!! Cover your eyes kids!
I guess I neglected to take pictures of the next expansion but I moved in the Goths with it.
Found it! This was the first expansion today
From the outside, added a garden too, redid the siding, and added more porch.
Catching pretty butterflies
Dating Dylan (who my lovely husband dubbed.."girlie" :
Penny assuring Dylan he is not "girlie"
Fixing the blasted potty for the 30th time!
Caught a Falcon
Never saw a child ghost before, Penny making friends with her
Next Addition
Outside view of new addition:
Moved my boys in with this expansion!
The Frio house
She didn't ONLY paint butts, here are some of her other paintings:
Another Blob painting
KEEPING It!!
Look at that texture!
Pretty Birdie:
SPORE!!!
Blobtastic
That's about it, tomorrow I may give the poor girl a break and let her travel.
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
Here are the original rules...
The 4x4 Challenge:
I have been working on this one for awhile and I have 2 versions: the more difficult 4x4 version and the slightly easier 5x5 version, the 5x5 version is better suited if you have only the base game or very few EPs, though the 4x4 is very doable with only the base game.
The object to this challenge is to build yourself a dream house 4x4 block by 4x4 block, each block will cost your Sim $10,000 (or $20,000 if you want more of a challenge).
To start make a sim of your choosing in CAS, either gender, whatever traits you like.
Buy an empty lot, the bigger the better as you will not be able to move for the duration of the challenge.
Start the game by building yourself a 4x4 block "house" (it's gonna be cramped!) it must include:
2 counters
A sink (either in the "kitchen" or "bathroom")
A microwave
A table
A chair
A single bed
A toilet
A shower
A bookcase
A computer if you have the funds
2 or more lights
2 or more windows
A door
A porch if you like any size within reason (I typically do 4x3) BUT the porch is NOT considered part of the house and may not have skilling objects or household objects placed on it. Only decorative objects like plants or a lounge chair as an extra spot to vege out but you must have all household items listed above IN the house).
Siding
Paint
Roof
Carpeting or other flooring of your choice
A small fenced in 6x6 garden (you may buy seeds at the grocery but only 1 of a seed not 15 apple seeds for example).
**I added everything up (including the 4x4 house with a 4x3 porch, and even with fairly expensive furnishings the total still came to less than the $16,000 that most Sims start with, you may kaching once if you wind up under the starting money of $500.00 but then must get down to $500.00.
Please note: if you have Into The Future do yourself a favor and get the All In One Bathroom, it is a big space saver, also look into a loft bed and put a small table and chair under it for your eating or computing purposes, another big space saver.
Buy your Sim whatever extras and/or decorations you can squish in. Keep in mind your Sims ability to get to everything without a foot stomping hissy fit. Buy as much as you want until you get close to $500.00 as you can, landscaping is good but keep in mind where you want to expand your house so you don't have to wreck all your pretty landscaping after you earn your expansion block(s), a bike is also a good idea. Then set family funds to $500.00.
Your Sim may get a job, or work from home to make money though your options for working from home a pretty limited, writing, hacking are good because you should have a computer. Painting and sculpting are off the menu until you have room in your house for an easel or sculpting station. You can always collect, there is good money to be made collecting flowers, rocks, gems, bugs/butterflies, seeds, you can also dumpster dive and sell the items you find. You can garden and sell the produce. When you get your funds up to $10,000 you may add on a 4x4 block to your house, make every attempt to spend as close to $9,500 on the furnishing the new bigger house (save out $500.00 for bills) you can buy whatever you like for the house or to make your sims life easier (a car perhaps). Now you are set to start earning another $10,000 for the next expansion and so on until you have a house you can live in comfortably, my ultimate goal is usually 10 expansions so nine 4x4 blocks plus the original 4x4 block. It is one of my favorite challenges as it is really tough in the beginning because you are so cramped.
A few things to note: you may get married but when your mate moves in he/she must be unemployed or the challenge would be too easy, if they bring any money with them it must be deleted. They can do whatever you like but may not make any money, when my sim gets married in this challenge I tend to skill the heck out of the spouse, have then read all the skill books and max out skills, costs nothing if they read at the library and they become a jack of all trades.
**EDIT for boyfriend/girlfriend and marriage: you may either follow the rules above and just have an unemployed, unable to make money mate, Or you may have them work, collect, create, garden or whatever to make money BUT your additional 4x4s will cost you $20,000 as you will have 2 Sims bringing in the cash. Children can not make any money (hang the paintings they paint, or inventory them), as they reach teen if they get a part time job add another $5,000 to the 4x4 cost. This is only for the first 2 children, any extra kids can be money making machines . When the kids reach YA the $10,000 applies to them if they stay in the house.
**EDIT: if you want to add in a roommate, fiancee, husand/wife, or other person to the house you must get rid of any money they bring to the household. You can do this by family funds or buy as many objects you need to get to the total you need to get rid of then object delete the objects.
**Money making ideas that are frowned upon as it is way too easy to make a bundle: that crazy 8 ball thingie (will look up the real name).
Also adding that you do not have to lay your 4x4s all on one story, they can be a second story of the house if you like, stairs will have to be inside the house though.
For those without many EPs (mainly Into The Future) I reccomend trying out a 5x5 challenge first, it makes less of an issue of not having access to a loft bed and an all in one bathroom, though I have done the 4x4 using strictly only base game items.
My goal is always 10 4x4s (the original 4x4 plus 9 add ons). You can make up your own goal if you want, make it fun for You!
Have Fun and be sure and let me know if you have any suggestions or criticisms (I can take it.... ).
Enjoy! Becky
Picture of first stage 4x4 house: Outside
Inside:
***I also did a very fun version where after you have made your $10,000 you get your expansion BUT you also have to get pregnant, or if playing a male you have to adopt a child (you can adopt if playing a female also).
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
@Puddinroy , You could try...I bet mods would be the only way to do that, I’m modless and it’s only happened 4 times in the 3 1/2 years I’ve been playing. You would have to get him alien pregnant 9 times....adoption would be way easier.
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
@Charlottesmom: True. Off to start
Welcome to China!
First thing on the list, swipe all the expensive books! I will not sell these when she gets home as they are worth at least $15,000 so that would be cheating.
Then she headed over to the Abandoned barn as that has both seeds and treasure, I got a star cut Jade this time!!
Then over to the big scary Dragon!
Lotsa coins and treasure here!
She got an armful of bugs investigating the last hole, can't blame the scared expression here
Yeah, treasure!
Lots of pulling the big rock monster guys
Explored the catacombs right before going home
Lookie what she found!!! that is only the second ever genie lamp I've ever found in the year I've been playing.
Back at home decided to do some sculpting
Found a bunch of Gems
Both Seth and his brother Simon seemed interested, but Simon is taken as far as I'm concerned (his girlfriend moved in with my latest expansion
Dancing with Dylan
Asked to sleep over
More Dancing (party again the next night!) Dancing with Dylan
Dancing with Seth
Latest expansion
I'll decorate tomorrow..
And the newest residents...Vladimere!! his wife Pearl, his sisters Julia and Summer (Simon's future wife) and his adopted daughter Victoria, here is Pearl, pictures of the others tomorrow
Only a few painting today: Could NOT sell this one!!
And of course a new still life...of her butt! that makes 4 on the butt wall...
Could only get three in the shot..
That is all for today, thank goodness Penny tuckered me out!
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
I'm easing off her painting, she mastered it awhile ago and she only has to paint about 4 large paintings for her $10,000 expansion money and it was getting too easy. She will probably get a job tomorrow to cut up the day and make it even more difficult to earn money quickly.
House with the new addition decorated
Looking into her bedroom from the livingroom
Continuing the theme....
and....
Nice Zebra, Kept it!!
3 of my favorites
The great wall of clocks:
The great wall of butts! (too bad some are so dark)
I finished up with Penny and decide to see what was going on in the neighborhood....
Vladimere and Pearl, flirting as per usual!
Seth's family decided to get some dogs, which I typically HATE, but as I watched the momma and three little buggers play I decided to spare them (usually they would be aged up until grimmy came for them)! The mommma's name is Bella, which I find amusing as Belle is in this household and her mom's name is Isabelle, so now there are 3 variations of the name in that 1 house! here is Bella getting some shut eye...
My Golden, Charlotte does this all the time, love it!!
One of the puppies, forgot their names
Two of my favorite boys!! my "twins" Connor and Nate
**Sigh** Connor....
Grimmy chatting with someone after he "finished business"
That's it for today.
Testing something....
Yeah! it worked, I tried lightening up the butt wall, now you can actually see most of Penny's tushy pictures.
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*
I decided to change things up and send her to the future, meeting Emit:
Collecting nanites:
Excavating: looking for parts to the key...
Harvesting crystal flowers
Finally found all four pieces of the key, went to the ship
Used the key
Yeah! Treasure!!
Not sure what to make of this, I guess Penny wasn't looking for a plumbot for woohoo purposes?!?
A lovely view....
Trying her hand at creating nanites
Chatting with a friend on the computer, that she swiped!
Making friends..
Can't remember his name, but what a cutie!
Back home...Her expanded Wall O' Clocks!
Wall O' Butts with new buydebug lights (thanks jillbg, awesome idea!), I may brighten them up a bit but so far the work great!
Look who she ran into after shopping for a few books, Connor, and they hit it off (naturally)
*sigh* that cute simmy face always cheers me up.
Already good friends
Only 2 new paintings for today:
That's it for today...
*Fairy Jared and Vampire Connor*