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Yet another scenario gameplay thread

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EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
Table of contents

Scenario gameplay with the Detroit/rotational save sims

Too many toddlers: Read on
Perfectly well rounded: Start with this post.
Making money: Start with this post
Surviving the holidays - Start with this post

The New Leaves in the wind series

New Year, New hustle - Start down here
Surviving the holidays - Start here
Too many toddlers
Finding love after a breakup
Perfectly Well rounded
Making money (pending)
Post edited by EnkiSchmidt on

Comments

  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited January 2022
    Too many toddlers

    03.04.20_23-05-467mj3s.png

    This is Connor Anderson. Connor already participated in a Seven Toddlers challenge, where he gained notoriety for reading to the kiddos with his back turned to them all the time.

    I don’t generally create new sims, but instead re-use old ones that I’m attached to in numerous parallel universes. Connor is the oldest of three brothers: Connor, Sigstein and Amadeus Anderson. Add in Connor’s elderly father and we have a full set of sims for the scenario.

    03.04.20_23-05-47wcjya.png

    My game is not updated, so this may not be possible under real scenario rules:
    First I pulled Hank and the triplets from my library. I aged the triplets down and then designated another copy of Connor as their father to create a grandfather/grandparent relationship between Hank and the boys. Then after entering the game I deleted adult Connor to prevent him from swinging by all the time.

    03.04.20_23-05-48rjks3.png

    That leaves us with Hank and the triplets.

    Their revised backstory:

    The triplets’ parents went to a weekend trip to Sulani, after the grandfather, Hank, had agreed to take the little tykes in. However, Saturday evening, halfway into their trip, Hank receives a call from the children. They reported that the volcano has erupted and the smoke in the atmosphere prevents planes from starting. Hank will have to watch over the triplets for an unforeseeable time. Could be a day, or a week… two at most…
    Caught in a Donald Duck & nephews situation, Hank cusses a bit, but that doesn’t clear the air over Mua Pel’am any faster.

    The scenario starts Sunday at 8 a.m.

    08.11.21_19-58-53jnktj.png

    Hank’s house (from the gallery) is not equipped for child care at all. He cleaned out the garage/workshop to make room, but right now it is just a dreary, empty room.

    The triplets move in:

    08.11.21_20-09-472bjhq.png

    In front we have SIGSTEIN, the middle child, and with a FUSSYness matching his birth order. One day Siggy will show them all!!!

    In blue we have the baby, AMADEUS, normally a proverbial bundle of joy and very carefree, but in his parents’ absence he has become CLINGY.

    And finally we have CONNOR, the firstborn, who is also secretly Hank’s favorite. Connor is a CHARMER chatterbox who wants to do well in everything, but unlike Siggy he doesn’t necessarily need to be the best.

    08.11.21_20-14-54gnke5.png

    First order of business: Order a ton or so of sand and have the delivery truck empty it in the backyard. This will get the children started on their imagination skill, but it will also sneakily solve our money problem. Hank is an elder fresh out of CAS, and although I gave him a job as critic, that won’t cover our expenses. But if the boys “accidently” dig up seashells… well, Hank paid for the whole load, so the seashells are his now, too, right?

    Except for the very first one, that Siggy dug up. That one is special, therefore it goes onto Hank’s desk where it can radiate its Inspired aura while he writes or cooks.

    08.11.21_20-14-55zmk0f.png

    Speaking of cooking: In the rotational save Hank is a fast food junkie. He enjoys eating, but hates cooking. So I thought I could be clever and bake some brownies. The game didn’t let it fly, it flagged the activity as cooking and slapped Hank with a tense mood.

    That was the point where I invested in a planter box and a packet of veggie seeds. They’ll be needed anyway to keep the tots in a good mood.

    08.11.21_20-25-18lwkkl.png

    Totally not the preferred grandson, Connor then received some lessons in critical thinking via the good old Memory game.

    I found thinking to be the hardest skill to raise. In regular play my sims get thinking skill from a wading pool, but I don’t want to use cc here. The toddler tablet is too slow, the same goes for “What is this”, and building blocks require Thinking 2, so that leaves only the cards? Unless I’m overlooking something.

    Tip:
    - Always cancel the flashcards interaction two seconds before it would end normally. That way you can start again immediately.
    - Have the toddler ask the caregiver, never the other way around. I had forgotten about that and Connor got angry for a while from “getting bossed around”.

    08.11.21_20-28-04geji4.png

    Hank then had to practice writing for his part time job, so he let the triplets play in the sandbox again.

    Sigstein and Amadeus immediately started arguing over the bucket.

    Siggy: “Itsa MINE!”

    08.11.21_20-28-43j5kda.png

    Amadeus: “Okay, here, HAVE IT!” and proceeds to douse his brother with sand.

    08.11.21_20-29-275ej45.png

    A couple of minutes - and a couple of sharp barks from Connor – later, the two are best friends again and even helpfully fill each others’ bucket with sand.
    Post edited by EnkiSchmidt on
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    08.11.21_20-37-145ujal.png

    Speaking of being helpful: Salim Benali left this tray of grilled halibut out in the open, with his back to it. Now if we were baaaad sims, we could just steal the fish. But Hank is a retired cop, so let’s say Salim heard of his troubles and wanted to help out. The halibut is of course a present!

    08.11.21_20-41-58brjvm.png

    With toddlers in the house, all shedules are voided. The boys had already been sleeping when Hank woke them up again for their fishie meal.
    I love how Amadeus doesn’t want to look at what he’s eating. Also Connor looking impishly at Sigstein as if he knew that he'll mainly get fed by veggies from the inventory and could hardly believe his luck to get a real meal now.

    On a sidenote, all three are full adults in my rotational save, and not just that, I created them as YAs, so never saw them as toddlers before.
    I hadn’t anticipated how effin’ cute they’d be as toddlers.

    08.11.21_20-42-26kdk84.png

    And then it is back to bed again! Meanwhile Hank takes a nap only, he still has some cleaning up to do during the night.

    Also notice that he must have hired someone to paint the garage with a kid-friendly pattern and spread out carpets. It still doesn’t look cosy, let alone like home, but a little less uninviting.

    08.11.21_21-19-113oj9x.png

    Monday passes without any special events. By nightfall Hank remembers that he still has to interview a food vendor for his critic job. It’s also a good opportunity to stock up on rare produce.

    08.11.21_21-21-49nsk8w.png

    Hank: “If only you could ask them nicely, I’m sure the vendors would gladly sell you ice cream and hot dogs. All the good stuff your parents are so stingy with!” (The Marketstalls mod requires Communication 3, and none of the trio has that yet.)

    If Hank had his way, he’d spoil the triplets rotten with unhealthy food. But he feels that doing this too often is unfair towards the actual parents. Especially now that they are sitting in an airport at Sulani, waiting to get reunited with their children.

    08.11.21_21-21-50dej88.png

    The triplets in their party outfits: Connor is the bear(dog?), Siggy the wolf and Amadeus the fox.

    Hank buys a spooky candy for each of the boys. He briefly thinks how few basic skills his grandkids have mastered so far. Perhaps Cole and Kara are a bit too lenient. Sure, children need to be children, but may Hank should teach them just a little bit…? He’ll have to think about it tomorrow.

    If he lives to see tomorrow, that is. As you can see, at this point Hank was close to Death by Toddler from all the interactions. Time to put everyone into bed and let them sleep off their moodlets.

    08.11.21_21-30-54gdkbd.png

    Tuesday morning:

    Hank: “You gave the bathroom floor a bath, so it’s only fair if I in turn give each of you a bath, right?”
    Also Hank: BACKACHE! This used to be easier when Cole was little…
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    08.11.21_21-48-071rjow.png

    Amadeus is often regarded as the little brother of the twins, despite them being triplets and his only unique trait that sets him apart from Connie and Siggy being his grey eyes. Truth is, the boy has come to rely on his baby status. Hank is determined to remedy this.

    08.11.21_21-48-281akre.png

    Hank: “See? From up here you can see all of Detroit! Isn’t that cool?”

    Amadeus: “Yeah. I wanna live in a biiiiiig towah downtown!”

    08.11.21_21-48-44cdjnl.png

    Hank: “Okay. But to get downtown, you’ll have come down here first. Carefully… you can do it!”

    08.11.21_21-49-176rj44.png

    Amadeus closes his eyes.

    “I can do this! I can do this! (But nobody said I had to watch myself doing it.)”

    I notice a pattern here? Okay, this is only the second time he looks away from something awful, but still. I’ll have to keep that quirk in mind when I play him again in the real timeline.

    08.11.21_21-49-36j7ja8.png

    Whoooooooosh!

    08.11.21_21-49-53d8jqs.png

    Hank: “See? You did it! I knew you could!”

    Amadeus: “It was so high!”

    08.11.21_21-50-48usju6.png

    Hank: “And now you’ll go even higher!”

    Amadeus: “Hahaha!”

    08.11.21_21-51-13hwj3d.png

    Hank: “Over the treetops! Touch the clouds! And the glitched festivals that hang in the sky!”

    (Ooops, sorry, wrong save. But I really do have that in San Myshuno. And also floating apartment shells.)

    08.11.21_21-51-41vgjwt.png

    Amadeus: “Wromm! Wromm! I’m a plane!”

    Hank: “I’m a…”

    Amadeus: “You're that ship where fighter planes land on. Why can’t mom’s and dad’s plane just land on one and they come home by ship!”

    Hank: “You miss them, huh? Between you and me – I do, too.”

    08.11.21_22-00-46c3jex.png

    Evening routines in the garage nursery… only they are not routines yet and hopefully will never become routines! There has to be a way out of this, and soon!
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    screenshot30918bj6a.png

    Connor was the first to get four skills to level 3: Movement, Thinking, Imagination and Communication.

    screenshot30920pknk.png

    Two and a half hours later Amadeus reached level 3 in Movement, Imagination, Communication and Potty.

    screenshot30939tkbe.png

    Fussy Sigstein took the longest. At 6:30 in the morning of Wednesday, he got the same skills as Connor to level 3.

    screenshot3094mfjrp.png

    And finally Hank got to Parenting 5 and level 2 in his career.

    Winning the scenario means that Ohan’ali airport has cleared flights at 6:31 am Detroit time. I estimate the flight to take ten hours, so by evening the triplets will be re-united with their parents.

    I’ll play through the final day, pull Cole and Kara from the library and then post again with the Happy End.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    Skilling is over, back to actually playing the family! Also: I can use mods and cc objects again without fear of them giving an unfair boost B)

    09.11.21_21-08-22vzk4m.png

    Early in the morning a phonecall comes in: Mom and dad are coming home!

    09.11.21_21-22-42dpkq9.png

    The family celebrates with Hank's extra gooey mac 'n cheese.

    So how do we spend the rest of the day?
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    I considered taking the children to the beach, but they have already built enough sandcastle. So the nextbest thing would be a trip to the harbour. So many things to see here!

    09.11.21_21-28-43i9j4w.png

    ...like a drunk passed out in front of the pub.

    Uh... on second thought you don't have to tell your parents everything gramps showed you, right? (Of course we all know that they WILL blabber about this.)

    09.11.21_21-33-04lbjms.png

    ...or the cat that ended up Brindleton Bay's mayor as a write-in candidate. Normally Hank wouldn't allow the boys to pet random strays, but Mayor Whiskers is well cared for and disease free. Probably not free of fleas, though.

    Did you notice how Amadeus AGAIN turns his back and looks away from an unfamiliar encounter? Now I really have to work this into his character in the main save. Little things like these contribute to why I enjoy playing side saves so much. Everytime they teach me hitherto unrealized tidbits about my sims. For example Hank took up archaeology after finding trasure in one side save, my avatar sim took up DJing and so on.

    09.11.21_21-33-36acjb7.png

    Hank isn't too fond of flock birds, so Connor scares them away!

    09.11.21_21-33-37gajtl.png

    And now that having the grandkis is fun again instead of hour after hour of worrying, Hank takes a couple of pictures to reminiscence about later.

    09.11.21_21-36-52bpjw1.png

    The trip to the port was exciting, but also a bit much, so the triplets take a nap before driving back.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    09.11.21_21-47-55mgj5b.png

    Around 17:00 a cab honks in front of Hank's home. By the time the triplets reach the door, the car has long left. But before driving on it spit out the long-lost parents...

    09.11.21_21-48-55o0kzx.png

    ...and the big sister that I added in an impulse. Alice is Kara's daughter, the triplets' half-sister. She's a bookworm like Hank, and a bit shy, so she really enjoyed the short vacation with just mom and dad.

    09.11.21_21-49-30iyjm4.png

    Connor: *chatters away*

    Kara: "Wow, Cole, listen to the little ones! They are so much more articulate than when we left them! We have to thank your father!"

    Siggy: "Dis weekend S UCKED!"

    Kara: "And also have a TALK with Hank."
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    And that's it, the Happy End.

    I could re-use the thread for Connor's Seven Toddler Challenge that I mentioned in the beginning. I failed that one (as in: I didn't get everyone's skills up, but no toddler got taken away), but it was still fun.
    Post edited by EnkiSchmidt on
  • BabykittyjadeBabykittyjade Posts: 4,975 Member
    That was awesome!! 🤭🤭🤭😏
    Zombies, oh please oh please give us zombies!! :'(
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    I started on my second scenario, Perfectly well-rounded, and placed my new sim into my rotational save. The one where the triplets are adults. There's a chance we'll see them over the cause of that new scenario, but I won't force anything. If they decide to write themselves into the story it's okay, if not, that's okay, too.

    Here's my scenario sim:

    screenshot3122e2k4u.png

    Name: Tamara Donner (from Sims 3)
    Age: Full Adult
    Career: Technically Governor of Michigan, but incognito during the scenario, so unemployed

    Aspiration: Party Animal
    Traits: Outgoing, Adventurous, Hot-headed
    Likes: Purple, Red, Electronica, Singing, Dancing
    Dislikes: None so far

    Household blurb: Tamara Donner is a succesful politician, but worldly power doesn't make a person immune to midlife crisis. And so, when the government receives some puzzling gossip from the state's industrial capital, Tamara jumps to the occasion to perform an undercover mission to gather firsthand intel. Goodbye Governor Donnor, Welcome Back Party Girl Tamara! Even if it's only for a week or two...
  • maggiemae8135maggiemae8135 Posts: 790 Member
    I love your toddler scenario! What a good grandpa! :)
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    Thank you for commenting, @Babykittyjade and @maggiemae8135 :)

    About the new scenario, I played just enough to start captioning the screenshots. One of the triplets really walked by the very first day, but had already left before I could greet him. It's probably for the better, because Amadeus realistically could know what Tamara looks like and see through her disguise.

    Here's adult Amadeus:
    18.11.21_22-09-4332k1a.png
  • ilove2314ilove2314 Posts: 3 New Member
    AWW i love it
    :D
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    Let's start this (even though it won't be nearly as adorable as the toddlers).

    To avoid spamming, I will post the full story with tons of minor character name dropping on my blog (https://enkisstories.tumblr.com/tagged/sims4PerfectlyWellRounded/chrono) and in this thread focus on the scenario goals.

    Prologue

    Lansing, State Capital of Michigan, 2046

    17.11.21_22-25-06irk80.png

    Governor Donner: “…what brings us to Detroit. Well, in the past the city was known as a giant open air cesspool. Nowadays it is more on the erratic side, with, if you believe the gossip, the organized crime turning cops into fishes and vampires dropping bat guano on people at every corner.

    Any suggestions what to do about the situation…”

    17.11.21_22-23-450gj1o.png

    Vice-governor Bellamy: *raises hand*

    17.11.21_22-24-11ookkj.png

    Governor Donner: “…that do not involve a tactical nuke?”

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    Vice-governor Bellamy: *lowers hand*

    17.11.21_22-25-15mhkuk.png

    Governor Donner: “Sigh. Okay. Here’s the plan: I’ll pull a Harun a Rashid and go see for myself, coming to Detroit as just another backwoods dweller hoping to make her fortune. Once I’ve got a better picture of the situation, I’ll call another meeting.

    That was everything for today, thank you, ladies, gentlemen and autonomous mobile devices!”

    Tamara left the conference room whistling.

    Any excuse to throw a party, ey? a small part of her brain said in an almost accusing tone.

    The woman chuckled. ONE party? Haha! Nah, one wouldn’t be nearly enough.

    (Note: The vice-governor was mayor of Detroit up until 2043. In the long run he is very likely to become president, but there are two heavy contenders who are also played sims.)
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    Tamara arrived in Detroit late at night the next day. After unpacking her things in a spacious, but barely furnished, apartment in the Arts Quarter, she went to bed almost imediately.

    When she stepped out onto the neighborhood plaza early the next morning, the game sent me townies for the most part. The only played sim in the crowd was Josh Wayne, the current mayor (the sim with the paper cup):

    18.11.21_21-54-36vck65.png

    Naturally Tamara couldn’t chat Josh up. In fact, if she wanted to stay incognito, the Governor had to actively avoid the fellow politician as well as all paparazzi, journalists and individuals like the High Judge of Michigan, who was living somewhere in this city, too.

    The next played sim to cross Tamara’s path was - tadaaa! - Gavin Reed, one of my main characters. Time to put the best acting face on...

    18.11.21_21-44-37knkao.png

    Tamara: “Hello, I’m Tammy! I can’t believe I’m in DETROIT now! I could SCREAM!”

    Gavin: “Take it from one who was born here, girl, screaming doesn’t help.”

    Tamara: “This is totally AWESOME! Think of all the opportunities! I’m gonna throw lotsa parties!”

    18.11.21_21-45-09zsjsk.png

    Gavin: “'kay, do that, don't let me stop you. Well, I guess I’ll see you in the statistic of crime victims sometime next week. Fraud, most likely, although I see a decent chance for mugging, too. See ya!”

    And with that the man walked away. From his last remark, Tamara took him for a police officer, and indeed Gavin entered the police station and didn’t leave it again that morning. Tamara made a mental note to browse the police database later to learn with whom she had been dealing.

    Aspiration Progress so far:
    - Greet 10 sims - Check

    screenshot3125i1jwb.png

    This is a good mix of major and minor characters, all technically played sims, but some more regularly than others. Gavin is not included here, because the introduction failed due to the man's single fame star. As Police Lieutenant Gavin is somewhat well known in the city, but not what I'd consider a real celeb.

    Post edited by EnkiSchmidt on
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    After picking veggies and fruit at the community garden and discussing street art with total strangers, Tamara returned to her apartment. Up there, right in front of her door, a trio of locals was idly chatting on the floor. They were not from the same apartment building, just the general neighborhood, and Tamara soon realized why they had come over:

    18.11.21_22-18-16jejap.png

    Turned out her next-door neighbor was none other than Reese Thornton! Officially a lowly employee in CyberLife’s PR department, Reese had gathered impressive local fame as pianist. Despite this, she had never lost her connection to the “common man”.

    18.11.21_22-20-395mjl9.png

    Reese had fun dancing through the evening with Tamara. She may be on to "Tammy"'s game, but keeps her mouth shut.

    The same-aged women even parted as friends that night, the first of three friends Tamara has to make for her aspiration and the first of the five she has to make to win the scenario. I'm happy that this happened so organically.

    18.11.21_22-24-37ftjfg.png

    On the downside, Reese and her husband seem to have a fulfilled love life!

    Tamara couldn’t even complain, for fear of Reese really knowing her secret and spilling it to the press. She better returned to her apartment, make a salad or something and kept her mouth shut, so that Reese would keep hers shut about Tammy’s undercover shenanigans, too.

    And so ended Tamara Donner’s first day in Detroit.
    Post edited by EnkiSchmidt on
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    The next day Tamara already left Detroit again, to drive to the suburbs, Dearborn, specifically. Tamara's new acquaintance, Timothy what-was-his-name-again, had told her on the phone that he knew a junkyard owner who wanted to get to know her. The man's name was George Cahill and he was the father of another acquaintance Tamara had made yesterday: Erwin Pries.

    It all sounded a little fishy, and by right one should avoid such a setup. But for one, following the invitation served to keep up Tamara's cover as naive girl from the province, and for two, her real life persona had the experience to deal with stumbling into a hive of crime or whatever. Especially because Tamara wasn't in deep cover. She had her real phone on her all the time. Therefore she felt prepared to deal with whatever she'd find in Dearborn. Hopefully it would shed some light on the situation the city was (or wasn't) in!

    18.11.21_22-33-129tk69.png

    The Cahill junkyard was a place where all young children wanted to play. It definitely wasn’t a place where you wanted to raise young children!

    Nevertheless the Cahills were doing exactly that. George’s son Erwin and his girlfriend were certainly not in a hurry to find a place of their own, and George didn’t see anything wrong with the twins playing among the trash.

    18.11.21_22-34-47h9kxx.png

    Tamara spent a good deal of the morning picking Karl and Mark up from the street, carrying them back inside and trying to tell them apart.

    She also got in a row with George's foreman/housekeeper. Nothing serious, just a testament to that man's Paranoia that was well in line with the whole family's. But after what George and Erwin had went through in Strangerville in 2038 and 39, their attitude was even justified.

    18.11.21_22-29-120qjm2.png

    So why had George wanted to get to know Tamara? Turned out it was rather simple, nothing criminal at all:

    “Heard you were new to Detroit, gal”, the man said with a smile when Tamara finally found his underground party cellar. “Timothy claimed you're planning to throw parties by the dozen?”

    “Yes, that’s true! It’s my... aspiration, for lack of a better word!”

    “Good!"

    George nodded eagerly.

    "I think we can help each other. See, I have this party cellar, but little to no connections in the city. I want to expand my business, like recently I bought Sibley Quarry, and I thought of maybe renting a dozen or so prisoners. Sounds stereotypical, I know...
    Getting a foot into the android upgrades & repairs bizz sounds promising, too. With CyberLife having dropped that branch, I suppose I could rake in big money if I turned my junkyard into sort of an android hospital.

    But without friends in the right places I’m stuck, so that’s where you come in. You are a people person, but also a bit on the naive side. So before you fall into some gang’s clutches, I thought I’d offer you to team up with me. I provide the party location, and you make folks like being here and pass the word around!”

    18.11.21_22-39-460nk5g.png

    Who’d have thought! No shady deals at all, just plain old greed coupled with a hint of a good heart buried beneath. That was something Tamara could get behind.

    Maybe her undercover gig would even help doing some good for this city? That would be awesome, and reminded the woman of why she had went into politics in the first place.

    18.11.21_22-39-59gukcv.png

    Provided whatever George had caught in the Sibley forest wasn’t contagious.

    Maybe Tamara should leave now and return later..

    George isn't friend #2 yet, but he is the most likely candidate. Also their age difference isn't that glaring, so George is also a potential romantic interest for Tammy.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    It's probably too early to think about what three skills Tamara will maximize, but even so GARDENING is high on the list.

    18.11.21_21-57-59lzk61.png

    She got a first taste of it when she picked veggies at the Rooftop Farm, like any new sim or sim below the poverty line is a allowed to in my game. (Contrast to picking the whole farm clean, what yields something like 75K, and is a privilege of the owners and managers.)

    18.11.21_22-30-405bjaj.png

    Then she helped the Cahills with their soy beans & trash plant garden.

    18.11.21_22-46-15mjk0n.png

    After her visit to the junkyard, Tamara visited The Future House right across the street. It was a community center that sported a cafeteria, crafting stations and even a jacuzzi on the roof. A message board announced the latest neighborhood projects that residents could vote on and a man whom Tamara had briefly seen running a foodstall in the Arts Quarter was trying to be helpful as the Future House's official Crafting Mentor. In practise he was annoying, so Tamara avoided him.

    Tamara spent a nice afternoon here, carefree playing on the swings with her recent acquaintance, Lime...

    18.11.21_22-47-54q0kw5.png

    ...or finding a batch of lemon soda that nobody wanted. After bottling the brew up and taste-testing it, she also understood why nobody had touched it before.

    So JUICE FIZZING is probably off the list.

    But Lime was very eager to share FABRICATION tips with Tamara and she will build COOKING naturally just by virtue of being a single, and CHARISMA will auto-level with each succesful party.

    18.11.21_22-49-57g9jr6.png

    On a sidenote, Tamara also got prank-called while two locals opened a brawl right next to her. Welcome to Detroit, I guess.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    After befriending Reese, Lime and George, Tamara could start to think seriously about hosting a pary. She now had enough “pull” for people to actually attend.

    19.11.21_19-13-40rvjhv.png

    For the first event Tamara opted for a costume party. Not only would the colorful outfits liven up the location, the undercover Governor also felt a little more secure wearing a costume.

    19.11.21_19-23-596rkqb.png

    Had Tamara expected everyone to congregate to the party cellar, she was now proven wrong. The guests enjoyed dancing outside.

    19.11.21_19-20-24s7kt4.png

    That gave her time to prepare snacks and drinks. Being low on funds, Tamara had to both cook and staff the bar herself (Maybe MIXOLOGY should go on the list of skills to master).

    19.11.21_19-21-52sdkyn.png

    Her efforts seemed to have paid off, because in the end Reese, the celeb, hugged Gerge Cahill, the ambitious junkyard owner, like an old friend.

    This party ended Silver level by the barest thread. The last task was "Eat cake" and I wasn't sure to get it out of the stove in time to actually get eaten up before the timer would run out.

    19.11.21_19-50-59zikgf.png

    Llamacorn is judging you, Tammy...

    19.11.21_19-51-525sknc.png

    The second event was a House Party and Juice Party rolled into one (the second started right after the first ended).

    Invited were all residents of the neighborhood, including the landlord, and the main attraction was the glass llamacorn George Cahill had gifted Tammy after the succesful costume party.

    The houseparty ended comfortably in Silver, the keg party shoot up to Gold level. That completes tier 2 of the aspiration. Tamara also has Charisma 6 now and a quick dip into Friend of the World provided points to buy the Always Welcome Bonus trait.

    As for her real mission, Tamara spotted a few spellcasters here and there, but nothing in their or the bystanders' behaviour suggested that they were posing a problem.

    19.11.21_20-01-26avje0.png

    People getting turned into fishes left and right seemed to have been a severe exaggeration.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    Our next goal is to attend social events (not neccesarily parties) in five different places and host three parties of silver level or better.

    19.11.21_20-05-49cakkd.png

    For starters Tamara decided to take the teens, Emma, Alice and Tane, to a dance party as their adult supervisor. Tane kept going on about how the Renegades had a much better party place on an island in Lake Erie, but secretly he enjoyed being here.

    Result: Dance parties aren't scored.


    20.11.21_01-11-41qtkyb.png

    Next was an informal barbecue in the park with the Cahill household and the Thornton family. The idea here was to strenghten the emerging bond between the two families.

    It was a very relaxing event.

    Result: Silver

    20.11.21_01-43-14lqjqq.png

    Emory Thornton inviting Tammy to a workout much to my surprise counted as a social event.

    In between doing push-ups, the man kept looking at a poster of his wife Tamara has put up and clapped excitedly. Apprantly they are still in love like the first day and he adores her :-)

    Result: Neighbor visitors aren't scored either, but may I remark that Reese probably has scored jackpot with her hubby?

    20.11.21_01-51-28e4jka.png

    Geek Con didn’t count as a social event.

    Result: Tammy won a computer at the Hackathon!

    Her score was a mere 14%, so apparently the festival management fudged the numbers to let the sim most in need for money win. Or maybe Tamara mixed the announcements up and the computer was actually the price for the best costume?

    20.11.21_01-29-51q4jt9.png

    Next was a Kava party upstairs at the Bowling Alley.

    The drawback of this kind of party - random sims inviting themselves - was actually a benefit in this story. Among others, Tamara met the inventor Elijah Kamski, a man she couldn't just have approached normally in her "Partygirl from the countryside" persona. In fact, El for the longest time was an npc that I only played in side saves. He is far too (in)famous to walk around random venues in Detroit (also a bit of a recluse). Only recently did he become more approachable.

    Of course in her real identity as Governor of Michigan Tamara Donner could easily approach Kamski whenever she wanted. El in turn is totally oblivious to whom he is really talking to here. I doubt he’d recognize anybody outside his techie circles. (Their cars maybe).

    Result: Bronze (mainly because the "Call to" glitched and without sims taking kava I couldn't toast them for the higher tier goals.

    20.11.21_02-01-3986j6q.png

    And finally Tamara planned a pool party (houseparty) in the Kamski villa.

    The guest list was filled exclusively with androids this time, because Tamara imagined this as a Meet & Greet of the android inventor and several ordinary androids of later generations that he hadn't personally planned/programmed anymore. Sadly the androids weren't interested in their distant creator and El wasn't interested in run of the mill androids that didn't turn the world upside down.

    Result: Bronze

    Not only preferred the sims to watch a movie on Elijah’s showy TV in the basement over using the pool, they didn’t even move aside to let Tammy play on the console to fulfill a secondary objective. This was the first party since starting this scenario that ended in a desaster. Yes, technically it reached Bronze, but in practise it was just awful.

    Next: Who's going to pay for all of this, by the way?
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    20.11.21_01-36-08nak8i.png

    Returning from her latest gig, Tamara was greeted by a heap of bills: The rent, water, power...

    When had been the last time Tamara Donner had paid a bill? She couldn’t remember. What didn’t get deducted from her bank account automatically, a secretary saw to that it got paid. But “Tammy” didn’t have a bank account of her own. Or sufficient money to pay all those bills.

    What Tamara Donner had instead, was a pressing need to stay in character, meaning she had to raise the money with the means available to her alias only. Which were... few, to say the least.

    20.11.21_01-45-174xjvd.png

    Good thing the landlord swang by that day! Tamara used the opportunity to ask him to grant her a respite for this month.

    Byron: “Can’t, even if I wanted. See, I’m just the handyman.”

    My actual landlord is one Ritvik Johnson, but he lost the position after a makeover and got replaced by several new landlords that I tend to accidently delete on townie purges. So now I headcanon all those throwaway landlords as handymen in Ritvik’s employ.

    20.11.21_01-45-53m5jac.png

    Byron: “But that aside, why don’t you just apply for welfare? The bureau would cover your rent. Ey, probably not the rent for an apartment this size, but it would be better than facing eviction.”

    Tamara: “Because I... can’t?”

    Byron: “Why the heck not?”

    Tamara: “Uh... Ask all the other homeless in this city?”

    Byron: “Hm, yeah, I see. Well, you may still turn out a five meter high monster plant in disguise, but then you'd still be a decent person. So how about a loan? I give you 500 bucks now, and if you cannot pay me back by next month, then your glass llamacorn will be mine. Deal?”

    Tamara: “My llamacorn?! No! Uh... okay? With an option to buy it back!”

    Byron: “Okay, deal!”

    20.11.21_22-56-52jyke5.png

    We still have two Silver tier parties to host for Tamara’s aspiration, so let's do that! I chose a Gala Dinner, along with keg the easiest party type. In-story it was nothing Gala at all, but a bunch of friends meeting to share and try out new recipes.

    Daneel: “This is your apartment, Tammy? You told us it is large, but from else what you said, I imagined it to be way more dreary!”

    Tamara: “Haha, no! This is my neighbor’s apartment. Reese was so nice to let me borrow the place for the party! She's sucha dear!”

    20.11.21_23-01-56nnkow.png

    Since she was in dire need of money, Tamara decided to blur her two personas. Just a little! Hosting parties to raise money (or secure votes) was part of her almost daily routines as a politician, after all.

    And so, while on the surface a neighborhood cookout was going on, Tamara subtly nudged the attendees into loaning her money.

    Everyone contributed...

    20.11.21_23-05-40bikm9.png

    ...well, ALMOST everyone. Daneel ardently refused.

    I’d been surprised and annoyed had materialistic Daneel given away money!

    Result: Silver

    With the money from all the loans and a very convenient "Marry for an inheritance" phone call, Tamara is now swimming in 5,000 dollars in cash - a fortune in regards to her current situation, but a hardly noticeable sum compared to the funds she normally has at her disposal. Tamara fully intends to repay at least double that money when she is back in her office.

    Next: Still one party to go and that one brought about a big turning point.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    During the cooking party Byron took a selfie with Reese. It was hard to say what was the more impressive motive: the famous pianist or the rocketship in the background.

    20.11.21_22-59-33i0kt4.png

    You know I love my rooftop farm, but it, especially now that they have that rocket, completely trashed the view from the Thorntons' apartment.

    tumblr_phhjom7SRE1t1fm14o1_1280.jpg

    Byron: "You really should get a reduction on rent for those neighbors! Aren't you afraid that thing might crash into your window sometime?"

    Reese: "You mean like the UFO in 2038...? The damage has long been repaired, but if you know where to look, the marks are still visible."
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    edited November 2021
    20.11.21_23-15-544pj0y.png

    One final party to complete tier 3! Tamara made it a Keg Party with the intent of bringing George Cahill together with more potential investors. So she invited all the high rollers she had gotten to know so far:

    Luna Villareal, Elijah and Chloe Kamski, and this was the moment to remember that teenaged Emma came from a wealthy background, too.

    Mind you, neither of the guests had any idea why they were so willingly following the invitation of this stranger to their city.

    Elijah: “It's the glass llamacorn, of course! See, it’s like a stuffed giraffe, only made from glass. And a llamacorn instead of a giraffe. Naturally. But in all other regards it’s totally the same principle!”

    Luna: “That... posed more questions than it answered."

    20.11.21_23-25-573jkci.png

    The morning after the party, when Tamara went to clean up, she found a notebook on the kitchen (and only) table. She had seen Emma scribble into it during the party, so the label reading “My diary” didn’t come as a surprise. Maybe this was an opportunity to gather the intel the Governor had come here for? On the other hand, would the diary of a random teen contain anything useful?

    Emma's diary is a gold mine, seeing that she is a major character with strong ties to the main sims. Brace yourself, Tamara - everything you have come to Detroit to learn about will get covered, and then some!

    - Emma lives in a haunted penthouse

    - Her mother is a civic designer involved with the floating festivals

    - Her step-father is the CEO of CyberLife, Detroit's erstwhile biggest job provider. The diary confirms how much the company is in shambles at the moment, and lines out how Brandon Villareal defacto owns it and is using CyberLife to fund for his personal space program.

    - Her best friend is Max Villareal is leader of the Young Renegades, a different entity from the original gang, that is more or less inactive. By extention there is some information about the current state of the Villareal mafia.

    - She plays piano at Stargazer Lounge, the hottest celeb hangout in the city. Lots of dirt on them to be found within those pages.

    - Her godfather is a teacher. On first glance there is little to gain here, except that Daniel is married to a police lieutenant. The diary contains a full account of the "people turned into fishes" incident as well as the vampires of Detroit (fewer than estimated, but one actually is aforementioned police Lieutenant).

    Tamara has just more or less read my whole blog including the Reed/Phillips/Manfred family tree that links Emma to Daneel across several obscure nodes.

    It seems the Sulani civil war and its results left a special impression on Emma:

    screenshot3142wmkdm.png

    But most interesting was how casually Emma wrote about all the oddities that had reached the State Government in form of gossip and rumours.

    Tammy now understands that the strange things she'd heard about were considered perfectly normal by the residents of Detroit, as people had the amazing ability to normalize everything. Androids, vampires, aliens and spellcasters existing wasn't notworthy in this city. Only when they turned criminal did it make news, and then it was no different from when a mundane human would have committed the same crime.

    Who’d have thought!

    THE END

    At this point the story portion of the scenario was concluded and I'm topying with the idea of just stopping to play, accepting the fact that I'd lose the scenario. Grinding for the still missing objectives doesn't sound that appealing. Sure, I could clickety-clickety-click a fifths friend for Tamara to get the checkmark, but that wouldn't have any meaning, it would just be a mechanical exercise. I'm much more interested in following a plot point concerning Daneel (that will yield one more post at best). Maybe afterwards I'll take Tamara back to Lansing and follow her life there.

    These are my stats so far:

    - Complete an aspiration
    She reached, but didn't complete, tier 4
    - Have five friends
    Tamara has four: Reese Thornton, George Cahill, Lime CyberLife and Byron Schubert
    - Maximize three skills
    Her best skills are Charisma 8, Cooking 5 and Rocket Science 4
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    When Tamara invited Daneel over, he arrived angry at the lot, what suited me well to advance the plot:

    21.11.21_21-17-21t4jfj.png

    Say what you want about Daneel, but as a Phillips he is loyal. When he heard that Emma’s diary was missing, he immediately went to look for it and he had some choice threats for Tammy in case she might have read the diary.

    From her reaction to simply seeing him, Daneel deduced that Tamara had indeed read it all, and that caused him to pause. Here was a stranger who knew most of the Cahill/Phillips/Reed dirty laundry. First and foremost how he had tried to threaten George into selling him the junkyard for an apple and an egg in 2032, using young Erwin as leverage. And also his affair with Emma's mother, only she hadn't really dated Daneel, but his memories of Caroline's late husband. It was complicated.

    21.11.21_21-18-03mnj7j.png

    But if you phrased it a little differently, then here was an outsider who could look at the Cahill/Phillips/Reed troubles objectively.

    In the spur of the moment, Daneel grabbed Tamara and dragged her outside.

    “Okay, here’s the deal: For putting your nose in things that do not concern you in the least, I’ll make you listen to MORE of that stuff! If that won’t help me solve my romance problem, then I don’t know what will.”

    “Romance problem?” Tamara stammered. “I thought you and Caroline had let go of that unhealthy obsession!”

    “Oh, that! Yeah, I guess so... Oh, what gives! It probably won’t ever really end! But there are two sweet and innocent girls in my life now that Emma probably didn’t write about. I better tell you from the beginning...”

    21.11.21_21-18-04gfk8f.png

    A look at Daneel's romances. His ill-fated first romance with Caroline Phillips was covered in Junkyardstory. After it ended, Daneel grew closer to Siobhan Fyres, but fun as they were for both, their dates never went anywhere deeper. Only recently did Daneel meet Chika Tachibana at a party (none of Tammy's). I was playing an altogether different sim, but noticed these two flirt in the background. Their romance bar is almost gone by now, though.

    But in any case I have way too many potential partners for Siobhan, so if Daneel found love elsewhere that would help immensely.

    21.11.21_21-23-33tvk34.png

    There was something about “Tammy”, that made people want to open up to her. In Daneel’s case, he didn’t even have to say anything. The woman had already noticed that he and Chika Tachibana were quite close.

    “So should my next party be a wedding?” she joked.

    Daneel: “Two weddings... except one cannot be the groom in two of those.”

    Tamara: “Oh, so there is another one?”

    Daneel: “Sort of. There’s Chika Tachibana and then there’s Siobhan Fyres, and they... see, they are pretty much the same. I can talk to them about the same things, take them to the same events... only when I go with Chika, we both have to save up beforehand and book a couple of tiers lower than when I’m with Siobhan.”

    21.11.21_21-26-04h1k2n.png

    Tamara: “Seems to me you already have decided.”

    Daneel: “Ey?

    Tamara: “You obviously love Chika, but your head tells you that Siobhan is the better catch. And so you stall indefinitely, unable to ditch your loved one, but also unable to violate your materialistic principles by choosing her over Siobhan.”

    Daneel: “There's... merit to what you say.”

    21.11.21_21-26-05syjab.png

    One “hook up” interaction later it was settled. It was still too early for wedding bells, but the lovers were finally going steady!

    I said I didn't know if I'd continue playing, but you know how it is. One sais "just five minutes more" and then those become two hours. In my case the game threw me a curveball that motivated me to continue Tamara's story (and thus the scenario). Only not exactly in Detroit.
  • EnkiSchmidtEnkiSchmidt Posts: 5,334 Member
    Enter Byron Schubert with a phone call. You see, there was a reason why he had so readily parted with those 500 dollars for Tamara’s benefit. Because every hour the woman stayed in the neighborhood, and especially the house he was handyman for, was actually benefiting Byron. He enjoyed talking to, seeing and just being in the room same with Tamara. And now it had clicked that this meant he was in love!

    21.11.21_21-36-12fbjfn.png

    But was Tammy feeling the same? Well, she certainly didn't feel a dislike for the man. Byron made her feel safe, he eased the tension that came with the unfamiliar undercover gig. Byron also allowed Tamara to let go, to be more herself, that elusive entity that was neither Governor Tamara Donner, nor Partygirl Tammy. But none of that was love. Still, there was a part of the woman that was enthusiastic about the idea of checking if their shared (however brief) history together might perhaps become the basis for something more. If things went downhill, she'd be gone from Detroit soon enough anyway, right?

    For starters Tammy agreed to a date in a Botany Restaurant.

    Of course it didn’t go without complications...

    21.11.21_21-36-13lkk31.png

    Turned out the Phillips family had decided to visit the very same restaurant the very same day: Caroline, her daughter and her new husband, Emma's step-father. As I had stated in the prologue, Amadeus is perfectly able to recognize Governor Donner on sight. Caroline so far didn't, she just saw a general likeness. But soon as Amadeus points it out to her, Caroline will be able to see the full truth, too.

    Amadeus: “Why did you invite the Governor to our family outing, Emma? When you said you were considering to bring a friend, I had assumed Max Villareal!”

    Emma: “I invited the who, dad?”

    Amadeus: “Why, Governor Don...”

    Tamara: “Make that “Governor Don’t talk about it” and I’ll cover your bill, Mister Stern-Phillips!!!”

    21.11.21_21-36-50nnks3.png

    Host: “A table for four, I take it?”

    Tamara: “A table for two and another one for three. But only one bill. On Tamara Donner, isn’t she a dear?”

    Host: “I dunno. I mean, her covering YOUR bill is neat. But the other guys are some of the richest people in this city. The governor paying THEIR bill smells of business and politics having a date.”

    Emma (probably): Then be glad I left Max behind, otherwise I'd dragged the organized crime into this, too.

    21.11.21_21-43-4689klu.png

    Despite having mingled with the common people for two weeks, Tamara wouldn’t have considered asking a handyman to a date. For all her efforts to make life better for everyone, there had always been a barrier between the different social classes in the politician’s head.

    Maybe any other day she’d turned down Byron. But today her having helped Daneel sort out his heart’s troubles was still fresh in Tamara’s mind.

    21.11.21_21-48-48zekht.png

    And that turned out for the best!

    It was humbling to learn that between the two of them Tamara wielded the political power, but as a person was base and simple, while Byron was the one who had to repair toilets for a living, but apprecciated art and enjoyed philosophy.

    Byron educated Tamara about a painting of the late Carl Manfred, and Tamara in turn educated Byron about the artist as a person. If it hasn’t chosen a new body yet, Carl’s spirit might just look down on the couple and wonder “I have done this?!”.
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