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Sunday, December 30, 2007

Join in Live

You’re Invited!

You are personally invtied to participate in any of the Live Sims 2 Challenges shows

By downloading and installing the TalkShoe client to your computer, you can join us in a public chat room with all the other participants, and best of all, you can choose to call into the show using your own phone where you can actually become a part of the show as we record it.

How Can You Participate? It’s EASY!

To Participate, it’s best to go ahead and download and install the software ahead of time. Click Here for the download page.

Somewhere during the sign-up process, you will be asked to choose a PIN#, only needed if you choose to “Call-In” to our shows. I'm hoping that as many people as possible will call in to participate.

Once you have everything set up, you are all set and simply need to wait for the next Live Podcast. I will make every effort to announce these shows in advance during perceeding episode. If you would like to be notified by email when one of these live shows are coming up, then simply email me at Sims2Challenges@gmail.com with Podcast in the subject line.

When it comes time for the LIVE SHOW, simply visit that show’s TalkShoe page and the rest should be pretty easy to figure out. http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=5905


Special thanks to Cliff Ravenscraft of www.gspn.tv for allowing me to use his instructions.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Episode 34 - oliday Feast and Family Challenge

The Holiday Feast and Family Challenge

Can you pull of the Ultimate Christmas Party ? Will your Holiday Dinner be a Success or a Festive Blunder ? You are the Host for the Holiday Season., and Connoisseur for Delectable Delights
Do it today !

You don?t have to have the Christmas Party Pack to do this Challenge as you can Download Christmas Items from the Exchange.

This is a One-Two Generation Challenge with Only Minor differences. No Cheats or Boolprop allowed. The Aging Off Cheat is Not Allowed. It all comes down to timing ! So do it Right and You will Photos to Keep for Good Exposure and Camaraderie from your fellow Simmers

There is 2 Aspects of this Challenge.

- Playing the Generational Game
- Creating your Holiday Christmas House

Part 1 : The Generational Game

Start off in University with a CAS Created Sim - Male or Female (Young Adult)

* No Specific Rules for Creating this Sim, give it any Aspiration that you wish preferably Family
* No Specific Rules for University as Such but you need to Graduate in the Artist Career to get the Camera Reward from the Artist Career Track

Starting Life as an Adult

* Upon Graduation - Move this Sim into a House of you Choice in your Base Neighbourhood
* Start Getting an Entry Position into the Artist Career Track

Finding a Partner

* Find Another Family Sim Partner in Any Way Possible
* You will have 5 Kids with this Partner

What you Have to Do

To Get the End Result it all comes down to timing. Carefully spread out the babies age, as you Need to Get Each of the 5 Children at Different Age Stages - 1 Adult, 1 Y/ Adult, 1 Teen, 1 Child and 1 Baby
This is your Goal. Once you have gotten to this Moment when you have all Age Groups Represented - Go into Save Game Mode and Switch to Part 2 of this Challenge.

The Illustrious Young Adult

Obviously this Young Adult will be at University so you Need to Invite this Sim over at the Right Time.

Part 2 : The Christmas Holiday House

This is What you Need in Your Christmas Holiday Party House :

- A Big Kitchen
- Large Lounge and Dining Room as this has to be Big Enough to Keep all Your Sims together
- A Buffet Table with Large Dining Table to Encompass a Large Family of 8 Sims. This will Represent all the Age Groups. Don?t forget by the time Your Founder Sim has got to this Point He or She will be an Elder alongside with Partner. So there will be 2 Elders and One of Each Age Group alongside the others.
- Christmas Decorations given by Maxoid Monkey and/or Christmas Pack
- Chimney/Fireplace in the Lounge Room with Cookies or Cake for Santa
- Enough Bedrooms for the Family
- The Young Adult will be Required to stay the Night. You can do this via the Propose Option.
- Last Not but Not Least - The Camera Reward from the Artist Career Track

Part 3: The Big Event

* Move your Family to into the Christmas Party House
* Now you Will Start the Party Mode by Inviting the Young Adult Sim over - You must go into Party Mode (Don?t forget the Party is Scored, this is to fare up How Well you Did the ` Challenge)
* In this Party Mode - 3 Photos will be Taken by the Camera Reward, preferably by the Spouse of the Founder so all Age Groups of the Family are accounted for. You need to Get a Good Score or Excellent Score for your Ultimate Party !

Part 4: The Three Photos

1. All Sims around the Dinner Table with the Traditional Christmas Goose as the Centrepiece
2. All Sims around the Fire Place doing a Goofy Pose
3. All Sims around the Christmas Tree in Classic Family Mode preferably in a cuddly mood.

Game play will paused at moments of time to get the Right Photo, so you Can Show them off to your Other Simmers for the Ultimate Christmas Photo

And it doesn?t stop there folks, if its Not Christmas you are Into ?. Do a Thanksgiving One or an Easter One or a New Year One ! This just party Rules to Get you into the Christmas Spirit, just change the theme of your objects to suit the occasion , and I hope you will have a good Christmas !

Okay People, now you know, go and Get this Christmas Photos to Show Off !
And a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All ????

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Episode 32 - The Ten Children Challenge

Start of with a couple in CAS. You may not add children to the family here. Move them into a house, lot, whatever you choose. You can motherlode to your hearts content, but NO BOOLPROP.. unless it's in story writing context, such as changing default maternity wear, or career rewards, or making funny expressions. But no elevating mood, aspiration, skill points, or using to speed up or create pregnancy.

The goal? Get ten children. It CAN be done. You must raise them till they are able to move out of the house. Here's the scoring, and some clarifications of the rules:

1 Point for every good birthday memory.
.5 points for every A+ report card
3 points for every skill maxed (toddlers, children, and teen only)

-3 Points for every child taken by the social worker
-1 point for every bad (red) birthday memory
-1 point for every D report card

.5 points for every family friend.
3 points for every lifetime want achieved (never ending. Go ahead. Do them all, for one sim. You'll always get the points)

1 point for every dream date.

4 points for the following:
Start off with ONE sim, and marrying a townie, or even a sim that you have created, but does NOT have children. If you do this, you get three uses out of the elixir of life.

More Rules:
You CAN'T adopt. If you want to do a same sex couple, you may use boolprop to create a pregnancy, but only ONE sim can be pregnant at a time, and you must make sure that they've woohooed before getting pregnant.

No cheats for homework. You'll have to do it.

Only two uses of the elixir of life per sim. All other aspiration rewards are just fine! Same with career rewards.

UPDATED FOR OPEN FOR BUSINESS!


You may NOT use the forcetwins/cheescake cheat. Use of such will result in a 3 point loss.

I've heard you can change the hour of the day in OFB... if this some how speeds up ageing for the children, NOT ALLOWED!

Plumbob toggle? Go nuts.

Add neighbor to family? Nope. Why? You could somehow cheat using it. Somehow. It's possible... veeeeeeeeeeery possible.

I think that's all the OFB cheats, 'eh?



------
http://sims2.simcredibledesigns.com/
http://www.insimenator.net/forumdisplay.php?f=38?s=64d22bef0e9efcfedd68813abe956d60

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

SIms 2 Challenges Merchandise

Shirts


All shirts are Black with Cardinal Red, White, and Metallic Silver ink. Regular short sleeved t-shirts and the women’s style are $12.00 each for sizes small-XL. Long sleeve are $15.00 each for sizes small-XL. Add $1 for 2XL-5XL for all items (women’s style only goes up to 2XL). If the total number of shirts ordered by everyone exceeds 50 shirts, the price will go down, but we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. I also decided to do animals with Sims 2 Challenges podcast sweatshirts. They are currently available as Polar Bears, Monkeys and Moose for $14.00. Prices include tax however shipping will be additional and vary depending where you live. Email me if you’d like a shipping estimate. This is a pre-order and I won’t be doing any extra shirts so make sure you have your order in no later than Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 11:59 PM CST. If you give me an order and change your mind, any cancellations or size changes must be in by this time as well but please try not to do either as it can make it confusing for me and mistakes might happen due to this. Having orders in by December 6 should allow me to ship them out in time for Christmas for those within the continental US, sorry but other countries, Hawaii and Alaska might not make it in time. I will ship UPS within the US and check pricing for international and go with whichever is cheaper. On Friday December 7 I will let you know the total you owe by Requesting Payment through Paypal. Please remit payment quickly and by the following Monday, December 10 at the latest.


Gildan Ultra Cotton T-shirt Pre-shrunk 100% cotton 6.1 ounce t-shirt. Double needle stitched neckline, sleeves and bottom hem. Quarter turned. Seamless collar. Shoulder-to-shoulder taping.
Adult: S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL


Gildan Ladies' Ultra Cotton T-shirt Pre-shrunk 100% cotton 6.1 ounce ladies' t-shirt. Double-needle stitched neckline, sleeves and bottom hem. Quarter turned. Seamless collar.
Ladies: S, M, L, XL, 2XL


Gildan Ultra Cotton Long Sleeve T-shirt Double needle stitched neckline, sleeves and bottom hem. Pre-shrunk 100% cotton 6.1 ounce. Quarter turned. Shoulder-to-shoulder taping.

Adult: S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL

Size Regular T-shirts

& Long Sleeve


Width Around (chest or stomach)

Small

38"

Medium

40"

Large

44"

XLarge

48"

2XL

54"

3XL

58"

4XL

62"


*All sizes are approximate, go up one size for ladies’.

These are custom printed shirts so make sure to order the correct size as all sales are final, no exchanges. They are pre-shrink and really do not shrink more. I know this is redundant but we get this question all the time.


Animals


Monkey, Moose or Polar Bear

If you would like to order one or more (you know you want to) email me with Sims Shirt Order in the subject line and include the following information

First & Last Name:

Shipping Address:

Phone Number:

Shirt Style:

Shirt Size:

Type of Animal:


My email address, in case you have been sleeping and missed it, is Sims2Challenges@gmail.com

Rachel

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Episode 30 - Wrong Side of the Track

To play this game challenge you need to have NL or OFB ep in order to create a sub-neighborhood onto your main neighborhood. This will be the bad part of town, the slum. The object of the challenge is to create 3 disadvantaged sim families in this part of town. There will be 3 generations. The original family, the first offspring doomed to the life of their parents then their children, the ones determined to make a better life for themselves and move out of the slum. The challenge involves these children overcoming the life of
their parents and grandparents and successfully leaving their original home making a good life for themselves and moving the surviving family out of the slum and into your main neighborhood with them after they acheived success.



Rules
1. You can not let the sims in this neighborhood pay bills. The repo man will be a regular visitor.
These sims must spend what money they do earn on frivolous items that will eventually be repossessed.

2. Of couse they may spend their money for groceries.

3. They may not call a repairman. These sims think they can fix it even if they have low skills if they get shocked or fail to fix it, that is part of the challenge.

4. The Parents may not gain skill from reading or hobbies. The first genereation children may only do the minimum amount of homework to pass, the challenge children of the third generation may study and do homework and gain skills through hobbies and studying.

5. No burglar alarm or fire alarm. These sims are too lazy to care about prevention.

6. Every woohoo must be "try for baby option" once again these sims do not practice prevention of any kind and you must have them woohoo with "try for baby" whenever it shows up in wants.

7. Bugs and piles of garbage will be part of life in this neighborhood. If the sim cleans it up on their own that is fine, but you should refrain from making them do it. Same goes for bushes and hedges you can't make your sims trim them. Of course this means NO Maids, gardeners, nannys, servos, cleanbots, hydrobots, sentrybots, etc.

8. 2nd generation marriage rules are the following, Slum sims may marry townies, but deplete the townies money on items of no use.


Scoring.

Positive Points.
+ 25 points if your poor sim makes friends with a rich sim from your main neighborhood
+ 15 points if the children get an A on their report card. (this will be hard to do because their
needs are probably pretty low)
+ 10 points for every child born in the slum neighborhood
+ 30 points for the 2nd generation offspring getting a scholarship to college and moving to college
+ 20 points for every surviving member of the original family that a successful offspring moves out of the slum neighborhood and into their new home out of the slums and into your main neighborhood.



Penalty Points.
-25 points if one of the children is taken by the social worker.
-25 points if one of your sims dies by illness
-20 points for any these events: fire, visit from the social bunny, visit from the sim therapist,
-20 points for any childs grades less than a C average
-20 points if sim gets caught cheating


Bonus Points
+ 10 if family networth does not exceed 50,000
+ 20 points if you make an outdoor outhouse (only 1 toilet and 1 sink for the whole family) no indoor plumbing
+ 25 points if an offspring teen or adult has a "dream date" with a sim who he/she invited to the slum house for a date.
+10 points for birth of twins with no cheats (or cheesecake),


+25 points if your sim gets another sim (other than their spouse) from the slum neighborhood pregnant

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Episode 29 - Single Vampire Parent Challenge

The goal is to try to have a single Vampire parent have a baby and successfully raise it to adult (in other words, the kid cannot run away or be taken by Social Services), which I think will be challenging because Vampires don't do well in daylight and kids usually don't stay up all night.

The rules:

1. Make a new male or female sim in BodyShop or CAS.

2. Assign any Personality Points, Aspiration, Turn Ons/Turn Offs, etc. that you like.

3. Using the new Family Funds cheat (or Motherlode or Kaching), build your soon-to-be Vampire sim the perfect house. You can move from the house at any time or add more money as needed, since it may be tricky to hold down a job (though you get bonus points if you can – see Points section.) All Aspiration Reward objects may be used.

4. Send your Sim downtown and have them get bitten by a Vampire. This may take awhile so use your free time to make friends, build skills, get a job or whatever you want.

5. Once your sim has become a Vampire, get him or her pregnant. (It doesn’t have to be by the Grand Vampire – my daughter used a male sim and the Telescope Abduction Hack, you can also use townies or other sims that you've made, as long as it is all done in the Vampire’s house and none of the other sims move in).

6. You can use Nannies and friends to help raise the child as long as no one lives in the home but your sim and his/her child/children. Sleep overs are ok.

7. Points are added up when the first born child becomes an Adult, or goes to University, whichever comes first:

25 Points for first child born – 100 points if you are unlucky enough to get twins and manage to pull it off.
10 Points for each additional baby that your Vampire has.
10 Points each time any child reaches a new Life Stage in Platinum Aspiration
10 Points for each fully maxed skill that your Vampire has attained
10 Points for each child/parent best friend relationship – includes the other parent
10 Points for each additional sim that your Vampire bites
10 Points each time a child is taught by her Vampire parent how to walk, talk, go potty or do homework.
10 Points if you get any child in the household into Private School (one time only)
25 Points if your Vampire manages to hold down a job while raising children – must have the job during the first kid’s entire “child” stage for the points to count.
Lose 10 Points anytime you exit without saving after something bad happens.

I created a story to document my Test family results (My Total Score was 360) and to list some Vampire tips/hints from the Prima Guide. Follow this link http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/story_detail.php?asset_id=53641 or please check my Simpage.

Please respond to this thread and let me know how your own Challenge turns out, and whether you have any comments/suggestions/additional ideas for points, etc. I am subscribed and will answer all questions.

Thanks and Happy Vamping!!

Tips:
Coffins by the Curb
Watch for A+ Cheers
Fly everywhere
Date your way through
Don't have a stereo or TV where your vampire is sleeping
Lock the door where the coffin is

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Episode 28: Gilligan’s Island Challenge 3.0

* New Listener Line 1-206-350-8072*

Gilligan’s Island Challenge 3.0: By Ginevra Martel (Ginevrasn23 on The Sims2 website)

(Updated 3/10/07)




Let’s go at it one more time! With some major changes. Oh! And please don’t sue me…nothing is mine other than this challenge and the Sims I’ve created.




Cast of Characters:




Complete credited cast:
Bob Denver .... “Willy” Gilligan (Teen, 15 days to Adult)
Alan Hale Jr. .... Skipper Jonas Grumby (Adult, 21 days to Elder)
Jim Backus .... Thurston Howell III (Adult, 16 days to Elder)
Natalie Schafer .... Eunice Wentworth "Lovey" Howell (Adult, 16 days to Elder)
Tina Louise .... Ginger Grant (Adult, 29 days to elder)
Russell Johnson .... Roy 'The Professor' Hinkley Jr., PH.D. (Adult, 26 days to elder)
Dawn Wells .... Mary Ann Summers (Teen, 15 days to Adult)




Just sit right back and hear the tale….




This challenge assumes our Castaways were never rescued. Instead, they dig in and do their best to form a thriving and well-rounded community. As castaways, they must live under a number of restrictions (yes, I got the idea from Pinstar’s Apocalypse Challenge – which I just finished – Woot!)




To begin: Assemble your gang of Castaways, by hook or by crook. Your characters should have approximately the same ages listed above. You may choose to use the cast I’ve already assembled and uploaded to MySim Page http://thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/pod.php?user_id=260276. I’ve included both a Base game through Pets version and Base – Seasons version. You may use any cheats, mods, or third party programs you wish to get your cast ready. I used TS2 Enhancer to edit characters.




If you have University you may play your graduates through University. Mr. and Mrs. Howell, the Professor, and Ginger should be University graduates. You may give them the minimum skills needed to achieve their degrees. The Skipper and any non-Uni adults may have up to three skill points of your choice. The teens start with none. Each should have a different Aspiration, if possible, including Grilled Cheese. Otherwise, no more than two Sims should be assigned the same aspiration.




The game begins in a blank neighborhood. You should have the following 7 residential lots: 2 small lots (your castaways will begin in one of these), 2 medium lots, 2 large lots, and 1 extra-large lot. You should have the following 5 community lots: 2 small, 1 medium, 1 large, 1 extra large. You may have one additional small community lot as a graveyard if you wish. You may place these right away, or wait until they are needed. If a lot becomes bugged, you may move the affected family into a new lot of the same size and delete the old one. You should choose the actual size of the lots depending on what your system can handle, having different sizes offers variety and something for your Sims to strive for.




Move your Castaways into one of your small lots and be certain they have a net worth of no more than 20,000. If you have Seasons, set your seasons to any combination of Spring, Summer, and Fall. This is a tropical Island, so there should be no Winter. You should play all your lots in round-robin fashion to keep time moving uniformly. The length of a round is up to you.




Rules:


Your Sims may use no more than 1 Bottle of Elixir (5 doses) or the equivalent from the Cow Plant during each life stage. {If you did not or were not able to stagger the characters ages, all characters should be Adults except for Gilligan and Mary Ann. The Howells and the Skipper may not use Elixir/Cowplant until they reach Elder, but they still may use up to 2 Bottles.}


If your Sims are transformed (werewolf, vampire, or plant Sims) they must be cured within one sum week, even if you must violate a restriction to do so. No Sim may “Have Plant Baby” more than once in their lifetime. Plant Sims who are born that way need not be cured but do earn a point for being “cured.”


If you have Open For Business installed, home businesses are encouraged. Community lots except for the graveyard and any parks should be owned by an islander whenever possible. Community lots are also subject to restrictions.


If you have Pets installed, dogs and cats may only be adopted as strays or given/purchased from/by other islanders, or purchased from an islander owned business. They may only be adopted via phone if the appropriate restriction (Fortune) has been lifted. Birds, womrats, and fish may be purchased at will.


Children may only be adopted in order to recover islander children removed by social services and this may only be done once the appropriate restriction (Fortune) is lifted.


If University is installed, islander students may use any items already present in a dorm, even if still restricted. If they live outside of a dorm, they must abide by any restrictions that have not been lifted. For each two semesters (round up) the students remain in school, they must be absent from their original lot in the base neighborhood for at least 1 Sim day. Students may not sell off or return to the island with items belonging to the dorm or Secret Society. You may use mods or hacks to speed up University as long as you do not give your Sims any undue advantage. Or you may use the trick of having a college graduate in the base neighborhood “Propose – Move In” to instantly graduate your Sims. However, a graduate must still be absent from the home lot for at least 4 Sim days.


Households may only be combined through the “Propose” interactions. Exceptions: students returning from University and any Sims moved out for the purpose of troubleshooting a glitch. If you are troubleshooting a glitch, the family funds should be adjusted (if possible) to remove any extra money gained by the move.


Gilligan may not be resurrected. Any other Sim may be resurrected once. Sims may plead with the Grim Reaper whenever necessary.


The Islanders live under tough conditions and must abide by certain restrictions until each is lifted. Each restriction is tied to a specific Aspiration (or career if the appropriate expansion pack is not installed). Each restriction is lifted by the first islander to achieve their Lifetime Want (or reach the top of their career). Each islander may lift only one restriction. If a LTW would lift multiple restrictions, you must choose one. There are Seven Restrictions:


Knowledge: Islanders may not purchase cars or electronics and lighting fixtures priced over 100 simoleans. They may not purchase the electric guitar or bass. They also may not attend University. Once this restriction is lifted, they may enjoy all of these technological and academic marvels. They may purchase cash registers if Open for Business is installed.


Fortune: Islanders may not use the Service menu on the telephone. They may not purchase items from the decorative menu priced above $250 simoleans. If Open for Business is installed, they may not hire NPC’s, Townies or sub-neighborhood player characters as employees. Once this restriction is lifted, your islanders may enjoy all the perks of their wealth.


Family: You may not issue commands directly to toddlers and children, except to direct children to board the school bus. You may not “Invite Headmaster.” Once an islander has mastered family life, the news quickly spreads and children become cooperative and eager to learn.


Romance: You may not marry/move in/join your islanders to NPC’s or townies. Your islanders may not “Try for Baby” with NPC’s or townies. Once this restriction is lifted, you islanders may begin to form new alliances.


Popularity: Your islanders may not leave the base neighborhood to shop or go on outings or dates. They also may not purchase community lots outside of the base neighborhood. They may not go on scored outings.


Pleasure(Slacker career): They may not purchase items other than toys with a Fun rating over 7 points. They may not purchase seating with a Comfort rating over 5 points or a bed with an Energy rating over 5 points. Exception: Cribs, Expensive Telescope. If an “illegal” item is received as a gift from an NPC/Townie it may be used or sold, but not replaced.


Grilled Cheese(Culinary Career): Islanders may not order Chinese Food and Pizza Delivery. They may order or shop for groceries in person only once per Sim week or they may sell and replace their refrigerator once per Sim week. Each lot may have only one mini-fridge or one “Wornable” fridge. They may purchase only the least expensive stove or a grill for cooking. They may not purchase a dishwasher or trash compactor. (Seasons Only: Sims may not store prepared food for family consumption in their backpacks -you should be storing “leftovers” in the fridge. Sims are strongly encouraged to grow produce. Food intended for sale may be kept in a backpack. Pre-made food purchased at a community lot must be removed from the backpack upon return to the home lot.)




A single Sim may achieve multiple LTW’s, but may only lift a single restriction in his/her lifetime. The game is over when Gilligan dies. You may play all your lots up to his time of his death before totaling your score.




Scoring:


Each restriction lifted is worth 10 points.


Each different LTW fulfilled is worth 1 point. Exception: Grilled Cheese will receive 1 point each time it is fulfilled. Stacks with the lifting of restrictions.


Each transformation (vampire, werewolf, plant Sim) is worth 1 point.


Each alien abduction is worth 1 point, plus 1 point per alien baby produced (ex. Skipper gets abducted and has twins = 3 points).


Any points earned by Gilligan are doubled. (ex. Gilligan lifts Grilled Cheese = 20 points).




FAQ’s




Can I use mods, hacks or cheats?

If the mod/hack/cheat gives you an advantage over someone who does not use it, then you may not use it. For example, “motherlode” and “max-motives” would not be allowed. If a mod/hack/cheat is simply for convenience, cosmetics, or correcting a glitch, no problem. Again, it is permitted to speed up University play, as long as you don’t give your students any unfair advantages in doing so.

Do I have to use your version of the Castaways? Does it absolutely have to be Gilligan’s Island characters? No. You can make your own version, or you may make a similar group of characters. You should keep age, gender, and education distribution the same, or it will change how the scenario plays out.

Do I have to have a “tropical” climate? You could experiment with other extremes of climate, such as a cold one. In this case, your year should include spring, fall and two winter seasons. I suspect that would make this challenge tougher and have not had the opportunity to play the challenge this way.

Can I do a reset/reload if something bad happens? If you are trouble shooting a glitch or realized you misunderstood some aspect of the game or the challenge that caused your Sims harm, you may do a reset without failing the challenge. You may not use reset/reloading to affect the outcome of random occurrences (such as trying for a baby, choosing the gender of a baby, alien abductions or twins). For example, I had used the short conical roof on my Sim’s home to make it look like a hut. But, when a thunderstorm occurred, the game gave me a message telling me to place a roof on my home – I had rain inside my house! The Sims were refusing to follow my commands to move out because they were freaking out about being rained on. I considered this a glitch and reset it, choosing “auto-roof” instead of the conical one.




Storytelling by album, blog or any other means is greatly encouraged. Questions or Comments? Please either post to the TS2Challenges group or email me at ginevrasn@yahoo.com with the subject “Gilligan 3.0”.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Episode 26 - The Neighborhood Challenge

The goal of this challenge is to have a neighborhood where everyone is related through blood, adoption, or marriage.

Here's how it works. Start a brand you neighborhood without any residents in it. Create a sim of either gender using any genetics you wish and any aspiration. Start him or her out on an empty lot of any size. Only one sim may start out on the lot. When a sim reaches a teenager roll a six sided die to determine their aspiration. The aspirations are the same as the Legacy Challenge.
1: Wealth
2: Knowledge
3: Family
4: Romance
5: Popularity
***6: Pleasure Seeker (Pick Your Own if you Don’t have Nightlife)
The challenge will end when the first member of the fifth generation is born anywhere in the neighborhood. Sims in the neighborhood may only marry, or breed with Townies and NPCs. You may only move in a sim
if he or she will marry a current member of the household. Once a member of a household moves out they cannot move in with any relatives, but more than one sim may move out at a time. You may use
premade or downloaded houses as much as you wish. Entire households may move out of their current house and into another if they wish. However families may not remain in the family bin for more than one
game playing session. I am going to allow the part of the boolProp cheat that lets townies and NCPs to grow up. This cheat has many other functions, but this is the ONLY thing you are allowed to do with it. You must shut the cheat off right away after you grow them up so you don't accidently do anything else with it. I don't know what the possible side effects are, so use at your own risk. You cannot use any other cheats or mood enhancers except to fix a bug. You cannot turn off aging, but you may use the elixir of life as much as you like. You cannot reload after bad events or bad chance card decisions. You must be able to trace every sim residing in a house in the neighborhood back to the original sim by blood, adoption, or marriage (aliens born to former NPC’s and Townies are allowed to stay, but won’t be counted as relatives for points).



***University Additions***

You may send as few or as many sim teens to college as you’d like. You can send them at any time during their teen stage and more than one may go off at the same time. Teen townies and NPCs may go off to college with your player sims. They however must end up marrying one of the family members that they go off to college with. The marriage rule also applies to any college townies and NPCs that move in during college. You may boolProp to age childern townies to teens in order to send them to college. Any college points will apply to all sims that you send through college. When they get the option to change their aspiration you may keep their current aspiration, but if you decide to change you must roll the die again and change it to whatever is rolled. You may resurrect family members if you wish, however you will not be able to collect the living family member point at the end because they were once dead.



***Nightlife Additions***

Your sims are welcome to visit the downtown area as much as they would like and they are welcome to live there as well. You are encouraged to fill your base neighborhood before moving onto the downtown lots because you will only receive the 5 point bonus for every lot filled if the base neighborhood is full at the end of the challenge. They can become vampires and be cured as much as you’d like just consider the toll that can take on Family sims which are such valuable assets in this challenge. The ReNuYu reward object may be used to change turn-ons and turn-offs if you would like. If you wish to use it to change aspirations you must roll the dice and it will cost you 1 point per use. You can change again with a roll of the dice until you get the desired outcome however you must change each time thus risking becoming a Grilled Cheese aspiration and you lose 1 point each time. You may move graves to the community lot or another residence if you so choose. Family members moving out may only take personal paitings, photographs and reward objects they have personally earned with them.

****Open For Business Additions***
Your sims are welcome to visit and own any shops in the business district. If you use a pre-made district you will need to go in and remove all the current residents of that district before starting to play. The business district should be treated as such and not an additional hood for your sims to live in. If you would like an in home business you should put that in your main neighborhood or a nightlife hood. Sims are welcome to craft and use any of the new items with this EP. Servos can be used as servants or may marry your sims. However you will have to adopt since they cannot reproduce. Only one new NPC this time, the Reporter. You may use cheesecake to get twins, however they do not count for the twins points, which have been changed to Natural twins.

****Pets Additions***
You are welcome to adopt or breed as many pets as you’d like. You can have as few or as many werewolves as you’d like.


****Seasons Additions***


When you install Seasons or start the new hood (whichever comes first) you must set the weather using at least 2 different seasons. Ex. Fall, Spring, Spring, Spring is OK. Plant sims may be played as much as you’d like. They will however count towards generations. Since they only have 3 life stages, generations will go by very quickly which will make it harder to gain points. They can also garden as much or as little as you’d like and the Wishing well may be used to obtain money, friends or love.



***Bon Voyage Additions***

You can send your sims on as many or as few vacations as you’d like. They may buy vacations and use them as they see fit. Big Foot is welcome to move in with your sims but will not count toward any of the points.



Points
1. 1 point for each $100,000 of networth for the entire neighborhood added together (round up)
2. 2 points for each platinum grave present in the neighborhood at the end of the challenge
3. 1 point everytime a sim fulfills an 'impossible' want (a want scoring 30,000 points or more, limit one per sim per want. There are other wants that also count for this, like "have 10 children")
***4. 1 point for each gender of each different type of NPC you marry over the whole challenge (the marriage must result in a biological child, except Nannies, Female Repair people, Female Cafeteria Workers, Female Coaches, Female Professors and the Matchmaker, which adoption is their only option due to age.)
*****5. 2 points for every set of natural twins born in the neighborhood.
6. 2 points if you have all 4 flesh tones in the family that can be
traced back to the original sim by blood
7. 2 points if the alien green flesh tone appears in the bloodline
8. 2 points if you have all 4 hair colors in the family that can be
traced back to the original sim by blood
9. 1 point for each child who gets into private school
10. 1 point for every blood or adopted relative living in the neighborhood at the end of the challenge
11. 5 points if every possible lot in the neighborhood is used and occupied at the end of the challenge.
12. 1 point for every sim that reaches the top of their adult career ladder (you must take them through their career, any townies that enter the house high in their career must quick and start again to count)
13. 1 point for each family member depicted in a painting that remains in a house at the end of a challenge. (Maxium 1 point per sim depicted, if more than 1 sim is in a paiting, you may only count 1 of
them)

***14. 20 Bonus Points (raised again due to the addition of so many more NPCs) if your Sims marry and reproduce (see #4) with every possible NPC of both possible genders (Headmasters, Nannies, and Cheerleaders only have one gender).



***University Bonus Points***
1 point for each teen that receives 3 or more scholarships before going to the University
2 points for each sim that is on the Dean’s List every semester while at the University
1 point for each sim that is a member of a greek house for at least 2 full semesters at University
1 point for each sim that becomes a member of the Secret Society
3 points for each sim that graduates Summa Cum Laude (4.0 GPA)
2 points for each sim that graduates Magna Cum Laude (3.9 GPA)
1 point for each sim that graduates Cum Laude (3.7 GPA)
1 point for each sim that achieves their Lifetime Goal
1 point for each family photo. A family photo is defined as a photograph that includes the 2 parents and all of the children they produce or adopt. Max one photo per family set. The photo does not have to be in that family sets house(s).



***Nightlife Bonus Points***

1. 5 Points for each Downtown neighborhood that is full in addition to the base neighborhood (base neighborhood must be full to qualify for this bonus)



***Open For Business Bonus Points***

1 Point for each rank 10 business at the end of the challenge (if they have gotten to rank 10 and have slipped to 9 at the end of challenge you may not claim this point)



***Pets Bonus Points***

1 point for every Pet that learns every trick and is trained in every good behavior and reaches the top of at least 1 pet career. (must do all 3 to earn the point)



***Seasons Bonus Points***

None.



***Bon Voyage Bonus Points***

1 point for each sim that acquires all of the vacation momentos.



Negative Points
1. –2 points for each instance of inbreeding in the neighborhood
2. –5 points for each death in the neighborhood that is intentional, basically if you kill off the sim. So tragic pool ladder accidents, or walling up a sim so they starve to death would lose you points.
Basically engineering the deaths. If you send a sim out to watch the clouds and a satellite falls on them, but killing them off wasn't your intention, you won't lose points. Or if you can't get a sim away from
a fire despite your best efforts and they die, you won't lose points either.
3. –2 points for each divorce or broken engagement
4. –10 if anyone is in the family bin at the time of the final birth
5. –2 points for each child taken away by the social worker

***6. -1 point for each use of the ReNuYu reward object

***7. -1 point for each use of the Weather machine to change the season.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Episode 25 - Challenge Writing 101

A few tips for writing challenges. Make sure you listen for all the tidbits.
Well planned, well tested.
State the Goal. What's the main objective?
Put yourself in the players' shoes.
Needs a definite ending.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Episode 23: I Love You to Death

Looking for Mr. Right? What do you do with all the Mr. Wrongs? Or Ms. Wrongs?
Your challenge:

Make a Sim in CAS, male or female, any looks, any aspiration, any personality, any sized family. Although we suggest just One or Two Sims.

Move this Sim onto any sized lot in any neighborhood. We suggest you make a new neighborhood, but it is not required.

No Cheats, No hacks, NO ELIXIR.

Take your Sim and have him or her MARRY as many Townie or NPC Sims as he/she can in his/her lifetime. (what a great way to get rid of Amin)

WHAT? you say! You can only be married to one Sim at a time! Of course, that is where the fun comes in.

Kill off your spouses in as many different ways as you can, each type of death is given a point value based on how difficult it is to arrange that type of death.

The scoring goes like this:

Drowning 1 point
Old Age 2 points
Old Age in Platinum 3 points
Flies 4 points
Fire 5 points
Scared to Death 6 points
Starvation 7 points
Electrocution 8 points
Disease 9 points
Satellite 10 points

Bonus of 25 extra points if you get all 10 different deaths.

The game runs from the first day of Adult (remember, CAS Sims only) to the death of your Black Widow(er). Remember, you have to have someone else in the house at the time of death or the whole lot goes inactive and you loose your album. So either adopt a Sim, or allow the final spouse to survive.

You MUST have pictures of all Marriages AND deaths. The tombstones become glitchy, and might vanish, so your pictures will be your only proof. BUT, you cannot get rid of your tombstones on purpose.

Of course, you can take any other pictures you want, and make a very touching story, perhaps how your Sim was searching for Ms. Right, and found her in the end, only to die of old age (leaving a huge cash legacy for the other household occupant(s)) LOL

A reminder, the game automatically creates new townies after 5 of them have left the homeless townie pool. It recreates new NPCs as needed.


VioletKitty's Houses
http://simestates2.planetthesims.gamespy.com/news.htm

VioletKitty's Tutorials
http://thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/pod.php?&user_id=80050

Clean Installer
http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/

Cowplant Video
http://thesims2.ea.com/about/ep1_videos.php?movieID=0

EA's YouTube Page
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ea

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Episode 23 Self Supporting Society

Written by Karin
Friday, 23 March 2007
The main objective of this challenge is to build a self supporting society. This means the sims can only buy things in businesses owned by other sims. The only things sims can purchase on their own lot are the items from the "Build"-menu that cannot be sold in a shop (walls, roofs, fences). The owners of a business can buy things when they are on their business lot only with the objective to put it up for sale in the same shop. There's one other way for my sims to get their things: produce them by themselves (gardening, fishing and benches).


These rules are written based on this installation of the sims2: basegame + NL, OFB, seasons, FFS and glamour stuff. Additional rules for uni and/or pets might follow at a later point for people wanting to play with all EP's.

Setting up the neighborhood

Create a new neighborhood and select the seasons. Once you start playing this challenge, the seasons cannot be changed anymore. Don't select any subneighborhood yet, they will be added during gameplay. If you like, you can add some neighborhood decorations.


Create 4 sims in CAS. Roll a dice to determine their gender, aspiration and zodiac sign. For the latter, you have to roll twice: first to determine the set and then to determine the zodiac sign.

Gender:


* Odd (1,3,5) = Girl
* Even (2,4,6) = Boy



Aspiration:

* 1 = Fortune
* 2 = Knowledge
* 3 = Romance
* 4 = Family
* 5 = Popularity
* 6 = Pleasure


Zodiac sign:
Set 1:

* 1 = Aries
* 2 = Taurus
* 3 = Gemini
* 4 = Cancer
* 5 = Leo
* 6 = Virgo



Set 2:

* 1 = Libra
* 2 = Scorpio
* 3 = Sagittarius

* 4 = Capricorn
* 5 = Aquarius
* 6 = Pisces

How they look, what their turn-ons and turn-offs are is completely up to you. You're free to use custom skins and clothes if you like.

Prepare four furnished lots for your sim with a maximum networth of 20,000 simoleons. You can refer to the basic inventory (see below), however for starterhomes you can buy other things too. This is meant to help the sims make a good start in the neighborhood. I recommend you don't use large lots for these starterhomes, just use a 2x2 or a 2x3 lot so there will be enough money to start a little vegetable garden.


These prepared lots are the four starter homes. Move the CAS-sims to these lots. After you have moved the sim in, you cannot add anything to the lot that can be bought. So, when the gameplay has started, you might add another room to the house, but you cannot put a door in it or windows.


The following classes have been defined:

1. "farmers" (main task: provide for fruit, vegetables and fish)
2. "industrials" (main task: make flower bouquets, toys and robots using the workbenches)

3. "merchants" (main task: run all other kind of businesses)
4. "entertainment industry" (main task: run venues like restaurants, parks)

Of course, farmers and industrials would have little shops to sell their products. Moreover, I say "main task". This means a farmer could also run a clothing store or have a cafeteria with home-made cakes besides his gardening, fishing and selling those products. Every household has to choose one of the four classes, but which class you choose for your family is up to you. After all, you have to make sure your simmies can buy everything they need.


You have created a neighborhood, created for new sims and determined their personality and main task. You moved them in in their furnished houses. So, let the fun begin!
Playround

Make a list of the 4 starter families and play them in this order. You play each household evenly, for example 1 sim-week. After a sim-week with the first family move to the next of the list. New households are added to the end of the list. At the end of the list, create a new sims in CAS (with the same rules for set-up) and move this sim into a starterhome if any of the 4 original starterhomes has become empty.


At the beginning of each simweek for each single household, you can decide two things:

1. If you want to move the household to another house, or not
2. If you want to change the class of the household,or not


These choices cannot be made during a playround. These choices only apply to the household as a whole and not to individual sims. Individual sims can only move out to marry/join with another sim, after a break-up or after becoming an adult to start a new household. All household members have the same main task.


When a household moves to a new house, only the items listed on the basic inventory (see below) can be purchased through the buy-menu and the build-menu. All other items will have to be bought at a shop.
Basic Inventory

doors and windows
1 toilet
1 shower or bath
1 sink
2 counters
1 fridge
1 mirror
1 dresser
1 phone
1 security unit
4 squares of soil
1 lamp for each room
1 bed/place to sleep for each child, teen, adult and elder
1 chair for each child, teen, adult and elder
1 crib for each baby and toddler
1 decorative item per room
1 bookcase
1 easel
2 fruit trees

You cannot use the buy-menu to purchase a crib before a simbaby is born or to purchase a bed before the toddler has grown to child. However, you are allowed to store in the backpack anything from the former lot you want to have your sims on their new lot. I would recommend this for career rewards and aspiration rewards.

Starting a business

Unlike the houses, for shops you can use the complete buy- and build-menu. So, for your shop you can buy anything both as stock and for the shop itself, otherwise the simmies would never be able to buy anything. Besides they have already worked hard to gain anough money to start a shop. And I think planning to have shops for anything you want your sims to buy is also already another way of playing the sims.

Children,marriage and move in

When a child becomes a teen, you have to roll dice to determine the aspiration. You do this as follows:

* 1 = Fortune
* 2 = Knowledge
* 3 = Romance
* 4 = Family

* 5 = Popularity
* 6 = Pleasure

Sims can marry playable sims, townies and NPC's. You can move in this sim first, if you want to keep his/her last name. You can only move in sims with the intention to marry (or join) the sim to one of the household sims. Individual sims can move in (and out) at any time during the playround. Moved out sims (with the intention to start a new household) will be added at the bottom of the list and will be played in the next playround.

Plant-sims and servo's

Servo's are not considered playable sims. You can activate them if you like and have them contribute to the household, but they don't score points for playable sim, LTW and such. Money they earn will of course contribute to the household funds.


If you like you can move activated servo's together into one house in the neighborhood that you don't play. This way Servo's can be hired to work in shops but you don't have to play them. These servo houses however only count toward the neighborhood-bonus if the house is played.


Playable sims that become a plant-sim (at adult lifestage) can still count as playable sim, gain LTW and other points. Plant-sims that are sprouted by other sims don't count as playable sims and cannot gain other personal points (LTW, IW and such).

Subneighborhoods

Once the challenge has started you are free to add new, empty subneighborhoods. To maintain the spirit of this challenge, create different subneighborhoods as different parts of the town: one full of farmland, a shopping district, a downtown area, a posh area etc. Be aware that you can place a maximum of 50 businesses/owned community lots in each (sub)neighborhood. Otherwise your game might crash.

Other rules:

* No cheats and hacks allowed
* Don't use the maxis-made Downtown and Bluewater subneighborhoods.
* All venues have to be owned by playable sims.

End of the challenge


The challenge ends when the first sim of the fifth generation dies. At that point, you can count your total score .

The challenge is over when the first sim of the fifth generation dies. At that point (or at the end of a round) count your total score as follows:

  • 1 pt for each playable sim
  • 1 pt for each LTW
  • 2 pts for each IW
  • 1 pt for every 100,000 simoleons (houses and businesses)
  • 5 pts for owning all golden badges
  • 1 pt for each business with level 5 or higher (once per sim)
  • 1 pt for each business with level 10 (in addition, once per sim)
  • 5 pts for each (sub)neighborhood consisting of at least 50 owned lots (houses and businesses). Empty houses and businesses do not count towards this score.
  • 1 pt for each merchant business lot
  • 2 pts for each industrial business lot
  • 3 pts for each entertainment venue
  • 4 pts for each agricultural business lot

Bonus points

When the challenge is over, the following bonuses can be scored as well:

  • 25 pts if you have never broken the "no-buying-in-the-house"-rule during the whole challenge
  • 5 pts if all the male-female marriages throughout the game take on either the male's last name or the female's last name.
  • 10 pts if you have at least 10 businesses of each type



http://karinssimsworld.com/sims/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=35


Call in your comments at 206-984-2871

Bon Voyage Pictures

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Episode 21 - Population Explosion

Population Explosion

There was a young couple who lived on Sim Lane
They had so many kids it was quite a pain.
While keeping them happy, these two almost died,
The kids, they grew up, and now elsewhere reside.
From Albert to Zelda and Alice to Zach,
They keep coming and going and not coming back.
So please just remember in passionate throes
If you Woohoo unsafely, Population Explodes!

Okay, folks, this is POPULATION EXPLOSION time!

How quickly can 1 couple (or single mom) have 26 babies? Name them alphabetically (Alice/Albert to Zelda/Zach, etc). Your counter starts when you Try for Baby the FIRST time.

Take a snapshot of the whole family every Friday, and tell how many days (from the first "try for baby") have passed.

You may NOT use any cheats or hacks, except Moveobjects to repair a glitched item.

The counter starts from when they Try for their first baby. Anything you do before that is just for fun and profit. Make sure your Mom is back to 29-26 days before becoming Elder when the counter starts

We judge it by the number of elixirs Mom takes after the counter starts, so make sure you save her empties, but nobody elses. Take a picture of all the empties for the end of the album.

You must raise them all to at least childhood, if any are taken by social services, you must have new babies to replace them.

The counter stops when Zelda/Zach (#26) turns into a child.

When one of the offspring grows to Adult, he/she may move out with any other Adults/Teens/Children but NOT toddlers or infants.


If you have any questions please respond to this thread and we will try to answer them quickly.

Trixie Town and Violet Kitty

Links to the BBS threads:

Population Explosion Update Thread


Population Explosion LONG Original Thread

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Episode 20 - Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop Challenge for Sims2 Seasons

Made by: SimMasterJen

Here's a challenge for the new Sims2 Seasons Expansion
Pack. I was playing it and thought what I was doing
would make a good challenge so I am asking for
constructive feedback from all you avid Sims players
out there.


THE CHALLENGE

To run a household on the profit made through farming
alone. Have a minimum of 2 children that eventually
help out around the farm. Have the Sim couple share
responsibility so they build up badges. The challenge
is finished when you have made a profit of $20,000
simoleons through produce alone.


WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

1. Create a couple in CAS, any aspiration and star
sign.
2. Buy a medium lot eg., 3 x 3 which leaves you
$15,200 simoleons to build a house and set your Sims
up to start a farm. You will need about $150 simoleons
for fertilizer and tomato seeds initially. (Enough for
8 plots)

3. Build a basic house with the bare essentials (you
will need to get a roof now with Seasons)
4. Keep enough money to set your farming life up.

When you move in you will need to purchase initially:-
a. One 3 x 4 greenhouse with roof.

b. One of the three types of orchid trees (think about
dormancy times before your purchase the first time) -
eventually build up to two or more of each species.

Challenges to fulfil as soon as possible.
c. Purchase a compost bin - 5 points

d. Purchase at least one ladybird nest – 5 points per
additional
e. Purchase a juicer as soon as possible – 10 points
f. Purchase sprinkler systems when it becomes too hard
to maintain by hand – 5 points per sprinkler.

g. Build up to 2 of each orchid tree or more - 10
points for any additional trees purchased.
h. Have minimum of 2 children. When they reach
childhood, add 1 greenhouse for each child to take
responsibility for - 30 points per extra child
/greenhouse.

i. Make a pond and fish for profit – 30 points once
you have a pond with fish.
j. Mount 1 of each type of fish (and boot) to display
on Sims walls – 5 points per object caught and
displayed in pond.
k. Each additional tree over and above the original
six - 5 points. Extra bonus of 15 points per plant if
harvesting when thriving.

l. Earn gold badge for gardening – 10 points
m. Earn fishing rewards – each additional stage 5
points.
n. Join Gardening Club - 20 points
o. Receive wishing well reward - 10 points

RULES

• Only one of your Sims can work only until they reach
the top of their career. (If you can time it so that
they are elders by the time they do at least you will
get a pension coming in if you need more money. The
other needs to stay home and tend the farm.

• No cheats for simoleons, age or mood boosters etc.
• No CC skins because if you are destined to become a
plantsim then CC skin may prevent that.
• Can use custom hair, makeup, and clothes etc., just
no skins.

• When having children none go to university, they are
to stay and help out on the farm.
• Sell at least ½ of your produce and keep the other
half to stock the juicer and the fridge. The juicer
and fridge must be stocked with some of your produce.

• Free use of any reward objects as your Sims have
earned them.

* You will need to keep a tally of all sold produce
over and above the wage of the lone partner working so
keep alert!



A Few Tips from Wen
Keep them awake 24/7 once they hit teen by using the energizer.
Get the kids up super early to tend the garden.
Have the higher level badged sims do the planting.

Wen's Blog

The Fruit Bowl of Awesomeness


Recipes in the Game

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Episode 18: Apocalypse Challenge

The Apocalypse Challenge


Better off having a bunch of kids to lift career restrictions.
Lots of hand washing.
Send really sims into the basement to dye down there and remove the stairs.
Natural Science - first one a lot of people lift
Tip for friends with the gamer restriction - make walk by friends before they leave

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

“Life like a Soap Opera” Challenge

Since I really like watching soap-opera’s, I’ve created this challenge to see how complicated you can make life in general and relationships in particular for your Sims.

How to play:

Start with a new neighbourhood (I named mine Oakdale and named all my Sims after As The World Turns-characters; I even went into Simpe and changed all the townies names to ATWT-characters, but then again… I am really sad J ) Create 5 Sims in CAS, either male or female. Give each of them a separate aspiration, so 1 would be Family, 1 would be Knowledge and so on. Assign them any personlaty you like. Move them into any Lot that you can afford.

Make a list of the lots and play each lot for the same amount of time, for a maximum of seven days (Prosperity-style). If a child moves out, put the lot they move into at the bottom of the list and so on. The challenge ends with the birth of the 5th generation child into the game.

Rules:

- Cheats such as motherlode, maxmotives, boolprop is not allowed.

- Hacks are allowed, as long as they don’t affect relationships, births or money. Hacks such as the College Clock to fast forward to an exam, or no ‘what’s this’ hacks are OK to use.

- Sims can move house and move to different lots as much as they like.

- Sims can only move in lovers or fiancé(e)s

- Lovers can be townies, NPC’s or Sims born into your game.

- Adoption is allowed, but it will not score you any ‘birth’ points

- Have fun!

All points are ‘in addition to’, so if you have a child born into your game who’s biological parents are married at the time of birth, you can claim one point for the child being born and one point for the child being born into wedlock, which equals *gets out calculator* TWO points!

Scoring general:

1 pnt for every birth in the game (if it’s twins count one point)

1 pnt for every birth in the game, whose biological parents are married at the time of birth (twins = 1 point)

1 pnt for every alien birth in your game (again, twins = only 1 point)

1 pnt for every wedding in your game

1 pnt for every divorce in your game

1 pnt for every ‘vow renewal’ (marrying the same Sim twice)

1 pnt for every time that a Sim gets left at the altar

1 pnt for every lover (Lifetime Relationship op 70+) your Sim has had throughout his/her life (doesn’t have to be at the same time)

1 pnt for every enemy your Sim has had throughout his/her life (doesn’t have to be at the same time)

2 pnts for every enemy your Sim ends up marrying

1 pnt for every Teen that runs away from home and doesn’t return until his/her age transition

1 pnt for every alien abduction in your game

1 pnt for every visit from the Sim shrink

1 pnt for every Sim that reaches the top of a career (can be claimed multiple times by 1 Sim for different careers)

1 pnt for every non-platinum grave in the game (soapies aren’t supposed to die happily!)

5 pnts for being saved from the Grim Reaper

1 pnt for every resurrected Sim by paying the full amount of 10.000 simoleans

University

1 pnt for every Sim NOT attending university

1 pnt for every expelled student

3 pnts for every student managing to graduate from college by solely having affairs with their professors

Bonuses

The ‘Elizabeth Taylor bonus: 20 points if a Sim gets married seven times or more to seven different Sims

The ‘Brooke Logan’ bonus: 20 points if a Sim manages to marry three males or females from 1 family. This only applies to first-degree-relatives, so if for instance Brooke were to marry Ridge, in order to get the bonus she can then marry one of his (half)brothers/sisters or his father/mother. Ridge’s cousin wouldn’t count in order to claim this bonus.

The ‘Barbara Ryan’ bonus: 20 points for every parent that manages to become enemies with at least 3 of their children.

The ‘Eternal Youth bonus’ (inspired by all the 30-year old grannies in soap-opera’s): 50 points for every one of your five-founder Sims that you’ve managed to keep alive by using the elixir until the end of the challenge.

The ‘Five family bonus’: 50 points if at the end of the challenge the five family names that you started with, are the only last names in your neighbourhood (soap opera’s have usually a couple of families that everybody seem to be descending from and/or married into)

Blogs:

Ruby's

Deb's



Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Episode 16 - I'm Surrounded by Idiots

ISBI Challenge Rules

I'm Surrounded by IDIOTS!
Codename: ISBI Challenge
By: DylanTK/GloamingMerle

Big Thanks to: Reggikko/Reggikko1960

UPDATED DECEMBER 14th, 2006! REVISIONS ARE IN BLUE! Pets, a few tips/tricks, a couple questionable hacks that have been given the okay by me, and thoughts on the possible issues that may arise with the newly announced Seasons pack. Look towards the very bottom...

UPDATED JULY 25th, 2006! REVISIONS ARE IN RED! Note: I made the decision to revise a couple things to make the game more... streamlined, I suppose you could say. There are also a few things added just for clarification purposes.

What's this about anyway?: The point of this challenge is to try to manage an entire household through several generations while only having one character under your control. Other household members must rely entirely on their artificial intelligence (or lack thereof), while their wants and needs remain forever hidden. Do you have what it takes handle all the responsibilities of a sim household from one sim's perspective? Pass along the torch of awareness and keep the family going.

What will I need for this Challenge?: A hefty helping of patience, and a large dose of self-control...

What about Hacks & Cheats?: If it looks/smells like a blatant cheat in regards to this challenge, it probably is. Use common sense and you should be fine. I use many hacks myself, so I wanted to make a challenge that was as hack friendly as possible. Most of all, I dislike strictness with anything. This is all for fun, so have fun with it in your own way, then share your experiences. In simple terms: No money cheats, no mood/aspiration cheats, and no grade/performance/career cheats. Please avoid mods that significantly assist your sims' AI. Such as the Baby Controller, or hacks that tell your sim when they should go to bed, and so on. Things such as the 'No Stranger Dance', 'No Napping' mods, or others like it are fine. One other thing. No reloading the house if something bad happens.

Game Over: The only automatic game over is if your Torch Holder dies. There should be a game over for cheaters, but chances are, if you're a cheater you don't have the good sense to penalize yourself for naughty behaviour. You know who you are.

On With The Game!

Start with a single Adult or Young Adult Sim.

Customize:

*Appearance
*Gender
*Personality
*Aspiration
*Interests (optional)
*Lifetime Want (optional)

(Interests and LTW must be adjusted as soon as possible and remain permanent from then on.)

Alternately, for a truly random experience, you may move a non-playable teen townie to college. If you do so, you may not change anything about them!

If in College: Move them into whatever type of housing you'd prefer. If you move them into housing containing playable characters, you may play those other characters as you normally would.

If NOT in College: Move them into a new house/lot with no other residents. Choose any lot size you fancy.

Finding a Mate for Your Founder.

*If your founder is a Young Adult, and they fall in love with a University Townie/NPC, you must wait until your sim graduates to move them in with you. Obviously, if they fall for a Neighborhood Townie/NPC, they'll have to wait until graduation too.

*If your founder is an Adult, they can marry N.Townie/NPCs or U.Townie/NPCs.

*There's one exception to the Townie/NPC marriage rule. If your sim fancies a Maxis-made sim that you have never played (, in that incarnation, for those of you who restart a lot), it's all good.

Ex: Torch Holder meets Lazlo. Torch Holder fancies Lazlo. You have yet to touch Lazlo either ever, or since the last time you restarted Strangetown. Go get 'em!

Life after Marriage.

*Once you finally have another sim in your house, the fun really begins! For each lifestage of your non-torch holders, you are allowed one command. Once that lifestage is over, so is the chance for that single command! When preparing to use your single command, press the Live Mode button to retract your toolbar. The ONLY personal info you should be able to see in the retracted state is their age, aspiration, influence, and aspiration level.


*like so*

After you're sure it's in the right position, select your non-torch holding sim and select one command.

Command Rules:

*You may X out the current queue before selecting your command.
*You may NOT select a macro as your command. It must be a single action command.
*You may NOT use this command to reroll LTW, Max Interests, ect.
*You may NOT save up command chances from lifestage to lifestage. If you don't use it, you lose it!

Exceptions:

*You may select a sim at any time to 'Change Appearance' at the mirror/vanity, or 'Plan Outfit' at the dresser. If you have a mod that allows you to buy clothes at home, you can use that for them. Or if they're at a community lot, you can tell them to buy clothes. (Don't use this as a loophole! You are not allowed to X out anything from their queue, or conveniently decide they need a change of clothes to avoid a particular situation... Such as a fire, or nearly catching a cheating spouse.)

*If a glitch takes a strong hold of your NTHs (non-torch holders), you can to direct them to do whatever necessary to remedy the issue.

*When sending a spare heir to college, once the heir has taken the torch you may use their one command to apply for scholarships then immediately send them off to college as if the these two particular commands, and only these, are one. (Keep in mind that you can also send them to college from the neighborhood view at any time during their teenhood so long as the heir for that generation has already taken the torch.)

Always remember to keep the toolbar retracted while you have a NTH selected!

Money Makes the World go 'Round:

So you're going to use a NTH's free command to get a job, eh?
Here's what you do (get a die ready to roll):

Newspaper:

*If you roll 1-2, select the first job listing.
*If you roll 3-4, select the second job listing.
*If you roll 5-6, select the third job listing.

Computer:

*1 = 1st
*2 = 2nd
*3 = 3rd
*4 = 4th
*5 = 5th
*6 = Reroll

For ALL sims, not just NTHs, you cannot choose 'Ignore' for any chance cards you get. You must play them... Good luck.

Here Comes Baby!:

There's no way to complete this game without introducing new generations.

Options:

*Invite partner to Try for Baby. (Same-sex pregnancy mods are in.)
*Adopt.
*Use the Tombstone of L&D to get pregnant by your partner, or use it to impregnate females with aliens upon returning from an abduction. (Note: if you choose to impregnate one adult female sim upon returning from an abduction, you must do the same with all future female adults returning from abductions. Make a choice and stick to it!)

They Grow up So Fast!:

Concerning Aspirations: Roll a die to determine their aspiration upon reaching teen-hood. The numbers you assign to each aspiration doesn't actually matter (I use the Legacy Challenge numbering system myself), just as long as you actually stick to that one way. If you roll your spare/unassigned number, roll again. Sorry, no 'Choose Your Own' stuff here.

The Heir: When you get the first pre-birthday announcement that your heir is going to become an adult, you can now pass the torch to them. Keep in mind that once you hand over the torch, you can NEVER GO BACK to your former torch-holder. This is a sad moment indeed... However, if you are awesome, your former TH (torch-holder) will already be in permanent platinum, and at the top of their career. Decide now on whether you want to send them to college, or prepare them for their birthday into adult-hood. If you've managed to get them a (mutual) love interest by this point, you can send their love to college along with them, or move them in and grow them up if the TH is not going to college. No teen 'intended's. They must be in love to grow up with the TH. If your heir brings their love to college with them, you may control their love throughout college as you would with any other sim, then give up control of them once you've moved them back to the base neighborhood.

Concerning University Aspiration Changes: When your heir gets to the point in college (If you send them) where they are offered the chance to change aspirations, you may roll for a new one if you wish to do so.

Concerning Interests and LTWs: You may not change their LTW, or their interests, ever.

And that Useless Spare?: Once the heir has taken the torch, the spare becomes void. If the new TH dies, shame on you, it's still an automatic game over regardless of the existence of the spare. Spares can only replace the heir if the heir dies before coming into his/her age-of-awareness and inheritence of the torch.

Here's Your Options:

*Let them remain in the house, clog all your toilets, and rot on the couch until their end.
*Cull them.
*Ship them off to college via neighborhood view access.
*Use their command chance to apply for scholarships and send them off to college.
*Use their command chance to find their own place.
*If you manage to make them fall in love (must be mutual love) with someone, you can now take control of them regardless of whether or not they have command chances, but must move them out in a timely fashion.

Once they move out, they are forever free, and can never return to the household.

From here: wash, rinse, and repeat.

Points and Completion:

There are four game levels:

*Amatuer - Successfully pass on the torch to the 5th generation.
*Average - Successfully pass on the torch to the 10th generation.
*Expert - Successfully pass on the torch to the 15th generation.
*Supremely Awesome - Successfully pass on the torch to the 20th generation.

Points? More like a Tally System: Keep tally of these events, then share them either at the end or to post your progress.

*Torch-Holders.
*Perma-Platinum sims. (One tally per LTW achieved.)
*Shrink Visits.
*Social Bunny Visits.
*Social Worker Visits. (One tally per child taken at SW visit.)
*Accidental Deaths.
*Number of Special Tombstones vs. Total Death Count. Ex: 8/15

NEW: As suggested by DancerTricia from Sims2.com (Thanks Tricia!)

*Reach top of a career. (One tally each time your sims do this, even if it's the same sim doing it!)
*100,000. (One tally for every 100,000 simoleans. You can check this number in the neighborhood view in the form of their networth.)

Whenever any of these things happen, add a point/tally to that category. So, your tally board should look something like this (If you're keeping tally in a notebook):

Torch-Holders: |||||
Perma-Plat Sims: ||
Shrink Visits:
Social Bunny Visits: |

Or this (If you're keeping track of it on the computer):

Torch-Holders: 5
Perma-Plat Sims: 2
Shrink Visits: 0
Social Bunny Visits: 1

*And so on...

Nightlife Update!:

Ask Socials: Here's what you can use, and what you can't as far as the new "Ask" socials go.

You're allowed to ask...
*Do you want a ride home?
*Do you want to go back to my place?
*On date
*To form/join casual group

You're NOT Allowed to ask...
*About interests
*Do you like what you see?
*How much money do you have?
*What are your skills?
*What do you fear?
*What do you want?
*What turns you off?
*What turns you on?
*What's your job?
*What's your sign?

The Dating Game:
Feel free to scope the room, or even hire the matchmaker, but remember this! Never, ever, expand your date's wants through the Date Meter!

Other Stuff:
*Keep in mind that cars can be assigned to sims without having them selected, which should certainly come in handy.
*Vampirism is allowed, but I beg you to think long and hard before you try it. In my opinion, that's an accident waiting to happen (for non-torch-holders that is).
*Remember that spare number when rolling for aspirations? Now you must assign it to the Pleasure aspiration.
*Turn-ons and turn-offs appear to be adequately randomized when growing into a teen, please correct me if I'm wrong, therefore it must be left on what was randomly chosen!
*The Re-Nu-Yu Senso Orb aspiration reward can only be used to access the Grilled Cheese aspiration, and nothing else!
*The Re-Nu-Yu Porta Chug can never be used.

Pets Update!:

Originally I wasn't going to post anything about this, because I thought it was fairly obvious, but after reading a few blogs I decided to go ahead and do so...

You must keep their panel retracted as with human sims, but you may issue commands\scold\praise them through your TH... There.. That wasn't too painful, was it? ;)

Tips & Tricks:

*This wasn't originally intended to be an allowable part of gameplay, but since I completely overlooked it and some savvy players found it, I decided to acknowledge it as a legitimate game tactic. As some of you have realized, your NTH sim's LTW can be accessed even with the toolbar retracted. Thanks to some sneaky loophole-finders, and my own forgetfulness, you may all benefit from this trick.

*As long as their toolbar is retracted, feel free to select your NTH regardless of whether or not you're issuing a permissable command. This is helpful is you want to know precisely where their aspiration level is.

*Homework is easily the most aggrivating aspect of this challenge, and a very good incentive to have small families. Coax kids out of their current activities with a game of red hands, as it is a quick social interaction that gives them a significant fun boost, then queue up the 'help with homework' command while they're still playing so they don't have time to run away and conveniently occupy themselves. ;) Also, though this is a bit tricky, most children will have the want to do their homework in the morning if they haven't done it the night before. Helping them with their homework every day before school is a good way to keep their aspiration level pretty, but make sure you can get it done before the bus arrives.

*Cook several group meals and store them in your inventory. Unless you have crappy/cheap kitchen appliances, sims generally only need two meals a day... Two or three times a day, pull the group meal from your inventory and leave it out for a while, or call to meal. Afterwards, put the leftovers back into your inventory so that they don't spoil... This trick is the perfect segue into my next order of bussiness...

Questionable hacks:

*No Food Spoilage?-I went back and forth with this one for a while, trying to decipher if it was too much of a cheat. With consideration of the inventory trick, and new word that sims will be able to save leftovers in the fridge with the next expansion pack (which should have been the case from the beginning), I decided that the no food spoilage hacks, or hacks that simply prolong the time it takes for food to spoil are perfectly reasonable. The ones that make food never spoil are a tad outlandish, but since the normal lifespan of leftovers is a week and no group meal ever takes that long to get finished in the sims I figured there's nothing wrong with it. Especially since food basically becomes immortal with the use of the inventory. Besides, who ever heard of food left on the counter spoiling in 3 hours?

*Make Selectable?- It was trickier to decide whether or not this one should be made taboo or not, benign as it may sound initially. Then I decided, as long as their toolbar is retracted and you're not issuing any illegal commands, why the heck not? This does give you a clear advantage if you know precisely how to use it, but I'll let you try to figure that out on your own. Generally speaking, it's nice to make over potential spouses who happen to be NPCs when your TH has appearance related turn ons since the game won't let you make them over through normal gameplay tactics. Mind you, this does NOT mean you can make a non-ISBI sim selectable in your ISBI household and start controlling them as you would on their lot.. ISBI lot, ISBI rules, and that's final.

Thinking of Seasons to Come:

Just in case I get too wrapped up in the excitement of the Seasons pack to update the rules in a timely fashion, I want to say this now... After reading everything I can get my hands on, it sounds like weather may potentially be highly dangerous for autonomous sims. You may obviously have them dress accordingly, as changing appearance is already permitted in the rules, but since I strongly doubt they'll know it's not a good idea to then go swimming in an outdoor pool in the middle of winter regardless of the fact you just told them to put on their coats and ear muffs, I'm setting up a temporary rule that you can command them to "go here" at anytime after installing the Seasons pack if they're doing something seasonally inappropriate/dangerous.. This rule may or may not remain intact after I evaluate their ability to prevent themselves from freezing or heat stroke.

A Few Last Words:

If your lot gets too glitchy, just toss it. Don't bother re-killing all those sims unless you really want to. Remember that this challenge isn't meant to be so much about your end distribution of points as it is about the journey to it. What I'm really interested in hearing about is the highs and lows of the players. Brag or lament.. You've earned it.

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