The Andrews Decadynasty (Complete)

[Alex]

House 1

Beau and Victoria Andrews are used to looking out of the window and seeing their neighbour Christopher get asked to join dynasties. This time it’s their turn.



No doubt you’ve met them before, what with them being residents of Sunset Valley, but for the uninitiated: Beau is a slobby, inappropriate couch potato who can’t stand art, but who does have a good sense of humour. Victoria’s his polar opposite: she’s artistic, ambitious, good, a hopeless romantic and a bookworm. She wants to be a journalist; he’s a gold digger.

For the really uninitiated, Beau’s the one on the left:



Their first move was to increase their household a bit:

First, Mysterious Mr Andrews...



(The collection for this house is gnomes, and somebody needs to bark at the fridge. I’m not sure what kind of dog he is, but he seems to be part bear cub.)

And you can fill in the second part for yourselves...



That done, they set about establishing their legacy, um, dynasty.

Beau spent most of his time learning inventing and gardening, and then rummaged for things to sell when he had time. I was hoping he might find a gnome or three in the bins, but it didn’t happen. He also spent a lot of time on chemistry in pursuit of Young Again potion, as he and Victoria both start as Adults.



Victoria, meanwhile, did writing and charisma (I hadn’t found the laptop in her inventory yet, hence the delightful Lord Sponge computer). When she had some free time, Mysterious Mr Andrews helped her practice for motherhood.



And a short time later, Viola made her appearance:





Followed shortly after by two new household members.  At home, Beau and Viola adopted a cat, the Rt Hon Kitty Andrews, MP. Meanwhile, at the library, Victoria was having contractions:



Kitty and Vaughan were very welcome, I’m sure.



When she wasn’t being attacked by Somewhat Honourable kittens, Viola made her own entertainment. An outdoors-loving party animal, she spent most of her time playing in the sprinkler and dancing.



As a teen, she mostly did laundry and taught Vaughan his toddler skills.



And in the meantime, Beau and Victoria had got older and older.

Beau was given Young Again potion. Victoria wasn’t.



And just to rub it in, Grim came back for Mysterious Mr Andrews later in the day.





Without Mysterious Mr Andrews to growl at her, The Honourable Member for Sunset Valley was very lonely, so Beau spent his time playing with his cat (and catching her fleas repeatedly). Vaughan helped out with the garden, fixed broken plumbing and took up cooking so that Viola didn’t get any ideas about learning skills. And she played guitar. Constantly.



I’d never supermaxed guitar before – in fact, I’ve had one-skill Sims die of old age without getting a single guitar opportunity. However, this computer’s random number generator seemed to like guitar better: she supermaxed just into adulthood, at about the same time as she became a Rock Star. I missed the screenshots, so instead, I offer an insight into what Rock Stars do on their days off:



While Beau started ordering pizzas, schmoozing the maid and assuring the mail carrier that Mysterious Mr Andrews wouldn’t be able to chase her anymore, Viola went in search of Jose Keaton, an old friend.

She found him:





And with all the requirements completed, she married him.




House 1

Townie founders: Victoria and Beau Andrews
Address: 378 Skyborough Blvd

Heir: Viola Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Virtuoso, Party animal, Lucky, Ambitious, Workaholic (nerd influence)
LTW: Become a rock star
Maxed career: Music – rock branch
Supermaxed skill: Guitar



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both grade and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Musical Assembly (guitar)
2. Raise the Fun(d) (guitar)
3. Play for Egypt (guitar)
4. Play for France (guitar)
5. Guitar Up! (guitar)
6. Tons of Tips (guitar)
7. I Got Your Back...Up (guitar)
8. Sorting the Section (guitar)
9. Local Musician Showdown (guitar)
10. Music Class (music career)

10 NPC friends:
1. Grim Reaper
2. Zaki Taymur (tourist)
3. Abraham Le (policeman)
4. Vera Vogul (mail carrier)
5. Hasan Parker (repairman)
6. Shawn Angel (babysitter)
7. Amanda Gerstein (repo [wo]man)
8. Doreen Workman (maid)
9. Tammy Duming (proprietor)
10. Candy Barker (pizza deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Jose Keaton
2. Parker Langerak
3. Ethan Bunch
4. Michael Bachelor
5. Malcolm Landgraab
6. Sam Sekemoto
7. Amanda Gerstein
8. Emma Ursine
9. Holly Alto
10. Betty Dickens

Fully upgraded property: Maywood Glen (redesignated to dog park)
Fully upgraded building: Bistro

Large tombstone: Victoria Andrews

Collection: Gnomes; total value §10,030



(Viola, the ten ‘official’ gnomes who were left behind, and some spares in the background.)

Vacation days used: 3

[Malley]

Congrats on completing your first house! It's nice to see some new townie starters for a decadynasty 

[KRae]

Love it! The Decadynasty is my favorite.

[Lisa46]

Yay for more sims 3 stories!

[hazelnut]

Yay!  You started posting it .  Good luck with the rest.

[Alex]

Thanks for reading and commenting, all Here's House 2...


Jose took Viola home to 325 Oak Grove Road. I’m not sure why Story Progression thought he needed four beds for one person, but I wasn’t going to complain: it’s one of my favourite houses, and has plenty of room for gardening and skilling objects. (The house was pure coincidence, by the way: Viola had been getting wishes about him since high school, so Jose was always going to be the spouse.)



They celebrated their wedding in the traditional fashion...



...And then settled into married life. Viola played for tips, held autograph sessions, and performed concerts. Jose already had sufficient logic skill for tutoring children, and so began establishing a garden to keep him occupied.



Beau came over to visit his daughter and hear some exciting news. He spent the night, but probably didn’t sleep much, what with all the panicking and the screaming and the baby being born.



Jose did the bulk of the work in teaching Verbena her toddler skills:





Viola was a little busy being pregnant with Verbena’s younger brothers.

You’ll have to take my word for it, but those really are two different babies. The oldest is Vincent, destined to help out in the garden and fish. The youngest is Victor, named after Viola’s Mum, who will follow in her footsteps and become a writer. They both love the outdoors (along with Verbena and both parents); Vincent is brave, and Victor is a couch potato. Victor was conceived hours after Vincent was born, and then one of them lost/gained a day somewhere, so they ended up almost the same age.



Pointless child spam. That’s Vincent on the left playing peek-a-boo and being attacked with the claw, and Victor being taught how to say ‘Divorce’ by his adoring big sister.



Jose took a day trip to China to pick up some fruit for his garden. He wanted to see the Terracotta Army while he was there, and then seemed to think they’d want to see the School Cheer -- I’m not sure why.



Back home, Verbena began to learn nectar making: there was a lot of spare fruit lying around, and she was bored.



Meanwhile, Vincent played with the blocks, and Victor took up writing on a laptop that was far too big for him.



And Jose’s time came to an end



Verbena aged up to young adult, and selected Perfect Garden as her lifetime wish. Thanks to Jose’s prep work, she got that immediately, so she started gardening with Super Green Thumb and a nice big moodlet to help her out.



Almost immediately afterwards, Viola died, leaving Verbena in charge of her teenage brothers.



Left alone, they all threw themselves into their respective tasks: Verbena looked after the garden, Victor wrote, and Vincent caught fish and took care of the cooking.





It wasn’t all work, though. Socially awkward Vincent, of all people, made things official with his high school girlfriend, Deanna Anders:



Not to be outdone, both Victor and Verbena also found significant others.

Verbena’s partner of choice is Buck Edmonson, an artistic virtuoso she met at school. He normally has better clothing: this was his ‘Dress to Impress’ outfit for Vincent’s bachelor party. I’d hoped for an original townie descendent, but they’d already died out: Buck came closest, as his parents and brother had been family friends for ages.

Victor popped the question to his own high school girlfriend Leilani (who also happened to be Deanne’s sister: story progression hooked up both couples at the same prom). Victor decided he wanted an NPC friend a child, so Vashti was promptly adopted.



And I began to worry.

The plan for the house was for the collection to be omni plant fruit (I wasn’t sure whether masterpiece novels, perfect deathfish or the books Jose had stolen from base camp would be worth the most, but I was going to experiment – although I suspect it’s probably the stolen books, which depresses me). However, the garden was glitchy and I had terrible luck with the weather: a lot of the plants never became harvestable – although they still demanded weeding and watering – and the plants kept going dormant in the summer (even, occasionally, in indoor planter bowls). Verbena was diligently planting and fertilising steaks, but she was also increasingly close to elder, with omni plants looking less and less likely.

I had a collection of books, thanks to Victor, and the simple option would have been to order 10 copies of his best-selling masterpiece. However, I’d also had a vague back-up plan since Pauline Wan gave Viola a §55K fountain as a wedding present. (Don’t tell Victor, but getting enough wedding presents for a collection was also the only reason I made them have a third child.)

Verbena had supermaxed and completed her career. However, she still needed an opportunity that didn’t involve steaks, so off she went to university for a day to complete an easy BlackOpp.



Back at home, her brothers and the Anders sisters were setting new fashions in wedding attire:





(I’m not quite sure what’s wrong with Leilani, but possibly she’d just realised that she was marrying a man who wears playing-in-the-sprinklers-wear to a formal party. Either that, or she was channelling my panic about the collection.)

Both sisters moved in, along with Vincent and Deanne’s son, who she and story progression had named Gene. I happened to spot ghost-Beau reading his great-grandson a bedtime story. He spent some time playing with Vashti, too: for a Sim with such awful traits, he’s great with kids.



Content that her brothers, sisters-in-law, niece and nephew (and resident ghosts) were settled, Verbena hurried off to the Consignment Store, more than ready to move on with her own life (and possibly plant an omni plant one day).



There was no time for wedding parties or formal wear: elder status was days away, and a couple of their household best friends were getting dangerously close to expiring. They exchanged rings, and then Buck led the way home.


House 2

Parents: Viola Andrews and Jose Keaton
Address: 325 Oak Grove Road

Heir: Verbena Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Loves the heat, Eco-friendly, Over-emotional, Green thumb
LTW: The Perfect Garden
Maxed career: Gardener
Supermaxed skill: Gardening
Other maxed skill: Nectar making



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. The Research Project (high school)
2. Ingredients Ripe for the Eating (gardening)
3. Seed Spittin’ Made Easy (gardening)
4. Pure Pomegranate (gardening)
5. Excellent Veggies (gardening)
6. A Bag of Produce (gardening)
7. Uncommonly Good (gardening)
8. A Just-In-Time Harvest (gardening)
9. Outstandingly Rare (gardening)
10. Day Job: Get Paid to Play Video Games (day job)

10 NPC friends:
1. Russel Phan (pizza deliverer)
2. Kia Morey (proprietor)
3. Quan Pei (tourist)
4. Marion Franklin (maid)
5. Jerri Starnes (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Gloria Gentry (adoption worker)
7. Charlotte Sleater (babysitter)
8. Ferby Case (repairman)
9. Sugar Free (party dancer)
10. Lynette Crouch (DJ)

10 Household best friends:
1. Marion Franklin
2. Russel Phan
3. Sugar Free
4. Leland Pullen
5. Karina Rodrigues
6. Buck Edmonson
7. Kia Morey
8. Jerri Starnes
9. Sunshine Bain
10. Tori Reed

Fully upgraded property: Sunset Institute of Modern Art
Fully upgraded building: Doo Peas Corporate Tower

Medium tombstone: Jose Andrews né Keaton
Large tombstone: Viola Andrews

Collection: Wedding presents, total value §68,700



Vacation days used: 2 this generation; 5/20 total

[Malley]

I had one of my heirs marry the Keaton boy and they ended up in the same house; go figure 

Congrats on completing the second heir!

[Alex]

I had one of my heirs marry the Keaton boy and they ended up in the same house; go figure 

Congrats on completing the second heir!

Perhaps Keatons just really like their space, then!

Thanks

[CeresIn]

In my games the Keatons always move to larger homes, most of the time to that house.

Congratulations on the two heirs

[Alex]

In my games the Keatons always move to larger homes, most of the time to that house.

Congratulations on the two heirs

I'm pretty sure he didn't move there until after Justine and Marty died, though - I was really pleased when I noticed he'd moved.

Thanks

[Alex]

House 3 was 270 Sunnyside Blvd, formerly owned by the Working Friends household.



Not ideal: this is the horsey house, and it has about five empty squares of garden....

However.

Verbena was very pleased that there was so little room she could be forced to garden in. Instead, she finally handed in the Omnificent Plant opportunity, planted an omni plant just to prove she could, and began enjoying her retirement:





She resumed her old interest in nectar making, and Buck set about his ambition to become a Master of the Arts.



The peace was temporary.





Pregnancy with Veronica extended Verbena’s adulthood a little, but she and Buck were soon elders. Very sweet, head-over-heels-in-love elders. Every time I left them alone for a moment, I came back to find ‘Verbena thinks Buck is extremely irresistible’.



And Veronica grew into an adorable (if cloney) child, so I took a lot of screenshots which I will proceed to spam you with:









However, once she aged up to teen, the real work began. I think it’s fair to say that Veronica was fonder of extra-curriculars than school.



Not that there wasn’t still time for fun as well. That’s Hugh Barbosa, a member of one of two unrelated Barbosa families in town. (To add to the confusion, while his mother is a Barbosa, her husband and Hugh’s brother Perry both have the surname Escobedo. Story Progression makes my head hurt.)



And Verbena’s time came to an end. She had unfinished business: her one and only omni plant (yes, the one she planted just after she moved in) had been dormant for so long that she hadn’t been able to harvest it yet. Grim was unsympathetic.



Buck promised to harvest it for her (and also keep an eye out for Veronica). The next day, he visited Vincent and Victor, ate some of Vincent’s carefully preserved ambrosia, and then started learning to garden.



If the thirteen arrests are anything to go by, Veronica took her mother’s death hard:



(Also, I think the police officer in the bottom left picture needs to retake his driving qualifications.)

(I had a very glitchy equestrian centre: Veronica would start her second competition of the day at around 6.30pm, but not get to leave until after curfew. The local cops didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t her fault, and there wasn’t a teleporter to get her home quickly. I did try sending Buck to accompany her, but he kept wandering back home, and then grounding her when she finally arrived.)

However, Veronica didn’t let her growing criminal record stop her: she liked riding, and she was self-employed, so her dad’s dire warnings about nobody wanting to hire felons didn’t worry her. Besides, if Princess and Cobalt were happy to fraternise with a convict, then who cared about the rest of the world?



Nevertheless, we were all very relieved when she won her third international competition, and supermaxed riding.



And the omni plant became harvestable! Grim must have been waiting: moments after it had been harvested, he came to fetch Buck.



(Also, have omni plants been patched, or is it just my glitchy game? That one’s supposed to be growing deathfish, but they look a lot like sardines to me (the same graphic as when you put a fish on the floor).)

Veronica took to fishing in pursuit of opportunities. She’d begun fishing as a small child, and went on to supermax before she finally got enough Black Opps (and even then, she had to count a gardening one.)



With all the long-term requirements done, she rushed around meeting NPCs, begrudgingly sold her horses back to the equestrian centre, and then took a moment to Mind Meld with Grim (kids, do not try this at home).



And with her moving requirements finally complete, she invited her boyfriend Hugh Barbosa over, and made an honest man of him:






House 3

Parents: Verbena Andrews and Buck Edmonson
Address: 270 Sunnyside Blvd

Heir: Veronica Andrews
Traits: Loves the outdoors, Brave, Snob, Equestrian, Angler, Diva (nerd influence)
LTW: The Jockey
Maxed career: Horsewoman
Supermaxed skill: Riding
Other maxed skill: Fishing (supermaxed)



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both elementary and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Aquarium Fishing (fishing)
2. Say Hello to My Little Fish (fishing)
3. Crocodile Hunting (fishing)
4. Equestrian Lovers’ Meet and Greet (special)
5. Funny Looking Fish (fishing)
6. To Hunt a Dragon (fishing)
7. Fishing for Suits (fishing)
8. Great Plums (gardening)
9. Robot Fish v2.0 (fishing)
10. No Warts, Please (fishing)

10 NPC friends:
1. Loretta Pullen (maid)
2. Leslie Naylor (repair technician)
3. Wang Lu (tourist)
4. Lauren West (mascot)
5. William Langford (elixir store consignment specialist)
6. Chadd Ortega (proprietor)
7. Denny Cotton (tattoo artist)
8. Harvey Hamel (acrobat)
9. Nathaniel Kwinn (pizza deliverer)
10. Judith Wong (newspaper deliverer)

10 Household best friends:
1. Wild Horse
2. Cobalt Horse
3. Garnet Horse
4. Danny Horse
5. Princess Horse
6. Gopher Horse
7. Starlight Horse
8. Jenny Alford
9. Hugh Barbosa
10. Cori Barbosa

Fully upgraded property: Old Pier Beach
Fully upgraded building: Equestrian Centre

Large tombstone: Verbena Andrews
Medium tombstone: Buck Andrews ne Edmonson

Collection: Nectar, total value §35,780



Vacation days used: 3

[Malley]

Congrats on supermaxing riding! I did that once and it was not pretty 

[hazelnut]

(Also, have omni plants been patched, or is it just my glitchy game? That one’s supposed to be growing deathfish, but they look a lot like sardines to me (the same graphic as when you put a fish on the floor).)

Must be a patch, I think.  I've just tried growing deathfish for my Household Skills family and found the same thing.  The old graphics were much better .

Also, mind-melding with Grim?!

[Alex]

Congrats on supermaxing riding! I did that once and it was not pretty 

It's definitely not my favourite skill... Not sure which is worse: the international competitions, or the endless wild horse-watching. 

Must be a patch, I think.  I've just tried growing deathfish for my Household Skills family and found the same thing.  The old graphics were much better .

Also, mind-melding with Grim?!

That's a shame I wonder if it's just fish, or whether all the graphics have changed.

I was both curious and terrified about what she might learn from him (level 1 soul-reaping?), but actually she didn't learn anything.

[Alex]

House 4 is the one I always think of as ‘That ugly green triangle one’. Yay.



Veronica took a look at all the grass her horses could have grazed on if only it had been one house earlier, and sighed. She bought a haystack and put it in the back garden in the hope of attracting a few wild horses to adopt.

She attracted something.



And soon she was expecting a little foal of her own.



This is Vanessa. She’s the first baby to be born in the Decadynasty who doesn’t love the outdoors. Instead, she’s excitable and insane



Obligatory cute toddler pics:



Alas, she soon had to go to school, and Operation Get-Vanessa-on-the-Honour-Roll commenced in earnest. Vanessa didn’t understand why her dad thought he was qualified to tutor her: he was so stupid he thought sandpits were meant to be used for studying in. He also had no idea about fashion.



She still found time to indulge her newfound rebelliousness, though.



With chairs, showers, toilets and sinks far more hazardous than usual, it was probably no wonder that Veronica and Hugh kept finding excuses to go out. Hugh was trying to become Super Popular. Veronica fished.



The rebelliousness continued: as a teenager, Vanessa channelled it into ranting about everything that was wrong with the political system, and brightening up her parents’ house. Well, if they wanted their bedroom walls unvandalised, they shouldn’t go out so much.



She also began organising protests.



One of them was attended by Verbena I sent Vanessa over to say hi.



And her insanity frequently made itself known. I left her alone for two minutes in the house with Hugh’s new boss, and came back to find her talking madness at him. Maybe she was trying to help out Hugh’s career with her schmoozing skills?



Veronica had her appointment with Grim.



And Vanessa had her YA birthday, and a decision to make.

Her rebellious side wanted to take up that offer of a career in Art Appraisal, but she also had Principles. And those Principles told her that her first port of call should be to sort out the political system.

She looked for an Undermining Politics internship, but couldn’t find one advertised, so instead, so decided to Take Them Down from Within.



Hugh saw his daughter named Valedictorian. Grim decided to ruin the celebration. Hugh had been in his early hundreds: I think having a dependent* kid was the only thing keeping him alive.

*don’t tell Vanessa I said that



Now orphaned, Vanessa threw herself into completing her moving requirements.

She supermaxed street art (and became Street Credible).



She began climbing the ranks of the politics career, taking the opportunity to rebel wherever possible:



She collected donations towards her newly-formed Sticking It to the Man Party:



And finally, she was elected Leader of the Free World. And her classmates thought she’d never amount to anything more than Most Likely to Offend Others...



She found a man whose fashion sense was nearly as bad as hers, and befriended him. Oh, and popped the question. As you do.



There was really only one problem: despite having a rabbit-hole career and the charisma skill, she was missing three Black Opps. And so, like Verbena before her, she headed off to do a single day at university.

Although this is a sorority, word may have got around about Vanessa’s choice of First Day At Uni clothes, judging by all the male residents. I’d never seen her wear sleepwear before: she usually goes for formal or sportswear.



Vanessa liked university a lot: lots of lovely juice, a place where being a rebel was encouraged, and no sign of those pesky classes she’d be warned about.



Alas, she had a fiancé waiting at home, and so she packed her bag again. The inevitable wedding followed.




House 4

Parents:  Veronica Andrews and Hugh Barbosa
Address: 15 Maywood Lane

Heir: Vanessa Andrews
Traits: Excitable, Insane, Rebellious, Avant garde, Party animal (rebel influence), Photographer’s Eye, Dramatic (honorary communications degree)
LTW: Street Credible
Maxed career: Politics
Supermaxed skill: Street Art
Other maxed skill: Charisma



Both parents living together at time of birth.
Heir on the honour roll at both grade and high school.

10 Opportunities completed by heir:
1. Research Project (grade school)
2. Lots of Drama (drama club)
3. Commissioned Street Art (street art)
4. Bestest Friends (charisma)
5. Speaking Engagement (politics career)
6. Chat with the Police (politics career)
7. A Party of Large Wigs (politics career)
8. Dare to Imply Someone’s Mother is a Llama
9. Dare to Keg Stand
10. Day Job: Botanical Test Subject

10 NPC friends:
1. Khahlila Witherspoon (barista bartender)
2. Irene Patel (tourist)
3. Lex Dance (party dancer)
4. Trevor Singletery (pizza deliverer)
5. Joel Mooney (repair technician)
6. Spencer Gossett (babysitter)
7. Aleksey Pruitt (acrobat)
8. Sarah Dorsey (policewoman)
9. Donovan Horton (magician)
10. Harold Himes (university mascot)

10 Household best friends:
1. Corey Olivares
2. Kristi Olivares
3. Mackenzie Olivares
4. Donovan Horton
5. Lydell Steed
6. Lex Dance
7. Carlton Ash
8.Bobbi Lapointe
9. Julius Fagan
10. Tragic Clown

Fully upgraded property: Performance Park
Fully upgraded building: Landgraab Industries Science Facility

Large tombstone: Veronica Andrews
Medium tombstone: Hugh Andrews ne Barbosa

Collection: Fish, total value §12,430 (all deathfish)



Vacation days used: 1