The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

[Esther1981]

What I did with the equestrian lot was go into edit town and added a 64x64 lot near the Alto's and moved it. I'm not sure however if that's legal, as I'm not going for HoF. Just the thought of 8 people under one roof without make needs static drives me insane haha.

[wednesday21]

Ok, thanks for the help. That's just what I did, Ricalynn. Everything is fine now and the lag in this save file is minimal so I decided to make it my official file. It's a little hard without mods and cheats but I've defeated the urge and have been following the rules thoroughly all the way through.

[Esther1981]

Good for you Wednesday! Can I ask though how in the world you are doing it without cheats?? I'm on my 5th attempt and while I have made it farther this time, there is no way in the world I could do it without cheats!! I know alot of people have done it, but I don't know how. My biggest cheat I can't play without is make needs static, I can never seem to keep their needs in the green without it.

[wednesday21]

I have to admit, it's difficult; having to send your sim to bed and then having her wake up just a few minutes before getting the moodlet because she's apparently very hungry. One tip I can give you is to forget about the cheat panel. Think that it's not there, that if you press ctrl+shift+c nothing will happen. I learned to play this way back in good ole sims2 days.

The "stories" series back then (three of them) didn't have a cheats panel in story mode and the needs and everything were there for you to deal with. Imagine that. You had to complete the story by completing various goals AND take care of your sim's needs. There was just no way to get the cheats panel to show up and help you with your situation. You just had to do it yourself. I completed all the story goals in these games and by the time the next sims2 expansion pack was released I wasn't using cheats anymore. My cheating habits came back only when sims3 was released and dragged me back into simming.

That said, I think this challenge will be stories series #2 for me, this time for ts3. We'll see.

[Esther1981]

Wow. That's a good tip, I'm not sure if I could do it, but it is a good tip! I guess I'm glad I didn't play 2, because I was getting to the point of forgetting the entire game before I found the cheats!

[Pam]

Wow. That's a good tip, I'm not sure if I could do it, but it is a good tip! I guess I'm glad I didn't play 2, because I was getting to the point of forgetting the entire game before I found the cheats!

This challenge starts with only one Sim, so you just get used to no cheating with that one Sim.  Then you gradually add to the household and get used to no cheating with two Sims.  Then three Sims, etc.  It's really not hard to do, Esther.  Another thing you could do is start a practice file where you don't make needs static.  Just make yourself play that file with one Sim and you'll soon get the hang of it.  You're welcome to PM me if you hit snags and need some advice. 

[Seabody]

Good for you Wednesday! Can I ask though how in the world you are doing it without cheats?? I'm on my 5th attempt and while I have made it farther this time, there is no way in the world I could do it without cheats!! I know alot of people have done it, but I don't know how. My biggest cheat I can't play without is make needs static, I can never seem to keep their needs in the green without it.

I use a simple philosophy, ever since TS1. Eat, Sleep, Poop and Polish. It started by teaching me what objects I need to buy in the beginning of a Sims' life (Fridge, Bed, Toilet, Shower), but I now tend to use it for needs as well.
The motives, as we all know, are Social, Hunger, Bladder, Energy, Fun and Hygiene.
In the greater scheme of things, Fun and Social are relatively harmless when they are empty. However, if Hunger is empty, the Sim dies. If Energy is empty, the Sim passes out. If Hygiene is empty, the Sim forces a bad moodlet on others in the vicinity. If Bladder is empty, the Sim pees itself and then has the Hygiene Failure State (bad moodlet) plus probable embarrassment. Sims will drop their Action Cue to fulfill a Failed (or near-Failed) Motive, so they can usually take care of themselves. Add to that the fact that inactive Sims work on their own to fulfill motives, there's one thing you really need to do - and that's work on Skills. So once you have two Sims, it's pretty easy to max motives.

And of course, if you can get the LTHP, you can buy the Motive Mobile, since it's legal in this challenge.

[Siergiej]

Good evening! I took a closer look on genies, and I think there is something about them that needs a clear ruling.
It is stated: "The Genie's longer life wish is banned. The other Genie wishes are fine". That brings up 2 issues.
* First, you can ask a genie to "resurrect sim/pet". This wish could be easily missed because it only shows up if your sim knows any dead sims/pets. But there'll be plenty of dead mortal sims in the challenge, so I think this wish should be outlawed too.
* Second, "Free the Genie" wish. Actually, it implies that the freed genie will automatically be added into current household. And genies really DO have longer lifespan (2x normal or so). So there are two ways to resolve this: either ban this wish or allow it if player immediately moves genie out (like it was ruled with mummies and simbots). I myself prefer the latter, but anyway Metro is to decide.
* Also, сan we count Genies as best friends for the challenge? You can befriend and then keep them in the lamp, summoning when needed. I don't think they age in the lamp (?). It's kind of "instant snack friend in the can" -- very convenient, but a little bit too easy in comparison to other creatures.

do photos taken in the photo booth count a photos for the museum?

As long as your Immortal is clearly the focus of the photo and registers as such then photo booth shots should be fine.

Photobooth doesn't register anything. The resulting photo is more like cellphone snapshot (just, you know, four of the kind). And since cellphone photos are banned for the museum because they don't register a sim, shouldn't photobooth be banned as well for the same reason?
Also, any photo from the booth has "§ 0" value.

And are there any restriction on SimPort?

[Metropolis Man]

Good evening! I took a closer look on genies, and I think there is something about them that needs a clear ruling.
It is stated: "The Genie's longer life wish is banned. The other Genie wishes are fine". That brings up 2 issues.
* First, you can ask a genie to "resurrect sim/pet". This wish could be easily missed because it only shows up if your sim knows any dead sims/pets. But there'll be plenty of dead mortal sims in the challenge, so I think this wish should be outlawed too.

Agreed.

* Second, "Free the Genie" wish. Actually, it implies that the freed genie will automatically be added into current household. And genies really DO have longer lifespan (2x normal or so). So there are two ways to resolve this: either ban this wish or allow it if player immediately moves genie out (like it was ruled with mummies and simbots). I myself prefer the latter, but anyway Metro is to decide.

Yep. The latter sounds good to me.

* Also, сan we count Genies as best friends for the challenge? You can befriend and then keep them in the lamp, summoning when needed. I don't think they age in the lamp (?). It's kind of "instant snack friend in the can" -- very convenient, but a little bit too easy in comparison to other creatures.

I don't have a problem with Genies as friends.

Photobooth doesn't register anything. The resulting photo is more like cellphone snapshot (just, you know, four of the kind). And since cellphone photos are banned for the museum because they don't register a sim, shouldn't photobooth be banned as well for the same reason?
Also, any photo from the booth has "§ 0" value.

Makes sense to me. But, if Photobooth does not register anything, then there does not need to be a ban — players hopefully know they could not use it anyway. Immortals must register on a photo.

And are there any restriction on SimPort?

I'll need to learn more about that feature before making a ruling.

[Deme]

Alright, that correction sounds fair enough. While it's too late for Gen 2 to get a new elder photo, there's still time for Gen 3 to get a new YA photo. Pity, too: I really like photo booth pictures.

[Siergiej]

Thank you, Metro!

Deme, you still can use those pictures in the museum though, just not as the official photos. They'll fit perfectly as a decor, and since they cost nothing, I believe they'll not mess with the final scoring.

[Esther1981]

Thanks Pam and Seabody! I suppose I could try it again without needs static. I'll implement everything, especially the one where if I hit ctrl+shift+c will do nothing.  I wish there was a way to take those keys off my keyboard haha.

[Metropolis Man]

I just talked to Carl who is much more familiar with Simport and its features than I am and he could not see any reason to ban it in the Dynasties. So unless someone else enlightens me on why I should, I'll treat Simport like most other allowable content and simply not mention it to keep the rules shorter.

[RainBeau]

I know that Immortals must reach the Elder stage and have their museum pieces done before they eat Ambrosia. However, do they have to stay Elders once they eat Ambrosia, or can they use the Young Again Potion LTR? I hate seeing my beautiful sims all wrinkly and shuffly

[alex51299]

I know that Immortals must reach the Elder stage and have their museum pieces done before they eat Ambrosia. However, do they have to stay Elders once they eat Ambrosia, or can they use the Young Again Potion LTR? I hate seeing my beautiful sims all wrinkly and shuffly

Sorry, I'm pretty sure they have to stay elders. It's part of the whole challenge.