The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

[Metropolis Man]

The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

GOAL:

Start with one Sim. Only by accomplishing key tasks is your Founder granted the power of immortality upon reaching Elder status. The firstborn of every generation must also complete the same tasks to achieve their immortality. Your ultimate goal is 8 immortal Sims under one roof and to preserve their Dynasty forever with a valuable museum.

Note to Tournament players: The Immortal Dynasty Challenge is a stand-alone event and not connected with the Tournament or world ranking.

You may participate in this challenge at any time. There are no starting or closing dates.

RULES:

Game Set Up and Lot Choice

• You may choose any town, but it must be a brand new, unaltered EA-created town. The forum's own Union Cove is also allowed.
• Into the Future currently has a bug and will need to be turned off to receive skill opportunities. You can uninstall ITF using Sim Selector 3.0 or the old fashioned way using EA's uninstaller. You can also elect to play with ITF installed but will not receive many phone calls for opportunities.
• Before creating your new game file, you must patch up to the most current EA patch. You must also stay current on patches for the entirety of the file.
• Create 1 Young Adult (using a Swap Shop Sim is also fine). Traits and LTW are unrestricted.
• Game Options: Length—Normal (sliders at default settings); Aging—On; Story Progression—On; Freewill—High; Lunar Cycle—Player's Choice; Population Controls—Player's Choice; Disabling Memories—Player's Choice; Season Length & Weather—Player's Choice .

Once you select one of the choices for your required lot and begin play you can never move again. Private lots can be purchased but the family may never move there.  All Immortal Dynasty players need to begin their game with $1800.  If you have WA and UL installed, you will receive a camera in your inventory.  If you have ITF installed, you will receive a time portal in your lot.  Players must choose to either sell the camera and time portal or keep it forever (never ever sell).  If you sell it, do it before the next step.  If you have more than $1800 after purchasing your lot or selling a camera , then temporarily use the family funds cheat to bring starting funds down to $1800. Here's all you do:

Press Command-Shift-C to open to cheats panel (screen will gray)
Type testingcheatsenabled true, then Return/Enter
Type familyfunds [Nameofhousehold] [1800], then Return/Enter
Type testingcheatsenabled false, then Return/Enter

• Sunset Valley — 15 Summerhill Ct (you'll need to use Edit Town to remove the Equestrian Center if you have Pets. You are free to place the smaller version elsewhere).
• Riverview Dynasty players have 2 lots to choose from —  345 Riverblossom Hills Dr and 467 Farmer Valley Road.
• Hidden Springs — 7 Meadow Beach Dr.
• Twinbrook — 16 Puddlewick Dr.
• Barnacle Bay — 432 Tidal Terrace.
• Bridgeport — 64 Applewood Lane.
• Appaloosa Plains — 1007 Pomona Promenade.
• Union Cove — Mod Hill Dynasty Lot.
• Lunar Lakes Dynasty players have 2 lots to choose from — 15 Hyperion Highway and 65 Hyperion Highway.
• Starlight Shores — 684 Vista Blvd.
• Lucky Palms Dynasty players have 4 lots to choose from — 107 Lakeside Dr, 137 Lakeside Dr, 228 Sedona Lane, or 54 Golf Links Lane.
• Sunlit Tides Dynasty players have 2 lots to choose from — 1 Cove Rd or 2 Cove Rd.
• Moonlight Falls — 29 S Falls Ave
• Monte Vista Dynasty players have 2 lots to choose from — 37 Verona Way or 27 Verona Way
• Aurora Skies Dynasty players have 3 lots to choose from — 45 Lupin Lane, 7 Rock Ridge Rd, or 36 Sulfur Springs Rd
• Dragon Valley Dynasty players have 4 lots to choose from ─ 32 Lugh Lane, 38 Aibell Avenue, 64 Oak Grove, or 81 Claddagh Court
• Isla Paradiso Dynasty players have 2 lots to choose from ─ 15 Dolphin Lane or 77 Paradise Road
• Roaring Heights Dynasty players have 3 lots to choose from ─ 25 Beach Drive, 20 Paradise Drive, or 36 Riverside Terrace
• Midnight Hollow Dynasty players have 3 lots to choose from ─ 28 Swallow Street, 29 Swallow Street, or 95 True Terrace

Edit Town, Mods, Cheats, and Custom Content

• Pre-built houses or downloaded lots from someone else are not allowed. You must take care of all building and expansion yourself. Opting for the “no build/outdoors” route is also fine.
• The Edit Town screen is off limits with the following exceptions:
• If your town library is missing the skill books, you may use Edit Town to place Book Corrals in the library.
• Roaring Heights players can add deathfish spawners in the graveyard.
• Anyone can place EA-created buildings and lots, but only EA-created buildings and lots are allowed.
• The following lots are the only lots allowed to be placed from a vacation world into a homeworld:  Phoenix Martial Arts Academy,  The Scholar's Garden,  Champ Les Sims Nectary, Keith's Komics, B's Bowlarama, The Grotto and Roasted Toasted Beans Coffee Shop.
• Subways may be placed in your town if you own the lot, or if it’s already on one of the premade bars/clubs that come with Late Night.
• All changes to Edit Town must be done before your founder has purchased their property. New additions are only allowed if a new expansion has been released.
• Private lots can be purchased and used but can never become the main residence.
• Dive lots are allowed to be placed without using cheats or world modifications, but this is all done at your own risk. There are no approved fixes for faulty dive lots that you placed.
• For a more exhaustive analysis of what you can and cannot do in Edit Town then check out Rica's post.
• All modifications (mods) are banned. Period. Mods are patches that typically alter some component of gameplay. But, even if a mod supposedly does not alter gameplay you cannot use it. Remove all mods before beginning.
• 3rd party Custom Content that alters appearance such as skin tone or hairstyles, etc. is not considered a modification of the game and can be used at the player's own risk.
• Opening up the Cheats panel (pressing Ctrl-Shift-C) is banned. There are some allowances to using a cheat discussed in Tech Talk below.
• Exiting without saving to avoid a mistake or an unfortunate occurrence (i.e. burglar or fire) is also considered cheating.

Household Matters

• The firstborn child of any generation is the targeted immortal. In the event a pregnancy results in twins or triplets, then the first named child is the next immortal.
• Immortals must result from natural pregnancies where both parents are living in the Dynasty house. As such, this child cannot be adopted, made through the Clone Voucher LTR (GEN), made through cloning a sim with the Science skill (UL), born out of a "Genetic Merger" with the Door of Life and Death (Grim's Ghastly Manor, or Genetically Engineered (ITF).
• However, non-immortals can be adopted, cloned, made through a Genetic Merger, or engineered.
• Non-Immortal household members (spouses, spare children, and other live-ins) are not tied to the same restrictions as immortals. They are free to choose any LTW, career, skills, etc., however please do not do sneaky tricks like choosing Unlucky for spouses simply to prolong their life.
• Vampires, Mummies, SimBots, Genies, Fairies and Werewolves are not allowed in your household, but anyone else may be a household member including Imaginary Friends, Ghosts, Witches, Aliens, and pets.
• SimBots may be obtained from Inventing Skill only, and must immediately be released into the wild.  SimBots from lifetime reward (My Best Friend) are banned.
• Plumbots may be made but cannot stay in the household after they are made.
• Genies may be freed from their lamp, but must be immediately released and not made part of the household.
• All children that result from abduction pregnancies must be returned to their homeworld and cannot become a part of the household.
• An immortal or heir cannot become a PlantSim until after the next generation has been born.
• A PlantSim baby can never be an heir or be harvested by an heir/immortal before the next generation is born.
• Mermaids are allowed to enter the household but mermaid heirs cannot use scuba diving as a supermax.
• Time Machine children are allowed, but obviously cannot be heirs.
• Sending children to boarding school is okay.
• No Sim can be moved out. All household members are to live a full and natural life and their eventual death can never be expedited (intentional killing).
• If a non-immortal dies accidentally (electric shock, fire, etc) you are free to continue playing the challenge.
• Your 7th generation firstborn must be a female. She will need to become pregnant without adding a spouse to the household to bring in the 8th and final immortal.

The Gift of Immortality
As most Sims 3 players know, eating Ambrosia will reset a Sim’s life stage to the beginning of their current life stage. So, eating Ambrosia on a regular basis will keep any Sim immortal. In addition to eating Ambrosia, a deathflower placed in personal inventory will prevent any accidents from taking the life of a Sim, truly making them immortal. In this Dynasty Challenge, the act of eating Ambrosia and placing a deathflower in personal inventory is a reward reserved only for your designated immortals who have reached Elder status. No immortal can eat Ambrosia and place deathflowers in inventory before that and non-immortals cannot do those things at all. You can harvest deathflowers before an immortal qualifies for eating Ambrosia, but you would need to leave them on the ground or place them in a chest.  Ambrosia must be eaten on a regular basis.  Every immortal needs to eat a plate of ambrosia every 20 days.  Deathflowers are for accidental deaths or if you feed them ambrosia on the day of their death. 

Each potential immortal must complete the following 8 tasks before Ambrosia can be eaten and deathflowers placed in inventory:

• 1. Accomplish a Lifetime Wish that’s different from the other immortals’ Lifetime Wishes. Got a change of heart on a Lifetime Wish? No problem. The Change Lifetime Wish reward is okay for all Sims.
• 2. Max a career (rabbit-hole, profession, or self-employed). All immortals’ careers must be different from each other. As long as your immortal did max a unique career they do not need to be at level 10 when it’s time to eat Ambrosia—retiring is an option.
• 3. Max a skill not maxed by other immortals. Plus, all related skill challenges from the Skill Journal must also be accomplished. This is the single "SuperMax" skill that must be unique to each immortal. If Immortal A chooses Fishing for his SuperMax skill then Immortal B could only get to skill level 9 of Fishing and would then need to stop. If Immortal B accidentally maxed Fishing and Immortal A had not eaten Ambrosia yet, then hopefully there would still be time for Immortal A to SuperMax a different skill. Immortals (and mortals) may max/SuperMax more than one skill, as long as their one SuperMax skill they claim for eating Ambrosia is unique. A few warnings: The Photography skill is somewhat bugged with subjects not always registering on the camera making the Photography challenges difficult to complete. The Guitar Star challenge is tough, but doable, and the Nectar Making Vizard of Vine challenge is buggy because the grape count resets if you travel. It has also been proven to be buggy without traveling, so simply keep accurate count of the number of grapes used to give yourself credit for the challenge. Finally, the consignment store and collecting skills cannot count as a SuperMax skill because there are no skill points acquired.
• 4. Use a computer to purchase one building and one property (2 separate ownerships). The property purchased must be fully upgraded before Ambrosia can be eaten. World Adventures players have the option of purchasing WA lots and having those count towards the 2-property requirement. Fulfilling your building purchase requirement via Map mode and sending your Sim directly to the lot instead of using a computer is another option. Older generations cannot purchase buildings/properties for younger immortals.
• 5. Purchase 3 Lifetime Rewards not purchased by other immortals. Immortals can have more than 3 Lifetime Rewards, but 3 have to be unique. Also, more than one of a unique Lifetime Reward can be purchased for other immortals as long as the reward is not a unique reward for other immortals.
  
• 6. Have 6 different Best Friends (if two Immortals share a best friend, only one of them may count them as a best friend) at the time of eating Ambrosia for the first time. So, that means if your potential immortal has one of the 6 Best Friends die the day before Ambrosia is to be eaten, then it’s time to start knocking on doors for a new Best Friend. If someone is listed in the Relationship Panel as an Old Friend, the relationship strength may still be as strong as a Best Friend. Just see where the Sim falls in relation to other nearby Best Friends — friend strength falls from highest to llowest. Anyone/anything can qualify as a Best Friend, including spouses, household members, cars, and Imaginary Friends. Don’t worry if friendships deteriorate after Ambrosia has been eaten.
• 7. Complete 6 Opportunities no other immortal has completed (BlackOps). These can be Career, School/Scavenger Hunt, Skill, Special, and Celebrity Opportunities. Note: Immortals can have overlap in their opportunities that they do, as long as they have accomplished 6 unique ones. Opportunities that come in a string — i.e. the Omni Plant chain — all qualify as separate opportunities with different titles. Opportunities with the same name cannot be counted twice — i.e. the various Learn a Recipe opportunities. Travel adventures cannot qualify towards BlackOps (but the Free Vacation opportunity is okay) and neither can Oh My Ghost (does not complete correctly).
• 8. With the exception of your Founder, each immortal needs to have 6 portraits painted of themselves — one for each of the following life stages: Toddler, Child, Teen, Young Adult, Adult, and Elder. Make sure you are doing the proper interaction and have a painter choose Paint a Portrait Of...and not your immortal choosing Self Portrait. These are the sole items for your Immortals’ Museum. Your Founder needs to have Young Adult, Adult, and Elder portraits added to the museum before eating Ambrosia. Once placed in the museum, paintings cannot be replaced with new paintings of the same immortal.  Optional: Photographs and/or ice sculptures of each immortal at the same life stages may be included in the museum if expansion packs are being used. The subject of the photo needs to correctly register as the immortal (My Spouse, My Child, Superstar, etc. full list here) and not something else like a building or object. Each of the stages’ pieces need to be added to the museum before an immortal would age up to the next stage. Only one portrait, photo, and ice sculpture per stage is allowed to be put in the museum. Again, photos and ice sculptures are purely optional.  Museums can be placed on your home lot or another lot that you own.

Additional Restrictions and Info

• Traveling is banned until the 2nd generation becomes Young Adult. Travel includes going to University to get a degree or Time Travel (Into the Future).  Due to some really major traveling bugs it is highly recommended you do not travel with any unmarried Sims. And don’t forget to save before leaving for a vacation.
• The Oh My Ghost opportunity is only allowed to be used for pre-made ghosts.
• Generation's, Pet's & Supernatural's potions, elixirs and rewards that reverse/freeze/extend/shorten age are not allowed.
• The alchemy elixirs to turn Sims into a fairy, vampire, werewolf, or genie are banned from use against townies as this extends their lives.
• All Sims that are toadified have to be cured as this can cause them to become age stuck.
• Gourmet pet food is not allowed.
• Drinking from Leon's Fountain of Youth (Hidden Springs) is not allowed. Placing the fountain in Hidden Springs is fine.
• The Genie's longer life wish is banned.  The Genie wish to Resurrect Sim is only allowed on pre-made ghosts. The other Genie wishes are fine.
• The Wishing Well Sim Store item is banned.
• Ambrosia must be made from homegrown Life Fruit and caught deathfish. Ingredients are allowed to be cloned but only if the sample came from a homegrown plant or caught fish.
• All deathflowers placed in an immortal's inventory must be homegrown or cloned from homegrown.
• Mid-Life Crisis reward(this is the reward purchased via lifetime happiness points not the mid-life crisis wishes that pop up for a Sim if you have generations installed) is banned for immortals, but not non-immortals.
• The Moodlet Manager and Motive Mobile are fine for any Sim.
• Birthday cakes can only be used on a Sim's actual birthday and only on members of your household.
• Clone Drone is not allowed to be used on ghosts.
• You cannot use the Build/Buy clone tool on the Food Replicator.

The following items are banned across the board for non-immortals and pets and only pre-Ambrosia for immortals:

• 1. Getting a tattoo.
• 2. Getting a makeover. However, the Stylist career is not offlimits, so you're free to give makeovers to other non household Sims. Just be honest and avoid giving makeovers to any Sim where their longer life from the makeover would be a benefit to your Dynasty.
• 3. Eating life fruit or drinking a drink made with life fruit.
• 4. Getting plastic surgery.
• 5. The mud bath feature of the Steam-It-Up Sauna.
• 6. The Hibernation Chamber.
• 7. Drinking soy milk from the Farm Fresh Folk set.
• 8. Keeping special seeds in the personal inventory.

You have the following options as to what to do with the graves of non-immortals:

• 1. You can keep them on your lot and deal with the ghosts.
• 2. You can place them in the public cemetery.
• 3. You can make a private family cemetery on a lot that you’ve purchased via the computer.
  
• 4. You can carry around the grave in inventory and essentially never deal with it at all.

Tech Talk
Sometimes the game busts you in the chops with a bug. Save often. Especially before traveling. If you have a bonafide bug, then you may return to an earlier save. You do not need to ask for permission. We’re on the honor system, and you should know if you are truly experiencing a nasty bug.
You also do not need to ask for permission to open the cheats panel (Press Ctrl-Shift-C) and use a cheat for the following circumstances:

• 1. Your Sim is stuck .
• 2. Your Sim loses a trait or has an empty trait slot.  This cannot be done for Sims that were made by EA to have fewer traits.
• 3. Your Sim has a stuck moodlet that will not go away — such as the Hunted moodlet when no vampires are in the area.
  
• 4. Your Sim ages to an incorrect life stage.

Build cheats such as moveobjects and placeFriezes are fine whenever needed. The same goes for Movie/Picture taking cheats such as hideHeadlineEffects.
UnlockOutfits cheat is also okay.
Building cheats such as restrictbuildbuybuildings true/false


The End of the Dynasty
Your Dynasty comes to an end when your 8th generation firstborn attains Elder status and eats Ambrosia for the first time. Congratulations! If your Founder or any generation’s firstborn dies before they become an Elder and eat Ambrosia, then your Dynasty attempt comes to an end.

SCORING AND THE IMMORTALS’ MUSEUM:

Just to remind everyone — this Dynasty Challenge is not part of the regular Tournament where scoring and ranking are paramount for the serious competitive player. There are no starting and finishing dates in a Dynasty Challenge. As such, fun and a leisurely pace that you set for yourself are the most important things. However, you can steadily work towards a score with your Immortals’ Museum. The Museum can be built on your lot or a lot purchased via the computer. The Museum’s value is based on its contents (only the required life stage portraits and the optional photos and ice sculptures determine total museum value), so, when you’re done, you can post the total value of your Immortals’ Museum and your name can be added to the Dynasty Hall of Fame. Make sure to also post your finishing date, your Dynasty's name, if you played under expansions* as well as a screenshot of all 8 immortals with the museum nearby.

Here is a helpful spreadsheet that Pam created to keep you organized: Immortal Dynasty Spreadsheet. You can download this to Excel and other programs by clicking on "File" in the upper right corner.

Have fun everyone!


Please be aware that the game is constantly changing.  All Dynasty rules are subject to change and have clarifications made as information is gathered over time.  All changes to the rules will be noted with a date change at the bottom of the rules page as well as details given within the dynasty thread.   Dynasty players are expected to keep up with these changes on their own as part of playing the challenge.  If there is a rule clarification and you break that rule, there is no guarantee a second chance will be given by the Challenge Board team.

Last Edited — 09/25/2014

[Pielord]

It seems like these rules are specifically designed to be different to Pinstar's version, I really assumed you'd keep to some of them. Seems like alot of work but still a really cool idea, I dunno if I have the patience to put up with 8(!) immortals running around though.  

Can I make the museum the bottom 2 levels of basement on the lot? Would be epic. Do collectibles count towards it's value, etc? Also, you don't seem to mention holidays in WA...unless I missed it.

[Metropolis Man]

It seems like these rules are specifically designed to be different to Pinstar's version, I really assumed you'd keep to some of them.

Why? Doing anything remotely close to Pinstar's Legacy was the absolute farthest thing from my mind.
 

Seems like alot of work but still a really cool idea...

It's supposed to be a lot of work, but something you only do on the side of regular challenges and at your own pace.

Can I make the museum the bottom 2 levels of basement on the lot?

Yes.

Do collectibles count towards it's value, etc?

No. Paintings, ice sculptures, and photographs of your immortals.

Also, you don't seem to mention holidays in WA...unless I missed it.

By "holidays" I assume you mean traveling? There are no restrictions to traveling.

[Pielord]

Oh sorry! I must have misread about the pictures in your museum section, and yes I'd meant to say vacations. Thanks!

[Schipperke]

There are no restrictions to traveling.

Except that the rules state no travelling can be done until the second generation reaches young adult age.  Don't tell me you forgot!  

Also, do we need to sign up for this challenge, or just post results at the end?

[LlamaMama]

I hope people will post about their dynasties as they develop, even if it's not a full-blown, illustrated story. I'll be hungry for ideas and tips.

[Metropolis Man]

Except that the rules state no travelling can be done until the second generation reaches young adult age.  Don't tell me you forgot!  

Ummm....ummmmm.....errrr....no, I did not forget that!  

Also, do we need to sign up for this challenge, or just post results at the end?

Just post results. There's no leaderboard as of now. I will create a separate thread for the Dynasty Hall of Fame but only after someone has finished.

[ClayMask]

I have a few questions about the rules.

1.  If an immortal maxes a skill in addition to the skill that they maxed to become immortal, but does not complete the skill challenges, can someone becoming an immortal choose to max that skill as their one to qualify for becoming immortal, and complete the skill challenges?

2.  Can you include a painting, ice sculpture, and photograph of each elder at each life stage, or do you have to choose between them?  If you have to choose, can you do more than one and choose which one you want to score later?

3.  Is the moodlet manager allowed?

[LlamaMama]

I can't figure out the real estate part. My test sim purchased a fishing spot from the computer for the price of about $17000. There's a notation that $2141 is needed to increase the lot value to the next level ($10000). I'm not sure how that makes sense, but okay. I go to map mode, zoom into the lot and cannot buy things for the lot, only my home lot. Further confusing me is the list of required objects for each tier. Apparently there are no required objects for this tier 1, so how do I automagically confer an increased lot value of $2141 on this lot?

[ClayMask]

I can't figure out the real estate part. My test sim purchased a fishing spot from the computer for the price of about $17000. There's a notation that $2141 is needed to increase the lot value to the next level ($10000). I'm not sure how that makes sense, but okay. I go to map mode, zoom into the lot and cannot buy things for the lot, only my home lot. Further confusing me is the list of required objects for each tier. Apparently there are no required objects for this tier 1, so how do I automagically confer an increased lot value of $2141 on this lot?

Click on the property you own, and then click real estate.  From here you can click buy on this lot or build on this lot.  I do find it hard to cram enough useful stuff on the property for the upgrades, sometimes.

[LlamaMama]

So the required value is independent of the required objects? I need to add 2k, with no required objects, so it's anything I want? This part sounds fun, but the first generation is really going to have to hussle!

Since this not a competitive challenge per se, is it permitted to discuss starting strategies? Where, in this thread? I'd love to know what career your founder chooses.

[ClayMask]

So the required value is independent of the required objects? I need to add 2k, with no required objects, so it's anything I want?

Yes, you can put anything you want there.

[LlamaMama]

Thank you, ClayMask.

[Metropolis Man]

I have a few questions about the rules.

1.  If an immortal maxes a skill in addition to the skill that they maxed to become immortal, but does not complete the skill challenges, can someone becoming an immortal choose to max that skill as their one to qualify for becoming immortal, and complete the skill challenges?

Skill challenges don't even enter the picture. If one immortal maxes a skill, then that same skill cannot be the qualifying skill for another immortal.

2.  Can you include a painting, ice sculpture, and photograph of each elder at each life stage, or do you have to choose between them?

Sure, you can do one at each stage.

If you have to choose, can you do more than one and choose which one you want to score later?

No, just as with paintings, once you place a photo or ice sculpture in the museum they cannot be replaced later.

3.  Is the moodlet manager allowed?

Yeah. In my first edition of the rules it was banned just out of habit with the Tournament challenges. So, Pam's like, "Why?" I had nothin'. "Uhhhh..." That was about it.

[Twinmum]

Skill challenges don't even enter the picture. If one immortal maxes a skill, then that same skill cannot be the qualifying skill for another immortal.

OK, I asked something like this on the other thread, but it must have not been seen. So can the immortals be maxed in a few skills as long as one is unique to them?

Norma