The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

[LlamaMama]

Right. I was reaching, just in case.

[Schipperke]

This thread is getting very long, 23 pages and growing.  Anyone looking at starting a Dynasty at this point probably isn't going to want to read the whole thing.  I wonder if it might be a good idea to have two threads - one for the rules and questions/clarifications directly related to the rules, and another thread for tips, ideas and so forth?

[Metropolis Man]

This thread is getting very long, 23 pages and growing.  Anyone looking at starting a Dynasty at this point probably isn't going to want to read the whole thing.  I wonder if it might be a good idea to have two threads - one for the rules and questions/clarifications directly related to the rules, and another thread for tips, ideas and so forth?

I don't see the need for two threads at this time. This is the official rules/clarifications thread and like or not, players will need to go through everything if they want to be fully informed. The tips, strategy, etc kinds of posts are scattered throughout all sections of the forum now. There's Dynasty posts everywhere.

[Pam]

I really want to do this challenge, but I'm going back to school in about a week, and I know I'm going to have a lot of work, and probably not as much time to play Sims. I was just wondering if there was ever going to be end date, or could I wait a long time before starting?

It's completely open ended.  You can start whenever you feel like it and take as long as you want to finish it.

Silly question about the spreadsheet. If we only need to chart the immortals then why do we have 8 generation pages wouldn't it be easier to have all immortal's info on the same page or am I just confused? By the way I love the spreadsheet Pam but curious what it could be opened in as I am a Window's user but don't have Excel or any of those. Is there anything I might be able to open it in or another way I could use it?

I made each generation a separate page so that we can list all of the best friends, the 6 opportunities, etc. for each immortal.  For me, it will keep me better organized if I have everything for one immortal contained on one sheet.  Also, sometimes Windows comes with a trial version of Excel.  Did you try downloading it to Excel or OpenOffice anyway?  If those don't work, you can use the spreadsheet as a guideline to create something for yourself.  Or you can just create something that works better for you. 

[samoht04]

Eugh don't remind me about that thing starting next week!  (By that I mean School not my Birthday!  ) I hope I can finish my legacy in time to fit in a trial run of the Dynasty challenge before starting a new legacy!

[Pam]

I made a couple of changes to the online spreadsheet to use the term SuperMax and to add another column for other maxed skills.

[Metropolis Man]

Thanks for the Guide changes, Pam. So, have you given any thoughts as to how you were going to approach your own effort? Enquiring minds need to know.

[Telsey]

I thought I had this thing finally figured out but when I see the examples, I see that I don't have a clue.  I had restarted the dynasty since the first one was so messed up.  Now I realize I didn't keep track of my opportunities although this time everything was much better.  I got her (Chianti - she is a wine family) married off the first day which has made all the difference.  So now I am not sure what to do.  I am not even sure what opportunities you are talking about.  Most of the things that I have come up deal with travel anyway so there hasn't been many.  This is a very complicated challenge and it would be complicated even if I understood it.  LOL  There is so much to remember and know but indeed it is a challenge that is for sure.  I really am enjoying doing it even though I keep doing it wrong.  I thought if someone maxed out a skill then if was off limits to all other immortals.  I see in the example that Charisma is in several generations as a maxed skill.  So is it that you can repeat maxed skills as long as one is kept unique to each generation?

[Pam]

Thanks for the Guide changes, Pam. So, have you given any thoughts as to how you were going to approach your own effort? Enquiring minds need to know.

You're welcome.  My biggest hurdle at the moment is thinking of a proper name for my Dynasty.  I'm going to play in Twinbrook just because I don't know it as well as Sunset Valley and I want it to feel "new" again.  I like the idea of using the opportunities related to the unique skills and careers.  That will help keep them organized and prevent overlap.  As for skills and LTWs, I'm mostly going to play it by ear.  I don't think I'll have it all mapped out to the 8th generation.  If I can get the first two generations mapped and have a good sense of which skills and careers to avoid, I think I'll be ok. 

[Metropolis Man]

I thought I had this thing finally figured out but when I see the examples, I see that I don't have a clue.  I had restarted the dynasty since the first one was so messed up.  Now I realize I didn't keep track of my opportunities although this time everything was much better.  I got her (Chianti - she is a wine family) married off the first day which has made all the difference.  So now I am not sure what to do.  I am not even sure what opportunities you are talking about.

Opportunities are the various things that come up every once in a while like fixing a stereo for someone, raising a relationship for a particular Sim, teaching a class somewhere. There's a million of them, but they always come by phone call. So, if your phone rings and then you get the popup on the left side of the screen, that's an opportunity. And there's three kinds — skill, career, and special. All 3 types qualify for the 6 BlackOps opportunities needed to eat Ambrosia. (I'm waiting for someone to ask what BlackOps is). Quick answer = the opportunities equivilent of the SuperMax skill.

  Most of the things that I have come up deal with travel anyway so there hasn't been many.  This is a very complicated challenge and it would be complicated even if I understood it.

No argument here. That's entirely why I'm taking my own attempt so slow and not worrying about heirs for quite some time.

So is it that you can repeat maxed skills as long as one is kept unique to each generation?

Right. Go back a page or two and look at what PieLord has laid out. You'll see that all SuperMax skills in italics are different from each other. You'll also note that none of the maxed skills underneath the SuperMax ones are some other immortal's SuperMax skill. But, some of the maxed skills cross over and that's totally cool.

[wildredchild]

Right. Go back a page or two and look at what PieLord has laid out. You'll see that all SuperMax skills in italics are different from each other. You'll also note that none of the maxed skills underneath the SuperMax ones are some other immortal's SuperMax skill. But, some of the maxed skills cross over and that's totally cool.

Top of page 22 for that .

[Telsey]

I had this one skill opportunity to make stir fry which I have never gotten the recipe to although she got her LTW of learning every recipe.  Go figure!  Anyway, I let that one sit so long that she never had a chance for others to come up.  I know she took 2 plates of cookies to the school prior to that.  I think that is all she had so far.  I have never made ambrosia (when you turn off aging it isn't a huge factor) and the recipe is so expensive.  This is not an easy challenge.  I do think I am slowly getting it though.  I appreciate your patience in explaining the same thing over and over.  I wish I knew why this was so hard to understand.  I am not even thinking about what Blackops is yet.  LOL

[Telsey]

Pam is there anyway to print out the spreadsheet that you made?  I see that there is going to be a lot of record keeping. 

[Pam]

Pam is there anyway to print out the spreadsheet that you made?  I see that there is going to be a lot of record keeping. 

There should be a print button in the upper left corner.  I don't know how well it will print, though.  It's quite wide.

I have never made ambrosia (when you turn off aging it isn't a huge factor) and the recipe is so expensive.

If you get to know a chef/cook in town, you can get free recipes by Trading Kitchen Secrets under the Friendly interactions.  You can only do this once a day.  It's also a good way to get the foreign recipes.  It will take longer to get a free Ambrosia recipe because they come in order of cooking skill, but it's still handy.  You can also get recipes by watching Cooking Cable on TV. 

Cooks in Sunset Valley:

Molly French
Emma Hatch
One of the Frio brothers (I don't remember which one)

Cooks in Twinbrook:

Mary Baker
Gala Ball
Julienne Knack
Cho Sonwon

[Telsey]

Hey thanks Pam.  She doesn't seem to get any more recipes from watching tv but we keep trying.  She doesn't really like to watch tv much.  I had totally forgotten about learning recipes from others.  Thanks for the reminder.  She got her LTW for recipe collector or whatever it is and is maxed on the cooking but she hasn't gotten to the top of the culinary career yet.  I need to get that fish yet too.  So much to do, so little time.  I had to quick let her have a baby before her hubby died since he aged up on me and he is doing the painting.  Can you say stress!  Everytime Metro says he is taking it slow and easy I wonder if we are in the same challenge.  This is a stressful challenge to me.  I thought she couldn't max out any other skill so I have been fighting to keep her out of the garden.  She kept sneaking off to garden every minute I wasn't watching.  LOL