Apologies if this has been brought up, its a very long thread ^_^
I have a question about the "equalizing" requirements for the starting plots in different towns (Sunset Valley vs Bridgeport etc).
By purchasing items and leaving them in family inventory, you equalize starting finances only, but the older maps now have a huge advantage from having a huge plot of land plus the permanent "Beautiful Vista" moodlet. It would be nice if the adjustments actually made the plots as well as finances comparable, so maybe instead of purchasing a bigscreen TV etc you instead purchase a large expensive outdoor sculpture (or something 'non-usable') to at least add a "nicely decorated" moodlet to make up for the "beautiful vista" lost, or instruct the player to do landscape-only improvements until they are down to $xxx in funds to make the smaller newer plots more equal in longterm value to the large vanilla game plots with their huge permanent +vista mood buffs.
A second option: have everyone put up walls, doors, windows, roof, stairs only (NOTHING else) until everyone is at exactly $500 or any other preset amount. While this first appears to advantage the people with the smaller/cheaper lots, most of us know there is no penalty to living on a lawn (esp one with a huge +vista moodlet) and that the real value isn't the house shell but what goes in it (beds, showers, etc). So small lots get their empty building "shell" and older lots get more land + vista moodlet. Longterm, I think the second one has the definite advantage.
PS, Pam you're right, I guess I was thinking less in terms of "this" challenge than just as a format suggestion for future ones. Certainly once a family is underway there are tons of ways of obtaining great moodlets to offset the vista one, although the same is also true of cash and any 'first week advantage' in the game. Other than not being as "fresh and exciting" as the newer xpac communities, SV just seems to have so many strong advantages even after three expansions. PS, I didn't mean to come across as argumentative so apologies if anything came across that way! I've been a secret Carls lurker since it first started, its simply the best spot on the internet for sims3 data.