The Captains Challenge -creating the model city of Newcrest-

[simfulicious]

@Tipi I am not the creator of this project, however, I am attempting it myself.  She said in a previous post that your sims can create whatever they want from the beginning (paintings, wordworkings, etc) however, you cannot sell the items if they are restricted in the neighborhood you are in.  As for starting funds for the 2nd and 3rd neighborhoods...I would think that you take whatever your family has earned.

[saltpastillen]

Hi Tipi, sorry about the late reply but Im on vacation and only have spotty internet. I'll try to answer all questions in order - but if I miss one post again and I will reconnect next time I have wifi.

You can move sims in and out as you please- you just cant profit from it moving in all but 1 sim from a household is the easiest way to make sure you get no extra money. But you could always use the money x cheat.

Painting and sculpting - yes you are required to create it but cant sell untill later hood. No selling from easle.

Building
-only the 2 not lived on residential lots have a cap that you have to reach before building they are also the only ones you have to complete before going back into live mode (due to depreciation).  Community lots and your active lot can be added to as you go.
-The only lots that have to be completed in one go are the 2 not lived on residentials, all the other can be improved during time. The only point the retail store has to be complete is when you are checking it of your build list in prepaeation for the move to hood 2.

Once you complete hood!1 you are free to skip the retail part of the game if you want to, or play more with it if you want.

Raise kids - ya is fine.

Aspirations not trigged - feel free to use the cheat or just count it anyways.

Thanks about the jungle gym info

Starting funds - you bring all the cash (+build fund savings) with you when you move.

[Tipi]

Thanks, Saltpastillen, for taking the time on your vacation to answer my questions. I hope you are having/had a good time!

I have been playing your challenge for a week now and am enjoying myself. The only thing that I don't like is the rule that you have to have your store open daily. I may have accidentally broken the rule. With seven sims in the household with vastly different work/school schedules it is really difficult to find time for the store. But other than that I think I am doing pretty nicely with the challenge.

[saltpastillen]

Great to hear that you are enjoying yourself. Keeping up with the store is hard, it was supposed to be. But if you miss one day its not the end of the world - I wont hold it against you.

[simfulicious]

I'm going to do this legacy style...I'm gonna start with one founder to make it harder on myself.

[saltpastillen]

Sounds like you will have fun! @simfulicious

[BigMud]

I started playing this and have a question about the first neighborhood: Can you open the mom and pop's store at any time or does it have to be fully built according to the building requirements first?

ETA: In the same vein, can the store be bought and built using household funds, or does it have to be built in edit mode first with donations and then purchased by the founders? Sorry if this is a silly question, I seem to be having trouble wrapping my mind around it ^.^'

ETA again: I might be missing something obvious, but as far as I know there isn't an option to paint energized paintings on the easel? What energized paintings are you referring to for hood1's gym requirement?

[saltpastillen]

I started playing this and have a question about the first neighborhood: Can you open the mom and pop's store at any time or does it have to be fully built according to the building requirements first?

ETA: In the same vein, can the store be bought and built using household funds, or does it have to be built in edit mode first with donations and then purchased by the founders? Sorry if this is a silly question, I seem to be having trouble wrapping my mind around it ^.^'

ETA again: I might be missing something obvious, but as far as I know there isn't an option to paint energized paintings on the easel? What energized paintings are you referring to for hood1's gym requirement?

The only restriction on the store is that it has to be opened before the founder/s become adults. It is ok to add to the store from the household funds (I will clarify this in the rules). The store does not have to be complete before you start using it  - it only has to be complete before the move to the next neighbourhood. (Same rules apply when you are using the alternate rules building without Go to Work).

I apologize - it should be energized crystals, not paintings. I will amend the rules.

[oshizu]

@saltpastillen   Since I've never played in Newcrest at all and I'm not a skilled builder, I'm very interested i trying your Captains challenge.
Also, I think it would be a great way to become familiar with Newcrest before attempting the Rival Dynasty Challenge.

I'm confused about how the Building Fund works.
We keep track of money we delete using a cheat to contribute toward the Building Fund; then, when our Building Fund is sufficient, we go to Manage Worlds to build the required community or residential lot for the active neighborhood?  Moreover, each residential lot must be build in one session.  Am I understanding correctly?

[saltpastillen]

@saltpastillen   Since I've never played in Newcrest at all and I'm not a skilled builder, I'm very interested i trying your Captains challenge.
Also, I think it would be a great way to become familiar with Newcrest before attempting the Rival Dynasty Challenge.

I'm confused about how the Building Fund works.
We keep track of money we delete using a cheat to contribute toward the Building Fund; then, when our Building Fund is sufficient, we go to Manage Worlds to build the required community or residential lot for the active neighborhood?  Moreover, each residential lot must be build in one session.  Am I understanding correctly?

Hi! I think doing this challenge is a great way to get to know Newcrest better.

The Building Fund - you delete money from your household and ad it to the fund (not for real since the fund is all imaginary but on a piece of paper or in a text document so you keep track of it). You are in charge of adding (taking money form your household) and subtracting (using money to build).

When you build a residential lot you need to reach a certain amount in the build fund before you can start and once you start you have to finish building before you go back to play in the game. You are free to save while building (I'm a slow builder and it usually takes me 2-3 times playing to finish a build) you just can't play the family in between.

When you build on a community lot you don't have to build everything in one go - but you should keep track of the amount of money you spend. The easiest way to do this I have found is to note down the lot value when you start building and then again when you finish building. Then you can easily calculate the difference.

I have been looking over the rules for the challenge and I don't think there needs to be any changes. Clubs are fine, it's really up to you. And if you want to add a dance club in one of the other neighborhoods to socialize at that will be fine too.

[oshizu]

Although I'm still at work, I have covertly copied all your instructions to a Word file and printed them out, lol.
I have one more question:

* Neighborhood 2: "Upgrade all electrical items on community lots"
Does this refer to all community lots in Neighborhood 2 only, or in both Neighborhoods 1 and 2?

I actually won't be able to start this for several weeks, but I really enjoy the planning phase!   

[saltpastillen]

Although I'm still at work, I have covertly copied all your instructions to a Word file and printed them out, lol.
I have one more question:

* Neighborhood 2: "Upgrade all electrical items on community lots"
Does this refer to all community lots in Neighborhood 2 only, or in both Neighborhoods 1 and 2?

I actually won't be able to start this for several weeks, but I really enjoy the planning phase!   

Lol, you are a lot like me then, the planning is half the fun

It refers to all the community lots in neighborhood 2, but there is no reason you can't do neighborhood 1 as well, or that you couldn't do the once in neighborhood 3 when you get there if you wanted to.

[oshizu]

Thanks for your reply about community lot upgrades. I'm really excited about starting your challenge! 

I have a few other points which I'd like to clarify.

(1) "Starting the Challenge" states that our two founder sims must select a Nature aspiration.

Under "Neighborhood 1: Managing Your Household," one rule states
Your sims can choose between the athletic, food, nature, fortune and love aspirations.
Question 1: Does this mean we select one of the Nature aspirations when we create our founders in CAS, but then can switch to one of the other permitted aspirations once we move into Neighborhood 1?

(2) After an aspiration is completed

Question 2: For Neighborhood 1, for example, once a sim completes an aspiration in one of five permitted categories, may she switch to another in the permitted categories?
Question 3: If yes, must she stick to the new aspiration until it's done?

I'm just thinking about how to earn simoleons and reward points until they're qualified to move to the next neighborhood.

[saltpastillen]

Thanks for your reply about community lot upgrades. I'm really excited about starting your challenge! 

I have a few other points which I'd like to clarify.

(1) "Starting the Challenge" states that our two founder sims must select a Nature aspiration.

Under "Neighborhood 1: Managing Your Household," one rule states
Your sims can choose between the athletic, food, nature, fortune and love aspirations.
Question 1: Does this mean we select one of the Nature aspirations when we create our founders in CAS, but then can switch to one of the other permitted aspirations once we move into Neighborhood 1?

(2) After an aspiration is completed

Question 2: For Neighborhood 1, for example, once a sim completes an aspiration in one of five permitted categories, may she switch to another in the permitted categories?
Question 3: If yes, must she stick to the new aspiration until it's done?

I'm just thinking about how to earn simoleons and reward points until they're qualified to move to the next neighborhood.

Great questions!

It's really up to you if you want to play straight through an aspiration or not. I play them straight through because it's harder and I like the challenge. But in the "rules" the only  rule is that you have to limit your switching of aspirations between the ones allowed for that neighbourhood - so switching them is really up to you. Go ahead!

The same thing applies when a sims completes an aspiration, switch between aspirations for that neighborhood and you are fine.

[oshizu]

Great questions!

It's really up to you if you want to play straight through an aspiration or not. I play them straight through because it's harder and I like the challenge. But in the "rules" the only  rule is that you have to limit your switching of aspirations between the ones allowed for that neighbourhood - so switching them is really up to you. Go ahead! 

The same thing applies when a sims completes an aspiration, switch between aspirations for that neighborhood and you are fine.

That's so very thoughtful of you to allow each player to decide whether we want to go hardcore with our aspirations (like you  ) or take a more relaxed approach that would allow the player to focus more on hood-building goals/requirements, while still being restricted to a choice of specific aspirations.
I'd like to focus on the Sims 4 activity I'm worst at, building, so I'm going to wait and see how I'll deal with aspirations.

Thank you for replying to my various questions! Do you actually play in your completed Captains Challenge town?