The Apocalypse Challenge Support Thread

[HelenP]

Hi GlazeyLady, welcome to the craziness of the apocalypse world.  This is one of my favourite challenges so please forgive me if I ramble on a bit, and I hope you find my tips useful.

I think some of us have gone with clubs being unlocked by Comedian based the whole 'nobody wants to have fun because they're too busy surviving' feel, and clubs generally make life fun. 

I also seem to remember a comment from Pinstar or ImaginingMystic that yoga and massages would be locked by bodybuilding because no-one is strong enough to do them but that meditating is ok.

Lot traits are optional so Pinstar is unlikely to comment on them, but I've linked them with suitable careers as far as possible, so penny pixies I associate with either of the business careers, and then 'negative' ones like quake zone or grody could be put on at the start and only removed after clearing a suitable career eg grody causes nausea so related to Chef career.  'Positive' ones like bracing breezes are only allowed after maxing a suitable career, in this case either of the athlete branches.

With building, I went with as many floors as possible, so 2 basement, 3 above ground and roof space.  One of the astronaught careers (think it's space ranger) means everthing except postbox, bin and rocket needs to be covered by walls & roof which I took to mean even the stairs to the roof needed covering.  This restricts what you can do on the top floor if you need a rocket early on before clearing the 8x8 area restriction, of course once you've lifted that 8x8 restriction then rockets don't need to go on the roof at all! 

Last tip - enjoy the chaos.

[oshizu]

Thanks for your post @HelenP   
It helped me edit out two mistakes in my previous post. It's been over a year since I played an Apocalypse Challenge and I can no longer remember any of the rules without going to Pinstar's website!
Since the challenge creator stopped updating this challenge even before Get to Work released, this support thread has been a useful place for us to discuss what we believe to be reasonable adaptions of the rules to accommodate new content.
I never had to consider lot traits because my challenge finished before the release of City Living. HelenP, I salute you for using the Grody trait, lol! Grody was a required lot trait for the Murkland Starter Challenge and I absolutely hated it!  With a passion, even! I imagine toddlers also eat into the already demanding need for space.

Since this challenge's rules are no longer being updated, though, it's pretty much up to you how you want to incorporate newer content. I decided to play without a regular family club, because I would have been too tempted to spam Rally the Troops. I did use a club to summon sims for my Dancers "project" and to put them in costume.

Also, I was importing sims from MyLibrary rather than the Wonder Children of other players into my simverse. This was probably a rule infraction but resulted in no real gameplay advantage.
So, yes, I agree totally with HelenP. Make it challenging but keep it fun!

[HelenP]

Ah Oshizu, you misunderstood me, I never used grody because I was too scared, but if I do another AC (I have plans) then some 'bad' lot traits may to on at the start to make things more interesting.

[commasplice]

Ah Oshizu, you misunderstood me, I never used grody because I was too scared, but if I do another AC (I have plans) then some 'bad' lot traits may to on at the start to make things more interesting.

How are you handling toddlers and parenthood with this? I had to abandon my plans for another AC because I couldn't figure out what to do with those.

[oshizu]

@HelenP  and @KTK10   could you share your solution to these questions?
I finished my challenge before Toddlers came out, but I remember you had to accommodate toddlers after you'd started your challenge.

Since Pinstar's rules aren't being updated, maybe you/we could come up with reasonable ones for our forum members to play by.

[KTK10]

Thanks for tagging me @oshizu -  Hi @commasplice  I am loving the parenthood pack for toddlers.. at first it was constant fishing for food.. or grabbing a serving from some of the grilling going on around the neighbourhood for the particular toddler, also loads of harvesting the same type of plant and putting it directly into the toddlers inventory ASAP, then trying to NOT do anything that would make the hygiene tank into red..
That was my biggest issue was dealing with the hygiene until parenthood came along.. now one of the best things is the option to give your child a second wind.. or to clean themselves, the more parent skill you gain the more options you get for needs (social, hygiene, fun, energy etc..) I used to get my parent to have the child clean themselves every time the cool down replenished. I would also get the toddler to eat some fruit/harvestable as many times as possible.

I have managed to not only get level 5 on all skills (minus potty training obviously) and also get the Empathy and Manners into the far green.

Hope this helps! If there is a specific question on toddler that you needed an answer to, this is DEFINITELY the best place to ask. 

[commasplice]

So for instance, you need a tub to bathe toddlers. Are you using one for them even if that's not unlocked or just changing diapers? Are you buying them toys? The tablet?

[HelenP]

Hi Commasplice, always happy to help.

With toddlers I was part way through so didn't have as many restrictions to cause problems.  My 1st born gen 4 was the first toddler so about 7 restrictions cleared.  The wooden and soft toys are fine, there's no restriction on them, the tablet I would restrict along with all the other electronics under the eSport Gamer career. 

If you are wanting to make life easier for yourself then maybe put a tub in a room only accessable by toddler and 1 carer but toddlers are not removed by social because of bad hygiene, so playing strictly by the rules would have them stinky until the Journalist career unlocks tubs/showers for everyone.  I didn't notice changing nappies (diapers) making any difference to hygiene levels but that may have been just my game.

I've not yet managed a top-notch toddler but they've all been happy toddlers.

Things to watch out for in parenthood would be the volunteer activities as you are not allowed to leave your home neighbourhood except for school or work until Diamond Agent is cleared; and the fact that the parental advice questions could be asked of any adult in the house not just the caregivers so it benefits all adults to have some parenting skill.

For me parenthood installed during the childhood of my 1st gen5 kids, so I'd cleared about 11 of the restrictions by that point. 1 twin moved out as a teen but the other aged up with all but conflict resolution well into the green.

Hope this helps you have fun.

[oshizu]

@KTK10
I'm not sure I'd ever attempt another Apocalypse Challenge since there are still a good number of other Sims 4 challenges out there I have yet to try.
Still, I'm impressed at how useful the Parenthood Pack's turned out to be for your toddlers.

May I confirm something about toddler hygiene?
In cases where Journalism hasn't been unlocked, can a parent influence a toddler to "Clean self" often enough that the toddler has no need for baths to maintain hygiene?

Nice tip about volunteering, @HelenP
My toddlers never use tablets in any of my games because they seem to skill slower on tablets than with other activities, but I agree with your idea about restricting them with eSport Gamer (or whatever career that was....)

[KTK10]

@oshizu  and @commasplice - @HelenP and Oshizu are both the experts on this, so I would definitely take whatever advice they give you! I've not completed the challenge itself because once I cleared about 5 of the careers, it just got a little bit too easy... I'm with HelenP about the tablet, I didn't use it until the eSports Gamer career was cleared, and like Oshizu, I didn't find that it any value to helping with skilling quicker.

I brought the toddler bed, toy box, potty, imagination table (I can never remember what it's called.. it builds like lego) and ended up with a toddler bookcase too. This was more than enough for skilling to level 5 (for me anyway) It is infinitely easier if you have someone doing the author career and you are able to write the book of life (from having a founder who was a wonderchild and had cleared the Bestselling Author Aspiration)

I found that I could keep the hygiene in the green all the time by using the 'clean self' Parenting option... but the key is you need to use it as often as you can

Hope this helps!

[MystiKitty]

Do Not clear the Fast Food teen job early thinking that you can live on pizza.

I've been creating a variant of the Apocalypse where, instead of a nuclear disaster, the world is invaded by pizza aliens who take control of the government and spread propoganda to make people eat their spiked pizza and drink their tooth-rotting soda in order to turn humans into pizza zombies who end up as slaves to the aliens, and your family is one of the few families who refuse to eat pizza. You are allowed to live off of pizza and can order in for pizza at the start, but I am trying to find a way to make it so doing so will endanger the challenge because the pizza aliens are creating the pizza. I'd probably need a mod that would slowly turn whoever eats delivery pizza into vampires, which would be instant challenge failure. 

It's called, obviously, the Pizzapocalypse. 

[IronicBeauty]

Just started the AC and was wondering if this thread is still being read.

Being a newbie I'm struggling to figure out the best way to tackle the beginning. I have all packs (except the 'One that must not be named' rat pack) and wonder if there are any player made updates for additional careers anywhere? Other than reading through all the pages in this thread I've been at a loss on how to interpret the rules.

i.e. if you can only use the fire pit to grill fish to begin with does it have to be surrounded by four walls and a roof? If you can only use the fire pit outdoors then is using a grill indoors the only alternative with a sim that has at least lvl 3 cooking? Having the Granite Falls vacation pack means you must only grill fish till the culinary restriction is lifted? Is there any restriction on who can unlock a career in the household? Having as many children as possible is ideal in order to unlock as many careers as possible till you max the household limit? etc.

If anyone is still reading any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[oshizu]

Hi @IronicBeauty

I'll try to answer some of your questions although, admittedly, I completed the Apocalypse Challenge before toddlers.
My answers are only my interpretations, though, so I hope others playing post-toddlers ( @HelenP @BallerinaHippo @Tynynounours ) will also chime in.
I'm going to post this reply, answer it in a different post, then delete this original post, LOL.

1. if you can only use the fire pit to grill fish to begin with does it have to be surrounded by four walls and a roof?
2. If you can only use the fire pit outdoors then is using a grill indoors the only alternative with a sim that has at least lvl 3 cooking?
3. Having the Granite Falls vacation pack means you must only grill fish till the culinary restriction is lifted?
4. Is there any restriction on who can unlock a career in the household?
5. Having as many children as possible is ideal in order to unlock as many careers as possible till you max the household limit?

[oshizu]

@IronicBeauty

1. if you can only use the fire pit to grill fish to begin with does it have to be surrounded by four walls and a roof?

    I used the grill rather than a fire pit. You couldn't place a fire pit outdoors without unlocking Astronaut/Space Ranger, right?
    (Unless it's within your 8x8 grid? Is that possible?)
    Instead, I lived near a grilling area because my founder was going for the Chef career and I didn't want to get stuck with the grill in the kitchen until unlocking Bodybuilder.
    Others didn't use Chef for their founder's career.

2. If you can only use the fire pit outdoors then is using a grill indoors the only alternative with a sim that has at least lvl 3 cooking?

    No outdoor objects without Space Ranger.
    Whether you choose to grill indoors or outdoors depends on how you sequence your careers.
    My first (failed attempt), my Chef founder placed a grill in the kitchen. My 2nd (successful) attempt, he grilled outdoors until unlocking the Chef career.

3. Having the Granite Falls vacation pack means you must only grill fish till the culinary restriction is lifted?

    Yes, you must catch fish to grill the fish and, initially, you can only have one stack of fish in personal inventory at a time.

4. Is there any restriction on who can unlock a career in the household?

     No, only that each sim can only unlock one teen or adult career.

5. Having as many children as possible is ideal in order to unlock as many careers as possible till you max the household limit?

     It depends perhaps on what household size you enjoy playing and how quickly you want to finish the challenge.
     Initially, have lots of kids is the only option for more career unlocks. Later, you can alternatively do a combination of the following:
     *Unlock the Criminal/Oracle career so you can move Wonder Children from the Gallery into your household;
     *Unlock Entertainer/Comedian so you can move in more than one sim per generation (in-game NPC or, with Oracle unlocked, a gallery Wonder Child);
     *Unlock the Secret Agent/Diamond Agent to be able to move sims out of Apocalypse household.

As I said, other forum members have approached the challenge in other ways, which is part of the fun.

[HelenP]

Hi @IronicBeauty, here's my thoughts on your questions.  I'm just finishing today so the AC is fairly fresh in my mind.

Regarding the fish, Pinstar said that if you can't grill fish because you cooking level isn't high enough, then make sure you have a fish in inventory, cook whatever you can and get rid of the fish (move it to household inventory or use a cheat to delete it).  I also chose a lot that was near community grills, and there is nothing wrong with scavaging leftovers that NPC's have cooked.  If you want to use a fire pit then it would have to be indoors to start with.

I'm not aware of any player made updates, but feel free to add to the rules if you want to take into account the content that was released after the AC was published.  Some things I have considered are using the Detective career instead of the Criminal-Boss one, using Polititian instead of Secret Agent - Villain and using Doctor instead of Journalist.  Potentially the new Acting career could replace one of the Entertainer careers.

I did restrict myself with lot traits in that I only allowed no traits or 'bad' traits at the start which couldn't be removed until a suitable career had been maxed. For example if I used 'Grody' as a lot trait then it could only be removed when I cleared one of the culinary careers or journalist/doctor because they are related to food and cleanliness.  'Good' lot traits could only be added when a suitable career was maxed so Bracing Breezes after an athletic career was lifted.

If you have time to read any of the stories that have been written you may get more ideas on how to tackle this fun challenge.
Happy Simming