The Apocalypse Challenge Support Thread

[officialghosts]

Yeah, I can't take vacation days until I clear ESports. And I figured he would leave nearer to the end of his shift, not immediately.

Sigh. ESports and Culinary are two of the first things I plan on clearing next generation- a generation I can actually start when my Spouse maxes his career. I don't really regret having the twins, but it doesn't help my impatience.

On the bright side, my Journalist is about to have her YA birthday!

[oshizu]

Oh right, the phone!

[officialghosts]

Lots has been happening in my game recently. I unlocked Startup, the third generation is born and well into the child stage, and my Journalist and Bodybuilder are at level 7 and 6 in their careers, respectively. Having to balance everyone's careers seems to actually be making the game move faster. The main problem right now is Journalist. It's frustrating to barely be able to balance her needs and daily task, and now just barely miss out on two day promotions. If only her Creative trait ever kicked in at the right time, but if anything does it's the Self-Assured she rolled as a child. 

[HelenP]

A quick question - it was mentioned earlier in this thread that sims could write skill books for other to read.  How is this done? I can't find any option for it under writing.  My sim has complete writer aspiration and is maxed out on several other skills.

[oshizu]

@HelenP
It's the Renaissance Sim's Professorial trait which lets you write a skill book for any skill you've learned up to Level 7 or 8 (can't remember  exactly).
I'd previously told @Shewolf13 that she wouldn't be able to complete the Master Chef aspiration with just a skill book, but I was wrong.
My sims have been able to skill up to Level 6 with just a skill book.

@officialghosts
I love your new avatar--is it from your AC? The Journalist's daily task was so time-consuming? I started just interviewing the household, rather than running around outside looking for people to interview. Still it takes a long time! But having baths and showers is heavenly! But wow, Gen3 already!

[officialghosts]

@oshizu Even interviewing people in house, it still takes quite a while to actually write there article proper. It feels a little to long for something that only serves to let my performance bar move in any way at all. Sigh. If only my sim worked one hour longer. Then she could definitely get the 2 day promotion. That's one of the problems I have with the higher levels of careers; often, the sims hours get shortened or days get fewer and it makes promotions even harder.

And yes, my new avatar is from the AC, sort of. It's a picture of the intended spouse of my Gen 3 heir, who should be moving in in a little over a week. She'll be a Comedian.

[HelenP]

Thanks @oshizu.

My wonderchild is doing well and then for the AC.  I did the Sims 3 AC twice because I liked it so much so I'm interested in how the Sims 4 AC compares.

[oshizu]

@officialghosts
Yeah, I so hate when a sim is suddenly only working 3 days a week! The wedding arch and "Negotiate Bonus" really help on top of the usual mood-boosting stuff.
Sometimes there may even be time to squeeze two "Negotiate Bonus" phone calls between work days!

@HelenP
I'm super impressed that you completed the Sims 3 AC twice. Wow! Will you do a story or post your AC challenge stats when you're done? I'd love to know what sequence of careers you end up choosing!

[HelenP]

Can't remember if I ever finished the 2nd attempt at the S3 AC challenge plus I only used the original adaptation of the rules and just ignored the other ep gameplay.  I read the expanded ruleset and decided it was too difficult.

I'm not good at stories but I may do a stats post with some extra description.  My main problem is limited playing time,  I just can't fit in all I need to do in a day and play and write a story.

I'm in awe of you who can write these amazing tales and I also plan to 'borrow' some of @Joria 's ideas for the AC house.

[Caterina]

I agree @HelenP, the current Sims 3 AC ruleset is overwhelming. 

I have a word document of two of the version I play.  I will look for it (on my external hard drive not currently plugged in) and put up a link to it in a Google doc.

[dontmindme]

So...this is really interesting. I might have to start one when my IDC becomes too frustrating to play. I was wondering how everyone decided which careers were needed first. I mean, how did everyone decide what to prioritize and what to leave for later?

[Joria]

I'm in awe of you who can write these amazing tales and I also plan to 'borrow' some of @Joria 's ideas for the AC house.

Be my guest!  That was the point of my making it.  I've got one more done I need to post and another idea floating around in my brain, as yet incomplete.

[HelenP]

@dontmindme
For me I choose the careers that I find most restrictive or that will be significantly harder to clear.  So for Sims 3 AC I had my founder do Military because I knew I wanted free movement around the world.  For Sims 4 AC I'm thinking Culinary because it's hard to level cooking/gourmet cooking without a kitchen or one of the writer careers so I can write skill books.

Sims 3 AC could be started with a sim who went to Uni so was semi-skilled.  Sims 4 AC can be started with a wonderchild who can be as skilled as you can make them and with as many traits as you care to buy or complete aspirations for.

I would suggest taking a look at the score sheet (link earlier in the thread) and deciding what restriction you would hate the most .  Then use Pinstar's wonderchild rules to create a founder to clear that restriction and help the next generation clear the next most annoying restriction(s).

[officialghosts]

@dontmindme It really is a process of looking at all the restrictions and seeing which ones you can't stand to play under. Don't want to hand wash like crazy to keep sims clean? Do Journalist. Don't want to live in an 8x8 box? Do Villain. Don't want to have to reset your funds to 0 every week? Do Boss. And so on. I would suggest looking through all the restrictions and seeing which ones pop out to you as the worst, and in general listing all of the restrictions in order of what you consider highest to lowest priority.

It really is different for everyone. The only universal one everybody seems to do first generation is Management, and that's because it can be such a killer if you slip up or get unlucky. Other than that the most popular early one is Culinary, but hey, I left that until Gen 3.

[Mack]

Wow this challenge is so confusing. I am reading the rules and by the middle of them my brain is not working anymore. But I love a challenge and when I decide to do one, I wont let go until it is done. I have a few question and would appreciate a second or third pair of eyes to see I am thinking straight. Here we go:

1) Money permitting, can I call the repair man?

2) Can I buy the cupcake factory?

3) "May only enter buy/build mode on Sundays". Does it means I can build or buy anything (not included all restricted objects etc..) and rearrange or move anything no larger than 1 X 1 such as table, chair, small painted pictures, rocks, windows etc... only on Sunday and not other week's day?

4) Writer job: The daily task is read a book. Can I try to reach the first promotion without doing the "daily task"? Once my Sims reaches career level two, he/she can now practice writing and write book. After he/she has written a book, keep it lying around the house and "read" it as his/her daily task hence increasing chance of faster future promotions. Would this be allowed?

5) Fish in inventory: I have 3 Sims in the house and a small aquarium with one fish. Can I transfer the fish from the aquarium to the chosen cook's inventory?

6) Can I paint ordinary paintings without having to take the painter career?

Thanks