The County Set – A Short Immortal Dynasty

[PeregrineTook]

Wow, you are really rocking this dynasty!  Love the kiddos.  Of course, you're going so quickly that I'd already missed a couple updates, and therefore, the chances to comment on them individually  ;=)

[KRae]

Did you get the replicators functioning normally again? I'm playing a ID for the fun(?) of it and I'm having that problem with the replicators losing their memory after less than one sim day. My immortal chef saves ambrosia in the replicator and then it's a race to get the other five to the replicator while it's still functioning. Clearing caches hasn't helped. I could try a factory reset, but they have hundreds of life fruit and a backyard pond so I guess I'll just go on as is.

[Nimrod Mikkusu]

So you're managing to do it!  Not everyone could do those Dinasties when using a lifespan that short!

[hazelnut]

Congratulations hazelnut! Gwynedd's requirements sound like a nightmare. Opportunities and ambrosia days are fiddly at the best of times, let alone with so little time on your hands. I'm glad you made it through for now (with such a colourful family as a bonus!).

Shame about the bug. Hope you feel better soon. <3

It did seem as though everything went wrong at once.  Hopefully I'm owed some good fortune now.

Thanks, I'm feeling quite a lot better now and am back at work ().  On the plus side, having a couple of days to play almost full-time after I got over the worst of it means I have played quite a long way ahead of the story and the end is almost in sight.

Wow, you are really rocking this dynasty!  Love the kiddos.  Of course, you're going so quickly that I'd already missed a couple updates, and therefore, the chances to comment on them individually  ;=)

Thanks, Pip .  I'm reallly happy with their skin colours.

Did you get the replicators functioning normally again? I'm playing a ID for the fun(?) of it and I'm having that problem with the replicators losing their memory after less than one sim day. My immortal chef saves ambrosia in the replicator and then it's a race to get the other five to the replicator while it's still functioning. Clearing caches hasn't helped. I could try a factory reset, but they have hundreds of life fruit and a backyard pond so I guess I'll just go on as is.

It was weird.  I've had the replicator bug before but it has always happened after closing the game down and then restarting.  Having it happen between telling a Sim to go to the replicator (a few feet away) and pressing the button is a new twist .

It recurred twice more.  I sold two of the replicators and decided to use the other purely as a way of feeding all of the immortals from a single serving.  Since then (touch wood) it's been fine.  I choose to think that now that it's outwitted me and I have plentiful supplies of ambrosia ingredients on hand, it's happy to just sit there and pretend to be a non-sentient game  .

So you're managing to do it!  Not everyone could do those Dinasties when using a lifespan that short!

Thank you .  Of course, it's not over yet but I am beginning to hope for success.

[hazelnut]

Note for non-Brits: Gwynedd and Leicester are pronounced ‘Gwyneth’ and ‘Lester’.

Graffiti and Guitars

Leicester turned out to be the academic star of the family, getting on to the honour roll in high school.  In the evenings, he relaxed by visiting Mick’s…

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…and decorating stretches of plain wall around the house.

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The next screenshot is largely pointless in itself but it’s the last picture I have of Octavius.  He lost his grip on the mortal realm aged 29 and slipped quietly back into his urn.  I hate the way the camera doesn’t pan across for the death (or whatever) of a ghost.

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I was expecting the later spouses to be there purely to bring in the next generation but Octavius turned out to be vital to the family’s survival.  The replicators have now failed three times but it’s no longer a potential game-breaker: Octavius topped up the deathfish stocks to the point where Kerry could make fresh ambrosia every time, possibly until the end of the game and certainly until an immortal angler takes over.


Les grew up.

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With school no longer getting in the way of his street art, he completed his lifetime wish that evening.

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The following day, he supermaxed and returned to his first love, music.

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After a while spent building up his skill level and number of performances, he decided to form a band.

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He asked one of the paparazzi to join (without even finding out whether she had any musical skills) and then went off to the town hall to register as self-employed just before the birthday sparkles hit.

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Ross had bought the elixir shop as his property and had installed a subway station as part of the upgrade.

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Les made good use of it.  He got mugged once but only had 200-odd simoleons stolen.  Rather careless of the mugger considering Les had taken several thousand in tips that day.

[hazelnut]

I’d been intending to send Angus back to uni to find a wife for his grandson but the game stuck on the loading screen.   After restarting the computer, I sent him off again.  And again.  Every time, the game froze.  Then I tried sending some of the others – after all, they could go to university without completing the opportunity – but they didn’t have any more success.  Travel was clearly now impossible.  Two female vampires from Angus’ student days were still alive and could maybe be invited to visit – but Debbie Richards and Carol Chen are adults at the start of the game and so were unlikely to be young enough to have a child once cured, even if they did manage to get to Monte Vista.  So it was down to Clare and her social networking to find the perfect, if cloney, wife for Les.

Wanda Lawson was waiting outside the subway when he came up for air.

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It was love at first sight – hardly surprising when they had compatible star signs and most of their traits were the same.  He immediately wished to ask her to join the band.  (She couldn't play any instruments either but at least she's a virtuoso.)

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He invited her home to get better acquainted and to introduce her to his elderly relatives.

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It was going fine until Wanda suddenly announced that she thought Ross was really hot.

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Obviously Les had better act fast, before his great-grandfather stole his girlfriend.

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They were married the following morning, on Venice Beach…

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…and spent the rest of the day jamming.

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At one point, they visited the recently installed all-in-one bathroom together, resulting in a shower of hearts and the sound of chimes.  Somehow, the absent paparazzi found out and they were disgraced for woohoo in public.  Celebrity disgraces seem to be inevitable whatever you do: I find it both amusing and a little irritating that the immortals are constantly being accused of peeing themselves in public when they (a) rarely leave the house and (b) have steel bladders.

After another long day busking in the subway, Leicester became a Legendary Musician.

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In a move that must have astonished his fans, he then went to the theatre and started again at the bottom of the music career.  While he was there (and in the hope that a prolonged spell in a rabbithole would make an opportunity appear – which it didn’t), he took classes in piano, drums and bass.

The paparazzi, so mysteriously alert to newlyweds woohooing on a deserted beach, somehow failed to notice the celebrity giving birth on the front lawn a few feet away.

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And it’s another very different rainboo .

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Mona had her first birthday…

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… on the same evening that Leicester had his last one.

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Thanks to a last-minute flurry of opportunities, he was ready to eat ambrosia soon afterwards. 

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Leicester County

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Traits: artistic, virtuoso, lucky, avant garde, loves the outdoors, excitable (rebel)

Lifetime wish: Street Credible
Career: Band
Skill: Street Art
(He also reached level 10 of guitar and completed Money Maker)

Building: Teatro Fantastico
Property: Restful Mausoleum

Unique lifetime rewards: The Next Big Thing, Fertility Treatment, The Hustler

Unique best friends

• Wanda County
• Mona County
• Shayla McDermott (the other band member)
• Terrence Pool (no idea whether he’s related to Gwynedd’s friend Sherita – they’re both paparazzi and werewolves)
• Amos Akins
• Jon Easter

Unique opportunities

• Outside Reading
• Commissioned Street Art
• Rock Star Study
• In the End
• Floating in the Sea
• Walking Bass Line

Mona’s name is a bit of a cheat but there aren’t all that many county names for girls.  Derry’s too much like Kerry (although I would have considered it for a twin) and Merioneth and Gwynedd seemed altogether too eth-y.  Mona was the Roman name for Anglesey and also works as an anglicisation of the Welsh Ynys Môn.

[Ausette]

Yay greenboo!  Shame you couldn't get to uni but I'm glad Wanda added a little variety anyway. Congratulations on finishing another generation. I still can't believe how much you're getting done on this speed.

[Nimrod Mikkusu]

you can use the WA destinations and Oasis Landing for spouses.

[hazelnut]

Yay greenboo!  Shame you couldn't get to uni but I'm glad Wanda added a little variety anyway. Congratulations on finishing another generation. I still can't believe how much you're getting done on this speed.

Thanks .  I did plan the heck out of it.  I think nine supermaxes are possible on this speed (the eight I'm doing with the Countys, plus cooking).  Er, and athletic.  I keep forgetting about the skills that are free in this run-through.  Actually, maybe even more - I have a feeling social networking and nectar making would also be doable.  Photography should also be OK, with travel to the WA destinations, although I hate that supermax because it's so buggy.  Careers are much easier - a lot of the self-employed careers are straightforward even on this speed, together with most of the Ambitions professions and probably all three from Showtime.  Acrobat would certainly be a doddle.  Then it was just a question of coming up with eight combinations of career, skill and LTW and the order to do them in.

you can use the WA destinations and Oasis Landing for spouses.

Well, I could, if only I was playing with all of the expansions.  I disabled a lot in the hope of getting fewer bugs and more opportunities.  Uni's the only travel destination available in this game.

[KRae]

Have you had any problems with your impending immortals being disgraced and losing their friends?

[hazelnut]

Have you had any problems with your impending immortals being disgraced and losing their friends?

Yes, a few - but they're mostly making their friends towards the end of adulthood and I'm (ab)using elixirs in a big way.  With such a short time and with charisma not being a free skill, it's the only sensible option.

[Nimrod Mikkusu]

Yeah. You tend to use elixirs a lot in those challenges.

[hazelnut]

Yeah. You tend to use elixirs a lot in those challenges.

This is actually the first dynasty I've played since I bought Supernatural - but elixirs certainly make things a lot easier on this speed.


Fishing for Clues

Clare taught Mona to talk.

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“I really like weddings but they always happen in a such a rush in this family and you can’t have one at all.”
“A tall?”

After this shaky start, she picked up the toddler skills quickly and was ready for a cake on her birthday morning.

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Mona was the only member of the family who could have made a start on her supermaxed skill as a child but, because of the demands of school, tutoring and portrait-painting, she ended up starting as a teenager, like everyone else.

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As soon as she’d sorted out her new wardrobe, she visited the supermarket to take a fishing class and then registered as self-employed.  After that, her teen days (which included a whole weekend) were largely spent on the beach behind the house.

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On the day before her daughter’s next birthday, Wanda ran out of time.

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Everyone gathered to mourn the passing of the last mortal  .

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Mona had another early-morning cake…

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…and went right back to fishing, becoming an Amateur Ichthyologist before the end of the day.

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For the next few days, she fished constantly, reaching level 5 of the angler career and completing her lifetime wish.

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Then, like Leicester, she changed track.  She temporarily gave up fishing and registered as an investigator.  She solved three cases, all for the fairy who was running the consignment store these days…

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…but mostly progressed through her career by drinking liquid job boosters and being tutored in logic by Angus.

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Then the scientists at Dr Simano’s asked for help with their astronomical research…

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…and the resulting logic boost both maxed the skill and earned her her final promotion.  Since she was flying through her requirements, I decided to delay the arrival of the final member of the family.  She wasn’t going to need the extra time.  Also, I haven’t had a meteor strike in a Sims game for months and was irrationally convinced that Mona would be the next target, so I wanted to be able to give her my full attention while she ploughed through the rest of Commercial Fisherman.

[hazelnut]

Mona aged up to full adulthood…

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…and was summoned to yet another sparsely attended 'celebration of great success'.

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With two days left before her elder birthday and only another 27 fish needed for her supermax, Mona visited the graveyard with a dusty old lamp that Alessandra had bought in the early days of the dynasty.

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There was still one eligible bachelor in town, even if he was currently dead.  The genie did his stuff…

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…and Malvolio Romano was returned to life.

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The attraction was immediate.

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Mona invited her new boyfriend home for more romantic interactions…

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…interrupted and commented on, as usual, by the elders.

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At least her bedroom was private.

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As once before in this game, there were no chimes – but Mona woke up on what should have been her birthday morning feeling queasy.

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She spent most of her pregnancy at the spa or dozing in the rocking chair at home, although she was on her way to a fishing spot when the contractions started.

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She wasn’t far from home but I sent her off to the hospital anyway.  Malvolio had left the house without saying goodbye early in the pregnancy and had taken a job as a proprietor.  Mona kept wishing to be with him but he was permanently unavailable.  I was hoping that he’d at least turn up for his son’s birth but Mona was left to have the baby on her own.

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Rats!  Just missed a full set of rainboos!  Er, I mean, welcome to the family, Tyrone.

Mona left Clare in charge of the baby and went out fishing before it was fully light, pursued by the paparazzi, who were clearly desperate for news stories.

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At long last, she caught her 350th fish…

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…and, a few hours later, was forcibly hit by a birthday.

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One portrait and a few potent friendship elixirs later, she sat down to eat her first ambrosia.

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Mona County

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Traits: loves the outdoors, perceptive, angler, brave, over-emotional

Lifetime wish: Presenting the Perfect Private Aquarium
Career: Investigator
Skill: Fishing
(She also reached level 10 of logic)

Building: Simcatti Industries
Property: Seafood Hideaway Fishing Park

Unique lifetime rewards: Opportunistic, Master of Seduction, Complimentary Entertainment

Unique best friends

• Malvolio Romano
• Gwynedd County
• Alec Major
• Becky Parks
• Andres Hawk
• Dalma Tyler

Unique opportunities

• Pile of Permission Slips
• Digging for Dirt
• The Case of Gnome Footsy
• The Case of the Hacker Elite
• A Fish of Life and Death
• Fixing the Celestial Slump

[Trip]

I was really rooting for you to get all rainboos too. It's sad that there isn't much rhyme or reason to who gets skintones. They just...do and you have to suck it up.

Oh my god though. Almost there with this crazy challenge!