Sims Eugenics, or, Vlad's Nose (Complete)

[oshizu]

Thanks for letting me know Caleb had put on weight. He almost looked like he had a baby bump, lol.
(Is this where I ask why Caleb's in his sleepwear for a flirty kiss?)

As for Vlad, would you mind sharing what happens with him? Once he caked up to an elder, did he eventually pass away from old age?
I'm dying to know how that trait works!

Oh, you're right! I clicked on Allie's CAS shot and it enlarged. That never works with most of my shots, probably because I photo-edit them to 800x450.
She looks so much like her mother...her eyes, her nose, her mouth.
I'm so looking forward to Nick's birthday! He must be the father of the Vlad's pointy grand-daughter we met in the other thread!

[Heart Foam]

At every life stage, Vlad did not age at all. His bar wouldn't move even as an elder. I'm not going to drown or starve my sims. I've never done that. The fair and happy way to go is the overexertion way with the rocket. And when I had the rocket, I put it to use and had an astronaut sim which is something I hadn't done in ages.

It's obviously not just a flirty kiss, but those science tasks badly, wrongly, incorrectly already encourage the sims to cheat on their +1 back home. So if one makes a story excuse "oh! the serums were too powerful!" then anything morally objectionable could equally be rationalized. And look how pollinator sims are rationalized. With Caleb in his scientifically induced amorous mood, this is what could happen. It's the kind of nonsense one gets up to when there's no intention of posting the story on forums. I was never very attached to Himalayan Salt (looking unhuman and not having a real name can do that) and this save was never about the roleplaying side of things, seeing the simworld through the perspective of the sim. Especially with HS.

Hmm. I thought Caleb looked even larger when he was stalking the house recently. It probably goes back to testing the weight gain serum on him. Yes, it absolutely does. I remember. I've just put that together now. Ah. Well. If he visits again I could clone a Slimify for him. Maybe that's all he wanted.

Yes, Vlad's Nose is quite the resilient feature! I'm glad it's lasted so well. There's every chance the final generation will still have the nose, and if it does, I have a plan for that.

[Heart Foam]

The shell of the house doesn't change, only the décor. I realize I didn't take enough pictures early on to give a good enough idea of how things join up. I think that would get frustrating for me if I was reading this.

So this is the house as it is right now. I guarantee it will change. There are some rooms that need remodeling. But with this glimpse into the future, it's interesting to compare it to the early pictures and to see it develop into the house it is now.

[Heart Foam]

Part 5

I can't tell by peering closely whether Vlad is adult or elder. But behold the dining room! It was this renovation that cause the gazebo building in part 4. The woodwork table is still in use as a computer desk. But it lost its place to this slab of modernity.



The tasteless overuse of the vampire wallpaper continued downstairs!



Upstairs, Vlad tried out yoga in another very un-vampire like outfit.



Allie, as an Young Adult started in the fitness career. (Go Llamas.) And was already quite hulkish.



The basement got all furnished at this point. There was an idea to have an outdoorsy feel, hence the furniture, but a few details like that do change. The L-shaped gym / pool area was a awkward. Still I was so pleased I took these two photos.





Vlad makes ice-cream in the basement because the kitchen is too small to accommodate infrequently used appliances.



With Allie all growed up, 'twas necessary to think of the next child for the eugenics program. As you see, a completely underused forgotten sim called Don Lothario had been moved in to meet that need. As with any save that lasts many generations, the original sims die off unless you send a gentleman sim out on the town in a Night of Passion. But instead of keeping the Goth or Pancakes names going, I let them die out and if a random family moved in (especially into one of the larger houses where there's space for a few children) those would be the lucky few to visited by a gentleman. So that was Don's questionable main calling.





The Moreno family had moved into a big house in Oasis Springs, and this is Anissa. She becomes more important later. I had the idea of her being Nick's +1, but he was still a teenager. He may have even been a day or two from becoming a teen. So right now she was Don's first love interest (or maybe second after Allie). 

Oh yes. See, I was right. Nick was still a child! I totally got that! And the L-shape gym isn't great. The punching bag tucked away there.



Next time: Don reliably fails to put clothes on, the only picture of Nick at any time between childhood and marriage, and generation 3...

[FrancescaFiori]

What troubles me about the gym is not so much its L-shape as the fact that someone seems to be dying in it. Is that our dear Herbivorous Sagittarius? (Took me forever to come up with that. How do you do it?)

Anyway, I like your clever use of tiles in the pool area, and also your clever mirror photography of Don Lothario and Anissa. I'm so glad to hear poor, neglected Don is finally getting some play.

It's the kind of nonsense one gets up to when there's no intention of posting the story on forums.

Ain't that the truth! Someday I'll tell you about the awful things I've done to the Landgraab family in something I like to refer to as my "fun file." On second thought, no I won't. What happens in the fun file stays in the fun file.

Delighted to hear that generation 3 in incoming, as well as at least one more picture of Nick.

[Heart Foam]

Right. Yes. That's the death of the founder, Hummingbird's Song, herself! In a rather unlovely gym outfit. -I never gave her a makeover. It seemed better to accept her as she was. Many pictures of Nick later on, but it seems I didn't capture his handsome face very often as a teen. There are some big events that I just haven't got visual record of, poor man.

Big floors sometimes need to be broken up. I ended up replacing the marble as you can see with the current house. You've reminded me I need to do something with the floor of the entrance hall. That must go on the to-do list.   

I've got some Landgraab descendants somewhere. But Nancy's unnatural figure is too awful to pass on to a daughter. I do use fulleditmode for those situations.

[oshizu]

I love the earthy tones of the dining room! That is, the one with the zebra-skin rug and checkerboard wood flooring.
The taller fireplace makes a huge difference, too!

As for the entertainment room (with the movie TV), when you first shared shots of it, I had no idea it was downstairs.
I like how you go about working on (it seems to me) one room at a time.

My favorite shot, though, has to be the one of Sporty Vlad! That made me laugh out loud, for real!

Rest in peace, HS! And looking forward to meeting Nick!

[Heart Foam]

I very much like Sporty Vlad too. He is so pale! He needed colour! Come to think of it, quite a few of the sims will have their yoga mat moment there. His is my favourite, but there's more to come.

There's far more of Nick as an elder than any other life stage. Shockingly invisible sim. He's the Mr Cellophane of the house. But one of the few coming up is a very clear portrait when I took nice CAS portraits of all the gen 2 and 3 sims.

[Heart Foam]

Part 6

With Holiday Summer gone - surely missed by all - the lounge caught fire. My profound thoughts now - I'm not caught up in the thrill and emotional yo-yo of the moment any more, I'm fine now - is that the "drawing room" looks no worse with a fire. I was so excited by this, I even once put a fire pit in a lounge. 



Anyway. With the house being no worse off, and nerves calmed, this is the great reveal absolutely no one would have minded not seeing, this is Nick as a teenager. Oh yes. 



It's not a great picture. These days I try to frame the pictures such that the nose is clearly displayed, but I didn't think to do that here. There are *great* nose pictures to look forward to. Don, the forgotten sim, is not decent. Which is typical of him. Vlad is suavely dancing. Which is typical of him. And Nick is the least interesting sim, which is typical of him too. By the time he reappears he'll have a child that's a child.



Anyway, odd Allie and dodgy Don had son! You may have noticed I'm alternating the genders on each side of the family. Again, I took the first random name given. And it's another "A" name. Meet the first of generation 3, Antwan. His mother certainly had some odd characteristics, but his father is Don. Ultimately the goal of the eugenics is to breed out the strangeness, to end up with someone that could be a human in the way that Vlad or Humorous Stanley weren't. But it's also exciting to see some traits be passed down.

If I'm counting right, this is the 3rd picture of Don in a row inappropriately dressed.



He was obviously an elder even when he moved in. He did much of the parenting with Allie being a bodybuilder, between doing other things. And the purple wicker furniture was installed. The delivery guys battled to get it down the stairs, probably.

Vlad was the main chef. In hindsight, I don't know why it took me so long to put in a bigger window here.



A family scene. Grandpa Vlad, Allie, and Antwan. I'm not sure who the guest is. She may have been invited to visit as a potential spouse for Nick. I was really very keen to get a darker skinned gal, because Vlad and Nick are so pale they could be vampires! For whatever reason, this one didn't get the gig. Vlad in a blue robe and bunny slippers is a win. This is "really him", when he has the long black coat that's just cosplay.



And a Determined little Antwan races to mum and his future that lies beyond the zombie cake.





Dad showed up as well. Is that the 4th in a row he didn't feel like dressing for?



In fairness to Mr Lothario, this was probably taken not long after the previous one. I always start childhood by getting through the first part of the whiz kid aspiration so that the first time the child does homework, he / she can do it "focused" and it can count as one of the two needed for the next part of that aspiration. I'm sure that's what everyone does, and that's what's going on here. The romantic gentleman Mr Lothario was the sim most at home and he, chess grandmaster that he isn't, had a few games with Antwan the Child.

In the foreground, introducing herself, is Arianna Stewart. (Yet another 'a' name.) She is Nick's significant other. I'm sure we first found her early on in the game during the mad hunt for angelfish. Now she's an adult (and I think close to elder - but that's what a cloning machine and youth potions are for), and level 9 in the detective career. She didn't have the skills anywhere near where they should be for a promotion, but that was soon fixed. The sticking point was solving 6 total cases. I didn't have the patience. I went to work with her for about four days at level 9, and then I admit I cheated her to level 10. Because a level 9 detective would have solved some cases! She wouldn't be on zero. And I wanted the cool desk and computer.

Vlad was near the end of the painter career. "Not Mona Lisa" to go with "Not Girl with a pearl earring".



Nick is a young adult now, and passing fond of Arianna, and she of him. We know this because that's Alyssa Stewart, their daughter, sleeping. Yes, still going with the first random name, and it was another A. I told you Nick's life happens off-camera! These then are the gen 3 kids together, which is rather sweet.



Next time: Antwan has doubts, Alyssa is cute, and Vlad is transparent about his feelings

[oshizu]

Last night, right before falling asleep, can you guess the very last thought that popped up in my mind?
Lol, it was a line from one of your comments. I chuckled to myself, just like the first time I read it.

It's the kind of nonsense one gets up to when there's no intention of posting the story on forums.

Oooh, you are attempting to breed out the wierd? Kind of like a Prettacy legacy challenge?
In view of Vlad's pointy grand-daughter and Ally having a child with Don Loathario, I'd mistakenly assumed that Ally's line would breed out the weirdness while Nick's schnozz line would try to retain them.
I'm so looking forward to how your sim genetics play out!

Lol @DON never changing out of his briefs! I must confess that I used to give my fave male sims scanty sleepwear for my personal viewing pleasure.
But since sims tend to wear their sleepwear more than any other outfit (unless they win the Spice Curry Champion T-shirt), I've felt obliged to dress them more modestly lately.
Ugh, the detective career!  As much as I love the Level 5 career uniform, I've been unable to make any arrests lately due to game glitches.
No shame in career cheats in a for-fun game!

Hey, what's going on in Vlad's kitchen? Do you have a favorite sequence for remodeling?
Do you start with the rooms where the majority of the household spends the most time?

By the way, Vlad totally doesn't seem like the evil loner. I guess he wouldn't get Stranger Danger because he's usually only around his family.
Does he miss his pipe organ?

[Heart Foam]

I probably just go with the rooms that I don't feel are up to the standard I'd like. I stuck with the modern-ish dining room for a long time, but I knew it could be improved. Now it looks good (to me at least) with the chequered parquet and zebra rug, that I have no interest in changing it. I've just redone one of the upstairs bedrooms. Not that much happens there, but the previous version never really worked. At it gnawed away at me long enough. So there's no master plan or sequence, but I do care about the main living spaces the most.

In view of Vlad's pointy grand-daughter and Ally having a child with Don Loathario, I'd mistakenly assumed that Ally's line would breed out the weirdness while Nick's schnozz line would try to retain them.

Well, one can try to retain it as much as one likes, but it rather comes to the same thing simply because anyone and everyone looks more normal than Vlad, so the baby always has a chance of getting a better nose. Allie had one strange parent and Nick had two, but really she's no less strange than he is and I'm glad so much of HS-[numbers] passed on. I just don't like the word prettacy, but that's pretty much what happens over time if you start with sims this strange. As it turns out, being in position to be able to "try for baby" for the final sim (or maybe two, boy and girl? I'm not sure yet), the nose is very much still a thing. It could go either way. I don't know if the nose will win. That's what we're finding out. I'm tempted to go for a male sim at the end, because I'd rather not have a Vladette. 

I must confess that I used to give my fave male sims scanty sleepwear for my personal viewing pleasure.

Not the most remarkable confession. ;p I've done that with female sims. Not Honeysuckle, but others. And also, far less than at first. As you say, they're always in sleepwear. I haven't even changed Anissa's sleepwear since when she appeared with Don as a romantic interest. Basegame tank and shorts, blue socks and green slippers. If anything it's rather plain and her colour choices are terrible - but she's shameless so she doesn't care.

[Heart Foam]

Does he miss his pipe organ?

Probably, because he ain't got one here. That's a skill I've never touched actually.

[Heart Foam]

Part 7

Antwan has doubts. He panicked. He thought he might look weird and tried to fix that. Ah well.



Grim is almost a family friend at this point. What with Hired Surfboard having departed, and now Vlad, and Don as an elder there was a few days where the deaths really all followed each other. (And possibly when the game decided that Grim actually needs a house of his own - Oak Alcove, if you want his address.) This was almost certainly for our dear, preppy, enthusiastic, formerly deceased, formerly vampiric, karaoke singing, yoga doing, bunny slipper wearing Mr Vladislaus Straud.     



I was too heartbroken* to actually capture the moment his pointy self departed (and household members just stood around refusing to plead, because they wanted his fancy bedroom).

*I actually wasn't, this is a game an all. You knew that.

Cue selection of toddler pics of young Alyssa. We are very keen to see what she looks like. If nothing else, we can see at this early stage the kid has not inherited Nick's pale skin. This is a Good Thing.





It'll do as well to talk about the garden now as any other time. There are a total of 12 spots in 3 planters. One planted is a spliced strawberry / carrot (obviously), UFO, Glow Orb, Spike Fruit. I could remove the last three and be more efficient, but they look nice. Without resorting to the fast growing Outdoor Retreat plants, one planter is entirely spliced spinach, and the other spliced tomato for the sake of differentiation. The spinach is double grafted - they have both glow fruit and spike fruit. Maths suggests the high value fruit will, over time, account for hopefully two-thirds of the total fruit instead of just half, if the spinach was only grafted with one alien plant. The tomato however is only grafted with UFO. I clear the gardening sim's inventory on a Saturday, though I alternate between selling the glow orbs and spike fruit.

Back to toddler Alyssa.









Alyssa bobbing to the music was a very cute moment for me. I still remember the song. One of the catchy tracks on the "Alternative" station.





Arianna still stuck at level 9, and long since she moved in. She been pregnant, and Alyssa has gone through being a baby and toddler. The buggy detective career was actively Thwarting my noble efforts to solve the 6 cases. But I stuck with it for an awfully long time before deciding to cheat her to level 10.

Vlad is transparent about his feelings. Meaning... he's a ghost.



That's Alyssa as a newly minted child, again starting out with the Whiz Kid chess goals. This is Invisible Nick's daughter, and she's a bit more funny looking that I expected. Takes after her papa.

Antwan very soon aged up to a teenager. He's about a week older than Alyssa.



Next time: Nick and Allie make an appearance, Alyssa already getting friendly with a blonde school friend, and Vlad is transparent about his feelings...

[FrancescaFiori]

Oh, Antwan. Many pats on the back for a noble effort. Maybe a little less dramatic with the lip color next time. Just a thought.

I love the library cart in the living room. I always forget that object exists, but I'm definitely putting it in my next build. It's so charming!

Poor invisible Nick. He's got a very pretty wife, though, and I enjoyed seeing her quite a bit in this chapter. I'm very excited to see more of his daughter next chapter, and the results of Antwan's candle-blowing!

[oshizu]

The library room is so lovely! And I love revisiting two of the images from the other thread, this time within their narrative context.

Arianna looks gorgeous in her detective uniform with the shoulder holster. So, now you have her wear that frumpy Police Chief outfit instead?
A garden is such a fantastic money-maker early in a household's inception but later becomes so tedious to maintain.

Like Francesca, I'm looking forward to the teen birthdays of both Antwan and Alyssa.  Nick who?
Rest in peace, HS, Vlad, and Don (or is Don still kicking?).