The SimTech Dynasty Challenge

[Metropolis Man]

2.  Do we need to bulldoze ALL 'hoods, or just the one we live in?

Just the one you live in; however, remember you cannot travel at all to other neighborhoods in no Tech.

[callycat]

2.  Do we need to bulldoze ALL 'hoods, or just the one we live in?

Just the one you live in; however, remember you cannot travel at all to other neighborhoods in no Tech.

I thought you had to bulldoze the whole town you live in? Or is that being used interchangeably with neighbourhood? I was thinking of neighbourhood as the part of town you live in (where you can go without travelling).

[Felicat]

I just realized-it says to dress children like their parents, yet dressers aren't on the no tech list.  Is that another exception?  Otherwise we'll have no way to change outfits to match the rules.

[MarianT]

I just realized-it says to dress children like their parents, yet dressers aren't on the no tech list.  Is that another exception?  Otherwise we'll have no way to change outfits to match the rules.

I'll add a mirror to the list of things you can use. Yes, you can have a basement cave, and the whole town needs to be bulldozed.

[callycat]

I just realized-it says to dress children like their parents, yet dressers aren't on the no tech list.  Is that another exception?  Otherwise we'll have no way to change outfits to match the rules.

I'll add a mirror to the list of things you can use. Yes, you can have a basement cave, and the whole town needs to be bulldozed.

If you're using a tent, that works for Plan Outfits.

[Joria]

I'm getting confused.  The dress your children like your parents may or may not be possible in No Tech.  Let's say you picked an outfit for your parents which have to be the ONLY outfit they ever wear.  Getting your kid to wear the exact, same, outfit just isn't possible.  They are no longer toddlers so no wearing only diapers, but the outfits available for children may not in their wildest dreams match anything like what the parents wear and my understanding is, they get to wear ONLY that same outfit for everything for all time.  When they become teenagers they may have the opportunity to match their parents exactly but only till then.  This refers to No Tech.  Haven't gotten as far as Low Tech but even then is it possible to completely match what the parents wear and is it one outfit for all times?  How can adding mirrors be acceptable for No Tech and maybe even Low Tech?

[MarianT]

I'm getting confused.  The dress your children like your parents may or may not be possible in No Tech.  Let's say you picked an outfit for your parents which have to be the ONLY outfit they ever wear.  Getting your kid to wear the exact, same, outfit just isn't possible.  They are no longer toddlers so no wearing only diapers, but the outfits available for children may not in their wildest dreams match anything like what the parents wear and my understanding is, they get to wear ONLY that same outfit for everything for all time.  When they become teenagers they may have the opportunity to match their parents exactly but only till then.  This refers to No Tech.  Haven't gotten as far as Low Tech but even then is it possible to completely match what the parents wear and is it one outfit for all times?  How can adding mirrors be acceptable for No Tech and maybe even Low Tech?

It doesn't have to match exactly. A short skirt for a boy if the father is wearing a loincloth, a plain sleeveless dress for a girl. You can also look up cc if you want. As for mirrors, they're an option for people who don't have Outdoor Retreat.

[Felicat]

Ooh, then I've got work to do.  I just put my test family in Newcrest, since it's already empty.  I'm also a bit confused about the whole set household income thing.  Is that the same as setting family funds, or is there a way to actually change the income level?  It's related to not getting bills.  I don't use many cheats, so I'm not too sure about this.

As I mentioned before, I don't have GT, JA, or OR, so I'm just doing a test run right now.  I'm also doing aliens crashed on Maxis-earth post apocalypse, so it's actually fairly easy to do the same outfit for everyone rule.  Aliens default to their suits, anyway.  And I'll keep the cave basement in mind for when I actually do the challenge for real.  Right now my test family is pretty happy with their roof over their heads setup.  They don't even mind swimming in the pool when ti's cold.  XD  ...well, mostly.  My first toddler just became a child, so I'll get to see how the school thing will play out.

...on second thought, I think I'll start my test over.  Just for the sake of clarification for my own understanding:  town here is defined as an area, such as Newcrest, Willow Creek, and so on?  As opposed to the entire game world?  I've always referred to those as neighborhoods-a collection of places you can go without seeing a world select screen.

ETA:  OK I just stumbled on this by accident while building my new test file's cave/pool.  You can have a room-at least a basement-built partially underground.  I don't think I can use either this way.  Maybe it's meant for fountains.

[MarianT]

@Felicat, Newcrest is a good place to start. And yes, I think of Newcrest, Willow Creek, etc. as towns rather than worlds, and a neighborhood as one of the areas in them.

To set your family funds to 0, do Ctrl-Shift-C, then type testingcheats on, then money 0.

With terrain tools and rocks, it might be easier to hide the entrance to your basement.

Good luck!

[Felicat]

Going well so far on my second test.  Have a proper cave now, so at least they won't outright freeze if it gets to winter before I move on to low tech.  One of these days I'll take the time to play around with terrain and houses.  It would be cool to build hobbit holes.

Couple more thoughts:  are we allowed to have any kinds of toys in no tech era?  Since we can in fact build pools in basements-which I discovered by accident-can we put them underground? 

[Eirian84]

I am so incredibly new to really trying to do challenges (I tend to take the premise and run with it, but in an unofficial capacity), but this is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy when playing Sims. I do have a question:

In Low-Tech era, how do you feed toddlers, when a high chair is required for food, but high chairs aren't listed as approved furniture? (I feel like this is probably something I just am not familiar with bc of how I play with toddlers, but I'm still stumped)

[Felicat]

High chairs are not required to feed toddlers. In fact, I never use them, even in normal games.  Takes longer to get the kid to the chair, get them food, and then take them out than it does to just direct them to grab a serving.  In the no tech era, feed them harvestables collected by their parents.  You can also keep them sort of clean using the kiddie pool.

I just had bills delivered, despite having no money.  Do we ignore those?  Won't the repo man come if we do?

[Eirian84]

I hadn't thought about feeding them harvestables (which in their neighborhood is only lemons, lol), even though I've had the parents eat them occasionally. Mostly they've been fishing/roasting fish on the firepit. The only "meal" they've had/found so far, is the fruitcake delivered by the Welcome Wagon before I canceled it so my Sims didn't talk to anybody. Everything else has been single serving, literally hand-to-mouth.

Iirc, there's no repo man in Sims 4 - it's just electricity and then water goes off. So no lights, toilets won't flush, sinks don't work, and fridge stops working, etc.

[MarianT]

High chairs are not required to feed toddlers. In fact, I never use them, even in normal games.  Takes longer to get the kid to the chair, get them food, and then take them out than it does to just direct them to grab a serving.  In the no tech era, feed them harvestables collected by their parents.  You can also keep them sort of clean using the kiddie pool.

I just had bills delivered, despite having no money.  Do we ignore those?  Won't the repo man come if we do?

You'll lose electricity, which you don't need, and water, which you don't use. So you should be okay. Also, your bills should be fairly low at this point.

[Felicat]

Ah, good to know.  Yes, the bills are cheap; I was mainly concerned about the few items my sims have repo'd.  My sims are lucky-there are strawberries and mushrooms to harvest. Can't cook fish, sadly; even grilling salmon costs money...somehow.  In fact none of my sims have any cooking skill yet.  Too bad I don't have the firepit for that.