The SimTech Dynasty Challenge

[Joria]

So in order to access the internet on our MoreTech era, you just use the typewriters at the library?  Aren't they really computers?  In order to get research grants in the Gardener Career is this how we get around the no electronics order?

Also, what if we "Register" for our career, like Painter for instance, or writer or musician of  some sort, does this count as a "Career" requirement?

It seemed so good to finally be at "Victorian", (maybe I can stop dreaming about being a Sim Queent Victoria at night), but now I have more questions.  We can carry over skills and aspirations we achieved during the other eras, right, as long as we are not duplicating a skill that needing maxing or an aspiration we count.  Right?  My Sims have been VERY busy.

Update on leaderboard:  -Cave Man/No tech:  Aifa Alpha and Oudom eloped and gave birth to Angelica (who was far from angelic!), and completed 5 Skills, Parenting, Singing and Charisma for Aifa and Fishing and Fitness for Oudom.  2

Gen2/LoTech: Angelica found and eloped with Itvak and together they had Bella Cuore. Angelica completed the gardening and flower arranging skills and Itvak completed Angling, cooking and Violin.  They did 4 Aspirations, Freelance Botanist and Curator for Angelica and Angling Ace and Soul Mate for Itvak with Bella giving them the final, Friend of the World.  3

Gen3/MidTech: After much struggles our young adult Bella found Nathaniel and eloped with him.  Together they produced Estrella, Devon and Donovan. (phew) Bella managed to complete Wellness, Painting, Baking, Handiness and Fabulously Wealthy and Nathaniel completed Guitar.  (He was baby daddy big time!).  Together their completed Aspirations  are Painter Extraordinaire, Fabulously Wealthy, Mansion Baron, (an "other" aspiration), by Bella and Body Builder and Super Parent by Nathaniel, (and Bella).  2  They are now elders but can still offer a lot to Estrella, Devon and Donovan.

[MarianT]

Congrats on making it this far, @Joria! I think you might get into the Hall of Fame with this one.

Registering with the Town Hall doesn't count. You don't have levels that way, and you have to max the career to meet the requirement.

In the Apocalypse challenges, computers can be used as typewriters only, and I adopted that for here. You and I are old enough to remember typewriters. You can write on them only, no research, no games. If your Sim slips up and plays a game while in the library, that's not a fail, but you can't direct them to do research. It is possible to max a career without doing all the daily tasks; it just takes a little longer.

[Joria]

Thanks, Marian.  If I do make it into the HOF I'm turning it into some sort of dynasty challenge with a long history before it becomes a dynasty and lots of worlds to explore.  Death flowers and angelfish already happening and being retained.
   I was not really sure how registering with Town Hall works.  Still re-learning the game and DUH, I never figured on just typing on the library computers.  So my "printing press", (mod that acts like a computer and looks like a Gutenberg press), still really doesn't have a use.  Cool looking though.

[Joria]

@MarianT :  I currently have Lost Garden of Healing installed in my world in my game and about to start More Tech.  It has the Wishing Well in it.  I use the LGofH for dates as it is romantic, (and not busy!).  Should I bulldoze the lot or remove the well?  Never did have one on my lot.

[MarianT]

@MarianT :  I currently have Lost Garden of Healing installed in my world in my game and about to start More Tech.  It has the Wishing Well in it.  I use the LGofH for dates as it is romantic, (and not busy!).  Should I bulldoze the lot or remove the well?  Never did have one on my lot.

Just get rid of the well. Or don't use it, but keep it as decoration.

[callycat]

After the previous game I completed, I thought it could be accomplished with either 3 or maybe 2 sims, so I did a couple of experiments, and then started over.

Rowan Delaney and her wife Raisha had 7 children together before Raisha popped her clogs (and narrowly missed having an 8th because of my fondness for playing on speed 3.) The delayed aging from those pregnancies gave Rowan enough time to complete all the requirements for the challenge on her own.

Her only pregnancies were those with her co-founder, and none of the children moved out before their YA stages (or the grand, great-grand or great-great-grandchildren.)

No Tech skills – Fishing, Charisma, Parenting, Singing, Comedy
No Tech completed Spring 1, Day 24

Low Tech skills – Cooking, Gardening, Violin, Guitar, Fitness
Low Tech aspirations – Angling Ace, Serial Romantic, Soulmate, The Curator, Friend of the World
Low Tech completed Summer 1, Day 13

Mid Tech skills – Handiness, Flower Arranging, Herbalism, Mischief, Painting
Mid Tech aspirations – Freelance Botanist, Bodybuilder, Painter Extraordinaire, Outdoor Enthusiast, Fabulously Wealthy
Mid Tech completed Summer 1, Day 28

By the end of Mid Tech she was 9 days away from becoming an elder, but decided to become a vampire instead.

More Tech was very slow, but she had plenty of time.

More Tech skills – Vampire Lore, Piano, Pipe Organ, Mixology, Logic
More Tech aspirations – Archaeology Scholar, Master Vampire, Vampire Family, Jungle Explorer, Musical Genius
More Tech careers – Entertainer (Musician), Criminal (Boss), Athlete (Bodybuilder), Gardener (Flower Arranger), Painter (Master of the Real)
More Tech completed Autumn 2, Day 4

Rowan was cured of her little undead problem and went back to the start of the Adult stage as a result, before tackling High Tech. She was a 5 star celebrity but hadn't spent any fame points, of course.

High Tech skills – Acting, Dancing, Rocket Science, Video Gaming, Programming
High Tech aspirations – Leader of the Pack, World-Famous Celebrity, Renaissance Sim, Nerd Brain, Mansion Baron
High Tech careers – Culinary (Mixologist), Tech Guru (Start-up), Actor, Scientist, Social Media (Public relations)

Rowan reached the top of her final career on Summer 3, Day 5. She was 12 days away from becoming an elder.

So the final score is 1, 0, 0, 0, 0.

As always I have a ton of save files and my spreadsheet lists the completion day for every skill, aspiration and career, as well as birth days etc.

[reggikko]

Wow, @callycat that's really impressive!

[Joria]

I am totally and completely impressed!!  Kudos to you for your achievement, star of the HOF!  Now, can you do it without Vampires?
Interesting experiment if nothing else.  I personally loathe Vampires, even Sims ones so while I own the thing I have it uninstalled.  Did you strategize all this first or just wing it based on the rules?  Inquiring minds want to know.

[callycat]

Wow, @callycat that's really impressive!

Thank you, I'm amazed it worked out, to be honest - I think I was lucky not having any twins or it might have come unstuck a little

[callycat]

I am totally and completely impressed!!  Kudos to you for your achievement, star of the HOF!  Now, can you do it without Vampires?
Interesting experiment if nothing else.  I personally loathe Vampires, even Sims ones so while I own the thing I have it uninstalled.  Did you strategize all this first or just wing it based on the rules?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Mostly winged it based on my experience of playing it through the first time, though there was a broad strategy that boiled down to 'become a vampire before the elder stage'. The experiments were to see how the life extension due to pregnancy worked properly, because my Sims don't have a lot of children normally and I rarely let them age up either.

It might be possible to do it without vampires, but only if the surviving founder Sim is allowed to have further pregnancies after their partner dies. I think that is within the rules, as I don't see why they couldn't (as an example) still try to complete one of the family aspirations at that point. You might get into difficulties if twins turn up, and when the life spans go up the house might be too full, but it could be fun to try And if you're a careful micro-manager player either version could probably be done more efficiently than my speedy slapdash playing allows for!

I'm not normally a fan of vampires either, but I like the Sims 4 version of them. Still missing my Sims 3 werewolves though.

[MarianT]

Wow, callycat, very impressive! We're still waiting on a photo for your Hall of Fame entry -- either this one or the first. Also, you need to answer the two questions:

What did you enjoy most?
What did you find most difficult? (Obviously, not much, but we'd still like to know.)

[callycat]

Wow, callycat, very impressive! We're still waiting on a photo for your Hall of Fame entry -- either this one or the first. Also, you need to answer the two questions:

What did you enjoy most?
What did you find most difficult? (Obviously, not much, but we'd still like to know.)

Oops, sorry, I was a bit caught up in playing. I will sort those out! Thanks for the reminder.

[BallerinaHippo]

Okay, I couldn't stay away from this challenge any longer.  I started looking at prehistoric cc, and now here I am with No Tech completed and I'm ready to move on to Low Tech.  As I'm setting my sims up for the new era, I have a few questions.

1. If I move my sims to a new lot for Low Tech, can I leave behind my old lot 'as is' with it's cave and trees, or do I have to bulldoze it?  Specifically, I started my sims on the Cypress Terrace lot in Willow Creek and now I want to move them next-door to the bigger Oakenstead lot (which I bulldozed at the beginning).  I'd like to keep all the enlarged rocks and trees on the old lot next-door because it looks better in the background than an empty driveway.

2. When I build my park for Low Tech, can I use any lot in my town (in my case, Willow Creek)?  I'm thinking of building the park in the neighborhood with the Sylvan Glade tree so I can go there for fishing.  I know I can travel to Granite Falls, but I might need another fishing area to get to 20 different types of fish. 

3.  Speaking of Granite Falls, are we allowed to set up a tent on our bulldozed rental lot as long as it's our own tent?

4. Finally, are kids allowed to use vacation days from school to help with the grades/responsibility problem?  This would be for No Tech and Low Tech.  You get 3 vacation days for both kids and teens so this would really help on short lifespan.  The child/teen stages are 7 days each-- 2 of those will be weekend days, so with 3 vacation days you would only have to cancel 2 days.  This thought didn't occur to me until after I finished No Tech, but I've seen lots of questions about school, so thought I'd go ahead and ask.

That's all I can think of.  Thanks for coming up with an irresistible challenge!  This one's right up my alley.   

[Joria]

Hi BallerinaHippo.  I'm no expert but here's what I did or decided based on the opening rules and ones that pertain:

1.Nothing was said about having to bulldoze, or re-bulldoze anything once legally placed in a world/town.  I just left my cave and moved on.  Of course, I made a big move and moved from Willow Creek to Oasis!  Why?  To get those other fish you can find in the caves behind the Landgraab home.  It meant bulldozing the entire Oasis but that wasn't a problem and I preferred Oasis Park because I could use facilities I didn't have to begin with and there were so many more things you could get there.

2.  You can use any lot that is 40x30 or larger in any town.  When you move you can, at that time, change the traits of the lot, like make it "Homey" or "Sunny" aspect or any one to three you wish.

3.   I did.  I figured there had to be some place for them to stay and since tents were allowed I got one and used it.  If that wasn't ok, (I did not use it on my "home lot"), then I messed up.  It was nice to be able to shower again even in a stinky facility.

4.  Your kids are not allowed to go to school but nothing was said about their doing the homework which appears in their inventory.  I did it.  To help with responsibility have your kids clear the table.  I used a rock "coffee table" for mine in No Tech and that helped.  If you have more than one child the oldest one, or ones, can help with the younger ones which increases their responsibility.  Once they were in Lo Tech or MidTech I also bought the research things they could build which helped with responsibility and in other ways.

Being able to use buydebug was also helpful.  This challenge gives a lot of leeway but also makes you really think outside the box.  Once I could afford it in NoTech I bought a pond and kept someone always fishing to increase wealth and skills.  I also really enjoyed using different CC just for atmosphere and sometimes to be able to do things I might not have been able to do.

At the moment I have two games going.  One is my original game which is currently in More Tech, the other is a start over trying to do what callycat did but without using Vampires.  First game has a lot of CC and appealed more to my builder sense, (I made a gym that looked kind of like the Colloseum!), second one is more to learn how she did it.  I'm not happy with my current scores so if I can better them using her "keep her pregnant" technique I'll be happy.

Hope this helped and good luck!  It really is a fun challenge.

[BallerinaHippo]

Thanks for your thoughts on my previous questions, Joria!

I actually went back and started over because I was sure I could do a better job at No Tech if I tried again.  On my second attempt, I've just transitioned to More Tech and I've hit a little snag.  I was planning to have one of my sims do the Master Chef aspiration while working on one of the culinary careers (both listed in More Tech); but in order to complete Master Chef, he has to "earn Silver for a dinner party."  We're not supposed to throw parties with goals until High Tech, so do I throw one goaled party just to complete the aspiration?  Or is there another solution I haven't thought of?