Steel Base Game Decadynasty

[hazelnut]

Thanks, both

I'm in awe of the pollination and the nerve to try yet another decadynasty.

You're in awe?  It was your use of pollinators with the Waverlys that really started me down that route.  Well, that and realising how cloney most of the Wan-Goddard-etcs were.  I've tried it twice before, with the X Factor decadynasty and a base-game immortal dynasty that I hadn't even started posting before the bugs hit.  I think the problem both times was that I was trying to keep too many townie families going.  This time I decided to take advantage of being allowed to move twice and just produce enough townie kids to provide the spouses.  I went for four generations in the first town, since it was likely to have fewest bugs, then three in each of the others.  In retrospect, a 3/3/4 split might have been better, since the last heir doesn't need a spouse.

At least Painting is an easy supermax?

It is.  Painting's one of my favourite supermax skills because the challenges tend to happen along the way, rather than having to make a special effort to complete them.

Ugh. Bugs. Good luck. I hope that no more come around

So far, this game's been surprisingly bug-free (fingers crossed).  Apart from the lack of mourning for Debs, there have only been two.  Lucky Palms developed severe lagging about halfway through, which was fixed by a global resetsim, and someone reached level 10 of a skill without getting the music or a certificate, which barely counts as a bug – although it would have been infuriating if it had happened in the house where certificates were the collection.

[hazelnut]

A Long-Awaited Occasion

Life gradually returned to normal after Debs' death.  Dana maxed (and supermaxed) the painting skill.



Dom and Dorothea grew up.



Dana just missed her last-but-one promotion but persuaded her boss, George Dean, to promote her anyway.  As if to show her mother's ghost how these things should be done, she promptly rolled wishes to get a promotion, to reach level 10 and to reach the top of her career.  The only other Sim I've seen roll both variants of the career-maxing wish is Nancy Landgraab.



A couple of days later, she became a Dynamic DNA Profiler (with fifteen thousand new happiness points).



All that was left was to have a birthday and collect some more NPC friends.  I finally realised that I ought to take advantage of having pyromaniacs in the house (all three kids had inherited the trait) rather than prank-calling the fire brigade.  Dom set fire to a kitchen counter, setting off the fire alarm.  As the flames started to die down, Dana burnt one of the money trees (not the target I'd ideally have chosen but it escaped unharmed).



All three of them took turns igniting things until the firefighter turned up, congratulated them on putting out the blaze and went off again without fining anyone.

Family-orientated Dom adopted a baby girl, called Dahlia (well, he was a keen gardener), and everyone else went out for long enough for a babysitter to arrive.  But that still left them one NPC friend short.  Were they going to have to leave the bills unpaid?  Then notifications popped up that two family friends were running out of time.  Dorothea threw a party and made sure both of them were on the guest list.  Unfortunately, one of them died before the party started.  Which left Yuri Ivanov.

The party was a great success, possibly because Grim didn't show up.   So I sent Dana over to the Ivanovs' as soon as Yuri left, to invite him back over.  She'd only just walked in the door when poor Yuri started sparkling.



Then I realised that, since Dana didn't have any charisma skill, she probably wouldn't become friends with Grim in the time available.  I really, really wished they'd had enough spare happiness points for a teleporter that wasn't destined for the collection.  Failing that, I passed Dana's police car over to Dorothea and told her to go to the Ivanovs' now.

Fortunately, Grim wasn't in a hurry to leave and Dana was able to keep him talking until her charismatic sister arrived.



And with that, Dana's requirements were completed, a few minutes short of her adult birthday.

Everyone slept late after the previous night's excitements and it was nearly midday before Dana blew out her candles.



Then she threw the party she'd been waiting for for such a long time (she'd been holding the wish to marry Dimitri for over two weeks, an eternity in Sim time).

As the guests assembled at Lost Willow Park, Dana comforted Dimitri, who had lost both of his parents in the previous two days, while doing her best to ignore John Wilson's photobombing.



Because it had taken so long to get everything ready for the move, night had fallen by the time everyone was seated and the ceremony took place by torchlight.



I think that counts as a happy accident

The customary look at the guests:



Heather Crosby is seated at the left-hand end of the front row, with Henry Wilson behind her.  Next to him is Jon and MaryKay's daughter, Vanessa Lessen.  (And I thought Beth Goth was a funny name!)  Jack is standing behind them, while Odin is half-hidden in the trees at the back.  Oddly, he stayed there for the whole time, even though there were empty seats.  Standing in the 'aisle' are George Dean and Dominic.



And on their other side, from left to right, are Stephen Crosby, John Wilson, Tatiana Ivanov and Hal Breckenridge (Dana's partner), with Nicola Crosby standing behind.  I'm sure Dorothea was there somewhere but can't find her in any of the pictures.  Also out of shot is little Dahlia, who was brought along by whoever-it-was that was holding her just before they all left the house and then left lying on the ground behind the seats.  Maybe Odin was keeping an eye on her.

Rings were exchanged…



…petals fell…



…and as the moon rose over the trees, Dimitri and Dana became husband and wife at last.


Generation 8

Home: Great Room Great Dane, 1056 Cypress Lane, Riverview
Heir: Dana
Traits: good, artistic, perfectionist, friendly, brave
Lifetime wish: Swimming in Cash
Parents: Deborah and Jack (né Keaton) Steel
Heir on honour roll at both elementary and high school.

Household NPC friends:

• Tiffanie Gamboa (pizza delivery)
• Cleveland Cartwright (maid)
• Sonya Summers (repairwoman)
• Maxine Person (postwoman)
• Kristopher Scruggs (paperboy)
• Gloria Menard (firefighter)
• Trey Blackburn (policeman)
• Yasmin Cunningham (adoption worker)
• Andrea Crooks (babysitter)
• Grim Reaper

Household best friends:

• Dimitri Ivanov
• Henry Wilson
• Nicola Crosby
• Heather Crosby
• George Dean
• Hal Breckenridge
• Amy Foster
• Lesley Morgan
• Jenni Ojeda
• George Pollak

Unique maxed career: Law Enforcement (Forensic)
Unique supermaxed skill: painting
Unique opportunities (Black Ops) completed by heir:   

• Interior Décor
• The Great Argyle Sinclair
• For the Children!
• A Medium Painting
• Painting the City
• The Business of Décor
• Settle an Argument
• Fixing the Books
• Fresco Fest
• Police Conference

Building: Divisadero Budget Books
Fully-upgraded property: Lost Willow Park
Heir adult?  Yes
Tombstone (large): Deborah Steel
Set of items of unique type: lifetime happiness reward objects (teleporters).



Jon, Jeb, Lorraine and Jack (a strong contender for the title of Most Useless Spouse) earned one each.  Odin earned two and Debs an astonishing four.  A lot of that was due to her constant wishes for her kids to do well in life – she didn't have the family-oriented trait but acted as though she had.
Total value: §150000

[hazelnut]

Crazy Daisy



The newlyweds moved into Dimitri's family home.  I've never played the Ivanovs before and was surprised to find that the house has four bedrooms – it looks too small from the outside.  The vaguely bohemian look seems appropriate for the home of an artist and a musician.  (It also influenced the personality of the next heir.)

You probably all know what Dimitri looks like but here he is anyway:



This version's traits are slob, virtuoso, light sleeper, natural cook and angler.

The day after the wedding, Dana invited her old friend Henry over.  Shockingly, he managed to age up to elder before he arrived, although he'd been younger than Dana to start with.  I'm pretty sure it should have been his adult birthday, so presumably the game glitched and aged him up twice.  (I suppose I should be grateful that it didn't age him up yet again at the normal birthday time…)



She invited him to move in anyway, together with his younger brother John.  I did what I could to compensate for Henry's lost adulthood, with a makeover and a girlfriend.  He was already friends with Nicola Crosby and it didn't take long for them to become romantically involved.



Soon after this, Dana discovered that she was pregnant.



She wasn't the only one.



I don't seem to have any screenshots of John and Vanessa, um, interacting but they were also now expectant parents.



All three babies arrived on the same day, which ought to make it easier to keep track of everyone's ages.  On the other hand, both of the Wilson offspring became toddlers almost immediately, so maybe not.  It took Daisy the usual three days to leave boring babyhood behind.



Henry had rolled wishes to get married, and to marry Nicola specifically, as soon as little George arrived, so they had a quiet wedding, followed by Henry moving out to join his wife and son.  At least they could be together for whatever time he had left.

John stayed in the household for longer.  He was doing well in his medical career and wanted another child.  So did Dana and Dimitri.



I was going to keep him around long enough to tutor Daisy but realised that Dana's logic skill was almost high enough and it wouldn't hurt her to gain another point or two.  So she spent some time in the library and John married Vanessa shortly after the birth of their second son.

Both of the Steel kids had birthdays:



I thought to start with that Daisy's looks were almost pure Ivanov but then noticed she appears to have the Steel lips and Jack's nose.  Drake may actually look more like his dad, despite the blond hair.  He's athletic and evil, by the way, so woe betide any Sim who suggests that his favourite colour is girly.

Daisy started school and quickly became friends with John and Vanessa's older son, Charles…



…and with his little brother, James.  He was a bit young for her but not completely out of the running as a future spouse.



Another week, another set of birthdays...



…and Daisy's insane trait really kicked in.



She makes great faces, particularly when doing her homework…



…or disapproving of clashing traits.



That's Henry and Nicola's son, George.  With his mean-spirited trait and greenish hair, he's currently the least likely of the three boys to end up marrying Daisy but I'm reserving judgement until I see how they all grow up (and who Daisy prefers, of course).

[Trip]

That McIrish nose is still going! The real decision is who is a worthy contender against it (it's a fine nose I just like a good Gene Fight)

[hazelnut]

Ah! I'd not realised it was River's nose.  I wish features (in fact, whole chunks of face) didn't get inherited wholesale.  I've taken to using mods to get a better blend in most of my games but that's obviously off-limits here.

[hazelnut]

Horticultural Science



Daisy grew up and was finally allowed to start learning gardening.  I made her take it slowly to start with, because I've been paranoid about gardening opportunities since my first Decadynasty.  But, after she had three in as many days, I let her learn as fast as she wanted.

I wasn't worried about her supermax – three or four people had already supermaxed gardening.  The science career was more of a concern.  I was happy for Daisy to learn handiness but wanted to have a few points in reserve for upgrades and repairs in the next house, without risking maxing the skill.  Fishing's harder to control, so I'd prefer her not to learn it at all.  Also, the more skills she had, the longer it was likely to take for the omniplant chain to fire – and, with only the base game, she needed to complete it to get the Master Planter challenge.



In fact, her career progress was slow even when it was only dependent on her gardening skill – and her boss, who was a grumpy child-hater, was never going to give her a promotion unless he absolutely had to.

All too soon, Grim came for Dana  .  She was the only heir who absolutely had to die, for the sake of the collection value, but she was also one of my favourites.



(You'll notice Dimitri had swapped careers, from music to culinary.  I'm addicted to the fridges and he was a natural cook.)

Drake aged up from teen to young adult and joined the criminal career.



I had a theory that police Sims got burgled more than others, while criminals were left alone.  Looks as though I was wrong – or maybe there are rival criminal gangs in Riverview.



That was the first of three attempted robberies.  All three burglars fell for Drake while he was beating them up and all of them became household best friends, along with both of the cops who turned up to arrest them.  I certainly had plenty of choice for two of the 'best friend' slots this time.

That first burglary was particularly irritating because it happened just after 4am, when Daisy was very close to her perfect garden and I was watching her closely every morning waiting for her lifetime wish to complete.  By the time the burglar had been arrested, it was well after five.  Had I missed it?



Apparently not – although it should have happened.  A couple of plants died after that day's harvest and she was back down to 6/8 .  But then, the following morning:



(That's her TV-watching face, by the way.  The cooking channel is clearly more mysterious than I'd realised.)

Daisy's horrible boss died of old age and was replaced by her cousin Dahlia, who was already a good friend and had a nice personality.



Asking for promotions was a realistic possibility at last, although her lack of skills other than gardening was becoming a problem.  I let her start learning handiness but still held off on the fishing.

It was time to star thinking seriously about her future spouse.  All three Wilson boys were now young adults, so I invited them round and found out their traits.  That didn't really narrow things down: all three were artistic and had generally good personalities.  On the minus side, George was mean-spirited, Charles was an over-emotional loner and James was a technophobe (and also a workaholic, which presumably means he'd work from home but hate it).  I left it up to Daisy to decide.



Charles it is, then.



It might be another long engagement – Daisy was still several levels short of Mad Scientist and there was no sign of the omniplant chain, even though she was racking up the opportunities and most of them were for gardening.  One was to deliver some high-quality produce to Jack, who must have been doing a favour for his granddaughter since he had an excellent garden of his own.



Wait a minute!  Jack was still around?  He must be ancient by now.

In fact, he ended up outliving all three of his children and died two days before Daisy's adult birthday.  I had to go back into an earlier save and work out his age: he was 138, which makes him my second longest-lived Sim – or the longest, if you count the extra time from ambrosia.

Finally, just after her adult birthday, Daisy received the Uncommonly Good opportunity.  It was her eleventh.  More continued to come in, for her job, gardening and handiness, but with no sign of the rest of the chain.



She took to standing around thinking wistfully of weddings .  I decided that if she got to the final week of adulthood without getting the chance to plant an omniplant, I'd compromise on the base-game-only thing and install the Bohemian Fruit and Nuts.

Meanwhile, her little brother, who had no restrictions on skilling, became a Master Thief.



He celebrated by donating money to undermine charity in the nude  .  Just as well it was dark and there was no-one else about.



At last, Daisy reached the top of her career…



..and, just short of my deadline, got Outstandingly Rare and The Omnificent Plant on consecutive days (her seventeenth and eighteenth BlackOps).

She married Charles as soon as Master Planter registered.



It was a sparsely attended ceremony.  Despite Daisy's Legendary Host reward, most of the guests failed to turn up.  Never mind: the move marriage was the important thing.


Generation 9

Home: Caravanique, 13 Lost Willow Road, Riverview
Heir: Daisy
Traits: loves the outdoors, insane, excitable, friendly, green thumb
Lifetime wish: The Perfect Garden
Parents: Dana and Dimitri (né Ivanov) Steel
Heir on honour roll at both elementary and high school.

Household NPC friends:

• Dianna McCrary (burglar)
• Bobbie Leyva (policewoman)
• Grim Reaper
• Rhiannon Wallis (firefighter)
• Melvin McGill (postman)
• Alejandro Sowell (paperboy)
• Krissy Luke (pizza delivery)
• Shanita Frantz (repairwoman)
• Bonnie Ritter (maid)
• Naomi Rivera (adoption worker)

Household best friends:

• Charles Wilson
• James Wilson
• George Wilson
• Dahlia Steel
• Joanna Hatch
• Gena Daugherty
• Joe Harrell
• Jarred Webber
• Cletus Mabry
• Dianna McCrary

Unique maxed career: Science
Unique supermaxed skill: Gardening
Unique opportunities (Black Ops) completed by heir:   

• Free Game
• Fresh Tomato Sauce
• Grape-Aid
• Funding the Lab
• Absolutely Great Produce
• Limes Are Key
• Excellent Veggies
• Outstanding Tasting Ingredients
• Of Fish, Robots and Robot Things
• Fix Before Jailbreak

Building: EverFresh Delights Supermarket
Fully-upgraded property: Riverview Fish Hatchery
Heir adult?  Yes
Tombstone (large): Dana Steel



Set of items of unique type: paintings
Total value: §72678
(Rather better than the painting collection in my first Decadynasty.  I'd like to think that this is because I know more about the game now but it may just be that the paintings had longer to appreciate.  On the other hand, Penny moved very close to her elder birthday because of her problems finding a husband, so these may actually have appreciated less.  I've lost all the saves from that game apart from the final one, so can't go back and check.)

[Trip]

Eighteen blackops so yeah, you were probably right about the fewer EPs = more ops thing.

Ugh gardening always puts me on edge. Proud of Daisy even more!!

[hazelnut]

Yeah, although Daisy did particularly well for opportunities - I think she ended up with about 25 unique ones.  It also seems to help to hold off on the skilling until at least their late teens.  The heirs who had the hardest time getting 10 BlackOps all started earlier (including the final heir - you'd have thought I'd know better by now  ).

[hazelnut]

Funny Boy



Daisy moved into the final house of the dynasty, once owned by the Lin sisters.  It seems particularly appropriate for an insane Sim  .



Charles went straight to the dresser and mirror for a minor makeover.  (Pink is his favourite colour as well.)  His traits are artistic, loner, genius, over-emotional and heavy sleeper.  He had the Rock Star wish but was only at level 1 of the music career.  Since he was artistic, he'd be changing to Master of the Arts as soon as he had the points.  So Charles spent most of his time painting (he was already at level 7 of guitar), while James, who was yet another chef, did the cooking, using ingredients Daisy harvested from the family's old gardens.



When she wasn't gardening, Daisy upgraded the plumbing and appliances.  Then, with old age nearly upon them, Daisy and Charles tried for a baby.



And succeeded.



Duncan grew up into a toddler with his father's hair and the persistent McIrish nose  .



Daisy taught him his basic skills…



…while Charles painted and played for tips.



Charles did get to take Duncan to his birthday cake, though, largely because Daisy was at work.  (Charles had retired.)





Then Charles took over the teaching duties, tutoring Duncan for school…



…while Daisy became the audience for a lot of childish jokes and gleefully joined in with the face-pulling.



Now that Duncan was at school, she established a new garden, growing enough fruit and veg to keep James supplied with ingredients for the rest of his life and then turning to what can only be described as cash crops.  (Sorry  .)



Duncan had another birthday…



…and the whole family autonomously sat down for a celebratory meal together.



(That's such a rare occurrence for my Sims that I had to take a screenshot.)

[hazelnut]

Twists in the Tail

I sent Duncan to the library on the morning after his birthday, to start learning charisma.  This was a mistake: I should have resisted the temptation to look at his stats for a while.  Since I knew that the comedian challenge can be worked on without unlocking the skill, he should have carried on as he was and not learned charisma until close to his next birthday.  As it was, he reached level 5 as a teenager and effectively blocked out some of the opportunities.



Daisy and Charles had been drifting apart recently, although that didn't stop them being eternally faithful.  I'd always been aware that Daisy also fancied her brother-in-law but suddenly she and James were flirting all over the place.



I'm not sure which of them started it. Maybe it was mutual.  Definitely a Big Thing, though.  Charles remained oblivious but Duncan caught them at it.  His relationship with Uncle James tanked but, oddly, he stayed best friends with his mother.



At 92 days, Charles ran out of time.



Oddly, Daisy had a 'mourning' rather than a 'heartbroken' moodlet – a recognition of their declining relationship or just a glitch?

Duncan had his young adult birthday…





…and joined the political career.



Shortly afterwards, Daisy had her appointment with Grim.  She was 99.



RIP, Daisy.  There's no logical reason for it (you should have been as irritating as Dashiell) but you were undoubtedly my favourite heir.

Last Generation Boredom set in and I forgot to take screenshots for a while.  Eventually, Duncan maxed charisma…



…and became Leader of the Free World.



He was still a young adult and short of three opportunities but it seemed like a good idea to start collecting NPC friends:



(That mysterious pyromaniac trait shows no sign of disappearing.)



Jammily, he met a repowoman (incongruously called Sunshine), while hanging around at a loose end in the middle of town.   They were best friends almost immediately.

Since the charisma opps seemed to have dried up, I consulted SimsWiki and steered Duncan towards writing and athletic, which both have crossover opps with politics.  It paid off on his next work shift, when 'In Office, In Shape' popped up.  (Pretty sure that's a first for me.)



And then everything went quiet for a week or so.  James had lots of opportunities.  The only thing that happened to Duncan was another birthday.

And then, weirdly, a tenth BlackOp appeared – but not one I'd have expected.  I like to think that Duncan was having a midlife crisis, even without Generations.  Maybe the stress of the Top Job was getting to him.  Or he thought that athletic opps were the way to go.  Whatever the cause, he was offered a job in the athletic career – and accepted.

Well, OK. I accepted it for him  .



Certainly a bizarre career move: at 13 simoleons per hour, the Rabid Fan job was worth a lot less than even his temporary teen job at the spa.

On the other hand, it was his tenth BlackOp.

James made a phone call as soon as he was back from work, adopted a child, and suddenly the challenge was finished.


Generation 10

Home: The Split, 223 Cotton Branch Drive, Riverview
Heir: Duncan
Traits: evil, friendly, good sense of humour, charismatic, workaholic
Lifetime wish: Leader of the Free world
Parents: Daisy and Charles (né Wilson) Steel
Heir on honour roll at both elementary and high school.

Household NPC friends:

• Errol Gregg (repairman)
• Kylee Ramos (pizza delivery)
• Jarrett Acker (policeman)
• Buddy Thayer (postman)
• Charlene Patten (burglar)
• Emmanuel Capps (firefighter)
• Sally Peachey (maid)
• Maggie Rinehart (papergirl)
• Sunshine Kwinn (repowoman)
• Tanya New (adoption worker)

Household best friends:

• Luke Parra
• Jose Frye
• Kendell Frye
• Sally Peachey
• Javon Stern
• Buddy Thayer
• Lulu Mather*
• Sunshine Kwinn
• Krista Fisk
• Serena Guerra

* Oscar Alphender was also still around.

Unique maxed career: politics
Unique supermaxed skill: charisma
Unique opportunities (Black Ops) completed by heir:   

• Smooth, Like Verbal Butter
• Wax Away
• Tough Negotiating
• The Cutest Photo shoot
• Care to Make a Donation?
• Business up Front, Party in Back
• A Party of Big Wigs
• Bestest Friends
• In Shape, In Office
• Going Pro

Building: Hogan's Deep-Fried Diner
Fully-upgraded property: Riverview Gymnasium
Heir adult?  Yes
Tombstones: Daisy and Charles Steel (large and medium, respectively).



Set of items of unique type: omniplant harvestables (ten copies of The Memoirs of Chin Han – the original was owned by a temporary housemate.  Sadly, they've depreciated despite being in the family inventory.)





Total value: §17245

Challenge completed on week 84, day 5.  Total value of all ten collections §405393.

[Trip]

GURL-

Eh get that hall of fame info to me (just the Best/Most Difficult blurbs, you've done good in this thread otherwise). The 1.67/1.69 patching debate is a non-issue IMO after I learned how many people went to great lengths to not patch. Congrats on doing the most decadynasties that literally anyone will do.

[Deklitch]

Yeah, I remember at the time it was said as being an optional update in terms of Carl's. I did the update, but I know many didn't

[hazelnut]

GURL-

Eh get that hall of fame info to me (just the Best/Most Difficult blurbs, you've done good in this thread otherwise).

I'll send you a pm as soon as I've finished posting this.

The 1.67/1.69 patching debate is a non-issue IMO after I learned how many people went to great lengths to not patch.

Yeah, I remember at the time it was said as being an optional update in terms of Carl's. I did the update, but I know many didn't

Thanks, both.  My computer does not get on at all with 1.69 – infuriating since it means I've lost access to my 70s 80s 90s and Movie Stuff packs and had to buy an additional physical copy of Town Life, since I wouldn't manage without that one.

Congrats on doing the most decadynasties that literally anyone will do.

Thank you – although I have a feeling KRae has also done two.

[hazelnut]

Riverview family trees

Crosby:



Shallow:



Wilson

[Trident]

WOW.

A DecaDynasty is hard enough, but you went ahead and made it harder. Then knocked it out of the park. The absolute most hazelnut move. Congratulations on finishing! Amazing job.