A Lynx Power of Ten Dynasty (26/05 update)

[Meg]

@oshizu She just needs to max the mixology skill to finish Master Mixologist. She’s close though, level 9 and half way to level 10.

@Joria Yes I saw Carl’s video on it and am watching out it for it. I can’t wait around at level 9 though as Catarina needs to get on with other requirements.

[Joria]

I tried with a "helper" but he earned levels past the 9 and then died so never got it.  I guess is isn't as easy as one would think!  Rock on Caterina!  You're doing so well.

[Meg]

Chapter 5

Despite working on his skills all day every day with Kayaan, Kit only just managed to max them all. I always struggle with top-notch toddler, and won’t be trying so hard with the twins. Catarina threw Kit a birthday party. Here’s Sable (right) and Robin (left) dancing in their party dresses.

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One last snuggle from Mummy…

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…and time to blow out the candles.

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Catarina looks a little sad to see her boy grow up.

I forgot to get a picture right out of the wardrobe, but here Kit is in his cold weather outfit.

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He still has Catarina’s colouring, but the shape of his eyes comes from Kayaan. He rolled the vegetarian trait. I was hoping for a trait that would suggest a skill or career path for him, like genius or creative, but it certainly could have been worse. For now he’ll just be working on Scouts and his social skill. Charisma will be a shared skill for all heirs, and will come in handy whatever his future path is.

The next day it was Kayaan’s turn to age up.

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He doesn’t look too happy about it. Or maybe he was annoyed that Bartholomew stole his big moment. After some thought, I’ve decided not to give him a Potion of Youth. The family is so big and it’s hard to keep track of all five of them plus the cats. Besides, he’s lived a good and full life. He and Catarina are as in love as ever.

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It also happened to be Winterfest that day. Decorations went up and presents came out.

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Kit and Kayaan built a snowpal together.

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Sable ran outside and started playing in the snow when she was supposed to be skilling up.

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She has a habit of doing this if I take my eye off her for too long, and apparently clothes are optional.

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Kit’s working on the Social Butterfly aspiration, so after school I have him do his homework out in the world somewhere so as to meet new sims.

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He's only met two children so far, Chelsey Bheeda (left) and Aya Assaoui (right). Chelsey is a glutton and Aya is lazy, so they don’t strike me as future spouse material, but they’re good friends.

Catarina is still working hard. She maxed mixology, which is her unique skill, and completed the Master Mixologist aspiration so is very close to having 10,000 satisfaction points. She’s been promoted to level 9 in her career, but promotions are coming slowly now and she’s only got one day of work before four days off, so I think it’ll be at least another week before she’s level ten. In the meantime she’ll be working on getting some good friends and starting her collection, which will be mixology drinks.

[oshizu]

So many wonderful screenshots! My favorites might be Kit's last snuggle and Kayaan's spotlight getting stolen on his birthday.
That shot of Bartholomew smiling makes me want to adopt a pet when an heir moves to Brindleton Bay... 
Have the Lynxes and their Watcher enjoyed being owned by cats?
The twins are so adorable!

Congratulations to Cat on completing her unique skill! And only one more promotion!
Do you have the Spa Day pack? If Cat hires a massage therapist 2 hrs before work and asks for a Ylang Ylang aromatherapy massage, she'll go to work Very Inspired for the next 8 hrs or so.
Those careers with few works days at the higher level are very tough!!! You can do it, Catarina!
She might even be able to finish all of her odd jobs between mixologist nights....

[Meg]

@oshizu Thanks . The cats are good fun once they’re trained not to scratch up the furniture and wake sims up. There’s a really cute interaction where a toddler can imitate a cat and the adults can get their fun up quickly by playing with the cats. I don’t have spa day unfortunately, nor Island Living which I think has the odd jobs in? I’ll have to wait until Catarina has finished the mixologist career then have her become a freelancer.

[oshizu]

Last year, my sims owned a cat or two in a dynasty challenge and a Pinstar Legacy, but both times they kept getting stuck on kitchen counters.
I'm thinking it was due to bad custom content. I'm still hoping to try again soon in my Power of 10.
In your dynasty, will every Lynx heir own a cat?

In my P10, I get my sim feeling Very Confident then have them Negotiate Bonus over the phone. I think it works over 80% of the time.
Ooooh, no Island Living--I was wondering why you were waiting to do odd jobs.
Your Catarina will have maxed mixologist, I'm sure, by your next update.

[BallerinaHippo]

Kit and his younger sisters are all cuties.  And they all got the red hair!

Social Butterfly is a good aspiration for meeting other kids.  Hopefully your game will generate some better spouse options for Kit.

[Meg]

Last year, my sims owned a cat or two in a dynasty challenge and a Pinstar Legacy, but both times they kept getting stuck on kitchen counters.
I'm thinking it was due to bad custom content. I'm still hoping to try again soon in my Power of 10.
In your dynasty, will every Lynx heir own a cat?

There thankfully haven't been any bugs with the cats so far, but I don't have any CC. I'm not planning on every heir owning a cat, no. I prefer dogs in the sims as you can train them and take them for walks. The cats have been nice additions for a while, but they don't do much.

[Meg]

Chapter 6

Sable and Robin aged up a few days after Kit. I still don’t have many pictures of them for some reason, but I got these few.

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And after blowing out the candles.

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That’s Robin on the left, she rolled the goofball trait, and Sable on the right, she rolled music lover. Robin looks a lot like Kit, and they both take after Kayaan more than I first thought, while Sable looks more like Catarina. Along with Kit, they both joined Scouts. They look cute in their uniforms

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Sable has also take up the violin.

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Robin is mostly left to her own devices, working on scout badges and playing with the doctor set. All three kids easily got As in their first week of school, and Kit has completed the Social Butterfly aspiration. He now works on his charisma and scout badges.

Kayaan has plenty of free time as well, now that the tots are all grown up. I let him relax mostly. He gardens, plays with the children, and reads. He’s also upgrading things in the house, as he likely won’t be here much longer and wants to leave it in as good a condition as possible for his family.

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I follow him to work sometimes for a change. Is it very unprofessional to interview potential future spouses for your son while on the job?

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Catarina is the real star of this update though. A strange old man approached her while at work and offered to sell her what he promised would be a very special drink guide. It was. Catarina made the Snaggle Fluster as soon as she got home and then got to work on charisma as she needed to level up to be promoted. It took a few drinks (and a few bladder failures, oops!) but she managed it.

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Looking good!

She then aged up without a party because I forgot it was her birthday. Oops, again. Look, I never told her founding a dynasty would be easy! The Snaggle Fluster hadn’t yet worn off, so she also got her seventh whim – sleep it off.

She’s now made ten Snaggle Flusters for her collection.

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I’ve put them in an inaccessible basement so that nobody accidentally drinks them, but they’ll be put on display before Kit moves out.

I expected Catarina to get the promotion to level 10 immediately, but after only a little performance gain on her first two days back and facing another four days off, I bought her the Entrepreneurial reward (she managed 10,000 happiness points a few days earlier by working on the Master Chef aspiration). I could have tried to negotiate a bonus as Oshizu recommended, but I  completely forgot so wasted the happiness points instead. But at least it did the trick and she’s now a Celebrity Mixologist!

For about five minutes.

She won’t be going to work again. It’s time to become a Freelancer and get serious about these moving requirements. Kit is just a few days from becoming a teen, and if he’s to move out as planned on his young adult birthday, Catarina need to get cracking. She’s got five requirements down, five to go!


A little update:
Unique career – Culinary: Mixologist Done
Unique skill – Mixology Done
10,000 satisfaction points Done
10,000 simoleons Done
10 good friends - 2/10
10 freelance gigs - 0/10
10 parties – 5/10
10 whims for 10 different emotions – 9/10
10 different community lots for at least 2 hours – 7/10
10-item collection Done

[oshizu]

Wooo, Catarina is half done with her requirements now! Way to go, Watcher!
And your whims and community lot visits are close to done, too!

I'm sorry to see Kayaan as an elder so early.
A huge congrats to Catarina for learning the Snagglefluster recipe! Awesome!
I'm sure she'll have time to finish everything before Kit's young adult birthday.

Haha, I was surprised to hear that you're planning for a future heir to own a dog.
I'm a dog person in real life, but I opted for a cat for my sims precisely because it doesn't require walks.
Obviously, I'm a much lazier simmer than you are, lol.

Good luck to your Lynxes. Looking forward to your next update, Meg. Don't keep us waiting. 

(About reward traits, I thought that, with Connections, a sim starts a job at Level 4 (or Level 3 if it branches at Level 4); and, with Entrepreneurial, a sim gets a performance boost at the end of each work day.)

[Meg]

(About reward traits, I thought that, with Connections, a sim starts a job at Level 4 (or Level 3 if it branches at Level 4); and, with Entrepreneurial, a sim gets a performance boost at the end of each work day.)

Hmm, I’ve either bought her the wrong reward trait then, or I’m mistaken and I did buy her entrepreneurial, I’ll  have to check that. I hardly ever use reward traits so it’s entirely possible I got the wrong one. It doesn’t really matter now though I guess, I don’t know if they’d even apply to a freelance career and I’m not trying to get her to the top in that anyway. Thanks for reading and letting me know

[oshizu]

Haha. I agree that the most important thing is that Catarina maxed her first career and can now join Freelancer.

Wow, you don't usually buy reward traits, Meg? You are really a hardcore simmer! o.O

[Heart Foam]

Well done on the Snaggle Fluster recipe! I'm all the jealous. If you ever get a cloning machine at home it might be useful to have a spare, non-museum Snaggle Fluster for cloning.

I think most sim parents would interview future spouses in that situation, which makes it normal. The kids are gorgeous. Catarina is an excellent starting sim. 

[Meg]

A slight edit to the last chapter, it was the Entrepreneurial reward trait I bought Catarina not Connections. 

Chapter 7

After the success of the last update, the family were brought down suddenly. First sweet Bartholomew died. The family were all devastated from having seen their beloved cat pass away, and no sooner had their grief faded it was Josie’s time. And then almost immediately, Cleo’s.

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Catarina took it particularly hard. Her cats have been with her since the start of this challenge and have always cheered her up when things didn’t go to plan. Whether it was a hug and a chat to keep up her social need or playing to keep up her fun, they were always there when she needed them.

The string of sad moodlets was hard to bear, but Kayaan was always there to comfort the family. He’s undoubtedly been a rock for them all, raising the children almost entirely alone with Catarina working so much, still working himself, fixing the house up, and always being there for Catarina. Love Day came soon after Cleo’s death, and Catarina had the day off so she and Kayaan were able to spend it together. Then the next day when Catarina was at work, Grim came for Kayaan.

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Most tragically, the children were home and had to witness the death of their father. It took all of Catarina’s strength to hold back her own grief and comfort them, as she knew Kayaan would have.

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She decided a vacation would be good for them all, so they headed to Granite Falls. All morning it stormed and Catarina got hit by lightning, but it cleared up in the afternoon and proved to be a boost to everyone’s spirits. They spent some much needed time as a family, eating together for every meal, having mud fights, and playing games.

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They were all feeling better when it came time to go home, just in time for Kit’s teen birthday.

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Seeing her boy grow up reminded Catarina of why she had agreed to found this dynasty in the first place. When she had lived alone with just her cats she had not had to experience pain like losing Kayaan, but she hadn’t had the joys he gave her either. And they’re worth it, every time.

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So now she’s a Freelancer and working on her ten jobs. She’s currently writing, but if she gets too high up in that skill I’ll switch her over to something else as I want to keep as many skills free as possible for future generations.

[oshizu]

Catarina is such a trooper, losing not only every last cat but even her beloved Kayaan.
That shot of her, singed by lightning, but sitting with her kids with a smile in Granite Falls is priceless.
What is Kit doing in Granite Falls? Dancing the Egyptian?

Kit aged up to a handsome teenager! He seems to resemble both of his parents.
His time is coming soon!