Carr Immortal Dynasty (Completed)

[Trip]

The autoplaced Ambitions lots are all dark but I've found you can fix it by setting the light color for the whole lot (white is obvious, I go with flame for added warmth)

[hazelnut]

Ah! Thanks for the tip.

[Chubling]

Everyone looks so stylish! I love Austin and his terrible fashion so much. All the prints! And Mercedes is looking gorgeous! She looks so good in that pink color. I love them!

[hazelnut]

Thanks, @Chubling!


Baby, you can drive my car

Austin took a trip to Champs les Sims but seemed baffled by the whole tomb-exploration thing.



For a supposed International Sim of Mystery, he's rubbish at the actual international travel.  (Not very mysterious either, come to think of it  .)  He's a long way from the playboy I was envisioning, as well.



He and Mercedes had barely left their teens when they officially became Eternally Faithful.  Popping the question was the obvious next step.



Sadly, the next significant event in the household was Darren leaving it.



He'd lived to 97 and maxed painting, photography and handiness.  We'll all miss him.

In an attempt to cheer everyone up (and to keep them busy), Abrielle cloned another DNA sample, specimen 4313, and named him Alvis.



And then, just as they'd finished mourning Darren, Grim came for Jaycen  .





Life had to go on.  Austin was now making over clients in their own homes rather than at the salon – still with mixed results.



His biggest disaster, though, was his own mother's makeover.  Minnie was supposed to be getting two new outfits and a slight change of hairstyle.  Instead, she ended up like this:



It took a lot of talking about his upcoming wedding for Austin to get back into her good books.  Fortunately, a shower restored Minnie to her pre-makeover state.

The unexpected upside emerged a few days later, when I discovered that the replicator bug had struck again.  They should have had 120 servings of ambrosia.  Instead, the replicators were empty.  But at least the bad makeover had reset Minnie's age back to the beginning of the elder stage.



Little Alvis had his first birthday and was taught his basic skills by Minnie.  Now that he was reasonably self-sufficient, it was time for Abrielle to add to the household again.  Specimen 9845 was named Riley.



Unlike Minnie, Austin opted to get married at a party.



The terrace really isn't big enough for even a small crowd.  Morris was unable to squeeze through to take photos.  I think the next outdoor party had better be in the back garden (or 'the bare patch of desert behind the house', to be strictly accurate) or on a community lot.

Ignoring the chaos among the guests, the bride and groom exchanged rings.



Wedding cakes are apparently more exciting than birthday cakes  .



Mercedes and Austin spent their honeymoon in Shang Simla.





While they were there, Austin delivered a painting to a discerning Chinese collector and they explored a couple of tombs, Mercedes proving rather better than her new husband at that kind of thing.  Largely thanks to her, Austin had a level 2 visa by the end of the holiday.



Soon after their return home, Alvis and Riley had a shared birthday…



…and it became obvious that there was going to be another addition to the family.




Credit:  Minnie's formalwear is Ekinege's lace dress for elders, from TSR.

In a misguided fit of inventory-tidying, I deleted all of Austin's photos from Champs les Sims shortly before the wedding  .  I'm really going to regret that if he gets the 'French Photos' opp…

Anyone up for another round of 'Guess the DNA Donors'?  You could either PM me with your guesses or hide them under a spoiler tag.

[Trip]

Without names: I can see that Riley's donor made it to the wedding. That's nice of him. Or it's just another family member...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...cuz I think it's one of the Gilbert boys. Not like I could tell them apart on instinct. I'm gonna be really out-there and say that Alvis' donor is the Lancaster-Irwin kid.

[Chubling]

Babies! I'm super unfamiliar with any of the townies in the store towns, so I'm terrible at getting to guess. But I love the babies! I can't wait to see what they grow into. How is photography to supermax? I'm assuming Austin is supermaxing it.

[hazelnut]

Babies! I'm super unfamiliar with any of the townies in the store towns, so I'm terrible at getting to guess. But I love the babies! I can't wait to see what they grow into. How is photography to supermax? I'm assuming Austin is supermaxing it.

SimsWiki has pictures of all of them, so you could look there if you really wanted to have a go.  Can't see why you'd bother, though .

I have supermaxed photography a few times and it's a pain, partly because you have to take oodles of photos of people, and partly because Shutternut tends not to register (although you are allowed to count it for dynasties if you've met the requirements, even if the game doesn't acknowledge that you've completed it).  I did get all five challenges to register simultaneously with Ama in the Household Skills but I think that's the only time.  Austin's designated supermax is painting.  He may also get through all of the photography challenges eventually but that will be a bonus.

I've only played through the stylist career a couple of times before (my painters tend to be architects or self-employed), so that's the new element here.

@Trip: no comment as yet on your guesses.

I deliberately didn't reply to your earlier comment about Austin's supermax but as you've probably gathered by now, and as I just said to @Chubling, it's painting, not photography.  The stylist career is relatively unfamiliar and enough of a challenge without ploughing through a photography supermax, when he'll almost certainly get all three painting challenges without trying.

[saltiesophie]

This is such a unique Dynasty! And the babies are all super cute. 

[starlives]

I am totally useless at seeing any likenesses in sims children to their parents and to be quite honest I have no idea how to add spoilers or PM you.  So sorry no guesses on clone parentage from me.

I have played the Stylist career only a couple of times too but I did find it great fun changing the look of residents in my games although I found a motive mobile a great boon for making all the house calls.

 

[Trident]

How much were Austin's photos worth? Were they...one million dollars?

[hazelnut]

This is such a unique Dynasty! And the babies are all super cute. 

Thanks

I am totally useless at seeing any likenesses in sims children to their parents and to be quite honest I have no idea how to add spoilers or PM you.  So sorry no guesses on clone parentage from me.

I have played the Stylist career only a couple of times too but I did find it great fun changing the look of residents in my games although I found a motive mobile a great boon for making all the house calls.

I like giving townies ridiculous makeovers (wish I still had Movie Stuff ).  I generally tried to stick with the 1960s theme this time.  Austin's been doing the bare minimum of makeovers and generally levelling up by sketching, to keep the file size to a minimum, so the motive mobile hasn't been called into service yet.

How much were Austin's photos worth? Were they...one million dollars?

I think I'm missing something here... 

[hazelnut]

@Trip, you're good at this!  Yes, Riley is a Gilbert.  Joshua was at the wedding, in the pinky-red jacket.  I really wanted him as a donor, given my fondness for redhaired Sims.  (The redhead sitting behind him in that screenshot is Jeanie Lancaster, and I have got her DNA – although may not use it, since that would be a double dose of Jaycen in the family tree.)   Unfortunately, Josh grew up neurotic and refused to donate DNA.  So Riley is a clone of Hanson Gilbert.

Alvis is indeed one of the Five Foetuses.  Lola's baby was dark-haired but was a girl this time, named Karissa.  Can't remember whether I have her DNA and/or tombstone.  Alvis is a clone of Lennon's son, Garett Shaw.  (This game is generating silly numbers of townies called Garrett or variants thereof.)


Roundabout

Mercedes had a baby girl and named her Vera Winifred.  (Well. if you've been stuck with Mercedes, you want to give your kid a nice, sensible name.)



Everyone else decided that Vera Winifred was far too much of a mouthful and shortened it to VW.

Shortly after becoming a father, Austin maxed painting and achieved his Visionary lifetime wish.



A couple of days later, he supermaxed.



Mercedes, who had clearly been taking lessons from her mother-in-law, reluctantly took her daughter to her first cake.



I think VW was probably the most adorable toddler so far .  She also started off with greenish hair, by the way (the darker version this time) and had it shifted to more of a true brown.



Alvis and Riley grew up some more…



…and Austin reached the top of the stylist career by discussing fashion with Abrianna King, just before giving her yet another makeover.  (The woman's addicted!)



He celebrated by buying a new car.  Since I couldn't find a Sims 3 E-Type at all, let alone one with a Union Jack paint job, he had to settle for this:



VW had another birthday.  Minnie, who had done most of the toddler training as usual, helped her to blow out the candles.  Mercedes seemed much happier as a spectator.





And, just a few days after her twin had extended her lifespan again, Abrielle ran out of time.





Yeah, kids.  Me too  .  Rest in peace, dear Abrielle.


Looking at it from a positive viewpoint, Abrielle had achieved a lot in her 103 days.  She maxed five skills (science, logic, guitar, cooking and fishing) and had points in several more, and had reached the top of both the medical and symphonic music careers.

Credit: VW's toddler hairstyle is ATS3 Sandy's conversion of Perfect Pigtails from the Store's Fashionable Fitness set.

[starlives]

I just love Austin's car!  Abrielle was indeed a talented sim with so many maxed skills and careers.  But kudos to her watcher for this.  How you manage to give attention to so many sims at the same time is really impressive.  I'm afraid I find 4 too many!

[hazelnut]

How you manage to give attention to so many sims at the same time is really impressive.  I'm afraid I find 4 too many!

It's a combination of a lot of practice and playing relatively slowly.  (The other Simmers I know in real life find my gameplay irritatingly slow.)


If Only Everything in Life was as Reliable…

As the first child in the household who couldn't make an early start on skilling, VW mostly did what she liked – although her watcher did encourage an interest in insects.



I really want her to become a Beetle Collector at some point .

Riley aged up to teen…



…and was duly taught to drive by Minnie.  He and Alvis were both bought cars and posed with them by the new garage to the rear of the house (because four parking spaces just aren't enough ).



Soon, it was VW's turn to be hit by teen sparkles.



The hormones didn't take long to kick in – and, unfortunately, neither did her new social awkwardness.  She'd only had the trait for a couple of hours when this happened:



Well, maybe Riley would be more receptive to her romantic advances.



He would, in fact.  Looks as though the next spouse has been decided already.

(Those were both spontaneous interactions by the way – VW really did have a bad case of teenage hormones.)

Minnie, in her role as family peacemaker, sat VW and Alvis down to eat, chat and do their homework together, and succeeded in repairing their friendship.



And Alvis became a young adult.  One with very unfortunate hair .



He was sent off to the mirror and dresser and returned considerably improved.



He also had a new bedroom, because I was in a decorating mood and saw a chance to put the Diesel bed to good use.



The weekend arrived and VW made a start on her supermax skill at last.



Since there was going to be a lot of analysis and experimentation in her future, she took a more hands-on approach to learning than the household's previous scientists.



Even so, the skill built quickly.



She still found time to learn to drive and was bought a car.



Elsewhere in the family, things were going less well.  Austin was still making over townsfolk, because I wanted to try to complete a portfolio for the first time, and also to collect some more service awards.  That was looking less likely as time went on – he hadn't even been presented with the Key to the City for becoming a Fashion Phenomenon.



There were other signs of glitchiness as well: Alvis hadn't had a graduation, although the teens had had an otherwise inexplicable day off school, and there were occasional outbreaks of lagging and everyone dropping their action queues.

And Alvis was proving to be a complete liability.  I'd expected great things from him: Garett, his DNA donor was an artistic savvy sculptor.  Unfortunately, while Alvis was a perfect copy, the two traits he inherited from Garett were easily impressed and couch potato.  It was very hard to prise him away from the TV.  And even when he was in the sculpting studio...



That was his first metal sculpture (and the household's first bum fire).  And he catches fire Every. Single. Time.  I can only conclude that he must enjoy it, because leave him anywhere near an empty sculpting station and you can guarantee that a block of metal and a blowlamp will appear.  Honestly, he's a watcher's nightmare.  Actually, come to think of it, maybe I should give him a midlife crisis and make him a daredevil.  Then he really would enjoy catching fire and it wouldn't be so scary.

I think VW made the right choice, though.




Credit: Volkswagen Beetle by Fresh Prince.

[CeresIn]

Love the dynasty with all the 60th vibe! It made me miss my Ragnum Dynasty with all the cloning happening, is a more relaxed way to have variety of genetics without going crazy with pollinators, as long as your sims are friends with the donors and don't travel with the samples, everything is ok.