The Test of Time Challenge

[lizz2034]

Lizz I might drop by for the sims but I will stay for the crochet !! I LOVE to crochet as well.
That's so cool that you also love both! :beer:

[SandyJS]

Lizz I might drop by for the sims but I will stay for the crochet !! I LOVE to crochet as well.

Lizz, I'm another who loves to crochet. Anna, I just spent a few enjoyable minutes reading your blog. I envy those folks who can actually create a story while playing!

:beer:

[anna220]

Well how cool is that - The 3 crocheteers ! We can have a secondary group to keep us all together when we get bored of the sims LOLOL omg I think that was sacrilege !! I love baby blankets most of all but I do lots of different things - ipod and kobo covers are quick to whip up. Ive started to make up my own patterns as well which is surprising me totally ! I never thought I would be able to do such a thing. Sandy thanks for checking out my blog. Sometimes the stories write themselves and others well its like nailing jello to a tree. How many times and ways can you say a sim aged? :lol:

[floor1304]

I finally made it through round 1! I'm so proud of myself! :rofl: I think it will become much interesting now, with all the todlers. If anyone wants to see how my first round went, I put the pictures on my weebly: lifesachallenge.weebly.com

On to round 2!

[DitzyEkko]

I can't believe that I have marry-able Gen 5s and I still haven't married off all my Gen 3s.

I have teen Gen 5s and infant Gen3s! I am trying to keep the generations more clearly separated now, with a few exceptions. But, man, its a lot of work!

Also I've never had so many kids attack each other before. My 1st fight was between teen twin brothers (Brayv & Bouph Ugg) back in the neanderthal days, but just yesterday I had child-age twin sisters attack each other. Samunia won and so Samenia had to die. Really sad because their parents had finally reached 6 children, the last two being twin boys and the boys both died in infancy (social worker!) and then Samenia died. So back to the bedroom for mom and dad, working on their son/heir again. And yes, two sets of twins in a row for mom Epera. NO TWIN CHEATS!

Also Uraye Servius was scared to death by a ghost and her husband saved her and then left for work. Uraye walked around the house and then left the lot forever, causing them to lose their only surviving son Rilios. And now Entheoyos doesn't have a wife, but is still married to Uraye! GLITCHY

But praise the GODS, Emperor Mosl has a healthy son who has made it to child age. Long live Prince Nereos Fufidius and may Empress Eaugha be blessed again with a male child.

Prince Esamu got quite a shock when his wife delivered him a 4th daughter who was just a little to dark-skinned to be his. Princess Otaie and her two bastards were quickly banished from court and Esamu married his recently widowed sister-in-law, Princess Eashi, hoping to add a son to his family.

[nuidyaforever]

Wow, Ditzy. Still not a fan of the male supremacy (VT, Queen of the Simazons :king: ) but I love all the drama. If only I could come up with an idea for my own restart... I don't want to reuse anything I've already done, but I can't think of anything new at the moment. :faceslap: I don't crochet, but I do bead looming... does that count?

Anyway, I'm really tired so it's time for VT to go night-night. Not that I have anything in particular to report. :rolleyes:

- VT

[lizz2034]

You can check out my channel on Youtube. I've shared a lot of my crochet stuff and I even made a tutorial for an amigurumi mouse. http://www.youtube.com/user/happilyeverafter999

[SandyJS]

Wow, Ditzy. Still not a fan of the male supremacy (VT, Queen of the Simazons :king: ) but I love all the drama. If only I could come up with an idea for my own restart... I don't want to reuse anything I've already done, but I can't think of anything new at the moment. :faceslap: I don't crochet, but I do bead looming... does that count?

Anyway, I'm really tired so it's time for VT to go night-night. Not that I have anything in particular to report. :rolleyes:

- VT
Bead Looming! That's another of my many hobbies! :beer: Do you do Facebook? If so, there is a bead looming group on there that I could introduce you to the leader of. :beer:

[lizz2034]

I have a facebook. Also, there's this group called "The Crochet Crowd" and they are a loom-knitting group as well. Here's my facebook url: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=565594803 :beer:

[SandyJS]

WooHoo! My first Gen 3 baby is born. It's a Girl!

[anna220]

LOL Ditzy it sounds like you have a real soap opera going on there ! Highly entertaining. VT Im not sure what bead looming is but I love beads even tho I cant figure out what to do with them. Well I see lots of things to do with them I just cant be bothered to actually do anything with them ! Like Im not really interested in jewelry but it does look awesome. Lizz I had to lol at the hats for charity video. The music was so powerful. Your mouse and pug were adorable as well. And back OT, Sandy congrats on the new gen 3 baby !! Now just grow her into an adult its the Roman era for you.

[Rarr]

I have a question... you say that some of the teens arent to go to school but how does that work doesnt the social worker take them?

[Darby]

Teens aren't subject to being taken by Social Services. They can live independently, with no adults on the lot, and are allowed to essentially drop out of school. Downside to that being they can't hold a job if they don't go to school, because no one wants to hire/keep them once they get an F grade.

[Rarr]

oh ok i havent played a lot of teens which is weird but thanx a lot for the help :)

[DitzyEkko]

Went back to the Servius slave house and Uraye was back and her pregnancy had continued to progress so she just about popped when I entered their lot. A girl :( . So she doesn't have any surviving sons and can't conceive again.
Express Eaugha has delivered a 5th child, 4th daughter and is carrying what will be her last child before aging to elder. But Emperor Mosl is determined to get 10 children before his next stage in life and has impregnated his two female slaves (he is hardcore family values and punished his own sister Otaie harshly for disrespecting them through adultery). mosl won't acknowledge them, but he'll know they are there.
Epera Ovidius has delivered her 3rd twin set in a row (both boys) and is pregnant with another to equal 6 living children and 3 who have perished.

[Jnbb]

Hey all! I've been lurking around this challange for about a week now and started yesterday. I added one more stage of life for my sims after the cavemen ... Egyptian. THe system will work like the Roman...but to be realistic as possible...well...you'll have to see lol...
Anyways, I will be following this thread and hope you all could check out my "blog" for this challenge...
http://jnbb.blog.com/

[Lady Scarlet]

Wow, again, so many new people playing this challenge since I posted here last time.I'm glad too see new faces ^^ I hope you all enjoy this challenge and I can't wait to see more photos ^^
I took a short pause from it this summer (I wanted to try something else, so in the meantime, I played with the Pleasantview characters), but now 'm back ^^ Still playing with my second generation, almost everyone found a spouse and now some of the children from my third generation arrived.Can't wait to start my Roman Era ^^ I'll took some photos later and post them here.

[lizz2034]

I didn't think of adding a separate stage for the eqyptians, but I basically have the Eyptian empire going on at the same time as the Romans/Greeks. It's nice to see someone with a similar idea. :D

[floor1304]

@Lizz2034: I did think of the same thing as you, having the Egyptian time at the same time as the Roman/Greek! I think I will do that if I have enough families.

[Lady Scarlet]

I thought about that too, but I wasn't sure if I should really use this idea ^^" I downloaded Egyptian stuff, but I'm still at the first stage with my game, so I have enough time to think.
For now, I just built some Greek and Roman houses.

[SandyJS]

I've decided that the Skin 1 families will be the Romans, the Skin 4 families will be the Egyptians and the families with mixed skins will be the ones on the lower levels. Watching a MASH episode the other day reminded me that many civilizations made outcasts those of mixed parentage.

[Mai2008]

Starting.

[applesryummy]

Question: What Extension Packs are needed to play this challenge?

-OFB?
-Seasons?
-Bon Voyage?
-University?
-Free Time?
-Apartment?
-Night Life?

Help!

[floor1304]

@applesryummy: For the first stage, you'll need season, otherwise your simmies have nothing to live from, if they can't catch fish or grow plants! For the rest of the Eras, I'd say that the more expansion packs you have, the better your game gets! Some options will be disabled in later Era's if you don't have the expansion packs like university or OFB, but I think that only seasons is really necessary.

[Jnbb]

It would just make more sense to add an Egyptian era... "aliens helped the cavemen" :P

[anna220]

Well we are in the process of moving into our first house so I have had no time at all for my simmies who I am missing terribly. Once we get settled tho I will be back with a vengeance :!: I am still trying to make it through the caveman era. I was just about to start on the first teens who I have moved out to their own lots so it should be a lot of fun when I get back to it :D Welcome to the new players !

[nuidyaforever]

Ooh, more new players? Sneaking in behind my back while I'm distracted with other things, are you? :lol: VT has returned after an extended period of distraction. Her ToTM v3 is somewhere on the list of priorities for new projects after I finish rebuilding my second hood. I also do not recommend switching between first person and third person in the middle of a sentence. :rolleyes:

- VT

[VioletPadfoot]

I also do not recommend switching between first person and third person in the middle of a sentence. :rolleyes:

- VT
But I do this all the time... Especially on Facebook status updates. ~VP

[floor1304]

I just realised there is no winter in Egypt, but there was a winter in where-ever those Romans lived, this is a problem as I want to do both in the same Era. Does anyone have a solution?

[nuidyaforever]

But I do this all the time... Especially on Facebook status updates. ~VP

Fair enough.

- VT

[Peni Griffin]

Rome is in Italy, where the winters are relatively mild. Either set the seasons to spring/summer/summer/fall; or add a subhood with a different set of seasons and define one subhood as "Rome" and the other as "Egypt."

[nuidyaforever]

The alternate version created by Star already covers that as well. That has two subhoods with different seasons, where one develops into Rome and the other into Egypt (although as far as I know, it hasn't been updated to that point yet).

- VT

[floor1304]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't know you could have a subhood with different seasons.

I tried to load the BBS site where that alternate version is, but the sims2 site is "down for mantainance"... really annoying.

Well, I think I will make a subhood in the Egyptian theme than.

[nuidyaforever]

Yup, each subhood has a separate seasonal rotation. You can have a hood where it's always summer, a downtown that's covered in perpetual snow, and in the university the seasons run backwards... anywho.

Star's website is here (http://starsaphire.weebly.com/time-rules.html), Floor. Her rules for the first two generations are there if you want to check them out. I'm not sure about later generations though as she seems to be busy with other things. *looks around to see if I can spot her - nope*

- VT

[floor1304]

Oke, thanks! I must have messed something up in my head... @__@ LOL

[lizz2034]

That subhoods for separate climates is awesome! I'm definitely going to incorporate that, since I love having the Egyptians as well. :rofl:

[tigerygurl]

Wow, I missed a lot!

It took me a month to cover my 6th rotation (thanks to school and such, I haven't had time to breathe, let alone play Sims 2). The pictures are here, if anyone's interested:

http://testoftimetigerystyle.weebly.com/neanderthal.html

[floor1304]

@tigerygurl: It takes me over a month to get through round 2 and I've still got 2 families to go...! lol. I liked your story!

Edit 26-09-2011: My first simmie died... And I'm still in round 2... @_@

[lizz2034]

I was just wondering what you guys would do in this situation: Your TOT sim goes to a community lot where other TOT sims and regular NPCs are. Another TOT sim gets into a fight with an NPC. In my case, the TOT sim won, so it didn't matter, but what would you guy's do if the NPC won? Would you kill the TOT sim off or ignore the situation?

[floor1304]

I think I would just ignore the situation, as you're not allowed to talk or greet NPC's, so you also can't fight them. Just pretend NPC's don't exist and that the sim is fighting with him/her self :p

[nuidyaforever]

I recommend clean templates (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=986aa5bf66ca35b03f2d15b971005a73&topic=13382.0) and Pescado's anti-respawn mods myself. That's what I use to prevent random modern humans wandering around my otherworld hoods.

- VT

[anna220]

Great update Tigergurl ! lol @ leg holders. I would ignore the NPC fight as well.

[lizz2034]

I've been searching for an answer for about a month now but can't find one specific to my problem. I have a lot of recolors like paintings, the easel, piano, instruments, etc, that aren't showing up in the catalog anymore. However, the recolored objects already placed in house are still there in their recolored form. I just can't buy them recolored again if I tried. Nothing changed in my game, I've had CEP all along and I'm pretty sure it's updated since the last release came out years ago.
The only results that come up when I search for an answer are things I already have or have tried (the typical stuff). Custom meshes for objects are showing up just fine and recolors for custom meshes are fine, too. It's only Maxis recolors that aren't showing anymore. But custom bed spreads do show.
I'm at a loss as to how to fix it, so I though it was worth a try to ask you all about. I miss my recolors! :blink:

[floor1304]

I have a few suggestions, but I have no idea if I'm right, 'cause I've never really had that problem myself.

- Did you install a new EP or ST lately? Maybe the recolors were made before that expansion pack came out, and won't work because of that. If so, I think there's no other solution than download other recolors.
- Do you have simPe? I think I've read somewhere that might be necessary too.
- You can always try to get the recolors out of the subfolders and directly into the downloads folder. Some downloads only work if they're in the downloads folder.
- You can always try redownloading the bunch, but I think that's a lot of work!
- Maybe there's some sort of bug in your CEP files, you can also try reinstalling CEP.

I hope I helped you a bit with this, as I'm not an expert as it comes to this, but I am really good at researching, so I'll try that and if I find something I'll post it here. :P

EDIT: Have you tried contacting EA? Maybe they're familiar with the problem as they've created the game

[lizz2034]

I have a few suggestions, but I have no idea if I'm right, 'cause I've never really had that problem myself.

- Did you install a new EP or ST lately? Maybe the recolors were made before that expansion pack came out, and won't work because of that. If so, I think there's no other solution than download other recolors.
- Do you have simPe? I think I've read somewhere that might be necessary too.
- You can always try to get the recolors out of the subfolders and directly into the downloads folder. Some downloads only work if they're in the downloads folder.
- You can always try redownloading the bunch, but I think that's a lot of work!
- Maybe there's some sort of bug in your CEP files, you can also try reinstalling CEP.

-I have not installed a new EP. I have everything except BV.
- I have simPE
- the downloads are not in subfolders since I've only recently started organizing my massive dowloads folder, which none of those files have made it into a subfolder yet.
- I'll try redownloading CEP sometime soon to see if it fixes it.

[floor1304]

Originally posted by lizz2034
I've only recently started organizing my massive dowloads folder, which none of those files have made it into a subfolder yet.
When did you start organizing your downloads folder? Before or after the problem came? Maybe it has something to do with that. Do you have CEP in a subfolder?

- Have you downloaded a hack or something alike lately? Sometimes it can conflict with your other downloads.

- You can also try to download a maxis recolor that you don't already have. If that one does show up, the problem is in the files of the other maxis recolors, and then I recommend redownloading. If it does not show up, I think there's something wrong with either the CEP or your game.

- Maybe a stupid question, but are you sure you have cc enabled in your game?

[SandyJS]

Ahhh, quick question here. Can I move downloads into subfolders and have the game still find them?

[floor1304]

Originally posted by SandyJS
Ahhh, quick question here. Can I move downloads into subfolders and have the game still find them?
Depends on what sort of download it is. I came across this site when I was researching (^_^) : http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Organizing_Custom_Content#Subfolder

[lizz2034]

- The problem started a month before I began organizing my downloads folder.
- I don't have any hacks yet.
- and yes, I do have CC enabled

- but that test sounds like a good one to do. I'll try it out.

[floor1304]

Lizz, I came across a person who had the almost the same problem as you have. She eventually solved it, by cleaning up her complete simsfolder -> http://nene.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=2179646

Maybe you should try following what she did.

[nuidyaforever]

Well, I have no idea what's going on with Lizz's downloads, but - unusually for me - I have just woken up at 5am and I have an idea. (Neither of those two things are particularly unusual on their own, but together... new one on me.)

WARNING: IDEA NOT PLAYTESTED. I am going to once I finish this post - until then, use at your own risk. Not that I think it will take long for me to test it out.

I remember reading something, I can't remember where, that said that if you plant vegetables on an OFB business lot, and sell it back once they are harvestable, there will always be harvestable plants on the lot whenever anyone visits. Somehow, I managed to make the connection while I was asleep that this could be used to simulate the gathering aspect of a hunter-gatherer life during the Neanderthal stage - build a "foraging area" lot perhaps, randomly dot a few veggie plots about (I recommend invisible garden plot defaults (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=282161) for this), plant a few plants and using either testing cheats or extreme patience :lol: get them to a harvestable state. Every few days, Sims could visit the lot and gather the veggies.

Taking this a step further, I also thought of the playable farm set that can be found here (http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/ts2/simsmyfarm_sims2farm/) at paysitesmustbedestroyed.org - perhaps the same principle can be applied to the chickens, pigs and cows. (This is the part I haven't tested. Beware.) I thought that it might be possible to buy a few of them on a community lot, sell it back, and then send some of your cavesims to the lot to "hunt" them. Like I said, i have yet to try this myself, but I'm just about to.

I know you're not supposed to have community lots during the Neanderthal stage, but go on, be rebels, everyone adapts challenges somehow. ;)

To the testing hood... AWAY!

- VT

Edit: Tested. The veggies are working just as whoever it was said they would, but the pigs I bought on my test lot vanished when I reloaded. However, even after selling the lot, I could still buy and kill them - as long as I had the right objects on the lot - but the food couldn't be placed in inventory, it had to be eaten on the lot. Still, I think I may have a workable system of some sort here.

[lizz2034]

Lizz, I came across a person who had the almost the same problem as you have. She eventually solved it, by cleaning up her complete simsfolder -> http://nene.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=2179646

Maybe you should try following what she did.

I looked into the very last thing that worked for her, but I already enabled CC in both ways. I'm willing to try anything, BUT I REALLY REALLY don't want to have to go through backing up and reinstalling stuff....... plus, I doubt that would help anyway. It didn't help her, and b/c of the specific nature of the problem, I don't even think it would help.

I'd much rather not go through the hassle and just download custom objects. But I'd still like to look into the problem anyway.

[floor1304]

VT, does this mean you're starting ToTM again? I'd love to read your story if you're starting again! Seems like a good idea to have the simmies go look for food, as they did that mostly in the Neanderthal Era.

Lizz, I understand you don't want to reinstall and stuff, I would hate to do that too. Have you tried redownloading one or two recolors yet?

[nuidyaforever]

It means I will be starting again as soon as I can get my other projects finished (need to redecorate the new hood for my post-apocalyptic mutant ex-ToTM to look more like an abandoned uni campus, and play through the first rotation in my Nuidya Tribe hood, but that is next on the list).

- VT

edit: Next on the list after recovering from a cold. Sorry guys, VT's going to be out of action for a while. Achoo.

[lizz2034]

I'll let you know how the test goes. But in the mean time for anyone looking for a compost bin recolor, here's two wooden ones! http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=246444

[lizz2034]

YAY! :beer: I fixed the problem! I started a test folder full of a few more recolors and before I started the game, I thought, I would go ahead and redownload CEP while I was at it. It must have been the CEP because everything is back!
I guess CEP can get corrupted....however that happens. I've only had it for a few months! I'm so happy though! Thanks for you help. :gjob:

[SandyJS]

I'll let you know how the test goes. But in the mean time for anyone looking for a compost bin recolor, here's two wooden ones! http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=246444

Ooo! Thanks, I've been needing this! :gjob:

[DitzyEkko]

Alright I've updated my Weebly. Finally. Just need to keep up with it better

http://elvis2010.weebly.com/

Also how do people make those really nice family trees with their sims' thumbnails and aspirations and all of that? I really would like to have one for this challenge

[lizz2034]

Alright I've updated my Weebly. Finally. Just need to keep up with it better

http://elvis2010.weebly.com/

Also how do people make those really nice family trees with their sims' thumbnails and aspirations and all of that? I really would like to have one for this challenge

Nice TOT Weebly you have going on there! I love your idea with Demi-God children from Grimmy. I'm doing a similar thing, but I actually created some sim Gods.

I'd love to have a family tree like that as well. so let us know when you find out! I may look myself.

[DitzyEkko]

Lizz, I love your hair, clothes, names, story telling. All put me to shame. Great job!

[LilyT]

This sounds like something really fun, I love history.

Somebody (I can offer myself up..) should put together a list of objects, clothes, and mods that could do the trick to play this challenge semi realistically. It doesn't have to be exact, and I'm sure some of the peasant/slave clothing could be used over and over...

[SandyJS]

You make the family tree in a photo editing program such as Paint Shop Pro (what I have). Hope you have lots of patience. The easiest way to work is to create a seperate layer for each person. I know there used to be a tutorial floating around on how to do it, but I haven't the foggiest idea of where. Does that help?

[LilyT]

Okay, so... Just a question.

When you said the couples can only interact with each other, does that mean, all the couples can only talk to eachother, or each couple can only talk to their spouse and children...?
[Because if they can only talk to their spouse and children, that's going to be hard to marry off the next generation....]

[floor1304]

They can talk to everyone, just not to the NPC's. Only to the families you're playing with ( is that good explained?)

[LilyT]

Yeah, thanks for explaining it. :)

[floor1304]

Your welcome! I'm always here to answer questions about everything (mostly about the sims :) ) So if anyone has a question, ask me! :lol:

[XxWashedXUpxX]

This sounds like something really fun, I love history.

Somebody (I can offer myself up..) should put together a list of objects, clothes, and mods that could do the trick to play this challenge semi realistically. It doesn't have to be exact, and I'm sure some of the peasant/slave clothing could be used over and over... try looking in the Challenge section of downloads they have medieval and Netherthalls in there.

[Rarr]

I havent been able to find any cavemanish clothing to start my challenge! Where have those of you who have started playing found yours?

[lizz2034]

I havent been able to find any cavemanish clothing to start my challenge! Where have those of you who have started playing found yours?

I didn't find some awesome ones until after I was out of the neandertal era unfortunately. But you can find some if you search for the "SimStones" a complete themed set by The Mod Squad. And other than that you just have to be creative with your search terms. Like you can start looking into roman, native american, eqyptian, and/or african clothing because some of it can be used in numerous eras.

Also, when searching for this era and other one's remember to search for more specific things as well like "slave", "tunic", "harem", "emperor", etc.

[floor1304]

I've found some animal print clothes her: http://parsimonious.org/fashion2/themes/theme_1131548960.shtml

For my kids and elders I've used bodyshop to make animal print clothes

[Rarr]

I've found some animal print clothes her: http://parsimonious.org/fashion2/themes/theme_1131548960.shtml

For my kids and elders I've used bodyshop to make animal print clothes
thanks so much :) i also found the simstones stuff here so im going to use some of that too.

[lizz2034]

I found some more awesome recolors I thought I'd share with you guys if you haven't already found these.
Wood
Kid's Stove: http://modthesims.info/d/234070
LadyBug Loft:http://modthesims.info/d/234016
Toys & Potty Chair: http://modthesims.info/d/233516
Magical Medieval, Wood
Medieval Myshuno Game: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=88969
Roman/Indian/Morrocan Type Stuff
Black & Silver Bubble Blower: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=232340
White & Beige Bubble Blower:http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=231701

[nuidyaforever]

Just to let everyone know I'm back after a really bad cold kept me offline for a while. I haven't come up with anything new for another ToTM yet (because I've had a cold!) but I'm going to start trying again. As soon as I have an idea.

- VT

[Rarr]

How do you get the sims to grill the fish? Mine onlyhave the oprion to grill hot dogs

[lizz2034]

How do you get the sims to grill the fish? Mine onlyhave the oprion to grill hot dogs

You click on the fridge. If you only have a grill, than when you click to serve fish, than they will use the grill. And I think there's the option to grill fish using the fridge.

[floor1304]

Originally posted by Octavia<3
How do you get the sims to grill the fish? Mine onlyhave the oprion to grill hot dogs

Depends on what kind of fish your sim has catched. If your sim doesn't have any cooking skill yet, you can only grill the bass. Catfish can be cooked if your sim has 2 cooking skills or more.

The sim you want to grill the fish, has to have the fish in his pocket, or in the fridge.

[Rarr]

I have the bass and he cant grill it

[SandyJS]

WooHoo! Finally had a Gen 3 male born! Now, to raise him up to adult, I'm running out of patience with the Neanderthal age!

[floor1304]

Originally posted by Octavia<3
I have the bass and he cant grill it
Do you have a counter? Your sim needs one to prepare the fish

[Rarr]

Do you have a counter? Your sim needs one to prepare the fish
oooooooh! thank you so much thats what im missing!

[anna220]

Congrats Sandy ! I am still working thru my challenge. I have just started to play the gen 2 kids who are moved out to their own lots. Since I dont have the ACR or whatever that mod is I have to wait until the teens age to adults before I get any gen 3's.

[DitzyEkko]

Haven't been able to play in FOREVER. Me and baby been sick for a month now and been working 60 hr weeks. Can't wait to jump back into my TOT Veronaville.

[SandyJS]

Congrats Sandy ! I am still working thru my challenge. I have just started to play the gen 2 kids who are moved out to their own lots. Since I dont have the ACR or whatever that mod is I have to wait until the teens age to adults before I get any gen 3's.

I'm waiting for them to age to adults as well. I move them out so that I can move a mate in with them but that's as far as I'm willing to go. :beer:

[blueskiesabove]

My oldest Neanderthal 3rd generation just grew to teen. I'm so tired of coping with the hot weather, can't wait to start the Roman stage and have all seasons. This is the most fun I've had playing the sims. I've always wanted to play to 20 generations, but always got bored with it. With this challenge I really think I can finally play up to 20 generations. A lot of my children and teens have died from complications after losing a fight with another sim :)

[SandyJS]

Thankfully I've not yet had any fights in my game. My oldest Neanderthal gen 3 is now a child. I'm so over summer weather!

[DitzyEkko]

My oldest Neanderthal 3rd generation just grew to teen. I'm so tired of coping with the hot weather, can't wait to start the Roman stage and have all seasons. This is the most fun I've had playing the sims. I've always wanted to play to 20 generations, but always got bored with it. With this challenge I really think I can finally play up to 20 generations. A lot of my children and teens have died from complications after losing a fight with another sim :)

I remember when I first saw a sim go upstairs in this challenge. I was giddy. It was kind weird to be indoors for a while. Took some getting used to. :jest:

[anna220]

I remember when I first saw a sim go upstairs in this challenge. I was giddy. It was kind weird to be indoors for a while. Took some getting used to. :jest:

lol it is going to be culture shock when I move to the next era for sure !

[SandyJS]

I can't wait to experience that shock!

[SandyJS]

So I was playing my 'hood a few days ago and had aged a baby to toddler, and gotten mom pregnant again. My dog wanted a walk just about then so I paused the game and shrank it down to the task bar before taking him out. I use Sim Blender to check on pregnancies and already knew that she was only having 1 baby. Come back from the walk and couldn't get the game to come back up. So I lost all that progress. Yesterday I went back into that same family and started playing again. Baby aged again, thanks to ACR, mom is pregnant again. Unfortunately when I checked the progress of the pregnancy, this time she's having TWINS!!!!
:faceslap:

[floor1304]

@SandyJS AAh, I love twins!n I have like 7 pair of twins right now (I cheated a bit... ^_^)

I'm having a serious problem with the amount of girls and boys now. I have 16 girls and 7 boys, which means that every boy can get two girls @_@ Well, I'll figure something out, this way gen. 2 won't be too big... :P

[Rarr]

With this challenge I really think I can finally play up to 20 generations. A lot of my children and teens have died from complications after losing a fight with another sim :) Oh i completely agree! i have trouble getting past the first generation... :rofl: i cant wait to start playing again seeing as between school work and life my Neanderthals havent seen me for awhile!

[MarylenaSTAR]

Hi!! I'm thinking of starting this challenge but I have one problem- I don't have seasons! I don't really hav any hopes of getting it soon so could is there any ways of getting round the farming.

These are the expansions I have

bon voyage
university
open for business
nightlife
h&m fashion stuff
glamour life stuff

[floor1304]

@MarylenaSTAR I think it's hard to do the challenge without seasons, because you'll really need it for the Neanderthal Era. You could do only one generation of the Neanderthal,or go right to the Roman Era. Than it won't be too hard to get around farming, because there are other jobs. But I'd really recommend season! I think it's the best expension pack! It makes the sims much more realistic.

[MarylenaSTAR]

@MarylenaSTAR I think it's hard to do the challenge without seasons, because you'll really need it for the Neanderthal Era. You could do only one generation of the Neanderthal,or go right to the Roman Era. Than it won't be too hard to get around farming, because there are other jobs. But I'd really recommend season! I think it's the best expension pack! It makes the sims much more realistic.


Thanks for your reply! I know seasons is fantastic- it was the first expansion I got but it was also my main one and I have gone through 2 discs now. Luckily I got Bon voyage so I could uninstall seasons without messing up my game data. I suppose you could make your money by selling shells in Neanderthal? (I have Bon voyage so this would be ok)

[floor1304]

@MarylenaSTAR Yeah, I think selling shells would be good alternative. You don't have fish to eat, but just normal food from the fridge would do to.

[tigerygurl]

Hi everybody! I finished rotation 1 of Gens 2-3 (Neanderthal), and updated my site, here's the link: http://testoftimetigerystyle.weebly.com

[DitzyEkko]

Just realized Mosl has been emperor since April! I want to get to the next stage so I'm gonna play, play, play and get Mosl out of there. Long live, Emperor Nereos! Scratch that, I want the next stage!!!

[rachelwielinga]

I stumbled across this thread a couple of months ago and have been reading and playing but not posting. I just finished my last round of caveman living and am ready to now transition into the Roman Era and was so excited that I needed to post it. It is going to be so strange to not have animal-skin clothed sims doing nothing but farming and fishing!

[floor1304]

@rachelwielinga: Good to here there are more people playing this challenge! Are you gonna document everything, like write down the story?

[katkatkat24]

Iv've been playing for a few months and I just realized that i think i've been doing something wrong. Am I allowed to sell the fish my sins catch? Because they are makings about 3000 a day off of the fish and that just seems really off to me. Thats more than most of the top of the careers. Im on stage 2 of neandrathal and the families have an average if 60000. So if I am doing it wrong, and i think I have been, anny suggestions on how to get my families to have a reasonable amount of cash?

And sorry for any typos! There is this bar blocking the the screen in some places and i cant see what Im typing.

[floor1304]

@katkatkat24: You're not doing anything wrong. You're allowed to sell the fish, I do it myself anyway. But you must catch a lot of fish if you make 3000 a day! I don't think it is bad to have lots of money, 'cause then you'll have plenty to spent in the Roman Era. Otherwise you could just not sell the fish, if it bothers you a lot. You can always use the familyfunds cheat to get some money away.

[DitzyEkko]

My Prince Nereos has had his 1st legitimate child, a daughter named Livia. Emperor Mosl will probably live to see his son's heir Princess Livia make it to teen. I need to update my weebly with the birth of a new heir to the throne!

[katkatkat24]

@floor1304 thanks for clearing that up! So the familyfunds cheat works when your sims are moved into a lot?

[moonlight_frog]

Not to be a downer, but I can hardly complete a 4 generation challenge, and many people struggle with the Legacy Challenge (10 gens). How the **** are we supposed to complete a 20 generation challenge?! I applaud anyone who can manage such a thing without having cheated or modded even a little. O.o

I will definitely try this. And fail. XD

[floor1304]

@katkatkat24 Yeah, the familyfunds cheat works fine if the sims are moved to a lot, but also if they haven't. Just type: familyfunds [familyname] +/-number

[SandyJS]

Not to be a downer, but I can hardly complete a 4 generation challenge, and many people struggle with the Legacy Challenge (10 gens). How the **** are we supposed to complete a 20 generation challenge?! I applaud anyone who can manage such a thing without having cheated or modded even a little. O.o

I will definitely try this. And fail. XD

What keeps you going is the fact that the rules you are playing by change every few generations. I've kept the number of houses down so that I get through rounds quicker right now. Now that I've got Gen 3 Neanderthal kids, I keep reminding my self that "this too, shall pass!" ;)

[DitzyEkko]

I'm having trouble with familyfunds. How can I get it to work when I have multiple families with the same last name? It keeps deducting from only one same household each time...one Ugo family, one Ovidius family, one Fufidius family...

[floor1304]

@DitzyEkko You have to go to the lot, to have the cheat work properly.

[Selly_2009]

floor1304 that doesn't work - I've been on the lot and it still takes off a different family.

To DitzyEkko, the best thing you can do to deal with that is to actually change the household name using SimPE. The sims' names won't alter but the cheat will work again. Otherwise, it's always the latest family with the name who will have funds deducted.
The alternative method (I use this in conjunction with SimPE) is to have any sim moving out marry THEN leave the old family. As long as their surname changes the new name will be used for the new household.

[DitzyEkko]

SimPE just won't work for me. I've used it before. But I can't get it to work lately. I'm probably just gonna get some money hack, like the paying childsupport thing

[YukiShine]

And here comes another Newbie. ^^
I've just started the challenge and already ran into a little problem:

What do we actually do with inter-generation romances/ couples? I guess it's best to avoid them at all, but I've got this now adult plant baby that has such a big age difference to its own generation (due the plant sim aging). I'd actually rather marry her off to a widower of her parents' generation.
That, however, leaves me with a broken brain, cause I can't really decide how to handle their (potential) children. Which generation would they belong to?
Is there anyone who does this sort of pairings, or would it really be better to form couples strictly within each generation?

[moonlight_frog]

And here comes another Newbie. ^^
I've just started the challenge and already ran into a little problem:

What do we actually do with inter-generation romances/ couples? I guess it's best to avoid them at all, but I've got this now adult plant baby that has such a big age difference to its own generation (due the plant sim aging). I'd actually rather marry her off to a widower of her parents' generation.
That, however, leaves me with a broken brain, cause I can't really decide how to handle their (potential) children. Which generation would they belong to?
Is there anyone who does this sort of pairings, or would it really be better to form couples strictly within each generation?

I would generally stick to strict coupling within each generation. However, I don't think it matters so long as the 3rd generation of the Neanderthal Period is reached; I'm guessing that would be the grandchildren of your original founders. After that, you can easily transition to the Roman Period. Hope that helped...

I set up a blog to record my TOT Challenge. It's here if anyone's interested:

http://thesimmingfrog.blogspot.com/

I've only played one family so far on account of RL stuff and what not, but I'll get cracking on the next family ASAP. I love the SimStones CC. ;)

[YukiShine]

Thanks. :)
Well, then she'll have to wait for the toddlers to grow up. And who knows what might happen until then~

[DitzyEkko]

And here comes another Newbie. ^^
I've just started the challenge and already ran into a little problem:

What do we actually do with inter-generation romances/ couples? I guess it's best to avoid them at all, but I've got this now adult plant baby that has such a big age difference to its own generation (due the plant sim aging). I'd actually rather marry her off to a widower of her parents' generation.
That, however, leaves me with a broken brain, cause I can't really decide how to handle their (potential) children. Which generation would they belong to?
Is there anyone who does this sort of pairings, or would it really be better to form couples strictly within each generation?



I made the mistake of letting generations start getting all mingled. I consider the children to take their generational place based on their fathers (except bastards, who don't have listed daddys). But its hard to keep track of when you are having 75 births in a generation. And your advancement depends on aging of generations.

[DitzyEkko]

I just spent the last two days doing a census of my sims. They had gotten out of control. I really need the next stage to come along. Emperor Mosl is still going strong (been Emperor since April). Talk about slow moving.

[rachelwielinga]

I've been steadily working on this for the past few months and just decided to try to keep a record of it when I got to the Roman Era. That means that my story is a little sparse in the beginning, but I did my best to get it up to date! Here's the link: http://culturecove.weebly.com/

[YukiShine]

Thanks for the link, rachel. :D I love reading your TOT stories. My sims and I are so looking forward to the bath houses of the Roman Era...
This challenge really is fun. ^^

[SandyJS]

Question for those of you who have made it to the Roman Era. Did you move the families forward as soon as the first gen3 teen aged to adult or did you finish the round out and then move them forward? I've got gen3 children and I'm starting to plan my Roman Era homes. A bath house will be so welcome for my sims.

[lizz2034]

:lol: Gotta ask this question, do we know who is in what stage of the Timeline that's posting here? I know this challenge is a couple of years old, do we have anyone posting from the later stages? :blink: Or are we all newcomers who are still dealing with Neanderthals? :lol:

:bunny: I'm in the Roman stages playing 3rd generation as parents raising the 4th. I've been M.I.A. for the past couple of months because I've been trying to get through my pre-nursing classes and I'm struggling with my adult ADHD. I'm gonna be playing lots over Chirstmas Break though! :rofl: I've created an Egyptian subhood and like I've posted before, I have some of my favorite Greek/Roman gods in the neighborhood as well.

[SandyJS]

:bunny: I'm in the Roman stages playing 3rd generation as parents raising the 4th. I've been M.I.A. for the past couple of months because I've been trying to get through my pre-nursing classes and I'm struggling with my adult ADHD. I'm gonna be playing lots over Chirstmas Break though! :rofl: I've created an Egyptian subhood and like I've posted before, I have some of my favorite Greek/Roman gods in the neighborhood as well.

Sooo, did you change to Roman immediately after your first gen 3 teen aged to adult?

[SwallowTail 87]

Hey everyone, I'm SwallowTail, founder. I was scrolling through some of the messages, and I am so happy that there is such a large number of people playing this challenge! :) When the Sims 2 BBS fell under, there were maybe five simmers playing max.

I know that there has been a lot of questions and answers by other simmers because the original rules were pretty poorly written, and I'm glad than Anna and other helful simmers are able to clarify. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask me. I edited the rules to fix all the grammar errors and make it more clear. So I'm happy to help!

Kudos to everyone for keeping this challenge alive. :)
Happy holidays to all!


EDIT: I also want to make the note that the Sims 2 site is back up and running. I dont know if the news has reached here or not yet, I kinda live under a rock with respect to the MTS2 site, lol. :rofl:

[YukiShine]

@ Sandy: I've not reached the Roman Stage yet, but to me it seems more logical to finish the round first. :) That way the first family doesn't have an unfair advantage and the sims' ages are fitting.

[nuidyaforever]

Hey everyone, any chance of VT getting back in? I know I disappeared off the face of the thread after my last ToTM glitched up - then briefly gave up challenges altogether - but I'd like to give this another go. (I still don't have any ideas to make it non-historical so it works with my playstyle, but I missed this way too much. I've been doing so much of my least favourite Simming tasks, building houses and creating Sims, that it's given me Builder's Brainfreeze and I can't think what to do with it. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear 'em.)

- VT

[Peni Griffin]

It's the nature of the challenge to be historical; can't get around that. But who's to say you have to stick to earth-type history? Start primitive and develop society and technology in your own way.

[TreekiKat10]

Okay, I think I've finally gotten the guts to start this challenge. I'm really very excited about it, but slightly concerned that it will take me no less than FOREVER to finish even the first few gens. Anyway, I will attempt to carry on with it! :p

[floor1304]

Hi everyone! Question here, does anyone have inteenimator? I have a teenage sim that's 18 days(years) old( she has 8 days of teenage left) , but I don't know how to move her out. I tried clicking on the newspaper, but "find own place" is not there. Inteen says I can move her out when she's 18 and that she can have adult jobs, but my sim can't. Anyone know how to move her out?

[YukiShine]

Hi, I use InTeen too and my teens are treated as adults (jobs etc.) starting 7 days before aging. :)

[floor1304]

aah, thanks. I have ACR and that says she's 18 days old, so I assumed it was the same for inteen. But then she'll just have to wait another day to move out.

[nuidyaforever]

One of the flavour packs for Inteen gets rid of the age restriction on moving out, as well as the one on marriage. You may want to try that if you want your teens to move out sooner, although it doesn't affect jobs.

- VT

[YukiShine]

8)Once the kids grow up, they are to each buy the same size lot as their parents and have their funds set to their entire family's funds [...]

Can anyone please clarify this rule for me? It's from the first stage.
So, let's say a family has 2 children that are moving out over time. The main family has a total funds of 10,000 $ and 1,000 in cash.
How much does the first child get when moving? 10,000 $?
Let's further assume child 1 did get his funds set to 10,000 $ and makes a plus of about 3,000 $ until child 2 moves out of their parents' lot. Does child 2 get 10,000 $, which would be the total value of the parents' lot, or 10,000 + 13,000 = 23,000 $, which includes the funds of child 1?

Or is the cash important after all?

I guess I'm just a little dense here. ^^;

[floor1304]

child 1 get his funds set to the 1000 the main family has in cash. he can make more many and his children get what he has in cash when they move out.
child 2 also gets his funds set1000, unless his/her parents had made new money already.

at least, this is what I'm doing, I hope I helped you a bit.

[YukiShine]

Okay, thanks :D Since nobody said otherwise, I suppose that's how it was meant. Now I'm really looking forward to moving those kids out - that's gonna be interesting. ^^

[SandyJS]

Since I'm finally within a couple of rounds from moving to the Roman era, I started making some decisions about my class structure. I've lost one Skin 1/2 couple entirely so I'm turning things upside down. The oldest male from my richest Skin 4 family will become king, the skin 1/2 decendants will become the slaves and the mixed skin couples will be the plebians. After reading ahead, I can see that I need to dramatically increase my population to make up for all the children lost to the SoWo!

[FaeryInkPress]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here. Long time lurker and Sims 2 player. I found this challenge last week, and I got really excited about it and decided to play it! I've decided to use fantasy skins (Enyala's, I believe, and a few others) and start with one Sim, and introduce a new Sim to the lot everyday--as if he or she "found" the currently existing Sims on the lot. And then ACR does its magic. I'm up to 5 sims, and one baby was just born...I may start a second lot and do the same thing for my remaining 5 founding sims, so that it's easier to handle! :)

[moonlight_frog]

I've been trudging along, and I've only played 3 families so far; how does everyone else play rounds? I do mine by seasons.

Also, to make things easier on myself, I made all of my Neanderthal lots exactly the same (except for my first family- back then, I didn't realize it would be so strenuous @_@) so that I won't have to design new buildings for every single family. Does anyone else use CC to match the time period?

I have two questions:

1. Are you allowed to befriend pets (I didn't strictly place them under "townie")? If not, I totally didn't follow that rule; my first two families adopted wolf-like strays.

2. Are you allowed to add showers for the Neanderthal Period? I originally didn't put in showers, but all of my sims started to complain about how smelly they were and wouldn't do anything except mope around, so I added Custom Content mammoth showers (Flintstone style).

[YukiShine]

I go by seasons, too. Actually this is the first time I'm doing neighborhood rotation like this at all... Normally I just play the family I'm most interested in at the time.

As for the pets, I wouldn't mind my sims befriending or adopting them. They just never really have time to play with strays. ^^
I also was quite tempted to add a shower a few times, but then again the hygiene is one of the bigger "challenges" during the stone age stage. ;) Sure, real stone age people could have showered in the rain or taken baths in rivers or lakes or whatever, but if sims really feel dirty, they can always spongebath. Except for the children, of course, but oh well. :P In the beginning I had my sims spend most of their freetime washing hands. Meanwhile I mostly wait for them to go spongebath on their own.

CC? Well, sure I use it. :) Isn't that half the fun?

[FaeryInkPress]

About the shower: At first, I didn't have one, but then I got tired of my sims constantly complaining about hygiene, so I added one I'd downloaded that has no curtains or walls, just the nozzles. But, it kept breaking, and creating floods which created weeds, which was also annoying and lowered the Sims' environment score. Everyone was super smelly anyway, so I deleted it.

Then...just as I go back into live mode, everyone comes running over with "Where'd it go" in their queue. They stood where the shower had been, complaining that now they had no more shower. I've never seen my Sims do this before with anything! It was pretty hilarious.

I attached a picture. Hopefully you can see it!

[jjdcoach]

Hi,
Was doing the Apoc Challenge and still doing that when I came along this one and played it a bit yesterday/today.

I didn't see that you could have a "house" in the Neanderthal period - but it seems a lot did that so I may just build a few little hovels for that purpose.
I do use a couple of hacks such as the sponge bath mod (doesn't work with kids AH GO SHA!!!!***** will be heard soon I'm sure....and don't want to take them in/out when I switch tween hoods.
A few other questions.
1) Do you have kids go to school in Stone Age times?
2) I use the nowelfare hack (needed it to play the APOC Legacy challenge as schools don't exist till mid game there - though I do like the idea of having the child stealing!
3) Are sims allowed to "call" others on the phone?? Would seem to be against the tech aspect - but was wondering how to get relationships high enough to have a marriage!
4) One interesting development is the concept of the Romance sims. I'm wondering if a few interactions might fuel the fires and spread the gene pool about if done carefully!

In any case - so far it seems farm/fish rinse/recyle. The one meal per day will be very interesting as families grow as I'm assuming you can't put the leftovers in the pack or the "fridge"
After day one - almost lost a family due to a fire on their first meal -everyone is expecting a little one and should be helpful to get the population up and running.
I went with a small lot and just copied it over - no shelter - hailstorm was a hoot (first I'd seen as I just got Seasons recently) I'm thinking about making dugout caves for the Neanderthal generations - maybe an 8x8 will do for sleeping etc.

Family 1 - Anderson (I know boring)
Family 2 - Bailey (boring)
Family 3 Cain'
Family 4 Duoela
Family 5 Epicurean

Will figure this out as I go - just needed a break from nuclear winter!

I will be adding the real sickness mod - if needed. What can I say - I like death and misery for my sims as it makes me feel superior in my own miserable life :)

JJD

[jjdcoach]

Well I've come up with my theme for this challenge and I am loosely basing it on "Game of Thrones" in that the struggle will be between five clans who each wish to varying degrees to come out atop the heap.

In any case it is time that you "Meet the Families"
I also will forewarn - this is somewhat PG13 as I've also tried to mix in some cultural anomalies of various ancient societies with the HBO mini-series giving me a bit of inspiration. So, it gets ummm spicy at times.

I guess it is high time that you meet everyone. A few disclaimers are in order. First I don't like "fugly" simmies running around. They don't have to be beautiful but even so - so even my Neanderthals are not horrible looking. I also don't do much with custom content....just not into it. I also randomly determine as much as possible using an algorithm - which leads to pretty interesting combinations. However, in this case a lot of the numbers were paired.

Clan One The Andersons (Determined Matriarchy) Motto: My dear man, there is iron in this velvet glove.

This clan is a (light/light 1/1)matriarchal clan (my digression as the woman was rolled first by chance)and will lightly resemble the model of the Icini of Iron Age England. They will remain female dominated and are a somewhat "Amazonian" clan which happened as Amy is a popularity driven gal who wishes to become The Law. So, this family will probably more or less cater to the desires of the females while the men will work away diligently trying to please them.

This clan deviates from the challenge rule in that if a F/m fight occurs regardless of the outcome the male is put to death. In addition males will be purposely encouraged to become the partner (in a relative way) to another matriarchal tribe.

Amy's Stats are:
Cancer (she's a benign Matriarch)
Neat 6
Shy 3 (which means she will have to work behind the scenes for power)
Active 6
Serious 4
Nice 6

Popularity Aspiration - The Law - and likes grey hair, logical people and is turned off by witches (superstitious). I'm not sure if I will be assigning these traits to the whole family perhaps the fear to show a prejudice.

Her mate Bill is a Knowledge aspiration Pisces - which is good for him as he is somewhat selfless. It could be worse - she could be a Scorpio!

Bill would love to be a Space Pirate - I guess some astrological constellation.
Sloppy/neat 5 (so he won't mind cleaning too much)
Shy 3
Active 7 - so he doesn't mind doing things
Serious 3
Nice 7

All in all it's a good match as Amy will chip in and work a bit as she is active, but in the end it's on Bill if things go badly. Besides - she is the giver of life and his job is to make sure she does so in safety. Well they must go as Bill has to change Cooper's (what a waste of the first born) diaper.

Consider this a kinder/gentler matriarchy - but you will listen to Mother!

Clan TwoThe Baileys - (LS/LS 1/1) are a Patriarchal clan in the model of Germania. The leader of the clan is Bill - I know lousy name and his partner is Barb (I know).

Bill is a driven popularity man who wishes to be Mayor. This is an intense family who feel it is their destiny to rule. I see issues with the neighbors!

Bill is a Taurus, who would rather play hard than work and isn't too cool about it if things don't go his way.

Sloppy/Neat 5
Shy/Outgoing 5
Lazy 3
Playful 8
Grouchy 4

He is turned on by dark haired women - which could be interesting and artistic types. He doesn't like his women to be athletic - so he is definitely into the stay in fields - the kitchen and the bedroom woman.

Barb also likes artistic people and tends to like charismatic leader types. She is afraid of the supernatural - witches. She is also a Taurus and is a carbon copy of Bill, but she also culturally gets her role - which hopefully will be wife of the Jarl.

sloppy/neat 5
shy/outgoing 5
lazy 3
playful 8
grouchy 4

They have a son, Lars who is slated to be the clan leader.
I see this clan being beset by a wave of estrogen. I think that I may modify the death rule and add to it - that if a fight occurs between a clan member and a female of another tribe the woman is enslaved and if a man he is killed and a woman enslaved. It will be a thing to ponder.

Clan Three Cain Family (4/4)is a matriarchal clan that values knowledge above all else, however, hard work and athleticism are also important to this clan as they wish to develop the whole person. Females are the decision makers and are the holders of the paths to truth, while the men are to protect them by being hard workers and developing their strength. Facial hair is not allowed in men nor is lengthy hair on men (must have crew cuts) as that is the symbol of the female's crown and their superior connection to intelligence and the heavens. Typically strong in mind and body they are a clan not to be trifled with.

Shanika is the preistess/clan leader. A Leo
sloppy 4
OUTGOING 10
lazy 4
playful 4
grouchy 3

She and her mate, Arim, also a Leo with an identical personality, often clash, but culturally she will win.
They have two sons - Abel and Seth at this point.

Clan 4 The Duole Family is a matriarchal society dominated by cultic fertility rites with each gender encouraged to reproduce as often as possible with as many partners as possible. This clan does not marry per se - but have contractual periods of semi-monogamy with the goal to create a diverse population to serve "The Goddess - Giver of Life" This pattern is set by their founders, Saphria and Kallus (4/4 both Romantics). The way this may play out is that jealous husbands will be sent out to another clan with females who need future generation donors. This clan is based on the religious cults that developed around Hathshepsut and Cleopatra. They are the Sim equivalent of The Queens of Sheba.

Saphira in her early life had a vision of being the "Mother" and hopes to sleep and reproduce with as many men as possible . A Taurus
sloppy/neat 5
shy/outgoing 5
lazy 3
playful 8
grouchy 4

she sees the role of Women to seduce men with a charming playfulness and then bear children as crowns of her feminine power. An intersting aspect of the beliefs are a love of the scent of masculinity (likes stink) and that the ability to "charm them" (likes witchiness) is the ultimate power she and women possess - to harness the vitality of men. One of the worst sacriliges is the unnatural life of undead as the cult of Duole is in essence a celebration of life and life-giving.

Her temporary spouse Kallus is a Gemini
sloppy 4
outgoing 7
active 8
playful 3
grouchy 3

The family has a son, Ephraim.

Clan Five The Epicurean family is a Patriarchal clan, but has a less rigid view of society than any of the other clans. The clan is of mixed origins (2m/3f) that values development of the intellect along with a normal pursuit of pleasure. Pleasure is to be gained from the arts and the beauty of nature. Hosea is the head of the clan - but again this is the least gender driven clan of the world - and with his wife Loammi share a love of the arts. Hosea loves nature (Plantism) and both appreciate the orderliness of art and nature (cleaning for Loammi). Phobias and fears are not powerful - although they are not prone to those who would develop athleticism rather than enjoy the beauty of the world. It is funny how few clans were as "balanced" with males and females playing equal roles and a love of nature to boot. I am drawn to some of the ancient histories of the near east - mostly India - after the Aryan tribes settled with the indigenous population. Of course they developed the Caste System - but that was not based on Gender but on relative societal position - which is how I think I will play out this clan.

Hosea is a Gemini
sloppy 4
outgoing 7
active 8
playful 3
grouchy 3

and Loammi is Aquarius
sloppy 4
shy 4
lazy 4
playful 7
nice 6

There are two children in the clan, Demos and Diana

This family is the least political of all the clans, and it will be interesting to see if the one group (The Baileys) that yearns for their alliance will be able to get the only somewhat Patriarchy in the game!

So, I hope this wasn't too spicy for you - but I figure we're all over a certain age here. I also like the historic context of the challenge - and hope that I can stay interested!

Sorry - no pics -nor will there be (m)any in the future - but you can expect frequent recaps if that is a fair trade!

JJD

[jjdcoach]

Quick update Day four Generation one of Neanderthal:

N G1 Day 4
Epicureans - Twins are born named Diana and Demos. Lightning hits a tree and bursts into flame at the moment. So, while the babies like on the grass a round of woohoo results in another pregancy. This will be hell on earth for the poor family for awhile with the RED kids on hygeine alert. Definitely will be in speed mode with no headset!

Cash on hand $165 (and we sent a few things to the pawn shop to pay for the house). Net Worth = 7,446


Duole - A son was born in the middle of the night, Eprhaim. Not a lot of drama although a few items needed to be hocked in order to build a 4x4 shelter and el cheapo crib (box - wish I could find a reed crib). Poor little tykester had to sleep in the rain - oh well. After the baby was born a ritualistic roll in the hay resulted in a pregnancy.

Funds on hand $43
Total net worht $7,744

Cain - Well the "Cain" family was joined by a set of twin boys Abel and Seth, and of course in the celebratory after birth mating rites another pregnancy resulted. Seems like they are being fruitful and multiplying! The hut was built and the two cribs are outside in the yard - exposed to the rain and lightning and right under a tree for some protections - guess correlation tween fire and trees not figured out.

Funds on hand $190 Total Funds: $7,429
Cash on hand is $77 and a net worth of 7,429.

Bailey- Well since mom and dad have pale skin and red/blonde hair respectively I'm going with a Nordic theme - even if Bailey is not that Nordic (more Anglo-Saxon - still Germanic). Little Lars was born in a quiet day.
The family for some reason is doing well - probably due to the 50 or so fish they bagged while visiting neighbors on the first day!

Cash on hand $912
Total net - $8,209

Anderson Well another birth of a child, and another male - the Matriarch is not at all impressed with this result!. Definitely will be in need of some female children next round! Little Cooper Anderson (get the play?) was born and another miraculously is on the way.
Family Funds are $677
Net Worth is $7,858

UPDATE Days 5 & 6
Day 5 Epicurean Clan
Almost a disaster as heatstroke came suddenly upon Hosea, but luckily he was cooled down. Loammi is starting to show her 2nd pregnancy.
Net worth $7,283

Duole
A quiet day for the most part. Kallus worked most of the day while "The Queen" worked on body skills and a few minor areas, but mostly slept. In one development she became friendlier with the male from the Anderson Matriarchy while her husband became best friends with the leader of the clan mostly by admiring her - what an obsequious twit. Another baby is brewing - hopefully at least as far as the clan's perspective a girl.
Net worth: $7,609

Cain
Life with twins can be rough. The hut is now a 5x5 hut and the cribs (boxes of woven reeds) can fit inside which will provide some heat relief. A child is starting to appear in the belly.

Net worth $7,705

Bailey
Another day of heat and poor Barb almost succumbed to heatstroke, but Bill was there to cool her down with a water baloon. Meanwhile they have not managed to have another child through two attempts. However, they did redo the hut, added a row to make it 5 x 4.

Net worth $7,965

Anderson
A quiet day of tending the vines and a bit of fishing. Amy is showing another baby.

Net worth $8,364

Day 6
Epicurean
A rough day. Heat was a factor for both so little farming or fishing got done. Then the joys of bugged babies not wanting to transition to toddler hit - another issue. When Loammi went to the final stage of pregnancy her #'s dropped and she was red with heat and aspiration. The family is no longer in love when Hosea tried to comfort her - she rejected it - he went red and fell out of love. The children have red thermometers and there is no way to fit them in the hut for the most part. I've played a lot of challenges, but this one at this stage may be the most difficult. I'm actually worried about this family surviving. If Loammi goes into labor this red I think she'll die in childbirth. TO make it worse she was hungry and ate the lousy vittles and now has food poisoning.

Duole Day 6
In contrast it was a great day for this family. They were able to harvest a number of plants for food and money as well as plant a new row of crops.

Cain Family
A fairly easy day for this clan. The twin boys grew up to toddler years - which means the fun will shortly begin.

Bailey Family
A decent day despite Barb's illness. She has food poisoning and being recently made pregnant she has been feeling blue - which puts her in the red. Life goes on as she has to help with the farming - 21 plants now for our happy crew. House was extended to 6x4.

Anderson Family
A quiet day without any melodrama. They were able to add a bit to the hut so hopefully they can spend more time out of the sun as needed.

A Quick photo tour:

The Bailey Clan:
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/snapshot_5c07ed6a_fc07ed6b.jpg

The Anderson Clan:
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/snapshot_bc07eb91_7c07eb92.jpg

The Duole Clan:
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/snapshot_7c07f03f_3c07f040.jpg

The Epicurean Clan
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/snapshot_bc07f1d5_9c07f1d6.jpg

The Cain Clan (pre head shaving)
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/snapshot_dc07ef0d_9c07ef0e.jpg

[floor1304]

@jjdcoach: Sounds interesting, I like the way you make women more important! Are you gonna post any pictures soon?

To answer you're questions from a post before: My kids do go to school, to avoid the SoWo, but I keep my teens at home. I use a phone to make calls and invite people over, to make friends. I also use a shower, otherwise the sims will be complaining all the time!

[jjdcoach]

@jjdcoach: Sounds interesting, I like the way you make women more important! Are you gonna post any pictures soon?

To answer you're questions from a post before: My kids do go to school, to avoid the SoWo, but I keep my teens at home. I use a phone to make calls and invite people over, to make friends. I also use a shower, otherwise the sims will be complaining all the time!

Thanks for the feedback. I don't usually do pictures but perhaps I shall!

I wanted to make it a bit different and decided to go with the matriarch/patriarch theme rather than the ethnicity theme - and also to have a bit of drama potential.

I'm also working on each clans little rules and this is what I've come up with so far.

Anderson Clan (Matriarchy)
[list=1]
1) Females are to work side by side with men except with regard to the care of the children where they are the primary caregiver (men chip in). As an instance, if both are working or doing something the female would be the first to go and assist.
2) Males may not increase body skill - but women are encouraged to do so throughout the day. I use the fight club mod.
3) If a male fights a female regardless of the winner/loser the male is put to death - but fights may not be manipulated with clan members.
4) Males may initiate actions with females
5) Females usually cook and clean

This is a kind of hearth and home matriarchy. Rigid pecking order.

Bailey Clan - (Patriarchy)
Both are to work field farm.
Both may develop body
Women primary caregivers to children.
Men work on body frequently and fish (hunting)
Female or slaves work on farms
Females may not initiate actions with males except in private
Fighting as per base rules with the female if possible shipped out to another branch of the Clan.

This is more of a Nordic male dominated patriarchy with females treated lustily but with their value definitely determined by the male.

Cain Clan
Men tend fields women raise children and pursue aesthetics (watching the sky/daydreaming)
Shared childcare
Both may develop body
Males may not initiate actions with females
Men encouraged/somewhat required to do most of the cooking - cleaning etc.
Women must have lavish hair styles and men must have the shortest hair possible as part of the societal trappings.

This is a highly rigid society that males are socially inferior (sort of like the play from ancient Greece where women got fed up with the wars - held out their charms - and men acquiesced. This is that society on steroids - or more likely estrogen.

Doule Clan
Both work equally in the fields/fishing/cleaning and child-care
Both may develop body
Males are more or less required to initiate admire interactions with "every" female they meet as they are the fertility goddesses
Women are also encouraged to do the same recognizing their role in the fertility rites
Once a generation - right before age transition of the Matriarch - a non-slave male of the clan is ritually sacrificed by the Matriarch at a "party". Thought about doing this with the Andersons as they are loosely based on Icini matriarchal cults - but it fit in better with this group which is loosely based on the Ptolmey female dynasties.

Epicurean Clan (Patriarchal)
Domestic pleasures shared but women expected to do these chores
Both may develop body
Haven't put a lot of thought into this group - so I may just make them more like a "traditional" family more or less in amazement of the odd behaviors surrounding them!

[SandyJS]

Wow, talk about some well developed back stories! You do know that drinking water at the sink will help with the temperature, right? Do it twice to drop the temp back into the green.

[anna220]

Happy New Year to all the Tot'ers !! I hope 2012 is a healthy and prosperous one for you. I see we have some :new: people join this wonderful challenge so welcome to you all ! I am still wading my way thru the darn Caveman era but one day I shall progress, I just know it ! lol

[moonlight_frog]

I try to keep the challenge as bareboned as possible so I won't break my own rules. XD I admire you for making your own version of this challenge, though, jjdcoach.

The challenge of the Prehistoric age probably would include bathing, but I think I'll keep the Mammoth shower, though... it's kind of cute; also, my sims can get Cleaning points from mopping up the mammoth waste. XD

Regarding pets:

My 1st family, the Ashes, adopted a single wolf-like canine named Olive. She wandered onto their lot on the move-in day.
My 2nd family, the Bals, adopted 2 stray "wolves". Both are female and look really similar- black fur, wolf-like. The only differences are their personalities and sizes.
The other families I have yet to play; I might devote one family to cats and leave the other families pet free. Not sure yet.

[jjdcoach]

Not sure if I should just "edit" old posts - reply to them or make a new post. Seems each board has their own schtick. So, let me know if this is "not" the way to go.

I'm even gonna throw in a picture or two - though I warn you I STINK at photos etc.

Day 7
Epicurean
A mixed day for the family. The birth of Diogenes occurred, but the couple is not in love nor do they have a crush on each other due to some rejected advances by both parties. The "kids are allright". But in a more serious issue the family is out of fish and with aspiration scores so low it is in danger of starvation. This could be a real problem. The heat was still on.

There is something I dreamed about - called sunscreen - we should look into that.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/sunscreen.jpg

Sunscreen!!! Where are you? What are you?
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/sunscreen2.jpg

Doule
A good day. Ephraim transitioned from infant to toddler and crops were tended, fish caught and no bad news to report.

Cain
A third child was born, another male, so much for the future of the Matriarchy if this continues, but a fourth is on the way since three "losers" have been born!

Time to tend the fields - being the man in the matriarchy is much like The Man Song....I'm king of this castle - when she's not around...

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/snapshot_7c07f03f_9c0bec6f.jpg

"Of course you are right... why would I ever thing that I'm king of the castle? Do you like the fish I made for you?"
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/snapshot_7c07f03f_1c0bee46.jpg

Ephraim transitions to toddler wife was ummm busy with important stuff:
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/snapshot_7c07f03f_7c0beeb0.jpg


Bailey
Little Lars is a toddler and Barb is showing her pregnancy not only in her belly but in her constantly failing aspirations and levels. She also developed food poisoning due to eating bad food. Some heatstroke issues - nearly - drank some water - no one passed out.


Lars tends the fields as his wife is rather ill. "Some Patriarchy THIS is turning out to be!"

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/snapshot_5c07ed6a_1c0ceb72.jpg

Anderson:
A very quiet day for the clan with some gardening and fishing occurring. Cooper turned form infant to toddler. No drama.

[anna220]

Great update JJd ! I think you should do a new post for each update if thats how you will be posting them. I dont spend much time going back thru the old posts myself so they might get overlooked that way. lol @ Man Song.

[YukiShine]

Since one of my families adopted a stray dog, I thought about some rules concerning pets for this challenge, at least for the beginning. ^^

1) Pets generally can be owned by every household.
2) Cats and dogs can be added to a family by a) adopting a stray, or b) breeding, or c) buying them from other playable sims. They cannot be created in CAS or in community pet shops, at least not before the Exploration stage.
3) Cats and dogs have to be fed with sim food leftovers or fish. Industrial pet food is only known for a few decades AFAIK, so it's banned for the whole challenge. Bedding, chewing toys etc. may be provided, I guess.

Roman Stage:
4) Slaves cannot sell pets to another class. They can give them away as presents, though, but may not charge money. Slaves may sell pets to other slaves.
5) The Emperor's family can sell pets only to Patricians, or to other members of the Emperor's family.
6) Patricians and Plebians can sell pets to everyone.

It's just sort of a rough idea, but I guess it'd work. What do you think?

[jjdcoach]

This is for Anna ----

I'll post in a bit about day 8 - quite a full day....

But - first ... a Musical Moment.... It seems that some creative talent has emerged despite not having bass guitars, pianos and easels...


Ladies and Gentlemen - The Matriarchal Man Song... (you can sing along with "He's da man" (and I warned you - my photos are crummy.

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/Idont.jpg

I don't take no crap from anyone else but you....

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/iwearthepants.jpg

I wear the pants around here when im finished with your laundry,


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/causeimaguy.jpg
Cause I'm a guy you don't wanna fight,


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/whenisayjump.jpg
When I say jump you say, "Yeah Right!"


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/snapshot_bc07eb91_9c0e5726.jpg
Im the man of this house until you get home

[floor1304]

Originally Posted by YukiShine
Since one of my families adopted a stray dog, I thought about some rules concerning pets for this challenge, at least for the beginning. ^^

1) Pets generally can be owned by every household.
2) Cats and dogs can be added to a family by a) adopting a stray, or b) breeding, or c) buying them from other playable sims. They cannot be created in CAS or in community pet shops, at least not before the Exploration stage.
3) Cats and dogs have to be fed with sim food leftovers or fish. Industrial pet food is only known for a few decades AFAIK, so it's banned for the whole challenge. Bedding, chewing toys etc. may be provided, I guess.

Roman Stage:
4) Slaves cannot sell pets to another class. They can give them away as presents, though, but may not charge money. Slaves may sell pets to other slaves.
5) The Emperor's family can sell pets only to Patricians, or to other members of the Emperor's family.
6) Patricians and Plebians can sell pets to everyone.

It's just sort of a rough idea, but I guess it'd work. What do you think?

I think it's awesome! I have ignored the dogs and cats 'til now, but maybe I'll adopt one and use your rules!


@jjdcoach: Nice update! You can get better pictures by turnig up the size and quality in settings.

[VioletPadfoot]

@jjdcoach: Nice update! You can get better pictures by turnig up the size and quality in settings.
you can also try a screenshot program if you really want nice pics. (I had to get one b/c the mods didn't like my blurry pics taken with the in game camera for uploads). I use Fraps. Its saves the pics in any directory you want and you can set it to use any F# key you want (mine uses F8 since I knew there was no game command on this one) And its free, unless you want some of its additional features ~VP

[anna220]

teehhee thats going to be my husband's motto from now on ! Thanks JJD ! Great tip about Fraps VP. I might check out what thats all about.

[jjdcoach]

Epicureans Day 8
Well the problem with the photos is that I have two problems...old computer (so I run on soso settings ....and the illness "Fundsarelow" Hopefully a cure will come :)


A death in the family. RIP Loammi Epicurean the pleasure loving, wannabee artist, mother of three (somewhat negligent) and estranged wife of Hosea. Then again Lo-ammi means "not mine" maybe she figured that out.

The illness - the heat and the food exhaustion got to her, and lead me to one of the most challenging days of play in my memory - trying to keep Hosea alive. He had to do it all - fish - no food - gather in the tomatoes before they died on the vine, all while in huge aspiration failure and with red in almost every category. He made it, barely. Now the trick will be keeping his activities to a minimum. Fish and plant at night - lay out bottles - sorry kiddies - you're in for a rough life. I don't see the throne of Testotime Land in this family future - but you never know.


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/loammideath2.jpg
Oh oh..Loammi going down...

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/ld4.jpg
The child keeps pops from begging with the Reaper..oops.

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/ld6uncertain.jpg

The smell of death - diapers and spoiled bass fill the air.


Doule Day 8
Another child was born - and another son -females seem to be a rare item thus far - so family growth may be rather limited. A fairly good day. Silver rating on gardening will offer a lot of variety in planting - which should help. After the drama next door a quiet day was needed. A new baby is on the way.

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/cainbirth2.jpg

Ahh a new baby...


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/cainbirth3.jpg
Okay...you watch him, time to eat some rotten fish.

Quick rundown on the rest .....
Cain - no drama as there are no photos - I try to take em at least to remember...

Bailey - almost a death - lots of red #'s and heatstroke. Almost the second P clan wiped out...almost.

Anderson's a new baby another boy.

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr144/lennythedink/Sims%20Challenge/anderson89.jpg

And I can woohoo anytime...... that you want.

10/11 babies are male....my cousin who has son fixation (she has three daughters and would like to balance the herd) needs to maybe eat some really spoiled bass... that's my conclusion.

[jjdcoach]

teehhee thats going to be my husband's motto from now on ! Thanks JJD ! Great tip about Fraps VP. I might check out what thats all about.

Hell - they're all mine....but I don't want to hear any more whining so I'll shut up.

[VioletPadfoot]

Epicureans Day 8
Well the problem with the photos is that I have two problems...old computer (so I run on soso settings ....and the illness "Fundsarelow" Hopefully a cure will come :) Like i said before, Fraps is free to use and your pics will look exactly like what you see on screen. You can crop them in any graphics editing program, even paint. ~VP

[jjdcoach]

Day 9 - No pics sorry tis late :)

Epicurean
The task is staying alive - and the remants of this family are not out of the woods yet. By the time the two toddlers and the infant are taken care of - and what little food is consumed the whole process seems to start over again with little time left to fish - which is out other than for some rancid pieces atop the roof (in the trees) so it can't be cleaned up. Luckily the twins move up to child - which will allow them to hopefully be a bit more independent and actually help with fishing.


Duole Family


Family is doing moderately well without too much in drama. Having only two youngsters makes it easier. Nothing much to report other than a day of taking care of infant/toddler - tending the gardens and fishing.


The Cain Family
Struggling a bit with the twins and the youngster - but managing to keep their heads above the water. Aspiration failure is possible as the two knowledge sims stuck in Paleozoic eras are basically screwed. Wife is constantly in red/orange with the pregnancy.

Bailey
Wife is out of the danger zone and twins - and yes a female infant was born. Female children are prize possessions as only two are in existence. The natural allies of this clan are the Epicureans and since they each have a daughter to give out these two clans have a decent chance of having pairs.

Anderson
Family is doing well - having two children with two adults makes it easier - a cakewalk compared to the Epicureans. Amy is far along in her pregnancy and though a bit orange at times - seems to be okay.

[anna220]

It is so much harder than it looks isnt it? Do you have a building so they can at least get out of the heat?

[YukiShine]

Allrighty, my first Gen 3 kids are being born and I realised I haven't ever introduced my families to you. Shame on me. My screenshots are pretty meh since I usually use the in-game camera, so I better don't include any.

I named my five starter families after the five taoist elements of fire, water, wood, metal and earth. The first names of the first two generations come from animals (or a plant in one case) they might have come across in central Europe. Mostly. For the third generation I'm using names of Greek and Roman gods, though.

Okay, here we go.

Family 1: Fire.
The starters are Amphibian (m) and Seagull (f). Right at the start of the challenge I messed this one up and forgot to set them to "married" in CAS. Unfortunately their chemistry is horrible, so this couple spent quite some time trying not to hate each others guts. They have far less children than the other starters, but managed to get quite rich. Also Seagull was turned into a plantsim at the beginning and had a plant baby. Both are back to human by now.
This family started as relatively dark skinned with brown and black hair.

Family 2: River.
With the starters Otter (m) and Fly (f). The lightest skin tone, I guess, and blonde and red hair. They have about six or seven children in Gen 2, mostly girls. This family was absolutely crazy most of the time, with lots of aspiration failures by Otter, the romance sim. Maybe it'll get better in Gen 2. The oldest son, Fox, married the Fire family's former plant baby.

Family 3: Rock.
The starting couple are Wolf (m) and Goat (f). Both are light skinned and have brown and black hair, respectively. At least one of them has pointy ears that already made it to the third generation. :)
This family has only one daughter, but four sons in generation 2. No other family has more sons by now, so if every son gets his own household and wife, they could accumulate quite some money until the end of the stone age stage.

Family 4: Gold.
One of my personal favorite familys (well, until just now, when they are starting to get crazy...), but not the most efficient money makers in the hood. I like them, because they are so damn nice. :) Really easy to make friends with.
The family founders are Carp (m) and Bee (f), with a dark skin tone and black and brown hair.
The second reason I particularly like this family is that there is always something more or less unexpected going on in Generation 2: Out of the seven children, one died during childhood. Little Bumblebee was murdered by her older brother Stag when I wasn't paying attention for a second and didn't delete the "attack" action in time.
Also, the eldest son, Hedgehog, is extremely popular with the neighborhood girls. Neither he nor I do really understand why, but oh well. He was supposed to marry Lizard Rock who he had three bolts for. However, I do have InTeen installed (as well as ACR)... So, accidentally his no-chemistry childhood friend Mouse River got pregnant during a sneak-out. A lot of drama took place when both of them had to break up with their respective perfect matches and got married a few hours before the child was born. Luckily, despite that start they have quite a peaceful marriage now. Meanwhile the girl Hedgehog was originally supposed to marry took his younger brother Stag instead. Remember? The one who killed his sister? Yeah, right.
Until now there are six Gen 3 kids in the Gold clan, all of them are boys. And there are far too many small children in the main family now for my taste.

Finally, Family 5: Wood.
Salamander (m) is also one of the sims I like most. He is social, without being pushy and has a quite distinctive face. His wife Caterpillar, on the other hand, is another romance sim who broke down at nearly every child birth. Poor thing. In this family both founders have medium skin tones and blonde and red hair.
This family adopted a dog recently.


Until now, only one of my ToT sims has died - that one girl who lost a fight with her brother. Also, no social worker appearances. And strangely, for the time being, the toddler stage is one of the easiest in stone age. oO At least they can take care of their hygiene themselves and are not constantly yelling at me, like those damn children. :P
Yeah, I'm totally in love with this darling little bucket, created by Michelle 111 (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=456392). It is awesome.

[SandyJS]

I've downloaded that bucket so now I need to add it to my game. I'm always on the lookout for things like this that make toddlers easier to handle!

[anna220]

Great update Yuki ! It sounds like you have your hands full with that Gold family lol I havent downloaded ACR or the teen thing but everytime I read one of your updates who have it it makes me want to get it ! Of course my way makes my sims much easier to handle - some of my teens are on their own lots with their appointed mates but no hanky panky until they actually age to adult - and is keeping the population down. :lovestruc the bucket !! Thanks for the link :gjob:

[lizz2034]

I'm way behind on my updates, but I have few new ones on my weebly. The link is below and you can find it under the "Fun Stuff" tab. :)

[YukiShine]

I know I'm still far away from the Roman Stage (about 5 more seasons to go), but I can't help but think ahead. ^^;
And then this one general rule keeps bugging me:


General Rules:
7) Everytime someone marries out of their social class, they are to take on the higher of the two classes.


It seems like it's only possible to move up between social classes. Where are the options to be "demoted"?

IMHO it'd be good to maintain a more or less pyramidal society structure throughout the ages, like for the Roman Stage: Emperor's family < Patricians < Plebians < Slaves.
But unless the upper classes really have significantly lower birth rates and/ or higher death rates than the lower classes, they would soon outnumber the lower classes, wouldn't they? (Anyone who already has an established Roman society: Please correct me if you feel that my theories are running away with me. :) ).

So, I really think there should be (an) option(s) to move down in society. My first idea was to change the above rule into:
"Everytime someone marries out of their social class, they are to take on the male's class." (In a patriarchal society, of course.)
While this would maybe balance things out better and seems to me a little more historically correct (but I could be wrong here, I should do my research ^^; ), it is now quite unfair towards men: With that rule in place only women would be able to change social classes.

So in addition to that I began to think about a more detailed rule set (for the Roman Stage):

First, I'd like to have an additional meta-class: the Senate.
There should be a definite number of Senate members, like 10 or so. The Emperor is automatically the head of the Senate. Other potential members are the Emperor's male adult and elder relatives, the adult or elder heads of patrician households and their adult (or elder) male heirs. All members have to have a fitting career, like politics, law enforcement, military... Also, with the exception of the Emperor, no one has to be a Senator. It's more or less only an option.

The Senate functions as a central institution: If the Emperor dies without a heir, the new Emperor is chosen by the Senate (= the head of the richest Senator family could become the new Emperor.) So that would be a chance for a Patrician family to move up. At the same time the former Emperor's family would now be demoted to Patrician, so here's a chance for them to move down. Maybe, depending on their relationship with the new Emperor and overall circumstances, they could also be killed.

A Plebian family could move up to be a Patrician family, if they manage to grab a Senator's post. That'd be possible only if the Senate isn't full (e.g. less than 10 Senators). The male Plebian in question should be at least as rich as the "poorest" Patrician and be best friends with the majority of the Senators to become a Senator himself and make his family a Patrician family in the process.

Patrician families also have to meet these conditions to become Senators, by the way: They also have to be friends with the majority of the Senate. So, if a Patrician household cannot provide a Senator for two generations (as in: until the second generation head becomes an elder) and there is at least one other Patrician or Plebian household with more funds around, this household will be demoted to Plebian. Meaning, only the richest Patrician family could get away with not participating in the Senate for a longer time period.

I have to admit I can't quite think of a plausible reason for a Plebian to fall into slavery, though, so let's skip that one for now and take a more roundabout way, while I'm at it. :jest:

Illegitimate children are to be one class lower than the parent who raises them. If orphaned or abandonned by both parents, it'll be at least two classes down. So, if for example the Emperial Princess has an illegitimate child with the local tavern owner (who's a Plebian, of course) and her family is generous enough to let her keep the kid, it could grow up to be a Patrician. In every other case that kid would become a slave.


I know this rule set is far from perfect and might conflict with more original rules than intended. So, Roman Stage players, how do you do these class changes? Does anyone already have a functional system that keeps a relatively stable pyramidal structure?

[floor1304]

@YukiShine: The rule about the Senate sounds interesting. I think I might actually do that, once I get to the Roman Era (still 2 rounds to go :S)

Originally Posted by anna220
General Rules:
7) Everytime someone marries out of their social class, they are to take on the higher of the two classes.
It used to be that when someone marries, they take the social class of the man, even if it's lower, so I will do that.

[YukiShine]

It used to be that when someone marries, they take the social class of the man, even if it's lower, so I will do that.
That was my first thought, too, but that way men have no chance to change their class in their lifetime, no matter what they do.
Life just isn't fair, huh? :P

I haven't yet decided what to do, but there's still plenty of stone age left...

[music2ologist]

I have to admit I can't quite think of a plausible reason for a Plebian to fall into slavery, though, so let's skip that one for now and take a more roundabout way, while I'm at it. :jest:

They used to be able to sell themselves into slavery to get out of debt.

[YukiShine]

They used to be able to sell themselves into slavery to get out of debt.
Oh, that's tough, but does seem logical. Just how are we to translate this into a rule for sims - I mean, they don't usually go bankrupt.
Maybe we could still work from there. Like, if a family business is doing absolutely awful, or a farmer family miscalculated, ran out of edibles and normally would starve to death, we could save them (with cheats, if necessary), but make them slaves in exchange.
The chance of something like that actually happening might be rather low, but then again, sims aren't supposed to constantly change their social status, right?

[anna220]

UGH trying to match up the kids with mates is MUCH to hard ! Im ending up with far too many skin 1 couples. Can anyone give me a good explaination of why a skin 1 female would end up wth a skin 4 male according to history? I did want to play it as skin 1's would be the emperor family and higher ranking citizens but at this rate there will be double that class then the lower classes which wont work.

[SandyJS]

Finally, I've gotten my first gen 3 teenager! I had at one time decided to flip things around and use the darker skinned families as the emperor but a quick check of finances tells me that it's the light skinned families with all the money! I've added Pooklet's Kids in Technicolor skins to my game so I have quite a variety of skin colors just as we do in the RW.

Anna220, maybe she rebelled against her father's dictates and married a slave just to spite him???

[YukiShine]

I see the Roman Empire as quite multicultural, actually. Could be wrong, of course, but hey - the Empire was pretty much everything around the Mediterranean Sea, including North Africa. I don't see any major problems with dark skinned sims having a high social status during the Neanderthalan and Roman Eras. :)

[anna220]

Congrats Sandy !! You must be so excited. Of course your days of sims lazing around are sadly at an end now lol Time to get out that rules sheet and see who can really do what now. Im thinking it going to be so hard to have sims work and look after home life etc after so long just living off the land. Ive got Pooklets skins as well. Ive had 2 white kids born and they are like a ghost LOL Should be really interesting to follow along thru the ages and see what happens. Thanks both of you for weighing in on my dilemma. I just have to remember its a game and I can really do anything I want and its all ok :)

[anna220]

I'm way behind on my updates, but I have few new ones on my weebly. The link is below and you can find it under the "Fun Stuff" tab. :)

Great updates Lizz. I dont think you have to worry about your game being boring ! OMG @ all the intrigue :!:

[moonlight_frog]

Little Bumblebee was murdered by her older brother Stag when I wasn't paying attention for a second and didn't delete the "attack" action in time.


Wait, you have a murder mod? :blink:

Where did you find it?? I want it badly (population control)!!! :giggler:

~~~~~~~~~~~



Another child was born - and another son -females seem to be a rare item thus far - so family growth may be rather limited.
10/11 babies are male....

jjdcoach, have you tried "rolling the pacifier"? It might help diversify your game's genetics/ genders.

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Pregnancy#Rolling_the_Pacifier_and_Firstborn_Syndrome

[SandyJS]

Wait, you have a murder mod? :blink:

Where did you find it?? I want it badly (population control)!!! :giggler:



I don't think there is a murder mod per say, it's just that according to the rules, if someone loses a fight, you have to kill them. I believe most are spawning the Tombstone to do so. :report:

[YukiShine]

Sandy is exactly right. Sorry, no murder mod. ^^
Doesn't MATY have something to reduce your population randomly by a certain percentage? I thought I read something over there.

[moonlight_frog]

No murder mod? How disappointing. XD

Luckily, none of my sims have had fights yet, so I guess I don't have to worry about that.... for now....

[lizz2034]

I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but I've started compiling lists of downloads that can be used in this challenge for people just getting started or who can't find certain stuff. You can find all the links I'm sharing on my Weebly (link below). The Sims 2 tab is under the "Fun Stuff" tab on the left hand side of the home page.
Searching for what you want takes time, but when we all share our finds (as you all have done for me many times) it takes less time and frustration! :beer:

[anna220]

Great idea !

[SandyJS]

Fabulous idea! These are some of the things I've been looking for as I start to get ready for the Roman stage.

[YukiShine]

Awesome. :D

I'd also like to highly recommend Parsimonious (http://www.parsimonious.org/) in general.
Also, Michelle 111 (http://modthesims.info/browse.php?f=385&page=2&u=2668015&showType=1&showAll=1&gs=0) (MTS2) has some nice toddler stuff, like the skill bucket I mentioned some time ago.
The Cave Comfort Collection (http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=288814) goes really well with the stone age theme. I know there's also the Simstone Project (http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=172481), but I didn't try that one out. (No, wait, actually I did download a fridge from that project, but I don't use it, because there are no leftover options.)
-Maylin-'s Haystack (http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=227342) gets used in some of my households, too.

Actually I'm still looking for clothes for the Roman Stage.

[moonlight_frog]

Squinge's Pregnant Sims Wear Any Outfit is extremely useful if you're going to take pictures.

http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,91730.0.html

Btw, I find the SimStone's stuff to be incredibly good for the Neanderthal period; it has a variety of "animal pelt" clothing for most ages as well as furniture.

[YukiShine]

Btw, I find the SimStone's stuff to be incredibly good for the Neanderthal period; it has a variety of "animal pelt" clothing for most ages as well as furniture.
I just wish I could like that cartooney style... Other than that, sure, great set.

[moonlight_frog]

A Question For InTeenimator Users:

Does anyone have an opinion on the automated miscarriages (the ones that automatically happen when your sim is low in needs)?

I'm somewhat tempted to remove my "No Miscarriage" flavor patch, but I'm also scared that it'll be freakin' hard to bring a pregnancy to term.

[floor1304]

@moonlight_frog: I had the "No Miscarriage" flavor patch at first, but after a while I removed it because in real life it wasn't easy to get a baby in that time, and otherwise you'll just have way to many kids.
I only had one miscarriage so far and I don't think it's too hard to bring a pregnancy to term.

[YukiShine]

@moonlight_frog: I had the "No Miscarriage" flavor patch at first, but after a while I removed it because in real life it wasn't easy to get a baby in that time, and otherwise you'll just have way to many kids.
I only had one miscarriage so far and I don't think it's too hard to bring a pregnancy to term.
I've removed the flavor patch from the beginning, because I figured my sims could have too many children too easily otherwise. Later I also installed ACR and a slightly modified aging system with a longer adult period and shorter elder period, so it's even more important to me to have a few miscarriages now and then. As sad or frustrating as it sometimes is, but it balances things out a little.
I also notice that I'm getting better at handling pregnant sims thanks to this challenge... Actually even my Generation 2 stone age sims do not try for babies as often as possible. I try to limit the number of children already to about six per family, or otherwise my population would go out of hand too fast. Until now there were no "bear attacks" (social worker) on children, so the survival rate is quite high.

[moonlight_frog]

Ah, so maybe I should consider removing the patch; I'll do that when my Generation 2's become teens so that my neighborhood won't become overcrowded.

Right now though, the oldest are only at the children stage (I really haven't found sufficient playing time, so I'm moving at a snail's pace).

Also, how old are your teens when you start allowing them to pair off romantically (how many days before turning into adults)?

[YukiShine]

Also, how old are your teens when you start allowing them to pair off romantically (how many days before turning into adults)?
In my Generation 2 that varied a lot. One of my starter families had a plant baby that was naturally growing up much faster than the other Gen 2 kids. I still wanted to marry her off to someone from her own generation, so I married her to the eldest Gen 2 boy as soon as he became a teenager.
Now, to avoid having another huge age gap between their children and the other Gen 3 children, I also started pairing the other Gen 2 kids asap. However, they didn't all marry during their first days as teens. Some had a harder time finding (or keeping) someone, so the couple forming process could really extend over most of their teenager days.

If it hadn't been for the plant sim, however, I might have waited until about 7 days before adulthood before marrying the kids off.

[nuidyaforever]

OK, I know most of you probably won't remember who I am, but VT is back and this time I am actually going to get back into this challenge. (lost my main hood, tried to do an uberhood but decided I'd never get it the way I wanted it without some major CC-fu, impressive modding skills and years of hard work - and I can't create CC for anything... and now I'm back here! Yay!)

I'd tell you all what I'm planning but I don't quite know myself at the moment. I'm way too frazzled from three months without being able to play my biggest stress reliever. :faceslap:

- VT

[moonlight_frog]

OK, I know most of you probably won't remember who I am, but VT is back and this time I am actually going to get back into this challenge. (lost my main hood, tried to do an uberhood but decided I'd never get it the way I wanted it without some major CC-fu, impressive modding skills and years of hard work - and I can't create CC for anything... and now I'm back here! Yay!)

I'd tell you all what I'm planning but I don't quite know myself at the moment. I'm way too frazzled from three months without being able to play my biggest stress reliever. :faceslap:

- VT

Aw, that sucks. How did you lose your main neighborhood? Corruption?

~~~~~

Directed towards YukiShine:

So far, I haven't gotten any plant sims yet, so I dunno if I'll rush the romancing. I probably will though...

[nuidyaforever]

Nothing to do with corruption - I've been rebuilding that hood after every glitch for four and a half years. It's just that it eventually reached the point where the culture was so well-developed that it wouldn't fit inside the game parameters any more, even with mods. I plan to write books about them in the future.

- VT

[anna220]

Also, how old are your teens when you start allowing them to pair off romantically (how many days before turning into adults)?

At the end of the last round I paired up the teenagers and moved them out. This is the first round I am playing them on their own lots. I dont have any hacks tho so they have to wait until they are adults before I will actually marry them off and have kids.

Welcome back VT :)

[moonlight_frog]

Ah, so it's a matter of culture.

I never really think about my sims having a distinct culture; mostly, I use the rules of this challenge as a guideline and tweak them to suit my mods.

VT, are you thinking of rebuilding your challenge, or are you going to move on to other interests?

@Anna: I wish I had the patience to wait for them to turn into adults, but ever since I first started using inTeen, I got hooked and could never really find the patience to wait for them to grow up ever again. :P

[nuidyaforever]

I'm not quitting TS2, if that's what you're asking. I'm staying right here. I won't be rebuilding my former hood, because - as I already said - it won't fit within the limitations of the game any more, and it wasn't a challenge anyway. The ToT hood is on my project list, though.

- VT

[anna220]

Moonlight I keep thinking I NEED to get ACR and Iteen and Insem but I just never get around to it. I go to the sites, read what it does and then get scared off when Im not sure what version I should get :lol:

[nuidyaforever]

Anna: as a longtime user of those mods, I recommend ACR v2, the OBJ version of the Insimenator (it's safest, AFAIK) and whatever version of Inteen corresponds to your latest EP. That last one is pretty much a necessity if you're going to install Inteen at all. ACR v2 is just better and easier to customise to different types of hood (IMO) than ACR v1. But it's really up to you. ;)

- VT (whose name you may well be seeing on next month's New Creators list - can't resist dropping hints!) :heyhey:

[anna220]

Thanks VT I will keep that in mind the next time I find myself sim shopping :-)

[SandyJS]

At the end of the last round I paired up the teenagers and moved them out. This is the first round I am playing them on their own lots. I dont have any hacks tho so they have to wait until they are adults before I will actually marry them off and have kids.

Welcome back VT :)

That sounds like what I did. Gen 2 teens got paired up and moved into their own house. That made it easier for them to get acquainted and fall in love. For gen 3, I decided that when the kids started bringing home friends from school, I'd look at upping the friendship levels. That way when they become teens I can start some romances brewing.

BTW, I'm reading through the InTeen stuff to see if it will work for my play style. :report:

[anna220]

I will wait for your cliff notes version so let me know what you think of it ;)

[nuidyaforever]

I'm officially bumping this up to the top of my project list. Well, an adaptation of it, one that isn't "Earth history" and will not base class rankings on skintone - I want to a) keep that sort of thing out of my game and b) go loopy geneticising my thousands of downloaded alien skins now I know how to do it. :cool:

(Thousands? OK, I lied. More like 250. Still... no, I won't be using ALL of them in this hood...)

I think I'll set it on the homeworld of a very primitive, very genetically diverse alien race, and at some point there will be humans arriving (most likely they will crash their spaceship, so it doesn't get too high-tech too fast). There will also be plenty of abductions even before the humans arrive, mostly because I want to actually use my first creation. (It's a multi-PT mod. And it has EIGHT aliens! Surprise!)

Hoodless for three months. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to getting this up and running.

- VT

[cespencer7]

My gen 1 is very stinky with no tub and everyone is dark red heat stroked and very unhappy. My first two lots had wife die and kids were all taken by social worker for being too hot. I am adapting this challenge and adding a tub to each family's lot. Will update this post to let you know if that helps. I figure since you can't swim in pond tub is legal.

I have all sims 2 expansion packs but I am not using any custom content or cheats other than familyFunds to set money. This challenge may be impossible without cheating. Even the tub doesn't help. Lost everyone on next two lots!!!!!

[SandyJS]

My gen 1 is very stinky with no tub and everyone is dark red heat stroked and very unhappy. My first two lots had wife die and kids were all taken by social worker for being too hot. I am adapting this challenge and adding a tub to each family's lot. Will update this post to let you know if that helps. I figure since you can't swim in pond tub is legal.

I have all sims 2 expansion packs but I am not using any custom content or cheats other than familyFunds to set money. This challenge may be impossible without cheating. Even the tub doesn't help. Lost everyone on next two lots!!!!!

Drink lots of water. :Pint: It may take more than 1 glass but it will reduce the temperatures. Did you build a small room for the kids to sleep in? Add a toybox there to keep them inside as much as possible. I also added a tub to the lots. I lost a fair number of kids in gen 2 and one entire family, but I haven't lost anyone in gen 3 yet. So it does help.
;)

[YukiShine]

My first Gen 3 kids are teenagers by now and I've played without tubs or showers and without social worker appearances the whole time. It's possible. :) I only make an exeption when dogs need bathing, but afterwards the tub is sold again.
Teens, adults and elders will spongebath at the sink when they feel too dirty, toddlers get hygiene with Michelle 111's skill building bucket and children... well... have to stay dirty for a few days. I usually make them garden, befriend other kids or just "store" them in a pool for a few hours to get them out of my way. No toy box. Actually, no toys at all for children. Now that I think about it, I start to feel a little sorry for them. lol.

Waterballoon fights are also quite effective against heat. And a small hut ("cave" ^^ ) is really important, too. And yes, lots of water drinking... ^^

[cespencer7]

Drink lots of water. :Pint: It may take more than 1 glass but it will reduce the temperatures. Did you build a small room for the kids to sleep in? Add a toybox there to keep them inside as much as possible. I also added a tub to the lots. I lost a fair number of kids in gen 2 and one entire family, but I haven't lost anyone in gen 3 yet. So it does help.
;)

Thanks for the tips. I hadn't even made a house before so this time I made small huts with a bathroom and one bed to have pregnant wife sleep near food. Otherwise two tents outside. I will see today if anyone survives.

[anna220]

Hi cespencer7. Great to see you join us ! I added a shower since the beginning and also built a small house for each family. Not sure I would have gotten very far either without those 2 things. I dont use cheats or hacks either but I have added custom content for decor. As Sandy mentioned drinking water is by far the best way I have found to reduce the red bar. Yuki you are a star !! I put the sink in the backpack after each use because they kept heading there to do the dishes and I wanted the plates to be composed instead. That helps greatly at the start of each lot to get the farming producing better quality foods.

[YukiShine]

I put the sink in the backpack after each use because they kept heading there to do the dishes and I wanted the plates to be composed instead.
Do you have a mod for this? Whenever my sims can't clean their plates in the sink, they head for the normal bin. How do you get them to put the plates into the compost bin?
For extra compost I recycle newspapers (of course) and I also have the seasons set to summer-summer-summer-fall. That way they get a few leaf heaps once a year.

[anna220]

I bought the cheap trash can and put that on the lot. When they clean dishes they should put it in it and you can compost from there. If they should head to the main garbage at the street stop them, They should drop the items which will result in a heap of smelly trash which can them be composted as well. Also diapers are put in the trash and then composted as well. After the first round or so I always have more then enough compost and never have to worry.

[mynni64]

Excited! I have been stalking this thread for a week. I finally got through reading a good portion and realize it is current! I started my challenge 2 days ago. I want to thank all of you for the tips. With these I hope I won't be losing as many sims in the first couple of generations. So I am basically just beginning. I am going in cycles of seasons (so I don't get bored quick). I have tweaked the rules to suit my play like many of you. I will add pictures of my families later today! *eeeekfangirlsqueal*

[anna220]

lol welcome mynni64 !! Yes this is definitely still active tho we tend to cycle like the seasons who is playing at any given time :lol: Cant wait to see how it goes for you and let us know if you have any questions or comments ! Have fun :!:

[Kira96]

This sounds really interesting! I'll think I'll try it.

[cespencer7]

After losing all my kids AGAIN I decided to read the entire T.O.T. thread. I think I was following the set up rules in the first few posts too closely and I wasn't providing cribs or changing tables, toys or anything else for the babies. I wasn't giving them anything but bottles and a bath in the sink. They were left on the floor all day. Needless to say they were always crying and eventually the social worker would come and take them all away. Not having any baby gear made it impossible to get past Gen. 1, especially with everyone having twins.

[SandyJS]

After losing all my kids AGAIN I decided to read the entire T.O.T. thread. I think I was following the set up rules in the first few posts too closely and I wasn't providing cribs or changing tables, toys or anything else for the babies. I wasn't giving them anything but bottles and a bath in the sink. They were left on the floor all day. Needless to say they were always crying and eventually the social worker would come and take them all away. Not having any baby gear made it impossible to get past Gen. 1, especially with everyone having twins.

If you have pets and AL, throw a dog bed in the corner. The toddler will sleep on that when they are tired. Also, keep a pet bowl filled and clean as well. Toddler will eat the kibble. There is a bucket mentioned somewhere in the last page or two you might want to get. A toddler playing in that will get cleaner, happier and earn cleaning skill points as well. :beer:

[mynni64]

Does a hack exist for being pregnant in your default clothes and not turning into maternity?

[mynni64]

I finally finished my first rotation! There are four founding families in ancient Simeria. They are Gratia, Asnight, Xes, and Elur. Here is whats going on as of first rotation.

Ahtnamas and Belac Gratia (whitest skin)
This is the first family I played for this challenge. Needless to say there were heat exhausted much of the time. Their firstborn is a daughter, Annahs. Ahtnamas is pregnant with baby 2. There isn't a lot going on with this family just yet, other then the bugging I had while trying to grow up the baby. I was mostly so concentrated on just keeping them alive!

Anirtak and Namahs Asnight (black skin)
This is a really easy going family. Despite scorching summer days, no one had heat exhaustion! They are both great fishers and fast learners (knowledge sims). Their firstborn is a son, Rennug. Anirtak is on her pregnancy two as well.

Ardnosac and Notfilc Xes (purple skin)
Notfilc is an excellent fisherman (horrible farmer) and a bit before his time! He discovered grilled cheese and painting. And they are the first family to have a sink. Unfortunately, the two had trouble conceiving. Which makes me sad because this is my favorite family, they are gorgeous and need to pass those genes on! One VERY hot day Ardnosac went hiking and came back exhausted for the heat. After Notfilc doused her with water, I sent her inside to bed promptly. She woke up only to have another heatstroke. Even though she was inside their cave her temperature kept rising back up. I had her drink water and sleep most of the day :( To no avail she passed in the evening. If anyone can give me a clue to why her temperature wouldn't stay down. I am completely bummed about losing my favorite sim on first rotation! Not to mention that messed up the original story line. Notfilc is beside himself. They were mad for each other and now he has nothing left of her. WAHHH

Llib and Rehtaeh Elur (purple and green skin)
The Elur family is doing very well for themselves. They have the largest cave in Simeria thanks to Llib's all night fishing. They begin the parenthood journey with twin girls, Kira and Arik. They are interesting parents..... I have never had sim parents to lecture one day old babies :) The twins are keeping them very busy and the crops are suffering. There is another baby (or two) on the way soon.

*shew* Now onto second rotation. Pray my simmies don't lose many more.

[YukiShine]

Oh dear, what a start...
I'd recommend Pescado's Warmth Fixes (on MATY). It makes sponanous combustion more unlikely, but most importantly (to me :)) the indoor temperature is no longer influenced by the outside temp. Meaning, your sims are pretty much "safe" when inside a building.
Without such fixes sims easily overheat while sleeping. I often had them wake up exhausted and then collapse with heatstrokes.

Those skintones look really great. :) That's going to be interesting, I suppose.

[anna220]

Awsome founders mynni! Sorry to hear about your loss :-( But sometimes letting the game play as the game wants can be a very interesting thing. If you are like me I am far too heavy handed with my sims so its nice to let them roam somewhat free. The toddlers I give the building block set ( if you dont want to download anything). My thought process is its blocks of wood ! Of course they would have blocks of wood in caveman days lol As for the sleeping/heat exhausion thing have them relax on the bed until they are the green and THEN put them to sleep. Otherwise the heat from the blankets will put their temps thru the roof !

[cespencer7]

I had fun this weekend setting up my founding five clans. I was doing weekly rotations from Monday to Sunday. By the end of week two four of the five husbands had died by heatstroke or fire. While I had four sets of twins before their deaths I still don't have a good base for future genetic mixing so I am creating a new skin 1 clan to boost things.

I also added a few things like drums, ax throwing and art easels to give them a way to be happy. I had randomly assigned aspirations and zodiac signs so some struggled to be happy with only fishing and jumping on furniture for fun.

[anna220]

Thats a rough start cespencer :-( Dont forget that tending the farm will increase your fun levels !

[mynni64]

I had fun this weekend setting up my founding five clans. I was doing weekly rotations from Monday to Sunday. By the end of week two four of the five husbands had died by heatstroke or fire. While I had four sets of twins before their deaths I still don't have a good base for future genetic mixing so I am creating a new skin 1 clan to boost things.

I also added a few things like drums, ax throwing and art easels to give them a way to be happy. I had randomly assigned aspirations and zodiac signs so some struggled to be happy with only fishing and jumping on furniture for fun.

Bummer! I had a founder die from heat exhaustion first rotation too. After selling some fish and veggies to make the 'cave' a little bigger we are getting exhausted a lot less. Some lessons learned. It seems to be the hottest from 1-7p so I try to do most of my outside work in the a.m. Hope next rotation goes better for you!

[mynni64]

Got rotation 2 finished this evening!

Gratia Family (white skin)
Annahs their daughter has become a child. They welcomes a second daughter Alyahs. That is all. This is the most boring family.....ever...

Asnight Family (black skin)
The Asnight family are great friends with the Xes family. It was funny to me when I noticed Namahs had rolled the want to turn Ardnosac Xes into a zombie. Sorry Namahs (I call him Shaman cause he acts like one) it's not going to happen. The Asnight family is very fit to their name. They are up ALL night fishing and tending. It seems their schedule fell into place that way. Anirtak caught the grill on fire and really blackened her catfish. They had a second son, Xam and the heir son Runneg has become a child. We are expecting the third child soon.

Xes Family (purple skin)
Last rotation I lost half of this founding family. Upon hearing of the death of their oldest and most beautiful daughter the Lufituaeb Clan sent their youngest daughter to Notfilc. The father was apologetic at sending a weak wife. While Ahtibat may not be the most beautiful she would make a strong wife even at the age of 17. She had all the qualities of her father, including his elven ears. They were to be joined immediately. Despite Notfilc feeling of contempt, Ahtibat urged him that they must, or her father would be outraged. He couldn't let the girl be hurt. They were married the day after she came. She was banished to the cave. He was responsible for this child and would not have her death on his conscience. Notfilc knew he couldn't love another the way he did his precious Ardnosac. Ahtibat is kind and eager to please and so she slowly is healing his heart. At the request of Ahtibat there were many nights of 'love making' to produce an heir. This would be a testament to her father. The first born son shall be named after him. And one late night twins were born. A son named Renrut and a daughter named Chelle. But, Notfilc would not wait till death to see his beautiful Ardnosac. She frightened him many times over the course of great grilled cheese painting!

Elur Family (green and purple skin)
Where to start.....Rehtaeh thinks she is entitled. She is a horrible housewife and hates being pregnant. I think she resents her twin daughters as well. The twins Arik and Kira are now children. There is a third daughter that is a toddler, Ekoorb. I have never in my life seen hygeiene go down so fast in my life and these girls gripe all day about it. So Llib had to build the towns first indoor washtub. Otherwise I'd have a lawn full of exhausted princesses. The repoman came and took their toy box because I forgot to pay the bills :( Llib, who was red from heat exhaustion, tried to play peekaboo with Arik her screams could be heard in all neighboring lots. So far I am having a great time with these girls, but they are HIGH MAINTENANCE :king:

:!: Now one last question. What is the rule for genie lamps? I've got one. Thought maybe I ought to save it for another time period. Any thoughts?

[cespencer7]

I am all for saving gifts until your people would become smart enough to know how to use them. Great storytelling and love the names!


Got rotation 2 finished this evening!

Gratia Family (white skin)
Annahs their daughter has become a child. They welcomes a second daughter Alyahs. That is all. This is the most boring family.....ever...

Asnight Family (black skin)
The Asnight family are great friends with the Xes family. It was funny to me when I noticed Namahs had rolled the want to turn Ardnosac Xes into a zombie. Sorry Namahs (I call him Shaman cause he acts like one) it's not going to happen. The Asnight family is very fit to their name. They are up ALL night fishing and tending. It seems their schedule fell into place that way. Anirtak caught the grill on fire and really blackened her catfish. They had a second son, Xam and the heir son Runneg has become a child. We are expecting the third child soon.

Xes Family (purple skin)
Last rotation I lost half of this founding family. Upon hearing of the death of their oldest and most beautiful daughter the Lufituaeb Clan sent their youngest daughter to Notfilc. The father was apologetic at sending a weak wife. While Ahtibat may not be the most beautiful she would make a strong wife even at the age of 17. She had all the qualities of her father, including his elven ears. They were to be joined immediately. Despite Notfilc feeling of contempt, Ahtibat urged him that they must, or her father would be outraged. He couldn't let the girl be hurt. They were married the day after she came. She was banished to the cave. He was responsible for this child and would not have her death on his conscience. Notfilc knew he couldn't love another the way he did his precious Ardnosac. Ahtibat is kind and eager to please and so she slowly is healing his heart. At the request of Ahtibat there were many nights of 'love making' to produce an heir. This would be a testament to her father. The first born son shall be named after him. And one late night twins were born. A son named Renrut and a daughter named Chelle. But, Notfilc would not wait till death to see his beautiful Ardnosac. She frightened him many times over the course of great grilled cheese painting!

Elur Family (green and purple skin)
Where to start.....Rehtaeh thinks she is entitled. She is a horrible housewife and hates being pregnant. I think she resents her twin daughters as well. The twins Arik and Kira are now children. There is a third daughter that is a toddler, Ekoorb. I have never in my life seen hygeiene go down so fast in my life and these girls gripe all day about it. So Llib had to build the towns first indoor washtub. Otherwise I'd have a lawn full of exhausted princesses. The repoman came and took their toy box because I forgot to pay the bills :( Llib, who was red from heat exhaustion, tried to play peekaboo with Arik her screams could be heard in all neighboring lots. So far I am having a great time with these girls, but they are HIGH MAINTENANCE :king:

:!: Now one last question. What is the rule for genie lamps? I've got one. Thought maybe I ought to save it for another time period. Any thoughts?

[cespencer7]

I love meeting all of your clans and thought that I should take some time to introduce you to mine. I am writing my story as if archeologists were discovering artifacts and forming stories based on what they have found. Since I am still in Generation 1, my initial notes will just tell you where they live. I will showcase one family clan each night. When I figure out how to insert a photo, I will edit the post so you can see my clan. I am also working on a website to house all my notes and some photos. https://sites.google.com/site/asimstestoftime/ (https://sites.google.com/site/asimstestoftime)

.................................................................................................................
Tonight I will tell you about my first clan, the Scalyns.
The earliest known prehistoric tribe discovered by archeologists was the Scalyn clan (family). Their hut was found in an area near the modern day border of France and Belgium. These people were fair-skinned, blue eyed, and blonde. Prone to sunburn and heat stroke, many of their infant children were snatched by the wild women of socialworkia while their parents lay unconscious in the garden. At the end of the second season and right before the birth of his twin sons, the founding father Jacques died in a terrible lightning storm. Despite the challenges caused by the excessive heat the founding mother, Francois, did raise her daughter, Alicia and the two younger twin boys, Alfred and Alphonse, into adulthood. The survival of her two sons ensured that the genetics of this lovely tribe continued into the future bloodlines of many famous people.

[VioletPadfoot]

cespencer7: I just took a peek at your website, and i really like the style of commentary you're using. It's sad though that you've lost so many of your founding males (does your game have something against them? i hope not or your future generations may suffer if all the males are targeted by the game itself, to die) Also lol @ socialworkia.

[mynni64]

I love meeting all of your clans and thought that I should take some time to introduce you to mine. I am writing my story as if archeologists were discovering artifacts and forming stories based on what they have found. Since I am still in Generation 1, my initial notes will just tell you where they live. I will showcase one family clan each night. When I figure out how to insert a photo, I will edit the post so you can see my clan. I am also working on a website to house all my notes and some photos. https://sites.google.com/site/asimstestoftime/ (https://sites.google.com/site/asimstestoftime)

.................................................................................................................
Tonight I will tell you about my first clan, the Scalyns.
The earliest known prehistoric tribe discovered by archeologists was the Scalyn clan (family). Their hut was found in an area near the modern day border of France and Belgium. These people were fair-skinned, blue eyed, and blonde. Prone to sunburn and heat stroke, many of their infant children were snatched by the wild women of socialworkia while their parents lay unconscious in the garden. At the end of the second season and right before the birth of his twin sons, the founding father Jacques died in a terrible lightning storm. Despite the challenges caused by the excessive heat the founding mother, Francois, did raise her daughter, Alicia and the two younger twin boys, Alfred and Alphonse, into adulthood. The survival of her two sons ensured that the genetics of this lovely tribe continued into the future bloodlines of many famous people.

What an amazing idea! I am reading your website now. Nice writing and a super creative idea of view point. Love it!

[cespencer7]

The next clan discovered by archeologists was the Engis clan (family). Their small hut was situated by a lovely pond in the border area between what is now modern day Belgium and Germany. Fair-skinned, red-headed, with lovely green eyes, this clan was also prone to the dangers of heat and sunstroke. Pre-disposed to the birth of twins, this race was destined to dominate most of Europe; however, this was not to be, due to the early death of the founding father Henrick. Archeologists now question the intelligence of this race given that almost immediately after the clan’s establishment; the founder ran straight into a cooking fire and died.

Since this clan had only the two girl twins, Ada and Adele, their surname was lost to all future generations; however, their genetics did contribute to the bloodlines of future generations. Archeologists are not sure if that was a good thing.

[cespencer7]

Thanks for the positive feedback. I love the Sims and this challenge. I have had so much fun researching about Neanderthals and where they lived so I could create realistic Sims. I also didn't want to cheat too much to survive, so I thought that each generation to come could "learn" more and thereby get more of life's essentials. I figure the first generation were from the Stone Age, the second from the Bronze (Copper) Age and the third can be from the Iron Age. This will help to set them up for their eventual assimilation or slavery with Rome.

I am not sure who to thank for this fun challenge, but if you know, please tell them that with a few modifications to the original neanderthal post, this has been fun!

[anna220]

mynni64 love your update. For the first time EVER in my game I finally saw the genie and got the lamp. Like really? It couldnt have happened to any other family I was playing? It had to be one of the ToTers??? Im not using it but I could easily see it being added to the storyline of gods they worshipped etc.

cespencer7 you are doing a bang up job ! The idea of having a google map to show the location of the huts is pure genuis ! And telling the story from the future is quite novel as well. I look forward to seeing what you both come up with in the future ! Its cool how each of us has a different way to tell our stories. Really keeps things interesting ! :lovestruc

[cespencer7]

It has been fun visiting your websites. I love your photos! I need to learn to take better photos. I will use the other forums to learn more. And to find some cc for clothing.

[anna220]

First tip about taking pics is to set your resolution to high and the image to large on the ingame settings. That will make a world of difference. Also get in close to your subjects so you see the action. A wide shot is good for overview but sometimes you need to focus where the sim is. And lastly practice practice practice ! Let me know if you need any other :help: and I will try my best.

[cespencer7]

Thanks everyone for your tips and hints on how to do things better. I love how much this game stretches the creative side of my brain. In my everyday work life it is a lot of non-creative work, so this is such a nice change of pace. Addicting though, isn't it?

First tip about taking pics is to set your resolution to high and the image to large on the ingame settings. That will make a world of difference. Also get in close to your subjects so you see the action. A wide shot is good for overview but sometimes you need to focus where the sim is. And lastly practice practice practice ! Let me know if you need any other :help: and I will try my best.

[anna220]

cespencer7 I added your link to my blog. Hope that was ok :)

[moonlight_frog]

No wonder my pictures are so mediocre. XP

[cespencer7]

Anna - I have no problem with you adding my website link in your blog. I am honored. The google site is one I made just for TOT so it doesn't go into my family or work gmail. Thank you for all your tips and hints. It has made the experience more fun. :google:

[anna220]

Moonlight I cant believe you are doing 2 challenges at the same time ! That would be the end of me lol This one alone is hard enough. I have found this time around tho I do not seem to be having as much trouble completing a family as I did a few months ago. Not sure what I am doing differently but Im glad ! I too was having the blog update issues. It just never seemed like I was in the mood. Not sure if it will help you any but this is what I do - I have a folder titled story shots. After each round I go through and copy and paste all the photos Ive taken of that particular family. Then I pair it down to the ones I want to use being quite brutal ( i try to have no more than 12 per post and sometimes its much less and try to use different shots than previous stories to keep in interesting ). My goal is to only take pics of important details that tell a story tho I tend to always include shots of the sim when they age just so I remember what they look like. At this point I am months and months between playing each family so I need something to jog my memory lol I download all the photos I am going to use to the blog in a draft post and write up a very quick description for what I want to happen. It might be days later that I will actually go back and polish off the story. Once that is done then I can post it. So far I am finding this is helping me so much with getting my posts out more regularly. Now maybe people look at my blog and think it is really boring but it works for me and so far I am happy with it.

cespencer7 the sims community is the most helpful place I know ! I thank and remember each and everyone of the players who helped me when I started playing so I try to pay it forward. This game is nothing if you cant share it with fellow simmers :luff:

[moonlight_frog]

Moonlight I cant believe you are doing 2 challenges at the same time ! That would be the end of me lol This one alone is hard enough. I have found this time around tho I do not seem to be having as much trouble completing a family as I did a few months ago. Not sure what I am doing differently but Im glad ! I too was having the blog update issues. It just never seemed like I was in the mood. Not sure if it will help you any but this is what I do - I have a folder titled story shots. After each round I go through and copy and paste all the photos Ive taken of that particular family. Then I pair it down to the ones I want to use being quite brutal ( i try to have no more than 12 per post and sometimes its much less and try to use different shots than previous stories to keep in interesting ). My goal is to only take pics of important details that tell a story tho I tend to always include shots of the sim when they age just so I remember what they look like. At this point I am months and months between playing each family so I need something to jog my memory lol I download all the photos I am going to use to the blog in a draft post and write up a very quick description for what I want to happen. It might be days later that I will actually go back and polish off the story. Once that is done then I can post it. So far I am finding this is helping me so much with getting my posts out more regularly. Now maybe people look at my blog and think it is really boring but it works for me and so far I am happy with it.


Yeah, maybe I should limit my picture amount next time... I spend less time on the stories and too much time on the picture-taking; that's probably what bogs me down. It would probably be easier for my readers (if any), too. :turtle: I wish I could update faster.

Like you, I also cut and paste my pictures into their own little folders, which are divided by each family and each round. I also keep a physical log of my simming exploits in a journal (just bullet points); that way, I can remember what happened last time I played.

About doing 2 challenges at once:

I decided to attempt 2 challenges at the same time so that I can switch on and off; that way, I probably won't get bored for too long. It'll probably take me 10 million RL years, but it's certainly going to be interesting. ;)

[floor1304]

Instead of doing more challenges at once, 'cause there are a lot of challenges I'd like to attempt, I've decided to combine the TOT challenge with other challenges, like The Royal Kingdom Challenge, VPC, Apoclypse and other small challenges. This way I won't get bored so easily with the game.

[moonlight_frog]

floor1304, how did you export your in-game family tree!? It would save me a heck of a lot of trouble. :D

It makes sense to combine this challenge, I guess, especially since there are so many other challenges like this one.

Wait, I have another question: Do founders count as Generation 1 or Generation 0? floor1304, you seem to be making your founders Generation 0; I thought that Founders were Generation 1, though...

[anna220]

Im thinking eleventy billion years is more like it lol You will probably have more fun if you arent thinking about the photos so much as well. I counted founders as Gen 1 but there are others here who did them as Gen 0.

[floor1304]

My founders are generation 1, but none of the children are adults yet, so it still counts as generation 1 (right?)

When you're in the game, just go to the family tree, then use ctrl prtsc (control printscreen). Then go to paint, paste the printscreen you've just made. You have to do this twice, otherwise, on of the familymembers will have a larger icon. And tadaa, there's your family tree.

[SandyJS]

My founders are generation 1, but none of the children are adults yet, so it still counts as generation 1 (right?)

When you're in the game, just go to the family tree, then use ctrl prtsc (control printscreen). Then go to paint, paste the printscreen you've just made. You have to do this twice, otherwise, on of the familymembers will have a larger icon. And tadaa, there's your family tree.

Ooooo, I like that thought! :gjob: I haven't updated my blog is quite a while but maybe I can do this! :up:

[moonlight_frog]

Ditto. Thank you!!! :)

EDIT: It didn't work for me. When I tried to use Ctrl-PrintScreen, it copied my desktop instead. I read that Full Window games have that problem, so how can you make the Sims 2 Windowed?

[anna220]

I tried it and I do not play in windowed mode and it worked for me. Try just doing prtscn because that worked for me as well when I tried it on this page.

[floor1304]

moonlight_frog, to play in windowed mode, follow these instructions: http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Windowed_Mode

[cespencer7]

I can't seem to find a way to play in window mode with Apartment Life as my last EP. I downloaded from origins so there is no properties option to add the -w.

Anyway, I have a challenge question. While I am still in the early era of neanderthal, I was curious how you know if someone has been in a fight, other than if you have the event scene pop up to show you? And in a big active house with 8 people and party going on and neighbors dropping by, how do you figure out who won? I know from the university EP that the loser would leave if they were visitors, but what about if it's a family member? Just curious since I think in the roman era we are supposed to kill someone if they lose a fight.

[VioletPadfoot]

I can't seem to find a way to play in window mode with Apartment Life as my last EP. I downloaded from origins so there is no properties option to add the -w.

Anyway, I have a challenge question. While I am still in the early era of neanderthal, I was curious how you know if someone has been in a fight, other than if you have the event scene pop up to show you? And in a big active house with 8 people and party going on and neighbors dropping by, how do you figure out who won? I know from the university EP that the loser would leave if they were visitors, but what about if it's a family member? Just curious since I think in the roman era we are supposed to kill someone if they lose a fight.

The people in the fight will get "won/lost a fight against X" memories. As long as you can find one, you should be able to track down the other ~VP

[cespencer7]

VP:
Thanks for helping. I can't wait to get out of these Neanderthal huts. It's a lot of work to watch them all the time so they don't burn the place down or die of heatstroke. :(

[moonlight_frog]

Printscreen still isn't working for me in-game; instead of taking a shot of my game, it takes a pic of my desktop or any windows that I have out.

[SandyJS]

Working in windowed mode gets Printscreen working on my laptop, however it slows down to a craw to do it!

[YukiShine]

Fraps should work for in-game screenshots. It's freeware. You just have to remember to open it before starting the game.

[cespencer7]

I decided to try and not be so bossy with my sims, but in this neanderthal age if I don't tell them what to do I think they are going to die. I am now up to about 8 homes, so that means 8 neighborhood rotations. It takes forever to get all 8 homes through a single rotation. But it is so much fun. Somehow each household ends up with its own personality. There are the total neat freaks who clean everything. Then there is the group that just loves to fish. Another group wants to play catch (I have to watch that group or they all get heatstroke and then yell at each other while they wait their turn to get a drink). One group is just the most miserable group. In one day alone they had someone throwing up cause they were pregnant, the twins were screaming, then some stray dog kicked over the trash and everyone got the flu, then the grandmother died, and the repo man showed up cause they hadn't paid the bills. It's weird to admit this, but this crazy group with a full house of 8 is actually the one I like the most. Isn't it funny how you can actually get really attached to a group of Sims? I worry though, cause they are such a dysfunctional group that they will most likely burn the house down next.

[TychoH]

This challange sounds really great. I'm going to try this since I am bored with my standard family :)
One of the rules in the Roman times is "The Emperor must have at least two Slaves or servants working for them." What is the way to do that? Do the slaves or servants live on the same lot as the emperor?

[cespencer7]

TychoH
Great question about where the slaves live. I assumed that they lived on another lot and you use the familyFunds to transfer money from the slave family to the Emperor. Maybe Anna and some of the others who have played in the Roman era can tell us. I am still struggling to keep my Neanderthals alive. :)