Hi again, after months of computer issues, I was finally able to re-start my Sims 2 game but lost everyone. At least I was only one round in so I didn't lose much, but I've made five new families and this time I will do the challenge and get farther in than just five days!

Welcome back Good luck with your new attempt

EDIT: Over the last few days I've been updating round 4 like crazy, I'm mid-way through round five but I'm kind of stuck not wanting to play the next household in the queue. They're down to two boys and their mother who was resurected later in the round and moved back in. Two kids on the direct line to the founder. That's it. All it would take to wipe out the whole family is for someone to get sick or for one boy to attack the other or for a fire to burn them. They're one of my original five families and I don't want to lose them.

Hey everyone o/

Yes, I'm still lurking around as well, but haven't really made any progress with my challenge. With universitiy and exams I hadn't much time to play and now that I'm off inbetween semsters, my *veeery nice* graphics card is giving me a hard time. >_< after playing a short amount of time the driver starts crashing constantly and after that my computer simply restarts *sigh* I tried older driver versions, but those aren't working any better. Oh well... I wanted to upgrade to a 64 bit for some time now anyway (so that I can actually use the 8gb ram my laptop has), so I'll probably do that today and see if it helps.

If I get my laptop back to work (or rather run the sims), I'll probably manage to finish my roman hood during the next 2 weeks or so. I actually feel really motivated to build for once. Which makes me even angrier that my computer isn't working correctly right now. ._.

Edit: My laptop was apparently in a really good mood today, or something I did yesterday worked after all, I don't know In any case I could play
I built the house for one of my patrician families (Monsa2). I didn't label the rooms, so if anything is unclear feel free to ask. And I'm sorry, if I'm annoying anyone with my house photos (I don't now, are they interesting for anyone? I would actually love to see more of your houses, but that's maybe just me?), but sharing my progress kind of helps to keep me motivated, so... yeah :D

It's really authentic looking. I love it. I was actually planning on starting writing about my buildings on my blog today. None of mine are very fancy, I wasn't in a building mood when I started building for the roman era. I've been builing dark ages stuff for awhile now so hopefully the new era will look a little more authentic.

EDIT: I was wondering whether adopting pets by phone is against the rules?

I wouldn't think it's against the rules. A closed economy or something similar isn't required for this challenge and if you're allowed to get money out of nowhere, I think you should be allowed to 'import pets from another neighbourhood' or something along those lines :p

Maybe its listed in the forum already, but I really don't feel like going through 92 pages just to find the answer. If a sim gets sick in the neanderthal era does that automatically kill them or is that the dark ages only?

According to the rules, you're supposed to kill sick sims in the dark ages only. In all the other ages (and also in the dark ages if you really want) you can handle sickness any way you like. Most of us are using a more realisitic sickness hack, which makes it possible that sims die from illness, if they don't rest. Some also use the health system from the warwickshire challenge, I think (taliah, if I understood/remember that right?). And then there's of course the comfort soup you can incorporate.

Okay thank you, one of my founder sims got sick and I wasn't sure if I had to kill her or not, she at least gave birth to an heir and another boy but this makes me feel so much better. I'll take a look for that hack though thanks.

I think I may need to restart with all new families again... despite the fact that my five original families were lost from the game, it kept all the original lots and its possessions. So even though the original sim's that lived on that lot don't exist anymore, the one grave still does. And the ghost of that grave, one River Stone, scared everyone to death leaving the social worker to come and collect the two boys and ending my family line. I aborted before this could happen, but something tells me that I'm gonna have to move any Sims who want to live there to a new lot. Worse comes to worse, I'll have to move the two boys to the only other family I've played (which actually works, as they are the only one far enough along that the days are the same and the two families talk on the phone with the wife constantly).
Maybe I'm not suppose to be doing this challenge after all...

How can you lose the families, but not the hood and the lots? o.O

And I'm not completely sure why you want to restart again? I mean, you haven't lost the challenge. The family had two boys, simply move them in somewhere else and that's it? And concerning the grave: simply put it to some community lot before you move the boys out, then you can continue using the lot later on. Or am I missing something?

Technically I think if any one of your original family lines die out that's it for the challenge so I recommend doing anything possible to keep them alive! Or bring them back from the dead - got a lamp? =/ I suggest not restarting unless you absolutely have to as it can get tedious after a while. And there's no supposed to about it! I'm afraid since you're here you're already a lost cause *pat on the back* good luck though, it's a doozy (says the long lost cause).

I thought using the THS from Warwickshire was going to kill off my sims too easily but after reading lbsgirl24's blog I'm thinking the realistic sickness hack is more horrific! (I'm still in mourning over Syd, damn you *needs a tissue*)

As I've just restarted I only have the one lot FlyingRaccoon and it's pretty ordinary =/ but I DO enjoy seeing others buildings for the different eras so I encourage you to post at will!

taliah~ *who is twitchy from an entire 24 hours without her tot sims*

That was my thinking with the pets but I'm going to use all my allowed CAS sims to make some kitties and dogs (you know ones that actually resemble their species) and try to keep the pet lines going. What about pet fights? Do they equal death as well?

@Fireflysong so your sims just vanished apart from a ghost? I'm no expert but missing sims sounds like a corrupted hood. Restarting in a clean hood may help keep your hood uncorrupted for longer but it's your call. Maybe you should see if the vanished sims are a sign of corruption or not.

If you do want to continue as @TheFlyingRacoon said it isn't the end. Early on I had one mother die in the second round leaving behind one boy, three children of another family who were orphaned and had to move in with the widower (two died soon after) and a third family with only three surviving children. You can always make it work especially with the roman CAS sims (which I haven't had to touch even with how badly I screwed up the second generation)

Seriously? If they die that's challenge over? Gulp. Now I'm triply concerned about keeping my little Morans alive.

I was going to post some of my houses and community lots on my blog but I'll probably post some here as well. My Roman housing is pretty lacking though. I built them all inbetween the two eras so I was more interested in getting to the point where I could actually play.

*pops back out from where she vanished to* Concerning seeing lots, I'd love to see more people's lots. I greatly suck at building so seeing everyone else's lots gives me a model to base mine off of when I get to start building for the new era. And I'll continue to keep my ToT site updated with my buildings as well. If you go to my site and click the "Neanderthal" page instead of skipping past it in the drop down menu, it shows my regular and teen lots (Wait, did I put pictures of the updated teen lot ion there? I can't remember) And once I hit the Roma Era, I'll be sure to keep posting pics of my lots. I'm likely to have one (or two if I really feel build-y) lot that each class gets to use, But I'll be sure to note where individual families make changes to their homes (probably on the rounds pages when the change happens. Maybe I'll have a list on the page with the houses)

Concerning my own ToT, well it got put on hold as RL attacked, then my game developed an issue with mods, that has finally (as in yesterday) been resolved. But I think now I'm going to stop playing in my TestHood and move onto a real hood. Plus I miss my ToT simmies... *runs off to switch neighborhoods* ~VP

I'm torn as to what kind of housing I want to build. At the moment the housing I have for the nobles and royalty are much more suited to the later middle ages. I could easily change my vassal and serf housing to be more appropriate by using a different wall paper so that's fine. I'm kind of tempted to make small wooden castles for my nobles, like ones that would work for the keep of a motte and bailey castle, and then leave the more elaborate manors and castles for the next era. I'm not sure whether I want to drastically lower my sims living standards for historical accuracy.

At the moment my slave sims will have slightly better accomodation a serfs. They'll still be in one room but the room is a little bigger, they get a fireplace, have more things to do on the lot and they will have more space to run around. Similarly my plebians will still be sleeping in one room as vassals. With my patricians and emperor they have plenty of bedrooms and space. If I was to do this 100% accurately they'd be sleeping in one or maybe two rooms as nobles which doesn't feel much like progress to me so I just don't know anymore. Maybe I'll just give them two bedrooms off the solar and a nursery or something? I really have no idea anymore.

Here's one of the vassal and serf apartment lots, this lot, another vassal lot and a few viking lots are the only ones I'm really happy with. Pictures are under the poiler because I may have gone a little overboard.

If it helps at all - I think of the Dark Ages as a step down from the Roman Era rather than a step up. I see the Dark Ages as an era that is going to be rather gloomy and depressing; life is going to be a struggle for all walks of life. Just check out the rule basics:

If you look at it that way it's not going to be pretty like the Roman Era was. So by all means make life difficult for the Lords and Ladies of the realm!

I love the idea of little wooden castles! What you have so far looks awesome, too.

taliah~ *who is possibly just being vindictive towards the Roman simmies*

PS. Dang am I looking forward to vikings or what *currently halfway through Round 2 Neanderthal* aha...

I'm a little bit of a medieval nut tbh which isn't helping at all haha. Like I get that technologically the dark ages was a step down and all but it kind of depends on who my sims are meant to be historically. I need to get it into my thick skull that these are sims and their history will be vastly different. I think I'll just make them miserable in cramped wooden castles. Well I have an old castle I built ages ago with a cool floorplan so I may just remake that for my monarchs.

I'll probably give my lords one small master bedroom (maybe made to look curtained off) and either a separate nursery or another curtained off area (maybe the tots can sleep in with mum and dad or something) and everyone else can just sleep in the solar. I build enough pretty stone castles in my medieval hoods so they can probably live in simple motte and bailey affairs this era and then get all fancy later.

I suppose with sims as long as they don't have screaming tots waking them up at all hours and have the privacy to woohoo they couldn't care less about how many sims they're sleeping with.

@taliahneth I actually don't know why I'm surprised but it's kind of nice to see I'm not the only one who keeps track of pretty much all the information and seeing your stats page, I opened my progress sheet (with the start and ending dates of each rounds) and realised that 1. I actually finished playing the neanderthal era more or less 6 months ago and 2. the next household that I need to update on my blog? I played it a whole year ago I think I'm going to die before I come around to finish this challenge and I'm not sure whether I should start laughing or crying. XD

@lbsgirl24 My prehistoric sims all slept in one room, without any privacy or 'protection' against screaming toddlers, and they survived, so I guess, yours form the dark ages will be alright, too.

Edit: Oh, and little wood or stone castles sound awesome. I kind of want to build one now. XD

LoL @ TheFlyingRaccoon - I did that in my last challenge, got busy with life and had little time for playing, got caught up in the game when I did play it, and before I knew it... oh heck an entire year has passed and I'm 2 and a half rounds past the last update..?! Um... ? It's terrifying isn't it?! It goes something along the lines of "Why did I take so many pictures?! What are my sims even doing in this picture... Korbl Faulkner that is completely perverted! You shameless sim! Omg I don't even know who that is anymore.... oh well, hopefully it's not your mother..." As for laughing or crying - do both, way more exhilirating!

Also glad to see I'm not the only stat crazed simmer, I don't know why I do it really, it's like a compulsion some days. I guess it helps me remember the sims more quickly, with so many of the little bunnies running around, and in future play time I like looking back and going "ohhh so that's where your nacissistic oedipus world dominating tendencies came from..."

taliah~

Does anyone know how high the chance to get twins is? It's kind of easy to find the odds for sims 3 or 4 (they are around 10%, if I remember right), but I couldn't find those for sims 2 anywhere, except estimates (which are around 10% as well, though). I wanted to get TJ's triplets & quads and intended to set twins to the normal chance, triplets really low and no chance of quads (at least at the beginning). If no one knows something specific, I'll simply stick to the 10%, but I was curious whether anyone knew it or not. And does anyone know whether you can adjust the odds on the random only version, too?

On the hood building front, I finished my colosseum yesterday. I still need to furnish the palace and the second patrician lot and I'm missing the temple, the port, the town apartments, fisher and farmer lots and the public baths. And I'll probably redo my 'town square'.

Might try and convert this to Sims 3, Btw, TheFlyingRaccoon pictures are epic

10% is what I remember reading somewhere (possibly the Prima guide). I don't know about the random only version, I wasn't brave enough to get that.

I might try having babies not separated from older sims in some households then. How hard can it be? Don't answer that... I probably don't want to know. Not in my apartments though because I'm not quite game enough to have it that way without the option of chickening out.

I think everyone gets behind at some stage. I was about a round and a half behind recently (not much when you've got under 20 households and decent notes) and it was stressful enough to get everything caught up. I'll probably get behind again as I try to build, play and update.

I'm kind of wanting my gen two to all get old so I can finish finding the birth, deaths and marriage stats for that generation.... *is excited for the stats*

The random only version does allow you to set the odds just be sure to make them global or you'll have the original absurdly high odds in some households. I remember seeing 10% as the percentage for twins somewhere but I have my T&Q set around there and I feel like they're a bit more common now than they were pre T&Q.

Wow @TheFlyingRacoon Your buildings look amazing.

I'ma statistic person too. I HAVE to keep track of what's going on and who is who, mostly b/c I'm prone to taking long unexpected breaks, and I can't have the little pixels wondering why their SimGoddess suddenly doesn't remember them. Currently my ToT is open in another window and sitting next to me are TWO notebooks. One keeps track of what's going on, what people aspirations are and what color outfit my toddlers got put in so that I can find that later if I forget when a sim ages up. The second is keeping track of who aged (and what age they aged to) so that I don't have to do as much page flipping in the big notebook when trying to update my generation pages. I swear there is way more information in that notebook than makes it one my website when I update.

Now I'm off to find more clothing for my plantsims as they say they want a bit more variety then get back to playing the last two days in this round. And next round: the cut off for Gen 2 and the start of Gen 3. Once my Gen 2's start having babies all babies born no matter the parentage will be Gen 3. Just like right now all my plantbabies are Gen 2 no matter if their parent is also a Gen 2. I'm just excited to feel like I'm getting somewhere. But my first round of Teen Camp is almost over then they'll all move to their partners lots (and in one case off to their own lot) and start the next generation. So hopefully I get Gen 3 babies in Round 5, it all depends on when these guys age/get pregnant. ~VP

I'm not so big on stats on individual sims as I am on hood wide statistics and general trends. I do have a few word documents I alt tab to, one for documenting the happenings in each family each round, another for organizing marriages, move outs, plans for the next era, my rudimentary tax system, which households need live in servants, which slaves are eligible to be servants and a list of sims by class and gender who are eligible to marry. Besides these I have an excel sheet for keeping track of the number of births, deaths by age and gender, number of sims to marry, number of families and average number of siblings for each generation. I also just started tracking births, deaths, number of families, number of sims and average family size each round in the same spreadsheet but in my mind I kill sims too quickly to keep stats on individuals other than a picture or two.

I also did a little more building.

I ended up going for something a little different for my monarchs to what I originally had planned. It turns out it's very hard to make a decent looking shell keep in sims or to make a square keep (aka a three story high box) look like it isn't a rectangle with some fencing on top. I'm going for a more open plan thing at the moment so they don't have it too comfortable until they can afford to build rooms. At least they have plenty of space unlike the lords who couldn't just build walls to make rooms if they wanted to.

Game default odds for twins are indeed 10%.
T&Q has the default twins odds to be 25%, though... a weeee lot too high for me.