I got to page five before I was distracted by all the shiny new links in Cece's signature. I've come up with a game plan/story line, but I'm not sure if it's been done before or not. Spoilers ahead!


Are you all playing the challenge like a legacy or are you switching between families as you go? Also, I want to read everyone's stories! Is there a current list of active NIF blogs? Or are the links in everybody's signatures? I'm wondering whether I should blog about my town or not...

interesting take, yes, but sort of what I'm doing. I'm starting with a grocery store, as well.. and a military base (because often-times towns pop up around wherever a military base moves into - it's one way a town is populated in real life - the sims never really have a choice about moving in. )

also.. have to say, the list of blogs sounds like a good idea. *pokes avalikia* *whispers* You should add a section to the bottom of the rule-set .. bah.. and that reminds me.. I need to get off my rear and start my challenge's blog...

Well it seems like such a natural way to play the challenge that I figured someone had already thought of it. Great minds and all that. Hopefully you don't mind sharing your strategy?

Well, these are just the ones I have links for in my blog.

Evans: From the Ground Up (Me/ReyaD)
The Purpose of Life (Klevkin)
The Johnson Family (Alma)
The Hazards of Research (Zoku)

EDIT: My strategy is just to look at whatever traits my sims get at random as kids (minus my heir whose goal has already been set for 10 generations) and then work from there. I don't have too much of a strategy besides sculpting and star gazing being great for money.

The difference between a big park and a small park is whether or not there are skilling objects in it - like chess sets, for example. So playground stuff is perfectly acceptable in a small park.


I don't know if my glitch is the same glitch, but I frequently get cribs that won't let me interact with the baby unless I specifically queue holding the baby before any other interactions. If I tell the Sim to give the baby a bottle, for example, that drops out of the queue, but if I tell the Sim to hold the baby then give them the bottle it works fine. Annoying, but not a big deal. Does that work for you?

I'm personally playing legacy-style (aside from quick pops over to the other household in the 'hood -- stop adopting cats; you've got five no with no place for any of them to sleep, and before I intervened no food bowls either!). Not blogging mine because I've already got another challenge 'hood being blogged (for the sims 2) and I started this challenge just to play the game. I have taken a couple of photos for my own use which I could probably link to.

it could be - if that works that'll be fine. At the moment queuing up snuggle, play with, give bottle and change diaper and they just drop off. I will give holding the baby a go first and then see what happens. Will be great if a solution is that simple!

I'm not doing a story because I have a toddler and it's too much to keep up with, but I like your stories. Thanks for posting. I just suddenly unlocked 3 things all at once because the skills just came pouring in. I'm doing the NPC restrictions so some of my choices may seem odd. I shoulda mentioned that. I am playing sort of legacy style -- only one family at a time, but the new generation always builds a new house. I just moved out the first born gen youngest son. He only has 300 starting money because I was too impatient to build a consingment shop and just plopped down the big 80k one.

Gen 0
Founder(R.I.P) - Bookstore - unlocked papergirl. l did not unlock the paper with journalism because by the time I got charisma maxed NPCs wouldn't be a pain. My in game reasoning is that the paper girl delivers a little local free flyer you get in the grocery store with local events instead of the real news.

Spouse (NPC) - Military - unlocked nothing. I just wanted to unlock a freebie and get some cash rolling in the house.

Gen 1
Son1 (NPC) - Police - Unlocked police and was a freebie to get cash rolling.

Wife of Son 1 (NPC) - Consigment - hopefully unlocked a "free" cashier NPC that will show up instead of having one of the household being the cashier. I haven't played enough yet to see if one shows up.

Son2 (NOW PLAYING) - Grocery store - unlocked maids. In game reasoning - They are a household service and use the cleaning supplies in the store.


-
My other NPC unlocks are going down like this

Pizza service - Diner (not bistro!) Mostly because I wanted to have a reason to put the diner in the game and to keep the mostly part time rabbit hole jobs for NPCs. My in game reasoning -- pizza is cheap food - not fancy bistro food.

Babysitter - Spa - They cater so much to pregnant women that they provide postnatal services as well.

Handyman - Mausoleum - They are groundskeepers with extra time on their hands

Fireman - Fire station - my rule for the fire station that except for the NPCs who randomly wander around in there, the only people allowed are employees.

I didnt know about the NPC rule until your post kewpie - I forgot I wasnt supposed to keep the money they bring when moving in either, big oopsie.

Your ideas for unlocking them seem sound.

Adoption - city hall or hospital? Technically it's City Hall who would organise adoption but im thinking that a lot of babies get abandoned at hospitals so it could be either. Hospital is possibly easier to get as you don't need charisma requirements.

Mixologist - A bar/club I suppose

Butler - if grocery store unlocks maids what unlocks the butler? perhaps it should be grocery store for the cleaning side and bistro for the cooking side?

Stripper (bachelor parties) - I always use private wedding and skip the whole party and big wedding thing but am I right in thinking you order the strippers? Perhaps theatre should unlock those.

I can't think of any other NPCs - are there any new ones with showtime?

I missed the added NPC rule, but I'm doing something similar. I forgot that I could stop paper delivery (I always forget that is an option) but I am sticking with no police or fire department, handyman, or other services until buildings are unlocked.

I'm making some progress on my do over....I finally got my founder and the love interest together. Both have maxed the skills to unlock their lots but I lack funds. Right now we have 12K but need 27K to unlock the grocery store and a lot more to buy the consignment store. When I'm not paying attention she keeps using stone to sculpt with and then it's just my luck they crumble into a gem that's worth 30 or less so they are loosing money from her hobby right now! Her lifetime wish is to master art and writing, so now that she has maxed sculpting I'm letting her write and paint more often. Maybe some royalties will help get our lots bought.

I waited until they rolled a want for a child before having a baby, Devin is a tot of 2 days and there is baby number 2 on the way.

I've not moved anyone else in, I plan to move in Kylee's friend and then move him out and see what happens with his life without interference, but I lack the funds to do that atm.

Brandon- Grocery store as soon as there are funds
Kylee- Consignment Store---need the funds
Devin- planning for Bookstore
Baby #2- undecided

Keep sculpting is my advice rather than writing - after 35 sculptures are made all materials are free, you can then get the metal to make those without needing a junkyard and when you've done 5 of each type of sculpture you get much faster. Also, the more gems you get the higher the value, ive been getting mainly woohooium worth 600 and above.

I always send my child age sims around town collecting rocks and the like. Then have Aden sell them or smelt some of the nicer metals. Plutonium bought from the consignment store brought me in a cool 3k last time I played. 1.5k of which was profit.

Oh and gems that you get from stone can be sold at the consignment store for considerably more than it's worth - more than double the last time I did it. I hadn't thought about going round collecting and then selling at consignment but that is probably a decent way of making a lot quickly.

Another advantage to sculpting is that its FUN. They don't get miserable if you leave them unattended sculpting. I don't know how many times my poor sims have gone berserk with stress because I forgot they were writing a masterpiece and went until they were stressed for over two days on the moodlet.

I never do adoption so I haven't thought about it. I like the hospital idea. I JUST bought Generations and LN a few minutes ago (see my post about the sale.. I got 150 bucks in Amazon gift cards for christmas for Kindle, but I only download library books on the thing ... so who knows what else I'll get??) so I will probably follow your lead on that.


I ended up getting every EP except for WA and SHT, btw. Kinda bummed I can't get WA for Mac. I am still on the fence about SPs since I never bought one for TS2 except the one I got as a gift. I am such a tightwad. I almost can't bring myself to pay six bucks for a stupid SP.. hmmm I may change my mind on that..

For the consignment store, you could actually start off with literally just a counter and cash register. It won't count as 'open' by the game, so you couldn't collect weekly profits from it, but it would spawn a cashier NPC and you could use it to sell you sculptures/paintings/rocks. Then you could build up the property when you have the money to the value required to profit from it.

Also, if you manage to sculpt a gnome of sculpting, don't sell it! Keep it out on your lot and make sure you leave an unfinished sculpture on the station overnight. There's a chance the gnome will finish it for you. It still counts as being made by your Sim for the total required in the skill challenges, too.

And definitely agreeing with wolfsbayne. Keep sculpting in clay or wood until you've made 35 total sculptures, then all the materials are free.

Yeah, I prefer the hospital idea for adoption I think. Seeing as that is where babies are born, etc. I dont tend to adopt unless im doing random legacy and it rolls for it.

yeah, I saw your post about amazon.

Im really annoyed as it's a great deal but not available to me as im in the UK and I can't use steam either as all my packs are retail. I would have been able to get all my missing stuff packs for £17.66 on steam (basically four for the price of two) but I can't. I really want the worlds too but they werent on steam anyway.

I've opened a bar and my consignment store, it says they are fully upgraded but I can't collect from them? Am I missing something?

oops, sorry for double post!

You should be able to collect profits from them once a week, the same day you collect from any rabbitholes you own. If you click on the building, there's a 'real estate' option, and when there's funds to collect, there should be an option to collect your money.
I've got both a consignment store (minimally upgraded, just enough to be open') and a fully upgraded bar, and I collect money from both.

Ahhh, I havent tried going in to the real estate option to collect, I just thought it would appear like it does with the regular ones. Will investigate later.

Currently patching. Know I probably shouldnt but thought I would get it over with.

kewpie, I'm on a Mac and I have WA, maybe you just couldn't find it where you were shopping?

I have mac and I have all EPs up to SHT (just because I'm poor right now and trying to convince my baby sister to buy it for me. That bitch is rich!

WA slows down my save game considerably after travelling, but it does work on it.

I thought I'd post this here since money making strategery is so important to this challenge. It's a list of gems and what cuts for each will bring the most profit. Some gems will actually be worth more uncut than cut in a less profitable cut for its type. So, if you are gem hunting, this guide can help you decide to sell cut or uncut, and to choose the right cut for your gems.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...ic,15790.0.html
Base game gems are in first post, WA gems a little further into the thread. Bolded cuts are the best for each gem.

I love you Cali. Thank you. <3

Personally, when it comes to gems and the various cuts/profits, I prefer http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/s...ecting/gems.php largely because it has the info in a nice little chart, plus it also gives break-even values and number of cuts required to unlock certain cut types. That site's been my go-to resource since I got TS3, and they're pretty thorough about checking things when a new EP comes out.

I like the city hall idea for adoption unlocking instead of the hospital. Because in real life, most adoptions are processed through the legal system. The hospital just helps with birthing.... and since you can do home births in game, a lot of times, the hospital has little to do with it..

On another topic.. I *think* my Showtime will arrive today.. although tracking still shows the 9th... but then it says it's already in my hometown.. and I know my hometown ups and post office are fast, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Last few days I haven't had much time for play, then the patch showed up.. and I got hooked into getting some achieves.. then Showtime launched.. and I was freaking out wondering where my darn Origin pre-order was... and then today, I spent ALL morning configuring and attempting to launch a blogsite for my Sims 3 blogs. /whew ... that was a lot of work. Sometimes being a perfectionist isn't all it's cut out to be... lol!! .. Anyway, it's up. I posted a bunch of stuff on there, mostly my sims 3 blogs, exchange lots, stuff about me, that sort of stuff. I started a page for my Falconvale (Nothing is Free) challenge - but I haven't posted anything to it yet. After spending four + hours setting up the darn site to get it "just right" .. I just want to go veg out and play sims for a while not write stories. Patience, grasshoppers..

Anyway.. off to play simmies! (oh and I added a signature on here finally - linked my sims 3 profile and my new blogsite. Free free to friend me on sims3 if you wish and aren't overly annoyed by EA's brand of facebook-ish spam.. hopefully they'll fix filtering soon so the social features will be more .. useful.. and less.. well.. annoying.