Finally started mine back up. Trying to find something to make the day-to-day a little more interesting. I have tech progression, religions, and I'm planning an ice age and diaspora, but I'm having trouble getting there. Any suggestions to spice things up?

Cheers!

Take a look at my rules. It's bound to give you some ideas.
sims2testoftime.weebly.com

@oboesapien You could try integrating ROS (Random Occurrence Scenarios). We have already talked about those here in the thread a while back, but I don't know whether you've been around. Basically you're having a list with scenarios and you randomly roll one for each family each round. Here is an example: http://crystalcreeksims.blogspot.de...-scenarios.html

If it's between not playing at all because of the grind of it, why not add a new type of sim or add an 'exploration arc where sims can only trade goods a certain way or you can introduce a few new CAS sims with different 'ethnic' backgrounds?

I'm in the Roman/Egyptian era right now so i have 3 main, primitive religions going (one still around from the Neanderthal era, plus two new ones). Whenever the symbol of that religion appears on a family's home or business lot (a skunk, rain/lightning, or fire), i roll two dice to determine which disaster/miracle should occur. (i got the idea for disasters/miracles from someone on this site a few pages back.. i don't remember who. here's the URL to her page: http://atotsims.weebly.com/disasters-and-miracles.html ) I've used some of her's and added/edited some so they make sense for my particular game.
Also once they reach the roman era (or later, with class ranks) if lower-class families are caught practicing a different religion, or not practicing the religion of the emperor, they get thrown into the sacrifice lotto (which can add some drama itself).

I also try to see where i can spice up drama between sims whenever i can. I've had some remarry when their spouses have died, have brothers come in and impregnate siblings' wives, have fathers take advantage of daughter-in-laws, i have an isolated werewolf in the mix two who will start fighting/impregnating random walk-by's who are part of the TOT civilization.
I also have plans for wars, certain families founding universities
Also adding businesses can help with building skills and other talent badges (but once you've made it to the Roman era, for historical accuracy).

You guys rock! Unfortunately I wasn't able to download the ROS file at Crystal Creek; I was starting to make my own but am somewhat short on ideas. I'm planning to introduce the Fey to make things a little more interesting (though I need to give the skin I love for them a new code, because .4 means I get random fey being born). I wish I could get the geneticised skins from Genensims as a single download instead of individual, but such is life. Trying to figure out how to work in some expansion - maybe another tribe splitting off, now that my neandersims are becoming quite numerous.

<3 <3 <3
Happy simming!

Personally, I love playing with occults, so every time a sim is born I roll a dice (current odds are 1/10) to see if they will turn out to be an occult, then I roll again to know what type of occult (chances for one type are higher if a sim already has ancestors of that occult type). In addition to that, I roll a dice each night for every teen/adult sim on the lot to see if they get abducted by aliens (1/50; I started out with 1/20, but it turned out to be too much: for some reason, my alien pregnancies result in twins or quads more often than anything else).
I'm currently still in Prehistory (just finished Gen01 after over two years of play, actually), so at the moment occults are being treated the same as anyone else, but in later eras there will be trouble if they are discovered as such.

Aside from that, I use the health system from the Warwickshire Challenge (but only to see who lives or dies, because I'm already keeping track of way too much stuff to bother with interaction restrictions based on their health) as well as the flooding system from post 1204 of this thread.

Gen02 is going to experience an Ice Age.
With Gen03, I'm going to introduce the Cult of the Cowplant - every household will have its own cowplant, and woe to any who doesn't feed it properly...

I was having difficulties killing off children at first, so I came up with the magical world of Faerie - children and younger who are supposed to die (except for those who loose a fight - those the fairies have no pity for) are taken by the fairies and brought there, never to be seen again by their family. Faerie is a matriarcal society where occults have a better status than normals (reverse from the normal world), and is also divided into clans: Aliens, Fairies (Nagas with wings), Lycans, Satyrs, Mermaids and Changelings (i. e. humans).
Each clan has its own characteristics, such an associated occult type and primary aspiration.
I'm planning to let Faerie develop independently (aside from the clans adopting new arrivals), see where it's gonna go.

On that note, perhaps I should specify that I'm using a different system for technological discoveries than what has been presented above:

-If a sim survives getting struck by lightning twice in one season, or if an alien child reaches adulthood, fire is discovered, and the family can use skill-building objects for cooking and logic in addition to lights, campfires, grills and the like;

-If a sim befriends and adopts a wolf, then hunting is discovered (I use the hunting objects from Plumbob Keep, but digging for treasure works too) and the family may befriend other strays as well as use skill-buiding objects for charisma and logic. They also get to own a sewing machine;

-If a sim gets a gold gardening badge or becomes a plantsim (every family owns one fruit tree for that purpose), then agriculture is discovered, and the family can use skill-building objects for cleaning and body in addition to owning a sewing machine and getting the right to have a garden;

-if a sim gets a gold fishing badge or becomes a werewolf, fishing is discovered, and the family may now be directed to fish and have their own pond and pool (without that discovery, they may only fish autonomously at a community lot they can access once a round or as visitors on other lots, and not knowing how to swim means less chances of surviving a flood). They also get the right to use skill-building objects for cleaning and cooking;

-If a sim survives being swept away by a flood (and then rolls 1/20, meaning that sim survived because they found some shelter) or if a sim becomes a vampire, then shelter is discovered, and the family may start to live in caves or even build houses in addition to having skill-building objects for mechanical and body;

-If a sim accomplishes their LTW or becomes a witch, then aspiration and career rewards may be used, and aspiration perks? boni? (not too sure what they're called, sorry) may be used (except the secondary aspiration, which is chosen when a sim reaches their teens regardless of discoveries made). In addition, the family may use skill-building objects for creativity and charisma.

-If a sim gets a gold sewing badge (yes, that means either agriculture or hunting must have been discovered first: can't have clothes without materials to make them, can we?), then clothes get discovered (before that, all my sims are going around in fig leaves to represent nudity without scarring any observer - or myself, and loose health points for every season spent without clothes). Using the sewing machine, sims can then make clothes for themselves and their family, and they can have skill-building objects for creativity and mechanical;

-If a single sim gets both cleaning and mechanical maxed out (and fire has been discovered), the family gets the right to own a pottery wheel. Once a sim (doesn't have to be the one who earned the family its pottery wheel) gets a gold pottery badge, then storage is discovered, and that family may now store their home-produced food in the fridge and other such goods in storage rooms or on shelves rather than selling it all immediately. Half the edible stuff stored outside the fridge must still be deleted at the end of every season unless the household has a cat to take care of the pests (which may only happen if hunting has been discovered since sims can't interact with any strays but wolves before that);

-If a sim gets both charisma and cooking maxed out, parties, dates, and influence get discovered, and sims from that family may now use these features (including on other sims who haven't made the discovery yet). That would be the dawn of organized society.

-If a sim maxes out both creativity and logic, then writing gets discovered, which allows the family access to books and school. Goodbye Prehistory, say hi to History (otherwise known as the trigger to switch over to the Roman era/Antiquity, regardless of what other discoveries may or may not have been made).

*Notes:
-A single sim may only make one discovery in their lifetime. If they reach the conditions needed for another, too bad.
-To unlock something, a sim must actually reach adulthood, or they won't be taken seriously by the rest of the family. If someone younger meets the conditions for something, wait until they reach adulthood and hope they don't die before that point.
-The way I play, a discovery is made only for that sim's household and marrying out won't give the new family anything but the discoveries that head of family already knew about (an outsider's weird knowledge won't be trusted).
-There is no set order in which discoveries must be made, especially the first ones. Some have requirements, such as Writing needing both creativity (i. e. either Rewards or Clothes (which itself needs either Hunting or Agriculture)) and logic (i. e. either Hunting or Fire), but they're built so that different paths may lead to the same discovery.

The whole point to the Test of Time is to go through history, but who said Simmish history had to be the same as ours?
Having studied History myself, I find it far more interesting to watch my sims build their own civilisation rather than to lead them through a parody of ours, and that's my goal with these rules. I have no idea what the different families will know or be like when someone eventually discovers writing and triggers the passage to Antiquity: I might end up with a nudist Roman Empire, or Egyptians who don't know a thing about agriculture. Greeks living in tents? Mayas without fire?
And how about later?
I'm leaving as much of it as possible to chance and my sims, and that's what makes it fun.

(Sorry for that brick of a novel; I hope it gave you ideas)

Oh - and beware the Zombie Apocalypse, too. Remember what I said about rolling for occult types? Well, someone who rolls zombie doesn't exactly stay dead after their death, and how are the sims supposed to know zombies are dangerous if they've never seen what one is capable of before?
And I have the zombieapoc mod installed...

@oboesapien The Crystal Creek ROS is actually the first one to come up when you google and was mostly meant to give you an idea of how it generally works. If you need some inspiration, there are a few medieval ROS at the Plumb Bob Keep in the challenge section: http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=96 But you might need an account to be able to see those posts. I could also dig out the ROS file I used in my old ToT if you need even more ideas.

@Eldonyx That's an interesting system. I like how you tied them all together into a tech tree. I have a lot of the same advancements (food storage, writing, etc.), but I used a generic research point system. Sims gain their household a research point when a) aging up platinum, b) becoming an adult, c) making a lot of money (starts out at each 10k but goes up as they become wealthier). I also really enjoy my sims having different technologies, and it will be interesting to see how it affects them going into the ice age. I've broken it down by pretty much everything I thought was useful, including resource-gathering CC, concepts (like quarantine or trade), and civil advances like exterior walls and hard floors to expand/improve their cave. When two sims marry, they get the advances from both houses.

@TheFlyingRaccoon I found the site from her link, but for some reason the download link isn't working (might just be for me). Tried to make a Plumb Bob account (I spend enough time there) but haven't gotten it approved by the admin yet. I'm making good progress on mine, though, I'll post it here when I'm done (I'm only going to 18 - 6 calamities, 6 weird/random, and 6 boons, done on a random roll). There's an ROS floating around the challenges thread (I forget if one of you posted it?) that I've taken some inspiration from.

Happy simming.

@oboesapien I'm not sure I understand your system. Are the points you speak about separated into different categories depending on what they will unlock, or is it just one big ladder where the innovations get unlocked in a specific order? Or is it like aspiration rewards and your sims can "buy" a discovery of their (your) choice once they get enough points?
If it's the first, what criteria do you use to unlock stuff like the concepts/civil advances mentioned? I was thinking about coming up with more discoveries for my sims to make, but I'm a bit out of ideas as to how to get them there.

It's just one big research pool. There's no enforced order/prerequisites, though the more "advanced" items cost so many points that it's more advantageous to start at the bottom, which are cheap and help bootstrap the family's economy. There's also some that simply don't help you without other techs (notably, it doesn't help to be a priestess when you haven't invented a religion), so those are soft prerequisites. I included a screenshot of my tech "tree". It's posted somewhere earlier, but I can't remember how much earlier. Hope this helps!

I decided the other day to ignore all the other games that have been distracting me as of late, and fired up Sims 2 (after making sure my default replacements for ToT were in my downloads folder) and realized just how much I missed my ToT simmies. I was also shocked when I could remember most of their names without consulting the hover-tip. I'm also a bit sad because as I play through the current day, I keep getting the pop up that my Founders all have only one day left as adults. I realize it's not the end of playing them, but it also signifies that they're that much closer to dying, and then they'll be gone, only appearing on occasion to haunt their descendants. So that pop-up every sim day makes me sad. And now I'm off to go play some more. ~VP

I'm currently playing round 5 in my ToT hood and my founders will get old next round, as well. On one hand, it's nice because I advance. But on the other hand, it is sad to know they'll be gone soon.

Also: I finished playing the Earth household yesterday and two days into playing, I realised Fraps wasn't set up to take screenshots and now I don't have any photos for those two days. >_>

That sucks about your photos or lack thereof. My photos are slowly becoming only aging and Gold badges, simply because I'd rather play than frame out a photo. I take note of the interesting occurrences but rarely take a photo. Maybe I should think about changing my ToT pages to be more journal like than pictures... A thought to ponder. Mostly because if I go with it, it's gonna take me days to implement simply because I will have to go back and redo all my pages for consistencies sake. But for now, I'm going to see if I can handle doing two of my large houses in a play session instead of just one. ~VP

Edit 4/18 to avoid double posting: So I did indeed get through my large households and then several of the smaller ones, so I'm getting closer to the end of Round Six. As a side note, I should transition to the next Era starting with Round Nine, as (if my calculations are correct) Tiadsay and Tiane Rivnay, the eldest of Gen 3, will become teens in Round Seven, and go to Camp in Round Eight, making them adults in Round Nine. So close and yet it seems so very far away.

But the reason for the post! I know I said I shouldn't change the layout of my Rounds Pages, and I tried not to, but the idea just kept bugging me! So I've started doing that. I'm stuck inside due to the flood anyway (yay for being in Houston right now), so this is my project for the day. Rounds One and Two are up in edited form, and I'll take down the old pages just as soon as I finish up in changing all of the current five pages over. I'd love to hear from you guys on if you like the new layout better. Either here or on the chat box on my "Feedback" page.~VP

*Waves to Everyone*

Yes, I'm back. I have been away from the challenge for three years!
I went to revisit my old TOT hood and just couldn't relate to my Simmies anymore.
Therefore, I decided to start the Challenge over again.
The saddest part was removing all the old TOT hood updates off my website.
However, it is nice to start with clean fresh updates on a new TOT hood.
I'm halfway done with my first round. Things are going good, all the basic stuff: Farming, Fishing, and Woohoo.
This is my second attempt at the challenge. My first time farming! I most certainly placed too many garden plots. After my first harvest, each Founder will change the garden area to suit their needs.
I'll keep everyone posted.

For Swallowtail
Awesome'sauce to have an official website up! Thank you for the challenge updates and additions.
I will be including a Greek/Egyptian Ancient Era! First I have to get out of Neanderthal.

Comments on the Neanderthal Era Disasters and Miracles:
{You asked for input.}

Advance Architecture.
One small shack is in the challenge rules. Many of us have done no structures to 10x30 maxis standard small homes. I use 10x10 squares.
Yet under this section it says 6x6 squares. Therefore, this does not fit many of our TOT hoods.

Improved Living Quarters
Did not know there was a build restriction on the challenge. Many of us expand or change things on our Founder lot as needed. Is the $20,000 meant for building additions only?

Famine and Food Surplus
Did not know there was restrictions on the amount of fish or crops a Sim can carry. The Family meal once a day I have seen before and stick to that rule.

Ice Age and Drought
Many of us already include an Ice Age in our rotations to break up the generations of Neanderthal and heat stroke. Hehehe.

Overall I love this idea but it needs some tweaking. Also the time frame of weeks is too long. Many of us have had to shorten lifespans and already include illness to speed up the neighborhood rotations.
I think Rounds would be better than a Generation.

Sim Math:
30 Sim Days on average to get to Adult, then another approximate 30 Sim Days to Elder.
24 Real Life Minutes to play one Sim Day without pausing.
That comes to approximately 300 Real Life hours without pausing per founder household to get to 20 Generations. Then add 300 extra unpaused hours per household.
My base is 1800 of Real Life hours. Scary when it starts to add up. I really want to finish this challenge.

Since I'm starting over a'fresh. I would like to include the Disasters and Miracles idea in my game. I will work on some ideas, play test, and post.

Hope that helps Swallowtail. Hugs.
Anyone else that has checked out Disasters and Miracles http://atotsims.weebly.com/disasters-and-miracles.html

Who has been using a table for ROS: Random Occurring Scenarios? Can someone share their Neanderthal one or ideas for one?

Thank you everyone. Hugs to all.

With this challenge it's definitely better to not think too much about how long it's going to take you to finish it. XD

I did put a ROS together for my old ToT hood. I'll put the ideas underneath a spoiler. :P



And I'm not quite sure why I haven't done that already some time ago when the topic came up last?

About a month ago I was closing my antivirus software before loading game and opening Sims 2 folder. Horrible glitch and closing the antivirus deleted my Sims 2 folder - and nothing in recycle bin.
My game still installed, but every download and every neighborhood gone. I was in the Roman stage with Egyptian and tribal subhoods.
I figure people in this thread know that pain more than anyone.
I've restarted my test of time, again. I'm in my 1st round of Neanderthals, on 4th family. It's a long round, about 3 seasons. I wanted to play until just before 1st kids become teens.

I feel you Chicklet, I've had to start over as well. I hope with our new journey we will make it farther then we were before

I am now on Year 2 and cant wait until my third generation. I have so many plans awaiting for my roman sims.

I have a question. How do you guys transition into the Roman stage? Do you delete the lots that the neanderthals lived in and then move them into their new homes?

Ooh so cool with this challenge and how I see people have alternatives, I personally am seeing how to approach this. Since I usually avoid these challenges because of my cautious approach toward CC, but I think this one makes my Anthropology/history nerd head heavily intrigued!

@MoonTide You don't have to use CC with the challenge, it can be played without. Most of us use CC for looks or to add gameplay (a lot of objects found at plumbob keep are great for that) but none of it is really necessary. ~VP

Yup, yup. I guess for me it is hard to enjoy when you have ikea stuff everywhere... Finding a lot of areas on the internet to make it interesting. Though I just find this to be fun while I write up my BACC/Legacy chapters.

I haven't got to that stage yet, but my plan is to leave the Paleolithic caves in case they become useful for play reasons and just move everyone into houses (that hasn't already got a house, because I'm running a tech tree alongside my game).

I too am planning on leaving at least a few of my Neandersim lots, and moving everyone into new houses when I eventually get to the next era. I might convert one or two into community lots as "Historical Sites" later on in the challenge, I'm not quite sure right now. And if I delete a few too many, I have the lot saved into my lots bin so I can easily plop a new one down when needed. ~VP