no, I tried to reformat it last night as I knew that would be the first thing the warranty people would tell me to do, failed like I knew it would anyway but that pretty much means everything will have been wiped. Im not really bothered about that tbh, I don't get majorly attached to my sims games and I was starting to get a bit bored with my current game, was setting up a new challenge. It's just the fact I havent got a decent computer for a couple of days which is annoying me, I have chronic fatigue syndrome and trying to use this netbook is making the pain and tiredness worse than usual.

Just as an aside, I seriously think the Miner Invention should be banned.

I don't want to spoil too much for when you guys read my updates, if you wish to... So I'll put my findings and strategies in a spoiler.

Hey guys. I've actually started up a blog, partly so I can post more pictures and partly to keep myself motivated. I'll still be posting back here with updates and any progress, and to let you know when I do update the blog, but the bulk of everything will be there now.

Nothing new at this stage, but I'm going through all my screens getting the next post ready. So if you like, head over to tibbytheguru.blogspot.com and keep an eye out

moshrulz04

regardless of whether you have the miner or not, it is extremely easy to make lots of money when they're at home all the time doing nothing but creating and selling. Without the miner my families all had lots of money, perfect homes and everything else which is why I always ensured that the heir moved out and had to start again. It is also extremely easy to skill up when the sims are at home all day every day. Charisma is the hardest as you need neighbours and a fair bit of patience

To spend the money you should be building homes for others to move into, upgrading real estate lots, etc. There are ways of getting that money back down. Also, when they have lots of children and you make the imaginary friends real you do need lots of money to get the lots in the neighbourhood - for example, I placed a poolside bar that cost them 180k, a fire station that cost 160k - when you have five or six to buy at the same time you do need lots of money.

Oh I've got plenty of uses for all their money

Generation 1 has some pretty big purchases. There are also a few people who may be moving out at some point who will taking a fair amount of cash with them, seeing as they can't yet earn it themselves through Story Progression due to not having any Rabbit Holes.

I'm also looking to do some rather large expansions to the home lot shortly, so my family (provided they don't use the miner too much, which isn't likely now that they're settling down with kids now) will once again be pretty cash strapped and relying on cheaper furniture, which will create a whole new dynamic with Sims likely to fight over the nicer items already bought.

My family has had it really easy in that they had an extremely long time without children in the house, allowing them to fully dedicate themselves to their financial situation. No other generation will have it that easy. And besides, my founding Generation 0 didn't unlock anything that require purchasing, and nor did they buy anyone a house. Understandably, some people playing won't go down that route, making things a little harder.

To be honest, my main concern was how easy it was for me to exploit some of the game mechanics when others are not allowed (ie, genie lamp with wealth wishes and the inheritance reward) when the ones currently disallowed are actually very, VERY tame in comparison to others. I know the main thing that drew me into this challenge was knowing how hard it would be, and while I'm preventing myself from having other generations get a hard start like my founders, other people who try this challenge may find themselves getting through things easier than expected. I still think that this, along with the Legacy and Apocalypse challenges by Pinstar (no imitations accepted!) is one of the greatest Sims challenges I've ever seen, because it completely changes the way you'd ordinarily play, which is fantastic. Other challenges that I've enjoyed, like the Asylum challenge, are great for a change, but they're really quite narrow. It's hard to carry them on into normal gameplay once they're over, where as challenges like this challenge you to create a dynasty if you will. Love it!

Anyway, I should get to bed. The boyfriend is scowling at me from the kitchen... Oops.

Hopefully have an update on the blog tomorrow, unless I get caught up playing of course

yeah, I see where you are coming from. I personally have used inheritance when someone in the house or a family member has died and someone had the points already available but im playing with Twallen's new story progression add on which already gives you inheritance when someone dies so I stopped then.

I think the major difference is that yeah, 50k per day using the miner but they are mining all day to get that rather than doing other things whereas the rewards instantly gives them cash without any effort or time required and then they can spend all day mining as well.

Honestly it sounds like moshrulz04 found the right combination and had the right luck (and congrats on that! ). My sim didn't discover the Miner invention until very very late in his inventing career, and so this of course meant paying for a lot more scrap, and being barely supported by the other starving artists in the household :P. Occasionally he would make widgets which might help him get a portion of the money back, but if he focused strictly on inventing it was a toss up whether he would discover something with a nice payoff, or something pretty cheap. I guess the way I see it is that it is tricky to rule out an item that is a random discovery. Because until you discover big inventions, or are lucky enough to have a few gnomes come up, inventing really can be a huge money sink (which is why it makes sense that the junk yard is free). So, I totally took advantage of catching back up on the family's funds with the miner, but to me it didn't feel like it made the game easy so much as if felt like a really nice reward for all the work I'd done to get there.

Well yes, there is that side too. My Sim lived off the land, and out of a small two bedroom hut for a VERY long time. He never missed a bill payment, but he sure did go without food for a long time.

I haven't really documented that part of his life too much, as it was rather repetitive... But let's just say, by the time he got that minder, even the original paper girl had passed away form old age!

The key to what I've done really is the chemistry table and the young again potions. Takes a while to find them, which is a big reason for my Sim taking so long to get through the inventing skill, but once you do, just build a few young again potions at $5,000 a piece. So long as you can earn at least $5,000 before you Sim dies (I do it before they turn elder though, just in case they drop off early) you could really have one Sim live forever, slowly building up his Lifetime Happiness, buying the Needs related Rewards so he could dedicate himself to mining, making hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars each week.

My Sim is definitely grateful that after the initial, and long, investment in skill building, living for every dollar he had, that he can now rest easy and enjoy what he's earnt.

For the record, this challenge is not necessarily meant to be, well, challenging. It's meant to be fun. With that in mind, no I'm not going to ban the miner. I've had Sims use that thing before and sometimes you're just not that lucky. And some people have a hard time playing this challenge even if they do find a way to make that much money. But keep in mind that you can always add in your own rules for playing the game if you want to - especially if it would make things funner for you. The only reason why I'm not allowing the Inheritance reward or genie is because they're even more blatantly going: here, have a lot of money for no good reason. The miner at least has some element of luck to it.

That's true. I guess what I see is very biased to my own play style. For instance, I've never really concentrated too hard on getting high lifetime happiness in TS3 (sorry, but the rewards just pale in comparison the aspiration rewards in TS2, I'd take a less powerful, but physically placeable and downright AWESOME mood zapper thinger over some little square in a tab any day) so that's always in quite short supply for me.

On the flip side though, there would be heaps of people who easily accumulate large amounts of lifetime happiness but don't have the time or play style to cater to what I've outlined above.

And yes, I do very much see the money coming from nowhere for no good reason argument $100,000 from a day sweating away on a miner a Sim has built themselves is far more explainable (and let's face it, rewarding) than getting it basically out of nowhere, from an unknown relative, or from a mystical blue Sim.

BUT I should get my mind off this, I'm at work. This game has once again turned into a bad influence. I spend my free mind-time planning my next generation!

I'm currently in the middle of this challenge and let me just say, this is by far the best I've tried. Usually I get bored pretty quickly - I love Random Legacy, but I even started to tire of that one after the first few generations - but this still has my interest, and I started quite awhile ago. I'm sticking with one family and they've accumulated quite a lot of money by now, but I'm moving my sims' friends in, building them rather grand houses, then moving them into them so I can get back down to a reasonable amount.

I emptied out Hidden Springs and started with one teenager (super difficult, especially considering the psychic curfew police). So far I have the hospital, city hall, a consignment shop, a book shop, a performance park (I made up my own rules for SHT because I really wanted to try it out!), a grocery market, a cemetery, and a police station. I think that's it. Currently working on getting a private show venue and a film studio (the current generation is the celebrity generation, I guess).
Anyway, if anyone is on the fence about trying this, I really recommend giving it a shot!

Oh, and a question: how do we feel about vampires? I'm not sure how to even introduce them to the town without importing a vampire sim from a different town - unless maybe the Plasma lounge would generate them - but I was thinking vampires would probably be a no-no because they skill up so quickly. Maybe no vampirism until after the sim has earned the lot? I'm not particularly crazy about TS3 vampires, but I have been wondering.

Just wanted to add, you might want to also be careful about vampire kiddies too. Haven't played with vampires too very much, but as I recall the children get the same skilling bonus from toddlerhood on, even though all their other vampire traits don't come out till later.

On a different topic, I started doing something new in my game where for every community lot I place, there has to be an equivalent amount of houses. So if I were to add, say, the hospital, I could not add another community lot until I added at least one more house. The main reason I started doing so was it started to feel pretty silly with one household supporting both a military base and a consignment store. How is everyone else choosing to handle the residency situation?

I feel about vampires the same way I feel about the miner: I'm not going to make it against the rules, but if you feel it makes things too easy then feel free to play without them. Whether or not they'll spawn into your town depends on what sort of SP you use - I believe that the base game story progression will give you some. If your SP does not, I wouldn't consider it too cheaty to introduce one into your world for the sole purpose of getting you started, or using a mod to bestow it on one Sim.

@mirheart @Avalikia That makes sense. My SP hasn't introduced one yet, but I'm considering adding one in the future just for some variety (and a use for all of the plasma fruit my sims have grown. oof).

@mirheart, As for residency issues, I like your idea for placing a new house before you place a new community lot. I have a good amount of houses now, but my main household has still accumulated an awful lot of property and I'm trying to expand the neighborhood residency-wise so other households can take some of them off of my hands. My SP tells me when a couple is 'looking for a new home,' so I've been using that to my advantage too. Whenever the little dialogue pops up about someone not being able to find a house to start their family in, I switch over and build them one and move them out.

Haven't posted here in a while, and quite a few things have gone on in my game:

All children are now teen or older, and all working towards their community lots. Current lots unlocked are Bookstore (Davan), Consignment Store (Mimi), Hospital (Julian), Military Base (Leah), Fishing Spot (Peanut), Theatre (Melody). Aside from Davan, Mimi, and Julian, everyone who has unlocked their lot so far has been moved out to a new house. Julian's waiting around for his spouse, Corrine, to unlock her lot, and I'll be leaving Davan and Mimi on their own when a few others have unlocked their lots and moved out.

Lots being worked on: Police Department (Beth), School (Tara, it's hard going: she has ten friends and twenty relationships, needing twenty-five, but she knows all sims currently around), Science Lab (Jenny, considering her skills it's going to take a while). Criminal Warehouse (Hobbes), Bistro (Buddy), Bar (Corrine). Beth's spouse may work on something, but seeing as he's a young adult already unless it's something minor like the library or art gallery, it's not looking likely.

tiffyandthewall, personally I'd allow a vampire to spawn when I got the plasma lounge: not sure if I'd allow any of my playables to become one, though.

Edit: Thanks to a well-timed opportunity, Corrine has maxed her Mixology skill, the family had bought a local watering hole, and Corrine and Julian have moved out in to their own house.

Last edited by katya_stevens : 6th Apr 2012 at 02:32 PM.

I have changed my NPC requirements. Because the genie (who can't be used for money. I'd probably only free him) needs the graveyard to be freed, that's his requirement and the handyman is now required by the junkyard (which kinda makes more sense than the graveyard anyway)

gonna try this
hope my laptop can handle it C:
scouting for a world currently

At least to start out with, this challenge tends to be nice to computers that have trouble running the game - not much for it to render until you really start to build up your city.

And sorry for the lack of updates and such lately, folks! My life got busy. I moved, for example.

Congrats on moving Avalikia. Did you move into a real dwelling or are you just camping out with a toilet on the lawn for now? And what are you planning to unlock in your new neighborhood?

Hi!

I've lurked around for a while checking out the downloads and challenges but never felt like replying until I stumbled on this challenge. It's really the perfect challenge for me because I get bored already halfway through the first generation, but with this one, you always have something to look forward to and there is always something (or usually a LOT of things) that needs doing. I started it a couple of days ago and I'm totally hooked. I went to bed at 5am yesterday (a working day!) just playing my family and that's new! Now, if that is a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know. I got myself the CAW tool because I had been wanting to check it out in a while and this challenge was just the excuse I needed.

My founder (Katherine - I think) married the mail carrier (really, I'm terrible with names, so I forgot) and he moved in another mail carrier shortly after. The couple now has two children, a girl that is now a teenager is already wrote 5 or 6 books and is starting to try the chemestry set to make her imaginary friend real, and a boy who is now a child and is working up logic because he has the genius trait. My founder has maxed esculpting and now I have a steady income. Last night I purchased the consigment store and I'm working on finding a cashier. The husband has maxed inventing and got the junkyard. The other mail carrier that moved in is working up mainly her piano skills because her LTW is to learn 4 instruments.

I indend on getting a couple more houses in the neighborhood before I get another lot because it just seems silly to have so many community lots when there is only one house living there.

Just a question, when I get someone to move and get this person a house, do I need to make this person a cashier, or is that automatic? Seems silly, but I didn't even know the store didn't come with a cashier (it doesn't come, right? or is it my game acting up?). I never stopped to think about it since they are usually always there, but this challenge has a whole different set of circunstances and it seems like learning how to play the game all over again.

I think story progression will take care of it, but it does depend on whether the sim is the right age for the job. I moved a couple (elder male and pregnant adult female) into another house before I built the consignment store. The adult female became the cashier, but then she aged up to elder and retired, I guess, because the store closed. I had to wait for their daughter to age up before there was a new cashier.

It occurs to me that there are probably different rules for different venues, as I've noticed that the consignment cashiers are always a playable sim, and mixologists are always npcs. Story progression mods probably affect this too, but I don't use one, so I don't know.

I ended up installing all of Twallan's because I had trouble with the consignment cashier going AWOL. Sometimes I think the NPC cashier (they will be NPCs and not playables if there are no playables available) would get assigned a job and so he or she would start running off to work instead of manning the register. Other times, they would get into a fight with a townie and I think it threw them off. Sometimes they would age up or die and never get replaced.

Twallan has a mod creatively called "Register" which assigns ALL NPCs in the game. If a cashier never shows up, you can assign one. As far as I can tell, this mod will only assign sims that already exist in the game. It won't create one from scratch (though story progression seems to do this) In a town as sparsly populated as a "Nothing is Free" challenge, it almost always ends up being a postal worker or paparazzi. You can select the person.

Quick note: Once you install the lot, the cashier won't show up until the next day at about 9:30 AM. Even though the store opens at 9, in every world I've had the cashier has always come about half an hour late every day. I'm just mentioning this in case you placed a register and then immediately started to worry that nobody showed up. Also, when the cashier is working, their motives seem to be static, so you can just have a counter with a register and nothing else. I do this until I move the next generation in to their house and then build up the store once the old generation goes NPC and just collects money.

may try this

The cashier didn't show up even after a few days so I moved out a sim and she started working there thanks to story progression.

The Miner wouldn't have been as successful if you had allowed your people to age without the young again potions. To me that is the advantage that shouldn't be used if your going to get rid of anything. It makes it to easy. You might as well turn aging off.