Legacy ideas?

[mozgun]

After reading about the "legacy challenge," I got pretty excited. However, after reading several variants, I realized that people need to make new ones. Any ideas?

I thought of:
-Darwinacy: Survival of the fittest. Child with the best traits (neatness, nice, active, etc.) becomes the heir. This could also be done with the worst traits. The closer you can get to perfect by the end, the better.
-Recessive Legacy: See how long your family can go having only recessive Sim traits, which I believe are grey eyes and blonde hair.
-Self-Employment: No official jobs for any Sim! Their only income is selling paintings, growing fruit, etc.! (Thanks to Peni Griffin)

Any others? Please post your ideas.

[Peni Griffin]

Red and blonde hair are recessive, as are light blue, green, and gray.

For the Darwinacy you'd have to define "best," as this will vary from player to player; and indeed from situation to situation. A sloppy, fun-loving sim may well be a lot more survivable than a serious, neat one.

I'm a neighborhood player, so the whole concept of a legacy doesn't appeal, but here's a couple of quick ideas thrown off the top of my head.

Sim Pet Legacy; Founder Sim will also have a founder pet, who must be bred under similar rules. If the pet's line dies out, you lose. Can you paint portraits of pets? 'Cause that'd take up some serious wall space.

Generational Challenges: Each generation gets its own mini-challenge picked from the wide range of challenges available and modified to fit. Like, one generation has to run ISBI and the next must do the Toddler Challenge or the Mistress Challenge or something. For the experienced player only.

The Self-Employment Legacy. No one living on the lot can have a regular career. They can be farmers, freelancers, hustlers, or entrepreneurs, but not teachers, servicemen, space pirates, etc.

[mozgun]

Thanks for the ideas! The unemployment one is what I was getting at with the only selling art one. I'm assuming that the growing fruit/space pirate/etc. is from the Sims 3. I only have Sims 2, but Sims 3 sounds amazing.

[lauratje86]

Thanks for the ideas! The unemployment one is what I was getting at with the only selling art one. I'm assuming that the growing fruit/space pirate/etc. is from the Sims 3. I only have Sims 2, but Sims 3 sounds amazing.

As far as I'm aware, the growing fruit is from The Sims 2 Seasons :-) And Space Pirate was a career level in a Sims 2 career, I think. The Adventurer one. Not sure which EP that came with.

[Peni Griffin]

I don't play Sims3 (which sounds amazingly pointless to me - can't play the neighborhood, can't see what sims are doing when out and about, and no storytelling tool), so this is all Sims2 stuff. Farming is available in seasons - you can grow fruits and vegetables for sale or home consumption, and fish ditto. Space Pirate is the top rank of the Adventurer career path, which I've always had in my game so I don't know what it came with. By freelancers of course I mean people who earn money by painting, writing novels and restaurant guides, and so on - creative workers. And hustlers would be folks who get by tending bar, working as a barista, dating and going on outings for the rewards. Entrepreneurs would be people running OFB businesses.

That's another possibility for the legacy - each generation has to top a different career path. No repeats, and no money from other controllable sources - date rewards have to be kept and put in inventory, fish and produce must be for home consumption, hobby productions are given as gifts or used around the house.

[joandsarah77]

Growing fruit came with the Seasons EP and Space Pirate is a Sims 2 career as well as a LTW.

I have all kinds of legacies in different hoods going on.
>I have my main sim mafia legacy which I publish.
>I have an uglacy
>I have a farming Legacy
>I have a through time legacy(start in a cave)
>I have an alien legacy

Lots of people add extra challenges into their legacy. I used my main one to try everything I haven't tried before. Apart from being a patriarchy I left who would be heir open instead of just making it the eldest or meanest son (My legacy is the sim mafia) I figured if I was going to play a family for ten generations I didn't want to restrict myself to rules that I was going to find boring after 3 generations. Right now my fourth generation heir has 9 nice points and his own sons have 10 and 8! My plan is to try and marry the cow mascot in so hopefully the mean will be back by generation six. Coming up with a story line for my overly nice mafia bosses is interesting to say the least. of course you don't have to publish, but I find it does help keep your interest if you do.

Not sure what a neighbourhood player is, unless it means all equally. I don't see how that conflicts with a legacy as many legacy players start a neighbourhood empty and play each spare family for equal time in rotation style. Some spares I play right along with the main family, boring ones I cheat ahead to keep them in sync. For example my founders had three children; the eldest a daughter (a spare of course) had one son and plays a big part in the story, and is immortal. Her son now has two kids. The spare son of that generation married in the streaker which was one of my (things to try that I have never done before) She is a lot of fun. They also had three kids. One of thier sons is in the story line. But I also play the second generation heirs spare kids families as well. So it is a neighbourhood wide thing.
Maybe years ago people stuck spares in the simbin or empty lots as they raced through the legacy, but most who write stories around them play most if not all their spares as part of a neighbourhood and generally legacies take players who do this some years to complete.

[sushigal007]

I'm about to try a legacy where instead of the heir being chosen from the next generation of children, the surviving spouse must remarry. So, say you start with a guy, he marries a woman, grow old and dies, the woman must then remarry. Then when she dies, her new widowed hubby must remarry. I'm thinking about combining it with a rainbow legacy, where each new gen has a colour to represent them, with special goals. So like, purple gen are treated like royalty and must fulfil a want everyday, and black gen must fulfil a fear everyday and brown gen must start a business selling only stuff they dig up.

[Peni Griffin]

Hey, you could have a rule that if there's two choices for heir, the one who doesn't get it is a spoiled brat. This works best with the most trouble-making aspirations, Pleasure and Romance. Basically, the Spoiled Spare never locks a want and must be kept in a state of permanent euphoria, with wants fulfilled willy-nilly (preference given to high-pointers) and without any pursuit of a long-term goal or thought for consequences. The Responsible Heir then has to clean up the Spare's messes. You'd probably want to move the Spoiled Spare out and play him or her in rotation.

I've used this simple principle for two sims, a Tricou bastard and a Romance adult created solely to bridge a gap since CAS wouldn't let me create a grandparent/grandchild family. These two have added a lot of texture and drama to the hood, and pleasantly surprised me more than once; I have long since ceased to resent the existence of Billy Ghote, who at first seemed destined only to swell my rotation without adding much of interest to my game. But without him there'd have been no Surprise Wedding!

[nuidyaforever]

Great idea, Peni Griffin! I'm a neighbourhood player like you, but my longest-running 'hood was a legacy once upon a time. Then it evolved into something completely different, and that turned out to be the most fun I've ever had with TS2.

So my first suggestion to the OP is: if you want to do a theme/variation on the Legacy Challenge, pick one that grabs your interest, but that you can change or adapt later down the line if you get bored. Don't restrict things too much - leave room to switch things up as and when you need to.

Another suggestion: OK, so official legacy rules say heirs can't marry playable Sims. That doesn't mean your legacy family has to be the only household in town. If you feel like it, you could work the legacy into a whole 'hood story - that's what I'd do if I was playing a legacy, and again, playing moved-out spares instead of killing them off or letting them sit in the Sim Bin forever can really add interest. You could even do a different challenge in every household - maybe each original Sim is the founder of a different legacy variant, if that's what floats your boat.

By the way, the "survival of the fittest" idea sounds like it could be interesting... I might try something like that (if you don't mind) although mine would probably have more to do with actual survival abilities rather than who's got the most/least personality points. :)

- VT

[mozgun]

I like all of your ideas! I just thought of an INCREDIBLY awkward legacy. Using the Elixir of Life (or other methods, I don't know what they'd be), the founder is immortal. Then, every few generations, when he had a great-grandchild, he could marry them (shudder) and be the father/mother of the next generation (shudder shudder). I don't actually know if this would work, but I'm pretty sure the game doesn't identify great grandparents and their great grandchildren as family, so they could marry.

Another thing is to have your founder have two children. Each of these move on as heir. Then, each of the siblings children marry, have kids, and start the cycle over. It would be interesting to see how similar the last generation would look compared to the founder, seeing that everyone kept marrying into the family.

A final legacy I thought of would be a lot-hopping legacy. You start out on a small empty lot, with very little money (Seeing that small lots cost little money, you'd have to waste money or find some other method to lower your money.) You should have between 1,500 and 2,500 simoleons. Your founder should be the only one living there. When the second generation becomes adults, the family has to move to the next larger sized empty lot, abandoning the house that they built. Proceed to move until you reach the largest sized empty lot, where you can either keep moving or settle down.

[Peni Griffin]

Set up random arbitrary challenges for your children to determine which one is heir - Who Can Make the Most Friends in High School, Who Can Get the Least Skill Points prior to college, Who Brings Home the Most Tourists - whatever suits your playstyle and the specific circumstances of your hood. Have one townie child who never grows up and whose relationship is the one that determines who the heir is.

I can do this sort of thing all day. I don't even have to be trying. Or particularly interested.

[NiallHoranIsMine]

I'm doing an Alphabet legacy and the B genreation heiress is currently preggy with first C generation baby.
I decide the heir/heiress with different rules for each generation. A generation, it was the youngest child. B generation was first born girl. This generation is going to be whoever has the most Nice points. Hopefully it won't be a tie :p. If that happens, it'll be whoever was born first as well as most nice points.
I also decide everything based on rolling a die. How many kids the specific generation will have, the aspirations they'll get when they grow into teens, etc. I even decide if they go to college or not based on a dice roll. 1-3 yes, 4-6 no. First two generations have both been Yes.
I also try to always complete the LTWs. Some of them, like the career based ones are easy, but others like having 20 simultaneous lovers is hard (I had that one for my B generation heiress. Thank God for wishing wells, genie lamps, and matchmaking services!) It keeps the game interesting, and you always have a goal.
I've always wanted to do a generation where everyone Teen and older has to work from home to earn money, but 90% of my sims always have a career based LTW!

[mirjamsim2love]

I am doing 'my own personal legacy challenge'.
It maybe is already there in somewhat the same form but I share mine anyway ;)

Only one cheat is allowed: the aging on and off cheat.
It is also required to achieve the goals and to keep the legacy livings of the Sims in a more realistic manner. (The child is adult but the parents have the same age = a no go.)
In this manner you are obligated to play with all the joined legacy families, even if you have favorites. It also means that on one point in time the starting legacy families are supposed to die. It is not allowed to keep them in the game as an elder for all eternity. Like you have 8 generations and still one of the starting Sims is alive. Not realistic.

Start with enough families. Not just one or two. Make them as nice looking as possible and use your downloads for it. The less they look like a townie the better it is.

The purpose is
1. to get only your own Sims in the neighbourhood and banning out the Maxis delivered Sims ánd houses.
That means :
A. you are only allowed to start new families with Sims that are part of the families you start with. I started with 8 families. Fabricated them myself from downloaded stuff to make them looking better than the 'stupid' townies.
B. You are allowed to use the NPC workers like the nanny, cleaner and gardener. They are good enough to work for you but not good enough to be friends with or make new children with. :D
C. Good interaction with townies is not allowed and if you can help it, it must be cut off. When they bring a townie home for work immediately say goodbye to that one. When a townie comes to welcome you in the neighbourhood send them away etc.
Just do all you can to avoid contact with the townies. If you happen to have a townie friend (how the piep did that happen?) in your Sims friendlist try to do all to break that friendship.
D. Sometimes reacting to action of townies to argue with them is welcomed, like when they kicked your carbage can or try to steal your newspaper. This challenge is also about rivalry between townies (the ugly people) and the newcomers (the better looking ones).
As long as the interaction is negative it is allowed.

2. Follow the wishes of your Sims.
A. The life wish: If they want to have all their skills maximised you have to try to achieve that. If they want to see 20 puppies or kittens grown up prepare yourself for a house with animals and so on.
B. All the teenagers need to go to College and you have to follow the major théy want and after that the jobfield they want. If they don't give you direction in that choose something that fits the highest interest they have. If that option is not given to you by the job applications for that day: too bad, they have to wait until it is given. That also means you have to consider how they are going to make it until then while buying stuff for in their houses.

3. Accept what you get
That counts for wishes and dislikes, personality of the babies that will be born. Don't change those.

4. Let them look like the genetics of their parents.
Ofcourse that will happen when you get a baby of two Sims but when the baby becomes a toddler it sometimes gets automatic hair that does not even resemble the parents in any way. Change that. For example: If the father has dreads or curls and the mother has red hair choose red dreads or curls.

5. Try to make the Sims as unique as possible in appearance
Everyone has its own hairstyle and own clothes as much as possible.

6. Along the way you have to find good matches for your Sims. (Avoid 'incest') It is possible that at one point you are out of options in combining Sims. I am not there yet but it could happen.

7. Before you let a toddler grow up into a child they need to have learnt to walk, talk and singing that 'damn childsong' and they must be potty trained.

Extra comments:
- I am still thinking of a way to get all the townies out of my neighbourhood eventually. It still is a challenge that need to be worked out more.
- I am also working out more things to add to it but this is the essence for now.
- It is a long challenge and a lot of work but fun to build up some sort of new community in an existing one - I started in 'Veronadorp'.
- It is not about 'winning or losing' but just about goals and purpose and along the way things could go a bit wrong. Then just be creative without cheat codes to correct it.

Maybe this no name challenge brings up ideas for people to use or to start with this.

[Anonymous Miss]

One legacy challenge I had a blast with back when I had Sims 3 was the Seven Deadly Sins challenge. Each generation has to meet certain goals related to the sins; for example, the greed Sim had to be a gold digger, the lust must have six different children from six different lovers, gluttony must be a fat cook, etc.

[annoainthere]

My current legacy is running rampant in the streets of Oasis Valley. There are 25 main families from which the current 100 homes are accumulated from and still growing. Of course it got big fast, soooo I tweaked the rules for the legacy to help make it smaller. One exception is that every 3rd generation can marry a playable character from any family but their own. Which is proving to be difficult now that so many can be easily traced to each other! Oh well, if they can't marry an unrelated current playable, then they die and so to their legacy.

To keep Oasis Valley alive and all families in rotation was getting tricky, so I've ended up combining, subdividing and generally just shaking up the households. I call it Let's Move!
When there are 3 or less Sims on the lot, the household moves house (most households are 4 or more) combining with other small households to free up their gigantic house for another larger family. If I'm fed up with the house/scenery of a larger household I divide them up and move them out (causing break-ups, marriage annulments etc) or if I'm happy with the large family just move them into a different home and start from scratch again.

Ummm so I think the main point of my ramblings is:
1. make 1 or 2 exceptions to the legacy rules
2. if that doesn't work play Let's Move and shake up the households.

How to play Let's Move:

1. Decide to move a household of 3 or less Sims.
2. Pack up EVERYTHING to do with the legacy into their INVENTORIES. Very important to do this as once you move them you won't be able to retrieve them (I think). DO NOT pack everyday household items, but you can pack career rewards and sample/gifts from networking.
3. Move them on out.
4. Move them into another house with people. :)

What's that Aunt Verity? You don't like your niece Sandra? Oh too bad, you'll be living with her from now on...

1a. Decide to move a large household (no dividing).
2a. Pack up EVERYTHING to do with the legacy into their INVENTORIES. Very important to do this as once you move them you won't be able to retrieve them (I think). DO NOT pack everyday household items, but you can pack career rewards and sample/gifts from networking.
3a. Move them on out to a subhood, that's right, a subhood/downtown. You cannot move them into another house/land in the main neighbourhood.
4a. Start again from scratch! :)

What's that kids? You liked your friends here? You don't want to move to the country? Oh come on now, it won't be that bad....

1b. Divide and Conquer! Making a large family small....
2b. Splitting the family/legacy items. You can decide how to do this. I roll a die or decide by relationship status or mood at the time.
If dividing by relationship, divide by the long time bar only, especially when kids are involved. Parent with the best long time relationship wins custody.
If rolling allocate numbers to parents, e.g. Mum is 1,3,5 - Dad is 2,4,6. When dividing items well, nothing's fair in love or war, or divorce/separation.
Assign all items by dice roll/random number generator, e.g. Mum is 2, Dad is 1, Child A is 3, Child B is 4. Item T, rolled 3, now belongs to Child A and subsequently the parent who gets Child A also gets the legacy item. Or Item R rolled 2, Mum gets Item R, etc.
3b. One new family must move to a subhood/downtown, the other can move to another place in the main neighbourhood. I flip a coin to decide.
4b. Move into a new home/piece of land or into another household.

Mum, why did dad leave us? Where's sis? Why are we living with Granny? Mum? Mum? Granny...? Anybody?

It's great fun to watch the drama unfold. :D