#this was after one risky woohoo........... my setting is set to like 10%

[ellissims3lepacy]

Sims 3 Lepacy Gen 1: Chapter 2 : A new Relationship

As expected, Eileen started pursuing Hank Goddard and before long they were going out. Before moving in together though, Hank started messing around with Tori Kimura on the side...Naughty naughty. I know this because I have Nraas Storyprogression stories enabled. Granted that it is also the Storyprogression mod who is responsible for this in the first place, but it's more fun this way.

Hank was very happy to leave the Mosquito Cove and move in together with Eileen. To Hanks credit he never rolled any wants to cheat on Eileen, nor did he pursue any other ladies autonomously. In fact he was quite a good boyfriend, watering her plants while she was at work. Alas they were so cute that I even considered keeping them together, but ultimately I knew that they were not meant to be. I decided that in addition of trying to fulfill my original sims lifetime wish, I would do the same for their partner. But Hank is eventually going to want to breakup and date someone else, that's just how he was created. He's never going to be the partner Eileen truly deserves, so while they were still happy together I started to look for other eligible gentlemen who could be potential romantic prospects for Eileen in the future.

For starters we met two possible suitors: Leighton Sekemoto and Christopher Steel. Eileen had excellent chemistry with Leighton, she thought he was a 10/10. He is also a family man, which means he would definitely want to get married and have kids, which is what we're looking for. The caveat is that he want's to raise five kids from babies to teenagers. If you didn't know, Leighton is at the start of the game a young dad to a toddler called Sam. So if Eileen got together with Leighton she would need to have at least four children with him to fulfill his lifetime wish. Christopher on the other hand was more like a 7-8 out of 10, so maybe not the best option, but good enough to be a possibility. We shall see.

Eileen and Hank were both progressing pretty rapidly in their respective careers (Military and Law Enforcement) when something unexpected happened...

Eileen was pregnant! How did this happen? Well, I am using Nraas Wohooer that allows you to tweak various romantic interactions. In the vanilla game woohooing has a zero chance of pregnancy while the try for baby interaction gives a 75 percent chance of conceving. I find that this is not very realistic actually. There is something called "risky woohoo" which allows you to set your preferred chance for a female sim to get pregnant after each risky woohoo, like 15 % for example. Lots of players seem to use risky woohoo as an additional interaction to the basic woohoo which still has zero chance of pregnancy. Probably to simulate an "oops we didn't use protection"- situation. I also used to use this method but after Eileen and Hank had been together for a while, I thought it would be more fun to disable regular woohoo and replace it with risky woohoo (which will be referred to as woohoo in game even though it is still technically risky woohoo). I set the chance of pregnancy to just five percent. In my headcanon they are using a condom during woohoo and for that a five percent fail rate I feel is pretty realistic.

Most players seem to have it set between 10-30 percent, but I thought that would be too high since now we don't have woohoo with zero chance of resulting in pregnancy anymore in the game. Still that five percent was enough to result in a pregancy just a couple of sim days after I made this change.

I also have a pretty long lifespan so my sims have plenty of time to woohoo. I have decided with this Lepacy to set one sim year to two days. It was really important for me to have the proportions of each life stage match real life because it really annoys me how the default lifespans are not proportional. For example the teen lifestage is way too long compared to the adult life stages (this is much more of a problem in the Sims 2 and 4 tough)- thankfully the Sims 3 allows full customisation for lifespans.

My lifespans are as follows:

Babies : 2 days (ages 0-1)

Toddlers : 6 days (ages 1-5) - I know it should be 8 days but I think that is too long. Sue me :D

Children : 14 days (ages 5-12)

Teens : 12 days (ages 12-18)

Young adults : 44 days (ages 18-40)

Adults : 44 days (ages 40-62)

Elders : 30 days (ages 62-77)

I know there are some inconsistencies, but I'm pretty satisfied with this. The toddlers are obviously incorrect on purpose but then again pregnancy is the default 3 days which would actually be around 18 months according to my own rules, so we might as well have this to compensate for the missing two days. Then teens should actually start from 13 not 12 however then that would mean that the teen lifestage would only be for 10 days versus 16 days for children, and teens are definitely more fun to play with compared to children. Then there is the question of when does young adulthood end and adulthood begin? I don't know, I just thought 40 is a nice round number. I wanted y.adulthood and adulthood to last the same amount which means that yes female sims will be able to get pregnant into their early sixties, but I prefer this to having the elder stage begin in the sims fifties. I feel like the elders are actually pretty old and in reality I would never refer to someone aged 62 as an "elder" but this is what we're working with. 77 years might also be a little young for someone to actually die of "old age" but I didn't want my average elder to live into their 90s. Some of them will though. In this savefile I actually had Buster Clavell live to about 98, which means he spontanely exceeded his lifespan with over 40 days.

By the time Eileen got pregnant she had been in a relationship with Hank for 14 days (or 7 years) and she was now about 29 years old. A perfect age to start pondering what you really want from life. In the next chapter we will find out what will become of Eileen and Hank and see the baby being born!

Sorry for yapping about the woohoo and lifespan settings lol

[lifeofannpc]

The Sims 4 Siren Challenge:

**Edit** You can't have a basement on the 50x50 sulani lot sooo make a servants quarters instead****

By Life Of An NPC (A.K.A Takara The NPC)

Tag me on Twitter @ Takara_the_NPC in any screenshots or videos you do of this challenge!

Subscribe to my YT https://www.youtube.com/@Life_Of.An_NPC

Backstory:

Your sim is MAD! They rescued a sailor and gave them the amulet to be able to breath underwater because they said they LOVED your sim! What a load of barnacles! As soon as your sim brought them to Underwaterland (feel free to come up with a better name lol) that wretched sailor got all three of your sister’s pregnant!

Humans. Are. EVIL! They are now the enemy! Your family doesn’t agree with your conquest for revenge, so you leave them behind and move to Sulani with the humans. Your goal is simple, make them feel the pain you felt and end on top of them all! Prove to your family that mermaids are above humans in every way possible!

What is The Goal?

Have $1,000,000 and a large mansion by seducing human sims and stealing their money!

Max at least 10 skills

The Rules!

When You Begin:

Your sim MUST be a mermaid and can only live in Sulani on the 50x50 empty lot (excluding if they move in with seduced sims - once they have “dealt” with their seduced sim, they must return to their lot in Sulani)

Your sim must start with $0 since they use seashells as currency in Underwaterland

Housekeeping Rules:

Money cheats are not allowed (unless you're taking away money for whatever odd reason). The only way you can make money is by searching the sand, stealing from seduced sims or by using your “servants”.

If a skill allows you to make money (for example selling paintings with the painting skill), you are allowed to make money this way until you reach the max level. Once you have maxed out a skill, your sim can no longer use that skill to make money.

Mods are allowed for story telling purposes and gameplay but any mods that provide you with financial benefit are not allowed

The Juicy Stuff:

A sim is classified as ‘seduced’ after you have married them and had woohoo at least once

You can’t steal all of a sim's money! To know how much money you can steal from a sim, you must spin a wheel with the values: 0%, 1%, 5%, 20%, 30%, 50% and 75%

You can only steal from a seduced sim’s household funds and cannot sell their property for money

You can’t marry people from the same immediate family (so like you can marry a second cousin but not a brother)

Once you have stolen from a seduced sim you must either kill them or lock them in your basement (if you can afford to make one) and make them your servant

Romantic Servants:

There are two types of servants, human offspring and seduced sims who you have stolen from. A servant can make you money in any way possible, painting, gardening, or anything else you can think of. If your servant is an ex-lover, your sim must maintain a romance level for at least 50% with the servant. If your romance falls below 50% you must kill the servant because your “spell” will be broken and they will try run away and call the authorities or something xD

Servants must stay in the basement but can be released to do chores like cooking, cleaning or raising children etc. Once they finish their task they must return to the basement.

You can kill ex-lover servants at any time you please. Having a bad day? Take it out on a servant T-T

What About Children?

Risky woohoo must be set to at LEAST 20%

Children are a liability, any child that isn’t born a mermaid will automatically become an ‘Offspring Servant’

Mermaid children must be treated with LUXURY! SPOIL THEM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!! You must treasure them to make sure they are well taken care of.

Offspring Servants:

Offspring Servants don’t have to live in the basement

You shouldn’t give your offspring servants much attention but should value them more than Romantic Servants

Mermaid children should get priority over Offspring servants

You are allowed to be nice or even like some of your offspring servants if you want but not as much as your mermaid kids

When offspring servants become Young Adults they “Run Away”

Conclusion:

Get ready to become a horrible person and happy simming >3< xx

P.s. Let me know what changes I should make!

[marmiteprinter]

After putting Evan to bed, Ramona and Kyle lay on their own bed chatting for a while.

"I hope someone opens some kind of fashion store in town soon. I only have the clothes on my back and it would be really nice to have a change of clothes one day!" said Ramona.

Kyle agreed - a clothes store would be nice. Maybe someone with a talent for sewing would arrive in town soon? He could only hope.

As it was their wedding night, they of course snuggled under the covers for a little Woohoo.

And as the first part of their Summer came to an end the next morning, Ramona found herself rushing to the bathroom to throw up... seems like they might have another little one on the way already!

(Side note: I can never seem to get the Risky Woohoo percentage right. 10% is too low. It takes forever for couples to get pregnant and, seeing as one day = one year for me, that's not okay. But I currently have it set to 20% which seems to be too high - this couple has already got pregnant twice from four Woohoos! Surely that's a 50% success rate? Maths is hard...)

Anyway, Ramona is now 36, Kyle is 29, and Evan is 1. They've opened the town's second community lot, thus unlocking a second CAS point. Let's head over to the Rossellini family (no longer the Roommates!) and see what Pietro is up to...

[vals-sims-world]

Good question @tansyuduri . There's a few factors that go into determining how the story plays out.

One of the big ones is the Random Occurrence Scenario (ROS) roll. The Medieval Charter Challenge comes with a list of random events that you can use to add extra chaos to your game. You roll a die with each family to see what happens to them this rotation. These events can range from "meet a new sim" to "inherit a fortune" to "jousting accident injury" to "death". I also use a worldwide ROS roll that affects everyone in town, which was put together by fir3princ3ss for her Sims 3 Ye Old Royal Kingdom Challenge. An example of this was Heather joining the family. I rolled the scenario Blood is thicker than water – distant impoverished relative moves in. This fit very well after Sarah, Will, and Aric died so I flavored it as her coming to take care of Evan.

Speaking of Sarah, Will, and Aric's deaths, I have the Vector mod which is a mod that adds sickness and diseases to the game. None of the diseases I have are fatal but since this is medieval times I have a mortality roll system that I use to see if people die from getting sick. This family unfortunately rolled very poorly.

I also have the Woohooer mod that (among other things) has an option to replace normal woohoo with risky woohoo that has a 10% chance of resulting in a pregnancy. Feels appropriate to have in a setting before birth control. This is what happened with Sefa's first pregnancy which sped up her and Evan's relationship a bit.

I do also leave my sims to their own devices from time to time and try to follow their wants but I will reign them in if I think they're being stupid.

There are also times when I'll just think something would make a good storyline. Bringing in Sefa is an example of that. Her fighting with Kara and Kara lighting her on fire did happen when Heather visited the druids, I had no say over that, and seeing this go down I thought it would be interesting and fitting for Heather to see this and be like "I'm going to get you away from this and give you a better home.". Things fell neatly into place when Evan came home and found Sefa attractive.

Because I believe in saving the best for last let's start off going through the family with the most oc filled household, the Ealdor family.

This is Merlin's childhood best friend Will's family. Everyone but Will is an original character, though some are loosely based off of his family in a fic called Sunrise in Ealdor, Sunset in Camelot by mobycotton. We have Will's mother Sarah, his grandfather Aric, and his little brother Evan.

They're a peasant family working as swine herders and hunters, they provide the town's meat supply. However, that doesn't stop Aric and Evan from being massive animal lovers and adding 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a horse to the family over time.

Let's have a quick tour of the house they started with!

Pigpen out the front, two bedrooms, and a kitchen/dining area in the middle. Nothing fancy but enough to get by. The Ealdor Farm is a simple peasant home for a simple peasant life.

Their neighbors kept things interesting though. Merlin, Hunith, and Gaius live just across the road. Will and Merlin followed in their show counterpart's footsteps and became best friends very quickly. They frequently hung out at the tavern together and visited each other's houses. Sarah and Hunith also got along very well. In fact, they took quite a shine to one another and started a relationship. There was talk of moving in together after their boys got settled into their own lives, however this was not to be.

As winter started to approach a sickness swept through the town. It hit the Ealdor family hard. Aric, Sarah, and Will all succumbed to it leaving young Evan alone just as he was entering his teen year.

Thankfully he wasn't alone for long. A kind, but down on her own luck, cousin of Sarah's named Heather heard about what happened and came to take care of Evan. There was an adjustment period as the two got to know each other but they found their own rhythm of Evan going out hunting and Heather selling the meat to others in town. They managed to stay afloat and really bonded while cooped up during the winter.

One day Heather visited the Druid camp to try to sell to them.

While there she saw one of the druid girls bullying another druid girl, the two yelling at each other and fighting with the confrontation ending with one of the girls using magic to light the other on fire. Heather helped put the fire out and brought the girl back to her house to help her clean herself up. There she learned her name was Sefa and the girl she had been fighting with was Kara. Sefa got along with most of the druid camp, especially her best friend Daegal, but she and Kara hated each other and Kara made living there difficult for Sefa. Hearing all this Heather asked if Sefa would like to live with her and Evan. Sefa happily accepted.

Evan had been off on a hunt during all this but sparks flew the second he saw Sefa and he was more than happy to welcome her into their home. The two of them started a romance soon after and before long Sefa was pregnant. As soon as he found out Evan proposed and the two were married before their daughter Emry was born.

Sometime during Sefa's pregnancy, Heather met a kind, handsome knight named Sir Gregory Oliver. They fell for each other hard and fast. Not before long Gregory proposed. Heather accepted but was reluctant to leave Evan and Sefa. They were still so young and had a newborn on their hands. Gregory completely understood and moved in with them to help out as well. When Emry aged up to a toddler and Evan and Sefa seemed to have everything under control Heather and Gregory moved out into their own home. And just in time too cause Heather found out she was pregnant just after they moved. Her son Sean came just as news of Sefa's second pregnancy arrived. Heather and Gregory proved to not be able to keep their hands off of each other and their second son Trevor arrived a day after Evan and Sefa's twins Ari and Rena were born.

And now we've caught up to the present

Evan, Sefa, and their children carrying on the Ealdor family name after the tragedy of losing Sarah, Will, and Aric. Heather and Gregory Oliver starting their own family. We'll see how their story continues.

I'll leave you with some tour shots of their current homes The Ealdor Farm:

The Oliver Fisherman Hut:

Tagging those who asked: @tansyuduri @building-camelot

[simsnectar]

Turns out Iris is pregnant with Dalton’s first child! 

[queenofmyshuno]

Alt. Universe: Day 2, First Conquest

Meet The Kellers (challenge summary)

I don’t have to work because my brother and I were left money by our parents--enough to live on comfortably if we’re frugal. But I want to work at the library part time because I think it would be fun. 

Me: Hi, I’m Lana. Today’s my first day.

Comfort. I’m Comfort. Welcome! Just ask if you have any questions.

Who’s this tall, grey, and handsome man? Well, okay, he’s not actually tall; he’s the exact same height as I am. And yes, he’s older, but he looks like he has good genes and would make attractive babies.

The handsome man’s name is Fitz, and we end up going to the movies together after my shift. (Is that lady looking at us like that because of our age difference?)

We have our first kiss in the lobby.

Later, the kissing continues at my apartment. I make sure that risky woohoo is set at 10%, and then I ask Fitz if he’d like to take this to the bedroom.

Okay. I have 2 sleepwear outfits: a sexy nightgown and a scruffy robe with socks. So, which one do you think I picked to seduce Fitz with??

After we woohoo, Fitz stands around for awhile then leaves without saying goodbye. He goes downstairs and hangs out in my brother’s apartment where they talk about guy stuff.

.   .   .

To see Fitz (Douglas Fitzpatrick) in the regular story, go here: A Donkey and a Dish Walk into a Bar...

.   .   .

Next: Day 3, Insured

Table of Contents, The Kellers

Challenge Rules, Alternate Universe Storyteller Challenge

[katatty]

Hii! I love all your content! You inspired me to start a megahood! Do you have risky woohoo enabled? Im afraid in some time my hood will become overpopulated, so I was thinking maybe romance sims don't have children? Bc like I use a long lifespan mod (adulthood lasts around 60 sims days), idk... If so, how do you keep track of the generations? Im trying not to worry too much about it bc im playing just for fun but at the same time im afraid I will have thousands of households to take care of lol

Hi!! I’m really glad you like my content, thank you! I do play with risky woohoo enabled, it’s very much an essential thing for me because I like my sims being able to suprise me and I love the drama/chaos it brings. That said, I do also use the morning after pill (part of ACR) for sims I think would really be committed to not having kids, or if they get pregnant & the timing is really horrendous, lol. That’s more based on lifestyle/headcanon than aspiration, though, lots of my romance sims have kids and are good parents, some pleasure/fortune sims I don’t think would have them. Or hell, even some knowledge sims have other priorities. 

I try to have a few couples with no kids, and just one or two kids for the majority. I don’t let my family sims go too crazy with their “have 6-10 kids” thing except for a few outliers, haha. That keeps the population relatively stable, at least for my purposes. If you want to keep the overall number of households low you can also have sims live with their parents when they become adults, or have big groups of roommates like the Singles household, stuff like that really helps keeps the numbers down! (You can also townify households if they’re boring to play lol).

I also use a long lifespan mod, and wrote a little bit about my setup with it & my fertility settings here.

I will say though, honestly, I have been playing my megahood for nearly 6 RL years with long aging mods and the born-in-game kids are still in their teenage years, haha. When it comes to megahoods the pace is so slow anyway (because of the number of households that come with a megahood to start with) that I don’t really worry about the later generations all that much, I guess? I don’t know if I will even still be playing Pleasantview Plus by the time Oliver Goth or whoever is fully grown up and having kids of his own...

So yeah, idk, this isn’t intended to scare you off playing a megahood because they’re really fun! But having lots of households to deal with kinda comes with the territory and honestly if my neighbourhood died I dunno if I’d actually play a megahood again, haha? Just because they’re so time-consuming. A lot of this your mileage will vary on, because it really depends on your play style and how you do rotations. (It takes me longer because I have to document my gameplay on this blog, possibly without such extensive documentation it’d be quicker, idk.) Maybe just a smaller hood combination like Veronaville/Belladonna Cove would be the ideal, for me.

With my own megahood I started out with just the three base game neighbourhoods and only added more of them later on after I’d been playing for a while, maybe try something like that if you’re worried about being overwhelmed! But also try not to worry too much, I’m a bit of an over-thinker too as is probably obvious from this post but just play about with it and have fun! When I started this hood out I wasn’t considering it as a long-term thing especially, I was just having fun playing and it just became more serious over time.

Sorry this answer got so long & rambling lol, I have a lot of thoughts about stuff like this!

[agentofmischief]

What I want to see in future Sims Games (Discussion)

I was just watching a video on youtube by Plumbella about Sims 4′s failings at launch, and what still is lacking versus the previous games. A lot of it I agreed with, because I didn’t start playing Sims 4 until 2 years after it’s release because they didn’t have toddlers and pools, which to me was sacrilege. Why would I play a sims game that took a huge step back by removing toddlers? And what sims game doesn’t have a pool mechanic? How am I supposed to mass kill my sims?

Anyway, after watching it, I began thinking about what I’d like to see in the next generation. It’s likely not far off, as it’s been 8 years since the release of Sims 4, and usually each generation has run 5 years. And as a simmer since Sims 1, here’s a list of what I’d like to see in the next edition, or Sims 5. I’d like to discuss this, so if ya’ll have any additions or points, I’d like to read them.

For Sims 5, what I'd like to see:

-Better semi-open world, so we can go within a neighborhood lot to lot with ease, but load for a different part of town maybe.

-3D world/town maps

-Auto-age toggling (like we have in 4)

-Build/design neighborhood lots and locations (like in Sims 2). *This was one of my favorite parts of the sims 2, and I've been missing it in recent base games. It's not exactly world building like Sims 3 had in an expansion pack, because from what I heard it was a bit much. But maybe I'd like to turn the island in Brindleton Bay into a small community town with 4-5 15x20 lots or 3 varying lots. It could work with a semi-open world because while you’d control the lot sizes in a neighborhood to a point, the size of the neighborhood is still the same.

-Set life story for townies/npcs. *As an adult, I'm appreciating the lore around the sims more than I did as a kid.

-Color-wheel, at least for CAS. *I don't think it's necessary for build, because while it was fun in sims 3, it was also bit much. I am preferring the swatch options for build and buy. It's a lot more realistic. But hair color, eye color, skin color, and makeup are all highly different person to person. There is no reason not to have a color-wheel for those.

-Zodiac and better personality system. *In 4, we have 3 traits and a life goal, completely ignoring the zodiac scales in previous games, which provided better character personality for gameplay. In 3, we had 5 traits that essentially covered it, as the zodiac scales always had 5 sliders anyway, but it did mean we lost the base personality aspects, and those sliders. I can understand EA wanting to steer away from Zodiac signs, but maybe move to an MBTI slider scale instead, which would still add a lot more dynamic character personalities, with 3 additional traits for preferences, hobbies, and lifestyles.

-Gender toggling *we have it in sims 4, and it should continue in future editions.

-Memories and want/fears system over whims *These were in 2 and 3, and were so much better for storytelling reasons. Emotions are fun sometimes, but can be annoying. Especially when a neighbor dies during the welcome wagon, and your sim is sad for 5 days for mourning when they didn't even know them. Maybe an emotion system that works with memories and a wants/fears system.

-Extensive family trees *In sims 2 and 3, you could see a full family tree on one page, rather than just one sim’s immediate family tree.

-Sims Gallery system *easily best part of sims 4 for the community on the whole.

-Bendable stairs *amazing sims 4 addition that needs to continue

-Automatic roofs *I miss this from 2 & 3, because it took me years to figure out how to make good roofs, and I'm too lazy to put in 50 roof pieces.

-Terrain tools *These were in sims 2 & 3 base game on release, but were added way late in sims 4.

-Cars! *They were in 2&3. Why they were never put in 4 is beyond me.

-Risky Woohoos and Fertility toggling *MCC mod allows this, and makes for better story-telling in my opinion. With the evolution of woohooing since the first game, and the evolution of where sim babies come from (1st gen was kissing a lot until *boom* baby. Woohooing was only with one certain bed or jacuzzi, and did not make a baby. It wasn’t until Sims 2 did that change.), it feels like a natural progression for that mechanic. And thanks to MCC, we know its possible within the game mechanics.

Most of these we have now in sims 4, but if Sims 5 had all but one or two at launch, I feel like that would be a generation worth buying at release. Some fun additional ideas I have that I think would make the game fun, but maybe not doable for a while (or maybe at all) would be:

-Reboot Sims City as a fusion game with the sims to allow simmers to bring over towns/cities as a neighborhood base. *Like take sim city back to the bare bones idea it was when it came out of Super Nintendo of being the mayor and building one city, but allow players to also play as the sims within that town.

-Add 2 new ages: Preteen and Middle-Aged *I feel like this would add a lot of game-play value as well as storytelling to the game. Preteen could be used to really experiment with likes & dislikes and hobbies, since that time kids are really discovering who they are. It’s weird to see sims go from literal children to pretty much young adults with the teen styles. Personally, it feels like the age body-wise jumps from 6-10 to 16-19, which is a serious jump. And Middle-Aged would add so much elder gameplay. YA = 19-29 Adult = 30-70 now, when it should be 30-49. With an addition of Middle-Aged would be 50-69, and you could still have work-life, while losing the ability to try for baby when your sims are practically grandparents already. You could also have a mid-life crisis mechanic. All without worrying that your sim is going to die of old age after 2 days.

I know this has been a long-winded list. If you’ve read this far, thanks. Leave a comment on your thoughts. What should be in the next generation of Sims?

[osakaso5]

La Danse Macabre

Episode 10

Chapter Index

10-1: The Ambush (1)

???: .......

???: ...Buh-bye.

[Thud]

[Clang]

???: Huh?

Cura: Damn, I guess my insomnia isn't all bad after all!

???: You shouldn't stay up so late. I hear it's bad for your skin..!

[Thump]

Cura: Ugh..! Wake up guys, we've got company!

- - - -

Libel: ......!

Fuga: You've gotta be kidding me! Where'd he come from!?

Arme: ...W-what's going on!?

???: Ah~, what a pain. I was gonna kill you all in your sleep.

Libel: Who are you?

Placer: Placer, from Kokujohyako. You're Rebellion, right?

Fuga: Ugh, not Kokujohyako. Speak of the devil, I guess...

Arme: Kokujohyako...

Placer: So, which one of you's the Celestial?

Arme: ...I-it's me.

Libel: Don't answer!

Placer: 'kay, so I'll kill everyone but you.

[Thud]

[Crash]

Fuga: Holy crap!

Cura: Libel! Fuga! Take the kid and run!

Cura: I'll hold him here..!

Fuga: No way, with all three of us here, we can totally beat one guy, even if he's Kokujohyako!

Cura: Not while protecting the boy, we can't! We'll be done for as soon as one of us gets hurt!

Libel: Fuga, just trust him! Let's go!

Fuga: Ugh... Let's get going, Celestial!

Arme: R-right! Cura, please stay safe!

Placer: Uh oh. They're getting away.

Cura: You don't sound too worried about that...

Placer: I've got plenty of obstacles they'll have to get through first. I'll kill you and then I'll catch up to them in a jiffy..!

[Thud]

[Crash]

Cura: Ugh..!

Placer: You're a pretty agile dude. Good, I haven't killed someone who could put up a fight in a while.

Cura: Heh... Must be tough, waving that big weapon of yours around.

Placer: Not really. I probably just need to kick things up a little...

[Thud]

Cura: Ugh... Huff..! Damn, that was fast!

[Thud]

Placer: Ahahahahaha!

[Thud]

Placer: You're getting slower and slower! Maybe you oughta excercise some more!

[Thud]

Cura: Urk!

[Crash]

Cura: Coff... coff...

Cura: I'm more of a paperwork kinda guy...

Placer: I feel bad for you, I really do. But this is why you don't just walk around in public with a treasure chest in your hands.

Placer: Because we'll never let easy money get away from us.

Cura: Heh... so you wanna sell the little Celestial off? You guys always did have a one-track mind... But our leader's got something else in mind.

Cura: He's trying to use the Celestial to save all of the Surface, like the idiot he is..!

Placer: ...Uh-huh.

Placer: I don't give a rat's ass, just so y'know.

Cura: ......!

Placer: In fact, I think it's stupid.

Placer: If you're trying to help other people, then that just means you guys have it too easy. 

- - - -

Arme: Ah..!?

Libel: We're surrounded... Did Kokujohyako always have this many fighters?

Fuga: Most of them are probably hired help. ...Since when do they have that kinda money?

Ruffian: Which one's the Celestial? Is it the tiny one?

Ruffian: In any case, don't let anyone get away. Surround 'em!

Fuga: What's the plan, Libel?

Libel: If this is all of them... Our best bet is to defeat them all as quickly as we can, so we can go back for Cura.

Fuga: Aye aye, sir! Celestial, stand back!

Arme: Wait, there's too many of them..!

Libel: Hah!

[Clang]

Ruffian: Urgh..!

Libel: Next!

Fuga: Take this!

[Ratatat]

Fuga: We don't have time for this! Come on!

Ruffian: T-they're pretty strong!

Fuga: You think you're the first buncha punks we've fought!? Huh!?

Arme: I-I had no idea Libel and Fuga were such great fighters..! 

10-2: The Ambush (2)

Cura: Huff... huff... Damn, you really are good...

Placer: Nice dodges. You probably set the record for how long someone's managed to stay alive against me.

Cura: I-isn't your leader even stronger than this..?

Placer: Oh, totally. Vida's the greatest. We're undefeatable, as long as we've got him around.

Cura: ...Undefeatable, eh... Well if he's so undefeatable, why doesn't he just attack the Ark?

Placer: Huh?

Cura: Wait, I know why. It's because he knows he can't take them all on at once.

Cura: They've got an army we couldn't even dream of having, and even the strongest fighter will lose if you throw enough opponents at them...

Placer: Shut up... Vida's stronger than anyone... He could totally take on the Ark.

Cura: Listen to me! If we use the Celestial as a bargaining chip with the Ark, we might not even have to fight! Doesn't that sound good to you?  

Cura: We're looking at the big picture here! Just think about it, and if that's too hard, go tell your buddies!

Cura: Think about the long-term effects this will have, instead of chasing after a quick buck!

Placer: ........

Cura: Now's not the time for us on the Surface to fight...

Placer: I don't wanna!

Cura: ...Huh?

Placer: I don't really get what you're saying, but it sounds like you're making fun of me, so I don't like it. I hate your guts. And Vida will win.

Cura: Are you for real..?

Placer: Plus I know you probably won't like if I say "no"...

Placer: We've always had to live in pain, so to make up for it...

Placer: I've decided to make things as hard for everyone else as I can.

Placer: Ahahahahahaha!

Cura: ...Heh. Looks like I hate your guts, too.

Placer: Enough chit-chat! Time to die!

[Thud]

Placer: ...For you, maybe!

[Boom]

Placer: Wha..!?

Placer: Wait, bombs!?

Cura: Hahahahaha! I have a tendency to worry, you see, so I always keep a few bombs where I sleep..!

[Boom]

Placer: Are you trying to die!? You're crazy!

Cura: What do you think..!?

Cura: Can a sane guy even survive on the Surface..!?

[Boom]

- - - -

Fuga: That's all of 'em, Libel!

Libel: Yeah, now let's go to Cura...

[Boom]

Arme: !?

Libel: Explosions..?

Fuga: Could it be, Cura!?

Arme: That building is on fire... D-do you think he's still alright!?

Fuga: D-did he blow himself up..? You've gotta be kidding me... Cura.. He can't be...

Libel: ...No, he's fine. Look.

Arme: Ah... There's someone standing in the flames...

Fuga: Cura!?

Cura: Ahahahaha! Now that hits the spot!

Fuga: You're a mess!

Arme: Still, I'm glad you're safe... Even amid all those explosions...

Cura: Oh, don't you worry. My gear is fireproof. That way, I can start blowing stuff up whenever.

Fuga: I had no idea...

Cura: Woohoo, bombs rule! Feels like all my stress just melted away.

Arme: ...I-is Cura actually the most dangerous one of you all..?

Libel: Of course not. Though people do say that he puts too much gunpowder in his bombs whenever he wants to let off steam.

Arme: T-that sounds very risky!

Fuga: Did you deal with the Kokujohyako guy?

Cura: Nope, I'm afraid he got away. Not before I put him in a world of hurt, though.

Cura: Those guys are no joke. Hahaha, maybe next time I'll get him where it counts!

Fuga: Dude, chill.

Libel: Oh, right...

Libel: Cura. About the thing we discussed earlier...

Cura: Huh? Uh, sure, why not? Do what you feel is best. You're the leader, anyhow.

Cura: Your right hand man's gonna take care of things! Hahahahaha!

Libel: ...Always make sure to ask Cura for something once his stress gauges are emptied out.

Fuga: Ugh... 

To be continued...

[12raben]

Uninstalling Inteen & Nerfing ACR

Edit 07/10/21: I’ve seen, that this post has been liked and reblogged a lot. (Thanks for that!) But I just want to point out, that I changed some parts of my “romance mod system”. The current one can be found here. The information here is still valid, just wanted to clear up, what is up to date. :)

Ok, while some of you might be interested, others might not. For all of you, who are not interested: Here, have a nice picture of the Cullroth’s home and the Sunflower Inn from neighborhood view:

For the ones, who want to know, how I set up the new mods, and are not afraid of a good ol’ wall of text you may continue here:

So, one of the main-reasons, why I wanted to uninstall Inteen, is the fact, that it conflicts with everything, everybody and their cat. I read a post by simgigglegirl, where she explained, how she edited ACR to work with Romantic Standards (a mod I wanted to use for ages), so that was a motivation as well. And forgive me, but I’m getting the creeps, when an elder is heart-farting over a teen, who just aged up (so in my mindset is barely 12 years old). I wanted to get rid of that “feature” as well. ACR is hilarious at times, because sims are horny af, but I wanted the sims of twinhills to be somewhat modest. Drama: Yes. Unneccessary, stupid drama: Meh, sometimes, but -please- not all of the time. Raising the needed STR/LTR for romantic interactions was my solution, so far, but it did not always work. The love-triangle between Moira, Madleine and Hesel is somewhat disturbing. Midgethetree uploaded a mod to add a chance for death by childbirth. And how in the name of someone holy can you play a historical game without that mod? It’s also incompatible with Inteen.

Don’t get me wrong. Inteen and ACR are a great set and I used it for many years and I am very grateful, that people put their time and effort into the mods, so people, who are hopeless, when it comes to mods like myself, can enjoy the new features. And it’s all FREE. Simbology’s Inteen and ACR are still enjoyable and if used carefully do not blow up your game. They enhance your experience and will add many handy features.

Still, I wanted to get rid of Inteen, and so I did. I tried to make my progress as clear as possible, but I don’t know, if I succeeded. At the end of the post will be a list of all mods with links.

First, I made a list of the features, that Inteen had provided so far and I need for my gameplay, which was honestly more time consuming, than I thought. I dug through forum entries and mod desriptions just to see, what's even possible and/or compatible. At the end of the day I came to the conclusion, that I need:

teens, who are handled as adults, so they can get married, give birth, take over responsibilities etc. sooner

Chance for miscarriage, which is sad, but a feature, I don't want to miss

Romantic relationships only between adults/elders and teens, who are old enough

autonomy in romantic relationships, but not as strong as ACR, mainly for reproduction

And that was it. I thought, Inteen is such a big thing, surely there is more of it, that I need.... No. XD

So, after getting an idea on how to make the new set-up working (more on that later), I read instructions on how to uninstall inteen. Surely the uninstall-instructions of Inteen are there, but there are a few tips, I found here (post #15). This is, what I gathered; Quick and dirty:

Make a backup. I feel, there is always the need to say that.

Terminate any teen-pregnancy in your game (luckily no need for that in Twinhills)

Delete the Inteen-files in your program files and in your downloads folder EXCEPT Inteenimater_C. It contains the miscarriage memory. Deleting it will cause corruption, when a sim already had a miscarriage. If you don’t want to keep the memory file, you’ll have to delete the memory and all of it’s traces with Simpe and I have no clue on how to do that.

Gather and Install new Mods :D

There is a whole ton of things, I feel like, I have to explain, so you’ll understand, why I made specific changes. Alright. Let’s follow my own list of features, I needed and how I incorporated them with the new mods:

Teens, who are handled as adults & Romantic Relationships between Adults/elders and teens, who aren’t too young That was easy and hard at the same time. I use Midgethetree’s Independent Teens. Teens become for all purposes adults, but they’ll still look like teens. Perfect. Excactly, what I wanted. The only problem with that: The span of independent teens only lasts 7 days in the original setup. I use Almighty Hat’s Aging mod, so my sims spend 24 days as teens. (In Almighty Hat’s calculation one year equals 4 days. Which make the lifespan of teens 6 years, from 14 years old till 20 years old) So, 7 days is really not long enough in my setup. Luckily Midgthetree included Bcons to edit the mod to my liking. My sims will spend 8 days as young, innocent teens, who do not woohoo and if they have romatic relationships, they’ll only have them with other teens their age. The rest of their teen years (16 days), they’ll spent as independent teens, who are for all intents and purposes adults. This also gets rid of the fact, that elders/adults hit on teens, who are way to young. Any sim, who wants a college education, will spent 8 day as a teen, 8 days as an independent teen and 8 days as a young adult, because I use Dave Luv’s Faster College Education Mod, which is very much compatible with Squinge’s Mega College Pack. Only problem, mortia mentioned, when I discussed diffrent alternatives to Inteen with her, is the fact, that independent teens do not go to school. I don’t have a school in Twinhills so far, so that is not a big deal. I think, when the time arrives and I do have a school and a college in Twinhills, I will eighter have independent teens employed in their future career or will make a student career, where they can earn skill points with chance cards. I also use Cyjon’s Edukashun Iz Gud, so the independent teen’s maximum level for any career is level 5, even if they had a A+ grade in high school. The third option (which is my favourite) is to have an actual college/school lot for independent teens, who aspire to have a college degree. The best I can think of right now, is eighter to have a few apartments, where sims rent only a room and can study in the common area or to have them live at home and set up a community lot as a school. Uuh, the community lot could be owned by a sim, who is also enrolled in the education career and his employees are professors. (Who I could add as another pool of marriageable sims... yeah, I really like that idea...) Maybe an idea for the set up of guilds? I have no idea on how to include them in my game so far, so maybe that would be a good start. Maybe it will be a mix of all of the above depending on the sim’s social status? But I digress... Sorry.

Chance for miscarriage That one was easier, than I thought. I installed Chris Hatch’s Alternate Pregnancy Controller. Yes, it also enables teens to become pregnant, even if they are not independent teens. But I myself will have to make my sims reproduce, if the parents are teens. And if I don’t, they won’t. I have full control over teen pregnancies except for teens, who run away or teens, who sneak out. Midgethetree extracted Risky sneak out and Risky Runaway, which matches my taste perfectly. Teens, who rebel and do not follow the rules, aka run away from home/sneak out without their parents permission, are more likely to have a child out of wedlock. *evil cackle* Excellent.

Autonomous reproduction Frankly, when you read through simler90′s complete mod description for romantic standards, it’s so engaging and interesting, I wonder, why this mod doesn’t have more likes. (145 updates?! Come on, even if you don’t like the mod, that is impressive.) I encourage you to read the whole description, because honestly: It made me really excited! The progression of romances in the game are much slower and sims need a little time to warm up before they’ll consider to woohoo. They’ll value their existing relationships and depending on the version you get, it can be based on chemistry. You can add or remove autonomy add ons or get rid of them. It’s highly adjustable. I like this setup much, much more than ACR’s “I just met you and this is crazy, but there’s a hottub, so woohoo maybe?” (Simler90 has also a mod to overhaul the attraction system, you should check out.) Still, I can’t deny the allure of surprise pregnancy, that comes with ACR. Luckily as mentioned above simgigglegirl had the idea to use romantic standards and ACR side by side. She also uploaded the updated ACR-controller, which I think, is really kind. The problem, I ran into, was again the age span. ACR only considers the ingame age, so pretty much all adults in my game are too old to get pregnant this way. But glorious as she is, Almighty Hat included an edited version of the ACR controller to work with her age mod. Simgigglegirl asked Midgthetree for help and I follwed the instructions to edit Almighty Hat’s version of ACR. And lo and behold! It worked out for me! ACR is not uninstalled from my game, but the only option available for sims is reproduction. So, deprived romance sims can still woohoo all the way with strangers like before and knock up/be knocked up, but every other romantic encounter will take time and effort for them. Also, jealousy is handled so much better by romantic standards. The sim will always take into consideration, how serious the relationship has been before they explode and slap the cheater.

Phew. That took some time. As promised here is a list of the mods I use for the intermingling of sims (and the ones I mentioned, but not linked above).

ACR, with an edit by simgigglegirl (follow midgthetree’s instructions on how to edit ACR yourself, if you use a diffrent version of ACR)

Romantic Standards by Simler90 (+all add ons)

New Turn Ons - Young Adult + Education + Aliens + Influential + Travel + Great Dancer + Pet Lover + Great Fighter + Eye Colours + Rich + Poor by SImler90 (You can pick and choose, which version you like the most.)

Age Transition Teens keep loves from Simblogy

Chrishatch Alternate Pregnancy Controller

Independent Teens by Midgethetree

Risky Honeymoon, Runaway, Sneak Out by Midgthetree

Death by Childbirth by MidgetheTree (slightly altered the Bcon, so sims who are younger are also affected, but the chance is significantly lowered, so sims, who give birth in later stages won’t die no matter what)

PregRel by Chris Hatch - look for “pregnancy relationship change“ Original Instuctions: “ For when a sim's pregnancy first shows and those around her realize she's pregnant. If she is a teen living at home (with at least one biological parent) her parents will become furious with her and lose a lot of LTR and STR toward her. Just how furious and how much of a relationship drop depends on her school grades. Parents of A+ students will get a lot more upset than those whose daughter wasn't doing so well at school. If she's married, engaged or going steady and the baby is not from her spouse, fiancé or boyfriend and he figures that out then he will also get mad at her and lose a lot of LTR and STR. If they've never had a woohoo he'll know the baby can't be his, otherwise he needs a logic skill of 300 (out of 1000 or 3 bars) or more to realize. If he has a logic skill of 750 or more he'll also figure out who the real father is and get mad with him as well. There is also a small LTR and STR increase from the baby's father to the mother when he realizes that she's carrying his child. That is unconditional and applies regardless of if they are married or he was just a fling.” If only it would affect reputation as well *sigh*)

NoBiGenderPreferenceDecrease by DeeDee

ACR Asexual Plugin by Midgethetree (For nuns and monks, who should not woohoo)

It's the Proportion -Gestation-Based Age Duration Mod by Almighty Hat

Edukashun Iz Gud by Cyjon

Faster College Education by Dave Luv

Mega College Pack by Squinge

And that’s it. I hope you’ll find this information useful! Please consider install instructions and load order.

Happy simming! :D

[periodictablesimschallenge]

Wow it’s been a while! I went camping last weekend and then I was trying to be responsible yesterday and I just haven’t gotten around to posting again, and when I’ve gotten on tumblr in the last 2 days I get sucked in just reblogging a bunch of stuff or I just start playing and the screenshots pile up 😬😬😬

Anyways here is party 2 of my Periodic Table 100 baby challenge

We met this hottie, Chaz, at the city community area (I always forget what it’s called)

We also met this hunk of burning love, Pacific. So she decided to tackle them both for baby #1

He likes her pretty quickly, started showing off his muscles

Harvest fest was pretty soon after starting this so she went out and made a bunch of friends and invited them over. She made a nice Turkey dinner and then the PREGNANT caterer came over and she went into labor while here and kept going out to the garbage bins to breath 😂 then she chilled in my bed before making more harvest fest food. I also just won the lottery before this so I gave her some simoleons for catering and for a baby gift. We ended the night singing about harvest fest outside and said goodnight

Spice festival was fun but everyone she tried talking to her blogs she either was ignored or she was being rejected by them 😓

Chaz: come get your fresh spicy curry!

Hydee: it’s so good to see you! You wanna come back to my place later 😉

Chaz: Uh… no. I gotta go I’m working

Hydee: …… ok…..

Hydee: *tells interesting story about the spice festival*

Pacific: *while ignoring Hydee* So Mirabelle, there’s a spice festival going on across the street, should we go?

Mirabelle: er… yeah, sounds great, c’mon Hydee

Hydee: 🙄 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤷🏻‍♀️ *internally* I better get laid tonight

(She did not)

After the craze of harvest fest we took down the decorations and got some sleep before our first day at work. Made some nice breakfast before work and had a pretty good day

Hydee: say ah!

Patient: Aaaah

She went to hang out with Chaz at the chalet garden house in windenburg (his choice not mine) and a random townie froze to death

I may or may not have killed him to get him to stop talking to us… I regretted it instantly but then got to flirt with the Grimm reaper instead (she kissed his corpse looking hands and I nearly barfed lol)

Then Chaz got to his senses and we kissed and made up

Another day another dollar! After work we got a promotion and invited pacific over for dinner and got some action, later I found out he’s married but in 100 baby challenge who cares lol

Also I think some jerky setting in mccc is on because she gains skill levels wicked fast 😬 she went from level 6 cooking to level 10 after 3 or 4 meals 🤷🏻‍♀️

We went to a strip club!!! I downloaded one from the gallery when I was working on making a better save file. Anyways we went with Chaz and woohooed in one of the beds there and then after that she went to go to the bathroom and ran into Pacific!! So she woohooed with him as well (apparently risky woohoo isn’t a thing cuz I was trying to do it by chance but that didn’t work…)

Pacific ended up being one of my patients so I took his temperature, took him to x Ray, then swabbed his mouth 😏😉

Then we invited both Chaz and pacific to our house which was a mistake because Pacific kissed me in front of Chaz and he was hard for offended. It took a bit to get him to try for baby with me after we did that with pacific and then on top of that, I got abducted and I have an mccc setting that makes the chance for females to get pregnant higher

It’s official we are pregnant who could the baby daddy be? Pacific? Chaz? Or an Alien 👽 😬😬😬 this is fine.

Thanks for coming to the really long update 😅

[snlts3ccfinds]

Sims 3: Celebrity Gold Digger Challenge

Hello! This challenge is based on the TS4 Celebrity Gold Digger Challenge by @englishsimmercc ! I have adapted it to The Sims 3 for those who still like this older version of the sims. 

Not only is this based off of her version, but I aim to incorporate some stuff from the TS3 Black Widow Challenge as well!

Goals of the challenge

Marry 10 celebrity sims

Kill them off each time and take their money

Complete your sim’s lifetime wish (Gold Digger and Heartbreaker are usual go tos. You could also try Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous or Master Romancer if you want to have it more celebrity/drama oriented)

Become a 5 star celebrity by the end of killing the 10th and final spouse

Reach level 10 in cooking and charisma. 

Optional: If you have the woohooer mod and wish to take on a little more of a challenge, reach level 10 in Kama Simtra

Setting up

Make a young adult (male or female, your choice) and give them the two following traits: charismatic and flirty. 

IF YOU HAVE CHOSEN FEMALE: Make her have the cooking trait as well, as to be the “perfect housewife” for the challenge. 

Lifespan length is your choice, but no messing with the default days given in that lifespan.

Rules

No money cheats at all! Your sim may have a part-time job and may want to pick up a skill that makes them money, like painting or playing an instrument to earn some extra money. You must also quit the part-time job once married to the first victim. Your sim is not allowed to have a job after this. 

The lifetime happiness purchase of “Inheritance” is also not allowed in this challenge. 

You may, however, sell collectibles, write books, paint, perform for tips, etc.

Meet a celebrity sim and build up your relationship with them until you’re able to marry them. 

Once married, you must throw a dinner party. This can be the holiday feast party or a simple house party. 

If choosing to include the extra level 10 skill challenge of Kama Simtra, you are only allowed to risky woohoo or try for baby with those your sim is romantically involved with. No regular woohoo allowed. 

Each child successfully raised to adult earns you a point

Find a new celebrity while married and start flirting with them (up to you if you want your spouse to catch you or not). 

Kill off your current spouse in whatever way you desire. Murder mods like Dexter the Bear or mod interactions to kill are allowed. 

Spouses must die naturally. This means no making walls around a pool or fencing them in. The deaths need to seem natural or accidental (electrocution, fire, etc)

Your sim is allowed to consume ambrosia/youth potion to age down/extend life. CAS cheats for aging down are not allowed. 

Tombstones must be kept on the property. 

Continue this process until you have killed off 10 sims. 

For those who like scoring (based off of Black Widow scoring)

Scores: Add

+50 for every affair you successfully end in death.

+30 for every different color ghost that appears

+30 for each kid that has a different parent (dad if BW is female, mother is BW is male)

NOTE: If twins/triplets, you only get 30 points, they count as one

+30 for each kid who makes it to Young Adult

+30 If caught cheating

+50 for each partner that died after completing BW’s LTW.

+50 if partner died after completing their LTW.

+100 points for achieving more than 15 graves.

+10 points per grave.

+5 points per grave of non-spouses

+10 points per portrait of spouses

Scores: Subtract

-40 for every partner that dies via expiration/old age.

-30 for every kid taken away by the Social worker.

-5 for fire, burglary, gnome stolen or slapped by neighbors for spying.

-50 If your Black Widow’s LTW was not reached by the time of their demise

-20 for each woohoo rejected

-30 for each moving in rejected

I will be trying this challenge myself on my channel FrozenSimming Productions. Hope you guys like this!

[ts4moo-blog]

It starts with Renee Fonesca

Actually it starts with me buying Sims 4 after a demo. I already had the Sims 3 and I really wanted to see how the newer one was coming along, especially after watching CallMeKevin play with his character, The Dear Leader  Jim Pickens. I made my first family pretty normal. Wanted to get a feel for the game. I quickly grew tired of them and decided to try the 100 Baby Challenge. So I created the beautiful and outgoing Sim you see here in my profile picture. Her name is Renee Fonesca.

And she is a ho.  I didn’t plan on making her THIS bad. But she’s based off a lot of thots I’ve known in the past, and I unintentionally molded her to be like this. I loaded up the game one day and realized I had made a monster. So, about Renee. She’s flirty, fun and sweet...but will sleep with anything with a dick and doesn’t care who she hurts in order to get on that said dick. She has three boyfriends and a husband right now, and none of them know the others exist. She ruined Mortimer Goth’s relationship so she could have a nice house and money, but when she finally moved in realized he really didn’t have that much. She goes out and Woohoos with her first boyfriend, Johnny Zest while Mortimer is either at work or sleeping. Usually she Woohoos Mortimer, then leaves to Woohoo Zest, and then occaisonally visits her other boyfriends and Woohoos with them too. If she’s visiting a boyfriend, it’s typically for a booty call. Otherwise she ignores them. While Renee is a sweet and friendly person, she’s also prone to being a mischief maker. She’s deceptive, manipulative and cunning. I modded my game so I could marry Mortimer and keep the men on the side. I also gave my game the mod of Risky Woohoo courtesy of PolarBearSims. I set it to 10% because 5% wasn’t enough.  I’ve been playing with Renee for quite a while now and just decided to write about her. I finally got her pregnant today but I’m not sure who the father is lol! She Woohoo’d with Johnny 3 times and Mortimer twice within a period of 5 hours, so...I guess we’ll see when she gives birth. I’m not thinking of continuing the 100 Baby Challenge, simply because the rules are absolutely garbage and arbitrary in my opinion, but also because I realize I just want my Renee to follow in the footsteps of her biggest idol, Jim Pickens.  If you can’t beat them, move in with them, take their money and enslave them in the basement. 

[dramallamadingdang]

Wee-plies.

Or, not-so-wee-plies, as the case may be, because, you know, me. *eye roll*

First of all, thank you to those who wished me a happy birthday in comments as well as to @kairisu and some anons in my ask box! It was a quiet day -- we’re celebrating both our birthdays this year with a cruise in August -- but it was a nice day, so we took the horses out riding in the morning. Then I got the usual phone call from my bro with the usual razzing about being older than him again. (We’re only 10 months apart in age, so for about seven weeks out of the year, we’re the same age.) I talked to all three offspring I birthed and to their SOs/kids, too, where applicable, so it was nice. :) Oh, and I yakked with my mother-in-law for an hour, but we do that quite often, anyway. She’s only a few years older than me -- the perils of having a younger husband. ;) -- so she’s more a buddy than a mother-in-law. :) (She called to tell me she’s sending me birthday tamales, yum!)

BUT ANYWAY! These are for @katatty, @didilysims, @alawren4ever, @catnip-sims, @deedledops, @criquette-was-here, @penig, @tamtam-go92, and @immerso-sims...

katatty-main replied to your photo “iCad Does Urban Planning. AKA: iCad Is Nuts.  Buuuuuut, on the plus...”

oh, i love seeing this sort of thing! always gives me a ton of inspiration :)

Yeah, me, too. So, that’s pretty much why I shared the image, to maybe give other people some ideas AND in the hopes that they’ll share those idea in turn. I kinda love how Simmers feed off of each other that way. :)

didilysims replied to your photoset “This morning, because my hand needed a break from painting hair...”

Ugh that stupid disappearing Maxis bridge. I thought your monorail bridge looked kind of cool, honestly. :)

The monorail bridge is growing on me. It works best on that particular suspension bridge, though, because then the train doesn’t smash through the girders. :) Can’t really say the same for the others, but we just ignore that on the other side of town. *cough* In any case, though, it IS better than the endless monotrail track magically hovering over water, so there’s that. :)

That being said, I HAVE crossed bridges that were shared by road and train traffic where the train tracks ran above or, more often, to the side of the road-deck. Which probably isn’t often the case since trains and vehicles don’t often share road/track beds like that and most often railroad bridges were built before large, modern bridges for automobiles, but it’s not TOTALLY unrealistic. 

And yeah, I totally hate the stupid Maxis bridge. One, it doesn’t always fit in with the look I want for a neighborhood. It’s often too modern or not-modern/urban enough. Two, it isn’t visible from lots, which often looks stupid. Three, you can’t get rid of the damn thing other than by “sinking” it below the terrain in SimPE. And then four, after you sink it, you still can’t modify the terrain around where it was, so it might not be suitable for a replacement deco-bridge and....ARRRGH! Hate it hate it hate it.

didilysims replied to your post “Why do I keep doing this to myself?”

The curse of this open game!

IKNOWRITE??? It’s hell playing this game. HELL, I TELL YOU! :)

alawren4ever replied to your photoset “So yesterday, I posted about this fire hydrant object that randomly...”

Very cool that you can control the level of traffic by the number of hydrants!

It IS cool. And I didn’t find out that it can work that way until I accidentally had more than one on a lot when I was trying to figure out why the remeshed one I made was invisible. SERENDIPITY! :D

But it makes sense, I guess, because the “calls” it puts out to summon a vehicle seem to be randomly timed, not at regular intervals. So, if you get a bunch of them on a lot, each putting out calls at random times, rather than all at the same time in the same time intervals, it makes sense that the traffic level would increase with the number of objects on the lot. I shoulda thought of that sooner, really.

didilysims replied to your post “Info and testing things RE: the number of visitors that show up at...”

Ooh I've never see that mod to up the lot visitors before. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing!

It works pretty well, although it does have its pitfalls. The obvious one is that you might have to experiment a bit to see what “level” your machine can handle without the game lagging on you. The other is if you play community lots of widely variable size. Like, if you put in the mod that ups the visitors to, say, 25, that’ll be fine on a big community lot if your machine can handle it, but not so fine if you have any that have a “1″ in the size dimensions, where you’ll end up with an overcrowded lot full of stomping, complaining Sims who can’t move. :) 

I kinda wish there was a customer/visitor-number adjuster that could be used on ALL lots, not just owned ones........Although maybe that object can be used on regular community lots. OOOOH EXPERIMENT FOR SCIENCE!

catnip-sims replied to your photoset “This morning, because my hand needed a break from painting hair...”

I like parking filler lots too! I recently came up with a 1x3 lot with just a bunch of bushes along the street & a big "YOUR AD HERE" banner, lol. It looks nice from the neighborhood view :D

THAT IS A GREAT IDEA I THINK I WILL STEAL IT THANK YOU! :) Except now I need to make banners. *growl* And maybe billboards, hmmm....

deedledops replied to your post “Why do I keep doing this to myself?”

This, but a whole neighborhood tailored to each specific thing with a special downloads folder I can switch out for each theme. But I know if I did it I'd want all the Sims to know each other next

Yeah, “ whole neighborhood tailored to each specific thing with a special downloads folder“ is kind of how I play in general. :) Only I use separate user accounts on my computer, each with its own Documents/Sims 2 folder tailored specifically for it because I don’t trust myself to put in the right folder before I load up the neighborhood I want to play. (Did that once with the wrong neighborhood deco loaded, and POOF! All the painstakingly-placed neighborhood deco in that neighborhood was gone. NEVER AGAIN!

But yeah, how I play is pretty much this: Step 1: Come up with idea/theme. Usually, this happens like a bolt out of the blue, things just blooming fully-formed in my head, just like how story ideas happened to me back in my fanfic-writing days, so it must be how my brain works. Whatever the case, it’s very jarring. Step 2: Create an unnecessarily complex rule set for playing out the idea/theme. Step 3: Create a complex spreadsheet to use to keep track of the neighborhood. Step 4: Build a neighborhood around the idea/theme.  Step 5: Play the neighborhood. 

Currently, I have some neighborhoods that are at each step of the above process. :) Often, steps 2 and 3 happen concurrently, and sometimes steps 4 and 5 happen at the same time, all BACC-like. But not always!

criquette-was-here replied to your post “Why do I keep doing this to myself?”

@dramallamadingdang ***laughs for a second and then cries thinking of road and terrain DR project*** I feel your pain,lol! @immerso-sims you actually can (I'm on mac) ***cries even harder***

*laugh* Yeah, this is probably a pain that all serious simmers feel at least once in a while. For some of us, though, it’s more like a constant thing. Chronic pain. *sigh* :) So then you’ve got all these ideas but not the time or stamina to work on/finish them all.

penig replied to your post “Why do I keep doing this to myself?”

Alternate between play and projects. You'll get Better Ideas as you play anyhow. Also, projects are play if you choose to do them.

Yeah, that’s pretty much how I do things, in general. It’s just that sometimes my brain/imagination is particularly fertile, and I get lots of big ideas that require big projects all at once, and it all gets a little overwhelming sometimes. It’d be nice if the brain kind of spread out the big ideas a little more....

tamtam-go92 replied to your photo “Let’s call this a “Cool CC That I Think Everyone Ought to Have” Post....”

THIS is just amazing!!! #things you didn't know you need until you see them

Right? I was surprised (but also kind of not-surprised, because it is a really old object) that more people didn’t know about that thing. I only learned about it a while back because of a stray post in the MTS forums that mentioned it, and fortunately that was at a time when the Graveyard was working reliably. I don’t often bother using it in less-densely-populated neighborhoods, but it does add a nice touch when playing downtowns.

immerso-sims replied to your photoset “I needed a bit of a break from hair retexturing and alpha-painting and...”

Looks great and I really like the idea. Looking forward to following the challenge :)

I’m not sure I’m going to document it, unfortunately. When I first play one of these ideas I get in my head, I like to see if it’ll actually work the way I think it’s going to, first. So, the initial playing is more like a dry run, where I’m still experimenting and coming up with new ideas and tweaking the rules and such. I have played the first batch of “runaways” through three seasons, and three of them have “escaped” from the vacant lot into better housing, one of them skipping the “livin’ in the slums” stage entirely because she married someone who came with a ton of skill points, whose LTW career came up in the newspaper right away, and who got a bunch of job promotions one right after the other. I haven’t decided yet if it was all too easy! *laugh* I should probably take out the “no friends needed for promotions” mod when playing this, now that I think about it. And maybe I shouldn’t even allow marriage when they’re still homeless -- because who wants to marry into that?! -- but she got “risky woohoo” pregnant on a date, and.... Well, anyway, I plan to play these initial four for a while, and once I have them all established so that I know everything works, I’m going to add a new group of “runaways” for a less-dry run, and perhaps I’ll document them. 

Anyway, I might post some highlight pics from this first batch of runaways, and maybe I’ll write up the rules once I know they work. I mean, you don’t HAVE to build an elaborate downtown to play this way or anything. It can be just a mini-challenge that you play within something else...although longer lifespans kinda help with this, at least with the rules I’m using. Anyway, the downtown’s just something I’m doing because I want to, and it seems to go along well with this rule set idea.

[simalienn]

~AFTER THE STORM CHALLENGE~

So, I’ve decided to begin ANOTHER challenge. I’m not quite ready to accept that Pixel is gone from my shameless legacy, so I’m avoiding opening that save to play on without him..  In the meantime I’m going to be playing the “After The Storm Challenge” A challenge that I wrote as an adaption of the ‘SETTLERS CHALLENGE’ All credit goes to the original creator, I’ve kept A LOT of the original content, and have really just re-written their challenge to suit my own play style/needs...  So, If you’re keen to play along with the rules I’m following, I’ll post my rewrite of the challenge under the cut....   Annnyway, Introducing....

Norah & Az Tribble.

Norah Tribble: (Primary Founder) Aspiration: Outdoors enthusiast  Traits: Dog lover, Hot Headed, Family oriented.  Az Tribble Aspiration: Angling Ace  Traits: Loves the outdoors, Evil, Self assured Also, I can’t be bothered with a banner for this challenge just yet.. I may or may not create one down the track.

After The Storm Challenge.

After your founders village was wiped out by a catastrophic storm and the very few who survived all fled to take refuge in other villages, it was left up to  your founder to stay behind alone and begin to rebuild the community to what it had once been. 

Aim: Pick any sims 4 world,(except San Myshuno) bulldoze everything and start rebuilding from scratch.  

Rules -

- Pick a small lot to build a starter house for your founder - Money cheat can be used, but the house must be under 45,000 simoleons. Once you have your house built, set family funds to $0. 

-Your founder must be a Young Adult.- Life span must be set to normal.

- You may not travel to other worlds - (Unless traveling to complete a task for your heir’s aspiration- they must go alone - or going on Vacation to Granite Falls -family may join)

- Heir must be a child of the previous heir - The method you use to select your heirs is entirely up to you. 

- All children (other than the next heir) must move out when they age up to YA - Only the heirs spouse may be moved into the family and must not bring any funds with them. - Traits and Aspirations for new family members are always randomized using a trait generator. - When adding a new family to your village use a die or number generator set 1-6 to decide how many sims will be in that family. (If you roll 5 or 6, it MUST be a 2 parent household, if you roll 4 or under, it’s up to you weather you create a 2 parents, or a single parent household.)

-Story progression allowed if you have MCCC..

-You can either build your own lots, or download them from the Gallery. You may even choose to save the original premade game lots to your library before you bulldoze them and add them back as you unlock them. - Completely up to you how you do it.

-Each Heir must complete their aspiration before moving onto the next heir.   -Each heir can only unlock up to 2 community lots in their lifetime.

- You may begin the challenge with a ‘founder couple’ rather than a single founder if you prefer, but you must select one as your primary founder.

-(Optional) Only the founder/Heir can be played, all other sims in the family are to be left on free will. If you include this rule, you can also have a ‘helper’ if you choose (One other sim in the family who is allowed to perform 5 interactions a day to help out ie. Water plants, feed the baby… etc.)    There is also an exception for this rule during the school restriction part of the challenge, where you’ll need to control your child/teen sims in order to have them complete the homeschool rules. (explained in restrictions section)

Restrictions -

School - Children cannot go to school until you have at least 8 children/toddlers living in your village (only 2 children from your own family can count within the 8)  Until then they are ‘homeschooled’ each child is to complete homework (including extra credit if it’s an option) & earn at least one skill point each day - The skill point can be any skill you choose.

Hospital   -Hospital births are not allowed and woohooing could always lead to pregnancy, Either set risky woohoo to 20% or if you don’t have MCCC use a die (or number generator set 1-6), rolling a 1 = ‘Try for a Baby’ and  2,3,4,5 or 6 = ‘Woohoo With’  You may also ‘try for baby’ any time you like if your aim is to have a child…

Electricity - No Item that requires electricity is allowed until you have 2 community lots and 12 sims (your sims included) in your village, also ONE sim in your household must have level 4 handiness.

*Exceptions to this rule being Lights, Fridge and Stove, Although if you want to make it more difficult, apply this rule to everything.

Careers - Your founders/Heirs cannot have a ‘normal’ job as there are no companies or infrastructure in your village. To earn Money they can sell items they find, create or grow… (ie. Painting, Fishing, collecting, harvesting.)  To unlock career’s there must be at least 2 community lots, 15 sims in your village and your sim must have at least level 4 of any skill related to the career they wish to join. eg. Writing skill for writing career, cooking to be a chef etc.  (this is only required for one skill if multiple skills apply to a career)

Lots  -  

It depends on what world you choose to rebuild how many of each lot type will be required, (I’m doing Newcrest) the world you choose will also determine how long/how many generations your challenge will be (world with more lots will take longer)

Newcrest - 6 Community Lots & 9 Residential Lots

Willow Creek - 7 Community Lots & 14 Residential Lots

Oasis Springs - 9 Community Lots & 12 Residential Lots

Windenburg - 13 community Lots & 14 Residential Lots

Brindelton Bay - 6 community Lots & 10 Residential Lots

*Note: Your founders lot counts as one of your residential lots.

- Add lots by going to manage world, clicking on the lot you wish to build on then click build mode.

Requirements for adding Residential Lots -

- Be Charismatic: For each sim in the family who achieves level 6 charisma a new household can be added.

-  Throw Parties: Achieve a gold medal party to add another household/house. This can only be done once for each party type and only housed sims from within your village may be invited to these parties - no homeless sims, or sims visiting from other villages/worlds.

- Improved infrastructure: For each community lot built, a household/house can be added.

Requirements for Adding Community Lots -

It’s up to you as to which of these lots you add and in which order you add them….You just have to stick to the number required of each lot type for each world as mentioned above. -preferably only one of each community lot type per world, although some of the larger worlds may need more than one of some eg. If you’re rebuilding windenburg you may want 2 bars or parks etc.) 

Also, a few of the lots listed require game/expansion packs, so you’ll need to pick and choose your lots  depending on what packs you own.  

-Bar. Heir must have level 6 mixology skill & own 2 full grown (and alive) cow plants.

-Night club. Heir must have 6 friends outside of the family & Level 3 on any instrument -Library.  Heir must have Level 6 of writing skill and published one excellent book with the publisher - Church/Wedding Venue.  Heir must have level 6 Charisma skill & found a soulmate.

-Park. Heir must have Level 6 in gardening skill & have grown 3 excellent plants -Museum.  Heir must have level 6 Logic skill & carve 3 sculptures on the woodwork table.

-Art Gallery. Heir must have Level 6 Painting skill & painted 2 master pieces -Cafe/bakery. Heir must have level 6 homestyle cooking skill & go on 2 gold level dates.

- Restaurant. Heir must have Level 6 gourmet cooking skill & held a gold level dinner party 

-Gym.  Have level 6 fitness & Join the fitness career. - Vet Clinic. Heir must have level 6 pet training skill & max level friendship with a pet. 

- Bowling Alley. Heir must have level 6 comedy skill & joke about fashion with 4 different sims. - Spa. Heir must have level 6 in wellness skill & own a massage table - Ruins. (windenburg) Heir must have level 6 mischief & Befriend a ghost

Each community lot can also be bought for $6000 simoleons if you’re not able to/don’t want to do the required tasks to unlock them. To do this you need to have the money in your family funds BEFORE you begin building, you then subtract that money from the funds using the money cheat to pay for it. 

[financiallymint]

Simple Steps to Start Investing (UK)

I had the honour of interviewing Michael from FoxyMonkey on the subject of investing for university students in the UK. I wanted to talk to someone who had experience and who could give actionable advice to students, so I hammered him with questions and overall got a good step by step guide for beginner and broke students to get started with investing. Pretty cool.

Related: WTF is Investing?

Michael comes from Greece and went to study at Edinburgh University (my city’s uni yay) and is now in London working in Computer Science. His blog, FoxyMonkey, is mostly a hobby where he writes about investing and matched betting as a side hustle. Overall, a very nice guy with some interesting thoughts on Financial Independence and how to take control of your money.

The recording didn’t really work out (next time it will be in podcast form), so I simply wrote out the biggest takeaways from the interview and presented it into actionable steps to start investing NOW.

Related: Start Investing in the US

1. Start educating yourself

If you’ve read other articles on this blog, you’ll see the large reiteration. Education is key to getting started. This can be done through books, blogs and courses. Take action, be proactive and start learning about money. If schools won’t help us, then we must help ourselves.

Books mentioned:

The Richest Man In Babylon

Rich Dad Poor Dad

The Four Pillars of Investing

The Millionaire Fastlane

Smarter Investing

Blogs:

Mr Money Mustache

The Escape Artist

Pragmatic Capitalism

Monevator

2. Live the right lifestyle

This means implementing the right money habits and being conscious about your spending. Michael puts it perfectly: Spend less than you earn and invest the surplus. Start with doing a budget and implementing good money habits.

[caption id="attachment_1340" align="aligncenter" width="478"]

budgeting doesn't have to suck[/caption]

3. Choosing what to invest in

Once your money is sorted it out, it’s time to actually get started. Michael recommends using passive/robo platforms because of low fees and simplicity. This means: index funds. If you decide to go stock picking (buying 50 shares of Apple, for example) you’ll be competing against experts and people who know way more than you. With index funds, you’re with everyone else. It might be boring, but it keeps the fees low.

What is a robo platform? These are platforms that invest your money into the entire market through a robot. No one is managing your money, just a computer that makes sure you have the right percentage of stocks and bonds. It’s not risky and gives better returns than mutual funds. Learn more about them here.

4. Sign up to a platform

In the UK, you will be investing through a Stocks and Shares ISA. You can invest up to £20,000 in one year absolutely tax free.

Go to moneysupermarket.com and compare the different Stocks and Shares ISA

Choose the one that bests suits you: low fees, low trading fees, etc.

Percentage based fees may be cheaper if you’re not going to invest a lot. A fixed amount is better for larger sums.

What’s your risk appetite? Robo advisors will ask you whether you’re an ‘adventurous’ investor or more of a ‘conservative’ investor. From this the computer determines the percentage of stocks vs bonds in your portfolio.

Hargreaves Lansdown: one of the best but expensive

Halifax: what Michael uses, but minimum entry is £500

MoneyFarm: What I’m using, minimum is £1

All you need is a photo of your passport and proof of address (bank statement, for example). Verify your account and you’re set to go!

[caption id="attachment_1341" align="aligncenter" width="515"]

this is how it looks like on my side[/caption]

5. How much to invest?

Michael says the most important is to get started. No matter if it’s £10 or £100, getting started will get the ball rolling and make time. After that, keep it consistent. How much could you put away each month? Even if it’s just £10, make sure you stick to it.

Pay yourself first: Set a percentage of your income every month to put away for investing. The minute you receive your monthly income, whether from a paycheck, parents or a loan, try to put at least 15% of it into your ISA. You’ll thank yourself 10 years later when your capital has increased by 7% every year.

You’ve now planted your own money tree. Pretty fantastic I'd say.

Keep your emotions in check. Don’t start removing money the minute you hear bad news about the market. Train your emotional and financial intelligence to learn how to manage external factors and people’s advice. Be the one in control, the one who knows what’s happening.

6. Keep working on your finances

You’re now an investor. Woohoo! Not many college students can say they're investing in the stock market, so kudos to you. But you can’t stop now! This is just the beginning. Keep reading books and blogs, and educating yourself about money. Work hard to stay out of debt, earn more income, decrease expenses and invest more. What you invest now, will save you later.

What’s great about investing is that not only can you now tell people ‘yep, I’m an investor’, but you'll start getting excited about other parts of your financial life. The financial world may seem complicated and full of strange words like ‘equity’ and ‘venture capitalism’, but really it’s just used to confuse people. People are scared of finances because they don’t understand them. You don’t want to be one of those people, so make it a mission to understand your finances. Do this by practice:

How about starting a side hustle? Or making a debt repayment plan? Or doing a Money Experiment? You’ve taken a huge step to taking control of your money. Now’s not the time to stop.

We talked with Michael about the concept of Financial Independence and how being financially free is all about happiness and being able to do what you want and enjoy in life. If you work hard at improving your finances now, you’ll be able to manage them forever. And taking control of your money means making work optional, means not worrying about your financial situation, means actually enjoying your money. Imagine yourself in that position for a second… why say no to that?