The Legacy Challenge for TS3

[Pinstar]

For anyone who may be interested.

Legacy Challenge

The Legacy Challenge is a long, 10-generation challenge where you start out with a single founder and very humble beginnings and try to lead the family to fame, fortune and success over the course of 10 generations.

Starting out
Create a brand new game file. You will be using this file exclusively to play your Legacy Challenge. You may use an existing game file, but your Legacy family must immediately become the "Active Household" and not cease to be active for the duration of the challenge. You may select any neighborhood.

The challenge begins with a single founder. Make this founder in Create A Sim. They may be male or female. They may be any age that can have children (YA, Adult and Elder for males, YA and Adult for females). You have full choice over their look, color and clothing. Custom content may be used if you like, including create-a-style custom patterns and colors.  You may choose all 5 traits as well as their three favorite likes (food, music and color) and a lifetime want. No other sims may be created in the founder's family. Be creative with the family name, you'll be seeing it for quite some time.

Now to place the founder. While you are free to choose either standard town, there is a very specific lot that must be used. If you move into Riverview, you must move into "345 Riverblossom Hills Drive". If you move into Sunset Valley, you will be moving into "15 Summer Hill Court". The common thread between these lots is that they are large, empty and cost $14,700. Yes I know that leaves you with only $1,300 in cash to build a house, that's the point. All legacies start out with very humble beginnings and expect your founder to live like a hobo for awhile. If additional neighborhoods are made available with mods or EPs, or we gain the ability to plop our own lots down, they may be used, as long as the lot in question is completely empty and costs at least $14,700.


Rules:
No cheating. Plain and simple, no money or mood cheats. You may use custom objects, as long as their price and mood effects are in line with similar ‘official' objects. Objects purchased from the Sim Store are considered 'offical' as well as the ones included with the game.
Aging and story progression must be on and lifespans set to the normal level.
You are allowed to play with any Mod that does not give you a signifigant advantage over a player without the mod. The only specific mod I know of at the moment, Awesome Mod, is allowed.
The Legacy family must be the "Active Household" during the entire challenge. You may never switch the active household to another family. If you want to take a break from Legacy play, it is recommended  you play in another saved game slot. 
No Ambrosia! Your sims may learn the recipe for Ambrosia, but may not cook or consume the dish. Nor may ambrosia be used to ressurect ghosts.
You may not ressurect dead sims via the Science lab.

Black Market Restriction:
The used goods market is being monitored by the local police. As a result, it is next to impossible to pawn stolen goods for cash.
Items obtained "Illegally" may not be sold for cash. They may be placed on the family lot and used by the family or kept in inventory, just not sold.
An "Illegally obtained" item is the following:
Any item stolen by a Kleptomaniac
Any item salvaged from another sim's trash can
Any item obtained automatically while a sim is in the criminal career track.




Moving Sims in:
Any sim may be moved into the Legacy Family via marriage or move-in except for the following:
Sims created by the player
Sims/households downloaded and imported from the exchange
Sims that had previously lived in the Legacy household but had since moved out
Sims that are identified by your sim as "Rich'

All other sims are fair game. You are allowed to create/download/import sims and families into your Legacy neighborhood, they just cannot join the family.
No sims/families may ever be merged into the Legacy family. If you wish to add members, they must be done in game.



Challenge concepts
Generation: Order of birth in relation to the family at large. Your founder is generation 1, your founder's son/daughter would be generation 2, the grandchildren of the founder would be generation 3 and so on. The challenge ends the moment generation 10 is born.
Founder: The sim you create in CAS who starts the family.
Heir: The sim belonging to the family bloodline who is slated to bring in the next generation once he/she is old enough and finds a mate.
Spare: A sibling of an heir, who can become an heir should anything happen to the current heir. Spares may be fed to the time stream or kept on the lot if you wish. They are eligible to earn legacy points for the family.
Fed to the time stream: Moving a controllable sim out of the legacy house. A sim fed to the time stream no longer can generate legacy points for the family, but still may be interacted with. Legacy points that have already been earned by this sim still count towards your total, even after you move the sim out.
Legacy Points: Your score for the challenge, earned in a variety of ways described below. The goal of the challenge is to get as many legacy points before the 10th generation.
Legacy House: The lot initially moved into by your founder. You may not move the family to another lot during the entire challenge. All heirs must be born in this house (or rather, born from sims living at this house, even if they use the hospital to give birth)
Bloodline: Any sim who can trace his or her family tree directly to the founder. Adopted sims are NOT part of the bloodline. Sims that are moved in are only considered part of the bloodline when they contribute to the birth of the next generation.
Mate: A sim brought in from outside the family to reproduce with the current generation's heir to produce the next generation. When the next generation is born, the mate becomes part of the family bloodline and eligible to earn points.

Points:
You earn points for your family in the following ways.
Generation: You get 1 legacy point for your founder, and 1 point for every generation born until the 10th. You earn each point at the birth of the first child in each generation. Further births in that generation do not generate more points. Thus you can only earn a maximum of 10 total Generation points by completing the challenge and birthing the 10th generation.
Lifetime wants: You gain 1 point for every  unique lifetime want fulfilled by a family member. The sim in question must be living in the legacy house and be part of the family tree to earn this point. Once a specific liftime wish has been fulfilled by a sim, further sims fulifilling that wish will not earn you a legacy point for doing so. There are 32 unique liftime wishes in the game, meaning you could earn a maximum of 32 points in this category.
Portraits: 1 point for creating a portrait of a family member and keeping it on display after their death. Like above, the sim must be part of the family tree and living in the legacy house to qualify for this point. You earn this point after the portrait is created, you do not have to wait for the sim in the portrait to actually die. Portraits are still worth their points even if the family member pictured is moved out of the house later on. The skill of the artist doing the portrait does not matter, as long as it features the sim in question it counts. Portraits may be of any size or style. Keep in mind that a sim must have a painting skill of at least 5 to get the option of painting a still life (needed to capture a sim's picture).
Legacy House: Earn 1 legacy point for every $100,000 in net worth the house is worth. Use the "Furnished Value" of the house to get this figure. Do not include the net-worths of legacy family members that have been moved out of the house. Round up. Your family's weath in cash does NOT count tword this number.
Aspiration Rewards: If a sim is able to earn 100,000  points worth of aspiration rewards, they earn your family 1 legacy point. You are free to spend aspiration points as you gain them, it is your lifetime total, not your current total, that matters for this point. Like the other sim-based points, this may only be earned by family members. You may earn an additional point in this category from a sim if they somehow earn 200,000 points in their lifetime. .
 
Birth and growing up
Whenever a sim is born or ages up, they will often obtain new traits. Sometimes these traits are randomly assigned by the game. Other times the game lets you pick them. In the Legacy Challenge, all traits are random. If you are given the option to pick traits for any sim, you must hit the random button and accept the trait that is randomly assigned. The only exception is if you are playing with the "Family Trait" optional rule. If you are, and the family trait is one of the options, you may select that trait rather than hitting the random button.
Death
Sims that die on the family lot may be kept around as ghosts, or may be moved to a cemetery. It is up to you. If a sim dies and you forgot to get their portrait, making a portrait of their ghost does not count. If the bloodline is cut short by death, the challenge ends immediately. It is always a good idea to have at least one spare in case the heir perishes. Even if ghosts become playable, they may not earn any further points for the family. Ghost babies are not considered part of any bloodline.

Bringing in the next generation.
In order to bring in the next generation, a new sim must be born. Adoptions do not carry the family bloodline and thus don't count. (You are still allowed to adopt sims if you really want to, but they won't help point wise) If the heir is male, you must move their mate into the legacy family house before having a baby. If the heir is female, she may move her mate in, or simply get pregnant while off the lot. In either case, the heir and their mate don't have to be married. Sims may be born at home or in a hospital, whichever you prefer. The moment the next generation is born, the heir's mate officially becomes part of the family bloodline (and thus can earn lifetime want, aspiration perk and portrait points for you, provided they are living in the Legacy House).

Optional Rules
These are optional rules you may play with if you wish. They don't affect your score in any way, and are merely tools to help establish a theme for your family.

Family Trait
When creating your founder in CAS, choose one of the founder's 5 traits to become the ‘family trait' for your legacy family. There after, every sim born to the legacy family must possess this trait by the time they reach young adulthood. If they do not inherit it at birth, you must choose that trait the moment you are given the option to. The remaining traits still must be rolled for.

Matriarchy/Patriarchy

Whatever gender your founder was, this must be the gender of every heir. Meaning if you started with a female founder, only female children may become the heir to bring in the next generation. Children of the other gender are still counted as part of the family bloodline and may still earn the family points, they simply may not bring in the next generation.
A male dominant family is called a Patriarchy, a female dominant family is a Matriarchy.

Story Teller

A popular practice is to write a story for your Legacy family and upload it in chapters. If you feel the creative energy, why not try uploading your own story? There is no in-game bonus for doing this, but the addition to the community is always welcome!




FAQ

Why do I have to buy such a big lot. I barely have money in the beginning.
   Early poverty is a hallmark of the challenge. A large plot of land not only drains the available cash from your starting funds, it gives you the ability to build some epic sized legacy homes as you play through the generations and get more wealth.

If I'm playing with the family trait option, does my sim's mate have to have that trait too?
   No.

Can I move in/marry sims into the legacy home that aren't going to help bring in the next generation?
   Yes, keep in mind that they don't earn any points for the family. Even sims that are destined to help bring in the next generation won't count as part of the family until the next generation is actually born.

Does the first born have to be the heir?

   No, as long as they are part of the bloodline and born on the legacy house they are eligible to be an heir, regardless of order of birth. They must be the proper gender if playing with the matriarchy/patriarchy option.

Are collection items, such as rocks, insects and seeds subject to the black market restriction?

   No, you are allowed to sell any collection items you find...as long as they weren't stolen out of someone's house or garbage.

[kiki]

Nice Quick question though about the "aging at normal levels" comment - does that mean we can't play the game on epic, or if we do start the legacy on epic lifespan, that we can't change it at any other stage?

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, the idea is that everyone is supposed to play to a unified timescale. This is why there's no Ambrosia, otherwise the fact that there is infinite time means it is trivial to achieve infinite score, as at least one of the scoring criteria is open-ended if time is unlimited.

[Roflganger]

I'm going to be a pain in the ass and suggest some bolding and spaces between paragraphs because try as I might, I cannot get myself through some of those walls of text.

More relevantly, maybe I'll actually get around to doing a proper legacy this time around, though adjusting to non-epic lifespans will be a challenge in itself. 

[VerVe]

If I don't like the traits I get for the heirs while doing randomizing, may I roll again? Or do I have to accept the 1st roll.

[Rothchild]

Starting out
Create a brand new game file. You will be using this file exclusively to play your Legacy Challenge. You may use an existing game file, but your Legacy family must immediately become the "Active Household" and not cease to be active for the duration of the challenge.

I recommend making a brand new game file mandatory.  If I started in my current neighborhood I could harvest all of the money trees and other perfect plants from the lots there.

[Hallie]

I like this will get right to setting up my legacy family right now. Hopefully by then I will be able to find a solution to this dang code 13 saving error. I am thinking it may just be as a result of moving lots so manytimes and having bulldosed things too......... hmmm

The only query I have really si about the not moving in a rich sim. Well in Sunset valley this would rule out Stiles McGarth who barely comes with any money when you marry him. As he lives in a big house with like 6 other people. It just seems a little strange is all. As it does not always indicate someone who will move in large funds really.

The other thing is in the original Legacy you had to wait one week to move someone in, is that the same now?

[asciident]

If I don't like the traits I get for the heirs while doing randomizing, may I roll again? Or do I have to accept the 1st roll.

No.

Well, you can, but then you're cheating. It's supposed to be random; if it was just "traits you like", then the rules would let you pick them yourself to begin with.

[Rothchild]

The only query I have really si about the not moving in a rich sim. Well in Sunset valley this would rule out Stiles McGarth who barely comes with any money when you marry him. As he lives in a big house with like 6 other people. It just seems a little strange is all. As it does not always indicate someone who will move in large funds really.

A sim is rich when their lot is valued at 100,000 or more.  Rich unfortunately has nothing to do with how much money they have on hand.

[dragoaskani]

woot legacy time! I always shoulda done this in the sims 2...but I was a wow addict for years...been clean for 2 months...sad when you were so addicted to an mmo that you have to treat it like a drug addiction...

[Zazazu]

Moving Sims in:
<truncated>
Sims that are identified by your sim as "Rich'

This is going to restrict you to NPCs after a few generations. At gen 4 of my current neighborhood, absolutely every family in my game is considered rich.

Spare: A sibling of an heir, who can become an heir should anything happen to the current heir. Spares may be fed to the time stream or kept on the lot if you wish. They are eligible to earn legacy points for the family.

Only if they remain on lot, correct? You may want to clarify that.

Mate: A sim brought in from outside the family to reproduce with the current generation's heir to produce the next generation. When the next generation is born, the mate becomes part of the family bloodline and eligible to earn points.

Does brought in = moved in, or do sperm donors count? Are actions done before the birth of the next generation eligible for points, or does time only move forward?

Portraits: 1 point for creating a portrait of a family member and keeping it on display after their death. Like above, the sim must be part of the family tree and living in the legacy house to qualify for this point. You earn this point after the portrait is created, you do not have to wait for the sim in the portrait to actually die. Portraits are still worth their points even if the family member pictured is moved out of the house later on. The skill of the artist doing the portrait does not matter, as long as it features the sim in question it counts. Portraits may be of any size or style. Keep in mind that a sim must have a painting skill of at least 5 to get the option of painting a still life (needed to capture a sim's picture).

This is a mad-crazy exploit. With this, it pays to spawn as many children as possible, paint their picture, and then move them out as soon as you can to make more room for spawn. If that's what you want, okay. But you may want to restrict it to heir line only.

Ghost babies are not considered part of any bloodline.

Good. I'm currently waiting for my one indiscretion to die. Ghost babies are so annoying.

Yeah, I would suggest some formatting. Bold headings, bullet point items. Also, more clarification on who counts for points and who doesn't. Because I've played TS2 Legacy challenge several times, I think I know what you are going for, but as it is some sections are unclear or exploitable in ways I don't think you want them to be. As I understand it, all points can only be earned by residents of the One True House who are part of the heir bloodline. And seriously, portrait exploit. Big one.

[mildlydisguised]

If you can't marry in rich sims then doesn't that make the Gold Digger LTW impossible?

[ciane]

Maybe there can be a one-time exception if the gold-digger LTW actually rolls.

I like the option to create the founder the way we like and pick the neighborhood. I am also really glad to see that it is LTW-driven.

I am not excited about the portraits as most of those turn out horrible and after a while I'd have to play with walls down to ignore them.

[Alex]

Out of interest, can hidden traits be selected? I'm guessing no since you need a mod to enable them in CAS (although Pyromania would make a great family trait). Although, I'm surprised you haven't included trying to get them into the family as a part of the challenge, as that could potentially make things interesting.

[Kiirkas]

If you can't marry in rich sims then doesn't that make the Gold Digger LTW impossible?

Not technically.  If one of your Legacy sims pops the gold digger LTW, and marrying a rich sim is out of the question, then the LTW is off the table in that instance.

If your Legacy sim marries a mate who has the Golddigger LTW, then the sim joining the fambly would be the one who could earn the LTW point for Golddigger, as long as your Legacy sim would have been considered rich when the pair got married.  (At least, that's how the process seems if you read the game guide entry of the Golddigger LTW.)  Marry rich sim --> see ghost of rich spouse.

Edited for clarity.

[Zazazu]

My founder, Adele Windsor:


Is just slightly crazy:


Insane-Grumpy-Klepto-Hopeless Romantic-Loves Outdoors
I'd say that Loves Outdoors and Klepto are great starting traits. As a Grumpy sim, the buff from Loves Outdoors doesn't do much because she'll report as pissed off for no good reason, but with a regular sim it's a great mood boost considering that they won't have a traditional house for awhile. Klepto is ultra-powerful, even without the ability to sell items. She has three street lights, a park bench, a lounge chair, two exercise machines, and an overhead light just from lifting on community lots.

The Sunset Valley locale is very convenient as there is a park with fishing and harvestables right across the street. If I was trying harder, allowing her to collect, or didn't have to deal with her Grumpy trait making promotions hell, she'd be raking it in.

[McNum]

The Black Market restriction is going to be a pain to keep track of after a few generations. If a founder generation steals some small item, it has to stay on the lot for all 10 generations? I mean at that point, it will have lost so much value that selling it is pocket change, anyway. Could we get a time restriction on it? Like after the thief dies and the object is inherited, it is no longer considered stolen. If only to make bookkeeping a little easier.

Also, no ghost collecting this time around? I guess with only five colors it becomes too easy.

I think I'll give it a try, though. I'll just put stolen goods in the Family Inventory or something. I don't want to fail just because generation 7 sold a generation 2 stolen fishbowl.

Is there anywhere common to post legacy progress, or do we just use this thread?

[Mootilda]

Moving Sims in:
<truncated>
Sims that are identified by your sim as "Rich'

This is going to restrict you to NPCs after a few generations. At gen 4 of my current neighborhood, absolutely every family in my game is considered rich.

The way that it's worded, you just need to avoid having your sim find out whether they are rich.  Since you know, you can make reasonable choices without your sim finding out.

[Roflganger]

The way that it's worded, you just need to avoid having your sim find out whether they are rich.  Since you know, you can make reasonable choices without your sim finding out.

A Sim's wealth is usually one of the first things my Sims learn about others.  I don't know of any way to stop them from finding out - it's not like "Ask about career" or "Ask if Single".

[Xyo]

I almost wonder if Riverside is overpowered compared to Sunset Valley in regards to the support it has agriculturally. What with the fisheries and the community gardens.  Not to mention the huge farmer field where you can find tons of seeds.

I created an Outdoor Loving, Green Thumb, Family Oriented, Frugal, Angler going for the Matriarchal scenario and also adding a personal style requirement that the names have to all be simlish in nature.

It's amusing to see her bathing amongst apple groves and sleeping under the stars.    

[JacquiES]

I started in Riverview, and I am already slightly regretting it because of the lack of parks and other sociable areas.  There are like tiny parks that seem like alleyways, but there just isn't much to them.  It is easy to fish though, as that river goes all over the place. 

When I my founder met his future wife, he went to her house and had the option to ask if he could stay over.  Is this allowed?  She had a pretty nice house, he made food without losing money, and he had a nice bed to sleep in.

Also, what is the rule on the birthday cake--you can age up whenever you want, which could help if you don't want to deal with a baby or even a toddler (since they don't have memories, it's not a huge deal if they learn to walk or talk).

Zazazu, I wish I had thought better about my starting traits, yours obviously work out really great!  My first heir was born with the trait Loves the Outdoors and I laughed due to the fact that they were still living on the lawn.  However, that was more due to my laziness then anything else.

[Pinstar]

If I don't like the traits I get for the heirs while doing randomizing, may I roll again? Or do I have to accept the 1st roll.

No.

Well, you can, but then you're cheating. It's supposed to be random; if it was just "traits you like", then the rules would let you pick them yourself to begin with.

You can purchase the "Mid life crisis" perk to reset your traits, but if you do that you must roll randomly again. If you don't like THAT random roll, you can always buy that perk again...


Regarding aging up sims early, you must wait for the "Birthday Message" the game gives you before you use the cake. While yes, you can spawn lots of children to farm portrait points, you need to raise all of them. I may put in rule that says "Portraits must be of them as Young Adults or older" meaning you have to raise them from infant to YA in order to qualify for a portrait point before you can move them out.

[Pinstar]

If you can't marry in rich sims then doesn't that make the Gold Digger LTW impossible?

Once your Legacy family is wealthy enough to be called "rich" you can marry in a townie with the gold digger LTW. Once the townie and your heir have a few children, you can have the townie whack your heir and earn their gold digger LTW. Since the townie bred with the bloodline, they are counted as part of family and thus earning you the gold digger legacy point without breaking the 'rich sim' rule.

[Xyo]

Question regarding Life Fruit - legal or not to have in inventory/consume?

[infamy]

Question regarding mooching:  A-ok or verboten?  Food, cash or both?