Pinstar's new Apocalypse challenge

[MadameUgly]

Hmm, am I missing something (or am I just cheating and don't know it).  I thought you could have the computer to start with.  Now, I'm working with pre-pets and pre-season's rules (that were re-posted onto another site, so something may have been lost in translation).  Either way, I've had the computer from day one but only use it for novel writing (only way to get creativity points) and since I have seasons but I'm not using the careers, I allow job searching on the computer if the newspaper is full of seasons careers.

I think it's key to start with a male founder.  That way they can still produce a spawn as an elder, should things not go as planned.

[Zazazu]

For even more horror, try this with the Uni careers hack by Syberspunk. That changes which careers require degrees and adds required specific majors for some, so that + Journalism restriction = more difficulty.

I'm so failing at withstanding the impulse to do this again. Ugh. I'll make a handy-dandy guide to restrictions like I did for myself last time, but without modifying rules, for sharing today over lunch.

EDIT: Grid attached. One sheet is for rules up to Pets, the second is modified for Seasons rules. I just find it easier when all the restrictions are in one column. I also made notations under each restriction as to whether they require degrees under normal game mechanics or whether they do with Syberspunk's mod. And since I just cleared out my photo folder for Queen's Cove after uploading the second chapter of the Ridges, I don't feel so guilty doing two things at once. It'll be a nice setup to switch from uber-rotation with too many dang kids and a fully decorated 'hood to one little household and brain-eating zombies. And I'll be rolling for which restrictions get lifted first, just for added drama.

[angelyne]

Haha, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist!  You should try the zombie eat brain hack too.  Fun fun.

MadameUgly, the computer is allowed, but not using it to search for jobs. That's why I waited for that restriction to be lifted.

PS.  that spreadsheet is pretty cool.  Nice summary.

Can someone explain to me how that satellite in inventory thingie works?

[spaceface]

Thanks Zazazu for the shiny spreadsheet 

When I have finished my current legacy (which has hit the turgid 3rd generation is at college stage...)  I am SO going to try this.

[kuronue]

Hmm, am I missing something (or am I just cheating and don't know it).  I thought you could have the computer to start with.  Now, I'm working with pre-pets and pre-season's rules (that were re-posted onto another site, so something may have been lost in translation).  Either way, I've had the computer from day one but only use it for novel writing (only way to get creativity points) and since I have seasons but I'm not using the careers, I allow job searching on the computer if the newspaper is full of seasons careers.

I think it's key to start with a male founder.  That way they can still produce a spawn as an elder, should things not go as planned.

IIRC it works as a typewriter only until you unlock Science

[Hejira]

This may be the challenge that gets me past the limitation I've had since Sims 1.

"Eh, I'll make a family. Ooo, pretty family. Ooo, pretty kids. Eh, family's boring. Neighbourhood go die now." Rinse. Repeat.

I've started with a sim completely made of custom content, for storyline purposes. It doesn't hurt the Show Biz restrictions that her hair stops being pretty as the novelty of a silver chick with white hair wears off. The storyline is, the apocalypse happened before she was born, scientists fished out a pregnant zombie from the devastated region, and the zombie's spawn grew up to be my founder. The government eventually decides that peace should be brought to the region, and it just so happens that Evelyn is immune to further zombification, and any of her kids that inherit any of her custom genetics will share that immunity.

Two bugs have happened so far. The first one...her energy won't go down. It's maxed out and staying that way. I have a mod or five that maxes out energy, but none of them are active on her. 's what the game says, anyway. It'll probably fix itself when she moves into the Pocky Lips main neighbourhood. (Yes, I called it Pocky Lips. It was cute. I was more sleep-deprived than usual. Shut up.)

Second one, I sent her on vacation to Twikki Island so she could pick up a Mr. Mickles doll. (In exchange for this, she's lost a semester at college. When she moves to Pocky Lips, I'm waiting until Paranormal's unlocked before her family can use Mr. Mickles again.) She finds the proper map, goes to the Mysterious Hut, fixes the Witch Doctor's crap, and waits to get a Mr. Mickles doll. Suddenly the action is cancelled. Like, the Witch Doctor was waiting too long or something. Okay, so Evelyn decided to take a bath because she was stinky. I cancelled it long before he got to the hut, so it shouldn't have mattered.

Anyway, I internally wept since I either had to restart from the last save when she didn't have the map, or save and basically waste the damn vacation.

...despite all this, I still love this challenge.

[Aggie]

The 'present' action dropping out of queue is annoying, but he WILL instigate it again in a little while.

[neriana]

*baahs at Zazazu*

Thank you so much for saving my lazy self from having to make one of these from scratch.

[Kyna]

Science is much more useful early on than Journalism.  In my last challenge I lifted Science before Gamer.  Allowing cellphones meant that instead of the household having 12 hours per week (7 hours effectively, since between 2am to 7am you can't call anyone but vampires or potential enemies) to maintain friendships, they had 7 hours per sim per week.  Gamer wasn't long after, and the lifting of the computer restrictions by these two careers made the tough part of the Journalism restriction irrelevant.  The only real benefit to journalism is the career reward, and then only if you've already lifted adventure.

Snapdragons have been made tougher than they originally were.  It's not just natural science you need to lift - you also need to lift crime (otherwise you can only have one on the lot or in inventory).  Then there's the business restrictions that restrict any training of badges, or making more snapdragons - you cannot use any crafting benches.

I have played this challenge under both original rules and Seasons rules.  I said some pages back in this thread that I am never playing this challenge again without lifting medical as an early unlock, and I haven't changed my mind on that.  I tried leaving medical until later with the hope that my super-neat founder could groom her kids.  She could groom her offspring when they were teens, but I found she couldn't groom them when they were children.  Having the family get into mutual grooming sessions worked well for keeping hygiene under control, apart from the child stage.

On culinary: There was talk when this challenge was new about whether gelatin was allowed.  On some boards Pinstar stated that it was against the rules.  However, when he did the promised rule update, gelatin wasn't excluded.  This indicates to me that gelatin is allowed - it may be a bit cheesy, but it works.  Between gelatin and meditation, I found food wasn't a problem, especially once sims were old enough to meditate.  If the offspring are too playful to meditate, then get their parents to encourage them to be serious (preferably low enough that the offspring can then encourage their offspring in turn, if needed).  The big advantage of early culinary is the ability to make cheesecake, to force twins.  Useful if you're trying to see how fast you can complete the challenge.

[Zazazu]

*baahs at Zazazu*

Thank you so much for saving my lazy self from having to make one of these from scratch.

It doesn't include the unofficial BV changes. Which I'm thinking of going ahead and doing (sans stupid Pets stuff)...not exactly with the Journalism thing since I'm going for more difficulty, not less. Life of Crime has always been more of an annoyance than a hinderance. Money is beyond easy to get beforehand, because Pinstar forgot to restrict one very, very important thing...you can move your founder from dorm to dorm, stripping them of furnishings. Cheaty? Sure. But completely within the rules.

My founder is currently in his Senior year. Dang, I hate Uni. 14 best friends, kinda low on the skill points because he's had to focus on going permaplat. Mine is actually set on a colonized moon (not any specific moon) and everything looks like your normal background at the moment. But the main 'hood...it's the Maxina terrain from CardiganAnjel at MTS2, with a crater-ridden one for the post-apoc uni. He's the child of two botanists, going after a career in Medical with a specialization in organic contraceptives (seemed to fit with the no-non-try-woohoo). Bringing home his degree, a cheesy picture of himself at a nightclub, and his computer, which he shows an alarming attachment to.

I'm rolling for which restrictions get unlocked next, which could get very interesting. I'm most worried about Culinary (no degree requirement, but raising a family on 1 meal a day is tough), and Education (since it also requires a degree I'm focusing on befriending all Uni students, which comes with the added challenge of low skill points). No rolling until the intended is in the family.  I haven't decided yet if I'm going to reroll if the rolled career is not possible at that point, or just let them be dead weight. Zombies? I have 25, waiting on standby for their ration of brains.

Two bugs have happened so far. The first one...her energy won't go down. It's maxed out and staying that way. I have a mod or five that maxes out energy, but none of them are active on her. 's what the game says, anyway. It'll probably fix itself when she moves into the Pocky Lips main neighbourhood. (Yes, I called it Pocky Lips. It was cute. I was more sleep-deprived than usual. Shut up.)

Is this in Uni? I've had that issue before, way back when, and I believe it fixed itself randomly when the sim in question went to the secret society lot. It was in a Greek legacy, and she became the girl who did everyone's homework...I'd just have everyone else drop theirs on the porch and at night she'd sit out there with a snapdragon and get everyone A's.

[MadameUgly]

Damn, the "old rules" seem so much easier than the Seasons rules.  Glad I'm playing by old rules.

I did decide to add in the Seasons careers to my exisitng Apocalypse house.  I'm going to tie them to other careers (so you have to lift both careers to lift the restrictions).  Law will be tied to Politics (since I already lifted law enforcement, where it would match better).  Education is tied to science (since I already lifted Military, again, it would fit better there).  I'm also tieing gamer to science (can't play games without elecrticity).  And music will be tied to art (since neither are that big a deal). 

I'm also adding a restriction where the joined careers have to be lifted by spouses or siblings.  So Science/Education/Gamer will be next up to be lifted, either by Rufous (who's in college) or Aerie (teen who I haven't decided if he'll go to college or not) and their potential spouses.

[Jelenedra]

Yeah, for the life of me, I can't find rules with Seasons included. Then again, I'm not looking that hard.

[Hejira]

Two bugs have happened so far. The first one...her energy won't go down. It's maxed out and staying that way. I have a mod or five that maxes out energy, but none of them are active on her. 's what the game says, anyway. It'll probably fix itself when she moves into the Pocky Lips main neighbourhood. (Yes, I called it Pocky Lips. It was cute. I was more sleep-deprived than usual. Shut up.)

Is this in Uni? I've had that issue before, way back when, and I believe it fixed itself randomly when the sim in question went to the secret society lot. It was in a Greek legacy, and she became the girl who did everyone's homework...I'd just have everyone else drop theirs on the porch and at night she'd sit out there with a snapdragon and get everyone A's.

So it can happen in anyone's game? Sweet, I thought I'd have to start over. Somebody's going to leave joining the SS to the last minute...

Also, found a BV exploit (like there aren't heaps already, but this one beats my half-arsed makeshift rules)...if you take your founder from dorm to dorm to dorm to dorm, selling all the crap in each dorm until you get, say, 40 000, and then create a new Uni that allows beach lots, then make a beach lot and move your founder in...you can put the huge-ass ship on the lot, then in their inventory. Yes, you'd have to move into a beach lot when the founder graduates, but then the first time you pay money to the mob, you definitely won't have enough to cover re-purchasing that ship...but it'll still be worth tens of thousands. You can't swim in the ocean because it's contaminated, but you can swim in the money. Never mind, the sleep-deprived idiot forgot the 8x8 rule. Doh.

But yeah, BV makes the Seasons rules a little easier to swallow IMO.

[SnootCB]

Yeah, for the life of me, I can't find rules with Seasons included. Then again, I'm not looking that hard.

They are still under the "Playtesting" section, though Pinstar's already come up with new rules for BV, so who knows when he'll update the website.

[Hejira]

In order to permanently lift the Slacker, Politics or Law Enforcement restrictions, the Law restriction must be lifted first.

So...even if Jeff still has his job as a Professional Party Guest when his firstborn spawn reaches the top of the Law career, he's still only suppressing it? That doesn't really make sense to me.

I suppose Evelyn still has time to break up with the Mr. Big, find some other townie who's a Professional Party Guest, romance him, and take up Law instead of Show Biz. But then, my strategy was going to be dating up the motives and swimming in cash so the spawn had little to worry about when they took up Medicine and Culinary.

That really chaps my caffeinated arse. I suppose I can try to get three spawn from Evelyn's shrivelled, wasted eggs and make the first one of them a lawyer, and the second one can go be a Slacker like Daddy. Third one can go cook 'n stuff. Culinary's slightly more important than Medicine because I should bring in some cats, and pets can't have their motives dated up. They need to be fed. And cats are superior since they take care of their own hygiene motive.

Are the BV rules posted anywhere? Anywhere at all?

ETA: I can answer my own questions, kthx. There's lots of cries of YAY! and AWW CRAP! following that link.

[Zazazu]

Evelyn's shrivelled, wasted eggs

Ok, that just had me giggling.

Third one can go cook 'n stuff. Culinary's slightly more important than Medicine because I should bring in some cats, and pets can't have their motives dated up. They need to be fed. And cats are superior since they take care of their own hygiene motive.

Yeah, and that has me worried. I rolled Law Enforcement for the first marry-in. Good news is the Gods of Randomness gave her a corresponding degree in the eyes of Syberspunk, so it's totally doable. And Medical's unlocked, so no more stink...though Jaden was a good little spongebather and she didn't hit me as the type who would care if she stank; she certainly didn't in college. But now it's two sims surviving on a plate of bologne sandwiches, with spawn to come. There's going to be a lot of meditating going on, but dang am I wishing that I could have unlocked something that would allow an aspiration reward right now so that I could suck skill points from all the zombies.

Couple interesting things I never really noticed:
1. You can dig for fun, and if hygiene is already bottomed out you aren't hurting anything. Since most of the digables are only one tile, you can place them on the roof to keep them out of the way. Maps can go on the wall and add fun.
2. Two ways to build social when alone: daydream in bed, and write in diary. Jaden keeps the delivery holograms* on the lot as long as possible each day. I also let him greet the zombies, since with 10 body points he thumps them all.

*well, how else do you explain having a couple sims coming over every day when everyone was supposed to be killed in the cataclysm of your choice?

[rohina]

If your sim is outgoing enough, he/she will talk to a garden gnome and build social that way. I presume gnomes are banned, though.

[sloppyhousewife]

Alright, I must be going freakin' blind or something. 

Obviously - try Hejira's post (#519) on this very page

[Jelenedra]

Does anyone know of a list of rules not listed on the BBS? It's blocked'd'd'd for me. 

[Aggie]

Sure. If you'd like, I'll put together the questions that have been asked and answered by Pinstar in a separate file.

[Zazazu]

Ugh, I just found out that you can't suppress restrictions that aren't explicitly listed as suppressed until another is unlocked. This makes me very sad. I have a three-sim, 2 pet household with just Medical unlocked, Law Enforcement suppressed. Parents have to meditate because there's not enough food, and son rolled Music, which has little immediate benefit. This rolling thing is killing me, but otherwise it wouldn't be challenging to me.

[Shivani]

Money is beyond easy to get beforehand, because Pinstar forgot to restrict one very, very important thing...you can move your founder from dorm to dorm, stripping them of furnishings. Cheaty? Sure. But completely within the rules.

For what it's worth, there's another way (easier for me) that I found reading the The Ragnarok Apocalypse thread by Felicia1066 over at Boolprop.  Have your founder purchase a ton of dreamcatchers (I don't know which EP they came in) at §50 each and sell 24 hours later.  You get §1,200+ for each one.  Do that for a semester and you're loaded.

[cyperangel]

ok, ive done a bit of editing, for my own peace of mind...

Attached is the challenge, ordered by careers, with a handy index. Ive combined his pets, Seasons and the test rules for BV into one document. I find it easiest to keep open in the background, as its searchable. Its made with office 2007, so you will be needing that i think, to get the formatting right.

[Zazazu]

Cool. I added BV for myself, but didn't want to on the original spreadsheet because at that point the new rules were very tentative. Seems like they are going to stand.

[Lyra]

ok, ive done a bit of editing, for my own peace of mind...

Attached is the challenge, ordered by careers, with a handy index. Ive combined his pets, Seasons and the test rules for BV into one document. I find it easiest to keep open in the background, as its searchable. Its made with office 2007, so you will be needing that i think, to get the formatting right.

Correction. You'll need Office 2007 to open it. Anything before that doesn't support the .docx extension.