Khan of Wyrms is architectural school dropout

[Khan of Wyrms]

Here is my submission for Building Contest of Awesomeness.  Normally I would rather build on uneven terrain and my neighborhoods are virtually devoid of flatness.  For myself, a flat lot distorts the terrain in my 'hoods as much as any other.  Except for the flatness, this house is fairly typical of the architecture found throughout Idylleville, my main custom 'hood.  The Lair of the Wyrmkhan is a workhorse 2x3 lot with three full bedrooms and three bathrooms on two floors with a single-car garage.  Features include a sun/moon-room with in-ground jacuzzi, two dark, cozy coffin chambers right off the garage for sun-fearing sims who still need to go to work/school, and additional storage in a small third-floor attic.

The scenes:

Exterior:





Exterior:  Street-level view


Interior:  Ground floor



Interior:  Second floor



Interior-Attic



Although there is not excessive amounts of open space, ample design consideration has been given to minimize broken paths and whiny stomping.  Extra consideration was given to reduce the need for rotating the camera to control the lot, sims, and contents.  The main camera control view is from the rear corner where no trees obstruct the view, like in the screen-shots.  I play-tested this lot for one sim-week with a 7 sim family plus one sim-dog with no significant problems.  I created it for the challenge in a clean user account and a clean 'hood that has never seen a hack or piece of custom content.  All furnishing and decoration is MEAxis-original for all expansion packs up to and including Pets.  It is rather ostentatiously furnished for a mere 188,904 simoleons, but stripped-bare to walls, floors, doors, and windows it is a paltry 40k-something.


Now for the bribe:

Will create and submit self-sim for your sadistic pleasure, plus detailed instructions on how to make it as voodoo-like as possible in TS2, for your morbid amusement. [Edit: bogus bribe and now invalid]

Plus, one acre of RL property...on the moon! 

And a sandwich.

[reggikko]

Very, very nice.

* reggikko is now nervous

[Emma]

* reggikko is now nervous

Me too, although I am really hoping I won't win 'cos my bribe will take a lot of work (Actually I know I won't win 'cos Pes has already whinged about my lack of bathrooms. Pah!) Gorgeous house Khan...Whyrm...?

[dizzy]

Sure it looks nice, but can you seal the kitchen with APO?

[Khan of Wyrms]

Sure it looks nice, but can you seal the kitchen with APO?

Seal the kitchen with Army Post Office?


Heh, no seriously, you can't.  I have never found any use for such a thing, though I could possibly see the benefit.  I don't very often restrict access to any areas of lots, except the cowplant and the yard, from strays.  To me it seems as if there is always activity in the kitchen and it is always the main focal point of activity in a house.  If you eliminate the stairs that drop to the front door from the kitchen and add a wall and a door it could be done very easily though, without much disruption of traffic, but it is not a feature I included.  I've just never seen the need.


regg and Emma:  *Fortunately, adamant scales and smoky brimstone breath hide Khan's blushing.*   Thanks!

[rohina]

I thought the drive-in coffins were very classy.

[witch]

I agree. For some reason I thought vamps on the ground floor would drop in morives, even in a coffin, so I've always ended up building elaborate (expensive) underground tombs. I like the little podules off the garage too.

[J. M. Pescado]

Heh, no seriously, you can't.  I have never found any use for such a thing, though I could possibly see the benefit.  I don't very often restrict access to any areas of lots, except the cowplant and the yard, from strays.  To me it seems as if there is always activity in the kitchen and it is always the main focal point of activity in a house.  If you eliminate the stairs that drop to the front door from the kitchen and add a wall and a door it could be done very easily though, without much disruption of traffic, but it is not a feature I included.  I've just never seen the need.

There is a very GOOD reason to seal the kitchen: Raiders. Anytime you hold a party of any kind, the visitors will promptly pillage your fridge. This would merely be mildly annoying, if this behavior didn't actually DAMAGE YOUR SIMS. Since this act not only depletes your food reserves and litters your house, but ALSO harms your other sims, it must be strictly prevented. Failure to do this results in a large score penalty, as this is not compliant with Awesomespec. At very minimum, the fridges themselves should be secured in a sort of pantry.

[Khan of Wyrms]

There is a very GOOD reason to seal the kitchen: Raiders. Anytime you hold a party of any kind, the visitors will promptly pillage your fridge. This would merely be mildly annoying, if this behavior didn't actually DAMAGE YOUR SIMS. Since this act not only depletes your food reserves and litters your house, but ALSO harms your other sims, it must be strictly prevented. Failure to do this results in a large score penalty, as this is not compliant with Awesomespec. At very minimum, the fridges themselves should be secured in a sort of pantry.

Eh?  I'm not terribly concerned with a large score penalty, since this is MATY and penalties seem to be the rule.  I fully expect that the winner will be the one with the least amount of large penalties.  I consider the disruption caused by sim party guests to be exceptionally minimal compared to the utter devastation caused by real life partygoers, so I never really gave it any concern.  Would you care to elaborate upon the specific 'damage' and 'harm' that would come from such fridge-raiding?

I thought the drive-in coffins were very classy.

I agree. For some reason I thought vamps on the ground floor would drop in morives, even in a coffin, so I've always ended up building elaborate (expensive) underground tombs. I like the little podules off the garage too.

If you haven't used them, then you will certainly appreciate the fact that your vampire sim can wake up and head off to work with no direction from you and minimal loss of motives, though be sure to give them ownership of the car first.  If it is still daylight when they return, simply wait for them to get out and then direct them to sleep.  Only one direct order to control the whole work cycle, especially nice if the are lazy and can't run, and I don't even recall ever having the sleep directive stomped by the 'watch out' driveway nonsense.  I am thinking you can queue the sleep order as soon as you see the car, but I don't remember for certain because it has been a while since I played a lot with a vampire.  Another tip, don't take 'wildcards' for working vampire sims unless you are certain they will not result in loss of job.  Getting fired means likely death for your vampire, or an emergency dose of vampirocillin.
Just a note, vampires can survive just as well in a coffin outside in the middle of the yard, at least prior to Seasons, which I am unable to comment on because I don't have it yet.  I once held suspicions similar to yours, witch, but 'necessity is the mother of invention', so they say.  Once, in an motive-crisis situation, I had dropped a coffin right on the front lawn and managed to get a dangerously depleted vampire into it just in time.  They were fine once inside, and ever since I put coffins anywhere I like.  Try a very small mausoleum right by the school bus stop for a teen-vampire and watch them go to school on their own accord, when they return stomp their homework routine, forcing them to drop the notebook at the nearest open square, then order them to sleep.  'I got an A+' can be tricky, though, as I recall.  I try to make sure this is either over with or doesn't happen.

[Kyna]

The main problem I have with unlockable kitchens is nannies.  I've lost the occasional sim due to nanny plus unlockable kitchen.

Nannies go in the kitchen about an hour after they arrive.  They take out a meal, and either stop preparing it then leave it on the counter, or they put it in the oven and walk away - leading to possible fire. 

With the first scenario:  Later a hungry sim will be sent by macrotastics to macro ... cook, but they can't because of the food on the counter.  If it's a busy household, I may not notice that a sim is starving in the kitchen, and I have lost pregnant sims and sims who got a chance card promotion and came home hungry.

With the second scenario: I had the nanny burn to death once (she walked back into the kitchen just after the fire started), even though there was a fire alarm and the fireman had turned up.  A replacement nanny didn't turn up and the kid was taken by the social worker.  This happened several EPs ago, and I can't remember which actual combination of EPs it was.

This is why I prefer lockable kitchens.  A lockable kitchen + APO keeps the nannies from killing my sims.  Parties I don't care about.  I haven't had a party since before uni came out.

[J. M. Pescado]

Eh?  I'm not terribly concerned with a large score penalty, since this is MATY and penalties seem to be the rule.  I fully expect that the winner will be the one with the least amount of large penalties.  I consider the disruption caused by sim party guests to be exceptionally minimal compared to the utter devastation caused by real life partygoers, so I never really gave it any concern.  Would you care to elaborate upon the specific 'damage' and 'harm' that would come from such fridge-raiding?

In addition to the garbage and waste produced, which is now actually reusable in Seasons as compost, the main problem is the fact that even touching those accursed "cookies" and "chips" imposes a severe penalty to a sim's fitness score independently of hunger value (which really makes no sense). While the garbage produced is merely a local problem, the attribute damage incurred requires that you then visit every single affected sim and fix all the damage done. Very unpleasant business. Anything which causes permanent negative attribute changes while not playing a family is a BAD, BAD THING.

If you haven't used them, then you will certainly appreciate the fact that your vampire sim can wake up and head off to work with no direction from you and minimal loss of motives, though be sure to give them ownership of the car first. If it is still daylight when they return, simply wait for them to get out and then direct them to sleep.  Only one direct order to control the whole work cycle, especially nice if the are lazy and can't run, and I don't even recall ever having the sleep directive stomped by the 'watch out' driveway nonsense.

Helps to have "no watch out", although that'd be two orders: One to go to work, one to go back to sleep, assuming you aren't on Power Idle, which will automatically park your vampires during daylight for you. And perhaps I will look into the ownable cars not queuing go-to-work thing as well.

I am thinking you can queue the sleep order as soon as you see the car, but I don't remember for certain because it has been a while since I played a lot with a vampire.

You can queue the order right away using the Sergeant Box.

Another tip, don't take 'wildcards' for working vampire sims unless you are certain they will not result in loss of job.  Getting fired means likely death for your vampire, or an emergency dose of vampirocillin.

There is no particular reason why being fired would result in death or the need to stop being a vampire, provided you already have a functioning indoor garage rig. Even using the regular carpool is feasible if your sim isn't lazy and can run to the car rather than slow-plod 3 hours across the lot.

Just a note, vampires can survive just as well in a coffin outside in the middle of the yard, at least prior to Seasons, which I am unable to comment on because I don't have it yet.

Being in a coffin is safe. Period. Doesn't matter where the coffin is. In fact, being asleep period is safe: Vampires don't need coffins, being asleep sets their motive decays to Home Asleep, which is the same regardless of whether a sim is or is not a vampire, and since normal sims don't die from being asleep under normal conditions, neither wil your vampire. Coffins are special because they LOCK the motives in place for vampires, making it so they neither decay nor improve (the latter point is noteworthy in the presence of snapdragons, as snapdragons have no effect on a coffined vampire but *DO* affect a vampire sleeping in a normal bed). Worth noting is that a coffin does not have any motive requirements for a vampire to sleep in it, whereas a normal bed still requires depleted energy.

I once held suspicions similar to yours, witch, but 'necessity is the mother of invention', so they say.  Once, in an motive-crisis situation, I had dropped a coffin right on the front lawn and managed to get a dangerously depleted vampire into it just in time.  They were fine once inside, and ever since I put coffins anywhere I like.  Try a very small mausoleum right by the school bus stop for a teen-vampire and watch them go to school on their own accord, when they return stomp their homework routine, forcing them to drop the notebook at the nearest open square, then order them to sleep.  'I got an A+' can be tricky, though, as I recall.  I try to make sure this is either over with or doesn't happen.

Teen vampires sting a bit, but the A+ is cheer is actually good for them, because when they get an A+, they run for the nearest parent, likely parked from Power Idling on a sofa near The One Desk, and actually get there much faster than that stupid slow walk. Once indoors, the motive decays are manageable, albeit unpleasant.

[Khan of Wyrms]

<nannies/mods>

Thanks for the explanation.  This might reveal a lot about why I did not see it as important.  I used a nanny once, and one other time in an emergency.  I found nannies to be too annoyingly stupid to be useful, so I always find other ways.  Also, I'm not using any of those awesome mods so I am unfamiliar with their requirements.  See my reply to dizzy above, it should be simple to fix this if you want to use the lot.  For now, though, I will have to just take the penalty.

In addition to the garbage and waste produced, which is now actually reusable in Seasons as compost, the main problem is the fact that even touching those accursed "cookies" and "chips" imposes a severe penalty to a sim's fitness score independently of hunger value (which really makes no sense). While the garbage produced is merely a local problem, the attribute damage incurred requires that you then visit every single affected sim and fix all the damage done. Very unpleasant business. Anything which causes permanent negative attribute changes while not playing a family is a BAD, BAD THING.

This would be the part where you visit a family you haven't played in a while and find that, while you were away, sims have become fat?  I figured that was because sims at community-lot restaurants never stop eating.  I'm sure it is both, the annoyance has not irritated me enough to find a fix.

Helps to have "no watch out", although that'd be two orders: One to go to work, one to go back to sleep, assuming you aren't on Power Idle, which will automatically park your vampires during daylight for you. And perhaps I will look into the ownable cars not queuing go-to-work thing as well.

I don't have it, but I have noticed that, without it, if things are close enough to the car, or perhaps even certain items regardless of where they are, don't provoke 'watch out'.  In particular, I have not seen the sleep directive stomped by 'watch out' when using the coffins in this manner.  Also, the order to go to work is queued automatically at work time, so the vampire gets up and heads for the car on their own accord, requiring no direct command, and provided that the vampire in question is the owner of the car.  Perhaps there is a mod in place preventing the vampire from waking up automatically at work time? 

There is no particular reason why being fired would result in death or the need to stop being a vampire, provided you already have a functioning indoor garage rig. Even using the regular carpool is feasible if your sim isn't lazy and can run to the car rather than slow-plod 3 hours across the lot.

Perhaps a mod that prevents vampires from waking up for any reason other than direct order?  I apparently don't have this, which is not surprising.  I don't use a lot of hacks/mods, just a few select ones.  Without such a mod, if a vampire gets fired and returns home in the daytime, they constantly wake up to cry about their lost job, until they burn.

Vampires don't need coffins, being asleep sets their motive decays to Home Asleep, which is the same regardless of whether a sim is or is not a vampire, and since normal sims don't die from being asleep under normal conditions, neither wil your vampire.

I did not know this, and would not have dared try it.
 

[J. M. Pescado]

This would be the part where you visit a family you haven't played in a while and find that, while you were away, sims have become fat?  I figured that was because sims at community-lot restaurants never stop eating.  I'm sure it is both, the annoyance has not irritated me enough to find a fix.

That nuisance factor is repaired in both No Eat Crap and the Restaurant and Bar Obsession Fix.

I don't have it, but I have noticed that, without it, if things are close enough to the car, or perhaps even certain items regardless of where they are, don't provoke 'watch out'.  In particular, I have not seen the sleep directive stomped by 'watch out' when using the coffins in this manner.  Also, the order to go to work is queued automatically at work time, so the vampire gets up and heads for the car on their own accord, requiring no direct command, and provided that the vampire in question is the owner of the car.  Perhaps there is a mod in place preventing the vampire from waking up automatically at work time?

Never seen Go To Work show up automatically with an ownable car, always have to do it manually. Given that I have no hack of any kind that affects this, I'm not sure where you see this behavior.

Perhaps a mod that prevents vampires from waking up for any reason other than direct order?  I apparently don't have this, which is not surprising.  I don't use a lot of hacks/mods, just a few select ones.  Without such a mod, if a vampire gets fired and returns home in the daytime, they constantly wake up to cry about their lost job, until they burn.

I haven't seen this behavior either. Perhaps the Sleep Clock prevents this, but it has no global attributes that would alter default behaviors. The constant snivelling might be eliminated in Less Whiny.

[Khan of Wyrms]

That nuisance factor is repaired in both No Eat Crap and the Restaurant and Bar Obsession Fix.

I almost took the latter mod, but then I failed.  I might look at it again, though.

Never seen Go To Work show up automatically with an ownable car, always have to do it manually. Given that I have no hack of any kind that affects this, I'm not sure where you see this behavior.

I am seeing it every time it is time to go to work. (Maybe only if 'energy' bar is full?)  The sim has to be made owner of the car and get the 'carpool will no longer show up' message, then when it is time for work, they get up and go.  Didn't you mention that you have a mod that pinned vampires in their coffins during daytime?

I haven't seen this behavior either. Perhaps the Sleep Clock prevents this, but it has no global attributes that would alter default behaviors. The constant snivelling might be eliminated in Less Whiny.

Less Whiny sounds like a mod that might do it.  It could be behavior that was fixed in Pets or Seasons, since I have been avoiding it for obvious reasons.

[Marhis]

Never seen Go To Work show up automatically with an ownable car, always have to do it manually. Given that I have no hack of any kind that affects this, I'm not sure where you see this behavior.

I have noticed that it depends if the sim went to sleep by their own will (energy bar low) or if user directed. In the first case, they always wake up when it's time, even if the energy bar is not full, while in the second case they need to be manually woke up.
I always try to have sims go to bed spontaneously at the correct time, so they never miss the carpool if I'm distracted.

[Kyna]

Do you play with free will on Khan?  I'm wondering if this is like the "go to class" interaction, in that it's only pushed into the queue if free will is on.

[Khan of Wyrms]

Never seen Go To Work show up automatically with an ownable car, always have to do it manually. Given that I have no hack of any kind that affects this, I'm not sure where you see this behavior.

I have noticed that it depends if the sim went to sleep by their own will (energy bar low) or if user directed. In the first case, they always wake up when it's time, even if the energy bar is not full, while in the second case they need to be manually woke up.
I always try to have sims go to bed spontaneously at the correct time, so they never miss the carpool if I'm distracted.

I think you may be right with regard to 'normal' sims, but I have never witnessed a sim vampire go to the coffin at daybreak of their own freewill.  I cannot ever recall having a sim vampire with a low energy motive at daybreak, although it is obviously possible.  So, in my experience, they always have to be directed to use the coffin at dawn, and they normally have energy bars full when it is time for work, and they always get up and go.

Do you play with free will on Khan?  I'm wondering if this is like the "go to class" interaction, in that it's only pushed into the queue if free will is on.

Indeed.  I have never even once turned off freewill.  I have been tempted...many times.

[rohina]

1.6 for aesthetics. The exterior was very cool, but the inside didn't live up to it.

[J. M. Pescado]

Bribe: 0.0
Functionality: 0.8
Scenarios: 0.7
Cost Effectiveness: 1.0
Expand 0.8
Physics: 1.0
Aesthetics: 1.6

Technical: 0.883
Total: 0.53

Correct Behaviors
Level Edges - Will Not Damage Neighborhood
No Physical Anomalies

Correctable Issues
Anti-Wolf Fencing Incomplete!
Nursery Partitionment Awkward

Fundamental Flaws
No Clearly Defined Viewing Deck - Impossible to Maintain Camera on Single Floor
Visitors Not Properly Confined To Viewing Deck
Kitchen Not Sealed Blocked Off From Dining Area

[Khan of Wyrms]

Was there a contest here I entered, or something?

Clearly, my bribery skills seem far from adequate.  However, I pay nothing for the opportunity to win nothing, which is better for me than paying something to win nothing.  It feels like I win.

No Clearly Defined Viewing Deck - Impossible to Maintain Camera on Single Floor

 

The 'viewing deck' was reinvented as a 'viewing angle' instead, with consideration given to minimizing camera rotation.  Switching floors and required rotating of the camera are similarly annoying issues, but neither bothers me much.


Other issues apparently derive from my ignorance of the importance of certain features in use with the full 'director's cut' of hacks.  I accept the judgment;  Ignorance is never a valid excuse.