Pinstar's new Apocalypse challenge

[Sagana]

The houses are here:

http://thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/uploads.php?user_id=131247&nstart=1&asset_type=lot

For the handwashing thing, try using the 'groom' interaction and see if that'll help. I don't know how much hygiene it gives (probably not enough) as I lifted medical first, but it's worth a shot.

[Alvaron]

Whew! Talk about a fiery ball visible from space! That nicely describes my second try at this challenge, this time w/o "sneaky satellite" foo. I got to learn the painful lesson again that SketchElder on the BBS pointed out: you take care of providing hygiene and food first by whatever means necessary then go from there. Well, I didn't take of the food supply and paid the price. In my previous run-through, eclectic energizers got me over that hump but this time I didn't have them. In the second try, the moment of epiphany came when the lack of a meal portion caused the spouse of the 2nd generation heir to miss his promotion to Mad Scientist because he couldn't finish the eighth cooking skill point he needed. That goof caused a five day delay which then, of course, snowballed into all sorts of problems. College graduates had no computers with which to search for jobs so what was the point of graduating ASAP and returning home to a house already short on food? None.

With the week's delay at around Day 36 or so, I realized the blunder I'd made when I chose to unlock Medical and Military first. It looks sexy as your sim kids transition to college very quickly but the lack of food at home hampers the children from getting the skills they need. I parked that bunch and decided to try again.

Here's what I've learned:

1) Make intelligent use of the downtownies and townies for rapid unlocks. Ignore any downtownie level 8 and below because you can grow sim kids who'll return as summa cum laude graduates and get level 9 jobs in their intended track with computers unlocked. When you make your initial survey of the downtownies in your founder's first semester, concentrate on befriending those who have level 9-10 jobs already as potential spouses for generations 1, 2 and 3 (and four if you need to go that far).

2) If you have OFB, NatSci is a great choice. If not (and I don't), then Medical is your best bet. Sure, the Medical career track is maddening with badly-scheduled days off in levels 5-7 but 8-10 are not too bad. Just be careful of the chance cards and choose the "right" answer as shown in J.M.'s chance card guide. Without hygiene, your sims at less than platinum aspiration can function but sponge baths aren't efficient. Unless you like picking up dirty diapers, I highly recommend the changing station. Culinary is also tempting. Just remember that you need to unlock Medical quickly and getting the first 2nd generation heir to skill without hygiene isn't easy.

3) Science is IMHO the best track to unlock next. You get an aspiration reward immediately and computers unlock. Better still, there are usually multiple Science Level 9-10 downtownies to pick from. My third attempt at this challenge had two Mad Scientists and another downtownie at level 9 Science. If you go this route, take the elixir of life as your aspiration reward. Eclectic Energizer is tempting but will force a long delay in getting your first heir to adulthood. Use the elixir to force-age the first heir through puberty so they can work their creativity. Focus the heir's skills on Culinary, doing logic as a toddler and being taught cooking as a child by the spouse (you have computers; surely your spouse can find a job in the culinary track by the time the heir grows into childhood). Yes, it's painful with only novel-writing as an adult to build creativity but, if you bring back two thinking caps with your founder, the pain is reduced considerably. I suppose someone will pop up and say that the child can't be taught cooking using the career reward. I beg to differ. The restriction says only sims in the Culinary track can use the chocolate-maker but it does not limit that use. Teaching cooking is one of its functions so I will use it that way. I'll even go so far as to require the adult in the culinary track to initiate the session.

4) Make room in the house soon with a Military unlock. The spouse of the first 2nd gen heir is ideal for this. In my game, I had one male downtownie at level 10 and two female downtownies at level 9 in Military so gender wasn't a problem. A fast unlock on Military opens the door to cell phones (with Science unlocked) and college so that your teens can get out of the house and off to college. Spouses and heirs who've done their bit can depart the lot to make room.

5) Visualize the problem when thinking about the challenge strategically. What that blather means is this: once you have the basics covered (food, hygiene, finances and access to college), what is needed? You need skilled college graduates and downtownies at high levels to unlock tracks quickly. Since there's no time synchrony between the "legacy" lot and college lots, you have essentially unlimited space for sims, up to eight at home and certainly six more in college. There's no requirement that any of them graduate immediately, you can do it when it suits you. With three females of child-bearing age (founder plus two generations), they can be raising five simkids at the "legacy" lot simultaneously (just move their husbands out once Military is unlocked if your finances are good). It won't take long for those three females to punch out eight simkids. It requires you to ignore teen skilling and attend college on a shoestring. Big deal: go tend bar or work as a barista since Culinary is unlocked for all the cash they'll ever need. Sure, it's mind-numbingly boring but isn't that what challenges come down to? 

The elixir of life is the best aspiration reward choice in my non-OFB world. It neuters the paranormal restrictions since no one ever dies, prevent stupid annoying ghost attacks since there are no ghosts, and gets you over the hump of no college for the first 2nd generation heir. Unless you think spending 15 days as a teen is fun in the dismal world of the Apocalypse, I highly recommend forced aging through puberty. Your founder and spouse should have plenty of aspiration built up if you had them go on dates a lot in college. I did one date per day and amassed 250k aspiration on my founder, over and above what was used buying thinking caps and energizers for skilling. My founder's spouse dropped about 10k worth of  goodies which helped her reach her target financial goal of 25k to start the "legacy" lot. Now, if I'd only known that turkey would have about 30k worth of crap in his inventory when he moved in....  Let me just say that we had a large bonfire on the third floor that involved some plasma TVs, DJ booth and more.  It was a slow day so the sacrifice of the daily food ration wasn't too painful.

I had an extremely close call on Day 17-18 PA. My founder had just delivered her second child and I had underestimated her hunger demand, allowing her to sleep too long. She couldn't grill anything because of the time of day and couldn't meditate. Desperate to keep her alive, I expended the next day's food ration near 0500 on cereal. Big mistake as she was so tired by then she couldn't stay awake to eat. Cereal spoils so quickly that she barely got half a bowl. The only thing I could come up with to save her life was to get her a job. Thank God for the computer as she found a level 8 position in business with an immediate take off for work. She was dead tired, starving and urgently needed to pee. But like the trooper she is, she got into the car, went to work and lived. Her poor husband skipped his prep cook job that day to watch the kids and that cost him his job. But, hey, better that than a dead wife who's permaplat, max skills, summa cum laude graduate in Biology and pretty nice looking for a Knowledge Sim. 

It messed up my plan to have him teach the 2nd gen heir cooking so the founder will have to take on that responsibility. She found a job in culinary after work that day and switched. All of these gyrations derailed my plan for a third 2nd gen child right away but that's life in the Apocalypse. As soon as she finishes teaching her son cooking to level 8 or so, she can quit and get back to birthing more kids. The detour into Business for a day wasn't a total bust since she did snag an Execuputter. 

So far, it's been a fun and challenging ride. Your comments welcome. Have fun!

[rhodaloo]

I"m closing in on unlocking my last three careers.  Of course, it only took three tries to get this far.   I discovered early on to find the townie sims who had the careers I wanted to unlock.  I'd send my college student to downtown to befriend the adult sims.  I never worried about atrraction bolts as I know I can make any sim fall in love with any sim I want.  I'm sure in a post nuclear disaster genes and skills would be more important that "true love" aka three bolts.  The founder unlocked medical (yeah bathing).  The spouse was a townie who came in at the top of athletic.  Culinary and military were unocked in the second generation.

Just how hack free are we to be in this challenge?  I certainly don't want any game stopping glitches to show up because I pulled every hack I have in my game.  In my reading of legacy stories, I notice an alarming tendancy for glitches to occur.  Since I have been there, done that in reglular game play, I don't want to subject myself to such problems again.  I would appreciate any comments on this.

[Kyna]

The rule is no hacks that give an unfair advantage.

So a hack that enables something that is not in the vanilla game - such as comm-lot skilling - is definitely an unfair advantage.  Or increasing the odds of telescope abduction (although I kept that one in, since I'm not competing against anybody except myself).

Hacks that stop your game from blowing up are essential in my opinion.  And they don't give an unfair advantage, unless you count not blowing your game up as an advantage

I kept the anti-annoyance hacks (e.g. lesswhiny) and the control hacks (such as macrotastics, phone hack, baby hacks) in my game.  They basically replace a lot of tedious clicking and pausing on my part, without allowing unfair advantages.  Admittedly the phone hack does stop that annoying 4 o'clock phone call from your friendly neighbourhood stalker... but I could avoid that annoyance by putting the phone in an inventory when not in use, or putting it on the furthest floor away from the main living area so that the sound doesn't annoy me.  These hacks don't add new features to the game.

Hacks that make life harder could be kept in, although I took out harderjobs on my third or fourth run-through.  ACR falls into this category in my opinion, as it reduces fertility as the sims age.

I"m not a challenge purist.  Most of the time I tend to play "Legacy style games" or "Prosperity style games" because I'm not prepared to be without hacks in a lengthy challenge.  I don't actually consider I'm playing the challenge, more that I'm playing that style of game.  Although for this one, being a relatively quick challenge, I did remove some hacks.

Bottom line is that it's your game.  If the game is unplayable without certain hacks, use them.  If other hacks reduce the fun of this challenge, take them out.  Up to you.

[daedreem]

Another couple things I've been wondering... I'd like the answer before I restart the challenge.

1) - The Toy Oven. Allowed? or Disallowed? I don't see it in the rules, but I assume it's like an EasyBake oven that uses a light bulb to cook....  But then again, it COULD be Solar Powered...  Did you know you can make your own with a cardboard box and some aluminum foil?

2)- Things such as the Stairway up to your home... The 'empty space' at the end of the stairway, does it have to be part of your 8x8? Or is it like the military reward, where the 'empty space' can be off the 8x8 because it doesn't really exist?

3) Pinstar stated that College age Bloodline siblings can move into the same Uni Lot... He didn't really answer someones previous question about if succeeding generations can move into the empty lot with a tiny house built by their predecessors. I don't see why they should be unable too... The place existed AFTER everything else was burninated. All objects are gone, presumably stolden by the other survivors, and have to be replaced, but the walls should still be there. (and I hate building houses repeatedly)

4) When using this as a stand-alone challenge, I think there are a few rules missing that are 'assumed' to exist...  For instance.. everyone keeps mentioning the chancecards as if they HAVE to take them... but I'm not finding in the rules that they have to be taken. I treated it like they did, just in case, and my unskilled level 9 not qualified for promotion downtownie spouse chanced her way to level 10 in a career I initially did NOT want to lift. (I ended up liking it better than expected though) - I'd appreciate any 'assumed' rules to be added to the rules if the indeed exist and are not just assumed.

5) IS the hot-tub allowed? I'd assumed it as NOT because of the shortage of clean water/electricity both of which are used in a Hot Tub...  Then again, the Electrical part could potentially be Solar again...

6) The other questions I asked in another post on this page.

I'm sure I'll come up with other questions... But I found a lot when I looked through here last night.

Now to try my 'first day of toddlerhood' first try, now test family again to see if my toddler can survive childhood without plummetting hygene/visit from social worker today.

[Queenofsimtopia]

1) Pinstar said that the toy oven is allowed but making A SINGLE MUFFIN counts as the meal for that day (if culinary isn't unlocked)

2) No idea

3) I agree with you but the rules are that they must start on a BLANK LOT which sucks but it's Pinstar's rules not mine

4) In the Slacker restrictions it says you MUST answer chance cards (no ignore option) Once you unlock slacker though you don't have answer the cards

5) There are no rules that say the hot tub is not allowed.  If you are playing for realism though I wouldn't use it.

Hope these are accurate and that they help!

[rohina]

2) I think if the space is not technically occupied you are okay.

5) If you get that nice rock pool hot tub from Holy Simoly you can pretend they are radioactive hotsprings.

[Sketch Elder]

The official rules are the ones posted on Pinstar's official website. Anything he says here (or anywhere else) that's not in the official rules can be ignored until he actually changes them. He said so, himself.

If you already did a Uni business, then keep going with the challenge. Because it's not yet on the offical site, you don't need to call it a broken rule.

Child hygiene can indeed be maintained without snapdragons. Lift the Show Business restrictions, so you can have Outings. Have one of your older Sims ask the Child to form a group for an outing. Raise the outing score by at least one level, then end the outing (anywhere from Fun to Rockin'). This will also take care of hunger, energy, comfort, bladder, fun, and social, and even give them an occasional skillpoint.

I've only been using the black grill. It's perfect for starting fires and my Sims haven't ever needed to actually cook anything.

I don't think objects left behind disappear from University lots. This is because you don't own the lot, you're only renting it, so the furnishings don't belong to you.

Creativity has been easy. My founder earned the Lie Finder while he was looking for his first job (honors bonuses), then switched to Show Business. The kids have all started their Teen careers as Criminals and one of the townies, a Cat Burglar, has been invited over to give them lessons. Took about 3 hours each to max Creativity. Everyone involved was in the Criminal career at the time of their involvement.

I'm currently putting my first student through college with only 4 restrictions lifted (Hopelessness, Show Business, Slacker, and Military). He maxed all his skills as a Teen and also earned scholarships for school, work, dancing, and billiards. I started him on a 1x3 lot, bought a coffee table and phone, then organized a group with his older sister (the General) and sent him off to earn some tips with Freestyle. I later bought him a table, chair, and computer. The computer is the only thing he's paying protection on. He's completed his sophomore year with a 4.0 average and has about §19K in cash. Thanks to the Outings with his sister he's been able to spend most of that time on community lots and hasn't needed to eat, sleep, or bathe. However, with all the restrictions, there's nothing really productive for him to do once his performance meter is full, other than earn a few hundred more by Freestyling. This is the first time I've ever been bored with Uni. I'm planning to lift the Business restrictions before the next student goes, which should make it much more interesting.

[rohina]

If he was popularity or romance, you could be working on a LTW.

[Kyna]

I'm surprised you lifted show biz so early. 

I've played this 3 times all the way to completion, and the fourth attempt I got bored after I'd lifted 12 of the restrictions...  each time show biz has been one of the last ones (along with art and paranormal).  Personally I think lifting medical is a better way to maintain hygiene  - you don't need to have other sims available to get clean.

I tried playing from a role play view, it was more fun than a strategic "win the game quickly" style.  Military control would be one of the first things to be re-established in the wake of an apocalypse (calling out what's left of the National Guard).  Food supply and medical services would also be very high priorities.  Rediscovered technology (science) and new ways to produce food from the scorched earth (natural science) would flow from the developments in the military, medical and culinary areas.  Then you might see a little black-marketeering (business and crime) and a re-establishment of law and order, not to mention jockeying for power in a political vacuum.  I felt that show biz, like art, would be a low priority for a family intent on restoring the area.  With some minor variations, this is the way I played the challenge each time.

[Paperbladder]

I look at the roleplaying method in a different order, with Athletic first so that the mafia (Life of Crime) can be overthrown.

Then citizens found government (Politics) so reduce the corruption that still exists in anarchy.  Government then would found the Military, and influence people that this government is OK by getting rid of the Zombie problem.  The citizens would then create the police (Law Enforcement) to deal with burglar and fire problems, in addition to protecting "virtue" and "morals".  With the fear of having their stuff stolen people have enough comfort to cook their own food more often and improving the taste (Culinary).  Now that people are no longer as hungry, they dive into Artistry.

Artistry eventually leads to the Scientific Method (Science) being developed again, which creates innovations to make life better such as medicine and sanitation (Medicine).  Certain people now decide to make a profit off of scientific discoveries by founding their own Businesses.  The children of these Tycoons decide to exploit money in a different way than their predecessors, this time by entertainment (Show Business).  These Celebrities now feel they have a "Civic Duty" to give certain rights to the non-famous, and cause the government to allow for the creation of labor unions(Slacker).

While all of the Business stuff is happening, Scientists finally finish a project called "SotHM" which allows them to develop technology even more rapidly (Paranormal).  Children created using a "SotHM" gene discover that they can turn the unfertile ash into fertile soil.  Continued development of Technology catches the eyes of the Progenitors, which then abduct a sim and teach them their secrets.

The order is essentially Athletic & Hopelessness > Life of Crime > Politics > Military > Law Enforcement > Culinary > Artist > Science > Medical > Business > Show Business > Slacker > Paranormal > Natural Scientist.  The only reason I shoved Alien Technology last is the fact that it seemed to last step, and the fact that you probably bother with it until you have everything done since it's a time waster to get.  Hopelessness is linked with being the first Founder getting Career LV10, which would be Athletic.  This order does assume sort of a Civ-style progression, and also assumes that there's no place unaffected by the apocalypse.

As for playing the thing, I would actually lift these in a much different order.  Natural Scientist would not be the last thing I would unlock and Artist would be much closer to the end.

[daedreem]

Thanks for all the answers...

I played my test family a bit today to remind me, because I KNEW there was an improtant question I was forgetting.

When you're inviting a best freind over (you have a car) and that freind wants to BRING a freind along? Can you say YES?

Almost everyone I've invited has wanted to bring their pals, and since I didn't know the answer to this, I kept saying 'no'... but If you think about it.. if that freind is already visiting your best freind and you're driving to their house to pick them up anyway... why can't you pick up their other freind whomever it may be too?

[Fish Dude]

This challenge looks great apart from all the rules and the amount of time it takes to play as i cant get on the sims much.

[kutto]

I would say if you have a car, then yes. If you don't have a car, and you are inviting a love, then I'd say no.

[Alvaron]

Another couple things I've been wondering... I'd like the answer before I restart the challenge.

4) [...] everyone keeps mentioning the chancecards as if they HAVE to take them... but I'm not finding in the rules that they have to be taken.

See the Slacker restrictions. Chance cards may not be ignored until those restrictions have been lifted.

I treated it like they did, just in case, and my unskilled level 9 not qualified for promotion downtownie spouse chanced her way to level 10 in a career I initially did NOT want to lift.

You can choose not to unlock a track if you wish when the sim hits the top of the career.

5) IS the hot-tub allowed?

Yes.

The love tub unless unlocked by Science and/or Alien Technology restriction removal must be deleted when the candles burn out. IMO, hot tubs should be disallowed until Medical is unlocked but that's not what Pinstar ruled.

[Alvaron]

Creativity has been easy. My founder earned the Lie Finder while he was looking for his first job (honors bonuses), then switched to Show Business.

I'm confused. How did you manage to get a Level 6 job in Crime w/o computers unlocked? The best you can get from the newspaper is level 4 and that won't get you a Lie Detector. Or did you spend time in the criminal career then switch?

Going for show business first is an interesting path. I discounted it because it seemed to me that the boost in the bars was too low to be useful but apparently my estimate is incorrect. One thing I do know: if you need to put a spouse's mood meter into platinum for a promotion or want to spin their wants, an at-home date works wonders. Maybe I'll give show biz a shot next time out. 

I'm currently putting my first student through college with only 4 restrictions lifted (Hopelessness, Show Business, Slacker, and Military). He maxed all his skills as a Teen and also earned scholarships for school, work, dancing, and billiards.

Whatever for? He can only unlock one track and even the most demanding careers don't require max skills. I suppose being permaplat might be useful but when my male Sims have done their unlock, they're out the door to make room for more kids. They're your Sims so play 'em as you wish. I don't just understand your thinking here since the challenge is scored by days spent. I choose not to spend time max'ing skills on sim kids who won't be around that long once they're back from college.

[Alvaron]

I"m closing in on unlocking my last three careers.  Of course, it only took three tries to get this far.

Well done!

Culinary and military were unocked in the second generation.

Those were my two picks also for the 2nd gen bloodline heir and his spouse. She's unlocked Military and is now pregnant with the first 3rd gen heir, he's working at level 7 in Culinary.

The lack of food is maddening as it's preventing my Sims from skilling as much as I'd like. I think it's the need to schedule the day's activities around the one meagre meal that really crimps my style. With luck, Culinary will unlock in a few days and life in my Apocalypse will get, much easier.

If there had been a male downtownie with a Level 9-10 Culinary job, I would've unlocked Medical and Culinary as my first two picks and brought back two tanks of elixir to help force-age the first heir into adulthood. There was no such downtownie so I did Medical and Science, knowing that Culinary had to be the first 2nd gen heir's unlock. It's worked mostly but there have certainly been some close calls (as in "Stop whining, I know you're starving. The school bus will be here soon.")

Just how hack free are we to be in this challenge?

They will pry the phone hack from my cold, dead fingers.

I refuse to play without J.M.'s and Twojeffs's fixes. I've already had to load up and evict once in this challenge due to a bug in the meditation teleport function (take my word for it: you do not want to teleport into the middle of the house when a toddler is growing up with moveobjects on). I simply will not play with the buggy code that Maxis serves up by default. 'Nuff said.

[Sketch Elder]

I'm confused. How did you manage to get a Level 6 job in Crime w/o computers unlocked? The best you can get from the newspaper is level 4 and that won't get you a Lie Detector. Or did you spend time in the criminal career then switch?

Criminal career reward is at level 4. My founder majored in Literature, so he got the level 4 job from the paper, instant Lie Finder.

Whatever for? He can only unlock one track and even the most demanding careers don't require max skills. I suppose being permaplat might be useful but when my male Sims have done their unlock, they're out the door to make room for more kids. They're your Sims so play 'em as you wish. I don't just understand your thinking here since the challenge is scored by days spent. I choose not to spend time max'ing skills on sim kids who won't be around that long once they're back from college.

Why not? He had plenty of time and little else to do. He was going to be a Teen anyway until he grew up or his sister unlocked Military, which only happened the day before he would have grown up. I had planned on him unlocking Science, and he'll probably still do that. I only sent him to college because I chose Knowledge for him (mistake, should have stuck with Popularity) and he had a fear of growing up uneducated. Besides, all those skills will be very useful once Science is unlocked. He should easily pick up all the career rewards the family is missing. As for scoring, I'm more interested in doing things my own way and enjoying the game than in getting the best score.

My strategy seems to be working quite well. Promotions for the family have all been through permaplat, so far, but I haven't had any difficulty with training skills, doing homework, or getting A+ in school or college. Randy just finished college with a 4.0 in Mathematics and he doesn't have permaplat. It will be interesting to see whether he can get all his promotions without it. He moved in at 8am Monday and left about noon on Thursday, based on the bills he received (second one arrived while he was taking the last final). That's just over 3 days on his home lot. He finished with only 15 friends and §27K, both of which are extremely low by my experience, but I'm satisfied with him not needing a handout.

[Kyna]

The lack of food is maddening as it's preventing my Sims from skilling as much as I'd like. I think it's the need to schedule the day's activities around the one meagre meal that really crimps my style. With luck, Culinary will unlock in a few days and life in my Apocalypse will get, much easier.

Actually in my game culinary was usually unlocked around 4th to 6th.  In one version of this challenge my founder and spouse raised 3 children before culinary was unlocked.  Many days they didn't even turn the fridge around to get food out.  My founder and her spouse both meditated a lot on their days off - only coming out to tend to the needs of any babies or toddlers - and the kids and teens only needed to eat on weekends.  On the weekends one serving of gelation per day - 2 plates each for the kids - was enough.   I can remember when the firstborn was pregnant I had her and her spouse and her parents all meditating around the lone snapdragon on the lot so that the younger offspring could eat enough to study for scholarships.  Nat Sci had been unlocked by that point, but business hadn't.  I found scholarships were critical for the first few going off to uni, as they had to build the uni lot and they had to deal with protection money more often.  Of course protection money at uni can be minimised by spending time at community lots, and by keeping the three most expensive single-tile items in the inventory when not in use (i.e. shower, mini-fridge and computer) so that they don't lose any value.

They will pry the phone hack from my cold, dead fingers.

Off-topic here, but on another game forum, I remember someone whose sig was "they will pry my mac from my cold, dead fingers".  Did you ever play any games by Spiderweb Software?

[rhodaloo]

I finished the challenge at 1 a.m. today.  I thought I would NEVER have my show biz sim get through that career.  Stupid me actually answered a chance card for her (I didn't have to).  She was demoted to cartoon voice.  It wouldn't have been so bad except she was an elder.  Luckily for me, I then discovered I couldn't save, change lots, neighborhoods or exit the game.  I became rather hysterical when my geek hit the reset button as I didn't remember when I last saved the game.  I lost two sim weeks so I basically had to do the last three careers over. 

Besides the whining over not bathing and food, plus the ghost everywhere, what I really didn't like about the challenge was having to look at the default Maxis hairstyles for so long.    

I'll be honest about my hacks:  the only ones I pulled were the smart serve and harder jobs.  I'm selective about which hacks I use.  The phone hack is a cricital hack as far as I'm concerned.

[daedreem]

I'm still going on this challenge... I'm actually continueing with my first family.. I decided while the results won't be 100% valid due to my error with my founder using the PC to get his first job, that I was having too much fun and didn't want to restart.

I got tired of the same old Zombies wandering around trying to find brains, stealing my papers, and eating out of my trash can, so I made my own lot full of them.

- Then I made them available for download. - so if you want more annoying zombies shambling around, punching your sims when they look through the telescope, enjoy!
http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/lot_detail.php?asset_id=435197
These Zombies are actually set up with everything they'd need if you wanted to start play with them, if you wanted to do more with them than simply have them shamble around.

(note.. since they do NOT have to worry about zombies, their home is not an 8x8 area...  but they ARE limitted in their tech and running water. They've taken over the basement of an old ranch, and use part of the corral for brains-on-the-hoof as they can catch them.)

If you check them out let me know what you think.

[Sagana]

If there had been a male downtownie with a Level 9-10 Culinary job, I would've unlocked Medical and Culinary as my first two picks and brought back two tanks of elixir to help force-age the first heir into adulthood.

My founder married Nolan I'veforgottenhislastname, a townie who was a celebrity chef and she unlucked medical. I'm not at all convinced this was the best strategy, though it seems like the most obvious one. (and even so, my stupid founder would autonomously cook lobster if I didn't turn the frig around and run the thing out of food before the week was up) Next time I think I'll do show business and military or show business and science instead. Dates and outings are a powerful tool.

I've made some dumb mistakes (a poorly designed house, didn't change the spouse out of his first career fast enough thinking I wanted the money, so he didn't make it to the top of criminal which would have put him permaplat, forgot he had to quit when he got to elder but she didn't (she maxed all skills easily in Uni) so I didn't put her in another career fast enough, and various other stuff) but I still don't see how you all are maxing the teen's skills so easily. I can't even work on creativity unless they get a teen career in criminal and they can't do that until they have 10 body. Even using yoga (which they can't do until they're teen) 10 body takes too damn long.

The oldest kid made that with 4 days to go before she became an adult. Then it took her 2 days to get the career in the newspaper :p That leaves 2 days for all 10 creativity points, plus whatever else isn't maxed yet. It'll take her around a week (a bit less) to hit the top of the career even not missing any chance cards and by that time her 2 younger brothers will already be adults. So tops, the 4th kid will be able to get a teen job fairly early (and even he's already a teen). Only the youngest two are really going to have enough for all skills. And she can't get married until she hits the top of her career (she's doing military) so her parents can move out (her father just transitioned to elder and her mother hasn't yet, so they aren't going to die that soon, unless I kill 'em off.)

Sooo, how are you training your kids? Without smart milk and thinking caps, mine manage 5 or 6 charisma as toddlers, good numbers of logic, cooking, mechanical (they have the medical career reward), cleaning and the 3 body for yoga as kids, but then they get stuck working on the rest of the body (and some amounts of the other stuff) as teens. Oh I'm not using snapdragons.

Maybe I had too many kids and too fast, as the point is how many weeks, not how many generations?

[Alvaron]

I'm not at all convinced this was the best strategy, though it seems like the most obvious one.

I don't know of an overall best strategy since randomness in job offers and chance cards has a lot to do with it. I do know this: with Medical and Culinary unlocked, you have two of the four basic requirements for happy sims in hand. The trick is figuring how to get the first heir into adulthood quickly so that Military can be unlocked. Once that's done, you can birth simmies as fast as you like and park 'em in college until you're ready to send a batch (4-5) of them through university. With multiple students on a small lot, protection money isn't a problem, particularly if you spend most of your time on university community lots since your items at home don't depreciate much each semester.

Dates and outings are a powerful tool.

Agreed.

I still don't see how you all are maxing the teen's skills so easily.

Um... I'm not maxing the skills of the children. I look at the intended unlock track and do the 3-4 skills to scholarship level required by their career. As far as I know, dancing, pool, zombiefication and alien abduction aren't required by any career track so I ignore them. What matters is summa cum laude graduation in the right degree program.

As soon as my simkids grow into teens (and I do mean, the day they grow up), they're off to college with whatever scholarship money they have. Unless you're playing the Apocalypse Challenge as a Legacy handicap, it serves no purpose to crank on skills your sims don't need for their unlock. The exception might be those sims who need to teach their siblings and their children but, since I use elixir to keep my permaplat founder alive, I don't need other fully max'ed out sims in the house.

Sooo, how are you training your kids? Without smart milk and thinking caps, mine manage 5 or 6 charisma as toddlers, good numbers of logic, cooking, mechanical (they have the medical career reward), cleaning and the 3 body for yoga as kids, but then they get stuck working on the rest of the body (and some amounts of the other stuff) as teens. Oh I'm not using snapdragons.

Sounds about right. My toddlers manage 5-6 charisma or logic, depending on their ultimate career choice, then I work them with career rewards if possible. Since I know they will leave as soon as they're teens, I don't worry about the 10 body requirement for teens. With the elixir unlocked, there will be never any elders so it's moot. It'll really be moot when Law Enforcement unlocks. My teens have no need to go downtown and they won't have teenage jobs since they don't need them. If they need a cell phone, they can get one when they get to college. Money in college really isn't a problem since they can park in a downtown lot until Hades becomes icy and tend bar or sell coffee until your brain overloads from the utter ennui of another "clunk... +16 simoleons".

Maybe I had too many kids and too fast, as the point is how many weeks, not how many generations?

It's not possible to have children too fast in this challenge. It's Day 37 PA in my current attempt and my founder has birthed six children and has one grandchild. Four tracks are unlocked (Medical, Science, Military and Culinary) and it is literally down to counting days between pregnancies. Nothing else that will unlock will have any bearing on how fast I complete this challenge so the order in which the unlocks occur is irrelevant. Oh, having some more tracks unlocked will make simming them easier but it won't speed up the completion of the challenge. This is the flaw in Pinstar's set-up: once the basics are covered, the rate at which you birth the first heir of each generation balanced against the rate of siblings produced by previous generations is the overall governor on completion speed. Since you've unlimited room in college for YAs, there is no need for more than 3 generations. That gives six unlocks so you need eight siblings and you're done. Do the math and you'll get a fair idea of how long the challenge should take.

I plan to batch my YAs through university in clumps of 3-5 students at a time. Beyond the skills required by their degrees, most of them actually have little skill work to do so I don't expect too much difficulty. To avoid wasting time skilling, I select their degree program as soon as they hit campus.

At first, I allowed the illusion of time synchrony to muddy my thinking. Don't let it muddle yours. There is no required time synchrony between your college lot(s) and the home lot. Your last unlock could be by the second child of your founder because it really doesn't matter once hygiene, food, finances and access to college are available. And that's too bad because it should matter. It should make a difference that you had to choose to prep a sim for NatSci before one to unlock Slacker or Politics or Business but it doesn't. If you want an additional challenge over and above the rules-as-written one by Pinstar, try this: play one semester of college for each sim day at home and maintain all of your "legacy" sims in strict time synchrony. Maybe I'll give that a shot some time.

[Alvaron]

Criminal career reward is at level 4. My founder majored in Literature, so he got the level 4 job from the paper, instant Lie Finder.

Got it. Thank you for reminding me that not all career rewards come in at level 6.

As for scoring, I'm more interested in doing things my own way and enjoying the game than in getting the best score.

And I've no problem with that. With my starting unlocks of Medical and Science, it was tricky figuring out how to avoid the 15 days of enforced puberty until Military and/or Culinary could begin to be unlocked. I did it with forced aging using elixir since I am trying to see how quickly I can complete the challenge.

[Alvaron]

On the weekends one serving of gelation per day - 2 plates each for the kids - was enough.

Ah, gelatin. That explains a lot. I followed Pinstar's dictum (made somewhere, don't remember where) that gelatin was disallowed. Had gelatin been available, things wouldn't have been quite so desperate in my challenge household of four adults and three children without Culinary being unlocked.

When my celebrity chef pulled into the driveway (after slam-dunking the top-end culinary chance card to boot on his promotion day), he served up pork chops for the entire family. I kicked back and watched my poor hungry simmies munch down in the dismal drabness of their family room on the 2nd floor of their hovel. The silly game made me feel proud of my little virtual people for having survived all of the abuses to which I put them and it made my heart glad to hear their murmurs of contentment as they ate. If nothing else memorable happens to them in this challenge, that one evening with its simple pleasures of eating good food prepared by a top-quality chef after countless days of near starvation made it all worthwhile.

Off-topic here, but on another game forum, I remember someone whose sig was "they will pry my mac from my cold, dead fingers".  Did you ever play any games by Spiderweb Software?

I'm sure I have though offhand I don't remember the names of them. It's that old accelerated decrepitude creeping in. 

And, yes, I paid $8000 for a fully-equipped Macintosh II back in the day. Sheesh, what an idiot I was.