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#101 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 1:09 AM
I'm a little confused about the "old maid" thing. Could you explain that to me?
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Field Researcher
#102 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 11:38 AM
Default Olivia McKeen
I have put my story up in the storie section - I don't want to flood this topic with my ton of pics

Here is my story

For new or updated skins, please visit my website: Pink Rabbit
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#103 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 2:14 PM
Quote: Originally posted by macthekat
I have put my story up in the storie section[/URL]


oh, that is a good idea. Keeping the actual stories separate from the "meta-discussion".

Sorry, I'm not so familiar with this site and the customs + habits here. I should probably move my stuff over to the story department as well!? Or not?

Ellatrue, let me know if you think "yes indeed" ... I'm going offline soon (until next year), not sure if I'd be able to move before I'm back, but I won't update while offline anyway so it doesn't matter.
Instructor
Original Poster
#104 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 3:48 PM
Yes indeed, I think it would be a good idea to use the story boards... you can also just upload the story to the sims2 exchange and then post a link to it here (it might be the easiest thing).

Happy Holidays!
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#105 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 4:59 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Ellatrue
Yes indeed, I think it would be a good idea to use the story boards


Ok, I'll move it over to Stories + delete my posts here (the EA site doesn't really work for me ... slow, ugly, complicated). Thanks again for the idea, I wouldn't have thought of it!

Edit: Done, see this thread (in Forums > S2 Discussion > Stories)
#106 Old 20th Dec 2005 at 8:02 PM
This challenge is hilarious!!!

You should all win an award for not using cheats!
#107 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 1:37 AM
Hahaha, I agree. This sounds like so much fun. I'm definitely gonna try this.
Instructor
Original Poster
#108 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 2:15 AM
hahahahaha (points)

I recommend having them eat out of the trashcan.
#109 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 8:44 AM
This challenge is good. My game needs re-installing (technical problems) but when it works I'm gonna give it a go...

Question- Can the sim live on a community lot, and live 'rough'. I want to make them officially homeless.
#110 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 4:44 PM
Problem is, they won't sleep on a communtiy lot. I know, because I tried that very thing. I'll be trying again soon, and I'll let you know if I have any success.
Instructor
Original Poster
#111 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 4:52 PM
No, they can't because the sleep functions have been disabled on the community sofas and benches. They can't pass out on community lots either. The only way they can sleep on a community lot is if you are cheating in some way with community enabled objects, etc. However, I will consider incorporating it into a future challenge with a pre-approved lot, made by me.
#112 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 6:17 PM
OK. I am re-installing sims2 nightlife at the moment, so I'll start tomorrow.

Another question- Doesn't a female sim have a huge advantage over a male sim, because men can't get pregnant (duh!).I reckon you should make a 'male only' bonus points thing, that evens it out a little bit more.
Instructor
Original Poster
#113 Old 21st Dec 2005 at 7:43 PM
I guess I could, but I think it only makes a difference in the very beginning, before they move anyone in. I mean, you can find a mate in the first two days.
#114 Old 22nd Dec 2005 at 12:16 AM
Peggy Previously :D



You can see what Peggy thinks of her new job, but at least she got enough money together to buy herself a bed.



Even though her food poisoning had passed, things still weren't going right. Until she met Corbin.. who is now Mr. Corbin Poorly.



Peggy was thrilled to find out that Corbin had $13,000 in the bank. They were able to build a little house, with a room and furnishings for the immenent arrival of their baby.



She named him Patrick. Though it doesn't look like Corbin was prepared to be a parent, he quit his job right after he married Peggy, and plans on being a stay-at-home daddy.

Instructor
Original Poster
#115 Old 23rd Dec 2005 at 8:18 PM
Wow, that sink is pretty gross, but Corbin is cute. Thanks for the update, Kristin.

A note: For those of you joining the challenge now, in the future, please post pictures and stories on the story boards or the official website, and leave a link to them here.

The old maid bonus is the same as the normal challenge, with one exception: your sim never marries or asks another sim to move in. Because of this, you get bonus points.

Sims that eat out of the trashcan should be the same sims that can lick their plates clean.
Retired Duck
retired moderator
#116 Old 26th Dec 2005 at 9:03 AM
I think you might be on to something with the ghetto version of this challenge, because I don't really see that the promotion penalty is sufficient of an excuse not to be promoted. For example:

Say you get into the athletics career track (start on low pay, end on high). If your sim attended ten days of work at entry level, s/he would have $1540. If your sim spent only one day at each career level, getting promoted *every day* (so as to accumulate as many promotion penaltiy points as possible), then even ignoring the extra simoleans your sim gets with a promotion you end up with $10,027. That translates directly into points. Take away 9000 points for all the promotion penalties and your sim is still 1027 in the positive. On top of which, s/he is now earning 9,099 a week instead of 770 a week, and works fewer days providing more time to [paint/work as a barista/perform for money]. The promotion penalty gets swallowed up pretty darn fast. :/

In other career paths the difference is less obvious, but in almost all cases the benefits to promotion outweigh the penalty.

Of course, having a promoted sim isn't really in the spirit of this challenge and I hope people don't try to take advantage of this. But if you had a version of the challenge where sims were just flat out *not* allowed to work higher than entry level, or even harder, not allowed to work at all, this wouldn't be such a problem.

Edit: On an unrelated note, what's the ruling on Vampires? With their low nightime motive decay, it'd be pretty easy to accrue vast amounts of money by going to community lots, performing non stop until just before dawn, returning home to find it's just gone evening there, then going out and repeating the process indefinately...
Instructor
Original Poster
#117 Old 26th Dec 2005 at 5:38 PM
I actually didn't intend the promotion penalty to be sufficient to keep people from getting their sims promoted, because I felt that keeping the situation of the family constant could get rather boring after the first generation, and I feel that it is more interesting to have something of a "rags to riches" story going as the challenge progresses, which is why there are fewer restrictions on grandchildren. It is enough of a penalty to prevent people from cheating with the CAS sim getting promoted every day and then quitting just to get the promotion bonus, because the penalty is greater than the promotion bonus from any entry level job. I also felt that it added an interesting "weight" to the challenge, so that, especially in the beginning, your sims would always have a number of factors working against them that are greater than those faced other sims. I also felt that it would allow people to try multiple strategies as things get more competitive.


To tell you the truth, I don't like having the sims perform/ work downtown at all, because there is no passage of time on community lots, and at the time I forgot the sims had that option since I almost never do it in my own game.... You are right about the vampires, though- it's too easy.

***EDIT: No more vampires, period. I also changed my mind about the fairness. From now on, you may only use specific poverty challenge lots, to prevent the earning of money on community lots, since it also causes problems with the flow of the challenge. The first "poverty legal" lot is available here: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=125890 ***
Instructor
Original Poster
#118 Old 28th Dec 2005 at 1:58 PM
I like the comic book format that you used, thanks for sharing Soapies.
Field Researcher
#119 Old 30th Dec 2005 at 11:01 PM
That was great Soapies! I agree that the format was a nice idea as well.
Test Subject
#120 Old 2nd Jan 2006 at 6:46 PM
Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
[...] Ocean moves in [and] brings in no more than 2000§! Oh crap. Perhaps it's because he aged artificially ... so even though he's an adult now, he has the financial assets of a teenager.

One question: Ocean's lifespan is weird -- when he moves in, he "will become an elder in 15 days". This is a bug I would say, the game changes the life stage when you age a sim up/down, but somehow forgets to change the *length* of it?


I had the same thing happen when my sim married Derek the paperboy. I didn't even notice until he was about to become an elder. He, however, brought §9000, so I don't think the agesim cheat effects the money a sim brings.

Speaking of Derek (his last name starts with a V) he's not a bad sim to marry. He's not horrible looking (and pretty decent for a townie), he's a knowledge sim and has nearly all of his skills maxed out (excepting mechanical and creativity). Having him die off early didn't hurt things either, since he left something like 50,000 in insurance money, the poverty is pretty much gone now, they have quite the house with lots of simoleans left over.

"Look, I don't need this, I inhaled my favorite whistle this morning."
--Simpsons
#121 Old 2nd Jan 2006 at 6:51 PM
I just started the poverty challenge last night:

Here is Sasha Anne McShield:


She decided to start out with nothing but a phone and a barrel. To eat, she decided to go downtown and eat hotdogs. She went to Mad Molly's Assylum, Bar, & Grill. They were very kind, they even let her eat her hotdogs inside the diner! Looking good so far, eh?



As money is going to be tight, she decides to get herself clean before returning to her lovely lot (note creative use of foilage):



After a hard day's work as a pickpocket she has enough money to buy a lovely couch.



But soon she gets hungry! She decides to call out for chinese food, forgetting that she can't afford it! When the deliveryman comes, he steals her couch! Bummer.

Her neighbors come to visit her and she falls fora ruthless pirate, who has no interest in her, already being married with 3 kids.



It seems like Miss McShield is destined to copulate with a hideous townie.

Sasha finally earns enough money to buy her couch back... right before she is fired from her job for bad performance. Looks like buying a toilet is out of the question!

Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#122 Old 2nd Jan 2006 at 9:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HunterGreen
I had the same thing happen when my sim married Derek the paperboy [...] He, however, brought §9000, so I don't think the agesim cheat effects the money a sim brings.

Yes, the ex-teen that I moved in after that (Zippo's wife Laura) brought 9000§ as well -- so the 2000§ were plain bad luck it seems =)

I meanwhile adjusted both their life stages (the length I mean), so that they'll age transition at around the same time as their spouses ... hope that's not against the rules.


P.S. -- HunterGreen, have you posted your story somewhere?
Test Subject
#123 Old 3rd Jan 2006 at 12:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by plasticbox
P.S. -- HunterGreen, have you posted your story somewhere?


I hadn't yet....

I created a female sim called Julia Po Verty, and I even created a new neighborhood for her to live in called Sudden Valley. The hardest part of this challenge is clearly the first few days before you move another sim in. I had a piece of wall on my property (once I had enough cash, that is), and I alternated between a phone, a sink and a toilet there. I never realized how expensive showers were before this. Even the cheapy university shower is $425. She went to Sudden Square a few times to eat and bartend, but I really wanted to stay focused on moving another sim in.

She built up a relationship with Derek (checks SimPE to see how to spell this) Vijayakar (who is blond and white), the paperboy, since townies are so hideous looking. But he's a teenager, so I had to use the "agesim" cheat (as mentioned above) and it decreased his adult lifespan by about 14 days. After I aged him, he continued to deliver the papers, only dressed in a black shirt and pants. They did get married and he was jobless, but did have nearly all of his skills maxed out (which led to him getting two promotions at his job, but oh well, they needed the money).

She then became a baby factory and had 5 children. Since the spirit of the challenge is not cheating, I didn't reload the births to change the gender, and had to go through 3 boys before getting a daughter. They are the proud parents of Julian, Ricky, Liam, Victoria, and Sophia.

Making the kids all fortune aspiration was really difficult. They kept wanting to go to private school and buy things, subsequently there were a lot of tantrums and a few aspiration failures. The boys have spent a lot of time in the red, which is new for me since I try to keep sims platium all the time.

Derek has since died, leaving a huge inheritence which sort of ended the poverty. They built a new house and don't have to have the cheap toilets and that disgusting cheap fridge (with the stains on the bottom, I really hate it). Julian is an adult and he's persuing the mailwoman whilst working in the science career track.

This hasn't been *too* hard, I have been trying to play without money cheats for awhile because it makes building a family more challenging, but not getting promoted certainly snagged things. I would also reccommend using the law enforcement career track for the CAS sim, since it requires a body skill point to be promoted, and its a night job which keeps you from having to hire a nanny (unless there's no other adult sim in the house) since most other jobs are daytime.

Pictures are posted here: (might take a bit to load)
http://patientx.i8.com/nonx/simspoverty.html
&
http://patientx.i8.com/nonx/simspoverty2.html

"Look, I don't need this, I inhaled my favorite whistle this morning."
--Simpsons
Field Researcher
#124 Old 3rd Jan 2006 at 9:10 AM
nice little story.

For new or updated skins, please visit my website: Pink Rabbit
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#125 Old 3rd Jan 2006 at 2:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by HunterGreen
Making the kids all fortune aspiration was really difficult. They kept wanting to go to private school and buy things, subsequently there were a lot of tantrums and a few aspiration failures.

Thanks for the story! That's strange with the kids -- mine were always very easy to make happy since their wants were always earn some money, earn amount X, and sell a masterpiece ... all of which were fulfilled every time they sold one of their paintings. But I've been wondering about it too, since all other fortune sims I've ever played tend to want to buy stuff more than anything else ... perhaps it's because they have so many playfulness points? Or because of the creativity points they've acquired? Or simply because I had them paint all day, so they don't know what else to expect from life?

I agree about the law enforcement carreer ... I had put my first sim in that one simply because it was the only "promotion-safe" carreer on that day, but later I realized that it's the highest-paying one, too. Among the "safe" ones, I mean (that require points for a promotion).


P.S. -- MCRdazedream, are you sure you bought the right kind of lot? A 5x5 one should cost you 15.200 if memory serves ...
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