I have an outside garbage can replacement. That stops the roaches. I would rather it didn't, but it's either no kickable garbage can or modern looking one. Mine looks like a barrel. Perhaps you have it too?

You can still get roaches if your sims make a mess and don't clean it up.

I'm sticing with the neat barrel for now. When I hit the age of the plague I'm going to have to find a kickable replacement. If anyone has one that doesn't look modern and your sims can still kick it over, please say so.

I do not have a population explosion. Despite all the woohoo they just aren't multiplying very fast. In fact it looks like gen 2 is going to be smaller then gen 1. Given that I have inteen, hopefully gen 2 will be more fruitful.

There was talk of replaying the neanderthal era once passed it. May I recomend Castaway Stories? I've been playing it on my computer that had the recent crash. It takes up far less space and I'm not going to be so upset if I lose everything in another crash.

Castaway Stories is a lot of fun and rather different than sims 2. It also lacks a lot, like fears and ltw. So it's isn't so fun that it takes the place of the regular challenge....good to play on a less good computer when you are away from home or the other one is being used by someone else.

Yuki Shine you inspired me. I don't play with showers and tubs since you were able to play without for the whole neanderthal stage. I don't find it a royal pain like I thought I would. And if the sink breaks and needs are too low I influence guests to fix it.

After getting to the second gen for the second time (due to the crash) I am not worried about population explosions. This is the way it goes.

I start off with the ladies trying for babies or going on dates (depending on wants). But if they are too hungry or tired they could miscarry. Also the pregnancies are surprises. So anytime they are hungry or tired I take care of that just in case.

Eventually I get to the point where there needs are low a lot. This leads to bad tempers and fights....also jealousy leads to fights. Even though I let them plead for their life, sometimes they die or I don't notice until it is too late.

Then the ghosts start knocking down the needs that I worked all day to get up. I'm lucky if the ghosts don't kill some sims.

Then the fridge runs out of food. I had a problem in one cave because there was no ripe produce, they were too hungry to fish, and they only had catfish. No one had enough cooking skill to cook it. I can influence guests to make a meal, but if they don't have the right fish in their inventory and decide to cook it, I'm out of luck...and in the middle of the night....famine. But once a sim dies and I plead for their life they might have high enough needs to catch a fish.

Oddly enough once they get to the second trimester of pregnancy everything calms down. The woman spends most of her time sleeping and everyone else keeps busy making food and growing and catching more for when she wakes up.

I've made my 1st round excessively long. Once I get to the end of it I'll be able to say the population difference.

Nexya I do some ltw adjustments, but not with simsPE. I roll a die 6 times and get to choose any of those results. So mostly they are what I want, but not always. I figure if they have an impossible ltw, like a career, it means that some people are never satisfied. Or, we can't all get what we want.

Wow I couldn't imagine going through without showers. I always break down and let them have a shower. I'm just making my sims use the cold shower feature, even in winter, I'd rather have them freeze to death than stand there complaining about how they smell. I figure if they're that concerned with hygiene that they at times literally die to bathe, (its happened twice) who am I to deny them that.

Chicklet I envy you for almost having families starve to death, after the first round mine always have enough to eat, its starting to really depress me.

Well, my simmies don't really have an oversupply on food, but I decided I'll introduce an ice-age, because always summer is somewhat boring. You could try that too. It would certainly help ^o^

I found finally the time to set up my blog. The link is in my signature, but for now mostly all I have is introduction and the second post is missing a picture of my hood I forgot to take the last time I played and right now I'm too lazy to start the game just for this xD

And I know that I wanted to ask you something else, but I can't remember what it was
I suppose it wasn't that important

Edit: My signature isn't showing up yet -not enough posts-, so here the link: http://flyingsims.livejournal.com/

Edit 2: remembered what I wanted to ask: I know that some of you are playing with lots with more than 8 sims. I put the cheats in my startup and it's working, but I'm not able to try for baby, when there are more than 8 sims on the lot. is that normal or have I done something wrong?

Want your sim kids to not go to school - ever? I added the proper links to the bottom of my Where Can I Find? page, under Mods. This is with an object placed on a lot so it is very easy to undo in the game when you get to a later era.

I think it is downright funny that you find it depressing if your sims are well fed.

If you want starving sims, feel free to copy my play style.

I use the rules that the sims can't call for grocery delivery and no comuunity lots. I found a necesary exception. If the fridge gets into negative numbers (due to baby bottles or toddler food) then you can't make food even if you have a fish in inventory. I order groceries for the very minimum. This takes care of the problem.

I rarely pause while playing. Most of the time I set a sim to do stuff, switch to the next, and so on. No pausing setting them all up and pressing play.

If you want it even more likely that they'll starve, get the shipwrecked fridge, available here at mod the sims. There is a link to it on my site if you need it. Sims will not get anything from the shipwrecked fridge unless you direct them to.

I also use the nursing mod. I don't direct sims to get bottles. The mom has to keep nursing the baby. Even with the "see them" patch there is nothing to see. It looks like the mom is holding the baby with her shirt fully on.

I also make sims feed toddlers in high chairs, unless they don't have the $ for one. But if they have a pet....well then I let the toddlers eat the pet food.

I don't use a mod to have more than 8 sims. When a lot is full and a woman is not pregnant, I figure it's time to move someone out so she can try for a baby. Otherwise I might never go over 1 cave......

I get bored pretty easily and I know that I don't have the patience to enforce rolls to kill them off so starvation is my best bet. I find that my sims easily get enough food for an ice age, I've decided to double the length so the ponds are actually frozen for a while.

I've already been doing some of those things but this time round, yes I'm starting again and am going to try a website this time, I'm experimenting to make my simmies more miserable. For example if they don't feed the penguin and it walks past their lot they are going to suffer. I'm also going to restrict them to selling edible fish if they need money, that should make it a bit harder

Edit: I made the mistake of making a family called Fisher. They almost starved to death on the first day, loving it

Edit again: New website is here, not much there yet but I'm working on it.

How to Survive the Dark Ages
 

Here are some tips for surviving the Dark Ages.

1) Don't talk to strangers, they usually turn out to be Vikings.
2) Take time to water and weed the garden; it's fun.
3) In the summer, work the garden at night and drink lots of water.
4) With no recreational items, make fun the cheap way: play red hands, jump rope, tickle your spouse, sing folk songs, farm and fish.
5) Build tall walls around your home and reinforce your gate.
6) Stock up on food supplies.
7) Keep your house clean to avoid illness.
8) Sell boots, fish, veggies and anything else you can so you can pay your weekly tithes.

These are just a few things I've learned so far about how to survive the Dark Ages (and yes, I discovered this by seeing all the ways my Sims died)

For the larger size households I actually use a mod found here on Mod the Sims. link is : http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=250640 . I've used it for years with no problems, allows up to 50 on a lot or 30 Sims and 20 pets. I have yet to make it over 20, it gets hectic! Probably why I'm struggling to get back into my Beta Group. Currently brainstorming on story ideas and what the hell to do with them! lol.



I use Castaway trees in my Neanderthal Stage with fishing. Haven't had problems with starving Sims. Every now and then I get a pregnant Sim who won't climb up the coconut tree, there's no Bass n' Squash in her inventory, but she has the fish! Of course, it's the wrong time to grill dinner and then I break down and let her drink juice from the fridge. I've thought about the nursing mod, but I'm trying to keep my extra game content down to a minimum. I love CC, but have exploded my game a few times in the past. So this time around I'm being very picky and trying to go as Maxis as possible. So it's bottles for the little tikes.



In fact, I jinxed myself the other day and my game wouldn't launch. Turned out I had "cache files" that needed removing. Asked hubby, he said various ways could generate those files. He caught my attention when he said corrupting files. For the first time, I successful installed an Uberhood by meetme2theriver's and was in Veronaville doing a medieval Gypsy Camp. I had just plunked my old Medieval folder in my downloads, meaning there's probably some CC that corrupted generating those cache files. I removed the CC and no more cache files have generated. I've just backed up my files in both Simpe and on my desktop (Thank you Peni, for that reminder!). So my ToT neighborhoods were safe, even before I started the Uberhood project.



I'll be double scrubbing through my downloads. I had downsized my SimStone content 6 months ago, but thinking of doing it again. Is there a good program to check for corrupted CC? And has anyone else had issues with cache files preventing their game from starting/launching? First time I had anything like it happen, first time I have an Uberhood, and first time playing with Veronaville Hood, but since I have had problems with CC before and this was an old folder ... Anyways, it still freaked me out. I've wanted to do an Uberhood for over five years now!

If you have OFB just have the pregnant sim make/make group meal/bass with squash that's what I always do if its morning and sims are hungry.

When I was reading your blog I was wondering how you could stand having so many sims on a lot, I occasionally have more than 10 and that's enough to almost make my head explode.

It's fairly common for some people to be completely unable to launch the game with the old cache files there. I'm in the habit of dumping them after every game and I've glitched a lot less since I started the habit, too.

I did a little research on my own and found out, that the cheat in the startup only allows you to add sims from the 'hood. For new sims being born when you're on the lot you need a mod like the one you posted. ^o^ But thank you anyway


But isn't it resetting the game, like after installing a new EP, when you delete those files?


About playing with more than 10 sims: I suppose that's only possible if you don't really control them. If you start god moding, that's definitely going to make your head explode
In fact, for the Neanderthal stage it is working really well to play with big lots, because they don't need to go to work, study or something like that. It's funny to observe if you simply put 15-20 sims on a lot and then let them alone. After a few days, they get an own routine and can take care of themselves. As long as no fire breaks their routine, because then you have 20 sims running to the showers at the same time and, well, normally their bathroom isn't that big after all

No. I at one point had to delete the cache files after I closed the game every time, as it wouldn't load the next time (I learned through trial and error that saving, then clicking to exit the game keeps me from having to delete them so much). And my game never reset like it does at the addition of a new EP. Every lot loaded exactly as I had left it. I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the cache files, just that they regenerate when the game loads. ~VP

Think of cache files as the post it note you stick on the side of your screen with the phone numbers, URLs, and other information you'll need to refer to on the fly during the day. As you scribble in new info and erase old, it gets harder and harder to read, until you find that you're confusing 4 with 9 and B with 8 and the sticky's worn off the back. Obviously if you use the same post-it for several days on end it'll start being too hard to read to be useful and may lead you to embarrassing mistakes. This is easily prevented by starting a new post-it every morning.

That's exactly how cache files work. Because they're keeping info the computer needs to refer to in order to run the program in a readily accessible place, it helps the game run a little faster and smoother, but this degrades over time till it becomes more of a hindrance than a help. So get rid of the old one to start a fresh one.

What an excellent way to describe cache files! Like you, I delete my groups.cache and accessory.cache files every time I finish playing. This has eliminated all my glitches.

Test of Time Besieged
 

As many of you know, I am shortening this challenge by only playing 2 generations of each age. I am also incorporating the Besieged challenge into my Dark Ages as a way to manage the Viking attacks which are rapidly decreasing my population. This is a good thing since it helps to speed up game play with fewer lots. I went from almost 50 lots to about 28 after playing my first generation in the Dark Ages. I anticipate that this will be reduced even more as this generation of teens begins to date and eventually marry.

Good news for all you Romans. The Dark Ages fly by much faster than the Roman Age. There are no community lots, so no daily visits to the baths, and hardly anyone has a job, so there is little need to build skills. The men and children farm while the women sew. If I hadn't incorporated the Besieged challenge, the Dark Ages would be very similar to the Neanderthal Age.

Want to see how my challenge is going? Stop by to see what happened in the latest viking siege Barony of Pontus Falls

I started this challenge 18 months ago (!) and now on my 6th iteration, I'm finally playing it the way I want just wanted an opinion quickly - I'm about to enter the Roman era, and I have one Royal female waiting to be married off. The most eligible male for her is a Patrician. However, I don't want her to have to take his surname, otherwise the Royal household is going to become messy really fast. He is already getting "promoted" by marrying a Royal, so should he take her surname so that their kids will have the Royal surname? This would apply to all males who are marrying "up" into the Royal family.

By the time you reach the roman generation I find family trees are pretty messed up already. I couldn't find any patricians who were unrelated to my emperor's family. It depends on you preferences, if you will treat families that are closely related to the Emperor differently it would make sense to have him take her name. If you plan on treating them like other patricians and have already established a male dominated society it makes more sense to have his name.

At this rate I'll soon figure out if I have what it takes to handle lots of sims on a lot. In the first round my population doubled. O.o I'll have to lay off the have as many children as you can rule for awhile

Wow, thank you guys! Such a great way to define cache files. Come to think of it I did, kinda of exit funny. Usually I'm pretty good about saving then exiting properly, but I think I got interrupted and had to exit quickly. I'm relieve it's not a game breaking thing!

Great start Flying Raccoon and Ibsgril! Enjoying the new ToT sites. I've added them to my ToT page. I also decided to alphabetize by ToT player instead of site name, so it should be easier to scroll through.

I got my Beta Group notes unpacked, so now I know where I kinda left off with them. So the next week I hope to finish off their round. Well I'm off to play some Sims. Hugs to everyone!

PS. I finally broke down and picked up Sims 3, Sims 3: Supernatural, & Sims 3: Seasons. Figure I would check it out for some casual play.

I keep looking at them at the game store as well but as of yet I havent given in. I fear I will never come back to this challenge if I do ! How did you decide on those eps? Let me know what you think of the next generation.

When they anounced Sims 3 I remember that I was really exited, but back then my computer was too old and I didn't buy it. And forgot about it pretty fast xD
At some point, my sister bought it and when I got my new computer I played it a few times, but it did not catch my attention for long. You can simply do too many things and playing with bigger families is difficult, because you lose the overview with all those sims running around everywhere.

And now back to the actual topic ;3 One of my families, lost three children to the mean children-eating-witch and at the same time two other sims were dying on the lot. So it was quite hecitc for a few moments. In the end, the two dying sims were rescued and the children gone. But now comes the strange part: when I entered the lot the next time, one of the rescued sims was gone ._. I opened her file in SimPE and the information is normal: she's alive and living on the right lot. Maybe it's because of some download. I put some new ones in there a few days ago, but I have to track that down, yet and I had not much time the last few days.
but it's possible that I'm going to start the challenge again anyway, in a clean hood, because I made the mistake to package a lot with a sim on it on my old laptop and put it in my new game, which is of course creating lots of broken files ._. for the moment I have no problems, but I fear that this can change very fast. (disappearing sims are not a very good sign xD)

For the moment, I'll stick to updating my blog, because I have quite a lot of material that isn't up there yet and I don't have time to play. :P

About the cache files - nothing you do causes a problem with them. They go "stale" after awhile. In the sims 2 folder there are up to 3 files - cache, accesory cache and content registry. Delete them all. For a smooth running game, delete them everytime before you play. The game recreates them as needed. So don't panic if they aren't there. To save yourself the constant deleting, check this out: http://www.medievalsims.com/forums/...423&hilit=cache

Last night my 3rd generation baby was born! I played to the end of the sim year and will begin my ice age....well first one fall and the the ice age. I'm really excited.

I posted the Neanderthal and General Rules on my site today. I love this part of everyone's site. It's the first place I go...to look for ideas!

I'm getting ready to delete the old ToT chapters, from before the crash.

I haven't posted any chapters from my new challenge yet.

I just noticed - we have more views and more replies than all of the other sims 2 challenges! You all have made it a community. Even a newbie like me wanted to join in...to play and to talk about it.

My thoughts of Sims 3.

A little background history: I did pre-order at launch, but "UBERCRASH" pissed me off, so I shelved the game. Thought I would try it again since hubby bought me a new computer before I started my ToT.



Technical
1) "UBERFREEZE" on option save & exit. Every time I play [three times now].
2) "UBERFAIL" wont start, after an "UBErFREEZE" on tutorial family. Re-installed & patched game.
3) "UBERFREEZE" in game play, Sims don't like lots of commands. Keep the Que small.
4) "UBERSIGN-INs" Log into Origin & Ea Sims 3 account, see what Store content Ea is trying to sell ya, while in game.

Thoughts: I personally believe someone should be able to purchase a game, pop it into their computer, and play it. A good product will run right out of the packaging. Console games usually run on systems 5 years or older. A PC game, gosh a three year old computer should be ok. A year old or new, specially bought for gaming: WTF? So the consumer is left with trouble shooting and patching. So regardless of quality of game-play I would deem the product sub-quality. Typical, "gosh EA is a bunch of lazy cheap greedy bastards" conservation. So don't buy it, if you want a refund speech.



Game play
1) "UBERPRETTY" It is a very pretty game, if your computer's got the juice.
2) "LIVNGHOOD" Talk about open Neighborhood! No loading lots: You play the hood, not the lot. Downside: No such thing as family/lot rotation. Changing families takes a few steps with menu.
3) "RABBITHOLE" Decent Rabbit Holes with interactions & edit outside grounds. I love having work and school places! So after awhile I came to like the Rabbit Holes.
4) "UBERGHOSTS" Ghosts are the bomb, love them! They have interaction options. Looking forward to trying to have a ghost baby.
5) "UBERSMART", Complex AI, Sims personality and free will are at its peak!!! This is the heart of the game.
6) "UBERREPEAT" Saved games not hoods. You can use your hood/world template over & over again. No resetting hood files! Replay that character a million different ways.
8) "CUSTOMSLIDERS" Change color & patterns of practically, EVERYTHING with build in game features like sliders & paint pallet. Makes me wonder about player CC/meshes if they break with each new EP?
9) "BUILDSUCK" Some things easier, but touchy controls. Harder, more complex to use (like adding stairs to garden). The customizing options are the wonderful gem here.
10) "UBERAGING" Aging options! I'm trying Epic.
11) "UBERCREATION" Character Creation is very cool. Sliders and body shape options are AWESOME! But some scratch head issues, like how do I change my eyebrows?
12) "LOTFAIL" adding lots, nope forget it. I think they have a tool to create your own world.
13) "QUESTS" Opportunities: Like take a food dish to work. Commission a painting. I really enjoy this feature!
14) "MUSICFAIL" First thing my hubby noticed, "what's up with the music? It's gone? I miss the Sims 2 stuff."
15) "SNAPSHOTFAIL" Household album? There is a special photo tool, wonder if it uploads to your Sims 3 account? It's a pain to use. The camera movement sucks. Sims 2 camera shots were easier to take.

Thoughts: A very beautiful looking game. Game play has awesome features, while build is more difficult to use. The Sim personalities and AI is AMAZING. It's all about picking a few families to play, get in there and just play. Great for casual players, World composite is there, lots to do! If you are a "BUILDER of my own world" Sims 2 is more for you.



Breakdown of Expansions
Supernatural is a must have! OMG, when my first zombie spawned on the full moon I squealed and my hubby even thought they were cool. With the open World you have zombies spawning (so far only on full moons) Werewolves, Vamps, Witches, Fairies running around everywhere! Throw in the character AI's its pretty neat. I'm really looking forward to exploring this EP. PS. THREE TIMES Simis Bachelor has spawned as a Fairy and is quite magical. I don't think Jocasta was the only magical parent in Bella's family!

Seasons so far has been a disappointment. Customizing your hood seasonally sucks. In Sims 2 you can do any combo up to four seasons. In Sims 3 its a check box, if you don't want winter ... you just skip over it. That sucks, because you have festivals tied into the seasons. Festivals add some interactions & items. There are Work Holidays. Gardening is a base standard & Plant Sims come with University. So you get this EP for the weather & holidays. The weather is pretty cool. I like having weather in my game.

Still thinking about what to pick up next, but leaning towards University. What lead me to picking Supernatural & Seasons?: Zombies, Werewolves, Vampires, Fairies, Witches, & Weather! Werewolves are so much cooler looking in Sims 3! Witches so far look normal, they wave their wands a lot. Vamps are so-so. They look pretty normal. Wish they did the arm hiss or something. Fairies are AWESOME! love the random wings that generate. Zombies are just the coolest! Some lumber & one ran! Love the creepy glow effect during a full moon.



Whats happen in game so far:
I'm playing Agnes Crumplebottom ... because ghost interactions and want of a ghost baby! What's happen so far:

Agnes, not so grumpy loner. Wanted a medical career (Nurse Nightingale anyone?) Bookworm romantic works her way up to Gene Specialist. Her true dream is to become an illustrator and author, but she's got to pay the bills and she has a swanky house that is expensive! Spare time she writes books and paints. Pretty decent cook that is famous for her hamburgers. She gets asked a lot to make these. Best friends with sister, Cornelia and that's about all she knows. Tries to spend time with Cornelia and her family. Cornelia decided to work the Summer Festival as a vendor and has no time. Mortie is off doing homework all the time! Gunther is the only one who bothered to show up for dinner and begins "hart farting" for Agnes from the get-go. Turns out he is pretty lonely himself. Well Ghostie hubby is a no show for weeks and Gunther is persistent. Asks Agnes out on a date immediately! She's crushing pretty hard core on sister's man, and they go to the movies. They are hanging out here and there on the down low but no serious romance yet. Agnes feels horrible about it, but is a lonely romantic. The Goths have marriage troubles, they don't get along, and now Cornelia's a werewolf! Agnes is trying to avoid Gunther as much as possible, but is falling for him, plus he keeps trying to ask her to move in! Meanwhile ghost hubby shows up and she can't resist making friends with him. Now she is torn between the living and the dead. Should she hold onto ghost lover, or be the final wedge into the Goth's crumbling marriage? And that is where I left off last night. Some juicy business, I tell ya!



I really am enjoying myself, but the technical problems have me banging my head on my desk. Great for spontaneity & Sims are very independent! No god mode here. Wonderful for when you want to play something, but not work on something while you play! The graphics are beautiful, very posh. There are downsides and it wont replace Sims 2. It is not a prettier Sims 2; Sims 3 is a completely different game! For challenges, custom building hoods, lot rotation, Telling stories, Sims 2 wins hands down, but Sims 3 will get you hooked and it will be played as long as the "UBERCRASHES & UBERFREEZES" stay away. So when I want to play my challenge, I'll crank up Sims 2, If I want to build, write a story, Sims 2. If I just want to play and horse around, then Sims 3. I think without the Supernatural EP, I would get bored with it faster. I don't even want to attempt building, yet. Just adding parking spots and stairs was a pain in the ass. So I guess it depends on how much free time you have to play and how discipline you are. I've been struggling to get back into my Beta ToT group, so I know what you mean about having concerns of will power.

Well that's my two cents worth on two days of playing. lol.
Anyone else have thoughts to add?

I feel sims 3 has little substance. Honestly I would have enjoyed it much more when I first started playing sims and had to cheat constantly to keep anyone alive. Its good if you want to play with a single family or don't want to be challenged, but historical or themed neighborhoods? Forget it. I feel EA has added to many half thought out ideas to each expansion pack for any to be developed to a standard. I was amused byt it for a while but wasn't upset to loose my sims in it when my computer stopped being able to handle it.

Awesome Thank you Nesxya, that was a great rundown ! I am just starting a new job in April which includes a pretty good pay jump so I think one of the first things I will be doing is investing in a new pc. This one is beginning to give me grief and since I spend sooooo much time on it and its my only vice I feel Im worth it. I will be taking in the specs for Sims 3 as my base line to go by so if I decide to join you I will be able to play. Any of the UBERF's will make me a very cranky lady lol

While my society is male dominated, I definitely want to treat the Emperor's family differently, so I think I'm going to go with the patrician taking her name.

To deal with the population issue, I've decided to kill of 10% of my population at the start of each era (like a "plague"). Also, at the start of each new generation, I will be using Sophie-David's fantastic cursed wishing well to spread some sickness randomly

I may soon be the first person to fail this challenge...and not by quitting. My ice age ends in one sim season....if they aren't all dead by then. I only have 3 sims left. 2 are plantsims.

I really didn't think I'd be using the add sims durning Roman era rule to repopulate the neighborhood.

I no longer have any worries about population explosions. Even if that did happen, there are balances in the rules to kill off sims. It isn't just the fights and fires. Neanderthals have ghosts, Romans have weekly slave killing, medieval has the plague and vikings....

In the meantime....I've been thinking up some fun stuff to tack on to the end of the challenge. I wanted things that could have unique rules. Mainly they'd be 1 generation instead of 3 or 4. I plan to base some of them off other challenges and make others up. Here are some ideas I'm toying with:

1. WWI To be based off a war challenge(s).
2. Titanic
3. WWII
4. 50s
5. Feminist Movement
6. Hippies
7. 80s
8. Modern
9. Something Futuristic, will look into other challenges to rob ideas
10. Apocolypse...hehe, kind of like starting over

I've decided that if my neighborhood can't handle it and dies before the end I will begin again with the begining of the last era I was on. I plan to keep a record of basics (#of families per class, ages in each family) between eras so I can begin with roughly the same.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to play so many generations?

This is a complicated challenge and looks like a lot of fun. 
Could I just mention a few points concerning the Neanderthals? They lived during the Ice Age, the seasons were- winter, winter summer, winter. No spring no autumn (fall) and ice for 8 months of the year. Because they lived in a cold period their skin would have been very light, as they would not evolved the need for pigment to protect them from the sun. “The couples are to interact only with each other. They may not even greet townies or NPCs.” To survive they would have had a close relationship will all the surrounding groups, for trade and for prospective partners and protection. They would have also met or at least been aware of humans while hunting or gathering.
A leader would have been the bravest hunter or provider. They did make mats, pots and tools so the pottery wheel could be considered maybe? Clothes were stitched with bone needles and were always leather or fur, which would require the sewing table.
I’m not sure if anyone would find this helpful but they were incredibly strong, a child’s muscle mass was greater than that of an adult human. So they would have more endurance than humans, meaning that having something to allow them to continue to garden or fish would not strictly speaking be cheating.

I have played something like this myself, it was not easy; but for me it was just a bit of fun with no real rules apart from my knowledge of the age. My guy had Marvines waterfall shower which he hated using in the snow; an outside campfire in the brief summer and a cheap stove inside the rest of the time. Because the seasons are so harsh growing anything was very hard (which is why the real ones didn’t) so he lived mainly on fish frantically gathered and stored in the summer or he would have starved during the winter when the pond (lake) froze. He had to visit a community lot (done up like a trading site) for company or he would have gone nuts. 

Thanks for posting the challenge, I doubt my rambling can add to it, but I thought it might be interesting to read and maybe spawn other ideas. 

Welcome Freeasabird!

I think a lot of the rules are set up to make it a challenge. I think the thought was to begin with a man more primitive...or at least more difficult. I've often thought that the all summer weather is to give it an out of Africa feel.

Starsapphire came up with the idea of doing an ice age. I did this for the last generation. I think if I did not have the summer stage first they would have all died of starvation. Speaking of...

I finished the Neanderthal era, just now. Everyone died but 2 plantsims, a father and daughter. They were wilted - collapsed due to lack of water.

Do I not get the crown for most failed? It isn't that there weren't any kids. It's just that they all died except these 2. I did have 4 sims die of old age from the first generation.

Due to there being no one else, they will be king and princess. I'll have to go into CAS and make everyone else per the rules - one at a time and not related. I've decided to do the bare minimum to begin the Romans. Like I will need 2 Plebians, 3 of the next lower class, etc. This way there are still more of the lower class like the rules said.

Here is something interesting and funny. Ayla was one of my founding sims. (Named after main character in Clan of the Cave Bear.) She had about 4 kids, all dead. She also became a plantsim and the man that survived is her plantbaby. He is an adult along with his adult daughter. Her name is Daisy. Does Princess Daisy seem a little Super Mario Bros. to you? If he has another daughter I want to name her Peach. His name is even better...Wort.

I gave him the name Wort because it is a very old word that means plant. I never thought I'd begin the Roman era with Emperor Wort.

Chicklet I admire how you stuck with everyone dying. If that happened to me I'd be saving and exiting so many times. Loving Emperor Wart. Well now you can stick with plant royalty for the entire challenge which would certainly be interesting. Also it will be far easier to repopulate your neighborhood with two plant sims than with two related normal sims.

I use the only one plantbaby per plantsim rule. So I'm going to be using the make single sims one at a time in CAS during Roman stage rule. Otherwise I'd have to admit defeat right now. With one family and no meeting townies allowed it just wouldn't work.

My Neanderthals needed ghostbusters.

Happy April Fool's Day Simmer'bees
Hope everyone had a nice Easter/Spring Holiday!



I've been buzzing away, being a busy bee.

First off, I tried Sims 3 out. Bonehilda is the best! Why the hell wasn't she in Sims 2? Then after four days, I wanted to play another household and luckily I read before I swapped, because apparently you loose your rewards (plus sometimes inventory) when you do. So I was like naw. I'll just try and get back to my ToT Beta Group, which worked. But for the curious out there this is where my Agnes Crumplebottom story left off.

Well Gunther was over for dinner one night and next thing you know they are shagging! It happen to be a full moon, so they locked up and he spent the night. Zombies spawned and Ghost Hubby Eric Darling came out for a Boo. He was attacked and turned into a Ghost Zombie! So all hell broke loose, since ghosts can go through walls. Agnes avoided two attacks before sun up. That was the clincher for her, she asked Gunther to move in a few days later, which he happily did. Cornelia was furious at Agnes, blaming her for the break up of their marriage while hoping to patch things up with Gunther. She finally gave up, then Gunther starts rolling wants to be friends with his ex-wife. Then Agnes finally got the opportunity to take Ghost Hubby's grave to the Science Facility to have him restored. So she did and he got added to the household. So far he has reverted back to being a normal ghost. Thank goodness! To help with the growing household some additions were added & Bonehilda was bought. A burglar tried to break in during this time and he sure got a scare! Bonehilda beat his ass, while Gunther watched and of course Ghostie is walking around. But tragedy did hit ... Ghost Darling really is a darling, seeing that Agnes was happy with a person alive, he felt he should let her go, and called off the supernatural affair. Agnes is left again with a re-broken heart over Eric Darling who still haunts the place.

And that is where I left off. I really wanted to play the Goth household next, but I got so much invested in points and inventory, I didn't want to loose anything. Alas, I'm not used to playing a household so long, so I went back to Sims 2.

On technical note of things. One UBERFAIL from launching game from Origin, launched fine from desktop. I also just saved then exited w/out save and I had no crashing or freezing this time.



I was reading that Sims 2 stories & MySims have been pulled from Origin downloads ... meaning EA has discontinued these games. Is this true? So anyone wanting Castaways, (which I highly recommend ... better go find a hard copy). With EA pulling down the Sims 2 Exchange & support I'm worried that Sims 2 will be next. Luckily, hubby was worried the first time they did and he bought me a backup copy of everything. So I have two complete set of disks. lol. He's such a sweetie! I'm bummed because I wanted some MaxiodMonkey stuff, like the run w/scissors item. I had it once, but can't find it in my downloads. Does anyone know if a site is collecting those downloads together?

:lovestruc

Well onto ToT stuff!

Welcome freeasabird! Great insight and good points! Yeah, there has been discussions about Neanderthal being a misnomer for this stage. The concept is there though, about having a prehistoric CaveSim, SimStone, etc. Considering Hominids have been around for 2 to 3 million years and Sapiens around 50,000 years or so, yeah weather went through changes. The concept is we started off in a tropical hot climate and many players have added a Ice Age to their game to mimic the Younger Dryas Period. That's the beauty of this challenge you can tweak it! Sounds like this challenge would be right up your alley.

Chicklet I admire your prevalence! Hang in there. I slowed down my aging in my Beta Group, to make sure I had enough offspring to carry forward and I breed them like rabbits every chance I get. I want to work out the start-up on the gender ratio of 3:1 better and I will probably meddle with it shortly, so it's more playable with the standard rate of aging. I really do like the idea of starting the challenge out with a Bachelor/rette mini-challenge, I just got to work out the kinks.



Got some good news, I have a update on my Beta group of ToT. I'm back to playing them. I unpacked my notes and that helped. I was so short on pictures this time around, but I wanted to just start playing them again. I have two more households to go and I should have another post up next week. I'm stunned that I took a six month hiatus from them! Amazing how RL happens, especially during the winter holidays! But I don't recommend it at all. lol. But I do have a couple of new posts and the Sim Directory is updated to this point. I started getting into the groove of things and I'm enjoying my ToT and that's no April Fools joke!

@chicklet - I am amazed you got down to so few sims! Hang in there, surely it must pick up - have some babies! More babies! (no help whatsoever) XD

@nesxya - you've reminded me of everything I love and hate about the sims3, it has moments where I am completely blown away, but the biggest and most annoying flaw that can drown out everything else is - can't change households without losing progress and having them totally messed up when you get back =/ which isn't even a flaw because if you're playing a legacy it's also the biggest plus, as the "spares" you kick out can actually age and have babies and die all their own yippee! (I know I know its a total contradiction). I think it's improved exponentially with Seasons and Supernatural - here's a tip that'll have you laughing to death - stick a stereo outside playing during a full moon and watch what the zombies do XD omg, I did it accidentally and wondered why all the zombies were gathering on my property and when I saw what they were doing I completely lost it (preserved it for all time in video footage) its a MUST! All I could think was "Thriller" XD

As for my ATOT, I just went to see where I was up to and, once again, so typically for ME, I zoomed through Round 17 only to stop 2 familes from the end and just not play or update for a few months =_=......oh you broken record you...*face to desk* hopefully I get my life back in another month or two (all things possible crossed!) and I can rejoin the Roman Era and hopefully get some updating done.

@freeasabird - ....the dog.... the dog!!! XD (on the floor in hysterics after giving the dog the same look its giving us)

taliah~

I am still downloading for the Roman era. I haven't even put any of it in the game yet. I forgot how much I haven't been playing with. It isn't just gathering up Roman stuff. It's also getting historical versions of everything that Roman's can have and Neanderthal's can't.

My Romans are going to start out on the low end of starting cash. Wort Mamutoi was not rich, so after the bonus Emperor Wort will have a little over $60,000. Everyone else will be fresh out of CAS. The Patrician's will get there bonus giving them $40,000. The Plebians will have their starting pay only.

This leaves me needing a lot of low cost Roman housing. I am not a builder. I've found one lot for 40-something thousand, and one for thirty something, and one for under 20. I also found one Roman apartment complex with 6 apartments. It will do if I can't find anything else. Anyone seen any Roman lots around the web for under $40,000? Preferably furnished. I really like to have each lot different.

The slaves, in case you were wondering, will all start out in the Emperor's Palace. I'm only starting with 4.

I anticipate increasing the population to be slow going at first. Everyone from CAS has to be made one at a time. This means no one will be married. They'll have to meet each other first. Plus the Emperor can only marry a woman maxed in charisma and creativity. He is going to have to wait awhile.

Previous to this I played a medieval hood for 4 years. I have found a lot of historical goodies in the last 4 years. I'm happy to share. Some stuff I never took out of my downloads folder, like most of my mods and replacements. So if there is anything you wish you had for your historical game, just ask. There is a good chance I've seen it around somewhere.

Everytime I download something for my Romans I post a link on my new Roman Finds page. I'm certain a lot of it you have seen, but perhaps not all. Some highlights: animals that you feed, breed, and eat; harvestable plants super set; career rewards that look historical; a rock sims will wash laundry on.

New to the ToT
 

Hello all, first post from a long time lurker. I was wondering if any of you have had a problem with your Sims overheating indoors during the neanderthal period (all seasons summer). I have had multiple families get warnings from the social worker that the kids are too hot, I have had adults pass get out of bed just so that they can pass out on the floor from heat exhaustion. I even had a pregnant Sim get out of the bathtub (even in the stone age people bathed, they just did it in ponds and rivers) and dies of heat stroke.

This is the first time I have played with all the seasons set to summer so I don't know if this is a common problem for long summers.

Anyone else having these problems?

Yes, I was for a long while battling constant heatstrokes, especially with my pregnant sims who were pretty much only eating and sleeping (sleeping makes them warmer, so a sim who is already warm, and told to go to sleep will overheat.) I solved most of my issues by getting a mod that lets me choose water temperature and make the really hot sims take a cold shower, especially before sleeping. But before that, if a warm sim needed sleep, I'd have him/her nap on the bench (which was inside) until their temperature was in the green range then send them to bed (and then their temp stays green for reasons unknown to me. But then, If I'm warm when I go to sleep, the blanket make me unbearably warm, but if I'm comfortable-temperatured, then the blankets feel just right so I guess it makes a little bit of sense) ~VP

Thanks for the tip about them staying cool if they already are. I found that if they take a drink from the sink it cools them by one slot, so two drinks right before bed keeps them from overheating while sleeping. Now if I could just remember to do that...lol.

I'd also recommend a mod (Warmth Fixes from MATY, I think?) that prevents spontanious combustion when a sim is inside a building.

It does happen on occasion to me as well. First thing is make sure your huts have a complete roof. Second before I put sims to bed if they are in the red I usually have them relax until it is green and then send them to sleep. Third I keep a sink in someones bag for emergency drinks ( I dont keep it out all the time because I want plates to be composted but washed which helps with the gardening ). Fourth I dont let them have a shower until they are topped up or they will go into heat stroke, I just let them get enough to be maybe 3/4 of the bar filled.

teehee I just read VP's post and realized she said the same things.

Heat can be kind of annoying, but I suppose that was the reason why we should play in summer, right? xD But my social worker is somewhat working a little bit strange, because in one family a kid had several heatstrokes before she came and in another family she came before the first one o.O I got now the social worker hack from MATY and hope that's helping to make it more steady =P because it's kind of annoying if you never know when and if your kids could or will be taken away >.<

As for my disappeared sim: I summoned her with the Sim Blender and I got a pop-up saying she died on another lot, what she definitely didn't. But now she is at least 'officially' dead and everyone has the right memories, even though I always don't know why she disappeared.

Moreover, I know that will take some more time until I get there, but I really see forward to download lots of nice cc for the roman era and building lots of nice houses


I've just got time to upload my blog (if anyone is interested). The first three rounds are up, but I'm already playing the fith round, so I have even more to update xD Edit: The fourth round is partially up as well

It was great to be able to meet your sims. I really do love the neanderthal shower photo. It looks as if she is showering in a waterfall and stone pool. Cool!

Marvine's waterfall shower is simply perfect for the Neanderthal stage.
And it's nice to see that someone is enjoying my blog.

I'm enjoying your challenge as well I need to get a move on and finish this round & update.

I am following your challenge, too, and I was wondering how many days you are playing in each round?

I finished downloading Roman stuff (my Roman Finds page is updated).

I made my minimum # of Roman sims and placed them in 3 homes. I decided all the slaves could begin serving in homes and all the plebians could begin as servants and do the same. At first I just placed them and then I went back and played. This way they have a more equal chance at meeting each other. I began with Emperor Wort.

On the evening of the very first Roman day in the very first home played, a fight broke out between 2 of the guests. Seriously I didn't even get to play those two. They were brand new sims. The only Patrician male was killed by his only servant. That is messed up.

I did some reading about Romans last night. I found out a juicy tidbit. Togas were men's clothing. Women only wore togas if they were prostitutes. Suddenly the noble toga dresses I downloaded seemed hilarious.

I'm playing my game like toga dresses do not mean prostitution. It's hard enough to find Roman clothes without excluding all the toga dresses.

I'm playing 5 days per round, it seems like more but thanks to shortening pregnancy length with inteenimator and my short life span 2,3,5,8,21 my challenge is moving along really quickly.

Wow Chicklet you don't seem to be having the best luck with your sims, but stick in there, it has to get better eventually.

I am having great fun with it. That same servant who killed his master has killed again. He murdered Emperor Wort. Long live Queen Daisy.

Emperor Wort was enemies with his daughter Daisy. After moving into the palace he locked her on a balcony. Being a plantsim, she needed to be jailed outside.

Daisy is still passed out on the balcony, but at least it is unlocked and she is Queen.

The Patrician woman I made at the begining of the Roman era has been busy in her own home trying to max out her creativity and charisma. While waiting Emperor Wort kept himself busy with his slaves....and now at least 2 are expecting. Way to increase the slave population Wort!

I finally got back to playing my challenge. I hadn't touched it since sometime in October (or maybe November. But the birth dates in my tracker right now say October. Considering I still have about ten more houses to play, this isn't my most accurate judging system). I forgot how much I loved these guys. But I have a question for you guys before I decide to leave it up to a coin toss. I was looking at my spreadsheet that tracks my generations and couples, and I realized that while the current generation has a good pick for mates, their children are going to have a hard time finding a non-related mate. Currently I'm on Gen 2, but that's because I made my founders Gen 0. By the time my Gen 3s need mates, I'll be in the Roman rounds and can add in sims for them to have mates, but my dilemma is this: I already have a huge population. Granted a plague is hitting upon reaching the Roman ages and 10% is going to die (it'll just be too large to deal with otherwise) but to make enough sims to diversify the population is going to completely counteract this plague. So my question: Should I continue on with my generations as they are numbered, or should I change them, and switch to the Roman Era once Blythe, Briona, and Bysen Tavares reach adult (which will be in about three rounds). They're my oldest of their generation (and triplets). Right now I'm leaning towards changing them to Gen 3, mostly because of the out-of-control-ness of my population. Your thoughts?

Personally I'd change it now but depends on how you're enjoying the neanderthal era. Maybe you could up the number of sims you'll kill at the start of roman to counteract the additional sims so like 10% + however many sims you add. Also with the Colosseum and everything sim population has the potential to decrease pretty quickly.

I forgot how much I loved neglected children in this challenge. Well neglected toddlers in the red can't really do anything except make messes and noise, but badly neglected children have the habit of trying to kill of their siblings. First death in my challenge was a four year old o.O

I am getting bored of Neanderthal Life. All they can do and still seem "periodic" is fish and farm. So changing to Roman age will at least allow me to have more stuff to do and the differing classes will (hopefully) change things up a bit.

In regards to neglected children, maybe that's part of my problem. I can't stand the whining, so I try to keep their needs up, maybe I need to ignore them a bit more, and my population will be less out of control... hmm food for thought. ~VP

Fish and farm and fight and woohoo and swim (but you'll need to gussy up the pool) and have huge powwows...let the limitations free your creativity! Think outside the modern suburban box.

Which, okay, is what the game was designed for, but still.

That's fine and good Peni, but a) it gets really repetitive, even with the differences in households and b) I have a short attention span. So I kinda need to break things up. This is the first time I've ever stuck with any household for longer than a few sim weeks. That and this round I have sixteen households to play, and three more will be added by the end of it, so there will be nineteen next round. ~VP

Padfoot, it's your challenge and you should enjoy playing it. It doesn't make sense going on like this, if you're bored. Then it's better you simply go on, because otherwise you risk to lose interest completely and that would be a pity. Moreover you are playing already, what most of us call, the third generation, so go on and give us some nice roman reading matter

Well I have to get these guys up to adult first. The oldest is about 12 days away from Adult at this point. ~VP

I also found that more than two generations in any era got a bit boring. So I shortened everything to about 2 generations each era. Remember each generation increases the number of lots so, especially with the easier Roman Age, this can lead to about 50 lots if you let everyone marry. Playing 50+ lots for 4 generations would be too much repetition for me. Plus l really like building new lots for new eras so if I shorten the challenge to two generations per era I get to build new things more often. :lovestruc

Dark Ages
 

Game Updates

Dark Ages - Generation Two - Future King gets into a love triangle. Stop by the website to see all the fun. Dark Ages Love Triangle

Dracul serfs attacked for second time by vikings. Death and Despair

Italian Prince builds home for Poor Clare Sisters

Cespencer I'm really loving your challenge and how evil you are to your little simmies. I'm loving all the drama with your sims like the love triangle and stuff.

I've installed ACR finally but I'm not sure what to have the risky odds set to 5% would be fine for a normal neighborhood but I want something higher but still have pretty manageable population as I will not be moving anyone out this era. What settings do those of you who use it have?

My ACR is set pretty high for my ToT, mostly so that most any woohoo results in a baby. And its working pretty well at the moment. Of the six or seven pregnancies so far this round, I only directed one of them to woohoo, the rest were completely autonomous (mostly ACR but one or two were the result of another mod I had) Plus, the ACR ones were mostly TFB (since I have that switch set). And only a few of the woohoos that involved a non-pregnant woman didn't result in a baby. But my risky percentage (for both my mods) is set pretty high (around 70 i think). Although, the one in my test hood right now is set about 80, and some of these women are still not pregnant. ~VP

I'm still at the neanderthal era and wanted to get quite a nice base for future generations, so I have set it at 'always try for baby' at the moment. I haven't messed with ACR in my 'normal' hoods, yet, because I have mostly played the challenge, so I know neither how I will do it there nor how I will do in later generations. (sry for not being very helpful xD)

My second generation has know quite a few teenagers and thanks to ACR it's gettting really interesting: love triangles, one-sided love, etc. =P
I hope I'll get to update my blog soon. ~.^

Thanks for your input. I've set it to 80 and it seems to be working pretty well. However I fear this is the end of my challenge already, happily playing a family when Mrs. Crumplebottom turns up, followed by several other sims that should not be on my lot. Hopefully my neighborhood won't suffer too much from this.

I've avoided this by using the Visitor Controller and setting it so that anyone who isn't a playable or a stray is banned from the lot. All I have to do is remember to set it when I make a new lot. ~VP

Well they were all characters who shouldn't be turning up on a residential lot under normal circumstances anyway. I've never seen Mrs. Crumplebottom outside of a downtown before. I'm more worried about nieghborhood/lot corruption than having random townies running around.

Nuns, Monks, and Gypsies
 

Do you plan to (or are/have you) play with nuns and monks and/or gypsies? If so, what era(s)?

These are not part of the challenge, but could be a lot of fun.

I'm thinking of having gypsies in the Renaissance era. It seems mean to have them in the Dark Ages and not allow them to have musical instruments. I'm thining they could be a kind of peasants maybe.

Nuns and monks...I'm undecided. If I have them it will probably be Dark Ages, Renaissance, or both.

If you have them or plan to, do you have special rules for them?

Do you have any other special "extra" character types? I mean for any era.

For the roman era, I may be going to divide my population into more different cultures than only romans (like egyptians, native tribes,...), but I'm not sure yet. Moreover I wanted to include some gods/goddesses who are going to evolve over the ages. They won't be really played like other sims and won't age. And could be holding some kinds of rituals, like the weekly killing of slaves in the colliseum (could be a sacrifice to the god).
About nuns and monks: I suppose that I'm going to include those as well at a later stage (would make sense, if I actually have gods). And I always wanted to build some churches or similar xD And nuns/monks would be useful, when you have for example orphans. They could take care of them.


Round 4 is now completed on my blog.

Man, my Sim-fu is getting pushed to the limit. One of my households is up to ten people (with 2 children, 3 toddlers, and 1 infant!) and I can barely keep it straight. Back to the Simming.

I'm seeing what religion, if any evolves in my game, currently my sims worship the penguin, they leave it offerings of fish and must always abandon everything to pet it. I'll probably include some form of monk/nuns or sim made gods but I'm not sure which yet. With a challenge this long I like to see things emerge naturally and because it makes sense. I'll just see what I feel like adding later on.

Edit: Finally finished round 3 and the end of the first ice age, I'm thinking of doing a longer one next time, (3 seasons maybe). I lost four sims, two to fights, one to starvation and one to the cold. I almost had two whole families starve to death when those carrying the fish died, they were only saved by the generosity of neighbors.

I incorporated the nuns and monks because I didn't want to marry all of my single sims each round or I would end up with hundreds of lots. So, I decided in the Dark Ages that only my heirs would marry (unless a couple with a second son had already fallen in love on their own). This means I have about 30 lots moving into the second age of the Dark Ages. I didn't want the unmarried singles hanging out at home because with two elder parents and a married couple already in the home this would limit any new babies in the existing home.

I like the idea of some kind of special rules for them, but other than their haircuts (women short with veils and men with their tonsures) and their special robes, I haven't created any other way of playing their lots. Maybe home businesses? The nuns could become weavers and sell dyed fabrics and the monks could grow grapes and sell wine.

I love the idea of adding gypsies and maybe bards as part of the Renaissance Age. It would be natural. Maybe they would need to get an entertainment, music or dance career and max out their creativity skills?

I have some ideas that I worked out when I played Royal Kingdom Challenge.

At first I didn't want to play nuns and monks because I hate to have sims that have no possibility of having kids. But then I did some research.... In the early history of nuns and monks they had kids with each other....I don't think they even married. I figure this gave me free license to bend the rules. Besides, there are some great maternity nun dresses.

I had this rule that if the 2 head of the households are bff with each other, they set up and arranged marriage between 2 of their kids, even if they aren't born yet. I use inge's arranged marriage arch. I think it's called polygamy arch, but I don't use that feature.

I extended this a bit. If the head monk (abbot or whatever) becomes bff with someone he can arrange a marriage with any nun or monk.

Also if a nun or monk roles up the want to woohoo, have a baby, get engaged or get married, then they can propose marriage. Also someone else can propose marriage to them.

Anyone can marry a nun or monk because they are holy...so even royalty can. In this way they can marry a peasant.

If a nun marries she leaves the convent and is no longer a nun.

If a monk marries he leaves the monastery but is now a pastor or minister or something. He gets to have a wife and family and preach at a local church.

I did set up an at home business for both the monastery and the convent. But all I did was set up the ticket machine and set it at $1. No one is allowed to do the sales pitch or anything. This way people come there all the time, which I think they would. You know, to get religious advice or pray. I think of the $1 as a donation that even the serfs can afford.

I also held "church" every Sunday. I counted the room on the pews and then used sim blender to get that number of people on the lot. I made them selectable, made them pay their donation, then have them sit on the pews with upper class in the best spots. As soon as I can get everyone seated at the same time and the preacher preaching, I call it good. After that if they start getting up then church is done. They hang around and leave on their own.

The castle had a little chapel so I let them have the king's favorite monk to preach to the family on Sunday. If the chapel is big enough and the family small enough, I let the noble family(s) that the king is closest to have church with the royal family.

Also if anyone grew up with monk or nun clothes or nun habit, then they joined. However, if they are a monk and their father dies and they are the heir they must leave the monastery and go back to their home.

I'm thinking about doing that for the test of time, but I haven't decided.

My Roman's second generation just turned teen.

Hey all! A small minor itsy bitsy miracle has occurred - I've finally completed Round 17! Who knew it would ever happen?! And it only took me 7 months! ... 7... months... *flops face down on the ground* just walk all over me... I don't mind...

When I pick myself up again I shall commence updating the families so ya'll can see what went on! And it was a doozy! My pretty new Emperor with the smexy dad turns out to be a *** oh, I can't say that word on here sorry! Several branch families were wiped out and I was then clinging to my seat trying to save the Althausen family after yet another (yes ANOTHER) catastrophe nearly wiped them out too, yes sirree the Althausen line is now officially hanging on by a SINGLE THREAD I tell ya! All my hopes are resting on my precious Oskar's smokin dreadlocked head oh no! (I can't believe who he ended up with I seriously still can't believe it myself!) XD Petra won't stop having twins, I've a family of 10, and the half blind genie strikes again!

I shall endeavour to get the round updated in a timely and consistent manner so ya'll can have a nosey and I can start tormenting my simmies all over again~

Meanwhile... I am totally digging that Gypsy idea - when's the renaissance? >_> wait... don't tell me, I'll pretend it's not far now... *jots down for later*

As excited as I am to be getting to the Dark Ages, at the end of this round I felt a little bit sad that I'm another step closer to leaving the Roman Era; I've got so much set up I can't imagine having to start ALL over again for a new era... and what's funny is that I happily left the Neanderthal Era only to mourn it once it was gone XD sad... just sad... this is my long winded way of saying "enjoy each era while it lasts!" My Roman simmies are so much fun I was in stitches this last round - ironically so since I had planned to whiz through it, alas, the less I control my sims the more entertainment they provide me with

rambling taliah out~

I understand what you mean about missing an age after you initially were glad to leave it. I find the Dark Ages kind of annoying since there are no recreational items and everyone just seems so miserable. I find I have to God mode more often to get them to view things around the house, jump rope, or farm just to get their fun needs met. But I bet I will miss all the drama in the Dark Ages when it is finally time to move on. There has been a lot of death and destruction so far and I can only anticipate more to come in the 2nd generation of the Dark Ages (waah-ha-ha evil laugh)

As for the starting all over again....

I have been downloading different eras on an external drive. As I do, I've been posting links on my website. (See the bottom of my post.)

What I haven't been doing is writing about what happens in my challenge....

I have gone through most of the pains of looking all over for stuff. Some of my replacements are not in my link lists, but other then that it is very extensive.

Keep in mind if I don't use it or anticipate my sims being too poor to afford it, it doesn't make my link list. I tried to keep the rules in mind. Like the Dark Ages are more specific about lot size. I looked up the historical difference between the dark ages and the reniassance - but it is not sorted strictly by that. More like a guideline.

Neanderthal and Roman are done. The other eras are a work in progress....but there is a lot already. I decided if I'm looking for the dark ages stuff and I see any other stuff, I might as well download and post the link now.

If anyone is wanting to know where I found replacements, please ask. Like if it's modern and always in the game (like roads, mailboxes, etc.) I have found a historical replacement. And most of the other modern stuff I have found amazing replacements for too.

I keep thinking about eras to play after the last. Because I'm in the Roman era and that is just so close to the end... I have them much more solid in my mind now. I have been trying to think of balancing stuff, like so the sims won't overpopulate. And things that are somewhat unique. They will also be much shorter. Like about a generation, some will have a unique way the era ends.

The first, following the Victorian, is Edwardian. I love Downton Abbey. This era will be based on it...but to give you an idea, the whole era happens before the very first episode. I went to a great library program on dinner parties in this time period. It helps to inspire rules.

I'm wondering, is anyone interested? I think at the end we will have a mix of people. Those who want to keep playing, and those who want to just be done.

Followind Edwardian I'm thinking Titanic, WWI, Great Depression, WWII, 50s, Hippies, 80s, maybe modern, Hunger Games. This might change as I think it through. Also if other people throw out their ideas I might scrap some of mine to use their ideas instead.

I get excited about reaching a new era, but as I've basically just stated in my last post I still enjoy playing where I'm at, so as exciting as it is to think about eras to come I'm in no hurry to get to any. I had thought of slipping in the Depression Era between the Victorian and the Modern, just to transition a bit better, though I don't really have any ideas for it; I guess I'll see what happens when I get there. I am suddenly very inspired though about the Hunger Games idea - post apocalyptic? The challenge is to just make it to Modern, but I'm already so deeply involved in my sim families if I make it that far I'd be interested to just keep going! Post apocalyptic through to rebuild and futuristic and beyond! =/ wait, I think I lost all sense there for a second... *not unusual* XD

taliah~

First of all, the hoods have to survive until modern times. ^^ And then... maybe a little Apokalypse might happen and we start all over from "stone age"? XD

Well I was thinking of adding some stuff in maybe 20s/30s and some other smaller one generation eras and even if I don't I've read a lot of depressing post apocalypse books with ideas I could implement into my game

Oh dear...we'll never stop playing this, will we?

I've thought of how the hood might not last. My plan is to make some basic notes (ages of sims in each family and what class they are) at the begining of each era. Then if the hood truly dies I can create a new hood and begin at the begining of the era instead of the very begining.

I think eventually I'll reach the end.

If I ever get tired of it, I'll create another hood on the side until I feel like going back to it.

What keeps me going with this is that each era is like a whole separate challenge. It's like getting to keep doing new challenges with the same group of sims.

I've thought of doing a Star Trek thing tacked somewhere near the end. Maybe not though....it wouldn't blend well with the eras before and after. Apocolyspe seems like a good end....but I might like to end it with the Hunger Games. Maybe the era before the Hunger Games should be big at increasing the population so that there are more sims to kill off in the Hunger Games.

Helloooo fellow ToTer's. Yes it has been a while since posting. But I have always been lurking in here. Wow , there are some great ideas going, some I may have to look into using myself. Anyway just thought I would let you know, I have not given up, but by crikey it is a painful progress. My generation 5 have now taken their new places in the roman era. I have updated my emperor and patrician families, but have yet to post updates for my plebeian and slave families.

Happy Simming :lovestruc

My computer, or whatever virus attacked it more specifically, is EVIL! I was using it to fix issues with our wireless printer (which got working just in time for Mom to use it to print something she needed to take to a Drs appt). I closed the computer, which put it to sleep, and took it back to my room. Approximately 15-20 minutes later I opened it up to find it had shut down, then IT WOULDN'T RESTART! I had to reformat to get it working. AND I HADN'T BACKED UP MY TOT TO MY EXTERNAL SINCE MY LAST PLAY! So I've lost most of my play this round. I'm pretty sure the last backup on the external is saved during House #1 (Marroquin). But I was on House #8 and near the end of it too. I'm pretty sure I was about halfway through the round! This really really sucks! And until I figure out what Mom did with my AL disc (she installed it when one of my friends/sister had the discs in the living room. Haven't yet seen her play though so I don't know why she did), I can't reinstall sims yet to find out. That and I don't have the time just at the moment. I have no words to describe how I feel right now. ~VP

You only lost one round, feel lucky! When that happened to me I was 2 or 3 generations into the challenge and lost it all. I know I'm not the only one.

Still, that totally sucks. I'm sorry your computer freaked out on you.

And now I'm seriously considering restarting the whole thing. Mostly b/c I see this new install of the game as a way to clear out my massive downloads folder (though I did manage to have a copy of that backed up, minus a few newer downloads) and I really want to change the way I've been playing it, with a few less of my rule edits and more like the original rules. That and I want to change up the way I was playing my rounds (was going to change it up once I hit the Romans anyway). But I'm still keeping it as my crash landed aliens. I love my colored skins way to much to abandon them. But I might make a eugenic set, which will require me finding a bunch of colors, or slightly editing Astiee's skintones to make some extra colors (already did that once. The yellow, white and orange tones were made by me off of Astiee's colors. Which is why I can't share that particular file. Astiee forbids altering her skintones then sharing them.) I should get back to my re-install now instead of dreaming... ~VP

Sorry to hear about your computer issues. If you feel it would be better to restart go ahead, sometimes starting fresh often gives you more inspiration. I really love how unique your challenge is in how all your sims are aliens.

Speaking of my own challenge I'm really regretting how few blonde/red head sims I started with. I started with a single blond couple and one redhead who was coupled with a dark haired sim. The blonde ones have lots of children but all except two of the redhead's children died before they reached adulthood. Since sim genetics require a sim to have two red/blond genes before they will show one of those hair colors I'm having massive issues getting these colors to show on my sims. To get as many recessive genes showing I partnered both the children with the red gene with blond sims.

The problem? The blond sim of one couple died and the red from the other is pretty much infertile. Seriously, whenever i'm not trying to knock her up, she and her partner are at it constantly thanks to ACR with the odds put up to like 100% try for baby, but no baby. Five days and she gets knocked up on the last day. Thankfully she finally gave me a redheaded daughter. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to rely on cas sims for genetic diversity.

EDIT:
I was just wondering some things about whether a sustainable population can be reached. How close a relation can a sim marry? Are those of you in the roman era and beyond able to find spouses easily without cas sims? Is it possible to have a sustainable without the roman cas sims or are they necessary?

EDIT AGAIN:
Just as I was starting to fear overpopulation, the whole of my favorite family, save the two toddlers got wiped out in a fire. I shall see if I can get these two to survive the winter (2.5 seasons left) alone. However I gave up, the child could feed the tot pet food but not himself so I moved in their eldest aunt (and only gen 2 left from that family) back in with her two children, aging them all up a bit to make up for the time. 1 adult, 2 kiddies and 2 tots, not a fun house to play.

I found Gen3 has much more versatility in colouring and with Gen4 I'm getting a lot more genes yanked down from oblivion that I haven't seen since Gen1. Also in regards to a sustainable population Gen3 was tricky but my Gen4 has so far been incredibly easy - though I do have a lot of sims XD over 100 last count and that's down after the death rounds 2 rounds ago. I'm not sure of all the relationships that can be matched up, but I've had no problems with a sim and her grandfather's brother (oh gawd it sounds so nasty putting it in here! XD) and second cousins never raises so much as a blip.

I wouldn't stress about overpopulation; since entering the Roman era I had one round where more died than were born and before I knew it half my population had disappeared - sims die easy >.< breed breed breed! Worst case scenario you have to bop a few on the head yourself. Going into the Dark Ages with sickness and Viking strife I've turned my sims into bunnies! Go you good things go! XD

taliah~

There is a special rule for the Roman era only. We can add sims from CAS. However it can only be one at a time. Like no couples or families.

I fully planned to not do that at all. But the end of the Neanderthal era was a total catastrophe. I ended up with just 2 sims, father and daughter plantsims passed out due to lack of water.

Some people in this thread have reported that they accidently overdid it, and it took forever to get through a round in the Roman era. Some were making a sim whenever there wasn't someone for their sim to marry.

Not wanting to go the over population route, I figured I need to make myself some rules.

The first little rule was to set the minimum # of sims to begin the Roman era. There would be no couples due to the one at a time rule. But I formed this around the idea that the sims may pair up. I decided my remaining sims ought to be Emperor and Princess as they were the only to survive. After that I went with 4 Patricians, 6 Plebians and 8 slaves, half men, half women. I also introduced an Aphrodite to create the world's first brothel....I know messed up....but fun!

Since unmarried slaves and plebian (servants) must work for a master the all lived with the Emperor or a Patrician. This makes for fewer houses and faster rounds!

Then I decided after that IF I make more sims it can't be more than once per round. I also set a limit for when this happens. I count the # of occupied houses. That is how many sims I can create at one time - but I get to pick which class and gender.

Oh yes....after doing a little Roman history research.... I decided that IF they want to the men may woohoo with their slaves and servants. This was expected behavior of upperclass Roman men. That means 2 things. 1. I'm glad I wasn't born in ancient Rome. 2. Diversity for my sims!

I don't want to be underpopulated in the next era. I've decided to add more sims whenever the first baby of the generation is born or when all the fertile sims of one gender in one class are gone.

Right now the 5th generation is one toddler. I have 6 occupied homes.

Fun facts about my Roman Brothel. I fully planned that all the brothel daughters would become prostitutes and all the sons slaves for the upper class when they become teens. I anticipated needing to open up more brothels. I was sadly mistaken. Due to fires and starvation I have had an Aprhodite, a Venus, and a Goddess - just one at a time! There has not been a single daughter! But between them all there have been 5 sons: Cupid, Eros, Cherub, Himeros, and Hymen.

Ok, now I have to explain Hymen so you won't think I'm a total perv. I looked up to see if there were any other names for Cupid or similar Gods. I was not disappointed. Cupid had some lesser God friends! I forget what Himeros was. Hymen? He is the God of Wedding Fertility, or something like that....book is in the other room. After a good hard laugh I stuck the poor baby with that name.

My real kids have good names that people won't make fun of. No, really! I swear!

I may be in trouble. As much as a few days ago i was worried about over population, after losing pretty much all of one family I only have 6 female sims (most of which are around 3) with the roman era one round away (i haven't been updating much) I will have to give in and put CAS sims into my game after all. I'll have everyone breed like crazy this round and try to stop them dying buut at this rate their aren't going to be many romans. At least with the number of excess male sims, there won't be any lack of slaves to kill :P

EDIT: I Found another little girl Yay

I didn't see your post Chicklet but I agree with lots of the things your saying with seven girls I'm thinking 1 emperor, 2 patricians, 2 plebians and 2(plus any unpartnered men) slaves. Then just to mix things up I'll throw either a brothel or a plebian house with 4 unrelated sims, 3 girls and a guy (maybe) who will not be marrying one another.

I love how this game can always surprise you, as soon as you think somethings going to be easy (or that you won't need CAS) half your sims die. When you want them all to die they're dancing around on fire for ages and manage to survive.

Unless I dial back the dark ages rules or something, my little simies are going to breed like crazy for the next few generations. If the numbers are still too low at the end of roman era I'll just extend it for another half gen or something. Or maybe put all the sims I don't want to die as vikings so they're a little safer.

EDIT, again:
If anyone's interested I've updated a few families in roman round 1. It's a relief to have houses again.

Hello everybody ! RL has taken over and I dont get much simming in these days tho I try to do a day here and there. Im still going thru the caveman era and this one lot with 5 kids plus 2 parents is doing my head in ! It is taking forever to get thru it but I can see the end now thankfully. There was much talk about "the Bear" and I had the most unsual thing happen when she showed up on this lot (see pics ). Anyone else experience this?

Wow I've never seen that before although if I was still playing with the social workers, there'd be even less of a gen three in my game. You might have managed to get everyone's mood up enough that taking the children was no longer necessary. However as the child was still overheating, I doubt it. Possibly a glitch although a favorable one. Let us know if she does come back the next day.

Unfortunately my tot neighborhood has disappeared. Just as I got to the roman era. I was just going to update my backup too.

Hi all! I started this challenge maybe 9 months or a year ago, and got fed up with the constant summer and overheating. But I decided to open that neighborhood recently and start playing again, and I'm completely addicted! My gen 3 kids are just starting to age to toddler, and I found that trying to add a little storyline has helped keep interest, and lessen the aggravation of overheating!

I'm so glad this thread is still active, it was nice to come back and get some tips on transitioning to the next phase, since I'm already starting to plan out the Roman era.



If one of your sims is a family sim or has a secondary aspiration of family, and you have given them all the aspiration benefit points (or whatever they're called), one of the benefits is plead with social worker, and that is exactly what happened in that picture. She shows up, then gives you another 24 hours to remedy the situation. But if she has to come again, she will take away the kids. This happened to me in more than one of my families. One time I wasn't able to get the kids temperature down, and she took away half the family!

The kid was standing beside her passed out so I was very surprised. I didnt save and played along and she came back but only when the eldest kid got an F in school. Took her forever to take them all away. I cheated tho and exited without saving and she never came back for the heat stroke. Kpcca you may be on to something there ! I do believe I gave this couple extra points. It was a test so not something I normally do.

anna, I've found playing this challenge I experience a lot of things I've never experienced before playing this game, which is one of the reasons this is so fun. The first time the social worker showed up for my family, I remembered I had the plead with social worker points and I was desperately clicking on the social worker to try and get the option to beg, then that notice popped up, and I was like oh, that must be it!

Anyone Else In Dark Ages?
 

I know that I shortened my generations for each Age so that I got to the Dark Ages way before I should have, but I was wondering if anyone else was playing in the Dark Ages? I find it more fun to play this challenge when someone is in the same Age as my Sims.

Still in the beginning of Bronze Age, sorry. But I love reading your stories.

I'm just having fun with a great little teenager drama in my hood, starring:
- Mars Silva, next in line for emperor
- Psyche Gracia, Patrician's daughter and supposed to be Mars's future wife
- Luna Valeria, Patrician's daughter and Mars's cousin

The first meeting of Mars and Psyche, prospective future rulers of Elmekia: Both were invited by Luna Valeria, so I didn't control them. It was hilarious: From the very beginning, Mars did nothing but pick on Psyche non-stop, until the poor girl was about to cry. Mind you, according to ACR, they do "have the hots" for each other. Seems like Mars just doesn't have any idea how to flirt with a girl he likes. Then I decided to prevent further damage to their relationship by having Luna influence Mars to simply talk to Psyche. He, of course, took the worst possible option and made everything even worse... Luna's reaction to her hopeless cousin? Put him into a headlock. :D
Oh my, this couple is going to be so much fun. ^^ Provided they don't kill each other in the near future.

Good to see my friends again
 

Hey, all! Been a long time, and yes I'm still playing...five more families to play for a week to get through Roman round 1 lol (to be perfectly honest, I got pretty distracted with Sims Supernatural, a very enjoyable upgrade).

A recap of what's going on on Sandsteps Isle;

I've just been through The Saulsons, Fahadeens, and am almost done with the Edifice's this round. I've had the first non-marriage children as Kasey Sausoria had no one he wasn't related to save for Shanna Bupkis (a widow). They just had twin girls- not enough to help her get out of poverty! He's going to be a 'roving male' for awhile, as I need to see if the game will finally forget some of the relationships- I keep ending up with in laws and steps kids and distant cousins all remembered by the game perfectly, so the extra CAS sims were an unfortunate need. (My goal is to only have to introduce one set, or only one set per stage if necessary).

Boyd & Billie Saulson are near having another kid even though Boyd is a day away from geriatric and his wife is half his age. Good luck, guys, but they'v had enough already.


The original families were modeled after certain parts of the world;

Cove- Norwegian/ Icelandic decent (straight white-blond hair, ice blue or green eyes)
Bupkis- Italian/ European decent (curly/wavy dark or brown hair, brown or dark grey eyes)
Saulson- Spanish/ South American or European decent (med skin tone, med to black hair, dark eyes)
Edifice- Indian/ Central Asian OR North African decent (darker skin tone, dark eyes)
Fahadeen- South African decent (dark everything)

The new CAS sims ('captured as POWs or enslaved into Roman society so everyone is not related) are the following- along with the new traits they bring to the group;

Kale Plutus- Greek origin, married Cove (brings the greek blond curls and true green eyes)
Mingus Dingus- Asian warrior's son, married Saulson (Blue-black hair and reddish eyes)
Lara Iselic- Finnish (Gold hair and ice blue eyes)
Brenna Mention- Germanic (Curly blue-black hair and gold eyes) Engaged to a Faahdeena
Faolan McGillicutty- Irish (Red hair, green eyes & freckles)
Adelade Park- Gaelic (red-brown hair & gold eyes)
Pertti Guliver- Irish (Strawberry blond hair and light blue eyes & freckles)
Evangelica Seneca- Spanish (tan skin, dark curls & light brown eyes)
Svetlana Borstcova- Russian (Pale skin, sharp features & dark hair)
Sephut & Misept Sol (sisters)- Egyptian (Dark hair, skin & gray eyes)

I've begun updating my Family tree (in signature) with profile pics for everyone, most of the new CAS sims aren't in it.


Pictures;
Misept Sol is adorable:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us


The Roman Library (I was going to post more but I forgot how and they came out huge! Sorry;;

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

...And am I still the only one playing this in TS3? I can't blame you all, at least all the expansions for TS2 are out already... I'm also thinking about getting the new Island expansion- I want my simmies to travel and live in houseboats! There's also a way to build over the water with it, and one of the reasons I've had trouble playing is that the isle I made is so overcrowded already... We'll see.

Just a note. Most unfortunately I lost my hood to corruption. I'm finally getting around to restarting.

I was rereading the rules and realized that if you reduce everything to 2 gen, and cut out exploration and colonization, the challenge is only 10 generations. I will be doing this time around. If anyone wants to look at my website I'm adding the details of my remade families as I make them.

That's a pretty good idea. It would also allow for more modification- I've been wanting to add more stages to the challenge.


I was thinking playing Modern era for a few gens, then getting into either modern wars and eventually post-apocalyptic (bring on the zombies and labcoats!)

Do you save extra side copies? It's been awhile since I played TS2, but I know when I started this challenge, I saved the first families with their new babies into the bin for awhile in case I had any issues. Turns out- one of my progenitor sim gals did get corrupted, so I was able to replace her and cheat her back up to the appropriate age. Really helpful! (Plus you have the option of starting the first families over in a new map later that way).

Helloooo....great to see there are still the hardcore ToTer's still going strong . It has been a while ( looong overdue ) and thought I would pop in. One thing i notice is how many of us are cutting back on the number of generations in each era. This seems like a plan I may take also...there are some great ideas flowing around and yes, I am still in it for the long haul.

Happy Simming everyone
Tga Kiwi

I am creating a post apocalyptic version of this. There will be five nations each one with their own values and militaries. Three will be from the Fallout Franchise, the other two will be ones I have created.

On that note, I just started reading the book Divergent. It has the potential for mixing into this challenge or creating a new challenge. The post right above mine would be great with ideas from this book.

I don't want to spoil this great book for those who want to read it. If you don't want to read it, but want the great ideas, just read pages 42 and 43. Better yet look at a copy that has bonus material in the back and just read the manifestos of each faction in the back of the book.

Society is divided up into 5 factions in this book. One could divide their sims into the same type of factions, or make different factions. Just read those 2 pages and see what I mean.

It's such a good book. I highly recomend it....and I haven't read to page 100 yet.

Hi there! I just discovered this thread a week ago, and I've managed to read through everything. It's fascinating how you're all like a little community, working together and stuff.

I'm planning on starting the challenge soon, but I was just wondering what mods/hacks you guys play with. e.g Inteen, ACR etc. Also I've started reading some of your stories based off the challenge, you've all done great jobs!

Personally I have way to many hacks to list, most make things less annoying, others squash behaviors (like the Dance on Toes. I hate that one since I started playing this challenge. All my toddlers like playing with the music sticks and thus are developing music and dance enthusiasm. Once they're children they keep doing the "Dance Together" interaction with any older sim on lot. It really wouldn't annoy me except for the LAUGH the kids do during it. OMG I want to kill them. However that's not very conducive to furthering the challenge) Back on topic, the major mods I use are ACR version two, Chris Hatch's version of Inteen made to go with his unofficial expansion pack (its on an adult site or I'd link), twojeffs Trips and Quads, most of Pescado's Director's Cut, and a few (okay alot) of other minor mods. Including one to let me have more than eight sims on a lot.

In ToT news, due to death of my computer I'm restarting the challenge. And I since I can never seem to leave well enough alone, I'm making a small cosmetic change to my challenge. Most of you should be aware of the fact that my ToT sims are aliens and that I created a default skin set. Well I recently discovered Phaenoh's Correlated Skin Set (how I missed it for this long is beyond me) and being me, I want to expand my default skins to work with that. So I've been scouring for skins I can use to expand my current set. The original set was Astiee's Sparkle and Shine skintones, with a few extra colors made by me. But I've fallen in love with Enayla's Pixie skins so I'll be incorporating as many of those into it as I can, and filling the gaps with some nice looking ones over at Parsimonius. I'm still a few skins short so I'll have to go looking for one or two more to get the whole set complete, but then I can finally make my founders. Or I could suck it up and use the old skin set and make them now, and work on the Correlated Set later. Kinda leaning toward creating the founders now, 'cause I'm getting burned out on looking at all these skins and I really don't fell like trying to figure out which shade of what color should go with which hair color. ~VP

Oh thanks! I already use InTeen, but now I've got the Triplet and Quads hack after looking it up. I spent all day finding prehistoric clothing and creating my couples.

Since I'm not entirely creative with names, I'm setting the challenge after some apocalyptic event (possibly a "what if 2012 happened" effort). Any survivors were locked underground, and the majority went mad and were put down, leaving the remaining sims who paired up to repopulate the earth.

Geez, that's a storyline in itself isn't it? Anyway, these people also went slightly mad, and started referring to themselves by using fictional personas and other things.

My founders are:
Edward and Bella White (Snow White & Twilight)
Sam and Constance Winchester (Supernatural)
Ian and Susan Foreman (Doctor Who)
Sherlock and Molly Holmes (Sherlock)
Naruto and Sakura Uzumaki (Naruto)
See XD my naming isn't that creative, it's like that in most of my neighbourhoods.

I've started playing my first family the White's now, and I'm thinking of documenting it. But I'll start a website once I've played through a round. Hopefully I won't take as long as some of you guys in the Roman and Dark Ages

The hacks I'm using (and that actually make important differences for the challenge) are ACR, inge jone's school changer and flexi school, Boiling Oil's Unlimited Sims and no fresh food bonus, Cyjon's Harvest fix (to make the harvested plants disappear immidiately ._.) and Pescado's no instant love and romance mod. And I'm thinking about putting in some hack to disable the social worker. It annoys me that when the social worker comes, all the children are taken away (instead of the one concernced) and that they remain in the family tree. >.<
Anyway, I would really recommend you getting ACR + No istant love & Romance mod (if possible, I don't know whether it is compatible with inteen?) because the challenge is getting much more interesting, when sims start to form couples on their own. I've got some nice love triangles and onesided realtionships, for example.


If you took a look at my livejournal, you may noticed that I'm not terribly good at giving names either xD


I actually did my own skin set, too. It's a pretty easy concept, but a really tedious work.
You'll see my set once I update my journal and I may even upload it here on MTS, if I find time to go back to it and fix a few things.


Apart from that, I somehow got stuck in my challenge when my first child turned into an adult, hence the lack of updates lately. Moreover I hadn't much time to play due to school and theater. But holidays start tomorrow, so I hope I will have the time and motivation to continue the challenge ;3