Decided to try out creating a challenge using AI. Left the detail prompts in so others can use for creating their own. Starting this challenge to see how feasible it is now. Mostly looking for feedback, critique, and prompts for refinement. Certain aspects are left open ended for individuality, others not so much.

********************************

## **Green Life Odyssey**

### **Objective:**
Build and maintain a self-sufficient household with intricate rules involving gardening, animal care, relationship-building, and world travel restrictions, using features from all DLCs and Icemunmun’s harvestable mods.

### **Challenge Setup:**

1. **Starting Conditions:**
- Begin with one Sim or a small family (up to four Sims) on an empty lot.
- Your Sim(s) start with no money and no skills.

### **Self-Sufficiency Goals:**

1. **Income Sources:**
- Generate income through gardening, crafting, freelancing, fishing, or writing.
- Traditional jobs or careers are not allowed.

2. **Skills Development:**
- Focus on skills that support self-sufficiency: gardening, handiness, cooking, and fishing.

3. **Living Off the Land:**
- Grow or catch all food consumed by the household.
- Use renewable energy sources and sustainable materials for the home.

### **Gardening Restrictions:**

1. **Seasonal Planting:**
- **Spring:** Lettuce, spinach, carrots, wheat, oats, sticky rice, cabbage.
- **Summer:** Tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, barley, corn, kidney beans, jalapenos.
- **Fall:** Pumpkins, mushrooms, green beans, rye, millet, wild rice.
- **Winter:** Use indoor planters or a greenhouse for crops like spinach, winter wheat, and rice.

2. **Custom Seasonal Restrictions for Icemunmun’s Harvestables:**
- **Spring:** Wheat, oats, sticky rice, cabbage.
- **Summer:** Barley, corn, kidney beans, jalapenos.
- **Fall:** Rye, millet, wild rice.
- **Winter:** Winter wheat (must be grown in indoor planters or greenhouse); rice (must be grown indoors).

3. **Garden Management:**
- Plant crops only in their designated seasons.
- Harvest crops when mature; manage garden with proper care.

4. **Seasonal Challenges:**
- **Winter:** Focus on indoor or greenhouse gardening.
- **Weather Protection:** Protect crops from adverse weather conditions.

5. **Crop Rotation:**
- Rotate crops each season and use composting or fertilizing to enhance soil quality.

### **Animal Integration (Cottage Living Expansion):**

1. **Animal Acquisition:**
- Start with 1 chicken, 1 llama, or 1 cow. Acquire animals through in-game means.

2. **Animal Care:**
- Feed, brush, and clean animals daily; monitor health and happiness.

3. **Animal Products:**
- Use or sell eggs, wool, and milk for cooking or selling.

4. **Expansion and Growth:**
- Add up to 3 additional animals of the same type; upgrade farm facilities.

5. **Seasonal Considerations:**
- **Winter:** Protect animals from cold; **Summer:** Provide shade and water.

### **Romantic Partner Parameters:**

1. **Finding a Partner:**
- Engage in social activities related to self-sufficiency; avoid traditional dating apps or cheats.

2. **Building the Relationship:**
- Share activities aligned with the self-sufficient lifestyle; support each other’s goals.

3. **Partnership Goals:**
- Both partners contribute to the self-sufficient lifestyle; engage in shared responsibilities.

### **Family Parameters:**

1. **Family Planning:**
- Have children when stable and self-sufficient; use natural means for pregnancy. (adoption and such are fine, play how you want.)

2. **Preparing for Children:**
- Set up an eco-friendly nursery; manage resources.

3. **Raising Children:**
- Encourage self-sufficient skills; involve children in activities and chores.

4. **Parenting Rules:**
- Model self-sufficient behaviors and assign age-appropriate chores.

5. **Milestones for Children:**
- Master a self-sufficient skill by Young Adult stage; complete an aspiration related to sustainability.

6. **Transition to Young Adults:**
- Prepare children to continue or enhance the self-sufficient lifestyle.

### **Additional Rules and Restrictions:**

1. **Local Travel Restrictions:**
- **Local Limit:** Travel to the main town for essential activities (e.g., buying seeds, visiting markets) and for participating in local festivals or community events related to gardening or animals.
- **Special Worlds:** No vacationing to special worlds (e.g., Granite Falls, Selvadorada, Mount Komorebi) or other worlds introduced in travel-focused DLCs.

2. **Fishing Restrictions:**
- **Weather Conditions:** Fish only when it is not raining; use designated fishing spots.

3. **Selling Products:**
- **Sales Tables Only:** Sell items at sales tables or in the family retail store; selling from the inventory is not allowed.
- **Retail Store:** Manage a family retail store for selling excess items; must be run by your household.

4. **Building and Renovations:**
- **Eco-Friendly Materials:** Use eco-friendly or self-sufficient materials for building and renovations.
- **No Cheats:** Avoid cheats or mods that provide unlimited resources or alter gameplay mechanics.

5. **Weather-Related Restrictions:**
- **Gardening:** You cannot water or tend to your garden on rainy days; avoid gardening during heatwaves and protect plants from frost.
- **Fishing:** Fishing is not allowed on windy or snowy days; only fish during calm weather.
- **Animal Care:** Keep animals sheltered during storms or extreme weather; provide cooling during heatwaves.
- **Outdoor Activities:** Avoid outdoor activities like crafting or collecting during foggy or windy conditions.
- **Building:** No outdoor construction during rain or snow accumulation.

### **Acceptable Mods:**

1. **Icemunmun's Mods:**
- **Custom Harvestables:** Essential for integrating additional grains and plants. Ensure you have the most updated versions to align with seasonal restrictions.
- **Custom Functional Objects:** Mods like the Mill and Soap Making add functionality and immersion to the self-sufficient lifestyle.

2. **MC Command Center (MCCC):**
- **Core Functions:** Useful for managing various gameplay aspects, such as aging and household management. Use it to tweak settings crucial for maintaining challenge balance without giving undue advantages.

3. **Cooking and Crafting Mods:**
- **Craftable Items:** Mods that add more craftable items and recipes can enhance your gameplay without disrupting the challenge's self-sufficiency theme.

4. **Environmental and Eco Mods:**
- **Eco-Friendly Mods:** Mods that enhance eco-friendly living, such as solar panels, composting, and water-saving systems, align with the self-sufficient theme and add realism.

5. **Agriculture and Farming Mods:**
- **Advanced Gardening Tools:** Mods that provide advanced tools or improvements for gardening (e.g., enhanced planters or irrigation systems) can help manage your garden more effectively.
- **Animal Care Mods:** Mods that improve animal care or add new animals (e.g., different breeds or more interactive features) can enhance the farming aspect.

6. **Realism Mods:**
- **Weather and Seasons Enhancements:** Mods that improve or add to the existing weather and seasonal systems, making them more impactful or realistic, can further immerse you in the challenge.
- **Functional Stores:** Mods that allow for more detailed retail management or custom stores can help with the selling aspect of the challenge.

7. **Quality of Life Mods:**
- **UI Enhancements:** Mods that improve the user interface, such as better organization of inventories or easier access to information, can enhance gameplay without affecting the challenge's rules.
- **Visual Enhancements:** Mods that improve graphics or add realism to the environment (e.g., realistic textures or lighting) can enhance your overall gameplay experience.

### **Winning the Challenge:**

- The challenge is considered “won” when:
- The household is self-sufficient, effectively managing gardening, animal care, and relationships while adhering to all restrictions.
- The romantic partner is fully integrated into the lifestyle and contributes to the household’s goals.
- Children are prepared to continue or enhance the self-sufficient lifestyle with developed skills and aspirations.

---

Feel free to copy and use this format for your challenge. Enjoy!

Sounds good but I think the challenge should start with only one Sim as having more teen/adult Sims at the start would make the challenge easier (more foraging, easily fulfilling the romantic partner goals ect.) but then having child Sims too early on would be confusing as one of the requirements to continue the generation is the eco-friendly nursery. If the 1-4 Sim limit still sounds like a great idea, you could change the rules slightly depending on the amount of starter Sims and ages (eg. 2 child Sims equals $200 starter money to build a "family campsite" (increasing up to $300 if there's 3 child Sims), 2 or more adults = curfew limit (so Bella and Mortimer can't just fish at the park until 2 am and have to remain on their lot after midnight or something).

Hope my suggestions maybe gave you a couple ideas! I actually really love this challenge prompt so I'll definitely incorporate it into my Sims 4 legacy save.

Absolutely! Left it open ended for people to play how they like. Personally, given the metrics, one sim might be easier than four...you can only eat what you grow/forage and one sim is easier to manage in that regard. For instance, harvesting one of the fruit bushes one time will allow you to make the 4 serving of fruit salad, so your single sim can forage once and eat for two days and focus on the animals and other aspects. As you stated though, more sims means more food earlier on as well, and faster money. I usually let whatever backstory I come up with for the scenarios dictate some of it (is your sim a hippy hermit because of a troubled past, a couple who decided city life wasn't for them, etc.)

Let me know how it goes for you!!

When choosing a world:
Easiest Worlds:

Henford-on-Bagley, Windenburg, Brindleton Bay – These worlds have favorable climates, large lots, and community resources that support self-sufficient lifestyles.

Hardest Worlds:

StrangerVille, Sulani, Mt. Komorebi, Del Sol Valley – These worlds present challenges like harsh climates, small lots, and a lack of farming resources, making the challenge more difficult.

You're definitely right with that. When a challenge doesn't have super strict guidelines it makes it way easier to be played by everyone, and I didn't even consider how it'd be easier for just one sim to live off the land!

Don't worry, I definitely will let you know how it goes when I get it started

You are right, agree with you.