The Broke Challenge
I finally got my Sims 2 working again and remembered that the family I had the most fun with were Brandi Broke and her kids. Having played them over and over again I decided I had to try something similar but different and more difficult.
So meet Bianca Broke, a distant cousin of Brandi’s late husband Skip Broke, who just moved to Belladonna Cove with her four kids. Bianca doesn’t mean to be a bad mom, but she really sucks at it. She is totally into romance but always ends up with men and women who are not good for her and leave her eventually. She never finished high school and would have a hard time finding a job if she would actually look for one. Her ex-husband, the father of her two youngest children disappeared and left her in debt so most of the money she gets from social service is used for paying back the debts. They had to sell their small home and move into the trailer park.
Choose your scenario:
(I know there are really a lot, but I thought having a lot of options was a nice idea.)
Easy* (no points)
1 adult, 1 teen, 1 child, 1 toddler
Medium (30 points)
1 adult, 1 teen, 1 child, 2 toddlers
Hard (50 points)
1 pregnant adult, 1 teen, 1 child, 2 toddlers
Harder (70 points)
1 adult, 1 teen, 1 child, 2 toddlers, 1 baby
Insane (120 points)
1 pregnant adult, 1 teen, 1 child, 2 toddlers, 1 baby
Much Easier (minus 120 points)
1 adult, 2 teens, 1 child, 1 toddler
(*I find easy hard enough and I failed with the first toddler, but I’ll try again…)
The Rules:
The family
You need as many Sims as your scenario requires.
They can have any gender you want, even the parent. But be prepared to use cheats more often if your parent is male.
The character of the Sims is up to you too. Make it as interesting as you like.
Parent:
Aspiration: Romance
If you choose a second aspiration you cannot choose family.
Teen:
Aspiration: Family
You can choose any second aspiration you want.
You are only allowed to have one person that has the family aspiration as main aspiration in your household and also only one who has the family aspiration as second aspiration. (So if you choose the option with the second teen only one of them can have the family aspiration. You are free to choose any other aspiration for the second teen.)
Jobs:
The parent is not allowed to work or open a business. They can however earn money with art and crafting.
The teens can get a job and I guess they will have to. But I guess they will not have the time before the toddler learned the three basics.
Caring for the toddlers and children and teens:
The adult is not allowed…
… to cook for her/his children.
… to bathe them, change diapers or feed them.
… to teach them anything or advice them to improve anything.
… to help them with their homework.
The adult is allowed…
… to interact with all of his/her children and even have a great and close relationship with all of them.
… to take toddlers in and out of their cribs. (I decided to allow this because without this my teen would have gone crazy. Feel free to forbid your adult to do it and give yourself 40 bonus points. You can also let the toddlers sleep in the beds for animals, but then you do not get the bonus points.)
It will be up to the teen to care for the toddlers and children.
Babies:
The adult can and should take care of babies.
The apartment:
the biggest trailer on the trailer lot
The furniture:
beds for everyone
kitchen table and three chairs
1 potty for toddlers
the three toys with which the toddlers can learn mechanics, creativity and charisma
the table and the oven for children
a bookshelf
a phone
a radio
Use a cheat to reduce your money to 3000§ or buy expensive stuff that you put into your inventory and never use again.
More babies:
Your parent should try to get to know at least a person per week and then try to improve the relationship until there is the option to try for a baby. Whenever your adult wants to woohoo you have to try for a baby. If you prefer to go steady and have only one partner it is fine too, but since you have a romance sim this may not be the best idea. You have to try for a baby once a week unless your adult is already pregnant.
If your Sim is bisexual he/she has to try for a baby with both genders. Homosexual Sims have to try for a baby with their own gender. You can either use a mod or you can throw a dice and use a cheat to get your Sim pregnant.
If you have a single dad you can also use the dice method and combine it with alien pregnancy.
If you don’t like using cheats and don’t want alien babies and you want a single dad you may move in a Sim for reproduction, but then you have to keep the Sim and the rules for the parent also have to be followed by this Sim. Money the Sim brings into the household cannot be used except for a bed for the new Sim. The second adult is not allowed to care for babies. (Since this Sim is also not allowed to work keep in mind that it will be difficult for your romance Sim to fulfill his/her wishes.)
Dice method: If you throw a dice you have to impregnate your sim if you get an odd number.
The flat:
The biggest trailer on the trailer park lot.
Cleaning the house:
The parent will not be allowed to do any household tasks.
The adult may repair stuff, but only once a week and only if it is something he/she actually uses.
You can only visit community lots once a week for no more than twelve hours. Only one person is allowed to leave at a time so choose wisely.
You can have a roommate if you think you have the space. You can have a new roommate whenever you like.
Game over:
A child is taken away by social service.
A toddler fails to learn speaking, walking or using the potty.
Someone from the family dies.
You can however still count your points!
Penalties:
Every time one of your adults children doesn’t grow up well you lose 15 points.
For every college dropout you lose 15 points.
Every day without a toddler or a baby in the house you lose 5 points.
You lose 10 points if a baby, child or teen does not grow up fine.
You lose 30 points if your teen gets an F, but only once per teen.
Points:
1 point for every skill point of every original or born member of the family.
10 points for a toddler that grows up fine.
5 points for a child that grows up fine.
5 points for every teen that grows up fine or goes to college.
35 points for every child that finishes college.
25 points for every child that grows into an adult and moves out.
10 points for every baby born to your original adult sim.
5 points for every baby that grows up fine.
How does the challenge end?
As soon as your parent is five days away from becoming an elder you can stop reproducing. You will no longer lose points when there is no toddler or baby in the family. Every child born before has to be treated according to the rules. Should you get any new kids the rules don’t apply to them anymore. The parent can interact with them any way you like.
You may also use the Elixir of life (but you cannot use it earlier!) to keep your adult an adult. It’s totally up to you. But every kid born before this has to grow up and move out or on to college to finish this challenge.
When the last of the kids born before has moved out/finished college you get 100 additional points for completing the challenge.