I'll start mine with the exploration and colonization of the New World aka North America in the 16th and 17th centuries and move into the modern age with the game starting as a New World colony established with settlers coming from Europe to escape from the grinding poverty many of them faced in the old countries back then.I've got modfied rules I'll be following on a Wordpad document I wrote myself.My dark age stage would be the late 17th century witch trials compared to the real Salem witch trials in the late 17th century in the real history.

So I recently started out this challenge and I really like it! I've noticed thought that my Neanderthals are getting RICH from selling fish. Especially the ones with PlantSims. And I don't bother do any farming since it doesn't give as much money as fishing. Like one family has like 20.000 simoleons right now and I haven't even sold off all of it yet.
Is it the same for you guys?

I've had to do some work preparing for this and I'm combining it with an apcalypse challenge so most of my sims start with very limited funds and I need a boarding house for those and others arriving too late to settle on their own homestead.Mine starts in 1520 which is exploration and colonization of Europeans in the New World starting in the spring of 1520 as the Turkish wars were ending in Europe and they were facing a major economic collapse from the wars.

Hey guys! It's been forever but I've been able to get back into playing my challenge again, and have new episodes out of the Sims 3 version Roman Era- playing 240+ sims is getting crazy, I'm going to have to limit babies or kill more of them off (not enough die in TS3 in this challenge!

Here's the recent video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxP7jkhJMHs
I traced my genealogies also and it turns out there could be a multidirectional battle for the throne when the kids from this gen age up- I have three possible claimants, all were disqualified at one point or another and once their kids are big enough I'm planning a bit of a clan war. But we'll see! Basically the eldest Emporer child to age up in gen 5 was female, her next rival was darker skin tone, and there is a third (playboy) option if those first two can be declared illegitimate. I'm not sure how to go about it, but I may have their kids all perform in some sort of tournament. Don't have horses in town yet, but they could play a round of chess, spar 3x, and then actually fight and the loser out of three is killed? All males of that family killed as well? What do you all think?

Yafeu is the legitimate heir but he is not pale enough, Lindsay became Emperor/ess as a result (or you could look at is as a regency until the next heir in line was old enough to take over (Dequan)). Basically the birth order is Yafeu > Lindsay > Dequan, but Dequan can't settle down and has the romance lifetime wish, so would make a horrible leader. Lindsay's been doig the job already and lives in the best mansion with the most servants etc, and Yafeu doesn't want to fight but I'm thinking their kids might? Dequan just has a daughter though...

Opinions appreciated and long time no see everyone!!

I've got some new content to install before making final prepartations to go live with this in my new colony of Riverdale in the New World in 1520.

I just start my Roman era. When I learn how to post picture, I will show you my progress.

If you click on "go advanced" and then scroll down, you can upload pictures directly to your message. Then click "copy image Tag" and insert where you want it to display.

Neolithic: Round 1 Results

Redwood (Skin 1)
Parents: Apple, Pansy
Daughters: Pear (toddler), Clementine (toddler), Juniper (Baby)
Funds: $15,193

Kindle (Skin 1)
Parents: Cedar, Acorn
Daughters: Daisy (Child), Squash (toddler)
Son: Wolf (heir)
Funds: 15,122

Sun (Skin 4)
Parents: Grapefruit, Lily
Daughters: Rain (Child), Petal (Baby)
Son: Bear (toddler) (heir)
Funds: 15,658

Green (Skin 4)
Parents: Crow, Sable
Daughter: Grass (toddler)
Sons: Stone (heir) (Child), Branch (toddler)
Funds: 16,281

Sky (Skin 1/4)
Parents: Lake (Skin 1), Tulip (Skin 4)
Daughter: Blossom (Child)
Sons: Aspen (toddler), Cliff (Baby)
Funds: 15,167

Population: 23
Generation 1 Males: 5
Generation 1 Females: 5
Generation 2 Males: 5
Generation 2 Females: 8

(Note: The richest household will become to emperor, regardless of skin color.)

Round 1 Screenshots:

@letitgo1776 -Great pictures!I still have to set my town up for mine starting with exploration and colonization and the settlement is to start in 1520 with the first couple of colonists coming from a war-torn Europe to settle in the New World.
I've managed to get most of the content I'll need into my game and can start setting up Riverdale.It means that I'll ve making sure basics are on both lots as one is the service center lot and the other is a homestead for my couple.There can be a new couple moving in each spring as they'll need that extra time to get settled in and begin building a home on their lot.

That seems very similar to how you play The Sims 3 on Sims Forums. I guess you’ve established your play style!

@letitgo1776 -I just filled my TS2 towns up in the past and found it confusing and kept losing track of families resulting in my abandoning the town eventually.I also found that playing TS3 that way worked best and avoided many of the issues that could eventually break a save.

I've been into Riverdale and begun to set my TOT challenge town up by flattening the two lots already placed.I've also got the dresser on the homestead lot.

is it visible?

I managed to get a washroom on my service center and a sims crossing sign on the residence in my TOT town.

current situation in roman era

I just wanted to do something random, but still similar, with just 3 couples, but I resurrected a woman because I needed her to have 2 children like the others. Because I wanted to start it by having babies for each couple.

Heya, just picked my game of this up again. Glad to see the thread is still going - over ten years!

@oboesapien -It's still going here and I've been setting up my own TOT Challenge starting with colonization of the New World in the 16th century and moving into modern times in my colonial settlement as a new nation os born around it.

Hey guys!
So glad there is still some activity here

I just started my own new try at this challenge. I'm at generation 4 so far, the Romans are in town and there's a class system developing.

I started out differently this time, with only one family and then creating new partners for their 5 children. The first and second children became richer than the younger three, to start out a class system.
I have gradually given more things to my sims to make playing every round different and then when the oldest child of generation 3 became an adult I moved a rich Roman family in as well. The others are not quite at the same level yet but the colonization is happening

Who else is currently playing this challenge? Would love to hear about it and share updates

Welcome to the challenge! (Although you've probably been playing for a while if you're already at Gen 4) But the welcome applies to everyone else I've not met yet.

I'm still cataloging my TOT challenge on Youtube- though more is recorded than uploaded right now, here's one of the more recent episodes. It's Sims 3 but this the board I posted at from the beginning so even though there have been attempts at a TS3 TOT thread, the best one is really here for me. Here's that episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UJxBz8ASgQ

What's not online yet is the fact that Dequan (third in line to throne in Roman) has more enemies than ever as he just broke up another engaged couple. He had a wish to start a band so I named it 'My Future Ex Girlfriends', and invited all the girls he wished to jam with.

I've also been doing some research on mortality in ancient times and it turns out that in Rome, the birthrate was very very low- people practiced herbal contraceptive consumption and also it turns out the baths roasted men's sperm so the richer someone was and the more visits they made to the baths, the less children they had. One of the famous Caesars had three wives and only one daughter was produced. That daughter later died from complications in childbirth.
So I'm thinking of introducing mortality rolls to the age up process and the birth process, and keeping the policy of 'every time they try, they must try for baby'. The numbers for child mortality are around 30% in most ages save the modern era, with plagues in creasing that number to 40% on occasion. I couldn't find a whole lot on birth mother mortality but it is the most common cause of female death and many died of infection within a week to 10 days after giving birth. I estimate that also to be a 30% rate, but most of our history was midwives and it was rare for them to document statistics (they were also arguably better at their work than when male doctors took over in the Victorian Era). I'll probably try a 20% chance of death for all mothers and see how that goes, first. I want an initial overall 20% mortality rate for kids so I'll be rolling 1-100 at age up for toddlers where 1-30 will kill them, children where 1-20 will kill them, and teens where 1-10 will kill them (with an average of 20%). If my population is still too high after this I'll just roll 1-30 out of 100 sat every age stage until YA.

I'm testing this now in a new challenge to see if I like the mortality rolls before introducing it to my 6 generation, 247 sim Roman town. The statistics I found were that gladiators had a 1 in 5 chance of survival and most fights were to the draw (didn't find stats for fighting animals) and that gladiators were able to retire after long careers. Also (if it matters), slaves that had good skillsets were almost never admitted to the gladiatorial games because they were too useful- if there was a scribe who could read and write or translate languages for their owner on their travels they were not going to the games. So in addition to the random draw of the slave lottery I may add a check for skillsets and if a slave has high charisma, writing, logic or artistic ability I may consider them too valuable to their owners to enter. That said, slaves with those skillsets would only belong to the richest people, because what most of the slaves spend their time doing is gardening and taking care of children.

... So far in my test families the thing that I did not bank on is how absolutely creepy toddler ghosts are in TS3- They can't be interacted with unless your active sim 'knows their family well enough', and I already have about 5 in a graveyard (using cheats to kill them and create an urnstone). Whenever one spawns out they just coo and rock back and forth. This may be a horrible idea.

@abcbok -I've been setting up my TOT challenge town as a 16th century colony in the new world aka North America back in the early colonial days.

@Frogsnack Thanks! I've been playing on and off for the last years, ToT is really the only way I play Sims 2 these days. It's been long since I made it this far though so I'm excited! love that you're sharing your challenge on Youtube, I'll keep checking it out Also love the drama in your neighborhood, it's the best part of this challenge to me!

Interesting research, I can see wanting to "trim" the neighborhood a bit with as many sims as you have. I only have 40+ and I already think they're many. I can still keep pretty good track of them with my spreadsheet, though. Maybe I'll introduce death rolls in periods, to simulate outbreaks of plague etc, when I feel they're getting overpopulated. Can't wait to see the toddler ghosts in one of your videos, haha!

@TadOlson Interesting! How's it going so far? Do you have any pictures to share?

I made it to the Roman Era so I wanted to share my neighborhood and my families with you guys, I have 10 of them right now so I'll start with the first 5. There are 2 patrician families, 1 plebeian and 7 slave/poor families so far, I need to balance it out a bit more but I think it'll happen naturally in the next generation. My neighborhood is divided into two parts, the town and a village outside of it.

Here is the neighborhood:

The town


The village

The 5 children of the founding couple and their heirs families all live in the village, while the Roman family and the second and third sons all live in apartmens in the town. This way the town will grow much bigger. Here are the families:


Opsidia Aelia
The Roman family, of course the richest family in town. The pater familias is Aelianus Opsidius Aelius, a Romance sim working in Law. Aelianus and his wife Caelina have had 4 children, 3 daughters and a son, Regulus. Their oldest daughter has been married off.


Scaevia Splattia
The most influential of the original families, from the oldest son of the founding couple. The pater familias is Spleido, Roman name Splattius, a Knowledge sim also working in Law. He and Srewo have two daughters.


Palpellia Atia
The plebeian family in the neighborhood, led by Palajo, Roman name Palpellius. His and his dead wife Kurnos had 5 sons making the Palpellia family the biggest one. With all of them also becoming plebeian I believe the class ratio will balance out.


Remmia Mettia
The biggest household in the neighborhood, drives me crazy to play them. The family consists of Reimn, Roman name Remmius and three of his sons, as well as his adult son Kmertos, Roman name Mettius and his wife and four children.


Cania Orchia
One of the poor families, these are farmers living in the village. led by Kano, Roman name Canius, and consists of him, his wife and three children, as well as his oldest son Ormus, Roman name Orchius, wife and daughter.

There you go I'll share the last 5 families later. Would love to see other people's families as well

Your sims look great! I can't decide if that's because you decide to pose them and take clear pictures or all the CC hair and clothing and set pieces you've added.
“...a romance sim working in law.” What could go wrong? LOL

I'll probably make a short of it once I can get more than one ghost out at a time. The graveyard is a 'rest-stop' lot that I've made a la World Adventures so there is a small room with a bed in it and sims that have traveled there can stay the night. Also I am able to keep track of my sims via spreadsheet, but the amount of sims in the save makes me worried that I'll be dealing with neighborhood corruption in the near future. The game just slows down quicker than it should with that much going on. I've put some of my favorites into the bin so that if they lose an upcoming mortality check they can live on in another game somewhere. Also this method keeps me from chickening out when they're supposed to die easily and I almost never let them. I micromanage the heck out of my sims and can play a packed house without losing track, so this will force me to play at a faster pace with all the generations left to go. I'm sure I'll be adjusting the mortality rolls every era though.

I've got a town almost ready to start this though a hard drive issue delayed starting up until I got some space freed up.

Hi!
I've been reading this thread for a couple of years and always wanted to play this challenge. Started last year but haven't been able to play as much as I would like so I just started round 6 As of right now I have 38 sims, 22 male and 16 female
Sadly my neighborhood is suffering from a shortage of women out of 11 teens only 2 are girls, so I added two teen girls for the heirs that were left out
I really hope I can pick up the pace because it would be great fun to actually play through all the eras :D
In one family both the founders died while their oldest kid was still a child (mom died giving birth to triplets) so that home was the hardest to play. three screaming babies, two toddlers and three children. The worst was that all the visitors would pick up the babies from their baskets and then put them on the floor, like I had just gotten them all to fall asleep and then some dude comes and puts them on the floor so they start screaming again