So I know the post apocalyptic theme has been done in various ways before, however I've never been able to stick them through because I find them too restrictive for too long and I also don't like playing generations. In attempt to find a happy medium I have created The Pathogen Challenge.

I would like to give credit to canibalcupcake for the Zombie Aftermath challenge as this definitely inspired me to make my own.


Pathogen Challenge

The year is 2016 and life as you know it has ended. Six months ago the World Health Organisation declared the United States a no go zone and ordered the immediate evacuation of every town, city and village following the detonation of a deadly bio-weapon. Unfortunately, it was impossible to save everyone and in the chaos that ensued many were left behind. You were left behind. Of those unfortunate enough to find themselves stranded, many succumbed to the toxin perishing or simply mutating into rabid beings who are inherently dangerous to themselves and those surrounding them whilst some managed to forge structures to protect themselves and their loved ones from the deadly threat.

In the beginning little was known about the transmission of the disease but it has now become apparent that the virus is NOT airborne, one can only catch the disease through contaminated water and physical contact with an infected individual. Your group of survivors has been finally been forced to move on from their original shelter due to lack of resources. They have decided that the best chance of survival lies in the city or in an established town where there is an abundance of abandoned commercial properties such as grocery stores which can be raided to help sustain life until the military returns to restore order to the United States.

Your group has six survivors. Your survivors may not be younger than YA.

Phase One - The survivors:

Create your group - There is only one stipulation, make sure that at least one of your survivors has the kleptomaniac trait so they can loot things from other "groups" and places. You are free to choose your survivors Genders, Traits and Lifetime Wishes as you please outside of this one requirement. Your aim is to have an accurate representation of what type of people may survive in this situation. If you're stuck think about the type of people you work/go to school with. Who amongst them could you see as a survivor? What traits/attributes do they have which would help them and you to stay alive?

You may have pets/take in stray animals - They are after all man's best friend and no survivor would leave a friend behind to die.

Next roll a die for each of your survivors to determine what they did before the breakout. (This will help when beginning the challenge to determine what objects could feasibly have been fashioned by a survivor and to help create a balanced group). You may only have one survivor in each career, therefore if you roll a value which has already been assigned to a survivor you must roll until you obtain one that hasn't.

1 - Skilled Professional (You choose if they are an inventor or a sculptor)
2 - Sales/Retail/Service Industry
3 - Doctor (You may choose what type eg. a doctor of medicine or a doctor of science)
4 - Entrepreneur (Business)
5 - Government (You may choose whether they are part of the Police/Military or a Firefighter)
6 - Musician (You may choose if they are a singer or if they play an instrument)

Next we are going to give our survivors some existing skills. It is un-realistic that in the wake of a disaster a group of survivors who had previously all been employed have no decernable skills. To do this I suggest using Master Controller to give instant skills or if you play without this, skilling the sims up before starting the challenge to the appropriate levels.

For each survivor roll a die to determine what career level they were on before the outbreak and use that value to assign them their corresponding skill points, for example:

Skilled Professional = Inventing/Sculpting skill, this survivor was at career level 4 and thus receives 4 mechanical skill points and may purchase either the sculpting workstation or the inventing workstation to aid his/her fellow survivors in setting up a decent base camp.

Sales/Retail/Service Industry - Charisma skill, this survivor will help the group dynamic and aid in establishing a hierarchy later on when rebuilding society.

Doctor Medical - Logic skill, this survivor will tend to any wounds or ailments that the other survivors may acquire and also help prevent them from getting infected. You may purchase the chemistry table.

Doctor Science - Logic skill, this survivor will work hand in hand with your skilled professional to invent and work towards producing chemical reactions which will make your groups drinking and bathing water safe. You may purchase the chemistry table.

Entrepreneur - Charisma skill, this survivor is a skilled negotiator and will aid the group in trading with other local survivors for goods or services which they need to acquire.

Government - Athletic skill, this survivor is key to the groups protection and in making sure that things "get done' around base camp. This survivor is incredibly strong and provides a lot of comfort to the rest of the group.

Musician - Guitar/Singing skill (You may choose Guitar or you may improve this survivors singing ability) A group cannot function without something to morally uplift them. This survivor provides light hearted entertainment for the group and helps to bring moral up when times are tough. If you have chosen Guitar you may place a Guitar in this survivors inventory.

Phew. Your group is ready. Time to move on to Phase Two.

Phase Two - Building your base:

Your group has made a long and arduous journey from a small town 60 miles away. There were many trials and tribulations along the way, but thankfully your survivors are strong and all of them have made it to the city. Your group is searching for a suitable building which can accommodate them comfortably, provide shelter, warmth at night, and safety from the outside world. One survivor has suggested that perhaps a commercial building could do this for them and also logistically put them in a convenient place in the city to raid nearby buildings.

• Your lot can be as big or as small as you wish it to be.
• Delete the mailbox, move the trashcan inside somewhere using "MoveObjects On"
• There is no power or running water in the city thus rendering TV's, electric lights, showers, toilets and sinks useless. You cannot purchase a fridge or a stove at this time.
• You can only have one grill on your lot for cooking.
• You may have as many fire pits as you like, provided your survivors have enough wood to keep them burning.
• You must build something that used to be a commercial property, e.g. Abandoned Factory/Warehouse, Prison, Library etc.
• There are three types of property that you CANNOT inhabt: Hospital, Stores or Schools
• Furnish your building accordingly - What would and would not have made it through the chaos? Is there enough room for all the survivors, what would have been left behind, what condition would the building be in after 6 months?
• You may use candles as much as you wish, they are very easy to raid from drug and grocery stores nearby.
• Beds may be used but they must "fit" the challenge, for example, a survivor could easily make a bed from crates or boxes left behind in an old factory and lay a sheet over it, or they may simply use a sleeping bag/tent.
• Use as many decorative objects as you wish to add atmosphere to your camp. Money cheats are allowed whilst you are building to get the desired look for your base camp but your groups funds will be reset before the gameplay begins.
• Your survivors are in it for the long haul, wherever you can try and make your camp feel "homey". Maybe one of the survivors found a toy left out on the street and brought it in to brighten the place up? Keep in mind that every item you place in your lot must have been "found" or scavenged and the story of acquiring it must make sense.

And finally, security is key. Make sure your lot has a fence surrounding it and lock the door by choosing > Lock > Everyone but my household. There are a lot of looters in this city.

Phase Three - Gameplay

Level One

You're ready to start playing.

Set your lifespan to epic and max out the values of Young Adult and Adult. In this challenge you do not accrue points, you level up, how fast depends on how well you manage your survivors and how productive you are.

• Use the "FamilyFunds" cheat to set your base camp's cash to a measly 500 simoleons. This is the sum of the money that was in their pockets the day that they were abandoned.
• Survivors may scavenge only in the daytime. At night the infected appear to be more active and dangerous gangs are around.
• No survivor may leave the base camp alone, it is far too dangerous. Neighbouring camps will abduct fellow survivors and hold them for ransom of goods and food if they are not careful.
• Survivors may collect seeds, rocks, gems and insects to bring back to the camp. All of these items can be used as a means to trade with other camps. Seeds may be used to grow produce and the resulting harvest used for sustenance and or trade.
• If your survivors encounter another group of survivors whilst scavenging you must roll a die to determine if it is safe to approach them or not. Even numbers mean that their camp has been infected or is hostile and your group must immediately return home to the safety of their base for 1 game hour before leaving to scavenge again. They cannot return to the place that they were until the next sim day. It is not safe.
• Once you have located your collection grounds and established a routine you may start communicating with local groups to initiate trade.
• To trade with local groups you must first befriend one of their negotiators (this can be anyone that looks like they might be approachable). Your negotiator (the survivor who rolled Entrepreneur) is the only person allowed to talk to different camps to initiate trade until level two. Once you have befriended the rival groups negotiator you may sell 3 items in your inventory per day to this camp. This is how you "trade" (you will take the cash value that the game gives you and purchase something of use to your group from buy mode like a chair or a sofa or real bed or you may save the money).
• You may only purchase 3 items, because you may only trade 3 collectables at a time with local groups. You may only buy items that you would realistically be able to trade for, i.e. books, bedding, the contents of a medical cabinet etc.
• A local camp is considered to be 1 residential home., thus you only have to befriend one survivor per household to initiate trade.

Congratulations! You have successfully established some trade links. You will level up once your household reaches 5,000 simoleons in trade. Keep a track of how much you sell by take notes as you play! Note - Trade is a continual process, you must always keep collecting and trading otherwise your group will not survive and you must always use the die to determine whether a sim is safe to approach or not if you encounter one until a cure for the disease is found.

Level Two - Your camp is beginning to take shape and your survivors are settling into their roles, now that you have established trade links you are able to keep a flow of new goods such as scrap metal coming in which help your skilled survivors build and invent things.

• It is time to find a way to make drinking water safe and also construct a bathing system for your camp. Have your skilled professional sculpt/invent until they have maxed out their skill. Once they have done this they are able to fashion a working toilet for the group. They also know how to make a shower system which will recycle water but they must wait for the doctor to invent a way to purify the water before building it.
• Have your doctor work on their logic until they have maxed out their skill.

Eureka! Your survivors have found a way to ensure their water is safe to drink and bathe with. Provided you have traded enough you may now purchase a shower and construct a working wash room for your survivors. To level up you must complete these two goals and make an additional 3,000 simoleons in trade.

Level Three - Your skilled professionals with their increased Logical abilities and inventing/sculpting prowess think that it's possible to build a generator using the batteries of abandoned vehicles in conjunction with an alternator and a working engine. To accomplish this you will need cars and fuel...

• To scavenge parts from cars you must steal them from local groups, this is incredibly dangerous because it must be done after 7pm and you cannot be detected otherwise you may be kidnapped.
• The only survivor up to this task is your resident Kleptomaniac (or one of them if you have multiple Keltpo's) but first they need to learn some self defence to protect themselves from danger.
• Have your ex Police/Military survivor "train someone" until the Kleptomaniac reaches level 5 of the athletic skill. If your athletic survivor does not have the option to train someone yet, have them improve their skill until it becomes available.
• Have your doctor work to discover a way to create fuel using animal fat, you only have enough gas to fuel your generator for 2 sim weeks. Your survivor must learn to make all types of potion.
  
  The mission is on! At 7pm have your Kleptomaniac and their trainer leave the base camp to scavenge the town for cars to strip. Once you have successfully swiped 5 cars your skilled survivors have enough parts and gas to start building a generator. Success! You may now purchase one fridge, one stereo and 3 electronic lights and start flushing toilets! To level up you must have completed all of the goals above and added an additional 2,000 simoleons in trade. Note: The cars cannot be traded until level five and must stay in the survivors inventory. Only free recipes can be made using the fridge and Autumn Salad.

Level Four - Your goal is simple, the neighbouring camps have started to notice how prosperous your camp is becoming and they are getting jealous and increasingly desperate to replicate your groups success. Everyone must be on high alert! It is time for you to start teaching basic self defence to all of your survivors and working to improve the security of your camp.

• Have your athletic sim train the group daily at 12pm with a 3 hour long strength training session using the stereo for 7 sim days.
• During this time no sim can leave the base camp. You are on lockdown until you are strong enough to fight off impending attacks.
• Hold a meeting where you must come up with a strategic defence plan. You can do this by having all survivors gather at a table and discuss they day for 2 sim hours.

Level up after working out for one sim week and holding your defence meeting. There are no additional trade requirements for this level.

Level Five -The group dynamic is breaking down. After 2 and a half long months of being in close quarters petty fights and disagreements are breaking out and things aren't getting done! It's up to your service/retail sim to use their customer service skills to diffuse the situation: they have decided to hold a ballot to elect a leader for the group.

• It's all about communicating and building relationships, you may NOT control your survivors for 1 sim week in regards to social interactions. (everything else is permitted, e.g. Tend Garden, Take Shower, Eat, Sleep etc).
• The votes must be cast at 12pm on Sunday afternoon.
• Write down your survivors names, each survivor will vote for 2 of their fellow campmates.
• Make a tally next to your survivors name if another survivor's 2 highest relationships include them.
• The survivor with the most tally's wins and is appointed as the groups leader.
• Every Sunday at 12pm you will hold a meeting at the table to discuss the day.

It seems that a crises was averted thanks to democracy! The groups balance has been restored and stores have now been unlocked! The local trade links have become so strong that you are able to go down to the local grocery store and trade items. To trade at the grocery store, you must make sure that you sell an item from your inventory in return for getting something new. To level up complete the tasks. There are no additional trade requirements for this level.

Level Six - Your creative survivor sees that the time has come to reach out to the outside world in search of help. Your survivor managed to scavenge a book about writing and has decided to start writing a diary.

• Practice writing until they max the writing skill. At this time their documentation is complete. Your survivor wants to each out to the rest of the world by sending a message in a bottle along with some excerpts of their first hand account.
• Your creative survivor and your government survivor must jog to the nearest sea/river and back and spend 2 sim days there hoping for a reply…
• You will need a tent and some food for the journey. You may only travel by foot and in the daytime. If your survivors fatigue before reaching their destination they must both stop and recover in their tent until they can continue on their journey. If it reaches night before they reach their destination they must again return to their tent until sunrise.
• If you are playing in a world with a sea then have your survivor and a companion travel to the sea to send the message. If you do not have a sea, but you do have a river, go to the furthest point of the river as it will be closer to the delta and get to the sea faster.

Bravo! Your survivor has fulfilled their need to reach out to the wider world! Congratulations. Level up after completing this goal and earning an additional 1000 simoleons in trade.

Level 7 - Winter is coming! It has been six long months since your survivors set up camp in the city and the days are getting shorter and colder. It's time to start the winter preparations.

• With no central heating system, fire is your only source of warmth. Plant 3 trees of any type using seeds you've scavenged to increase the camp's production of firewood.
• You may only scavenge between the hours of 11 and 4pm.
• Your camp raided an abandoned department store for clothes, blankets and other insulation. Give everyone a makeover to keep them warm.
• You need to increase your food production before the weather turns bad to last you through the coming months. Have every survivor reach level 8 of the gardening skill.
• After you have completed the above tasks, take one sim week "off". There is no trade as everyone is hibernating.
• You must stay at base camp.
• Pass the time by playing games, building relationships, improving any skills that you chose to and maybe even indulging in some romance…. but remember, contraception is a valuable commodity and it is not guaranteed to work. If any of your survivors engage in a relationship they cannot "Woohoo" they must only "Try for a baby".

Ok, you're ready. Your supplies have been tripled, your camp insulated and your food harvested. To level up complete all the goals and have each survivor reach level 8 of the gardening skill. There are no additional trade requirements for this level.

Level 8 - The winter has passed but sadly one of your survivors contracted pneumonia and became incredibly sick…

• Determine which survivor has the least number of skill points overall, if you have a tie then see which of the survivors has been the least productive in terms of collecting/initiating trade. The survivor with the least number of friends is the weaker of the two.
• Roll a die to determine whether the survivor lives or dies, if you roll odd, your odds are out and you must immediately prevent that survivor from eating, thus resulting in them dying from starvation. If you rolled even, then the odds are in your survivors favour and they must simply rest for the coming weeks until they are at full strength again. This survivor cannot leave the base camp, and must be quarantined off from the other members of the camp for one full sim week.
• Your stocks are nearly depleted so every available body must work to garden, scavenge and trade.

You may level up when your survivors have generated 3,000 simoleons in trade.

Level 9 - Something wonderful has happened. Because the winter was so harsh and unforgiving, 98% of the remaining infected sims succumbed to the terrible conditions and perished, their carcases are littered amongst the streets as evidence . It is now safe for your survivors to stop rolling a die every time they encounter other survivors and begin to rebuild society.

• Life has been hard but it's time for a little fun. Your doctor in their studies of potion making learned of a way to make pure alcohol using sugar, yeast and water.
• Purchase the nectar making machine using TestingCheatsEnabled True > BuyDebug On and a professional bar.
• Have your doctor make a batch of nectar and start mixing drinks using the professional bar.
• You may invite your friends from other base camps over to drink once your doctor has reached level 5 of the mixology skill.

Level 10 - You're nearing the end! Rumours of an impending military evacuation to well established colonies are running rampant throughout the different camps! Complete the Pathogen Challenge but you cannot be sure, hope has killed many a man so your camp needs to be prepared to face whatever life throws at them next.

• Everyone must max out their athletic skill and reach level 3 in the martial arts skill.
• Pack the things you will need to survive once the government comes to collect you, place 10 essential items in each survivors inventory.
• Collect 10 Rocks, Gems or Seeds each, who knows how many resources you will need in your new home.

Hurrah! You've done it, you survived the worst disaster in the history of mankind! The government has come to take you to the colonies; where you will go from there is your choice. You have made life long friends in the group and maybe even found love and hopefully you have learned that you're stronger than you think and wiser than you know. Stay safe!

What Expansion Packs does this need? It seems like World Adventures and Ambitions and maybe Generations (I don't have Ambitions and am about to get Generations.) I may try this if I have the right eps but I will need to finish maybe 2 other challenges first. :D

The world is going desolate in 2016?! I'm going to die well before my 25th birthday!

Anyway. This challenge looks great! Once I get the time, I might try it out!

It seems like fun! I'll try it out later :]

To play exactly the way I have written you would need those three expansion packs yes, however you could substitute interactions that require an expansion pack that you do not have with something else that is similar if you wish.

For example: Nectar making, if you have late night you can just purchase the professional bar and work on your mixology skill, if you only had the base game you could purchase the regular bar and just assign a sim to make drinks for everyone for one sim week.

Technically you can still play this challenge with the base game installed, you just need to adjust things accordingly

Awesome challenge! I'm so going to try this!

Will definitely be starting this.

As an idea, though. Firefighting sims would make an excellent third possibility for the "Government" sim for people with Ambitions, considering their job will require training in athletics. And a little extra handiness skill around the household never hurts.

This is a very good point. I hadn't thought of that, thank you

Honestly, I'd forgotten that you could have firefighters because I never got around to playing them

Hey, great challenge looks like heaps of fun I will most definitely try it. I was just curious if you had a town in mind that you think works well with the challenge?

Thanks! I'm using Los Aniegos because I like the scenery in the industrial area and it is a very realistic town. However I know most people's computers can't handle that world. My other suggestions would be St Claire by Awesims, Bridgeport or Red County buy Coasterboi

Age: 26
Occupation: Wingman
Background: During the final stages of evacuation, Zad’s helicopter crashed 10 miles south of Red County killing his co-pilot and best friend James in the process. Dazed and confused, he put his military survival training to the test and stumbled down interstate 10 until he was nearly hit on the road by Ivey.

Age: 25
Occupation: Trauma Surgeon
Background: Ivey is used to commuting over an hour each day to her hometown Red County 60 miles south of Los Aniegos where she works amongst the best doctors in the world. When the efforts to treat the sick were finally abandoned and the CDC instructed the complete isolation and evacuation of all hospital personal, Ivey gave the authorities the slip (something she’d learned from her days as a teen sneaking out of her parent’s house) to return home to rescue her two cats Lucky and Shadow who left to fend for themselves surely would have been eaten alive by those who were infected. No animal lover would leave their best friends behind to fend for themselves.

Age: 37
Occupation: Nuts and Bolts Combiner
Background: Along the smoggy industrial banks of the Pacific ocean lays a cluster of Junkyards and warehouses, Lars isn’t a bad fellow at heart, he was just mixed up with the wrong crowd and found himself being contracted to manufacture parts for the local crime syndicate prior to the outbreak. He was caught in the un-moveable congestion trying to drive to the inclusion zone for evacuation from Red County but unfortunately didn’t make it before the last helicopter left. He stumbled into Zad and Ivey 3 weeks into surviving alone whilst scavenging wood for a fire in the local forest.

Age: 32
Occupation: Corporate Drone
Background: Kara has always dreamed of being a Business Tycoon and thus has spent the last six years slaving away in fancy high rise, glass laden towers. She’d thought that working corporate for one of the biggest companies in the world may have amassed for something but when the time came to evacuate and hundreds upon thousands of desperate people stood atop building rooftops waiting for rescue - she was one of the many left behind. She’d planned to find another inclusion zone in a neighbouring town and had even made it all the way to the outskirts of Red County - the next biggest town but it was too late. She met Evie at a gas station and the two immediately hit it off and decided that surviving as a pair must be better than being alone.

Age: 23
Occupation: Roadie
Background: Adam knew that there was never any chance of him getting out of his small town and being saved to be transported to safety. He was under no illusion over who and how people were picked to get seats on those helicopters; society doesn’t value a broke musician just waiting for a break and everyone knows it. Instead he took his beloved dog Mia, and went to his parent’s cabin in the thick woodland between Red County and Los Aniegos intent on minding his own business and surviving off the land using the bush skills his father had taught him as a young boy. He’d been alone for over eight weeks before a haggard and desperate looking group of five people stumbled upon his doorstep looking for some form of relief and for all his instincts to shut them out, the good in him just couldn’t say no. He let the group into his humble cabin and taught them as much as he could before they were forced to move on to greener pastures.

Age: 22
Occupation: Houndstooth Soothslayer
Background: Evie loves magazines, clothes, high fashion and all things glamour, her job as a Stylist in a high end fashion store was everything she had dreamed and more, she was styling hollywood actors and actresses in the city before everything got screwed and for the life of her she just can’t fathom how things ended up this way. She was lamenting in a gas station unsure of what to do next or where to go when Kara stumbled upon her. They drove as far as they could before their gas ran out and made camp on the highway before bumping into a group of three other survivors who seemed friendly enough. After some negotiating the other group agreed to work with them and they returned with them to their hideout in the woods.

So, clarification. Are we supposed to have one of each type of sim (entrepreneur, creative, govt, etc)? Because you say to roll for them, which would make it very possible to wind up with two of one and none of another, but to level up you're required to use all of them at one point or another. But if you know you'll have all six, why are we rolling for them...?

To be specific, I'm referring to this part:

Sorry for the confusion. You may only have one of each type of sim. If you have rolled a 6 you can no longer assign that career to another sim. Therefore if you roll 6 again you roll until you hit the next value which has not already been assigned.

I made it a roll system since I tend to be stuck in a rut when it comes to making sims. I have a habit of choosing who they are/were based on their looks or my pre-conceived ideas of what they should be and end up playing the same game over and over again.

The roll system is a way to force myself and other players to do things they may not have otherwise chosen to do when creating a sim.

I hope that makes sense

this is amazing, i really want to try this. i just wish there was a post-apocalyptic world without rabbit holes, but with like all broken down grungy community lot equivalents that i could move rebel groups into to inhabit and really make it all feel super real. awesome challenge though, i think i'll definitely be giving it a go.

I'm playing on the base game and I just started this challenge..but I'm confused. How do you trade? Is it something you have to work around or did it come with an EP?

Put three items in your inventory, and then sell them. Make a note of how much money you received. Use that money to buy something from the Buy menu of equal value.

Edit: In case you don't know, you can easily sell those items by clicking and holding, then dragging them over to that little square box in the Inventory, where it'll give you a monetary value.

Thanks ! For the three items, does that include food too ?

You can sell produce (apples, lettuce, etc), I don't think actual meals have any value in your inventory. But unless you have three Perfect quality apples, they won't sell for a whole lot.
I know you can probably save up the produce, but as you're only allowed to sell three items in one day, I'm not sure how selling food would work. That's something the original poster would have to figure out.

I had commented on this post a little while before and I ended up redoing the challenge, but I'm still not really sure how trading works...what kind of things do we trade?

@Kaylababy5584

You can trade anything that your sims can scavenge from the land: gems, rocks etc.
Produce that you grow - apples, grapes etc.
Things that your inventor has made provided you are leveled high enough - widgets, toys, time machine etc. (you will need to collect scrap to do this though from the junkyard).

Having played this challenge to completion a few times now, I would suggest that concentrating on finding rocks and gems in the initial stages is advisable, and then work on trading inventions. You will gain more simoleons more quickly this way to meet the trade requirements faster, and if you have your negotiator sim work on building relationships around your town you will be able to trade more than 3 items per day.

1 friendship with a neighboring household in your town = 3 items "traded" per day. This literally means that you can choose 3 items from any of your survivors inventories that qualify and drag them over to the sell box and keep the cash value to do what you will with.

Thus, if you have your negotiator work diligently to build relationships with households in the hood that your playing, you will be able to trade more than 3 items per day.

2 friendships in different households in the town = 6 items "traded" per day.
3 friendships in different households in the town = 12 items "traded" per day.

I hope this has made the concept of trading clearer for you. Please let me know if you have further questions.

i haven't read through all of it yet, but this will be awesome after seasons comes out. then the winter aspect will be realistic, and maybe even a bit harder. i will definitely try this within the next few weeks.

I just got seasons so I am re-doing the challenge to see how it effects the game play.