The Dynasty Challenge
The Empire has fallen. Now it's up to you to pick up the pieces.
The Dynasty Challenge is an expanded form of the Legacy Challenge based on the rise of monarchies after the fall of the Roman Empire. Rather than playing through 10 generations, you play through 2250 Sim Days, from the humble and besieged beginnings of your dynasty to the pomp, circumstance, and grandeur of those modern monarchies that still exist. You must found and create your nation and build it up to rule the every neighborhood in the game.
Getting Started
The first thing to do is start a new game. The empire has been swept away, and it's only fair we start with a clean slate as well.
Begin by creating your founder. You can choose their gender, appearance, wardrobe, age, everything. However, they must have one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital
They have witnessed the downfall of the society into which they were born; they weren't going to escape that unscathed.
You also have the choice of creating a consort for your founder. The same restrictions apply to the consort, with the added restriction that they must be of the opposite sex (same sex relationships are taboo until much later in the challenge). If you decide not to create a consort, you must marry one of the randomly generated characters in game, same as the vanilla Legacy Challenge. Once you have shelter, this should be your first priority.
Be sure to choose your founder's surname wisely; it's going to be the name by which all other players will know your dynasty by!
Once you have created your founder (and consort if you decide to do so), it's time to move into an empty lot. The lot you choose must be at least 30x30, and should be on the edge of town, preferably in an easily defensible place. Cypress Terrace in Willow Creek and Slipshod Mesquite in Oasis Springs are prime examples. This lot will serve as your royal family's castle. As such, it must look the part, and be able to defend your founder from anyone who might want to harm them. Such things can include a moat, drawbridge, gates, etc. They live in a hostile time, and will continue to do so until they or someone else in the family reaches the top of one of the career tracks acceptable to the monarch (being the Diamond Agent branch of the Secret Agent path or Law Enforcement) and they are friends with at least 30% of the people living in their home neighbourhood. But more on that later.
Titles
Let's face it, you're royalty. You need a title. So what you need to do is come up with one for your founder to pass onto his heirs. For your founder, you can use one of seven different title ranks:
Duke
Prince
Grand Duke
Grand Prince
Archduke
King
Emperor
These titles denote different ranks in the nobility, which will come into play later on. Each rank costs $8200, and can be paid by buying the Knight of the Octagon Table. Once buying it to increase your family's rank, you can never sell it. You have the option to display it in the Great Hall, or to keep it in your family inventory. But you can never get rid of it.
The full list of title ranks are as follows:
Emperor
King
Archduke
Grand Prince
Grand Duke
Prince
Duke
Sovereign Prince
Marquess
Count
Viscount
Baron
Baronet
Hereditary Knight
Knight
Esquire
Gentleman
Succession Laws
As a dynasty, you're going to need succession laws. In these laws, you have several choices in each of three categories:
Gender Law
Which gender has preference in your dynasty? This is a question you can answer as soon as you create your founder, or answer later on depending on the exact laws you choose below. How much preference will you give that gender? There are several choices here:
- Salic Law - Only members of your preferred gender can succeed to the throne. If there are no children of the preferred gender, your heir is the next eldest sibling of the preferred gender. No descendant of the non-preferred gender can succeed to the throne.
- Semi-Salic Law - Only member of your preferred gender can succeed to the throne. If there are no children of the preferred gender, your heir is the eldest child of the preferred gender of the eldest child of the monarch.
- Traditional - Members of the preferred gender inherit before members of the non-preferred gender. This includes a younger child of the preferred gender inheriting before an older child of the non-preferred gender.
- Absolute Cognatic (unlockable on Day 2000) - Your heir is the oldest child, regardless of gender.
Inheritance Law
What way will the crown pass in your dynasty? This might seem like a simple enough question, but it can be quite more complex than you might think. There are five different variations:
- Vertical - The crown passes from parent to child, simple as.
- Seniority - The crown passes not from parent to child, but from sibling to sibling. Once all the children of a monarch have ruled in turn (or died beforehand), the crown passes to the eldest descendant of a previous monarch (ie going to a cousin if their parent ruled over a sibling's child).
- Marumakathayam - The crown passes vertically, but from the monarch to the preferred gendered child of their eldest non-preferred gendered sibling.
- Elective - A vote is held to choose the heir upon the death of the monarch. All preferred gender members of the dynasty are eligible and you can do this either as a poll among Livestream/Twitch/YouTube viewers, or by choosing the candidate with the highest average relationship among the members of the dynasty.
- Tanistry - Same as elective, except upon the death of the monarch you elect the new heir. That way the succession is always safe.
Heir Designation
Once you've chosen the direction to pass the crown, there are two other variants that you have to choose from:
- Primogeniture - Starts with the eldest, and works its way younger.
- Ultimogeniture - Starts with the youngest, and works its way older.
Examples:
Let's take the following family tree as an example:
And let's assume that I chose as my succession rule male preference Semi-Salic primogeniture, a common form of succession traditionally in Continental Europe. The line of succession would go like this:
- Emile
- Charles
- Thomas
- Erick
- Alexander
- Richard
- Wilson
- Simon
- Taigh
- Timothy
- Everett
- Kevin
- Declan
- Tom
Gameplay Rules
Here are the restrictions and rules for the challenge.
- No cheats/mods that give you an advantage over other players. The Legacy Challenge rule of thumb applies here.
- Title holders can have only one of two careers: Diamond Agent (branch of the Secret Agent career) and Law Enforcement.
- Title holders will have their surnames replaced with their title, ie Emile Browne becomes Emile, King of Arcadia.
- Every title holder must have a unique title. If you cannot think of a name for the title, the person becomes a commoner and is no longer counted as part of the dynasty.
- Marriages for dynasty members are arranged. How are they arranged? You choose a Sim from the exchange to marry your dynasty member to. This Sim must be a member of another dynasty, as denoted by the hashtag #dynastychallenge. You must ask permission from the Sim's uploader to marry your dynasty member to them.
- Non-preferred gender dynasty members are uploaded to the exchange upon reaching either teenager or young adulthood (your discretion). You can also choose which offer you get for your dynasty members to marry. You can also refuse for whatever reason you wish.
- When uploaded to the exchange, the following information must be included with the Sim: full name, dynasty, Day the Sim was born, Day the Sim was uploaded, related dynasties (if any), parent's nobility rank, dowry (ie the money the Sim would bring with them).
- You may choose to localise the title names (such as being the Tsar of Arcadia instead of the Emperor).
- Marriages should ideally be between individuals of the same rank. Marriages of unequal rank are considered morganatic, and the children will take the lower rank.
- The Sim's dowry must not exceed 10% of the Sim's parent's household net worth. Otherwise the dowry is up to the player's discretion.
- Upon marriage, non-preferred gender dynasty members are removed from your game and no longer considered part of your dynasty. The exception to this is if this member is the heir to a title, or high up in the order of succession.
- Children of title holders are given the title of a rank between two and four levels below their parent's title (your discretion). They are however considered the same as their parent's rank.
- Younger children that do not inherit the title may receive a new title from the monarch. Do do so, they must become Good Friends with reigning monarch and be able to afford the patents of nobility ($8200, by buying the Knight of the Octagon Table). This new title will be three ranks below their parent's title.
- As soon as the household can afford it, you must hire a maid, a gardener, and a caterer. The nobility must not lift a finger.
- Lower levels of the nobility can take any job they wish (as long as it is not currently restricted by the technology restrictions).
- Consorts may not work.
Timed events
During the course of the challenge, certain events will take place on (or starting on) certain days of the challenge:
- Justinian's Plague (Days 37-38): The first of the great plagues. Over the course of these two days, the Plague of Justinian descends upon your nation. You must flip a coin for every Sim alive in all neighbourhoods. Heads means they live. Tails means they die of the plague.
- Alarm clocks become available (Day 313)
- Iconoclasm Movement (Day 315): Your monarch declares artwork depicting the gods to be blasphemous. Any artwork in your household that depicts people other than members of your dynasty are to be removed or destroyed. You may not keep the profits from selling these works of art. You can start decorating with this artwork again on Day 489.
- The Viking Age (Days 415-825): Every day, roll a 20 sided die. If you roll a 1, the Vikings come raiding your household. When they do, you lose up to 50% of your household's net worth (determined by a roll of a 50 sided die). There is also a 25% chance that one member of the household is taken away as a slave by the Vikings (removed from the game completely).
- Cluniac Reforms (Day 591): Sims now have the option of living in a monastery/nunnery, a separate household where dynasty members must renounce their titles and inheritances, but can still count 100% toward your score. You may only have one monastery and one nunnery at a time.
- Founding of the University of Bologna (Day 858): New career becomes available for non-title holders (Medicine)
- The Crusades (Days 870-1134): The first major war of the challenge. Younger children of the preferred gender can choose to go off to the Crusades. There is a 60% of them dying, but if they survive they found a cadet branch of your dynasty and count for half of the original score.
- Foundation of the Knights Templar (Day 903): Dynasty members who have returned from the Crusades can choose to join the Knights Templar, a non-hereditary title with the rank of Knight, and count for 75% of the original score. Following the end of the Crusades, any dynasty member who would've been eligible to go on Crusade may join the Knights Templar regardless.
- Sims may start wearing glasses (Day 1155)
- Knights Templar Order exterminated (Day 1186): All dynasty members who have joined the Knights Templar are arrested and killed. Dynasty members can no longer join the Knights Templar.
- The Black Death (Days 1246-1253): As with the first plague, flip a coin for every Sim in all neighbourhoods. Heads: they live, tails: they die.
- Joan of Arc (Day 1369): If involved in a war, a member of your dynasty of the non-preferred gender may join the war effort (ie they take the same chances of dying as the other dynasty members).
- Printing press invented (Day 1384): Books are no longer considered a luxury and can be purchased by everyone (previous to this, only members of the higher nobility and monasteries can buy books).
- The Renaissance (Days 1405-1501): Every child born during this period will receive the creative trait. The scientist career track becomes available.
- Reformation and Wars of Religion (Days 1502-1698): Reforms sweep across your region, and your monarch has two choices. They can either embrace the reforms or resist them. Every monarch in this period will have this choice. If they choose to embrace the reforms, the monastery and nunnery are dissolved and can no longer count towards your score. The residents will live the rest of their life in abject poverty, but you will gain a fight opportunity if you trigger a revolution. If they resist the reforms, the monasteries and nunneries will continue to count for full score, but you will lose a fight opportunity if you trigger a revolution. Likewise, every Sim will have a 30% chance of dying before reaching full adulthood due to the wars of religion raging across the region.
- Telescope now available (Day 1638)
- Microscope now available (Day 1740)
- Scientific Revolution (Day 1756): Science career track now available
- Pianos now available (Day 1776)
- Age of Enlightenment (Days 1798-1909): Every child born during this time must have either the Genius trait or the Bookworm trait.
- Industrial Revolution begins (Day 1866): Commoners related to your dynasty now have the ability to open a shop to sell crafts that they create. They may use the profits from this shop to buy a title from the monarch ($8200 for the lowest rank, an extra $8200 for each subsequent rank). The relationship requirement is removed.
- London Stock Exchange opens (Day 1927): Business career track now available
- Showers become available (Day 1941)
- Indoor plumbing available to all outside royal household (Day 2001)
- Radio now available (Day 2041)
- Electric light available for the royal household (Day 2054)
- World War I (Days 2097-2103): All gender preferred Sim teens and young adults go off to war, both members of your dynasty and others. 1 out of every 8 will be killed as a result of the war. Those returning take one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital - Spanish Flu Pandemic (Days 2104-2105): The soldiers coming back from the war have brought back a terrible disease. It kills 10% of all Sims across all neighbourhoods.
- Electric light available to all outside royal household (Day 2114)
- World War II (Days 2134-2144): The last of the great wars. All gender preferred Sim teens and young adults go off to war, both members of your dynasty and others. 1 out of every 4 will be killed as a result of the war. Those returning take one of the following traits:
Gloomy
Hot headed
Clumsy
Insane
Lazy
Squeamish
Mean
Noncommital
A further 1 in 30 of other Sims across all neighbourhoods also are killed as a result of the war. - Television becomes available (Day 2144)
- The Cold War (Days 2149-2212): Secret Agent career is open to all non-title holders. The Villain track opens up as the opposing side in the Cold War.
- Computers become available (Day 2192)
- Mobile phones can now be used (Day 2194)
- World wide web invented (Day 2209): Tech Guru career unlocked
NB: This is a very Eurocentric set of timed events. Should you wish to play a dynasty with a background outside of Europe, you are more than welcome to come up with a separate list of timed events that converges with this one at World War I. I will post these lists here as I receive them (I don't feel qualified enough about non-Western history to do such a list justice).
Triggered events
Unlike the timed events, these events can happen whenever the conditions are met to kick them off.
- Creation of a cadet branch: A cadet branch of your dynasty is created whenever someone other than the monarch of your dynasty rises to the duke level or higher. They are given a new surname based off their title (ie the cadet branch founded by Michael Duke of Millthwaite would found the House of Millthwaite). These houses still count towards your dynasty but only at 25% of the original score. This is also the case whenever an illegitimate child is given a title, no matter the rank.
- Succession war: If a close relative of your previous monarch is better liked than your designated heir by other members of your dynasty, and this person has a negative relationship with the designated heir, a succession war happens. During a succession war, the designated heir and the claimant must have three fights. The winner of the majority of those fights becomes the new monarch. If the claimant would be higher in the succession than your designated heir except for the fact that they're illegitimate, the negative relationship prerequisite is waived. Furthermore, between 1% and 10% of your dynasty members are killed as a result of the war.
- Revolution: If the average relationship your monarch has with commoners is negative, then a revolution begins. When this happens, your monarch must have three fights with three different commoners (four if you embraced religious reform, two if you didn't during the wars of religion). If you lose more of these fights than you win, your monarchy is deposed, your nation becomes a republic, and you lose the challenge. If you win more of these fights than you lose, the revolution is crushed and your monarchy is safe for at least the rest of your current monarch's reign.
Well, this is a lot of information for one post, and this is my first time creating a proper challenge (and I might've gone a little overboard), but tell me your thoughts and if you'd be interested in undertaking this challenge!
Scoring information and all subsequent clarifying information will follow in another post. Happy Simming!