Fourteen sims have arrived in a deserted location to build a new town (maybe they're colonists of the past, founding a town on a new planet, or just a group setting out to form a new society). They have a broad range of individual goals, but they all want to see their descendants flourish.

How to begin:

• Make 7 adult male sims, one with each of aspiration. Use a variety of appearances and hair/eye/skin colours, and start each name with a different letter of the alphabet. Each man should be in a household of his own, and needs to move in to an empty 5x5 lot in town.
• Make 7 adult female sims, one with each aspiration. Use a variety of appearances and hair/eye/skin colours, and start each name with a different letter of the alphabet (and don't match any of the men). Make them as one household, and move them all in to an empty 4x4 lot.
• You may create up to 2 community lots. Don't go overboard.
• You will need a "No 20k handouts" mod. You can create a town with no townies, or use Visitor Controller to prevent them visiting community lots (and ignore walkbys). The original idea is not to use same sex pregnancy mods, but you are welcome to use sperm donors and/or surrogates (keep track of biological parents).
• You will probably want either mods that allow older teens to be "independent teens" and get jobs/ have children, or a realistic aging mod that shortens the teen life stage (at least relative to other stages).

Goals:

• Each man wants to have a son to inherit his house. The son needs to live in the household when his father dies, have his father's surname, and have the family's aspiration as either primary or secondary aspiration. The challenge continues until each household has a Generation 5 heir who is at least a teenager (the original adults are generation 1, so great great grandsons of the originals).
• The women have a collective goal: that by the time the challenge ends, all sims living in town younger than adult age are descended from all 7 of the original women.

Rules:

• You may use an maxis means of making money you like, apart from moving other sims in.
• You may use mods to give out up to 6 degrees to your starting sims (not with honours).
• The town does not have townies living in it, so you must ban townies from any community lots and ignore any townie walkbys. You may get to know a friend who comes home from work with your sim - they live in the nearby city - but not introduce them to other households.
• Female sims name all their descendants names beginning with the same letter as them. So Anna might have children Adrian and Alice, while Bella has Bessie and Bernard. If Bernard and Alice have children, they could be Alan Boris and Betty-Anne. Feel free to find new ways to track descent in generations 4 & 5 once sims have 4+ names.
• Babies live in their mother's household, and have their mother's surname (unless the parents are married and live together). You may not reload births to get a baby of a particular gender.
• There are two ways sims can join one of the men's households: by marriage, if the man wants to marry that sim and doesn't fear marriage/engagement; and a man can invite their newly-teenage son to move in if the two of them are best friends at that point (the son will then change his surname to his father's).
• Any descendant of any of the female sims can move into the women's original house at any time (and someone must always live there).
• New households must move into an empty lot funded by the household they are leaving.
• You may use whatever method you see fit to assign aspirations (and secondary aspirations) as long as the town keeps a variety of aspirations.

Stage 2:
Once your oldest members of Generation 2 reach their teenage years, you move on to Stage 2, which has a few different rules.

• You may add an empty Downtown to your town, and build 5 community lots there. Townies live Downtown, so at these community lots you may interact with townies.
• You may add an empty University to your town for any teens who need to earn a degree.
• Taxis and carpools are no longer available. Anyone with a job needs a car to get to work, and going to Downtown requires a car. You can walk to community lots in your main neighbourhood.
• Every 2 new households in your town earns one community lot, which you may place in either the main neighbourhood or Downtown. You do not have to delete community lots if you lose households, but you will need to replace the lost households before earning new community lots.
• There are no dorms at university - every student must rent their own house (or join a Greek house if you like). Every 2 occupied student households earn a university community lot.
• No-one may live Downtown, but if you have 30 households in your main neighbourhood you may add a shopping district for more space.

I think that's everything. It's partly inspired by legacies (but shorter, as there's no way I'm doing 10 generations), but also some thoughts about how the game processes genetics. I've been having fun so far, and will add a post with some pictures of my town.

Here are the 14 sims building Oasis Valley. I've played to the start of winter, and everyone has a job (apart from Sophie, who doesn't want one) and a roof over their head - though the quality of the men's houses varies a lot depending on how their first few days went.

Some romance has also happened. There are four couples going steady: Keith and Elizabeth (3 bolts, both Family), Donald and Abigail (3 bolts, Fortune and Popularity), John and Laura (2 bolts, Popularity and Pleasure), and George and Sophie (2 bolts, Pleasure and Cheese). My romance sims Richard and Monica have also met and seduced each other and are expecting a baby, but are very sure that marriage to each other is not in their future and will probably romance other people. Harriet, Oliver and William have been busy with other things (and William and Oliver were both very slow to meet any of the women), and Clare went on a date with John but he ultimately fell in love with Laura. She likes Richard, so that romance may happen in the future.

Here are some pictures to show how far my sims have got with house building at the start of winter. I'm using 4 day seasons, so they all started on Monday morning and it's now Saturday morning.

William Wyrd (Knowledge) has made the least progress. He's in the Science career, which doesn't pay all that well at early levels, and hasn't done any digging for treasure (or been on any dates). His house has four walls and a door, but doesn't have a floor or any windows (apart from the bathroom, which they all started with).

Richard Robinson (Romance) and John Jones (Popularity) have at least managed flooring and a couple of windows. They're also in fairly low paid jobs (Dance and Culinary respectively) and haven't been so lucky with the "dig for treasure" (or got any date rewards).

George Gardner (Pleasure) has been lucky with treasure and an expensive date reward. His hobby is nature, so he'll be growing a vegetable garden inside the stone walls on the left of his house in the spring.

Keith Kingsley (Family) has been lucky with treasure and an expensive date reward, and also has a fairly well paid job (Law Enforcement). His girlfriend wants to marry off 6 children, so he'll need plenty of space.

Donald Dunharrow (Fortune) has been lucky with treasure and an expensive date reward, and also got two promotions in Military (the highest paid job at early levels) before getting a job in Architecture (his LTW) and a promotion in that. So he's earned lots in a few different ways, and has the house to prove it.

Oliver Oswald (Cheese) has also found a treasure chest and been promoted three times in Education, so despite the lack of dates he's done well and has a nice house.

And the women's house reflect the much larger starting funds ($50,000) and the fact that there are six adults with a job rather than one. I don't have any screenshots of the inside, but it's something of a rambling house with rooms added on wherever they fitted, that suits the story for them.

All of my households apart from one have now finished their first year in Oasis Valley, and since my computer is currently getting repaired I thought I'd post an update of everyone I have screenshots for.

Donald Dunharrow (Fortune) married Abigail Alley (Popularity) and they now have two children: toddler son Alexander and baby daughter Adelaide. They are both fairly focused on their careers, Donald in Architecture and Abigail in Law, and are the household with the highest net value apart from the women's house. Young Alex is neat, outgoing, active, serious and mean, so he's probably a future fortune sim and Donald's heir.

George Gardner (Pleasure) married Sophie Stokes (Cheese). After much trying they eventually became pregnant, and some carefully timed cheesecake ensured their twins: daughter Suzanne and son Sidney. George still works in Gaming (his LTW), and Sophie doesn't have a job (but does have 8 cooking points, hence the cheesecake).

John Jones (Popularity) married Laura Loste (Pleasure). They're both in Culinary, and were getting promoted together until Laura was delayed a bit by maternity leave with their daughter Lily. Laura is pregnant again, so she's going to be slower still getting her next promotion.

Keith Kingsley (Family) married Elizabeth Ellenby (Family), and in keeping with their aspirations they had entirely natural twins, sons Edmund and Ernest. Then they both wanted another one (though sometimes also feared) and had their third son, Ewen. Both want another baby now, so I expect baby #4 won't be far away. Keith is making slow but steady progress through the Law Enforcement career, while Elizabeth is in Education (when she's not on leave with babies).

Richard Robinson (Romance) actually managed to want to get married without also fearing it, and is married to Clare Carpenter (Fortune). They have a toddler son Charles, and Clare is newly pregnant again. Richard works in Dance and Clare in Adventure, and all three love Music and Dance as a hobby, which leads to lots of singing and playing in the house. Oddly enough, Richard is probably more loyal to their marriage - he does often want to "Woohoo with 3 different sims" or "Make Out with 3 different sims", but never actually wants to cheat with anyone in particular, while every time Clare and Richard go on a date Clare wants to "Fall in Love with John" - the guy she once went on one date with, who is now very happily married to Laura and never thinks about Clare! So I'm not quite sure where that relationship is going, but we'll see.

William Wyrd (Knowledge) isn't married, but is dating Harriet Howard (Knowledge) and wants to marry her. He also had a little trip in a UFO, and now has an alien daughter, Wilhemina. William works in Science, and has had several promotions (and one lucky chance card that paid for the car and garage), but still has the smallest and cheapest house of everyone.

And Oliver Oswald (Cheese) doesn't get a family portrait, because his family is still just him. He works in Education and has some promotions, and every now and again I think he wants to date his colleague Elizabeth (they have 3 bolts), but she's happily married and anyway he doesn't roll the want. So I'm not too sure how he's going to get a son and heir.

Finally the women's house: the only two of the originals left are Harriet Howard (Knowledge) and Monica Mason (Romance). They are joined by Monica's twins, Mark and Matilda, the children of fellow Romance sim Richard Robinson from before he started dating Clare. They have a large and comfortable house, and Harriet is making progress with her dream career of Natural Science, while Monica works in Slacker since Athletics still hasn't appeared. Harriet will marry and move out, but Monica and her children will keep the household going until some of the second generation are ready to join them.

Here are all of their houses after a year (17 days in my game - 4 day seasons, plus that extra day in summer they all began with).

Donald Dunharrow has the most expensive house, which suits a Fortune sim who is fairly focused on making money. You can still see the earlier house in the ground floor, though one wall has been removed to make a larger garage. The original bathroom still exists on the ground floor.

The Gardner family have a slightly odd looking house, that will improve as I extend it. The front of the house is still the same as the earlier version, and will the original bathroom has been removed (early on, to build the foundation) I replaced it in the same spot and that bathroom is still there. The twins don't really have a bedroom yet, and are just sleeping in a couple of rooms at the back of the house until I find a better room for them (and they stop waking each other up).

The Jones family has one of the cheaper houses, but it's now fairly comfortable (though I do need to build a new front entrance that doesn't go straight into the master bedroom). There hasn't been anything knocked down in their house, so you can see the earlier version (now the master bedroom) and original bathroom (now the ensuite). Both John and Laura are chefs, so they have the chocolate making station in its own room beside the kitchen.

The house belonging to the Kingsley family looks mid-renovation - with baby Ewen's arrival they needed more space, but can't afford to finish things off yet. It is a comfortable house, though the garage has been taken over by Keith's car-restoring, which does make the family a fair amount of money that they rather need. The original bathroom that Keith started out with is long gone (it was once in what is now the front yard), but you can still see the rooms from the earlier version of the house.

Oliver Oswald's house is a nice compact house for a single sim. The original bathroom is still in there, but a bit smaller to fit the stairs. At some point it will need to be bigger, but possibly I'll need to upgrade the telescope and see if that can get Oliver the son he needs...

The Robinson house is big and expensive, thanks to the arrival of a genie lamp and both Richard and Clare wishing for money. The original red bathroom is still there, and still red, and the earlier house is also still intact (now the kitchen and dining room).

William Wyrd and his daughter still live in the cheapest house, and it still has something of a studio appearance, though there is now a separate bedroom upstairs. Nothing has been removed, so the bathroom is still the original.

And finally the joint Women's House, both the most expensive and the one with the least changes since the beginning of winter, at least from the outside. Inside, the upper floor that once had single beds in every available corner is now far less occupied, and each of the inhabitants has their own room. It generally looks like extra bits have been added on wherever, which rather fits a communal home.

Another year has passed for my sims, and lots of changes have happened.

Last time I uploaded images, Clare kept wanting to fall in love with John but he was happily married to Laura. Then John decided he wanted to fall in love with Clare... so I accepted the inevitable, and things rather spiraled. So this year has seen three divorces as well as three marriages.

Dunharrow: Donald and Abigail avoided all the romantic drama by being far too focused on work rather than relationships (Abigail might be officially a Popularity sim, but she's really Fortune). Spring finally inspired a date, which lead to their third child Arabella, but otherwise their hard work has produced several promotions and Donald is now a Master Architect (Level 9) while Abigail is a Family Law Attorney (Level 7).

Gardner: George and Sophie weren't getting along, especially after Sophie adopted a cat who absolutely hated George. Eventually Sophie flirted with fellow Cheese sim Oliver in front of George and they got divorced. Sophie (and the cat) moved out, and George soon started dating newly-divorced fellow Pleasure sim Laura, which lead to a speedy wedding when she fell pregnant. George's twins Suzanne and Sidney get on well with their new stepmother, and baby Leila is the final addition to the family.

Jones: John and Laura had a second daughter, Lavender, early on, but instead of concentrating on his wife and children John had an affair with Clare. Clare divorced her husband and was desperate to marry John, but he didn't seem interested in divorcing his wife until Clare invited both of them to visit and John kissed Clare right in front of Laura. John and Laura divorced and Laura moved out, and after a little while Clare got the wedding she wanted, moving in with her daughter Constance. Clare quickly fell pregnant, and thanks to John's cheesecake they had twins: two daughters Caroline and Cecily. John still needs a son and heir, so Clare is going to have to have another child for him.

Kingsley: Keith and Elizabeth, appropriately for Family sims, have been avoiding the drama and making babies. Their three sons from last year (twins Edmund and Ernest, and Ewen) now have three more brothers: Eric, Edward, and Elias. They still don't have a daughter, and Elizabeth wants 10 children, so we'll see what happens next.

Oswald: Oliver gets an image this time, as his family has finally grown. He used the surrogate mod to ask his friend Clare (then in between husbands) to help him have a baby, and he got the son he needs (Claude) first go. Father and son have a strong relationship.

Robinson: Richard and Clare were supposed to have a monogamous marriage, and Romance sim Richard actually managed to keep his promises, only for Clare to break them and have an affair. Shortly after their daughter Constance was born Richard caught his wife, and they divorced. Baby Constance moved out with Clare, and Richard began life as a single dad to Charles. He's been much happier, dating a couple of townies he brought home from work, and teaching Charles to play the piano. Richard also developed his relationship with his other son, Mark, and when Mark became a teenager and Romance sim (hopeless romantic, however) Richard invited Mark to move in as his heir. So Mark will continue the Robinson family in the next generation.

Wyrd: William married Harriet early in the year, and she's settled into the household happily. They have two children together: daughter Hermione and son Howard. William has reached level 9 of the Science career, and has a laboratory at the back of the house, and Harriet is at level 6 in the Natural Science career and has a cowplant in a locked garden. William's alien daughter Wilhemina revealed her mean streak when their house was burgled: she wanted to see the burglar's ghost, and invited him over to get eaten by the cowplant. So we'll see what she ends up doing with her life.

And finally the Women's House has had a variety of inhabitants over the year as each of the divorces and remarriages happened. Monica finally got the Athletics job she wanted and has been very clear that she isn't having another child. Meanwhile her twins have been growing up. Mark is a Romance sim (secondary Knowledge) and moved in with his father, while Matilda is a Fortune sim. Sophie and her cat Shadow are also happy in the household for now. Sophie has fallen in love with her fellow Cheese sim Oliver, and is expecting a baby, but neither of them seem keen to get married so she will probably stay where she is.

And if some of the sims look a bit different to the last set of images, that's because I finally got around to replacing my skintones and a few of them now look a bit different.

Here are all the houses after two years in game. They've all come a long way from where they started.

The Robinson house and the Oswald house are the cheapest. Only one adult earning money rather than two clearly makes a difference. Then the Jones, Kingsley, Wyrd, and Women's houses are all fairly similar in value (the Women's house started out with a lot more money than each of the men, but that advantage has been lost now). Then both the Dunharrow house and the Gardner house are much more expensive - it turns out that growing and selling veggies is fairly profitable in the game.

This thread seems to have turned into my account of progress through this challenge, but I enjoy posting about it every now and again so I'll keep going!

Another year has passed in Oasis Valley, and more has happened.

Dunharrow: Without Downtown added at the beginning of the year, Donald started a business called "Dunharrow Classic Cars" that is going well. Both Donald and Abigail are at level 9 of their careers, and both are fairly obsessed about getting the next promotion. Alexander (Fortune) is now at university and wants to reach the top of the Medical career, while Adelaide (Family) wants to reach the top of the Journalism career.

Gardner: Both George and Laura have recently become elders, and they are still very happy together going on lots of dates. Laura has reached level 9 of the Culinary career and does want to learn the skills to reach the top (her LTW) but George, despite his LTW, seems happy at level 8 of the Gamer career. Sidney (Pleasure) has been inspired by his stepmother and wants to be a Celebrity Chef, while Suzanne (also Pleasure) is more focused on fun. They've also both been dating the same townie girl, which is a bit of a surprise. Leila is befriending every child she meets.

Jones: John finally got his son and heir at the beginning of the year, with the arrival of Christopher. Clare has finally remembered she's a Fortune sim and has been working hard at her career, while John has taken up sewing and has made his children and stepdaughter various outfits. Lily (Popularity), Lavender (Pleasure) and Constance (Fortune) are all growing up - Lily has been dating Charles Robinson.

Kingsley: After six sons, Elizabeth had twins again in winter (cheesecake this time) and they were both girls (Esther and Eleanor). Keith is now finally done with children and fears having another one, though Elizabeth still dreams of ten (not happening...). Edmund (Family) and Ernest (Fortune) are both at university, and Ernest is dating Matilda Mason. Ewen (Knowledge) and Eric (Family) are both teens.

Oswald: Oliver is still happily single, eating grilled cheese and growing his garden. He is in love with Sophie and they now have two children, but he's not interested in a formal relationship. Claude (Family, will have Cheese secondary) has just grown up into a teenager. They also have a cat, Smudge, one of Sophie's cat Shadow's kittens.

Robinson: Richard has reached elderhood, and is still in love with many women and not committing to anyone ever again. He did, however, commit to the stray cat Noodle, who kept visiting and now lives with them. Mark (Romance/Knowledge with the Hopeless Romantic trait) is at university and still passing despite the distraction of his girlfriend Wilhemina Wyrd. Charles (Fortune) got bad grades at school for a bit, but a dream of the military and the good influence of his girlfriend Lily Jones has helped him turn that around. He's about to join his half-brother at university.

Wyrd: The knowledge family is still nerd-ing along, learning lots of skills and occasionally gaining gravestones when the cowplant eats another victim (one burglar, set up by Wilhemina, and a nanny that I still don't know what happened...). Wilhemina (Knowledge) joined the women's household at university, so it's just Hermione (Family/Knowledge) and now two boys (Howard and Hamish) at home. They also have the other grown up kitten, Sphinx.

And finally the Women's Household: Monica is still working on her athletics career, with a few dates with townies or Richard here and there. Sophie is still eating grilled cheese, but now has two more children with Oliver: Simon and Samantha. Early in the year they adopted another cat, Mischief, and then had two kittens (both of which were given away). At university, Matilda and Wilhemina are both part of this household - both are doing well, Wilhemina because she actually works, and Matilda because she bribes townies to do her work for her.

Here are all the houses again, after three in-game years. They are all fairly impressive, but there's definitely big differences in size now. I've included some overhead shots to show how much of the lot has been built on (5x5 for everyone except the joint women's house).

Love all your houses - they're all so different and creative with interesting layouts and split levels, and the decor and gardens are beautiful! Your families look like they're doing well - so many children, and it seems the start of Generation 3 won't be far off...