I don't quite understand this part. Saving to build them where? On their lot? On owned public lots? How would you make them profitable?

I have a doctor with a very small clinic and a policeman with a small jail and an office, both on their lots. They look nice but are completely useless unless I use various cheats; I do that when I am making stories but not in a normal game.

ETA: Regarding Bulbizarre's links: the first one was blocked as suspicious by Bitdefender. The second mod looks great but the problem is that university study is free where I live and will remain free in my game.

Sounds like a false positive. Don't think I've had issues opening links from Cyjon's site before. It opens fine for me (my AV reacts if there's anything bad on a site, and gave off no warnings). Could be reacting to no www, or "http" instead of https?

It's probably flagged because Cyjon's site is still using http instead of https. https has the wrong certificate (it also doesn't work).

Me either. I've found no20khandout makes the biggest difference.

That, and not feeling beholden to have every sim max out their careers at 10 levels. My town does not need 15 Chief of Staffs and no nurses.


Build A City Challenge. Sims have to pay taxes to earn community buildings.

The town has to build a church + graveyard on a blank community lot. That takes money that every family will have to decide how much to donate. Once a church is built a priest can move into one of the empty small houses. Priests don't normally build their own church or technically own them. So I would simply give them the cash to 'buy' it. My founders are about to die so we really need a graveyard and soon.

In game of course the priest will own the church so they can run it. As to it being profitable, apart from selling Bibles and flowers and adding a ticket machine to simulate church giving it won't be. The priest will use a custom career.

I don't know about other countries but most country towns have a church and graveyard here.

As for the clinic I am trying to have my doctor save to be able to build one but given that she is married to the teacher and he is trying to save for a proper school based on what the kids make and the robots he crafts it's being extreamly tough. Both clinics (forget about a hospital) and schools take an enormous amount of cash.

I still have no police station but when I do they will sell burglar alarms, toy police cars and books I will have an officer write. In my last integrated hood I had him write a book called "Home security" and "The mind of a burglar". It will also contain a small jail and I will use it. I have my police officer walk a beat and I also at that point will make a playable burglar. I use playable cops to be sure he will turn up if a family gets burgled and if he wins that burglar will be going to my jail. Other sims can go to jail for fighting or stealing as well. If I left the gate unlocked sims would have stolen my cows numerous times.

I have just figured out how to have a playable construction company and while they are only clearing and selling a block of land right now they may soon be able to afford an actual house block. I have a thread here in my signature on playing active carers and businesses.

I play out everything that I can, It just takes some mods and imagination.



I haven't been doing taxes yet as there is no proper town or town leader as such. I started this hood with one sim who is quite old now, but the town is just his kids and spouses and grandchildren in a small collection of houses.I need someone in the political career but I don't have that yet. The town is basically farms, a pub, a dance hall (which can double as a meeting area and sims can get married there) and a servo. (servo is what we call a petrol station here in Australia) The school is just in someones house.

This is why I love a combination of @Lamare's job options (namely 'ask before promotion') and @whoward69's Sim Salary Bonus Scheme.

I had to read your challenge to really understand how you are playing the game. In some ways it is similar to the way I am making my stories, but mostly it is completely different. I will certainly try it out but, I am afraid, with some tweaks:
- No supernaturals.
- "Any Sim you create in CAS may only move in/marry townies or Sims that were born in-game, not other Sims that you create in CAS." I am playing my most recent Pleasantview this way, but with lots of (free) plastic surgery. Not sure what you think about students but I treat them as in-game Sims.
- Churches are a must in my games as well. I made two types: a small "village" one with a small vicarage that costs a bit less than 20.000, and a big "town" one with a big vicarage (about 70.000). A new priest gets the small church and vicarage and then it's up to him to get the big one. He is, of course, always in the priest career (mod) but he is allowed to get married (mostly protestants, obviously; if he is a catholic he can't get married but he can get a cook).
- Free cemetery and marriage chapel. I think SimCity would take care of those.

In any case, a really good system, quite elaborate.

Not my challenge. There are numerous rule sets for the BACC around. I use my own rules. I call my game play a combination of Build A City and Integrated. If you were around for the isle of Tyme in 2009, that was integrated. Integrated means playable sims run and pay for everything they possibly can.
BACC has rules for unlocking things. For example they might say maid service is unlocked at 500 population or the church costs 20K. I don't use those number goals, I unlock by either having a sim willing to run a service and or having a lot dedicated to that thing. it can be as tiny as 1 by 1 lot that I expand later. Most times I build a 2 by 2 lot to start with and make it as cheap as possible. I have a 1 by 1 fire station uploaded to MTS with a 2 by 2 police station. I also have a 2 by 2 office uploaded which can be used for a variety of business. I would strip them and use cheap CC paint and floor. I have started business on 1 by 1 lot with 1 shelf of items and a porta potty in one corner and no building. It's a struggle bus.

If you add rules like no 20K handout, no money perks for business and no wishing for cash on genie lamps, your sims will be poor. Maybe too poor.
Some people like to get a money perk on every second business rank and I have done that before if you want things to go a bit faster and easier. I would call that a grant from the government. So tweak as you see fit, in a way that is enjoyable to you.

Did not occur to me. I got used to people using different usernames and avatars a long time ago. (A lot of "use" in this sentence. )

I played the "no handout" challenge only in TS3; it ended like any other run with the Sim sitting in his sumptuous home, later than usual, but not much.

I was surprised to learn that the Opportunity Shop at my mother's church was one of the main income earners.

How are you going to handle everyone being related to each other?

Sorry for the confusion, I figured it was BACC or something similar.

They marry in townies. I downloaded a couple of sets of them. Family gatherings are LARGE since my founder had 6 kids.

I am either joandsarah or Jo Playing the sims. But yeah, Jo everywhere. Not good with names, especially not name switcheroos so my own is as easy as can be.

I did make a challenge years ago, called from Creation to the Future on the Exchange and it was far too long. I also started a cave man survival challenge on a drive that went 'kaput' for want of a better word. Lost an underground tomb build and many other things.

Oops sorry you guys, double post. It's not 8am here in Australia yet. Got to wake up.

I never do anything to make my Sims poor. Mine just don't get rich. There are I suppose reasons for this. For a start no one has ever inherited money in my game -- because no one has ever died! With the exception of the few Fortune Sims in my game, my Sims seldom chase promotions unless they really need the money. I encourage them to go out and enjoy themselves rather than sit at home skilling for promotions. In the twelve years I've been playing, only two Sims have reached the top of an adult career.And one of those, Consort Capp (now Consort Hutchins-Capp) was already at level nine at the start of the game. I honestly prefer playing Romance, Popularity and Pleasure Sims to playing Family and Fortune Sims, whom I find hard to empathise with. Myself I've never felt any urge to produce genetic offspring, and I really have little interest in money beyond having enough to pay for all the essentials, and a little bit over for a few small luxuries. I have absolutely no wish to live in a mansion, and even less to share it with a dozen children that I've somehow fathered!! So I generally prefer to play Sims who think more the way that I do. (I give all my CAS Sims the same turn-ons and turn-offs as myself!!) I also spend a lot of my Simming time playing teens, and teen Sims just don't have the opportunities to grow rich that adults have. My Sims tend to spend their evenings, either entertaining visitors at home, or going out on outings with them. Or, better still, going on a date with a special friend! I very seldom let my teens take teenage jobs -- I'd rather have them at home having fun! If they live independently (as many of my teens do), and they really need a regular income, I'll probably let them grow a few money trees. That gives them enough to keep the wolf from the door, but not enough to grow seriously rich. About the most successful of these are Jack Gill and Ravi Bertino, who have four money trees in their bedroom. Their accumulated "fortune" over eleven real years is §6,145. They've been living in a tiny house in Mendoza Lane for all that time. They have added a second double bedroom to the house (so they can "entertain" two guests at once) but it certainly isn't a "mansion"!

There are some rich Sims in my game, but none have grown rich in ordinary gameplay. I suppose my rich Sims are either pre-made Sims who were made rich by Maxis, or else I've used money cheats to make them rich for story or similar purposes. Consort Hutchins-Capp is in both categories: Maxis made him rich, but I also let him regularly use Motherlode, as I understand that he owns a goldmine!! Andrew and Julian are a bit of a special case. When I entered d_dgjdh's Monopoly Game Town Contest back in 2016, I made Andrew and Julian the owners of the construction company. At the end of the contest, there was over §400,000 in their company's funds. I felt the fairest thing to do with it was to divide it between the business's owners. That transformed them from quite poor Sims to quite wealthy ones.

In my game, if a Sim needs to borrow money for business or other purposes, they don't go to institutions; they come to an arrangement with richer Sims, and borrow the money from them.

Oh that reminds me, someone in a black, hooded cloak was looking for you. Something about "denying Death its due," IIRC?

I just realized/ remembered that I have a sorta rule of thumb I tend to follow .. if a toddler is out of their crib than at least 1 adult MUST be awake with them .. maybe not in same room, but they can't be sleeping .. no matter how exhausted they are .. so I try and avoid it comin to had

I find that playing sims different from myself gives me more of a challenge. After all, it would be terribly boring if we were all the same. And sims who want different things let you explore more of the game. I remember going totally out of my comfort zone when I played a Romance sim who was actively cheating on her husband.



Heh, I gave up on that ages ago and now the little rugrats just sleep on floor mats and entertain themselves if other sims are asleep.

I play with a really long lifespan so I allow all my sims with pets to use a bowl of Kibble of Life once per pet. I love pets and it's sad when they die of old age, especially since large dogs age much faster than other types.

My rules:

When a Sim dies, I let it happen. I don't restart from the last save. However, I am open to letting them return from the dead, if possible and if it's a Want, by using either the Genie, if he arrives, and the Resurrection-thing (unsure what it's called in English).

Teens go to college when they have three days left (when the notification comes up that they will be an adult in a few days). However, they must have a Want to go to college (and for Sims I really what to play at universtiy, I lock that want).

When I start a new family (from scratch) I can use the money cheats to get them started. Since I like building cool houses, they can't always afford them, so they get a little help on the way. They get the house and the basics (working kitchen and bathroom and beds to sleep in). But once that is taken care of, they're on their own. I also think it's fun to see how their home "grows" =) I have one exception to this rule, and that is children. Since they're only children for such a short time, and since I reeeeally like to decorate children's rooms, I do that, if I'm in the mood.

My new rule is that if a sim rejects a proposal or leaves their partner at the alter, I take this as a sign that the rejecting sim just isn't invested in the relationship anymore and they must instantly break up. This one hurts my heart sometimes, especially when I have a whole storyline worked out and they've been together for ages. I guess some highschool romances just don't last.

I'm surprised that leaving someone at the altar doesn't automatically break them up.

Rules!!??

There is a widespread anarchistic belief among my Sims, that the only possible justification for the existence of rules at all, is so that they can break them!

It does break the engagement stops them from being friends, but the BFF status remained and can easily be repaired. I end up having the remove the BFF and make the rejectee furious at the rejector. The rejectee doesn't get a memory of it either, while the rejector gets a "left (sim) at the altar" memory.

Rules that I still follow:
• There must be a "Static Energy Sculpture" by TwoJeffs on every community lot, all other needs can deplete as normal except for that one because it's annoying
• Every teenager goes to college because it's chaotically fun and I love it
• There must be a park specifically for the neighbourhoods children so that they can all meet and play together, I also have a specific hangout spot for teens too
• Grouchy romance Sims are notorious heartbreakers and nice romance Sims are hopeless romantics - thanks to the Traits system and mods to make this happen, Herb and Coral Oldie are so cute!!!!
• Every household will get a Monique Hacked Computer
• Every household bathroom must have MogHughson's Thirstiest Bathmat in them
• Every community lot must have an All-In-One Bathroom no matter how out of place it looks, I make very rare exceptions for this

Obsolete rules:
• A strict wants based playstyle - I found it was getting repetitive and boring, most Sims ended up like clones of each other
• A strict aging & rotation system - I found myself getting frustrated with it, so now every lifestage is just that, a lifestage, and now there's no stress or pressure to keep things in order
• Every household had a stereo playing the "College Rock" station - I don't need the stereo anymore because I can just sing the songs myself now

Rules that I sometimes play with, but not always:
• Sims turn ons/offs are determined by their interests - I use custom turn ons/offs & find that you can get very interesting results sometimes

Those are all of the ones I can think of right now. :P

This isn't really a rule but a weird habit.

I have a bunch of community lots for various rabbit hole jobs like a hospital, courthouse, police station, a news station, talent agency, etc. Plus uni community lot buildings for majors. They're mainly for fun skill building lots where they can meet and hang out with their colleagues. A lot of times the buildings have offices and I try to decorate them to keep things interesting and on theme with some of the career jobs (like Sports Columnist or Internet Movie Critic)

This stared in the university science lab where I made an alien conspiracy theorist desk in an astronomy department office, but I've now included an alien conspiracy theorist at the journalism lot and the police station. I don't usually play with alien abductions in the game, but it's just a fun joke for me and a good way to use all the alien decor.

"Sorry, nobody down here but the FBI's most unwanted."