I think it would depend on the personalities involved. Are they the type to want an extended family or do they believe it's better life experience for them to be out on their own? Do the teens and parents get along or would the teens be the type to want to 'split this scene' ASAP.

Just so you know, this is the TS2 section, so you might get advice you can't implement. But a story dilemma is largely a story dilemma no matter what the game, so... I'm not sure if there's a TS3-related reason why both teens must stay home with the baby instead of one getting a job? Since you describe the parents as reluctant, and the teens have no income, I'd lean toward finding the cheapest option to keep them all together. The teens taking more than they give should be temporary. I'm not sure how money is divided when Sims move out in your game, but wouldn't it cost the adults more if the teens left, taking the car and some of the savings with them?

Remodel the house! Much cheaper in the long run, everybody gets live-in babysitters, and so what on the income? Babies don't eat much, and I presume S3 has ways to generate at-home income, or it's not much of a life simulator.

I was going to ask it was TS3, too. But as omglo said, story advice is story advice.

Anyway, yeah, I vote for expanding and building a studio for the teens. In my experience, it was always easy to earn money in TS3. The teens will soon pull their weight and it never hurts to have extra sims around to help with childcare because babysitters seem to be worthless.

Baby bottles in TS3 doesn't even cost money, IIRC

The main give away are the Nraas mods. Master Controller and Woohooer are Sims 3 mods.

Sims can make money at home in Sims 3 depending on the Sim's skills and what EPs the player has. Painting, sculpting, writing novels, selling the potions they make if the player has the EP and I'm sure there are other ways I'm not remembering or don't know about because I don't have all of the Sims 3 EPs.

Like Sims 2, Sims 3 teen jobs tend to be a few hours in the afternoon or evening and don't pay that much.

The parents could remodel and have the teens live in the studio. One or both of the teens could paint, sculpt, or do other things to earn money from home. One teen could get a job while the other stays home, although like I said above teen jobs don't pay that great.

Here's one: Would the Summerdream family make sense to be (good) witches?

(I actually did consider turning Veronaville into a vampire-vs-werewolf thing - with the Capps as vampires and Montys as werewolves - but decided against it. Though it'd be kind of amusing.)

I feel like Juliet would be distressed at the idea of a hairy boyfriend. But that's just me. *shrug* (Maybe I'm the one who just doesn't like hairy men, ahah....)

DO THE VAMPIRE VS WEREWOLF THING!
(The Summerdreams that were in TS3 were fairies in TS3 Supernatural, I think, so good witches are the closest thing.)

Yep do the Vampires vs Werewolves thing, but put a new spin on it by making the Capps (and thus Juliet) the Werewolves!

Edit: Quoted wrong message

I think you quoted the wrong post there...

Ever since I got AL, I've always made the Summerdreams witches. Titania and Oberon start off as maxed good witches. Fairy/elven kids acquire their magical abilities (become witches) when they age into teens. Bottom is a bit of a spoiled brat in my current Veronaville - she likes pranking and always wants to be the center of attention. I'm thinking that when she becomes a teen, she may misuse her powers and follow the path to the Dark Side.

I like the idea of a vampire-werewolf feud. It would certainly spice up the village!

I was mostly concerned about the practicality of it - even though I have a hack that lets vampires stay in daylight safely, they tend to sprint off any lot they're on if the sun's out - "ah, the sun, I must flee!"

The other one is aside from the knowledge Sims they'd all be rolling wants to get cured or cure others. Would rather not set a knowledge secondary for everyone.

If anyone has any solutions for these two problems I might go for it.

I could have sworn there was a mod to fix the constant cure wants. I think wfsanity is the one you want from Pescado. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/al/hacks/

I might be wrong though.

Story dilemma: Shenala Tragedy is a rich businesswoman who went through a hard childhood. Her husband, Neil, was having an affair so they divorced, leaving Shenala to raise their kids herself. Said kids are Brittany (The oldest), S (The youngest), Amy (Second oldest), Elissa (Second youngest) and Aliana. (Older than S and Elissa, younger than Brittany and Amy.) (Elissa and Aliana are Neil's alien kids. S and Amy are Shenala and Neil's biological kids. Brittany was adopted.)

Before divorcing, they took in a kid called Orlando Bertino because he lived on the street. They didn't adopt him, just let him live with them.

The kids grew into teens. Orlando and Brittany got into a relationship. S was taught about business and they were sent off to college one by one.

Fast forward to Orlando and Brittany's graduation. Orlando had his grad party first. Before Brittany could go and live in Pleasantview again, Amy (Who was pregnant at the time) killed her because she was jealous of Brittany having a stable relationship while Amy's relationships ended in her partners dying or betraying her.

Before we go on any further, note that Pleasantview is in anarchy because of several murders. The police force united to fight crime, but they aren't equipped to arrest murderers, so murderers get away without punishment.

Back to the story! Amy killing Brittany caused Elissa to trap Amy in a burning room to kill her. S resurrected Amy (Shenala gave them one of those resurrection things she got from her own college days). Amy gave birth to twin girls, Murder and Mercy. S killed Amy when she found out what Amy had done. This was all while Aliana was at her final exam.

Aliana doesn't know what Amy did, but is furious at S and Elissa for murdering Amy. She takes care of Murder and Mercy.
Orlando is in the family bin.

Options for the sisters in college:
1. Get Aliana to know what Amy did and make her leave the twins outside to deplete their needs.
2. Same as #1, but Aliana will continue taking care of the twins anyway.
3. Hold a Hunger Games between them to see who will win and let them decide the fate of the babies.
4. Anything you want to suggest.

Options for Orlando:
1. Get another love interest.
2. Adopt a kid or some pets to keep him from his misery.
3. Get together with one of the sisters. (All of the sisters have the hots for him.)
4. Anything you want to suggest.

Options for Shenala:
1. Sell her businesses since she's almost an elder.
2. Temporarily give her businesses to Orlando until S graduates.
3. Die from rally forth at one of her business lots.
4. Anything you want to suggest.

First, let me say, I love checking back in on this thread!

Next, @ihatemandatoryregister - I too support the vampire vs. werewolves hood idea. I think it'd be very cool. You could have the Capps vying for control and vampire hierarchy, backstabbing each other to control territory and gain power and money, etc. While the Montys werewolf line would have more of a "pack mentality," being wary of outsiders, having strong family traditions like continuing the patriarchy, choosing family as an aspiration, etc. They could have stronger ties to nature while the Capps rule the city. The Summerdreams would make a good witch family, but I think they'd also make a good plantsim family, choosing to stay neutral and remove themselves from day to day society squabbles.

Anyway, don't worry so much about sims rolling wants to cure themselves--I find that really depends more on the sim. Though it seems like everyone will roll wants to cure others, most of my non knowledge sims are okay with being a creature. I regularly turn romance sims into a creature and they rarely have a problem with it, especially if they still get to woohoo all the time. The evil head witch, for example, is romance and if you move her in, she doesn't really roll wants to cure herself (at least she doesn't in my current game). But that could be a witch thing. I've found most sims don't mind being a witch and instead roll wants to cast spells.

Finally, @Astha123, it seems obvious to me that Aliana must go on a path of revenge. She's probably not in a place to listen to her sisters' "excuses" and raising Amy's kids would most likely hardened her--nothing could possibly justify depriving Murder and Mercy of a mom. I see her turning to some dark arts or at least some crime and violence to get back at her sisters. Everything escalates to where they don't talk anymore and maybe another sister dies in the fighting, allowing you to set up a one on one, dark side vs light side family feud. But maybe I'm thinking that cuz of all the talk about witches and supernaturals? Either way, I don't think S would leave Aliana to raise the twins alone--she brought Amy back so she could give birth, right? So maybe you split Murder and Mercy up and each of them are raised on different sides of the feud, leaving them to figure out if they continue it when they're older (it seems like they would, if only from their names). And/or maybe Elissa has a vendetta against the twins, since she did kill their mom while she was pregnant. Or maybe the twins grow up wanting to get back at her for that?

I like the idea of Shenala giving the business to Orlando though; it's like she's horrified of what her family has become and doesn't want to reward anyone's behavior. Then maybe one of the sisters is upset that he got their rightful inheritance and there's another feud right there. If he does fall in love with anyone, I'd say it'd be S or Elissa, since they all seem to be on the same side, but more importantly, what would that do to everyone's relationships if Brittany is resurrected later, after he's moved on and married/had kids with one of Brittany's sisters?

I think you have lots of options, so when in doubt, pick your favorites to play, get rid of the sims you hate, and build your story from there!

@PhantomKnight The reason Elissa killed Amy in the first place was because she thought Amy already brought them too much pain and drama even though she didn't and that the children would undermine their college studies. I really love your post, especially the reason for Shenala to give the business to Orlando!

Ok, so I wrote what happened while I was playing.
Aliana moved into a new dorm with Mercy and left Murder with S. She went into a room and saw a picture of Brittany with Dirk. She remembered that Brittany and Orlando sang on campus. They took pictures with fans. Aliana decided to keep the picture. It seemed like a nice reminder of Brittany.

She set up a crib and other things for Mercy. The Tragedy family had the technology to make people grow up early, so she made Mercy grow up into a toddler after feeding her.


Meanwhile, S took care of Murder. Elissa was at class, so S aged Murder up to a toddler to make sure Elissa wouldn’t do anything. The college authorities threatened S that they would take Murder away if she didn’t stay with Elissa to make sure she didn’t do anything.

Both S and Aliana are terrified that the other is raising the twin to be hateful and are making sure that the twin they raise doesn’t go away. They don’t trust each other.

Both went to Erin ‘Death’ Burb, a murderer who is the child of the Grim Reaper and Lucy Burb (Who was a serial killer before dying) to ask her for magic powers to kill each other and to protect the twins. She gave them said magic powers.

Orlando went to Shenala and told her what had happened. They were both unhappy about the feud. She gave all the businesses to Orlando and proceeded to go to another one of her business lots with him.

She overused Rally Forth to basically commit suicide… but not before Orlando made out with her under temporary insanity and because he had 3 chemistry bolts with her. Shenala was fine with it because she was going to die anyway. Dozens of people watched this and gossiped about it. The gossip spread fast and the sisters found out about it.

Orlando took Shenala’s grave and left it at the graveyard. He went back to the mansion and put Shenala’s dogs up for adoption and sold the Servos she used to help with her house.

Two fires were summoned by S and Aliana and they destroyed a large part of the mansion but left Orlando unharmed.

Aliana did so to punish him for making out with Shenala and didn’t kill him because she felt it would be morally wrong.

S did so to punish him, as well. She didn’t harm him as she wanted to get into a relationship with Orlando to coax him into handing over the businesses to her since Shenala had trained her as she was the heiress.

When he woke up, he called the fire department.

@Astha123 I love your update; I wonder what S would do if she did manage to get Orlando to fall in love with her and hand over the business? Would she kill him, as seems to be the trend in your hood, or would she settle down?

Anyway, I've my own dilemma, not related to Pleasantview this time (I've quite a ways to go before I can unleash a zombie apocalypse there. ). I wanted to restart my bacc/integrated test hood since my old one is glitchy. I'm planning on using bin families again, since creating sims from scratch takes forever and it's harder for me to connect to them at first. Plus I really liked playing them--which was a surprise for me, as I usually delete most of them. Like the Ottomas, for example. I never, ever played them before, but surprisingly had a good time with them. So I'll use all the bin families this time, including Gieke and Larson. I'm not sure how playing Gieke will go, but it'll be good to have Jodie in this hood as women were in short supply in the last hood. I basically had to number every sim and as soon as a female sim was of age, they got sent off to get married.

Right, so, the dilemma: What to do with the Goodie family? In the old hood, I had thought to have Herbert kill off Faith and marry someone else but I couldn't justifying giving him a wife before any other eligible adult male, since it'd be his second marriage, so he was supposed to just establish himself and wait around for a while. What ended up happening was that Faith became a plantsim (due to a lack of insecticide) and had plantbabies while Herbert became a witch and got rid of Faith soon after the plantbabies were old enough to work for him. I think he got a genie lamp too, which he used to get money and become younger. But even with that going on, I found it boring compared to the family building going on in other lots. Too much skilling and watching plantsims alternate between working and complaining about needs (it didn't help that two seasons out of four were winter.)

Now, I like Herbert and the idea of remarrying him. It's basically the only reason why I included them in the first place. I'm a little torn, though, because I think it's unfair to Faith. And I would like to have at least one sim carry on her line/genes. But since I'd like to keep supernaturals out of the hood for a while, until the town develops a bit more, she'd have to stay an elder and female elders in this situation are basically useless. No point in skilling, cuz she's going to die, she can't have kids, and since it's just her and Herbert, there's no one to really care for. Anyone have any ideas? Should I age her and Herbert down and give her a little more time? Should they adopt? Boolprop a baby? Or any votes to just kill her off and be done with it?

As an elder female, I find your perception of Faith as useless in the situation objectionable and short-sighted.

First of all, give her and Herbert both some skill points! Randomized if you like. But it makes 0 sense for two elders to have no skillpoints at all. It's not cheating; it's fixing the company's oversight.

Things Faith can do: Start the first community business. Act as Society Leader, using her house to host meetings and cultural events. Give her a greenhouse and let her and Herbert become the main food producers. (Since they're elders, I don't see the cheat involved in giving them a couple badges, either.) Act as Town Founder; or Assistant to Town Founder. Act as Welfare Worker/Nurse, seeking out sims who are having problems and helping them out with it. Make a living as an artist of some kind (novels or crafting stations) to increase the tax base. Adopt the Newsons. Act as community matchmaker/yente/mediator of conflicts. Some combination of these roles.

I only played the Goodies once and I aged them both down to adult and gave them a family. If I was keeping them old I would first use the simblender to randomize their skills, because I agree, they should have come with some! Then I would perhaps have them run an orphanage. I would check out their hobby and interests and maybe give them some badges as well.

Faith is not useless. She has a great personality and makes friends easily.
The Goodies, in several past hoods of mine, always adopted at least one child, sometimes two (and, indeed, once the Newsons)

Thanks for the ideas! I hadn't considered using Faith in such a way, Peni Griffin (obviously. Hope I didn't offend too much!). Everyone will pretty much be starting from scratch though, so there won't be too many social services in the hood yet, but she could go around and act as hired help to families in need when things get hectic later on. Maybe even be midwife. And Herbert could be pastor, considering his last name. I guess I was focused more on the legacy aspect of the family; I want to carry on the family names and I didn't really see a way to do that with her in the picture.

For this hood, I'm picturing them as settlers who picked up and moved from somewhere and decided to travel together. They'll eventually build a town but it'll be a while before they start any businesses. As for randomizing skills--I usually don't because my sim blender always seems to give too many. Instead I was thinking of grouping everyone into camps and playing with aging off for a couple of seasons, letting them skill a little, collect resources (chopping wood takes forever!), and socialize, symbolizing the journey there. Like before they came to the new hood they were empty headed city slickers who didn't know a thing about living off the land, but they learned a bit on the way there.

You could age Faith down to adult but take away days so she isn't 'that much younger' then Herbert and let her have a 'late in life' child. That way you get the genetics from her. You could even have her 'die in child birth' so Herbert can marry some 'sweet young thing' to help him raise the baby.

What I do is after randomizing I then use the sim manipulator to take away skills. I never allow any sim to start with more than five in any area, so if it randomized 8 in body and 10 in cooking I just lop them off back to five.