Rules for the Build a City Challenge
These are the rules for the Build a City Challenge. The parts in blue are rules that were added by members of forums.boolprop.com who play this challenge and wanted to update it for all of the expansion packs. The rules in purple are ones that I added in for myself.
The goal of this challenge is to start with a completely blank neighborhood and a single Sim and to create an entire “Sim City.”
Starting Out
-You must create an entirely new Neighborhood to start with. It can be on any template you choose, but you MAY NOT add a University, Downtown, Shopping District, or any community lots. However, if you have Bon Voyage, you MAY add vacation destinations.
-Create a single Sim to be your founder and move them onto an empty lot. The Sim can be made however you choose (looks and personality) and their home lot can be any size (the smaller the better since money will be tight).
-As your neighborhood expands, you must play EVERY household for the same amount of time. If you move in townies just for their money and move them back out, they CANNOT just sit in the Sim Bin. ALL Sims MUST be played.
-When Sims have children, it is up to you whether or not they remain at home or move out. Keeping them home means a higher lot value which can earn a university (rules in a later section). Moving them out means more households and more community lots. Choose which works best for you.
-New households after the founder, may be pre-built houses or blank lots.
-At the beginning ALL careers are locked, meaning no job for your founder. You must find other ways to make money (painting, novels, business, treasure hunting, etc). We’ll get to how to unlock careers soon, but first we must cover a few other subjects.
-Sims may not have fire detectors or burglar alarms until the first position in the Law Enforcement Career is unlocked (rules in the career section).
-Sims may not call for any services except for the Nanny and Adoption. Service calls are unlocked when the population reaches 500 (figuring out population is in the next section). Pizza and Chinese Food delivery are unlocked with a population of 3,000.
-Servos are allowed and do count in the population.
- When at a business, a sim may only use the energizer one time per visit.
- The first son born in each household will be the heir of the house. If there are no sons, then the first daughter will be the heir.
- When marrying, women must take the man's last name unless it would cause a name to die out.
The Sim Multiplier
-The goal of this challenge is create a city with a population of atleast 50,000. Of course you won’t literally have that many Sims to worry about. This number is purely figurative and that is where the Sim Multiplier (SM) will come into play.
-The SM is just a number that you will multiply your number of playable Sims by in order to get the city’s population.
-At the start of the challenge, the SM is 1. As you progress and unlock certain additions for your neighborhood you’ll increase your SM. Points for your SM are added as follows:
+1 for your first community lot
+1 when you reach a total of 5 community lots
+1 for every additional 5 community lots
+5 for adding a Downtown
+5 for each Business District
+5 for each University
-From now on when population is mentioned, it simply means your total number of playable Sims multiplied by your SM.
Unlocking Neighborhood Additions
Community Lots: There are two ways to unlock a community lot. The first way is to place any community lot, have a Sim purchase it, and start a business on it. The second way is every 4 Sim households earns one community lot. If you place a community lot using the second way, it does not need to be own by a playable Sim, but if you want a Sim to have a business there they can. In addition to adding to your SM, for each community lot you also earn 1 CAS Sim. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Business Districts: You unlock a business district by having 5 player owned community lot businesses of any rank, and having the Business Career unlocked (rules in the career section). You MAY earn multiple business districts. To do this you will need 5 additional businesses on community lots and another Business Tycoon. For example: If you want to add a 2nd business district you’ll need 10 community lot businesses and 2 Business Tycoons; to add a 3rd you’ll need 15 businesses and 3 Business Tycoons, etc.
In addition to adding to your SM, for each business district you also earn 5 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Downtown: Adding a downtown only requires that your city’s population reaches 25,000. Unlike other additions, you may only earn a single downtown. In addition to adding to your SM, the downtown also earns you 20 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Universities: Adding universities to your neighborhood may be the hardest to unlock because they are expensive to build. There are three ways to go about raising enough funds for a university.
1) You can take a weekly tax from each household. This tax would be 10% of their lot value. To do this you may use the familyfunds cheat, a hacked object (ex. ATM), or buy an item(s) that equals the tax value and leave in your Sims inventory. Once you have collected $1,000,000 in taxes you may add your public university. If you choose this method make sure you keep track of how much you’ve collected, and a calculator will be useful.
2) Reach a population of 50,000, and the state will build your neighborhood a public university for free. This option is only good if you simply want to meet the population goal, as this would mark the end. However, if you play beyong the goal, this method may work for you.
3) Have a wealthy Sim donate $1,000,000 to either build a public or private university. Move this Sim to a smaller lot if you need to, in order to subtract the money from their funds using any method you choose.
A public university will accept any Sim. However, if you choose to have a wealthy Sim build a private university, they (you) get to decide who gets to enroll and who doesn’t. The founder of the private university gets $50,000 per Sim who enrolls.
You may earn multiple universities using any of the three methods mentioned. In addition to adding to your SM, for each university you also earn 5 CAS Sims (students perhaps). [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Each University may only start out with one community lot. For every ten five sims that graduate, another community lot may be placed in the University but will not count as a regular community lot.
Unlocking Careers
Athletic: The Athletic Career path is unlocked as soon as a sports themed community lot is placed. The actual “sport” being played can be anything from Bowling, Darts, even Kicky Ball (use your imagination). The lot can look however you wish but it must be on a 5x5 (or larger) lot, contain an area for competitive games, and be worth $250,000.
Business:A new position opens in the Business Career track every time a player owned business reaches level 10(home or community lot). When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Criminal: Wherever there are people there is also crime. When the population of the town reaches 100 one spot on the Criminal Career track opens. Every time a Sim reaches the top of the Criminal Career, they open an additional position in both the Criminal and the Law Enforcement careers. The Criminal Career track is never truly unlocked, but can have many open positions.
Culinary: The Culinary Career earns an open position for each player owned restaurant business that reaches level 5. When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Law Enforcement:A position in Law Enforcement is unlocked when one of the following events occurs.
1) There have been 3 burglaries.
2) The population reaches 500.
3) There have been 3 fires in someone’s home.***
4) A playable Sim reaches the top of the Criminal career.
Like Crime, Law enforcement is never truly unlocked, but can have many positions available rather quickly.
Medical: The first position in Medical is unlocked when the town population reaches 1,000. Another position is opened at 5,000 and an additional position is opened every 5,000 after that. The career as a whole is unlocked when the town acquires a university. When woohooing, all sims must try for baby until a sim reaches the position of Chief of Staff.
Military: The Military Career track is unlocked when a community lot is placed that represents a military base. It takes the place of a NPC community lot that you can add once you accumulate 4 households, but it does not contribute to the total number of community lots present and can never be purchased by a playable Sim.
Politics: Politics is completely unlocked as a career choice when the town reaches of population of 1,000. However, there cannot be more than one playable Sim as Mayor at the same time.
Science: A Science Career position will be earned every time any Sim transitions into Adulthood with maxed Logic. A position can also be opened for every 3 electroctions by electronics or lightening. When a playable Sim graduates from a university, the career is unlocked to every one.
Slacker: A position in the Slacker Career is opened every time a community lot is created for the soul purpose of being a “Club”. It is unlocked completely when a Downtown Area is Unlocked.
Adventure:To open a position in the Adventure Career, a community lot must be placed to represent a Museum. This lot must be at least $250,000. When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Education: Once the population of the town reaches 250 a position in the Education Career opens. The career gains an additional opening for every 250 in population. This career is always open to any Sim who has a diploma regardless of population. Child and teen sims may not attend private school until a sim tops the Education career.
Gamer: For a Sim to become a Gamer they must own all of the following items either in their inventory, the lot they live on, or a community lot that they own the deed to: the expensive computer, video game console, a pinball machine, and an arcade game.
Journalism: When the town reaches a population of 1,000 the first position in Journalism is unlocked. An additional spot is added every 1,000 in population thereafter. Every time someone reaches the top of the Law Enforcement, Criminal, or Show Business career tracks an additional position can be added. If someone reaches the top of either careers before the town reaches a population of 1,000 they do not count towards the total number of Journalist openings until the population requirement is met.
Law: The Law Career is open to any Sim with a diploma.
Music: The Music Career is unlocked when a music venue community lot is placed. To be considered a music venue there must be a stage and at least 3 music instruments. This lot can serve other purposes other than just music, such as a park or club (won’t count for the slacker career).
University Careers:
Artist: A position is opened for every art gallery business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with maxed creativity who have also sold 10 masterpieces.
Natural Science: A position is opened for every nursery, flower, or landscaping business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with gold gardening badges.
Paranormal: The first position is opened when a cemetery is added and there are 5 graves in the neighborhood. After the first position opens, another is opened for every 10 additional graves. The graves do not have to be sent to the cemetery and pet graves do NOT count.
Show Business: A position is open for every Prestidigator (entertainment) and Professional Party Guest. Whenever a Sim reaches the top of the career, a position is opened in Journalism after the population reaches 1,000.
-Of course Show Business, Paranormal, Natural Science and Artist are only available to Sims who have a diploma.
-If you move in a townie that has a job in a career that does has not been unlocked, they MUST quit. If you move in a townie and they have a job in a career that already has all its available positions filled, either they must quit or have another Sim with that career quit. The fairest way is to have the person with lowest rank quit.
-Teen and Elder jobs count as a position filled in any given career.
Pet Careers:
Show Biz: Only "talented" pets who have learned all their tricks may enter this career (excluding toilet training for cats).
Service: Career opened once phone service options are unlocked when the population reaches 500.
Security: 1) Job opened for all pets when there at least 5 sims in Law Enforcement. OR...
2) Owner must be in Law Enforcement.
Free Time Careers
Architecture: A position in Architecture will be opened for every 10 lots, residential or community, and each neighborhood addition (University, Downtown, Business District). The residential lots must be occupied. The community lots must be complete and functional (no blank lots), and can be player owned. Apartments only count as one lot, no matter how many playable families live in the building.
Dance: A position in the Dance Career is opened whenever a Sim owned dance studio opens and reaches Rank 5.When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is unlocked to everyone.
Entertainment: A position is opened whenever a Sim transitions into adulthood with maximum charisma. The career is never unlocked.
Intelligence: A position in the Intelligence Career is opened each time a Sim reaches the top of the Military, Criminal, or Science Career.
Oceanography: The career is open to any Sim with a gold fishing badge. The career is unlocked when a Sim tops the Natural Science career.
Apartment Life
-Each family living in an apartment counts as a seperate household when calculating how many NPC community lots you can have.
-However, each apartment building only counts as ONE lot towards the Architecture career.
-You may not have Sims ask the landlord to do repairs or any other chore around the apartment until Service calls are unlocked at a Population of 500. The landlord doing his daily rounds of cleaning up outside is okay.
***Fire List
-Fires in a Sims home. COUNT.
-Fires started as a Sim repairs an object. COUNT.
-Fires caused by lightening. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires caused by a Sim BBQing outside. COUNT.
-Fires caused by Cafeteria workers. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires on business lots caused by the controllable Sim. COUNT.
-Fires on business lots caused by employees or customers. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires caused by a witch's spell. DO NOT COUNT.
The goal of this challenge is to start with a completely blank neighborhood and a single Sim and to create an entire “Sim City.”
Starting Out
-You must create an entirely new Neighborhood to start with. It can be on any template you choose, but you MAY NOT add a University, Downtown, Shopping District, or any community lots. However, if you have Bon Voyage, you MAY add vacation destinations.
-Create a single Sim to be your founder and move them onto an empty lot. The Sim can be made however you choose (looks and personality) and their home lot can be any size (the smaller the better since money will be tight).
-As your neighborhood expands, you must play EVERY household for the same amount of time. If you move in townies just for their money and move them back out, they CANNOT just sit in the Sim Bin. ALL Sims MUST be played.
-When Sims have children, it is up to you whether or not they remain at home or move out. Keeping them home means a higher lot value which can earn a university (rules in a later section). Moving them out means more households and more community lots. Choose which works best for you.
-New households after the founder, may be pre-built houses or blank lots.
-At the beginning ALL careers are locked, meaning no job for your founder. You must find other ways to make money (painting, novels, business, treasure hunting, etc). We’ll get to how to unlock careers soon, but first we must cover a few other subjects.
-Sims may not have fire detectors or burglar alarms until the first position in the Law Enforcement Career is unlocked (rules in the career section).
-Sims may not call for any services except for the Nanny and Adoption. Service calls are unlocked when the population reaches 500 (figuring out population is in the next section). Pizza and Chinese Food delivery are unlocked with a population of 3,000.
-Servos are allowed and do count in the population.
- When at a business, a sim may only use the energizer one time per visit.
- The first son born in each household will be the heir of the house. If there are no sons, then the first daughter will be the heir.
- When marrying, women must take the man's last name unless it would cause a name to die out.
The Sim Multiplier
-The goal of this challenge is create a city with a population of atleast 50,000. Of course you won’t literally have that many Sims to worry about. This number is purely figurative and that is where the Sim Multiplier (SM) will come into play.
-The SM is just a number that you will multiply your number of playable Sims by in order to get the city’s population.
-At the start of the challenge, the SM is 1. As you progress and unlock certain additions for your neighborhood you’ll increase your SM. Points for your SM are added as follows:
+1 for your first community lot
+1 when you reach a total of 5 community lots
+1 for every additional 5 community lots
+5 for adding a Downtown
+5 for each Business District
+5 for each University
-From now on when population is mentioned, it simply means your total number of playable Sims multiplied by your SM.
Unlocking Neighborhood Additions
Community Lots: There are two ways to unlock a community lot. The first way is to place any community lot, have a Sim purchase it, and start a business on it. The second way is every 4 Sim households earns one community lot. If you place a community lot using the second way, it does not need to be own by a playable Sim, but if you want a Sim to have a business there they can. In addition to adding to your SM, for each community lot you also earn 1 CAS Sim. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Business Districts: You unlock a business district by having 5 player owned community lot businesses of any rank, and having the Business Career unlocked (rules in the career section). You MAY earn multiple business districts. To do this you will need 5 additional businesses on community lots and another Business Tycoon. For example: If you want to add a 2nd business district you’ll need 10 community lot businesses and 2 Business Tycoons; to add a 3rd you’ll need 15 businesses and 3 Business Tycoons, etc.
In addition to adding to your SM, for each business district you also earn 5 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Downtown: Adding a downtown only requires that your city’s population reaches 25,000. Unlike other additions, you may only earn a single downtown. In addition to adding to your SM, the downtown also earns you 20 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Universities: Adding universities to your neighborhood may be the hardest to unlock because they are expensive to build. There are three ways to go about raising enough funds for a university.
1) You can take a weekly tax from each household. This tax would be 10% of their lot value. To do this you may use the familyfunds cheat, a hacked object (ex. ATM), or buy an item(s) that equals the tax value and leave in your Sims inventory. Once you have collected $1,000,000 in taxes you may add your public university. If you choose this method make sure you keep track of how much you’ve collected, and a calculator will be useful.
2) Reach a population of 50,000, and the state will build your neighborhood a public university for free. This option is only good if you simply want to meet the population goal, as this would mark the end. However, if you play beyong the goal, this method may work for you.
3) Have a wealthy Sim donate $1,000,000 to either build a public or private university. Move this Sim to a smaller lot if you need to, in order to subtract the money from their funds using any method you choose.
A public university will accept any Sim. However, if you choose to have a wealthy Sim build a private university, they (you) get to decide who gets to enroll and who doesn’t. The founder of the private university gets $50,000 per Sim who enrolls.
You may earn multiple universities using any of the three methods mentioned. In addition to adding to your SM, for each university you also earn 5 CAS Sims (students perhaps). [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Each University may only start out with one community lot. For every ten five sims that graduate, another community lot may be placed in the University but will not count as a regular community lot.
Unlocking Careers
Athletic: The Athletic Career path is unlocked as soon as a sports themed community lot is placed. The actual “sport” being played can be anything from Bowling, Darts, even Kicky Ball (use your imagination). The lot can look however you wish but it must be on a 5x5 (or larger) lot, contain an area for competitive games, and be worth $250,000.
Business:A new position opens in the Business Career track every time a player owned business reaches level 10(home or community lot). When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Criminal: Wherever there are people there is also crime. When the population of the town reaches 100 one spot on the Criminal Career track opens. Every time a Sim reaches the top of the Criminal Career, they open an additional position in both the Criminal and the Law Enforcement careers. The Criminal Career track is never truly unlocked, but can have many open positions.
Culinary: The Culinary Career earns an open position for each player owned restaurant business that reaches level 5. When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Law Enforcement:A position in Law Enforcement is unlocked when one of the following events occurs.
1) There have been 3 burglaries.
2) The population reaches 500.
3) There have been 3 fires in someone’s home.***
4) A playable Sim reaches the top of the Criminal career.
Like Crime, Law enforcement is never truly unlocked, but can have many positions available rather quickly.
Medical: The first position in Medical is unlocked when the town population reaches 1,000. Another position is opened at 5,000 and an additional position is opened every 5,000 after that. The career as a whole is unlocked when the town acquires a university. When woohooing, all sims must try for baby until a sim reaches the position of Chief of Staff.
Military: The Military Career track is unlocked when a community lot is placed that represents a military base. It takes the place of a NPC community lot that you can add once you accumulate 4 households, but it does not contribute to the total number of community lots present and can never be purchased by a playable Sim.
Politics: Politics is completely unlocked as a career choice when the town reaches of population of 1,000. However, there cannot be more than one playable Sim as Mayor at the same time.
Science: A Science Career position will be earned every time any Sim transitions into Adulthood with maxed Logic. A position can also be opened for every 3 electroctions by electronics or lightening. When a playable Sim graduates from a university, the career is unlocked to every one.
Slacker: A position in the Slacker Career is opened every time a community lot is created for the soul purpose of being a “Club”. It is unlocked completely when a Downtown Area is Unlocked.
Adventure:To open a position in the Adventure Career, a community lot must be placed to represent a Museum. This lot must be at least $250,000. When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is then unlocked to every one.
Education: Once the population of the town reaches 250 a position in the Education Career opens. The career gains an additional opening for every 250 in population. This career is always open to any Sim who has a diploma regardless of population. Child and teen sims may not attend private school until a sim tops the Education career.
Gamer: For a Sim to become a Gamer they must own all of the following items either in their inventory, the lot they live on, or a community lot that they own the deed to: the expensive computer, video game console, a pinball machine, and an arcade game.
Journalism: When the town reaches a population of 1,000 the first position in Journalism is unlocked. An additional spot is added every 1,000 in population thereafter. Every time someone reaches the top of the Law Enforcement, Criminal, or Show Business career tracks an additional position can be added. If someone reaches the top of either careers before the town reaches a population of 1,000 they do not count towards the total number of Journalist openings until the population requirement is met.
Law: The Law Career is open to any Sim with a diploma.
Music: The Music Career is unlocked when a music venue community lot is placed. To be considered a music venue there must be a stage and at least 3 music instruments. This lot can serve other purposes other than just music, such as a park or club (won’t count for the slacker career).
University Careers:
Artist: A position is opened for every art gallery business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with maxed creativity who have also sold 10 masterpieces.
Natural Science: A position is opened for every nursery, flower, or landscaping business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with gold gardening badges.
Paranormal: The first position is opened when a cemetery is added and there are 5 graves in the neighborhood. After the first position opens, another is opened for every 10 additional graves. The graves do not have to be sent to the cemetery and pet graves do NOT count.
Show Business: A position is open for every Prestidigator (entertainment) and Professional Party Guest. Whenever a Sim reaches the top of the career, a position is opened in Journalism after the population reaches 1,000.
-Of course Show Business, Paranormal, Natural Science and Artist are only available to Sims who have a diploma.
-If you move in a townie that has a job in a career that does has not been unlocked, they MUST quit. If you move in a townie and they have a job in a career that already has all its available positions filled, either they must quit or have another Sim with that career quit. The fairest way is to have the person with lowest rank quit.
-Teen and Elder jobs count as a position filled in any given career.
Pet Careers:
Show Biz: Only "talented" pets who have learned all their tricks may enter this career (excluding toilet training for cats).
Service: Career opened once phone service options are unlocked when the population reaches 500.
Security: 1) Job opened for all pets when there at least 5 sims in Law Enforcement. OR...
2) Owner must be in Law Enforcement.
Free Time Careers
Architecture: A position in Architecture will be opened for every 10 lots, residential or community, and each neighborhood addition (University, Downtown, Business District). The residential lots must be occupied. The community lots must be complete and functional (no blank lots), and can be player owned. Apartments only count as one lot, no matter how many playable families live in the building.
Dance: A position in the Dance Career is opened whenever a Sim owned dance studio opens and reaches Rank 5.When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is unlocked to everyone.
Entertainment: A position is opened whenever a Sim transitions into adulthood with maximum charisma. The career is never unlocked.
Intelligence: A position in the Intelligence Career is opened each time a Sim reaches the top of the Military, Criminal, or Science Career.
Oceanography: The career is open to any Sim with a gold fishing badge. The career is unlocked when a Sim tops the Natural Science career.
Apartment Life
-Each family living in an apartment counts as a seperate household when calculating how many NPC community lots you can have.
-However, each apartment building only counts as ONE lot towards the Architecture career.
-You may not have Sims ask the landlord to do repairs or any other chore around the apartment until Service calls are unlocked at a Population of 500. The landlord doing his daily rounds of cleaning up outside is okay.
***Fire List
-Fires in a Sims home. COUNT.
-Fires started as a Sim repairs an object. COUNT.
-Fires caused by lightening. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires caused by a Sim BBQing outside. COUNT.
-Fires caused by Cafeteria workers. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires on business lots caused by the controllable Sim. COUNT.
-Fires on business lots caused by employees or customers. DO NOT COUNT.
-Fires caused by a witch's spell. DO NOT COUNT.