So this is the first week I've played since reformatting/reinstallation, so in a way it also doubled as making sure everything is absolutely okay. Because of the reinstallation, there were two things: the resolution was different and the sound was on - something that I haven't played with in yeeeeaaaaaarrrrrssssssss. The loading screen music drives me around the bend, so that was turned off as soon as I could, but in-game sound effects were on. I was kind of curious to see how long I could handle having them, particularly since I've literally not played with sound effects since 2006, at minimum.
All of that aside, though, I mostly just concentrated on trying to achieve this household's goals. It's another relatively small update,
with 70 jpgs.
To start, things I've learned/remembered from having the sound on, #1: there are crickets at night.
(#2: Ivy and Damion snore.)
Between them, the pair had a lot of junk in their inventories. Some of it is obviously from other stores or digging, but I'm not sure where some of the other stuff comes from. Since I really want a university and I really want them to get their community lot, I emptied their inventories and sold all of it.
(#3: Ivy sounds NOTHING AT ALL like what I thought she would/should.)
(#4: DOGS BARK IN THE BACKGROUND.)
Ivy went to work, leaving Alex to play with a charisma doll and Damion to continue working on getting his badge. He's about two weeks younger than Ivy, so he's still got plenty of time to get into his career of choice (Natural Science).
Ivy was promoted to Junior Executive, which is rank 4 of 10. Hopefully she'll get to the top, I'd like a third BD. :3
Steven hung out on their couch for a while. I like him too much to kick him out, like most other friends-from-work.
Alex soiled himself 'cause he was in too bad a mood to be potty trained... neither parent appreciated it.
Day 2!
I repainted the kitchen, by the way. Did I mention that? It's blue and orange now, I quite like it.
Oh, and Damion finally got his gold badge. :D As soon as Alex is in school, Damion will join the Natural Science track.
Promotion to Executive. :D
In the early hours of Day 3, Damion and Ivy married. Damion became Damion Omega (rather than Dalton).
(#5: The aspiration meter makes a sound when powering down.)
Ivy caught a cold from work. It's probably Steven's fault.
Hey Jupes! How's the mayhem?
Then Alex (I keep wanting to call him Ben, awkward...) grew up, in the late evening of Day 4.
He aged up in low gold aspiration, accompanied by 2 Charisma points and 1 creativity point. His OTH is Games, so I think he'll be the fellow to open up Krow's first gaming arcade. That may change when he turns into a teen and gets an aspiration/LTW, but we'll see. Concerning personality, he's got 10 Outgoing and 10 Playful, so he's going to be a fairly high maintenance fellow. Everything else is average, making him a Taurus.
And after his post-birthday makeover:
I approve. C: I like him a lot. He still has a bit of a puppy-fat face, but given his father's genetics, I'm not surprised.
(#6: The sound effect of the rain is really quite lovely.)
I like this shot. On the one hand, it's so domestic that it borders on serious cheese and corn, but I do like when things like this happen naturally. I wish Damion was doing something slightly more interesting than standing still in his PJs, but you can't have everything. :P
So, Alex went off to his first day of school.
Leaving Damion free to be as messy as he liked. He got his job in Natural Science, but he wasn't due to start until Day 6.
Someone got promoted to President! Rank 8 of 10, not bad. :D That should result in a Business Tycoon early next week, so if Steven Confetti is a good lad and gets his top rank too, I'll have a total of 3 BDs. Possibly also a University. C: This makes me happy~
With all the promotion money, they could finally afford the business that Ivy always wanted... barely. They had $46,000. The lot cost $45,000, hah.
And here it is!
This is Ivy's Treasures, a store that sells miscellaneous items from around the world. There's a HUGE quantity of stuff here, far more than any store I've had previously, so it's also a bit of a test. Normally I only ever have a small quantity of stock, since you only get X number of customers on the lot at a time, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway, and see how much of a difference it made.
I also really like the aesthetic of the warehouse full of miscellaneous decorative stuff, most of it replicas - since Ivy is not a treasure-hunter and I do not agree with theft or appropriation. You want something that belongs to another culture? You ask. You earn it. Most of the time, TS2 is okay for me because it uses fictional cultures (granted, they're based on reality), but for Ivy's warehouse, I tried to stock it with items that I could see being supplied by native companies, like the tea set, and garden ornaments, and things that would generally be considered a legal souvenir in their country of origin.
So anyway. Sophie Patchwork accompanied Alex home that day, though she'll be a teen by this time in her own rotation.
The next day Damion went off for his first day at work, leaving Ivy and Alex to hang out together. Alex is close with both of his parents, being an only child, so they were both quite happy with such an arrangement.
Once Damion came home, Ivy went over to the business to give it the inaugural run.
These are the new employees, the cashier and restocker. I never let anyone but my playables make sales. 8|
NO. I DO NOT CARE HOW ROUTE BLOCKED YOU ARE. YOU CANNOT GO AND PERFORM TAI BLOODY CHI. STAY STILL, DAMNIT.
where the hell is that no tai chi mod. It is MINE.
Aside from Ivy's incessant insistence that she spend ALL her free time doing tai chi outside, the store went really well. In just a handful of hours she'd worked her way to a Silver Sales badge, and the store climbed to Rank 3 along with a total of 2k profit, largely thanks to the high-ticket items that the store sells. I'm really pleased with how it's gone - I really like this store. It's probably my favourite in Krow at the moment. C:
While she was out, a reluctant Alex accompanied his dad on a hike.
It would seem that Alex had good reason for that.
On Day 7, Damion went to work whilst Ivy and Alex spent more time together.
Alex also invited the Patchwork girls over, even though they're both roughly a week older than him. (I'm pretty excited to see them as teens, fyi...)
:C Ivy grew into an Elder. LE SIGH. She did so with platinum aspiration, though she never reached her LTW (Cult Leader/Paranormal Track) - she'll be around for a while to come. She's got 5 cooking, 4 mechanical, 5 charisma, 10 body/logic/creativity, and 6 cleaning. She's President, in her career track - and frankly, doing pretty well for herself.
Post-birthday:
Best I could do, since I don't have a lot in the Elder category, but I think it's decent. Ivy really does not suit having grey hair, but you gotta work with what you get, lol.
The kids spent all their time outside, until Luke came and fetched his daughters.
Alex went to bed almost the minute the girls were gone, followed shortly by his parents. C:
And there they'll be 'til next week.
Stats: Krow - Week 11
12 Households: Confetti, Confetti 2, Crowley, Cwik, Bruty, Hark, Omega, Omega 2, Patchwork, Torrisi, Torrisi 2 and Torrisi X.
8 Household Businesses: Omega Bar, Omega Park, Ivy's Treasures, Patchwork Bakery, Patchwork Patterns, Jackalope Grocery, Rotor and a bookstore.
10 Community lots: 8 Businesses, 2 Public - "Little Red Restaurant", "Krow Cemetary".
19 Job slots: Architecture x 2 (1 occupied), Athletic, Business (5 occupied), Culinary (occupied), Criminal x 2 (1 occupied) Education x 2, Intelligence x 1, Journalism x 1, Law Enforcement x 5 (1 occupied), Medical x 1, Science x 1 (occupied), Slacker x 1 (occupied), Paranormal x 1.
Unlocked Careers: Athletic, Military, Business.
University Fund: $136,706 ($135,482 + $1,224).
The population is stable at 40 Playables. The muliplier is 9, so the total population is 360.
On a semi-related note, I did a small overhaul of the Careers and ways to unlock them. Notable changes include Culinary, Criminal, Education, and ones that generally relate to population no. I also added miscellaneous unlockable things - smart milk, details about Uni, stuff like that. You can see it all over
here.
Next is the
Patchwork family. Not gonna lie, this'll be fun. :D