Brandywine Legacy: The Rules
Quite a while ago, doing research on The Sims 2, I came across the Legacy Challenge, where you raise a family for 10 generations. Apparently, there are a number of different approaches that people take, different goals they set for themselves. I felt I was ready for a new challenge, so I've spent a couple weeks preparing, mainly by downloading lots and figuring out what I wanted to do.
I am basing my legacy family on the core legacy rules for Sims 2, which I found at the Sims Legacy Site.
In particular, I will abide by the following, with the goal of making the family as strong as possible over 10 generations:
* I will start with a single young adult Sim in college, who must marry an NPC. The original challenge called for starting with an adult Sim, but in the comments, someone asked if you could start them in college for a better advantage in skill-building, and the creator of the rules said yes. I am also starting with a female Sim, just because I feel like it, although the family name Brandywine will always be passed on, regardless of the gender of the heir.
* Each generation, the heir will marry (or move in) a Townie or NPC who will help produce the next generation. I am adding the restriction that said NPC should be at least a two-bolt match with the heir.
* When children become teenagers, I will roll a six-sided die (or probably find an online dice-rolling program), to determine their aspiration as follows:
1: Wealth
2: Knowledge
3: Family
4: Romance
5: Popularity
6: Pleasure
* I will abide by the following restrictions:
You may NOT turn aging off
You may use the elixir of life, but use caution, as you may suffer the jump bug.
You may use any other normal aspiration reward objects.
You may NOT use any kinds of cheats or mood trainers.
You may NOT use any “special” objects such as the platinum-maxing painting.
You may use any maxis-made objects, and any 3rd party skins/wallpapers/floors etc.
No reloading after bad events such as bad chance cards or accidental deaths.
Restarting after a bad bug or a glitch IS allowed. Just as using the move_objects cheat is allowed for bugged objects.
* At the end, even though I'm not competing against anyone else, I will score myself using the following rules:
At the end of the challenge, 10 generations or after the family line is broken, score your family on the following terms.
1. 1 point for each generation reached - max 10 SCORE TO DATE: 4
2. 1 point for each $100,000 in net worth the family has - round your current net worth up
3. 1 point for each PLATINUM grave on the lot SCORE TO DATE: 2
4. 1/3 point for each family friend the family has at the end - round spare 1/3’s down
5. 1 point every time a Sim fulfills an ‘impossible’ want which is a want scoring 30,000 points or more, limit one per sim per want.
6. -1 point every time a household member drops into aspiration failure, requiring a visit from the sim shrink.
7. -2 points for every inter-bred birth in the family.
Special Bonuses
1. 2 points if all 10 career reward objects are on the lot - One time only
2. 1 point for each different type of NPC that you have children with over the whole legacy. SCORE TO DATE: 3 (college Sim, vacation Sim, neighborhood Townie)
3. 1 point for each different color ghost you have on the lot at the end.
4. -2 points for each visitor that dies on your lot.
5. 1 point for each alien born on the lot - 1st generation aliens only, children of aliens don’t count, unless it’s by abduction SCORE TO DATE: 1
6. 2 points if the birth that brings in the last generation is twins.
7. 2 points if you can get two social bunnies to have romantic interactions on the lot - One time only
8. 2 points if the ghosts on your lot can access your sims SCORE TO DATE: 2 (I honestly don't know how you could keep the ghosts from accessing the sims)
9. *NEW* 2 points if you manage to collect ALL the different types of ghosts on the lot
I am adding, for my own personal goals, a 1-point bonus for each point of niceness the final heir possesses. I plan to start with 1 point of niceness. SCORE TO DATE: 7
In addition, I will be creating my own neighborhood (Plum Grove), university (Pinewalk U.), and downtown for my legacy family, for several reasons. First of all, with the "dating only NPCs rule in place," I don't want to have to wonder whether or not a new match is, in fact, a premade playable Sim (such as can be found in existing neighborhoods, the premade Downtown, the premade Bluewater Village shopping area and all the premade universities). I will, however, use the vacation lots, because I don't want to go to all the trouble to create those, as well, and while those neighborhoods have some premade Sims, there are no premade playable Sims. This should be something of a scientific experiment, seeing just how much one family can propagate across the town.
Knowing me, I will probably end up playing the "spares" from each generation, especially since the children are likely to be friends with their siblings. However, I will not be making excessive use of the Elixir of Life, so that those Sims who do not die of other causes have a chance to die of old age. Otherwise, there's no way to complete this challenge: there will simply be too many people in the legacy house.
I'm not much of a builder, so I'm downloading lots to place in the Downtown, the university, and the shopping area, many of which are the Stoneyville lots created by WolfSims68 and the HiTech University lots by Illiana. I will, however, be building the legacy house myself, as per the core instructions.
I am looking forward to this challenge, because it will force me to play in a different way. So far, I have never allowed a Sim to stay dead, but this challenge will force me to do so. Plus, instead of restarting to solve major problems, I will have to play through them. I also haven't done much building, and this will encourage me to do so.
Right now, I am trying to find a good screencap program. I was using FRAPS until it mysteriously stopped working back in January, and even troubleshooting with their help desk and reinstalling it did nothing for me. In the meantime, I will be taking pictures using the in-game camera, remembering to get as close in as possible for the best images.
I am basing my legacy family on the core legacy rules for Sims 2, which I found at the Sims Legacy Site.
In particular, I will abide by the following, with the goal of making the family as strong as possible over 10 generations:
* I will start with a single young adult Sim in college, who must marry an NPC. The original challenge called for starting with an adult Sim, but in the comments, someone asked if you could start them in college for a better advantage in skill-building, and the creator of the rules said yes. I am also starting with a female Sim, just because I feel like it, although the family name Brandywine will always be passed on, regardless of the gender of the heir.
* Each generation, the heir will marry (or move in) a Townie or NPC who will help produce the next generation. I am adding the restriction that said NPC should be at least a two-bolt match with the heir.
* When children become teenagers, I will roll a six-sided die (or probably find an online dice-rolling program), to determine their aspiration as follows:
1: Wealth
2: Knowledge
3: Family
4: Romance
5: Popularity
6: Pleasure
* I will abide by the following restrictions:
You may NOT turn aging off
You may use the elixir of life, but use caution, as you may suffer the jump bug.
You may use any other normal aspiration reward objects.
You may NOT use any kinds of cheats or mood trainers.
You may NOT use any “special” objects such as the platinum-maxing painting.
You may use any maxis-made objects, and any 3rd party skins/wallpapers/floors etc.
No reloading after bad events such as bad chance cards or accidental deaths.
Restarting after a bad bug or a glitch IS allowed. Just as using the move_objects cheat is allowed for bugged objects.
* At the end, even though I'm not competing against anyone else, I will score myself using the following rules:
At the end of the challenge, 10 generations or after the family line is broken, score your family on the following terms.
1. 1 point for each generation reached - max 10 SCORE TO DATE: 4
2. 1 point for each $100,000 in net worth the family has - round your current net worth up
3. 1 point for each PLATINUM grave on the lot SCORE TO DATE: 2
4. 1/3 point for each family friend the family has at the end - round spare 1/3’s down
5. 1 point every time a Sim fulfills an ‘impossible’ want which is a want scoring 30,000 points or more, limit one per sim per want.
6. -1 point every time a household member drops into aspiration failure, requiring a visit from the sim shrink.
7. -2 points for every inter-bred birth in the family.
Special Bonuses
1. 2 points if all 10 career reward objects are on the lot - One time only
2. 1 point for each different type of NPC that you have children with over the whole legacy. SCORE TO DATE: 3 (college Sim, vacation Sim, neighborhood Townie)
3. 1 point for each different color ghost you have on the lot at the end.
4. -2 points for each visitor that dies on your lot.
5. 1 point for each alien born on the lot - 1st generation aliens only, children of aliens don’t count, unless it’s by abduction SCORE TO DATE: 1
6. 2 points if the birth that brings in the last generation is twins.
7. 2 points if you can get two social bunnies to have romantic interactions on the lot - One time only
8. 2 points if the ghosts on your lot can access your sims SCORE TO DATE: 2 (I honestly don't know how you could keep the ghosts from accessing the sims)
9. *NEW* 2 points if you manage to collect ALL the different types of ghosts on the lot
I am adding, for my own personal goals, a 1-point bonus for each point of niceness the final heir possesses. I plan to start with 1 point of niceness. SCORE TO DATE: 7
In addition, I will be creating my own neighborhood (Plum Grove), university (Pinewalk U.), and downtown for my legacy family, for several reasons. First of all, with the "dating only NPCs rule in place," I don't want to have to wonder whether or not a new match is, in fact, a premade playable Sim (such as can be found in existing neighborhoods, the premade Downtown, the premade Bluewater Village shopping area and all the premade universities). I will, however, use the vacation lots, because I don't want to go to all the trouble to create those, as well, and while those neighborhoods have some premade Sims, there are no premade playable Sims. This should be something of a scientific experiment, seeing just how much one family can propagate across the town.
Knowing me, I will probably end up playing the "spares" from each generation, especially since the children are likely to be friends with their siblings. However, I will not be making excessive use of the Elixir of Life, so that those Sims who do not die of other causes have a chance to die of old age. Otherwise, there's no way to complete this challenge: there will simply be too many people in the legacy house.
I'm not much of a builder, so I'm downloading lots to place in the Downtown, the university, and the shopping area, many of which are the Stoneyville lots created by WolfSims68 and the HiTech University lots by Illiana. I will, however, be building the legacy house myself, as per the core instructions.
I am looking forward to this challenge, because it will force me to play in a different way. So far, I have never allowed a Sim to stay dead, but this challenge will force me to do so. Plus, instead of restarting to solve major problems, I will have to play through them. I also haven't done much building, and this will encourage me to do so.
Right now, I am trying to find a good screencap program. I was using FRAPS until it mysteriously stopped working back in January, and even troubleshooting with their help desk and reinstalling it did nothing for me. In the meantime, I will be taking pictures using the in-game camera, remembering to get as close in as possible for the best images.