Update 3/22/2020 – Such as it is. I haven’t delved TOO deeply into it yet, but I haven’t seen anything so far that would require any special rules or rule-changes. I suppose it’s up to you whether you’d like to send your non-THs to uni but I’m fairly positive it’d be impossible for them to pass any classes on autonomy (so it’d be a gigantic waste of time and resources IMO). I suspect that the Realm of Magic stuff pack might require more of a rules-clarification but I don’t have that one just yet lol. Updates to come when I do!
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Let me just start by saying that I am NOT the originator of this challenge. As far as I can tell that honor goes to someone called Simslia. So far that I’ve seen, no one has yet adapted the rules to fit the TS4 game so I thought I’d take a stab at it. If you do play by these rules, feel free to post links of your challenges, I’d love to see how they go!
GETTING STARTED
- Create a YA sim, give them whatever looks, traits and aspiration you’d like. Some like to play with the Erratic trait rule, I personally do not. If you do, then one of the traits given to your founding Torch Holder MUST be Erratic. They can be ‘human’ sims, aliens, mermaids or vampires, your choice.
- You will be playing on NORMAL lifespan.
- Move your TH onto a lot. There is no restriction on which lot that can be. Build them a house, import a house from the gallery or let them live on the lawn for a while – whichever play-style you prefer is fine. This should be done with the standard 20,000 starting simoleons. Whatever you have left after purchasing property and house, that’s your starting funds. You may freely choose 3 lot traits for your home lot, but once chosen they cannot be changed. So pick wisely!
- Find a spouse/baby-maker. This can be anyone your sim can manage to woo; townies, premades, even sims you’ve placed into the neighborhood yourself just for this purpose. They must be asked to move in or married IN-GAME however, not placed into the household via Manage Households. Other than that, everybody’s free game.
- Once you’ve acquired your mate, have some kiddos. Adoption is fine, but they must be adopted as infants. Adopted children can be considered for the next Torch Holder.
- When you receive the notification that it is a sim’s birthday, you are allowed to age them up via birthday cake (see Free Actions below).
- Now let them live their lives and try your best not to reach through the computer screen and strangle them as they commence to peeing themselves/passing out all over the place.
THE GOAL
- The ultimate goal is to survive 10 generations of sims while only controlling one sim at a time, and keeping score throughout.
- Each Torch-Holder must have at least two children. You don’t HAVE to get married, but doing so increases the chance for more points (and more failures). If playing with the Erratic trait rule then each child MUST be given the Erratic trait at some point. Otherwise all traits and aspirations should be randomized via the dice button.
- Throughout the challenge, only ONE sim may be controlled by you, and that’s your current Torch Holder. All other sims must live on complete autonomy, to live (or fail) as they will. Obviously this means that sim autonomy should be turned on in your game settings at all times. When the child you’ve chosen as heir reaches YA, the ‘torch’ is passed to them and they become your controllable sim. Your former TH enters the land of autonomy and you are never allowed to control them again. There are some Free Action exceptions to this rule, see below for details.
- Once a child reaches YA and they are not your heir, they must be moved out of the household.
HARD MODE
- If you’d like to take the challenge one step higher in difficulty, then these rules should also be followed;
- You are not allowed to utilize the ‘Hand of God’ (aka click-dragging items such as dirty dishes or inventory items). Anything in the game must be managed or manipulated by the sims themselves, either your TH or a life-stage free action of a NTH.
- You are not–at any time or circumstance–allowed to hire a Nanny, Repairman, Gardener, Pizza Delivery, Maid or Butler.
SCORING
The following is an updated scorecard, modified for changes in TS4 as opposed to its predecessors.
Self Wetting : -5
Pass Out : -5
Failing School : -5
Negative Traits Earned by NTHs : -5**
Accidental Deaths : -10
Fires : -10
Social Worker Visit : -15
Single Birth : +5
Twins : +10
Triplets : +15
Any sim in the household completing Any Aspiration Milestones (Child and Adult): +5
Any sim in the household completing Aspirations (Child and Adult) : +10
Toddler Skills maxed by NTH toddlers : +5
Skills (Child and Adult) maxed by NTH family members : +10
NTH children (Child and Teen) earning an A in school : +5
Positive Traits Earned by NTHs : +5**
Happy Toddler Trait Earned : +5
Top-Notch Toddler Trait Earned : +10
NTH sims reaching the top of a career (Teen and YA/A/E) : +10
Randomizing every trait and aspiration for an entire generation : +10
Not using spares’ Satisfaction Reward points for an entire generation : +10
Every 100,000 simoleons earned* : +20
Immortalizing the Torch-Holder : +5 [This can be done in a number of ways. Write a biography (writing skill level 10), paint a painting from reference of the sim at 8+ painting skill, or take a picture with a 5+ photography skill in the Torch-Holder’s honor. Done to remember your THs on through the generations. ]
*You can calculate total simoleons earned in 2 different ways. 1 – go to build mode, click on the info box and add the lot’s total value to the family’s simoleons on hand. OR 2 – go to your achievements and check the Rosebud achievement, which tracks how many simoleons have been earned over-all in that save file.
**These are in reference to the new earned traits from the Parenthood game pack. Negative traits are Bad Manners, Uncontrolled Emotions, Insensitive, Argumentative and Irresponsible. Positive traits are Good Manners, Emotional Control, Compassionate, Mediator and Responsible. If no traits are earned, then no points are awarded or taken away.
FREE ACTIONS
- Every sim in the household has one free action per age category. (PLEASE NOTE : this is an EXTRA free action that can be ANYTHING in the game. This does not mean you can only use one of the following free actions per age-category. The actions listed below are ALWAYS allowed to be done whenever and however many times you need to).
- You may choose to “Claim” a bed with every sim ONCE to assign specific beds to specific sims. This can only be done once. After that, they’re on their own.
- You may choose to quit job/retire for any sim you don’t want working, and are allowed to assign sims to specific careers as needed.
- You may choose to “Change Into…” out of sleepwear, (because I get tired of seeing them in their underwear/PJs ALL DAY).
- If you have an alien sim, you may choose to change into and out of their Human Sim Disguise freely.
- You may change tones while at work/school as needed. Whether or not they actually attend or leave early is up to the sims themselves.
- You may choose to take vacation days or family leave for NTHs via the phone.
- You may Choose an Umbrella from the umbrella stand, if purchased.
- When you get the notification for infants that it’s their birthday, you are to select the bassinet (with your Torch Holder) to age them up. When all other sims’ age bars reach 0, you are allowed to click on a birthday cake to age them up OR click the cake with your TH and choose to ‘Age Up…’ (select sim). Baking the actual cake and adding candles is up to your TH however.
- You may choose to take a Pregnancy Test with NTH female spouses to determine if there is a pregnancy. This CAN be discovered without the test with time, but I can see how the wait would be a little annoying since there are no chimes anymore to tell you yay or nay.
- Once a NTH spouse goes into labor, you are allowed to choose to go to the hospital, and may then ‘Check-In’ at the front desk. All other actions at the hospital must be autonomous. If at home, you must wait for the labor to end naturally (the timer to run down on its own).
- You are allowed to purchase and drink ONE youth elixir per sim, per lifetime. (HOWEVER, doing this with a NTH spare will negate the +10 points for not using AP in that generation).
Stark Raving Mad 