Rachel Edwards proposed to and moved in her girlfriend Marie Mazza. Marie brought in enough cash to furnish the apartment nicely. She spent the rest of the week looking for a job in Slacker (her LTW) to no avail. Rachel did score a couple of promotions in Athletic. Right at the end of the round Rachel rolled the want to get married, so Marie is now officially an Edwards. At the end of spring, after rent/expenses, they have $6988 in savings and will remain Working Class.
Happy Simming!
Ricky Cormier and Irene Franklin did not get married this round, nor did they reach the tops of their careers. Irene was unable to make the friend count in time, as Austin moved out early in the week to attend University, and she was dependent on his friends. (Austin, btw, completed 5/6 AP classes and earned a $1000 scholarship. His mother and Ricky gave him $10,000 towards starting his own household after graduation.) Ricky did not reach the top of Slacker because he got a bad chance card and was fired shortly after becoming an elder, making it impossible now for him to ever complete his LTW. Nevertheless, they soldiered on. Irene has the friend count now, partly due to all the dates Ricky goes on behind her back, so she should get her final promotion next round. Jesse grew into a teen, rolled the LTW for 50 dream dates, and met Chloe Lewis (she's part of the new family in town), who he has two bolts for. I was ready to lock them in as an official couple when Jesse met a townie girl who he has three bots for, so now I'm not sure which way he'll go. Maybe Chloe will win him over on her round or maybe she'll find someone else. In any event, the family has $42,957 after paying their property taxes, so they'll remain Upper Middle Class.
The Kramers began their week with a tragic loss - Julie accidentally set the grill on fire and, as Olympia valiantly worked to put it out, she herself caught fire and was consumed before Julie could douse her. Luckily, things improved as the week wore on. Julie used some of the money Naveah earned from her last painting to plant some tomatoes, which ultimately sold for over $400. Naveah grew into a teen and continued painting, bringing in a few thousand bucks. Julie met and fell in love with Ryan Wheeler, who moved in right at the end of spring, bringing with him $2000. Consequently, their final savings after expenses (and purchasing a compost bin for the benefit of the next family to move in) is $5072, and they will be promoted directly to Working Class.
Happy Simming!
Amy Edwards moved in with Ryan Carter after she finished Uni and, I have to say, they are possibly the most boring couple ever. They are only interested in their careers and skilling for their careers (Law for Ryan and Education for Amy). Amy rolled wants to adopt a couple of kittens and to be flirted with two or three times, but apart from that, all their wants revolved around skills/promotions. As boring as it was, it was at least financially lucrative. At the end of spring, Amy is about halfway up the career track, and Ryan just needs one final promotion. They have $41,555 and are being promoted to Lower Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
Nicole and Jerry decided to get married, so they're the Stallkamps now. They adopted a little dog, who was unfortunately an elder already, and he died before the week was out. Luckily, they had a new object of affection by then, their newborn daughter Tiffany. Jerry finished his degree and got a job in Music. Nicole continued working in Entertainment, scoring a couple of promotions. She also inherited a sizable amount from her mother Andrea, who passed away this round. By the end of spring, they had more than enough cash ($34,225) to be promoted to Lower Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
Brandon Baxter left Danielle Duncan to go off and marry Andi Jones, taking half their savings with him. Danielle wasn't too bothered by it because, with BJ Haggerty free (after his fiancé's death), she was keen on moving him (and his bank account) in with her. (Since BJ had already been played for spring, I moved him in at the very end of the week.) Dana couldn't care less what her mother was doing - or with whom. She reached adulthood, took a job in Athletic (her LTW), and started dating barista Alvin Kimbrell. At the end of the week, she moved out, taking her father's savings/possessions, her car, and her dog. She will be Lower Middle Class. With BJ's influx of cash, he and Danielle have a total of $59,073, which keeps them at Lower Middle as well.
Andi Jones became Andi Baxter immediately after Brandon moved in. Their baby was born shortly thereafter, a girl named April. Andi got pregnant again right away, this time delivering twin girls, Chelsea and Courtney. She's currently pregnant once again and will give birth next round. In the midst of all the births/childcare, Andi continued trying to find a job in Slacker but was unsuccessful. She remains unemployed. Brandon did obtain a couple of promotions in Culinary and Norman and Nikki continued working their part-time jobs as well. Sadly, Norman passed away at age 72, followed a few days later by Nikki at age 70. Since the family is Working Class, they were not permitted to keep any of the insurance money. At the end of spring, April is a child, the twins are toddlers, and the family has $8621 in savings after paying all their expenses. They will remain Working Class.
Happy Simming!
The Harris/Wong family worked hard this spring, but didn't make a lot a progress towards leveling up. Amar earned a couple of promotions, but Kayla only got one all week, and she's still only level three in Culinary. Simon continued to work in Law Enforcement and finally finished his community college degree. Ajay also earned a community college degree and took a job in Music (his LTW). Michelle continued in Business, but without much success. Cody became a child, as did the new babies (Christina for Simon and Michelle, and Kenan for Amar and Kayla). Ajay also rekindled his romance with Rhea Carter (they're 3-bolters) and I have to decide whether to move Ajay into Rhea's household or have them start a new one together. Either way, Ajay is moving out of here, as it's very crowded and there's certainly no room for her to move in here. He's taking $5000 with him, which will be enough to be Working Class at least (depending on where he goes and how much Rhea has), which leaves the family with $9797. They will remain Lower Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
Since Luke Edwards moved back home after Uni unexpectedly, plans for this household had to be adjusted. Luckily, some changes occurred in Alison's fiancé's household as well, which means she can move there, rather than Joshua moving in here. She did have to stay through this week though, and she made good use of her time, finishing her degree and finding a job in Medicine. Abigail reached adulthood and spent her week working on a community college degree in order to pursue a job in Gaming (which she did find). Luke already had his career settled, so he spent time romancing Calista Fuchs. He proposed to her and moved her in mid-week. She is currently pregnant with their first child and Luke is pregnant with the second, as he got abducted near the end of the round. Sadly, Adam did not live to see any of his grandchildren born; he died at the age of 79. Linda is still around to help with the babies once they're born (next round) and, hopefully, Calista will find a job in Culinary (her LTW) as soon as she gives birth, because the job she's currently in is Criminal. They've managed to keep her out of jail so far with good lawyers, and she's currently taking maternity leave (which she's allowed at Lower Middle), but her luck won't hold out forever. At the end of spring, Alison moved out, taking her sister Abigail with her. There's plenty of room at Joshua's place and it's going to get pretty crowded here soon. The family has savings of $63,512 and will remain Lower Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
Levi and Phoebe Carter are on their way up the social ladder. Phoebe nearly made it to the top of Politics this spring. Rhea dated Ajay Harris before aging up to adulthood. We'll see what happens with that relationship once Ajay ages up as well. Ezra became a child, and another baby boy was born, Jonah, who is still an infant at the end of the round. I considered moving Rhea out on her own, but if the family gave her any money at all (and they'd probably want to give her at least $25K so she could stay at Lower Middle), they would not be able to rank up to Upper Middle Class, so I kept her at home. They will, however, be moving to a bigger house, as this one is quite cramped and, if Ajay ends up moving in, it would be even more so. At the end of spring, their savings totals $103,644 and they are being promoted to Upper Middle Class.
The Parkers really struggled this round. Rose got her arcade up and running, but it took most of the money she earned last round to do it. The diner never makes any money unless someone goes in to run it (despite checking in every day, I don't get it), so Alvin goes in every couple of days to "shake things up" in addition to his regular job. Josephine began dating Matthew Smith, and ultimately moved him in, hoping he'd bring some much-needed capital with him. Turns out he was unemployed with $1 to his name (what a bum!), so he was absolutely no help; he didn't even have anything helpful in his inventory! Victoria and Samantha both became teens. Victoria held down a job for a few days but was fired for bad grades. Samantha took a job in Culinary. (Incidentally, Victoria's LTW is for Politics and Sam's is for Dance.) At least Josephine managed to score a couple of promotions. I ended up having to build a small room above the garage for Matthew and Josephine, since the house was too cramped, and the younger girls aren't ready to move out yet. By the end of spring, after all expenses were paid, the Parkers have just $765 remaining, keeping them (just barely) Lower Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
Eric Gordon has finally done it! He brought in a whopping $65,000 bonus! Combined with his regular salary and Amaya's painting income, the family has enough money to give Chad $25,000 to move out and start his own household, while also being promoted to Lower Middle Class themselves. I was planning to keep Chad here when he grew up, but with Zane's new wife being pregnant and incarcerated, I felt it made more sense for him to move back home with the baby once he finishes Uni. Chad, by the way, finished his community college degree and found a job in Gamer, so he should be in good shape on his own. Sophia became a teen and rolled the LTW for Science, so she began working on AP classes right away, completing four so far. The twins also aged up to teen, with Maria gaining the LTW for Law Enforcement, while Miranda got Golden Anniversary. By the end of spring, Eric and Amaya are both in their 60s and will be leveling up to Lower Middle Class with $63,336 in savings.
Happy Simming!
Much to my surprise, the Franklins had a wildly successful round. First off, I forgot that since Dagmar is married to Riley, who is Caleb's brother, the game sees them as family members and they can't actually have a romantic relationship, despite being able to roll wants to that end. So, nothing happened between them, though they still have the wants to fall in love with each other. I suppose if something else breaks up Riley and Dagmar down the line, we'll see if they still want to be together. Caleb proposed to Melissa and subsequently moved her in. She and Isaac continued to carry on with their affair, but Caleb never found out about it. And, in a shocking turn of events, Isaac rolled the want to propose to one of his lady friends, Brandi Hanby. However, he wasn't able to move her in due to the fact that Dagmar was carrying TWINS!! She gave birth to two very identical little boys, who she named Aiden and Avery. Charlotte, unfortunately, died just a few hours before the babies were born, preventing her from achieving her final wish of having another grandchild. As the family was still Working Class, they were unable to keep her insurance money, but it doesn't matter, because with all the promotions/bonuses coming in, there was more than enough money to go around. At the end of spring, I had Riley and Dagmar move out with their three boys (all now children) and the two dogs, giving them $25,000 and promoting them to Lower Middle Class. Caleb and Melissa also moved out with $25,000 and were also promoted to Lower Middle. (Btw, Melissa's LTW is for Athletic, but she's currently working in Law Enforcement. She'll keep looking next round.) I though it only fair that Isaac be allowed to move in his fiancé as well, and she brought in $9000, which was enough to push the bank balance above $25,000 ($28,483 to be exact) and promote them to Lower Middle also. (Brandi's LTW is for Business; she works in Culinary.) Therefore, the family has been split three ways, all achieving Lower Middle Class status and vacating their very cramped Working Class apartment.
Happy Simming!
With Makoto and his son Soren moving in, and Joseph and Destiny's son Marcus being born (as well as another son later, Darius), the Edwards household has certainly become more chaotic. Someone is always coming or going, a baby is always crying, and the bathroom is always tied up. Luckily, everyone was willing to pitch in, while also trying to keep up with skilling for work and, in Destiny's case, working on her degree. By the end of spring, Linda and Makoto are in their 60s, Linda's youngest child Michael is a teen, Makoto's son Soren is a child, and Joseph and Destiny's boys are child and toddler, respectively. Career-wise, everyone was pretty successful, each scoring several promotions. Education-wise, less successful - Destiny is still working on her thesis and Michael's grades are too low to take AP classes in preparation for his degree in Journalism (his LTW). However, despite their struggles, they've managed to save up $39,560, which earns them a promotion to Lower Middle Class. They'll all be moving out together into a home of their own at long last.
Wendy Owens moved her boyfriend in (Count BJ Haggerty). She immediately got pregnant, which was fine for the first couple of days, as she was off from work. However, on the first day she had to go to work, she and BJ had a date right before she left and, unfortunately, when she returned home, she got stuck outside trying to deliver the date flowers. She died of sunlight exposure. Her daughter, Robin, grew up (to child) a couple of hours later, and I decided that she should move in with her Aunt Jennifer, since Wendy was closest to her. BJ stayed on in the apartment through the end of spring, at which point his bank balance is $48,935, which is enough to be promoted to Lower Middle. Since he was seeing Danielle Duncan on the side, and they have three bolts, and she and Brandon are splitting up, I'm going to move him in with her at the end of her week. She's already Lower Middle, so his funds will just add to the total and help them level up again.
Happy Simming!
Dylan Baxter reached the top of the Entertainment career, rolling a new LTW to earn $100,000, which is very doable given his current salary. Alvin, unfortunately, lost his job just a couple of days before he lost his life at the age of 68. Emily was heartbroken, but there were still things to celebrate. Joshua finished all his AP classes, then grew into adulthood, found a job in Architecture, and proposed to his girlfriend Alison. Rose earned several more promotions and continued working on her robotics badge. Both Logan and Sydney grew up (into teen and child, respectively); Logan rolled a LTW for Criminal, which could turn out to be interesting. By the end of spring, the family had amassed enough wealth to be promoted to Upper Middle Class. After some thought, I decided to keep Emily and Josh here (Alison will move in next round) and move Dylan and his family to a new home, giving everyone a little more room to grow. I gave Dylan and Rose $120,000 (they will become Upper Middle) and Emily and Josh are keeping $51,559 (which keeps them at Lower Middle for now, but with Em's paycheck, Josh's promotions, and Alison going into the Medical field, it won't be too hard for them to level up as well).
Happy Simming!
The Tang/Welsh household was much more eventful this round. Korey made it to the top of the Slacker career and decided to plant a small garden in the backyard. Robi and Michelle have nearly reached the tops of their respective careers as well. The twins grew into teens and Robi began helping them fix up cars. Kaleb wants to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and become an Athlete, while Kody wants to go into Journalism. Since Kody will need a degree, he began working on AP classes; much to my surprise, he finished them all! He'll still need to do a thesis when he grows up, but that won't be a big deal. Korey and Michelle welcomed another baby boy, Kevin, and the family adopted another puppy also. (If you've been counting, that's four dogs in total now. 😒) Sadly though, the family lost their matriarch - Andrea passed away at the age of 76. She was very close to everyone in her family and left quite a bit of insurance money. That, along with a $20K bonus Korey snagged, has propelled them to Upper Middle Class, with a bank balance of $101,016 (even after replacing their $2500 savings with $10,000). They have the option to stay in their home or move to a larger one, and I've decided that, even though they are a bit cramped, I'm going to keep them here. It just feels right for this family not to want to "waste" money on a larger house and, besides, Korey just replanted the garden, Robi won't be around much longer, and the twins will also be aging up soon, which will free up space in the house. It will also help them to get promoted again sooner, rather than later, which would be just what Michelle's grandparents would've wanted, given they started out Homeless.
Happy Simming!
So I will be playing one more round I think, unless I change my mind and decide to keep going again lol. You never know. Anyway...
The Carter/Ray family was full of ups and downs this winter. Daisy gave birth to a baby girl, Dawn, who grew into a child by the end of spring, and scored a few promotions in Culinary. Mason started dating a townie girl, Tara Sartor, who he married as soon as they grew up. Tara wants to be a doctor, so she began taking online classes right away. In the meantime, however, she's working in Athletic with her mother-in-law Lily. (Tara also became pregnant at the very end of the round.) Mason took a job in the Military and obtained a couple of promotions. My original plan was to move them out at the end of the round, however, circumstances changed. Craig was arrested twice (getting off both times), which severely depleted the family's resources. He also wasn't getting promoted very quickly, despite having the skills and I can't tell you how many times he rolled death and was saved by the re-roll. Unfortunately, his luck ran out on the last day of spring when he rolled death twice. He had only just been promoted to level 3. In the wake of Craig's death, however, I decided to keep Mason and Tara here, since there's not enough money for them to move out and stay Upper (or even Lower) Middle Class. Daisy and her daughter will stay as well; perhaps she'll find someone new in the summer? We'll see what happens. Lily also rolled a want to kiss someone, so she might finally be thinking about moving on in the romance department. In any event, the family has $25,714 after paying their taxes, so they'll be remaining Upper Middle Class.
Happy Simming!
I've updated the rules with the changes I've made during playtesting. Everything new is highlighted in blue and some rules have been removed. I haven't decided yet whether or not I'll be playing another round before moving on, but if I do there may be additional changes to come.
Humble Beginnings
The premise
of this challenge is to play a family (or neighborhood) from very humble
beginnings to the height of opulence through whatever means possible. It is heavily inspired by challenges such as:
The Nickel and Dimed Challenge, Rags to Riches, Boomtown, The Prosperity
Challenge, The Poverty Challenge, and many others that I’ve played over the
years. I have borrowed various
rules/restrictions from these challenges and molded them into a challenge of my
own design. All credit for any
similarities goes entirely to the original creators.
Now that
we’ve got that out of the way, on to the rules of the challenge. I wanted to make it very customizable, so
I’ve color-coded some rules in either green or red to indicate an easier or
harder version. Feel free to mix and
match to suit your own play style. Or
just go ahead and edit whatever you don’t like to make it your own. Let’s get started.
Setup
This
challenge is designed to be played as a neighborhood
challenge, but you can do it with only a single
household if so desired. Simply
ignore any rules that reference interaction with other playable sims.
Create a single adult sim or a family. If creating a family, roll a d6 for the
number of family members, then randomize age/gender of each family member by
whatever means you like. Avoid having
more than two children of the same age, as only twins are possible within the
game (unless, of course, you have a mod/hack that allows for higher
multiples). If you get a family with no
adult, you may create an adult for the purpose of making the family, then kill
them off immediately upon moving in. If
your family does have an adult, the only rule is that none of their children
can be older than toddler (because an adult at 29 days to elder wouldn’t be old
enough to have an older child). If you have other teens/children in the family, create an
adult to be their parent and then kill that adult off upon moving in.
Primary
aspirations are assigned according to zodiac sign:
Romance = Libra or Leo
Family = Gemini or Cancer
Fortune = Taurus or Scorpio
Knowledge = Capricorn or Virgo
Popularity = Aquarius or Pisces
Pleasure = Sagittarius or Aries
Secondary
aspirations are selected randomly for CAS sims (born in sims can be random as
well, or choose one of the parents primary aspirations as their secondary).
Your sim or
family may start as Homeless, Poverty, or Working Class.
Move them into their designated home and give them $0 if Homeless, $500
if Poverty, or $5000 if Working.
Sims will
age up a day early for every life phase except when aging to elder (let them
age naturally) and to adult (send teens to Uni at 8 days to elder, drop them
out, move them back home {deducting the free $20,000 of course}, and give them
2 drinks of elixir (as soon as possible – they may not have enough points or
may not be in a high enough aspiration), so that their starting adult age is 35
days to elder.
If
playing as a neighborhood challenge, play each family for the same amount of
time, and create new sims/families at regular intervals (at the end of each
week or season perhaps?) New
sims/families may start at any class level that has been unlocked so far. If you want to make it interesting, randomize
which class they get. (Optional: If you like,
you can weight the roll for class status by giving double slots to Homeless,
Poverty, and Working. {i.e. roll a d10,
1-2=Homeless, 3-4=Poverty, 5-6=Working, 7=Lower Middle, 8=Upper Middle,
9=Wealthy, 10=Elite})
General Rules
Since this
challenge is primarily about climbing the ladder of social status through
wealth, there will obviously be many restrictions on how money can be earned
and on skilling, as that’s a big part of earning money.
·
Skills
may not be learned from the bookcase unless the sim has a degree (see below).
·
Jobs
available are restricted by class/degree (see below).
·
Teen/elders
may have jobs (except for Homeless).
·
Only
Lower Middle Class or higher may go to hobby lots or leave life insurance
payments to family members.
·
Only
Upper Middle Class or higher may attend private school.
·
Mr.
Humble’s computer may not be kept or sold.
·
No
one is allowed to perform music for tips, dig for treasure, or sell crafted
cars (they can still be crafted to use, however).
·
No
selling fish, but boots may be sold.
·
Paintings
may only be sold if the sim has level 8 creativity.
·
Crafts
from the crafting benches may be sold (toys, robots, etc.) and novels may be
written if a sim owns a computer.
·
Townies/NPCs
can’t be moved in just for their money.
They must become part of the household and follow the rules of the class
they’ve joined. If they have the
required entry skills needed for the job they have upon moving in, they may
keep it. In
the case of townies who have been assigned one of the Uni-specific jobs, the
skill requirements are as follows: Artist – at least 2 points in cooking,
mechanical, creativity, or charisma, Show Business – at least 3 points in
logic, body, creativity, or charisma, Paranormal – at least 3 points in
cooking, cleaning, creativity, or charisma, and Natural Science – at least 7
points in logic, body, mechanical, or cleaning.
For Nat. Science (as well as any other job that requires a degree)
townies who have the skills to keep the job will also be granted an applicable honorary
degree (because they couldn’t have the job in the first place without the
degree, right?) (This rule also applies to sims who are demoted in class; they
may keep the job they have regardless of their new class status. However, if they get fired, they may only take
jobs allowed by their current class/education.)
·
Pets
may not have jobs. Only Wealthy or
higher may breed pets to sell. Middle
Class sims may own pet stores.
·
If
a genie lamp is obtained, it may be sold or sims may wish for anything except
wealth.
·
Career
rewards are not allowed.
·
Aspiration
rewards are allowed, but the money tree and the counterfeit machine may only be
used by Criminals.
·
You
must make a choice on chance cards.
Sims can
have relationships with anyone they choose.
When moving playables in or out with one another, their funds will
determine which class they belong to.
Handle this however you see fit.
There’s a lot of storytelling potential here – a gold digger looking to
snag a rich spouse, a wealthy heir marrying for love, rather than money…so many
possibilities, have fun with it. If you
have ACR, I would recommend adjusting the settings to make is more likely for
poorer sims to have unplanned pregnancies.
If not, you can do what I do which is always try for baby anytime
someone (Homeless, Poverty, or Working) rolls a baby or woohoo want and for the
higher classes try for baby on a baby want or according to their aspiration on
a woohoo want (roll d6 – Romance only on a roll of 1, Pleasure 1 or 2,
Fortune/Knowledge 1-3, Popularity 1-4, and Family 1-5). If sims divorce/split up, their class will be
determined by the funds in each new household.
Again, you can handle this how you see fit. I like to keep the original sim who owned the
house in the house and move the other sim out.
If there are children involved, I decide who gets custody by a three
point scale – whichever parent has the “best” aspiration for parenting (in my
opinion - #1 Family, #2 Pop, #3 Fortune, #4 Knowledge, #5 Pleasure, #6 Romance)
gets a point, whichever parent has the “best” job (subjective, I know) gets a
point, and whichever parent the child likes best gets a point. Whichever parent has the most points gets
custody.
Classes
There are
seven social classes that exist solely for the purpose of assigning rules and
conditions for advancement.
Friendships/relationships may develop across social classes without
restrictions – the heart wants what the heart wants, after all.
Homeless:
Sims of this class live together on a sparsely furnished lot (either
residential or apartment), perhaps a public park or small shop that has been
converted? There should be minimal
shelter, minimal sleeping arrangements, and minimal bathroom facilities. You should keep track of each individual
family’s money for the purpose of advancing to the next class. The only jobs open to this class are begging
and “escorting” (i.e. freestyling for tips and going on dates for money
{selling date flowers}). Sims of this
class are not allowed to take any aspiration benefit points except for the one
to assign a secondary aspiration. Once a
family has saved $500, they can move up to Poverty Class.
Poverty:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must buy an object worth $50 to
be placed in inventory and passed down from one generation to the next. This is the family’s emergency fund. Should they ever have to tap into this fund
to pay bills/rent/buy food, etc., they will immediately be demoted to Homeless
and will need to move to a Homeless lot.
Sims of this class live in small motel rooms or abandoned warehouses
converted to tiny apartments (should be apartments, because they need to pay
rent). In addition to begging and
escorting, sims may now work as baristas, bartenders, and dj’s, as well as in
the Culinary, Slacker, and Criminal careers.
Barista, bartender, and dj jobs consist of the sim going to a community
lot and working at these activities for a maximum of 3 hours per day per job
type (i.e. only one barista shift, one bartending shift, and one dj shift
allowed per sim per day). In addition, a
sim must have at least one mechanical point to be hired as either a barista or
a bartender and to be a dj they must have at least one creativity point. In order to take a job in Culinary, a sim
must have 2 points in either cooking, creativity, or logic. For Slacker they need 2 points of either
creativity, mechanical, or charisma. For
Criminal, it’s 3 points of either body, creativity, or mechanical. Teens and elders
taking jobs in Culinary, Slacker, or Criminal do not need to meet the skill
point requirement. (There are
additional consequences with working in the Criminal career. See below.)
*Note: Any jobs performed on
community lots must be worked around the sim’s regular job, if any. In other words, you can’t take advantage of
time not passing on the home lot and send a sim out to work three shifts on a
community lot, and then come home where it’s still 7:00 a.m. and go off to
their regular job. If they do a shift
before work, they must leave and go home before their regular job begins. Vacation days are not allowed. If a sim misses a day of work, they must quit
before the vacation income is paid. Sims
of this class are not allowed to take any aspiration benefit points except for
the one to assign a secondary aspiration.
This class also has an additional struggle – the crime syndicate that
has a strangle hold on the neighborhood.
Each family must pay $500/week to the crime syndicate (give a $500
object to the landlord?), unless there is an adult in the household working as
a Criminal (teens and elders may work as Criminals, but they don’t qualify the
family for exemption from this payment).
Non-payment will result in consequences (see below). Once a family has saved $5000, they can move
up to Working Class.
Working:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $50
emergency fund with a $500 fund. Should
they need to tap into it, they’ll be demoted to Poverty Class and must move to
Poverty class housing. Sims of this
class live in small rental homes (could be individual townhouses or row houses,
as long as they are apartments that require rent to be paid). Begging and escorting are no longer allowed,
but all other jobs remain with the same requirements to enter the job. In addition, the following jobs will open up
with the requirement of at least 3 skill points pertaining to the job before
being hired: Law Enforcement (logic, body, or cleaning), Military (body,
mechanical, charisma), Athletic (body, mechanical, charisma), and Entertainment
(body, creativity, charisma). Sims of
this class may also work as employees in sim-owned businesses. Vacation days are still not allowed and the
$500 payment to the crime syndicate is still required (except for
Criminals). Sims may now take Needs and
Jobs benefit points after taking the point to assign their secondary
aspiration, but they must be chosen randomly.
Once the family has saved $25,000, they can move up to Lower Middle
Class.
Lower Middle:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $500
emergency fund with a $2500 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
(no more rent!), but will now be required to pay 10% of their lot value each
week for property taxes (it may be useful to create a “tax collector” sim who
owns a community lot where sims can go to give away an item worth the value of
their tax payment). Criminals may choose
not to pay property taxes, but may face consequences for doing so (see
below). Businesses may now be owned,
either home or community lot. Employees
may be hired from Working Class families or from the townie pool. Business perks must be selected at
random. Families no longer need to pay
the crime syndicate and vacation days are now allowed. Sims may now take all benefit points (still
assign secondary aspiration first), but they must be chosen randomly. Once the family has saved $100,000, they can
move up to Upper Middle Class.
Upper Middle:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $2500
emergency fund with a $10,000 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
(they may stay in the home they already own or move to a larger home, as
desired). Property taxes still apply and
all other conditions of Lower Middle Class remain in effect. Once the family has saved $250,000, they can
move up to Wealthy.
Wealthy:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $10,000
emergency fund with a $25,000 fund (demotion is tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
or live in luxury apartments (their old homes will no longer do and they should
upgrade to a more expensive house or move to an upscale apartment
building). Property taxes (for those in
houses) still apply, etc. Once the
family has saved $1,000,000, they can move up to Elite.
Elite:
Upon moving up to this class, the family must replace their $25,000
emergency fund with a $100,000 fund (demotion if tapped into). Sims of this class will own their own homes
or live in luxury apartments (they may remain where they are or moved as
desired). Property taxes (for those in
houses) still apply, etc.
Higher Education
I find
University tedious to play, so I’ve made a different system for higher
education here. Uni will still be used
as a means for growing teens into adults, but that’s it. If you really love playing sims through Uni,
by all means, feel free to edit these rules to suit yourself.
Community College:
Community college classes are only available online, so a computer must
be owned (even though nothing will actually be done on the computer). A sim will pay $500 per “class” they
take. The “classes” are the special
skills available on the bookcase (fire safety, etc.) Classes will be taken in the following order:
Parenting, Fire Safety, Anger Mgmt., Lifelong Happiness, Physiology, and
Couples Counseling. Once a sim has
learned all six of these skills, they will have earned their degree and the
following jobs will be opened to them with the requirement of at least 5 skill
points pertaining to the job before being hired (even if they are otherwise
restricted by their class): Gamer (creativity,
logic, mechanical), Music (charisma, creativity, mechanical), Adventurer (body,
charisma, mechanical), Dance (body, creativity, charisma), and Architecture
(mechanical, logic, creativity).
Additionally, sims with a degree may now study skills from the bookcase,
teach children/teens to study, and take vacation days (even if otherwise
restricted by their class).
University:
University classes take place online or in person at a residential or
apartment lot that is designated as the University. The lot can be designed any way you wish, but
make sure to put lots of skilling items in the communal area for all students
to have access to. Classes will work the
same as in community college, but the cost for each class is $1000. Once they’ve finished their classes, students
will also need to write a “thesis” (a novel) in order to earn their
degree. A University degree opens up all
the jobs from Community College (with the same skill requirements), as well as
the following with the requirement of at least 7 skill points pertaining to the
job before being hired: Journalism
(charisma, cooking, creativity), Politics (logic, creativity, charisma),
Science (logic, cooking, cleaning), Medicine (logic, mechanical, cleaning), Oceanography
(body, mechanical, cleaning), Business (logic, creativity, charisma), Law
(charisma, cleaning, logic), Education (charisma, cleaning, logic), and
Intelligence (logic, mechanical, cleaning).
Additionally, sims with a degree may now study skills from the bookcase,
teach children/teens to study, and take vacation days (even if otherwise
restricted by their class).
Teens
with an A average may take “AP” classes for free. They must still have a
computer (and a bookcase obviously), and must study the skills in the same
order. Should their grade drop below A,
they will not be able to continue AP classes until it goes back up. Should they age up to adult while in the
middle of studying a skill, they will need to pay for that skill before
continuing to study it.
*Note: Teens
who earn scholarships may keep the money to apply to classes, but must take at
least one class. They may not keep the
free $500 the games gives them upon moving to Uni, as they are only going there
long enough to age up and drop out.
Crime Syndicate
Sims
required to pay the crime syndicate (i.e. Poverty and Working Class sims) will
face severe consequences for non-payment.
The head-of-household (oldest sim in the family) is responsible for the
payment. Should the family be unable to
pay what is owed, they will pay as much as they have and the head-of-household
will not be able to work the next day (if he/she is off the next day – lucky
break, if staying home from work results in vacation pay being paid – deduct it
from their funds, unless they are allowed to take vacation because of a degree). *Note: This is an
exception to the rule in which Poverty or Working class families must quit
their jobs if they miss work. The
second time a family fails to pay what is owed, they will pay as much as they
have and the head-of-household will be unable to work for five days (same
conditions as above). Three strikes and
they’re out, literally. The syndicate
does not tolerate continual offenses.
Pay what they can and then kill off the head-of-household. The next oldest sim in the family becomes the
new head-of-household and the count resets (the syndicate doesn’t hold the
previous family member’s crimes against them, isn’t that nice of them?)
Criminal career:
If an adult sim in the household is working in the Criminal career, the
family is exempt from paying the crime syndicate. (This sim does not need to be the
head-of-household.) However, there are
risks associated with being a Criminal.
Every day the Criminal sim goes to work, roll a d20 – a roll of
1-5=death (the streets are tough), 6-10=arrest, and 11-20=safety. (At levels 6-9 of the Criminal career it will
decrease to 1-3=death, 4-6=arrest, and 7-20=safety, and at level 10 it will be
1=death, 2=arrest, 3-20=safety.) *Optional: Allow
one re-roll per day and take the lesser consequence.
Arrest:
If a sim is arrested, they may hire a lawyer (if they can afford one) to
represent them. A good lawyer costs
$20,000, a lousy one costs $5000, and a public defender is free. Once they have retained counsel, roll a d6 –
with a good lawyer, 1=conviction and 2-6=acquittal, with a lousy lawyer,
1,3,5=conviction and 2,4,6=acquittal, and with a public defender 1-5=conviction
and 6=acquittal. (Author’s note: This is
in no way a criticism of public defenders.
They work very hard for very little pay.
It’s a criticism of the system that gives them too little time and
resources to do their jobs effectively.)
Jail:
If a sim is convicted, they will be sentenced to 3 days x their current
job level, and must be moved out of the home and into the prison lot (you can
make this lot however you want, but sims should not be allowed to interact with
sims outside the jail except by phone, they shouldn’t be able to leave the lot,
etc. – basically just make it prison) for the length of their sentence. While a sim is in jail, their family may
still benefit from the exemption of crime syndicate payments as long as the
jailed sim retains their job (remember, they can’t leave the lot, especially
not to go out and commit more crimes!)
In this instance, it’s okay to use vacation days, as the prison lot will
be getting the money anyway, and it will only serve to (possibly) allow a sim
to keep their job until the end of their sentence, at which point they’ll move
back home (obviously, they can’t bring the free $20,000 they’ll get from moving
out back home with them). If they’re
fired while in jail, their family back home must begin paying again, unless
there is another adult sim in the household working in Criminal. For simplicity’s sake, teens and elders who
are convicted of crimes will pay a $200 fine and be forced to quit their jobs
rather than going to prison. (They earn
very little money anyway and it’s a hassle to move teens around, so we’ll just
say the courts are lenient on them.)
Job
levels: 1 – Pickpocket
2 – Bagman
3 – Bookie
4 – Con
Artist
5 – Getaway
driver
6 – Bank
robber
7 – Cat
burglar
8 – Counterfeiter
9 – Smuggler
10 –
Criminal mastermind
Parole:
(Optional) If you want, you can
allow sims to be paroled after 2/3 of their sentence has been served. The chances of getting paroled go down with
subsequent sentences. Roll a d6 – if
it’s their first time in jail, 1=no parole and 2-6=parole, if it’s their 2nd
time, 1,3,5=no and 2,4,6=yes, 3rd time, 1-5=no and 6=yes. After 3 times, no parole will be granted as
they are obviously a career criminal. If
paroled, the sim may return home immediately; if not, they must serve the rest
of their sentence before returning home.
Tax evasion:
Criminals may choose not to pay their property taxes, however the
consequences for non-payment are as follows:
roll a d6 – if 1,3,5 they’ve been caught and must pay their taxes plus a
50% penalty, as well as a 3 day jail sentence; if 2,4,6 they got away with it
and there are no consequences. For each
subsequent offense add 2 additional days to their jail sentence. (Many of the most famous criminals in history
were imprisoned, not for their other crimes, but for failing to pay their
taxes.)
Kidnapping/Ransom:
A Criminal Mastermind may choose to kidnap any member of a Wealthy or
Elite family that walks by their house.
Greet the sim and then lock them into the house. Roll a d6 – 2,4,6=successful
kidnapping/ransom, and 1,3,5=unsuccessful.
If successful, add $100,000 to the household funds (deduct this amount
from the victim’s family when played).
If unsuccessful, the Criminal Mastermind gets arrested (follow the normal
procedure) and if convicted, add 10 additional days to their sentence for the
charge of kidnapping. Either way,
release the victim.
Miscellaneous
You may need
to create a sim at some point to be a foster parent to children whose parents
are in jail or you could use a family you already have in play.
When a
parent is released from jail, perhaps they should be required to take a
parenting class before getting their kids back?
Or if one of their kids ages out of the system before they get out,
perhaps they will take the parenting class and take on raising their
siblings? Possibilities to consider.
What about a
homeless shelter? Maybe wealthier
families could donate funds to build one?
Or taxes could fund it?
These are
just some ideas that you could put into place.
Feel free to do whatever you’d like with this challenge, including
editing it as much as you like to suit your own play style. Most importantly….have fun!!!
The new family in town (Kramer) consists of elder Olympia and her two granddaughters Julie and Naveah. They unfortunately rolled Homeless. Olympia and Julie (who started as a teen) spent the first couple of days doing a little fishing before the pond froze over. At that point they were joined by Paul Edwards, who had been released from prison after serving his time. (I had considered whether to move him in with one of his kids or with Angela Owens, but his relationship with all of them had deteriorated, and Angela has moved on, so I felt this was the way to go with him.) Paul caught a couple of boots before he died at the age of 71. I decided that rather than pass his meager funds to one of his heirs (who are much more well off than he himself has ever been), I'd let him pay it forward and donate his whopping $30 to the Kramer family. Paul was kind of a shady guy (he was obsessed with competing with his brother, married for money, cheated on his wife, and did three stints in jail) but he was never boring. After his passing, the Kramers continued to struggle on, begging as much as possible, and managing to come up with enough cash to pay the bills at least. However, spring should be much better for this family, as once Naveah aged up to child, she became very interested in painting, earning 8 creativity points in just four days, which allowed her to sell a painting for $109 at the end of winter. No doubt she'll be the savior of her family next round. Julie aged up to adult at the very end of winter, so we'll see what happens with her next round as well. At the end of winter, the family has a total of $131, so they'll remain Homeless.
The University was packed this winter. Scott Gordon and Luke Edwards moved in on Tuesday, and Zane Gordon and Meadow Thayer arrived at the very end of the week on Sunday. Everyone got jobs and began working on their classes (some had quite a few AP classes under their belts already), as well as their thesis papers. By the end of winter, Ethan Carter, Dominique Parker, Amy Edwards, Scott Gordon, and Luke Edwards had all completed their degrees, and all but Dominique had found jobs in their respective LTW careers. Zane finished his final class and began working on his thesis. Ethan will be moving to his own Working-Class apartment. Dominique and Scott fell in love and will be moving to a Working-Class apartment. Amy will move in with her boyfriend Ryan Carter (Working). Luke is moving back home with his family. Zane and Meadow were already a couple when they arrived, and immediately rolled wants to get married. That's where things went a bit sideways for this couple. I decided that since Meadow was a townie teen who was aged up with Zane (and therefore had no money) that I would assign her to Poverty Class because while attending Uni she would need a job to earn money for her classes and, as Homeless, she would not be permitted one. The only Poverty eligible job that showed up on the computer was Criminal, which she was qualified for and accepted. Unfortunately, she got promoted, arrested, and convicted on her very first day of work. To add to their troubles, Meadow is also expecting their first child. Meadow was sentenced to 12 days in prison, of which she will serve 8, before getting paroled. Zane will remain here and keep working on his degree and I will move the baby here to live with him as soon as it's born. Whew! That's a lot lol.
Happy Simming!
