Pleasantview 9/7/20

Our final stop at LFT is Desert Dorm (see PV 7/3/20) where the Tinker twins are the only residents.
Both twins are first term juniors this round, with Octavius holding a higher GPA of 3.5, though Cord did bring his grade up to 3.1 by earning an A this round.  Both boys also had dates this round, Octavius with an age appropriate dormie, Rebecca Walton, and Cord with Melissa Fancey, a middle-aged homeless vampire mother of five.  I guess he's just following in his parents' footsteps as both their current partners are significantly younger than them.  And hey, if it works out (doubtful given Melissa's history) they'll eventually be the same age.  Problem solved.

Over at ALT our first household is the Chancellor's Hacienda (see PV 7/4/20) where Sarah Goth is the only resident.  Sarah graduated this round with a 4.0 GPA.  When she wasn't working on her studies, she was painting masterpieces to sell, though she also painted a self-portrait for the dining room to commemorate being the first Goth to attend Uni.  Next round she will spend her final semester earning as much money as possible from her paintings in order to put some final touches on the house.  (The house is not nearly finished, but final touches for her time here anyway.  I'm hoping all this stuff stays put when she moves out.  Bringing in placeholders all the time would be a nuisance.)

Next we'll check in with the Tri-Annyas (see PV 7/4/20), Sydney Greaves and Alyssa Larson.
Sydney was pretty miserable this round, as she's suffering from the mysterious disease, but she managed to pull off an A+ anyway, maintaining her 4.0 GPA.  She had a couple of outings with friends, but they didn't do much to lift her spirits.  Hopefully she'll recover by next round when she'll be due to graduate.
Alyssa had a tough round as well, given she's a vampire and had to suffer through an 11 a.m. class.  She pulled through though and also managed to keep her 4.0 by scoring an A+.  Her outings were a little more successful since her needs don't drop at night.  Alyssa will also be graduating next round provided she can survive another daytime class.

Finally we have Nagard-Fruhm-Cham (see PV 7/5/20) where there are two members: Andrew Dreamer and Jess Creelman.
Andrew did very well this semester, completing his sophomore year with a 4.0 GPA.  He had a couple of unimpressive outings and a snoozer toga party, even though he'd invited both the girls he's dating and I expected there to be fireworks.
Jess did pretty much the same, though his grades weren't as good and he dropped to a 3.6 GPA.  Jess finished his freshman year and will be heading into sophomore year next round.

Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/6/20

At Canyon Commons (see PV 7/3/20) we have four residents now: Claire Dreamer, Brian Ryan, Sydney Jacquet, and Ray Picaso.
Claire gained a baby brother on her father's side since last round, though she's yet to meet him.  Academically she's doing great, finishing her freshman year with an A+.  Romantically she and Brian are back on again after their date this round, however Claire also had a date with Jordan Hanby recently, so she's a bit confused about what she wants right now.  At the end of the round, Claire moved to Tri-Fruhm which is where she'll be played next round.
Brian isn't doing quite as well in school as Claire (he earned a B this term), but he's holding his own.  He's pretty happy about their reconciliation and even rolled a want to get engaged.  We'll see how that plays out.  Brian also moved out to Oresha-Hoh-Var at the end of the round.  He's probably sad not to be living under the same roof with Claire anymore, but they both want to get everything they can out of University life, so for now they'll be separated.
Sydney is just beginning her studies at LFT as a first term freshman, majoring in Drama and looking to pursue a career in Dance.  She was highly focused on school this round and it payed off with an A+.  She did take a little time out to have a date with Jason Fancey, who she's been friendly with for a while.  The date ended with both being in crush status, so it's not too serious yet.
Ray is also a first term freshman.  He's majoring in Math and planning to become a Gamer.  He earned a respectable B for his first term, but was less lucky in the romance department.  He has virtually no prospects and the woman he called to ask on a date said no.  I'm hoping he'll click with one of the dormies here, but he won't have much time since he decided he too would like to be a part of Greek life on campus and was accepted to OHV.  He'll spend one more term here and then move to the frat house at the end of next round.

Lastly we have Oasis Dorm (see PV 7/3/20) where Claire Carr is still the only resident.
This round Claire had a date with the dormie she took a liking to last round, Mackenzie Mace.  The date ended up only being "ok" because Mackenzie ran off to class as soon as it started and Claire only got in a few interactions with her upon her return before the date ended.  Nevertheless, by the end of the round they were in crush and best friends, so it seems promising.  Claire finished her freshman year and headed into sophomore year with the incredible GPA of 2.9.  What does she care - she's rich?!

Tomorrow we'll finish up LFT and head to ALT.  Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/5/20

Today we're moving on to LFT and 134 Aridestra Dr. (see PV 7/1/20) to catch up with Marion Mendoza.  Marion graduated this round with a 3.3 GPA and a degree in Art.  During this round she also got to have a date with her fiance Frances which put her in a nice platinum mood for her final class.  The rest of the term was spent being annoyed by the cow mascot, who initially poked and slapped her, but then set up shop at the piano for days.  When I couldn't stand listening to the music anymore I had Marion influence her to repair several times in a row until she got shocked so many times that she decided to leave (because asking her to leave didn't work, but also just for fun).  Marion will spend one more semester here working to earn some money to go along with over $10,000 in student loan debt that she'll be bringing with her into her marriage.

Next up is the Oresha-Hoh-Var Frat house (see PV 7/2/20), where we have two members: Austin Jacquet and Tyler Tellerman.
Austin finished his junior year this round, achieving an A+ thanks to a last minute research session with Tyler.  His GPA is up to 3.9.  On the personal front, he had a date with Tyler's mom Lakshmi.  I wonder if he'll still think she's hot when she becomes an elder?  He's a sim - of course he will.
Tyler also finished junior year, also with an A+, but his GPA is only 3.6.  Tyler had a date with his girlfriend (placeholder for the Tri-Fruhm Sorority*) Katy LeTourneau.  They've been going strong for a while now and it looks like they might have a promising future.

*I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but in order to keep Greek houses from losing their Greek status when all the members graduate, what I do is I have the last remaining member pledge in a dormie before they leave.  That sim will remain unplayed in the Greek house until another playable sim moves in, at which point they themselves will be upgraded to a playable sim and proceed through Uni life to eventually graduate and move into the 'hood.

Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/4/20

Today we'll visit Landgraab House (see PV 6/30/20 #2) where we have two residents: Isabelle Greaves and David Ottomas.
Isabelle is a first term senior this round.  She's doing fine academically, if not great.  She's got a 3.3 GPA, which is not terrible for someone who never does assignments or turns in term papers.  She spends most of her time socializing.  This round she had a dream date with David, but I couldn't help but notice that whenever David's otherwise occupied she's in a corner somewhere chatting or joking with her ex-fiance Patrick.  They're not romantic, but they've become very close friends again since their breakup.  Not only that, but when determining (under my new rules) whether Isabelle would want to move in with David (to their own place, as opposed to living in the dorm together), she came up with a definitive "no", which is very unusual for a Family sim.  Maybe she's seeing David's true colors and thinking she should've appreciated Patrick more?
David is a second term sophomore this round.  He cares even less about his grades than Isabelle, earning a C+ this term which brought his GPA to 2.9.  Stellar, right?  David literally has a one-track mind; he's all about racking up the woohoos.  If only he was more successful at it.  He had an easy mark at the sculpture park, but refused to seal the deal because he was too hungry or too tired or whatever.  The only woohoo he managed to achieve was with Isabelle on their date, bringing his tally to five.  I'd hoped he'd complete his LTW (Woohoo 20) by the time he finished college, but he's just hopeless.

Up next is Pinenut Plaza (see PV 6/30/20 #2) where there are two residents: Blaze Broke and Jordan Hanby.
Blaze finished his sophomore year this round and racked up some more student loan debt to pay for his next term.  He had an outing with a high school friend and then a group outing with his cousin Moon, dormmate Jordan, Jordan's father Aiden, and Jordan's friend Austin Jacquet.  Blaze still doesn't have many friends of his own.  In fact, he and Jordan only officially became friends this round.  Next round he'll begin his junior year.
Jordan finished his freshman year this round and squeezed in a little fun with an group outing before he prepared to move to Urele-Oresha-Cham at the end of the term.  He'll be joining Ross Grundstrom, since Jasper Roseland finished his post-grad semester and left campus.  I think Blaze is a little sad to see him go, given they'd finally become friends, but Jordan is excited about being a true brother by living in the frat house.

Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/3/20 Round 2

Round 2 begins with Urele-Oresha-Cham (see PV 6/30/20).  Current residents are Jasper Roseland and Ross Grundstrom. 
Jasper graduated last round and spent this round working at the campus coffee shop, as well as at the lounge, to earn the money to rent and furnish an apartment.  He did fairly well, leaving campus with over $5800 in his pocket.  I do have to have a mini rant here though.  Why is it that sims generally find a wall light more fascinating than an NPC barista/bartender, but when a playable sim takes on the role, they suddenly become the most sought-after conversational partner in the room?  It would be nice to be able to fast forward through a shift, but that is impossible because every 2.1 seconds someone is engaging Jasper in conversation, forcing me to constantly instruct him back to bartending.  So annoying!  Ok, rant over.  I haven't decided yet where Jasper will move, but it will likely be somewhere downtown.
Ross finished his sophomore year and even managed to snag a first date with dormie Laci King.  It went very well; Ross got his first kiss at the end.  For someone who was socially awkward all through high school, this is quite a milestone for Ross.  He didn't even manage to befriend Jasper in the time they've been frat brothers.  He'll be here for a while longer, however, so there's always the chance some new brothers will move in and he'll make some friends.  At the moment, his entire group of friends consists of family members, Andrew Dreamer, and Laci King.  Poor guy.

Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/2/20 Latte Legacy

The Latte Legacy is newer than the Alphas.  Their legacy goal is very loosely based on a legacy idea I once saw on the forum about the family working as baristas until they save enough to buy a coffee shop.  I, of course, added some things because I can never leave a challenge alone and play it as is.  I converted the real estate office in Bluewater into the Bluewater Cafe because what is even the point of a real estate office?  This is where the heirs work as often and as long as they can to earn money to not only someday buy the shop, but also to build/decorate their home.  I started the founder off with a Ranch Retreat because I didn't feel like doing the lawn living thing, but everything since has been acquired through his own earnings.  I also threw in a legacy tree just for the heck of it.  I don't really understand what the challenge is there though.  I mean, the tree can't die and how hard is it to place it near the corner of the lot where you'll never need to move it?  Anyway, some other rules I instituted are: spouses must be NPCs, aspirations and benefit points are assigned at random, each generation will have three kids (adoption will be allowed if necessary), no one will go to Uni (though they will go long enough to grow up and drop out), and spares will get a high school diploma and whatever random items other household members have in their inventories to sell as their starting cash.

Heirs are chosen through a contest that works as follows:
When the oldest child reaches 9 days to adult (the day before they'd go to Uni to grow up) each child makes the best dish they can and sets it on a table.  Then we wait for the current heir to choose one.  Once he/she has chosen a dish, we proceed to scoring.
Each participant gets:
+1 point for each cooking point they have
+1 point for each point of cuisine enthusiasm they have
+1 point for each point of food interest they have
+1 point for having Family aspiration
+1 point if cuisine is their predetermined hobby
+5 points if the heir chooses their dish first
-5 points for a burned dish
-5 points for setting the stove on fire

The first two categories definitely favor the oldest child, however if the youngest child is still a child at the time of the contest, the final category will favor him/her since the child's stove doesn't catch fire.  Everything else is either random or selected by the game, so anyone could earn those points.

The family history so far is this:
Caffe Latte is the founder; he married former bartender Crystal Jones.  Their three children are Joy, Calvin, and Noah.  At the Gen 2 Heir Competition Joy made comfort soup, Calvin made mac and cheese, and Noah made a muffin.  Joy scored: 2+2+8+1+0+5+0+0=18 pts.  Calvin scored: 1+0+6+0+0+0+0+0=7 pts.  Noah scored: 0+0+3+0+0+0-5+0=-2 pts.  Joy was the winner by a landslide and became the heir.  Joy partnered with a former barista, Peter Macarevich (I'm waiting until after the children are born to get them married to preserve the family name), and they are expecting their first child.  Calvin left home and moved to the Village Condos downtown.  Noah is still a teen, but will likely move in with his brother when he moves out.

The family has managed to add on a garage as well as remodel the ground floor and build a second floor.  They still have very basic furnishings and not much in the way of decent wallpaper/paint, but they are gradually working on upgrading things room by room, while also keeping in mind the goal of buying the cafe.  They have nearly half the money they need.

That's it for the Lattes.  Tomorrow we'll be starting a new round with the students of SSU.  Happy Simming!

Pleasantview 9/1/20 Alpha Legacy

The Alpha Legacy is, as you may have guessed, an Alphabet Legacy, meaning that each generation is named with a different letter of the alphabet.  I never keep score on legacies and play pretty loose with the rules.  Generally I'm just looking for some sort of theme or goal to complete and I pick and choose what I want to do.  For me it's not about generational play, since that's the way I always play.  For the Alphas, I have them doing a family breed, which means they raise pets (dogs in this case) that are generational as well.  I also have them running a home business as their sole source of income (no jobs or focus on LTW at all); the business is made more difficult by only offering products/services crafted by the family.  Currently they have for sale paintings, pottery, flowers, toys, robots, and sewing, with the intention of expanding into makeovers, baking, fresh produce, and fish.  Each heir and spouse gets assigned to making one of these items.  The family Servo (Betty) picks up the slack when sims die and takes over their crafting duties until another family can take it on.  What else?  The oldest child is usually the heir, barring unforeseen consequences, and they must marry someone with the same letter in their first name.  I have allowed the family name to change with marriage because the spares move to Pleasantview and I don't want a million Alphas there.

Here's a little recap of the family history so far.  The founder was Andrew Alpha.  He began on an empty lot with his dog Annie.  He married Aiyana (don't remember last name) Alpha.  They had three daughters: Bianca, Bethany, and Belinda.  Bianca became heir, while her sisters moved to Pleasantview (you've met them).  Bianca married Benjamin Long, becoming Bianca Long.  They had twins: Charity and Cole.  Charity became the heir and Cole moved to Pleasantview (you've met him too).  Charity married Curtis Garth, becoming Charity Garth.  They have three children: Danica, Dallas, and Dante.  The "D" kids are still all under the age of teen.  Andrew, Aiyana, Bianca, and Ben are all deceased, leaving just Charity, Curtis and their kids on the lot (plus Betty the Servo).  The family breed has struggled because the heirs often don't get along with the mates chosen for them, forcing me to find new ones.  Annie did not like her first mate Animal, so I sold him and got Alfie who she liked.  Annie and Alfie had two puppies: Bruno and Buck.  I chose Buck as the heir and gave him Brandy for a mate, who he hated.  I sold Brandy and gave him Bitsy, who he liked but I couldn't stand.  Buck and Bitsy produced Chance and China.  Chance is the current heir and I've given him Coral as a mate, but so far he's barely noticed her existence and he became an elder this round, so that's not a good sign.  The family breed may die out and honestly I'd be cool with it if it did because these dogs have been the ugliest, most annoying pets I've ever seen in this game.

This round it was Saturday so the family spent time getting the shop restocked as they do every weekend.  Bianca died only recently and she was in charge of flowers, so Betty will temporarily take that on until Danica becomes a teen (next round) and can take it on.  Charity does pottery and Curtis makes robots.  Betty is in charge of painting, sewing, and toys (which was Ben's craft).  Toys will likely be assigned to Danica's spouse.  Next round they will continue to craft/stock; the shop will reopen the following round on Monday.

That's it for the Alpha Legacy.  Tomorrow we'll meet the Latte family.  Happy Simming!