I have all the EP's and Stuff packs. I haven't let them get on the school bus, they have failing grades but the social worker didn't come - so I guess it's okay. One girl just had her teen transition and the boy has 2 more days. Yes, I have the entire mod set.

I couldn't find the lifting Hopelessness after the first restriction was lifted aspect, so my question is does the original apply to both spouse and pets? Because I think adopting a stray for companionship before lifting Hopelessness would be a nice and realistic touch for both Sim and pet.

EDIT: Oops, found it. But does it also apply to pets?

EDIT 2: Another question. Because the social worker doesn't come, does that mean even children aren't supposed to go to school?

I'm not really sure what your first question means, but you are not supposed to move in any sim or pet until you've lifted the first restriction. Its too hard to take care of a pet until you've gotten at least some of the rules lifted. Pets are unhappy because you can't bathe them or give them a litter box, and their food intake is restricted, so you should really lift one of them first.

No one goes to school. I might try to update my mods to make the bus not come at all.

I've played several cats in apocalyptic conditions, and they clean themselves, can be toilet trained, and don't mind eating rotten food nearly as much as I mind giving it to them. They also are pretty happy considering as long as they get attention and have a scratching post. I'm okay with not having a pet before Hopelessness, it was just a thought for realism (thinks I Am Legend)...

Well, I'd be willing to argue that Will Smith had already lifted Hopelessness. He was owning that town, he hadn't given up. In the movie that one was based on though, Charlton Heston didn't have an animal, he had a bust of Plato or someone to talk to. (Movie was The Omega Man, super trippy. Sparkly zombie vampires with afros and disco capes...)

I'm enjoying this challenge, but since I don't have all the game versions am doing the best I can. I have Uni, Nightlife, Pets, Apartments.

First I built a shack on piers with room to grow up and since I knew culinary would be the way to go I made my own Apocalypse Iron Chef (Robert Irvine Pike) Pike is from Star Trek Pilot.

And "Chef Robert" has just made it through "Dinner Impossible" all the way to the top - not without a few hurdles.

I am scanning the thread and there are a lot of tough aspects to the challenge to name a few (and I'm not sure if I am following "all the rules perfectly)

1) I had him marry one of his college sweethearts... have one in the bank whom he loves in case she dies as my first two legacy mommies did in pregnancy... The rub is he's five days from elder - she's like 21. I think I will have her plop out the heir and then age her with a work around on the elixir. I'm sure she won't be in gold too much.

I'm presuming that is okay.

2) I made the Sim FEMA Center before the challenge and put in some showers a soup kitchen a grill and some clothes racks ...chess sets etc. The way I use it is you can go there once per week on your day off. It helps with the job promotions to be clean.

3) I am DLing some of the expansion mods (zombies and items) and will incorporate them.

4) Dumb question. I don't "like the supernatural stuff too much" so I'm not versed in zombies. I'm presuming I'll have to make one or two and put them in areas so they interact and make others. Is the best way just to DL some from somewhere? Do the pop up automatically with this mod or do I have to kill off some and bring in someone with the resurrection thingy and be cheap?

5) Another dumb question. I want to kill off some of the elders and age some of the adults and teens etc. With the teens I figured I'll just send em to college. With the college crop I'm not sure how to do much with them other than going to the dorm I was in letting them age - put them in a shack and let time warp thin the herd.

So - I was thinking though with the adults to use the clothes rack and then fool around with a bool thingy to age them. Would this work? Nothing worse than having Tasha Go and Goopy as family friends through 25 generations.

So - please if any know the most efficient way to age off people - kill them and make a lot of em walking dead I'd be grateful.

I'll post this up over the next few days with a link on the EA site as a story.

Thank you!

Answers:
1) Unless the elixer was one of your 3 things you brought home from college you can't do that. Secondly, you can't control elders so its a very bad idea to age them up like that if you still have babies/toddlers/children in the house who need to be taken care of.

2) See restrictions about what objects are allowed on which lots. You are not allowed any items that break any of the challenge rules unless it is specifically for that lot. Your Sim FEMA Center sounds like its a combo lot of the first tier so you are allowed military, medical, and culinary restricted items. Sorry but your clothes rack will have to go.

3-4) You don't need zombies if you don't want them. Maybe your apox didn't involve gene mutations.

5) You are not allowed to purposely kill off sims. You can't send teens to college until you've lifted Education which is in tier 2. You also can't move anyone out until you've lifted Law. You need to be very careful about breeding during the first few generations.

Since you aren't allowed to create any new CAS sims, why not just get married to Tasha Go or Goopy and get rid of them that way?

I updated my mod set so people (like you) who don't have all EPs can at least use some of them. The object hiders have been removed from them.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yes, the elixir was in college - I knew I'd need that as I had done this challenge a few times and always found myself at like level nine and being an impotent elder.


Clothes going is fine not buying more for show than anything else. - but I hear what your saying.

I wouldn't mind putting some zombies in the game.... we'll see. If you don't mind giving me a link to a quick how to I'd be grateful!

I think I may have to use a no school cheat - since there is no school and I'm having enough woes with content (can't upload to Sims Exchange and don't know why a pity. Robert Irvine story is pretty funny if you like Chopped etc.

Well, hopefully will get two children ---- always good to have a backup plan and will either be Marie Curie Pike or Jonas Salk Pike etc as Med is next.

One thing I would actually like to do is make the career awards be given to the FEMA (SEMA) sites to help the masses - is there a way to send them from a player to a public lot? Sorry - I am by no means a details expert - I just more or less play "frontier simulations - so the little tech was easier.

JJD

Well, I can't upload to TS2 so I figured I'd hit some of the highlights here.

The first is that I have the Apocalypse Challenger - Robert Irvine Pike who will try to unlock the Culinary Challenge as the Next APOC Iron Chef.



And this is him after graduation:

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/...23_9bd5f311.jpg

Here is the FEMA Hazard Site that has food, porta pottys and shower station (for the radioactive materials)

Lastly, the house he moved into upon graduation - cost 19,782



The snaps are a bit too small so I may just start do some screen captures and post up that way.

Why not upload your story here at MTS. We have our own story forum. -> http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=567

Is now a bit of a dotard...
Iron Chef made it to platinum when he hit the old timer age.
His wife is about to bear little heir #2 so we'll see how that goes. I can see what you mean about breeding carefully.

I am the worst builder and I really don't like messing with meshes etc. so my houses may have to be edited on occasion due to my error.

Even with the list I had to make a spread sheet and printed it out so I don't break a rule - some things are so automatic with play.

One problem I have is that the house is so high up I don't see the walkers so I have to be mindful of that or I'll run out of friends for generation 2. I made sure to have a bunch with the Founder.

I'm going to have Mama Sim try to get the medical career - but she has zippo skills and it will be a while before she can work. Don't think she's gonna do it - but we'll see!

Now one question on a rule:

Maybe I misread but it says you can't buy/sell objects < than 1 tile - so should I have bought cribs etc prior to the game play? I barely had enough for the shack I built and I can't see all eight trying to fit in one bed.

If I misread it's late and lack of sleep is due to playing this mod.

Happy holiday to those who celebrate Thursday.

I have seen/heard about weapons mods. Would definitely add a nice flair for this mod.

Are these for show or for "blow" (literally)?

What mods etc are needed for them to work. I see that they are used by some in this challenge and an AK 47 does give one a certain "edge".

JJD

i think the reason you might not be able to upload to the exchange is that EA took a lot of sims2 stuff offline.
patches and the store being the main ones.
so im asuming that they also took the sims2 exchange offline, or at least, closed it down to new content.

if your short for items for baby... grab the alice cardboard nursery set that Javiera made, there is a 1 tile cardboard box for baby to sleep in thats nice and cheap

also BANG! 9 functional guns, with links in more shiny. you might have to scroll down, but maybe not

Rayea, Thank you for the reply.

REading the rules:
Children and teenagers may not Learn to do Homework
Children and teenagers may not build skill with objects that do not also raise fun.

Doesn't sound like apocalypse for kids - but like heaven. So no cleaning? No Chores etc? They get to do nothing for 22 years? Just want to make sure that is correct. The first child - does not like to write - does not like to clean - does not like to exercise - does not like to do much of anything. I'm not seeing a Medical genius here.
Her #'s
5
6
9
5
1
Have me worried. And her younger brother has the same #'s. Hopefully they'll like to work out after awhile and then learn a lot of yoga (hope that is allowed)

also radio's can only be used to work out if memory serves, no dancing till you get a prima ballerina/ballerino type world class dance top of the dance career (you have to cancle them doing it)

also, if you noticed earlier on...if your sim kids and teens are happy...YOUR DOIN IT WRONG! lol.
most people that have been playing this commented that their kids, teens and pets are anoyed most of the time
thru pretymuch all of stage one, they are supposed to be smelly, bored and crying/whinging all day long.
dont think joga is allowed ether.
nor is skip-rope.

so the little dear may have nothing to do..but they are also illiterate, smelly, paranoid and hungry all the time hehe.

Yup, I can attest to all that.

As far as I know with this ruleset, children and teens can do chores to build Cleaning, Mechanical and Cooking skills before lifting Pet Show Biz, just not study them with the bookcase. (They definitely are allowed to in Pinstar's original rules.)

Rayea, Darby, and lorinsv are all right. If your kids are happy, you are doing it wrong. They can't dance or do yoga. Chores are allowed because you aren't directing them to skill build, you are directing them to do work. If a sim won't refuse your command, "Uh uh, I am NOT in the mood..." then it's not restricted that way.

You are allowed to buy large objects, but you can't move them (athletic) or sell them (business) once they are placed. Business restricts the selling of anything, not just large items.

Oh, they're miserable mostly due to the hygeine.

I was more or less writing tongue in cheek - and may have over inferred from the rules and thought that I couldn't have them clean - as I read that as an interaction with an object (dirty one at that) - and I didn't want to give the benefit of the doubt to this family.

Not sure that it is so hard to keep sims happy as it is to advance to the top. When I play I almost always do historical type stuff - wild west blah blah blah - and I always used only tech items available - so the no showers, limited or no radio/tv/computers fit my playstyle for the last few years when I played- and always played the no pension and 50% of base salary mods- nor did I ever use the the extra awards like the smart milk etc.elixirs or the career rewards until they capped - which didn't typically happen... I guess I'm the SIMS version of Permadeath - Iron man - MMO gamer.

Even still I don't see this batch going too far. The combination of outgoing and grumpy in tight confines is going to be hell on earth for that household. However, the two kids find solidarity in their misery for now. Heh- I just re-read and made sure that playing "Red hands" is allowed - newspaper planes help - but only go so far. The BODY will be the killer for military - now that I know they can clean stuff - well that will be helpful to get one up for medical. Neither youngster like to work out with the radio and I presume that would be an interaction with an object to gain a skill point. I looked a few times and yoga is not restricted - meditation is out - but I didn't see yoga banned.

Another odd question - is the kiddie cake oven allowed if culinary is lifted. If it is an oven - yes - but if considered an electrical appliance I'd guess no. I figure that would be good for two to three cooking ranks.

I'm going to look every once in awhile to see if the personality changes a bit and they like to work out with radio. What makes them miserable right now is that they can't keep clean - at all.

On a funny note, the older founder's mind seems to have gone to gelatin. I wonder if not acting on him to do things makes him more of a dotard! Everyone will be complaining - and he does too if he forgets to take a sponge bath - but normally he's lying on the bed while everyone else howls and throws tantrums! I imagine a little bit of drool out of his mouth.

Money is going to be a problem in awhile - might have to have wife become Rosie the RIvetter and leave the youngsters home with the dullard. Luckily he won a big chance card - so they're e okay at the moment. I still have him working - as even with the radiation lobotomy at home, he is still the Apocolypse Iron Chef - and I don't see it written that upon hitting the golden years you get forced to quit. I consider him to be something of an idiot savant at this point.

I hope this isn't coming off as complaints - no one is holding a gun to my head to play and I am enjoying the overall hilarity of seeing the founder becoming...mushy headed.

Sorry for the length...and if my sleep deprived writing allowed my queries to come through clearly - would love a reply.

Oh-- getting a pet to like this family is gonna be a horror show. The only one that wants to interact is a wolf - bad juju.

JJD

Thanks for the feedback. I "over-inferred" and felt that they were interacting with the object being cleaned - and didn't enjoy it by not getting the soap bubbles come up.

So based on the answers am I correct that working out via the radio is not allowed for a kid/teen if their fun meter does not improve?

Kid's have it tough in this challenge! Orange plumbbob's are the new norm. I think the elder dementia is the thing that bothers me the most, sure everyone stinks and the kids are whining constantly, but those foggy elders drive me nuts - which means I'm doing it right:0)

I will be starting over, because I lost. My founder was an elder when his wife got caught by the zombies (she had to move out). Then roach flu swept through (I also had the 'real sickness' hack in) and I lost both my kids who where teens and that left my founder with dementia who wanders around his empty home, crying. He'd quit his job to take care of the kids while his wife was attempting to lift culinary...so I considered that a fail. I'm going to attempt this challenge once more. I think I'm going to do an adult start instead of the Mid-Uni, like last time.

Yeah, the boombox doesn't raise fun when they're working out, so unfortunately they can't get Body skill that way. But in Phae's version, couldn't the family all go together to the Military community lot and use the obstacle course?

Only the Sim in the actual military field can use the obstacle career reward...at least that is how I read the rules.

jjdcoach, i usualy play roman/greek style or medievil myself, so i have had a lot of modified CC for that befor now.
the problem with this chalenge is that even the *modified* stuffs not allowed (like, i have a shower thats a bucket on a tower, with a pipe to wash with lol..but thats technicaly a shower, and even though it shows up becasue its CC, its not allowed by the rules, even if sims wouldnt scream and cry becasue the water would be cold and probably green XD)

the best starts seem to be a lucky break in college where you get the full term and finish then go home.
my first girl patty, befor my sims went BFBVFS (and got fixed hehe, thanks to the Groups.cache delete trick) was like that. she had the lifetime want to be a general XD so i set her to military history style learning and off she went. she ended up with a body of at least 8 befor she graduated, becasue whenever she wasnt doing her lessons or training skills to fill her grades, she started using the dorm stereo and it just kept building. hehe. she seemed to get fun from it. i think her fave hobby was also sport, so i guess that helped too.
and her one love (a guy at college) his was cooking and he wanted to be a chef. it was just as he propsed to her, the day after that (sim time) that i saved, went to bed and found i couldnt start me game, i was blue faced with rage, it was funny now i look back on it

Thanks for the feedback. Honestly, playing more "no tech and no alien tech" makes this not so horrible. I also put a lot of self restrictions about books and stuff as I liked to play riff raff who were often miserable with a lot of children's death (I made them run with scissors 1x/day to up the chance of dying pre-teen) and I would put the Cold box (buried fridge underground by a river area) a bit from the main house. More than a few pregnant women died on the way to that last meal as I had the no left-over thing going there too - I guess it was a way to vent

So, I am reading and you just need to get a pet into the home and into the field - which I did - and not cap it - which I can't since the dog got fired on a chance card. Now to probably dump off ROver and that is the dog I got on a friend.

Two of the kids are now adults and BOTH with romance aspiration- not helpful. The girl Marie Curie is about rank 3 medical three days into adulthood and I plan on having her be the makeout queen of the neighborhood - but that's all for the poor men of Apocalypse land. The male just hit adulthood and had a visit from the shrink. My plan for him is to go military and get married quickly.

As far as using the stuff on the site - I figured you couldn't use it until the level was opened and capped - but even then skills are not able to be added in the public grounds -or so I think.

Interesting that I forgot I had the 1/2 pay mod in place and was doing the kickback - but still am okay and with three working will probably just keep the mod in place - as I use it for my other runs. I was wondering why things got a little tight at times.

One thing I am allowing is sims to change their look - but they can't get the yippee sound when they change. I'm putting sunglasses on them and hats and heavier clothing to show for the eternal nasty ultraviolet winter. I also am making the females and males lose hair as they age - the wife of Robert I have her in the brown veils - there was a fire - and I like the storyline of the burns making her more susceptible to the radiation. Her hair is also very thin now from very full - and the kids look scruffy with nasty beards and the one with zits - looks like a good nuke burn.

I also made chef RObert (who died at 78) go a little insane and he wore the big chef hat in the last stages of his life and started to have a shaving problem...it caused me to laugh as he dithered.

I think I need to find a "hillbilly" type of beard for some of the males - and living in West Virginia I"m an expert at the hillbilly look - would make for some interesting features.

So here's the family status:

Robert Irvine "Pike" = capped Culinary died at 78 and due to capping was platinum. Way to go Chef Robert!

Ivy Pike - GF from college is about 60 and doddering - rank five or six in med (started at 48) and is just for the $$ and advanced baby-sitting. I'm going to try to keep her in the attic area as much as possible with any newborns and toddlers. Her job is childcare as soon as kid #2 is born and mommy can become Rosie the Rivter. Hopefully she lives till the younguns hit adolescence.

Marie Curie "Pike" is level three medical age 25 or so - Romance aspiration. Hope she can cap the Medical and then have a late birth around 45 or so. We'll see.

Robert E. Lee "Pike" is just hit adult and is going to join the military. He met a lot of the gals walking the streets - his kind of gal - and so will marry fast and be miserable as a Romance Aspiration - boo hoo for him. Good news is he is outgoing so he will like working out.
A question - do the aspiration awards have to go in the 8X8 - the obstacle course would be good to use - but putting on the 2 floors would pretty much take the whole level. I was thinking of building an underground chamber for it - and I know you can go down - but again that would be going beyond the allowable living space.
Any feedback is welcomed.

Rover unlocked security but was fired. He'll be gifted ASAP as his utility function is done and he just is a wasted spot on the roster which hopefully will go up by two within five turns.

If I do this again - and I have another shack made with a different theme - I'd not make a knowledge aspirant but a popularity one to get as many friends as possible and have as many others do my work for me and get out with a C and have as many skills capped as possible. Of course with the potential of going back to college in the mix - but I've not looked at it fully to see its potential - that would change due to the limit. A variant I'd like to try is to have (and it's a different challenge) is to have others allowed to leave earlier than this ruleset -but they start at ground zero in rules until they lift their own - then all come back to them. I get pretty bored playing the same people and not having the NPCs stay the same is just annoying. I wish I could figure a way to age them all as the main cohort ages have the kids to teens - teens to college etc.