The Working Class by lumasong (TS2)

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Lorinsv
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The Working Class by lumasong (TS2)

Post by Lorinsv »

(Saved from a web archive. Source: http://web.archive.org/web/201504060014 ... c3109.html)

The Working Class

The Problem: Most of my Sim families are rolling in cash, even the ‘poor’ ones. Things can get boring when they can afford anything they want, let alone what they need. I always find myself missing the days of lawn living and low level careers.
The Solution: Eliminate skilling to limit promotions. Limit money-earning methods to careers only.
The Goal: Create an average working class home, balancing low income with raising a family, and seeing to the family’s wants and needs.
The Rules:
• You may begin with a single founder or a married couple, customized to your liking. Regardless of the number of starting Sims, you may start with no more than 20k.
• You do NOT have to roll for aspirations. You can if you want, but I would imagine knowledge/wealth Sims will be very unhappy in this challenge.
• There’s no rule on lot size. The challenge is harder with a larger lot, easier with a smaller lot. In my experience 4x4 was the best balance, but it’s up to you.
• Spouses may not move in with more than $2,000 – fund or donate the rest away. If they move in with less (or nothing), it is what it is.
• No mods making things easier (you want to make things harder, that’s your business). Mods that make things more interesting, less irritating, or just generally a better game are fine (game fixes, ACR, triplets/quads, etc).
• No cheats (excluding building/glitch-fixing cheats)
• No skilling (Autonomous skilling is fine – but should be canceled if the Sim has something else to do. Remember, the goal is to limit income, so abusing autonomous skilling to gain promotions is counter to the goal of this challenge. It’s easy to earn money. It’s a lot harder to stay poor)
o Exception: You may earn badges, learn fire prevention, anger management (etc), teach toddlers the regular skills (no nursery rhyme), etc. No skilling applies only to the promotion-causing skills.
• No skilling objects (telescopes, chess sets, bunny heads, easels, etc)
• No more than 4 garden plots and up to 2 fruit-bearing trees. (The working class are not also farmers – you can garden as a hobby, but not as your primary food source)
• Fishing is acceptable only as a family activity (Same idea as gardening – it’s a hobby, but you’re not feeding your family off of it)
• Changing jobs is fine, but word gets around. The more you change jobs, the harder it is to find a new one. Every time you quit, switch, or get fired from a job, it takes one more day to find a new one. The first day, you can get a job immediately. You may switch at any time from that job to another. But if you want to find a third job after that, you need to wait at least 24 hours after the end of your last shift to find one. If you need a fourth, you have to wait 48 hours. And so on.
• No aspiration rewards (Sorry! You’ve got to do things the hard way)
o Exception: Elixir of Life is acceptable if that’s your style, but it’s certainly not required.
• No selling objects in buy/build/inventory mode or businesses. (This includes bought items, grown fruits/veggies, caught fish/boots, crafted items, outing rewards, networking gifts, spouse inventories, etc)
o Exception: Purely temporary objects may be sold back once depreciated (such as the wedding arch, party decorations, etc) - I would consider this renting rather than buying.
o Exception: You may replace an item with a better quality item (but not lower). You may also replace cribs with beds. The idea is to carefully consider items before you purchase them, not load your inventories with a bunch of junk.
• No painting, writing novels, giving financial advice, DJing, barista-ing, etc. Remember, the only source of income should be careers.
• You may not make wishes with the magic well or the genie lamp (don’t know what kind of family YOU grew up in, but magic wasn’t part of mine). Supernatural Sims are discouraged for similar reasons.
• You may not delete the refrigerator and buy a new one to replenish the food supply. You’ll have to order groceries.
• No more than two working adults at a time. Any number of teens and elders may work, so long as they’re in teen/elder careers. Pets may not work. Elders working adult careers may continue to do so as long as they’re counted as one of the two allowed. Otherwise, they must quit or retire.
• College is fine, IF you can afford it. The cost is10k per child per generation (The child of your founder counts as generation one, and would need 10k to attend university. That child’s child would be generation two and need 20k, and so on). Teens may earn scholarships. A young adult who attends college is free of the above restrictions. If the Sim graduates, he or she is free of the restrictions forever.
• You can do this for one generation, continue it over several, or until you ‘win’ by graduating a Sim from college. Whatever makes you happy.



Additional College Rules
I wrote these up, but I don’t like them much. This seems to rely too much on the RNG god smiling down at you. But hey, if you want them, have fun (also note that I haven’t tested these at all).
Spoiler:
• You may choose aspirations as normal, but you can roll for them if you want.
• The only Sims able to attend college are Knowledge or Wealth Sims with enough money (remember, 10k per generation). Once funds are secure, the teen may skill solely for the promotions necessary to become an Overachiever. The teen may also earn scholarships for grades, dance, being an orphan, and pool.
• The teen must leave for college at the two-day adult warning – not before or after.
• The young adult may skill only for their major’s needs.
• At sophomore year, reroll the Sim’s aspiration.
• If the Sim rolls Popularity, Knowledge, or Wealth, he or she may stay in school. If the Sim rolls Family, Pleasure, or Romance, he or she must drop out.
• A Popularity Sim will no longer study, do homework, or write term papers. They may still earn the necessary skills for their major, but performance may be gained only from attending classes and befriending professors.
• A Wealth Sim must choose their future career and switch to the appropriate major. This Sim can max any skill necessary for their future career, but may not gain any other skills. Regardless of whether or not they graduate, they may still get a job in their chosen career (unless they need a diploma, of course), and may open businesses or work jobs on campus.
• A Knowledge Sim may gain any skill if they have the want to do so. They may no longer skill specifically for their major however – they must have the want.
• Any Sim that manages to graduate is free of all restrictions.
Feel free to comment, criticize, share, write stuff, make up points, whatever you like. I just wanted to share something I've been having fun with.
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