Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Forum rules
If you wish to have your legacy moved back to the active forums, please report the thread and specify which forum it should be returned.
Post Reply
User avatar
MichelleCYoung
Posts: 1624
Joined: August 15th, 2014, 6:12 am
9

Post Counts

Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by MichelleCYoung »

So, my game basically blew up, and I am now reinstalling. I have copied over everything, first, so there is hope that I may revive this, someday. However, for now, it's starting over completely from scratch. So, this is on an indefinite hiatus.

Waaah! I was already half-way through the next chapter!


****************************************


Welcome to Sweetwater, a lovely town, with one of the best universities in SimNation. Unfortunately, an apocalypse is about to descend. Specifically, and alphabetocalypse!
Rules found here for Sims 2 Super Collection Apocalypse Challenge:

Kaleiope's Bon Voyage Apocalypse Rules

And my additional rules for the Alphabetocalypse:

Michelle's Alphabetocalypse Rules

And now, with no further ado, I give you Jane Cutler and the Sweetwater Alphebetocalypse!

Generation 1 Chapter 1

I've never done banners or anything of the sort before, so I'm afraid I don't have a pretty picture for you to click on. If any of you have any suggestions in that regard, please let me know in the comments. Enjoy!
Last edited by MichelleCYoung on September 13th, 2014, 8:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Badass Alphabetocalypse (Complete!)
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!
User avatar
Keika
Posts: 504
Joined: July 25th, 2014, 10:27 am
9
Location: Not Found
United States of America
Contact:

Post Counts

Re: Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by Keika »

Spoiler:
Hey, thanks for the shoutouts! :D It tickled me pink to see Jane wearing a BBVM shirt!

I'm really intrigued by your plot! And amused by the term "blood-cicles", and in awe of Jane's sheer success at college. All skills, a large amount of talent badges, AND about twenty treasure chests? O.O

This is such a unique start to an apocalypse! I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Eurgh, sorry this comment was on the shorter side. I am not at all feeling well today, and my brain's kind of fuzzy. -_-" Also, I do have one tip for your table of contents here--if you write the tags like so, you'll be able to hide the long addresses for your links, and hyperlink a word or phrase instead.

<url=address>Click here!</url>

Except with square brackets [] instead of <>. ^^
User avatar
MichelleCYoung
Posts: 1624
Joined: August 15th, 2014, 6:12 am
9

Post Counts

Re: Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by MichelleCYoung »

Oh, thanks for the tip! I'm just so chuffed that I managed to post a presentation at all. I'm so new to html.

Yeah, Jane was REALLY busy downtown. Coffee, public showers and baths, and lots of hotdogs can keep a sim going without time changing at the home lot. My favorite is the public park downtown - Sim Center North and South, I believe it's called? Anyway, one of them has showers! And they both have grills and coffee. Also, vacations are great ways for your sim to train skills without spending time on the home lot.

I do have the skilling on community lots mod, because I think it's ridiculous not to. If you do something that would earn you a skill point at home, why wouldn't you earn it at a community lot? It's just realistic. However, I am not "playing for points," so I don't consider that cheating. Just an alternate play style.

I can spend an awfully long time at college, because my college sims spend so little time at their homes. LOL.

Mind you, once the apocalypse hits, I won't be able to use that strategy until Military is lifted, at the least.

Thanks so much for your comment! You made my day!
Badass Alphabetocalypse (Complete!)
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!
User avatar
MichelleCYoung
Posts: 1624
Joined: August 15th, 2014, 6:12 am
9

Post Counts

Re: Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by MichelleCYoung »

Keika, I hope you feel better, soon.

Here's something to give you a smile: Click here!
Badass Alphabetocalypse (Complete!)
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!
User avatar
Faye Silver
House of Motherlode
House of Motherlode
Posts: 144
Joined: August 31st, 2014, 9:58 am
9
Location: Terra Nova
United States of America
Contact:

Post Counts

Re: Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by Faye Silver »

Spoiler:
Has there ever been a founder with better luck than yours had in college? That's a ridiculous amount to get done. Granted it'll go a long way to helping her with the apocalypse but still that's really impressive. I'm in awe over those twenty treasure chests though :applause:. I do have a question about your game and content though. You've got CC and do you have mods as well? I'm running the same version as you are (mac Sims 2 Super collection) and I've yet to figure it out. Any suggestions?
ImageImageImage Image
ImageImage
[hr]
Image
User avatar
MichelleCYoung
Posts: 1624
Joined: August 15th, 2014, 6:12 am
9

Post Counts

Re: Sweetwater Alphabetocalypse

Post by MichelleCYoung »

Faye Silver - Suggestions? Sure!
Spoiler:
Go downtown and dig for treasure at the park, the one with the showers. Then drink lots of coffee, pee, eat some hot dogs and start over. You can stay there for daaaays! It's boring as all get-out, but it works. Also, scored outings and dates will boost your mood, as well as give you rewards. Use the energizer at home, save, and go back out again. I generally set myself a goal, such as "I will stay at the park until I have found five treasure chests." Then, with my trusty cell phone, I call over my lover and/or my friends, and alternate between digging and dating and digging and outings and digging and coffee (when the timing is wrong to get my pals to come over). It takes a long time, but the fact is, thanks to Nightlife, you CAN stay out for as long as you need to. Eventually, you'll have to go home, just to save, but you can then just turn around and go right back out, if you want to. It's boring, but it's effective.

Moreover, all those dates and outings give you rewards, and not just financial ones. Each date or outing has a chance of rewarding you with an instant skill point! Outings are more likely to give a skill point, because there are more people in the group, and thus more total skill points, and the odds are figured based on how many total skill points your companions have. So, group outings, for the win! Find out which sims are high in their careers (but wait until you have at least 10 LTR before you ask!). Make them part of your group, to boost the total skill point score, and you're more likely to get that skill reward! Group outings including your lover go even faster, because of all the romantic interactions, but DO make sure your group all like each other. Fights are a massive score-killer, and that kills your mood, as well. I tend to have 2 or three groups that I juggle, because of relationships and skill points.

Clearly, I have to make sure those groupies get along, so get to know their personalities, if you can. Also, utilize the group activities, such as hot tubs, and eating out. Toasting at the table is great for boosting relationships, and go to a restaurant where you can all be seated around the same table.

However, I have found that for me, the fastest way of building up friendships within a large group is simply water balloons. They all build up relationships with each other at a really fast rate! That makes for a good initial outing, and makes all following outings so much easier to manage.

This requires no mods. Nightlife has some fantastic features! I just don't show the repetitiveness of it all in my story. I had shown it all, but my sister was too bored to read the rest of the chapter. Seriously. She loves me, but won't read my stuff, when I show how I actually do it all.

At college, make use of the influence points, so you can get an assignment started, and then have a dormie finish it. Have a friend write your term paper. Make friends with the professors. That saves a lot of time, as well. Also, do what you can to get your dormies skilling (so they can reward you with skill points on an outing!), and influence them to clean and fix things. And if you should come across some sims you really DO NOT LIKE, use the aspiration reward - skill vacuum. That will save LOTS of time on skilling, and you don't need these guys as friends, anyway. Steal skills from the cow mascots! They totally deserve it! Heck, steal from the professors, as long as they're not in YOUR major! It will cause a major relationship drop, but if you don't want them, anyway, it's no problem, right? Anyway, you don't have to spend all your college time studying, if you use the tools available to you to get your friends (and enemies!) to do your work for you.

The twenty treasure chests - it took a long, long, loooonnnnggggg time. I would set myself a goal of digging until I got 5 treasure chests, and then go home and actually "sim" a little, before heading back downtown for more digging and coffee and digging and dating and digging and outings and digging and coffee. I'll tell you what - that is one of the boringest things I've ever done. It takes a lot of time.

I find it most effective to have just one lover, so I avoid jealousy, and a cell phone, so I can call him at any hour. A college lover is great, because they have no work schedule to interfere. Same for college friends for group outings. Or some other unemployed NPC, such as a police officer, or firefighter. Always ask about a potential lover's career early on. They'll tell you what their job is, and you can check a strategy guide online for their hours, so you can plan around it. College students always say they are unemployed. Once you build up a little bit of relationship with them, use the "Entertain - School Cheer" option, and if they cheer along, they are college students. If they just clap along, they are full adults. Unemployed full adults are most likely NPCs like maids, firefighters, police officer, and the like, with lovely flexible schedules. Take notes! I have a steno-pad full of notes about all the different sims I have met and befriended, so I know who to call when.

Freetime had the added advantage of semi-private community lots. I miss that. I miss being able to juggle multiple lovers, by taking them to a lot at which my other lovers did not have access, due to hobbies. Yeah, that was convenient for my Romance sim, who wanted oodles of lovers and dates. I don't dare do multiple lovers in public places, now. So, having the private woohoos really eats into my at home time. A Romance founder would be reeeeaaalllly challenging.

Even without the skilling at community lots mod, I was able to get my skills maxed in college, thanks to outing and date rewards. I only added that later, when I wanted to start training up future spouses. As I said in a previous post, I think it's simply more realistic to be able to earn skills for something you do on a community lot, if the same activity would earn skills at home. However, if you consider it a cheat, you really don't need it. Those outings will give you the skills, even on a community lot, without the mod!


Outings are more likely to give you a skill point than a date, because the more people in a group, the higher the total skill points, and that boosts your odds. But dates are quicker than outings, due to the romance. So, a combination of outings and dates are the best way to go, in my experience. It's especially useful if you can have your lover be a member of your group outing, and the groupies all like each other. So, with a core group (such as dormies with one of them being the lover with high-bolts), take the group downtown for outings/date/outings/date/outings/date, and keep up the cycle, and you can literally stay there for as long as you want. Or longer. And they give you skill points.

Did I mention that all this was the Boringest Boring that ever Boringed, which is why I didn't show it all in the story? BOOOORRRRIIIINNNNNGGGG! But effective.

I got the idea for the outings and dates to get started from another challenge I read. I wish I could remember which one it was! Anyway, the founder started on a blank lot, with a few hundred simoleons, so she headed downtown, bought a cell phone, and went on date after date after date after date, to keep her mood up and earn aspiration points. Put an energizer on her lot, and sold her date rewards to buy furniture and skilling objects, then back out for date, date, date, date, date. Wound up hitting her LTW quite quickly, as I recall. She didn't have Bon Voyage, so there was no digging, but she did make a fortune from date rewards, DJing and money trees. Also, outings can give you skills as a reward, and with that, and the skill point vacuum thing, she managed to get all her skill points, as well as her LTW of oodles of best friends. I was really impressed, and it forever changed the way I play my game.

There are some powerful tools in the game, if you don't just stay on your home lot, and you make use of the built-up lots. Nightlife (dating and outings) is *particularly* powerful. And some of those dating rewards can be incredibly lucrative.

Also, the Super Collection involves Seasons, as well as Bon Voyage, so once you get a few thousand scraped together, buy a small empty plot in a vacation neighborhood - I prefer Takemizu Village. Take a 7-day vacation there (costs just the same as a 3 day trip), and stay at your empty lot. Use your aspiration points for an energizer, and plant a garden, including flowers and some decorations. Get the garden club over for membership/inspection. Dig for treasure, date the locals, and if you have money for skilling objects, skill up. Takemizu gives a bonus to skilling, so I love that, and with the weather control aspiration reward, you can set it to autumn, for an extra boost. Go to the local market and buy 5 souvenirs, put them on a rack for another boost! While you are out shopping, do just a few vacation memory things, until you get "This place is PERFECT! I can't wait to come back!" message, and then you can spend the rest of your time holed up on your little lot. You'll come home with three vacation rewards, such as being extra productive, or having an extra wish slot, or maybe being better at romance (DATES!), and you'll have all the skills you earned on vacation, and the money you made from digging and gardening.

Do not underestimate the power of the wishing well. Place it indoors for Instant Dream Dates(TM), in private, so no jealousy!

Also, I have found that sims from the home neighborhood will deliver rewards to your vacation home, as well, shortly after midnight, so always be sure you're home during the wee hours, while you're on vacation at a vacation home. Of course, it doesn't matter at hotels. However, you can spend almost the hole time digging (or dating!), at a hotel, without worrying about skilling, and still have a fantastic and profitable vacation. In fact, there are locals and tourists right there, that you can invite on outings, so you can still get those skill rewards, even while you're at a hotel vacation, rather than an owned home. Plus, you can dig all the holes you want, and let housekeeping fill them in. Hehe.

There are at least five LTWs you can fulfill just by making good use of the vacations. Having oodles of best friends, woohooing with lots of sims, having oodles of dream dates, or even first dates, and of course maxing all your skills. Yes, vacations are EXTREMELY powerful in this regard. And solo vacations cost very little, once you have that home lot. I generally use my reward for the semester to pay the bills, then spend the rest on vacations. You can even come home, and call for another shuttle to take you right back out on vacation, if you want to. Boring, but effective.

I only show the group vacations, because my solo vacations are absolutely uninteresting, I think. I don't even bother taking pictures. However, I am a great advocate for making use of them!

Gardening is lucrative. Fishing, as well and it doesn't even require a home lot, as gardening does. Fishing is most effective at Three Lakes (or Takemizu in the autumn). The best way to make money from fishing is to mount the fish on the wall, play live mode for one or two minutes (game time, so about one second real time) and then sell the mounted fish. They are worth much more than straight out of your inventory. Again, it's boring and time-consuming for the player, but it's very lucrative. It's also a good group activity downtown or on vacation, to build up relationships for future outings. I like to watch that relationship panel, and get people to ALMOST friends, and then get them into an outing, to get the major point boost for forming the friendship during the outing. Same for Best Friends.

Also, getting into the Secret Society - make friends with all the college students you can, but if you go to a community lot, and see someone wearing a dark llama jacket, target them. The Secret Society has all sorts of rewards that will help your skilling, and usually way more comfortable objects. You can buy beds and just live the rest of your college life there, if you want to. No mods required. The college clock will continue to tick. If you do decide to just move to the Secret Society lot, be aware that you'll have to go home to your regular lot eventually, if only to pick up your personal belongings and graduate. But really, the Secret Societies are really cool, and I do love their skilling objects and career rewards.

Also, once you're in the Secret Society, you can hack grades from any computer. Mind you, the higher your grade, the more likely you are to be caught. So, I generally do it starting at the beginning of the semester, to bring my grade up to a C. Do it in short bursts, always watching the risk factor. It's easy enough to start another hacking session, but it really hurts when you are caught and lose your computer. Once you have a C, influence someone to do your term paper, and your grades are set. No need to go to classes at all. Just the exams.

Oh, and I always set my seasons at college to all-fall. Skilling bonus, for the win, and it makes the college-work progress faster, as well.

So you see, even without the community lot skilling mod that I put in later (for training up future spouses those last few points), it is quite doable to make a fortune, max your skills, and get all the friends you'll ever need. Also, if you don't like your current LTW, there's an aspiration reward you can use to shuffle your aspiration until you get one you can reach quickly. Then, you can change it again when you're done. It's part of the game (I believe it was added in Nightlife), so not a mod. You have it in the Super Collection. The ReNuYu SensoOrb is really powerful. I use it a lot.

Of course, once the apocalypse hits, until Military is lifted, no one is leaving the home lot. And Military is waaay down on the list. Sigh. And no ReNuYu SensoOrbs for a long time, too. SIGH. And no dates or scored outings! MASSIVE SIGH! No vacations! AAAHHHH! At least Adventure is early. I absolutely LOVE Jumbok IV!

As you see, I take as much advantage of the fact that the apocalypse restrictions haven't hit yet, as I possibly can for my founder. A regular legacy founder would likely have a very boring college life.
Badass Alphabetocalypse (Complete!)
All of my other projects should be moved to the graveyard. But I have a new computer, at last! WOOOOT!
Post Reply

Return to “Sims 2 Story Graveyard”