Build a City Challenge Chat

User avatar
Radiochocolate
Posts: 989
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 2:45 am
11
Sweden
Contact:

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Radiochocolate »

I have four different BaCC neighborhoods that I haven't posted about here yet and I keep coming up with even more ideas. I want to do semi-plotty stuff but I keep abandoning each narrative :ghost: I guess I should just stick with my observational style or at least create a setting where my characters aren't so confined to their respective roles. Or where it makes sense that a sim would successfully run an art shop/bubble blower venue in the middle of the desert.
Scribal_Goddess wrote:I'm having an internal debate about increasing my custom lifespan setup.

On the one hand, it feels more realistic to increase the ages, on the other, I can't find a skilling hack that would decrease skilling to something like 75% of the vanilla game speed, which would make it feel more balanced to me. All the ones I can find are for super long lifespans that I'm not interested in because I would like to eventually have a generation 3.
Not sure if you're still interested in a slower skilling hack, but I took a look at the ones I found and it seems relatively easy to change it yourself in SimPE, using one of the existing ones as a template (like this one). Note that I haven't used one myself so I can't vouch for how it works in-game.
//Currently on a non-committed hiatus from Boolprop and Sims//
Iron Values TPC | Sim!Mia | Simbia Penal Colony BaCC
Sunny's Monster Mash | Sim Scrabble: a TS2 Name Game
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

BaCCs are like that, I always am looking for an excuse to start another. They're worse than potato chips. I'm definitely addicted to the struggle of starting a town. Veda came into being cause I was looking for an excuse to start another. And Hollywood had the perfect reason to try. Who knew playtesting rules would be so much fun. Vedas first winter was a real challenge.

As for picking a writing style, that's hard too. With Silver Bend, I struggled between using a typical observational style and a third person narrative. I feel like I'm somewhat in between, but mostly third person narrative.

Veda was definitely going to be third person narrative. I had little plots in mind when I started it, except Thistle was going to had a hard time. The rest of the plot lines evolved naturally as I wrote and the characters began interacting.

You also aren't tied down to one particular style, which is awesome. Plenty of stories change style as the writer/characters grow. You could always start in one style and let it evolve naturally over time, or let it stay the same, depending on how you're feeling the story needs to go. Most important thing is to have fun :D
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

I think when I started my simself BACC, I might try more of a narrative style. I love writing (actually finished a novel and I'm in the midst of editing it), but I tend to just write quick captions for my gameplay. Making it a little bit more story-telling without worrying about spending time doing poses and stuff might be kind of fun.
User avatar
Radiochocolate
Posts: 989
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 2:45 am
11
Sweden
Contact:

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Radiochocolate »

Inspired by the first chapter of twilightoutside's Instant City, I'm tempted to start a BaCC with a substantial amount of Servos. However, I'm going to use SimPE and various mods to give them their own looks and personalities, as well as impose a limit on myself that a Servo cannot be activated without "life essence" - i.e. a keg of "Elixir of Life". It should be fairly easy since I usually make my sims go on dates a lot, but it still prevents an inflation of servos.

I have yet to decide on whether I should have a steampunkish theme or contemporary/half-futuristic (which I would say Maxis is). On the one hand I have plenty of CC I'd like to use, on the other hand a pseudo-historical setting can get tiring and require extensive work for theme appropriateness.
OR my mad scientist founder could invent a teleporter to trap sims from across time and space to her valley of experiments.
OR the reason that sims would travel all the way to a remote nowhere is because they are poor and unlanded, with my founder promising them riches but instead they are trapped into staying forever...

Lot of options to decide on.
//Currently on a non-committed hiatus from Boolprop and Sims//
Iron Values TPC | Sim!Mia | Simbia Penal Colony BaCC
Sunny's Monster Mash | Sim Scrabble: a TS2 Name Game
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

Steampunk sounds fun! Could be a big bother when it comes to CC, but it sure would look cool!

I finished my OWBC today, which means I'll be starting my simself BACC soon! I created the 'hood and the founders a few days ago. I'm going in game and I'm considering starting to play it, although my original goal was to play another week in my Name Game...
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

I'm so excited to see what you guys come with!!!

I finally have a day off tomorrow. I'm ready to make some progress on Silver Bend. I have a chapter that the pictures are in order, I just need to write up captions. I'm ready to make some real progress on the various challenges going on.
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

Yay! I love Silver Bend, so I'm excited for another update. :)

I ended up playing the first two households in my BACC. I just edited the pictures and now I'm just going to queue them up on Tumblr. I'm hoping to be able to actually finish this BACC. I've tried it so many times. :lol: I'm cutting my population goal down to 25,000 to hopefully make it slightly more achievable.
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

I'm so excited I can't wait :bouncing:

Cutting the population goal should help a lot. I'll be happy to finish Silver Bend too. Or Veda, I love starting BACCs, but finishing them is another story.
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

I have the first two updates queued up on my tumblr now. I have to wait for my OWBC to finish posting over there, which means that my BACC posts won't start until late on Monday, but I can't wait!
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

I guess I'll have to be patient lol, I'll have to catch up on the Bordens :D.
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

I'm so excited for my BACC posts to actually start posting. I played the third household today and I'm getting closer to unlocking townies and community lots, which means that my poor single ladies can actually find spouses. :lol:
User avatar
Lorinsv
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 638
Joined: July 4th, 2007, 8:32 am
16
Location: Northern Nevada

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Okay, I'm making an announcement:

Moving forward, I am no longer committing myself to posting picture updates. I've been stuck for almost a year trying to write a new retirement home household, and I've played two others to finish off Week 5, one Marie Sims whom I adore, and I can't find any inspiration to write an update on her either. Even keeping the updates consistent through Week 5 with only three updates to finish it isn't enough to motivate me. :fisty:

With that said, I have no intention of giving up on Mesa Vista. So, for now, I am only going to post text summaries of the goings-on in my households, and focus on moving ahead with the challenge. If I feel moved to write something with pictures, I will certainly do so. I have plans for big advances in population, so I'm pretty excited to see how that unfolds.

I'm disappointed it has come to this, but not enough to motivate me. I'm not having fun anymore taking boatloads of pictures or writing, so sadly for my story, it is what it is.

Happy Simming/BaCCing everyone! I will soon make some progress posts in my Mesa Vista thread.
Image Image
ISTJ
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

The BACC is such a long running challenge. With dozens of households and every household has a story. It's not surprising to get burnt out a little on it. I don't think you should be disappointed for needing to step back a little. You're still making progress toward completing a challenge that very few have actually completed. Playing the sims should ultimately be about having fun. It's okay to step back and take the work out of it for a bit. Or forever, you do what you need to to relax :D.
User avatar
Radiochocolate
Posts: 989
Joined: August 5th, 2012, 2:45 am
11
Sweden
Contact:

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Radiochocolate »

Just remember the title of your story Lorin: "Mesa Vista -My BaCC for fun" :#1:

On that note: I had a jab at Michelle's Penal Colony ruleset. Shiny boolprop thread is here, even shinier blog is here.

It's a challenge for sure :lol: Having 32 % of your sims die each week is not helpful for those population numbers.
//Currently on a non-committed hiatus from Boolprop and Sims//
Iron Values TPC | Sim!Mia | Simbia Penal Colony BaCC
Sunny's Monster Mash | Sim Scrabble: a TS2 Name Game
User avatar
simsterlyrock
Posts: 3085
Joined: December 12th, 2011, 5:39 am
12
Steam ID: cclimer94
Origin ID: simsterlyrock
Location: Washington
United States of America
Contact:

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by simsterlyrock »

The intro for my BACC is all posted on my tumblr and the update for my first household is in the process of posting. The thread for my new BACC is over here if you guys want to check it out. :)
User avatar
ninaumi
Posts: 76
Joined: April 14th, 2016, 12:24 am
7

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by ninaumi »

I abandoned my BaCC I started almost a year ago because I forgot to track the time. :blush: :fisty:

Now I'm going to officially start another one, and post on my tumblr, unlike the two other I started and got bored, because I wanted to do the same thing - start a home, retail business, but I got bored of it since I played the founding family and their business for too long. Now I outlined what I want to accomplish in the challenge after the start and during a certain time frame.
User avatar
Pony
Staff Moderator
Staff Moderator
Posts: 1997
Joined: December 9th, 2011, 11:00 am
12
Location: On the Moon
Ukraine

Achievements / Awards

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Pony »

Having goals makes things a lot easier. I sometimes try to set goals to accomplish each house in the rotation. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don't, but it's fun either way. And it keeps things interesting. I'm excited to see what your new BACC becomes Ninaumi :D
Avenie
Posts: 148
Joined: February 18th, 2018, 4:12 am
6
Location: Space, Idaho

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Avenie »

I find with stuff like a BaCC, sometimes it's best to just step away for a bit, until you're interested again. Just take decent notes, because I'm staring at my screenshots going "wait, who are you?"
User avatar
Chase
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 1669
Joined: November 4th, 2008, 6:00 pm
15
Steam ID: ziekenz
Location: Chromatica
United States of America

Seasonal Events

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Chase »

I'm starting a new BaCC! I'm gonna take pictures and stuff, but I don't wanna write anything about it until like 4 generations in, so like, 2 real life years from now, probably. :P I just worked super hard to get a make a clean new neighborhood, I'm excited to start playing it!

Edit: I've decided to add a new CAS sim/family every 4 rotations. I've played 3 seasons on one house, they have a camping supply store and a car dealership. :D I already made the new CAS sim; her first order of business will be a clothing store. The camping store is almost level 10, and the car dealership is only at 4, but its profits are amazing!

Edit again because I'm extra: Only taking one or two pictures a rotation (for now) is letting me move things along SO quickly. I only have 2 households, but I'm on rotation 7. It's about to get a little slower as one of my founding family's two boys is going to move out in the next rotation or two. I'm trying to get someone going on the business track to get a Business District sooner than later, but it hasn't shown up in the paper for anyone in any household since I've unlocked a spot. :?
hello! :heartbeat:
Avenie
Posts: 148
Joined: February 18th, 2018, 4:12 am
6
Location: Space, Idaho

Post Counts

Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Avenie »

Really getting back into my BaCC. My favourite bit is definitely pairing people up into new families. It feels like proper progress!
Post Reply

Return to “Sims 2 Chat”