Since I'm just doing this challenge while laid up in bed I'm not going to blog about it with screenshots and such like I normally do. I did want to write out my thoughts as far as play testing goes. So far I have played through one sim week which was all of summer. If you missed the post with the challenge rules, you can find it here. Forum topic is here.
It took two days after starting the outbreak to have my first zombie encounter. I started out with one fisherman, one gardener, and one klepto handyman. As soon as the challenge started I had the fisherman work out until fatigued and then go fishing at the lot next door until he was no longer fatigued or had to use the bathroom, sleep etc. Then he would start the cycle over. By the time we encountered a zombie he had 5 or 6 points in athletic and only barely escaped, as he rolled the lowest number necessary. He is the only one who has left the fence so far. I was dumb and didn't see the fish spawner at first and just had him fish in a random spot of the lake, so it was very touch and go those first few days when it came to having enough food.
I did have a problem a day or two later where his attack roll succeeded but he still got turned into a zombie. I tried to use Dexter the Bear but got a notification that the target moved and the attack was unsuccessful. Since this is not seen as unsuccessful within the rules, I feel it is fine to cheat yourself back to health. Control-clicking the zombie moodlet didn't work permanently as it popped back up, but you also get a germy moodlet and control-clicking both of them seems to have him back to normal.
Sometimes when you kill a zombie a cop will come and try and arrest you. I recommend looking at the cop's name then using the resetsim cheat to reset the cop not your sim getting arrested. Resetting your sim will change how much their needs have decayed so would be considered cheating. I also think it gets rid of some moodlets. I'm not sure what happens if you actually get arrested since you shouldn't have a police station anymore. Killing zombies also gives you two negative moodlets that are pretty powerful and last like a week. You can control-click them away if you want, otherwise whoever is killing zombies will be permanently in the orange or red.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Zombie Apocalypse Challenge Using Vector
While stuck in bed with a leg injury (thus unable to play my current legacies) I decided to try a zombie apocalypse challenge. Unfortunately I couldn't find one I loved so decided to make my own! It combines aspects of other challenges I found with a few modification and my own ideas. I have started a forum post for this challenge here.
Level 2 - escape fails with any number under 11
Level 3 - escape fails with any number under 10
Level 4 - escape fails with any number under 9
Level 5 - escape fails with any number under 8
Level 6 - escape fails with any number under 7
Level 7 - escape fails with any number under 6
Level 8 - escape fails with any number under 5
Level 9 - escape fails with any number under 4
Level 10 - escape fails with any number under 3
Level 0 - attack fails
Level 1 - attack fails with any number under 12, better hope you have one of those traits!
Level 2 - attack fails with any number under 11
Level 3 - attack fails with any number under 10
Level 4 - attack fails with any number under 9
Level 5 - attack fails with any number under 8
Level 6 - attack fails with any number under 7
Level 7 - attack fails with any number under 6
Level 8 - attack fails with any number under 5
Level 9 - attack fails with any number under 4
If you are within the fence and see a zombie right outside it, you can try and attack so it will be safe for you to get out. As long as you are still in the fence if it fails you don't have to turn your sim. Each sim can only attempt to attack each zombie once (unless they leave and come back) so you can't just keep rerolling until it succeeds. Give yourself a +1 bonus to the rolled number for being within the fence and feeling safe enough to take your time with the shot. I think you do have to go out of the fence to kill them with Dexter the Bear, but you can do that and remove zombie attacks from the queue while out or use mastercontroller's total annihilation to kill them or something. The idea is you are killing them through the fence like they do on The Walking Dead.
While play testing I noticed there were a few things that are kinda over-powered. Since people differ in their desired difficulty, I don't think there is only one way to combat each problem, and I doubt I'll notice all the OP things, I'm just going to suggest some supplemental rules. If you try it out and notice any other things, please let me know. I will come up with a suggestion or add your suggestion if you have one.
Even using harvestables to make food not using an oven, stove, microwave, etc can be a bit unrealistic. One apple for example can make a group meal of PB&J, which means it is incredibly easy to grow enough apples for your whole household to eat a PB&J every time they get the slightest bit peckish. This recipe uses any fruit and it's very likely one of the seeds you get from learning to garden is a fruit. One way to change this would be to disallow the serve option and only use have, so it will be one fruit per meal per person like it is with the firepit. Since you can only make PB&J at certain times of the day you would then have to make enough for the day all at once (using quite a bit of time) or find something else to eat other times of the day. Another option would be to only make it if you have 6 fruits (I believe group meals are 6 servings) and then use a cheat to delete the other 5. Since I own the chicken coup from the store (and eggs are the only bread ingredient in the game I believe) then my family is only allowed to make PB&J group meals after they buy a chicken coup and they have three eggs and three fruit. I'm sure other group meals pose the same problem, so you could make similar rules for them.
Children are immune to the zombie virus. This means if you have children you could send them off to fish or scavenge without fear. Obviously this is unrealistic since IRL children are more susceptible to zombie bites than adults! The easy answer is to not have them do these things, or don't let them go anywhere without an adult escort. If the escort turns then kill our kick out them and the child both.
Things You Will Need
- Supernatural EP
- Seasons also recommended for extra difficulty
- nraas Vector Mod
- Zombie Diseases Module
- nraas Woohooer Mod
- nraas Retuner Mod
- Dexter the Bear Mod
- Two dice or random number generator
Getting Started
Create a family with at least three people (at least two of them unrelated so they can reproduce). Each sim must have two (and only two) of the following survivability traits, the rest of their traits are your choice. These are traits that will make their post ZA lives easier, and it is my opinion that sims without any of these traits are not likely to survive for very long. Each child born in the game will have their traits randomized; should they not have any survivability traits by their YA birthday they will inherit your choice from their parents. If you feel another trait not listed should be included, feel free to add it to the list in your game. Leave me a comment and I may adjust the official list!
- Angler
- Athletic
- Brave
- Daredevil
- Disciplined
- Eccentric
- Eco-Friendly
- Gatherer
- Genius
- Green Thumb
- Handy
- Kleptomaniac
- Light Sleeper
- Lucky
- Natural Cook
- Nurturing
- Perceptive
- Sailor
You can use whichever world you wish. I know there are custom apocalypse/disaster worlds for download to add to the realisim. I like Dragon Valley as most (all?) of the houses already use non-electric lights and there isn't too much technology you have to get rid of. It is your choice whether you build your own house or move into one previously built. Be strategic about picking your lot as you will not be allowed to move! Use the freerealestate cheat to get the house you want, as there are no mortgages in the zombie apocalypse. Upon moving in (before the challenge starts):
- Suppress opportunities
- Turn off celebrities (don't forget to opt out current household) and supernaturals
- Cancel the newspaper
- Delete the school, fire station, and law enforcement lots
- Change nraas Vector Mod
- Diseases >Zombie Rage > enabled, reduced lethality enabled
- General > allow inactive purchases false
- Outbreaks > Start Outbreak > Zombie Rage
- Change nraas Woohooer mod
- Risky > Human > autonomous true
- Change nraas Rutuner Mod
- I don't remember all the steps, but turn off autonomous for all the fridge stuff
- Again don't remember all the steps, but disallow all the car stuff
- After furnishing house with the stuff below, use familyfunds cheat to put balance at $0.
Your house must include:
- One of the worst double beds available
- Enough sleeping bags for other household members
- One cheap toilet, sink, and bathtub (no shower)
- Fridge
- Firepit for cooking
- Can also have a grill or wood burning stove, but use the Retuner Mod to disable autonomous for them as well
- Fence surrounding property
- One bookcase with one gardening book along with normally spawning books
- One athletic building object that does not take electricity such as a chin up bar or soccer goal
- One Dexter the Bear for each household member
- One bicycle for each household member
Your house cannot include:
- Any electronics (including electric lights) other than fridge
- Any plumbing other than specified
- Previously planted havestables
- Lake or other water for fishing
- Skill building objects other than specified
Rules
If your sim steals/scavenges something from another lot you may keep it as long as it doesn't use electricity or plumbing. You can sell it and use the money to buy something else following that same rule or keep it in your family inventory for when you unlock electricity and plumbing. If you sell it and buy something else pretend you actually scavenged what you bought or traded for it with other survivors.
All births must be home births. Hospitals are one of the least safe places, and aren't functional anymore anyway.
All births must be home births. Hospitals are one of the least safe places, and aren't functional anymore anyway.
You can take ingredients from the fridges around town if they have any, but can't take quick meals or cook anything that costs money or uses electricity.
In order to eat you can fish or have one of your sims learn gardening with the skill book. After they get their first skill they will get some seeds to start their garden. You can also go out into the wild and search for seeds, but that is very risky. You can make meals that don't require a stove (like autumn salad) or with the wood burning stove/grill as long as you have all the ingredients. You know if you have all the ingredients because it will be free. In order to "hunt" roll a die then add a zero to the number you roll, that is how much money you can spend at the grocery store on meat. You can only do this if one of your sims spots a wild or stray animal. If on the way to the grocery store a zombie tries to attack your sim, normal escape and attack rules apply.
Water is scarce so your sims aren't allowed to use the bathroom or bathe until they have a negative moodlet. Keep the bathroom door locked so they don't do it autonomously.
One sim has to be awake and on the property at all times in order to keep watch, both for zombies and other survivors who might want to steal your stuff. Infants, toddlers, and children don't count because they can't use Dexter the Bear. Would you really want a toddler keeping watch anyway?
If you become friends with another survivor before they turn you can ask them to move in. Keep track of how much money they bring with them in order to undo it with the familyfunds cheat.
You cannot sell paintings, sculptures, etc because there is no one to buy them during a zombie apocalypse! You can however sell extra food/havestables through your inventory. Once a week you can sell non-decorative inventions and nectar through your inventory as if you were trading with other survivors, but one sim has to leave the safety of the fence in order to do it. How long they stay out is up to you, but be reasonable. If you are selling 20 things don't send them out, pause the game, sell everything, unpause and immediately send them back in.
If someone dies from starvation, fire, old age, etc you don't have to worry about turning them into a zombie. Just let them die like normal. In this universe not everyone is infected or a carrier or whatever like in The Walking Dead. Or you could pretend that one of your other people took out their brain before they could turn if you wish.
If someone dies from starvation, fire, old age, etc you don't have to worry about turning them into a zombie. Just let them die like normal. In this universe not everyone is infected or a carrier or whatever like in The Walking Dead. Or you could pretend that one of your other people took out their brain before they could turn if you wish.
Make sure the gate to your fence is locked so only your household can use it! Otherwise normal escape and attack rules apply to zombies who might wander in.
If you are out and a zombie tries to attack you, you must roll your dice or use a random number generator (max 12) to see if you escape. Your skills and traits determine what number you need to escape successfully. Use whichever applicable skill or skill combo is the highest for that sim. For skill combos, add the skill points together and then divide by two for an average. Skills: Athletic, Martial Arts. You can combine logic with any artistic skill (symbolizes creativity) or handiness. Add one point to your rolled number for each of these traits you posses: Athletic, Brave, Daredevil, Disciplined, Lucky, Perceptive.
Level 0 - escape fails
Level 1 - escape fails with any number under 12, better hope you have one of those traits!Level 2 - escape fails with any number under 11
Level 3 - escape fails with any number under 10
Level 4 - escape fails with any number under 9
Level 5 - escape fails with any number under 8
Level 6 - escape fails with any number under 7
Level 7 - escape fails with any number under 6
Level 8 - escape fails with any number under 5
Level 9 - escape fails with any number under 4
Level 10 - escape fails with any number under 3
If your escape fails, you may try and attack. Like escaping, your skills and traits determine what number you need to attack successfully. Skills: Athletic, Martial Arts, or Alchemy if you have a Cure Elixir or Flask of Angry Bees. You can combine logic with handiness, inventing, or science. Add one point to your rolled number for each of these traits you posses: Athletic, Brave, Daredevil, Disciplined, Lucky. If using a combo, add a point for traits that apply to the skills chosen e.g. Handy or Genius. If your attack is successful use Dexter the Bear to kill the zombie or throw your elixir at them.
Level 0 - attack fails
Level 2 - attack fails with any number under 11
Level 3 - attack fails with any number under 10
Level 4 - attack fails with any number under 9
Level 5 - attack fails with any number under 8
Level 6 - attack fails with any number under 7
Level 7 - attack fails with any number under 6
Level 8 - attack fails with any number under 5
Level 9 - attack fails with any number under 4
Level 10 - attack fails with any number under 3
Instead of trying to escape first and then attacking if it fails, you can choose to reverse the order and try to escape only if your attack fails. In some situations it might make more sense to attack and kill all nearby zombies if possible, in others escaping would be the priority.
Instead of trying to escape first and then attacking if it fails, you can choose to reverse the order and try to escape only if your attack fails. In some situations it might make more sense to attack and kill all nearby zombies if possible, in others escaping would be the priority.
If whichever one you do second fails, let your sim becomes a zombie. If a household member has a cure elixir they can try and attack to cure your sim. If the attack fails, they can try to escape. If both fail now you have two zombies! They can also try to attack and kill your sim, if it succeeds you can transfer everything in the zombie sim's inventory to the attacking sim before the attacker kills the zombie. If no one chooses to attack the zombie then kick that sim out of the household.
If you are within the fence and see a zombie right outside it, you can try and attack so it will be safe for you to get out. As long as you are still in the fence if it fails you don't have to turn your sim. Each sim can only attempt to attack each zombie once (unless they leave and come back) so you can't just keep rerolling until it succeeds. Give yourself a +1 bonus to the rolled number for being within the fence and feeling safe enough to take your time with the shot. I think you do have to go out of the fence to kill them with Dexter the Bear, but you can do that and remove zombie attacks from the queue while out or use mastercontroller's total annihilation to kill them or something. The idea is you are killing them through the fence like they do on The Walking Dead.
But this challenge isn't all about fighting and escaping zombies! Hopefully one day you will prevail and start civilization over anew. You are able to unlock technology through skills.
- To unlock plumbing a single sim must max inventing, handiness, and scuba diving
- To unlock electricity a single sim must max inventing, handiness, and science
- To unlock cars a single sim must max inventing, handiness, and riding or advanced technology
Supplemental Rules
Even using harvestables to make food not using an oven, stove, microwave, etc can be a bit unrealistic. One apple for example can make a group meal of PB&J, which means it is incredibly easy to grow enough apples for your whole household to eat a PB&J every time they get the slightest bit peckish. This recipe uses any fruit and it's very likely one of the seeds you get from learning to garden is a fruit. One way to change this would be to disallow the serve option and only use have, so it will be one fruit per meal per person like it is with the firepit. Since you can only make PB&J at certain times of the day you would then have to make enough for the day all at once (using quite a bit of time) or find something else to eat other times of the day. Another option would be to only make it if you have 6 fruits (I believe group meals are 6 servings) and then use a cheat to delete the other 5. Since I own the chicken coup from the store (and eggs are the only bread ingredient in the game I believe) then my family is only allowed to make PB&J group meals after they buy a chicken coup and they have three eggs and three fruit. I'm sure other group meals pose the same problem, so you could make similar rules for them.
Children are immune to the zombie virus. This means if you have children you could send them off to fish or scavenge without fear. Obviously this is unrealistic since IRL children are more susceptible to zombie bites than adults! The easy answer is to not have them do these things, or don't let them go anywhere without an adult escort. If the escort turns then kill our kick out them and the child both.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Wave of Light
For those that don't know, almost two years ago we lost our baby Jesse Quinn. I participated in the Wave of Light for the first time that year to support my friends, not knowing I would miscarry myself a week later. If you have lost a child you can light a candle in their memory. If you haven't you can light a candle in memory of the children lost by your friends and family.
Miscarriages are devastatingly common. Approximately 1 out of every 4 pregnancies will end this way, yet it's something we aren't supposed to talk about. You aren't even supposed to announce until the "safe zone" of the second trimester, so if you miscarry the rest of the world can stay ignorant. It is almost guaranteed that one of your friends or family have lost a child although you might not know about it. By lighting a candle you can show support and let them know "I am here for you" if they need a shoulder to cry on or a caring ear to listen.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
And the winner is...
I've been super busy since the heir vote closed (which caused a flare) and haven't even opened my game yet. I did want to let everyone know who won in the meantime. I doubt anyone is that surprised! Thank you everyone for voting, I look forward to playing with Nymphadora once she becomes an adult.
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Love is a Riddle - Chapter 18
First a clay laundry hamper and now a clay toilet? Are you going for some kind of statement or are you just that dumb?
Complete all the skill challenges! (+5 points)
Bellatrix can still be found playing video games more often than not. Salazar talks about sculpting plenty but never actually sculpts anything.
I got Tom a water wheel so he wouldn't have to leave the lot to fish but there didn't seem to be any toads, just lots and lots of sharks.
So many in fact that Tom commented on it himself!
On Snowflake Day Tom cast a love spell on Bellatrix so maybe she would get a new love interest, then everyone went to the winter festival to take their family portrait.
If Severus doesn't get chosen as heir it will be their last one with the whole family!
Tom took the opportunity to throw some Witches' Brew at Severus's girlfriend Zoe during their gift giving party.
Meanwhile Bellatrix was falling for Jules Snape. I can't remember if he was already a witch or not.
For Snowflake Day they got six easels and a lamp. Just what the family wanted. -_-
Severus has moved up to ice sculptures now, and thankfully did not sculpt an ice garbage can or something else ridiculous. At least an octopus counts as art!
Salazar must be sad he's not eligible for heir as he stayed late after work to build a tragic clown snowman.
Severus needs to know charisma for his job, so Tom tried to teach it to him through a mind meld. I think it might only work one way though as the pop ups just said what Tom got out of it.
After turning his children's significant others into witches Tom had a few Bottled Witches' Brews left, so he used the Sim Finder app to meet other youngsters likely to have kids of their own.
Then he made the local muggle population just a teensy bit smaller.
This family loves their tragic clown snowmen, apparently.
Severus finally finished his second painting!
Then it was time to get to work so I can get those maxed skill points before his bgirthday.
+10 points
'Dora is a workaholic so sometimes she autonomously works from home. This means more promotions and more money for us!
While Nymphadora is being productive, her siblings are in the yard acting like children.
I'm pretty sure gnomes can't play hopscotch, Salazar.
Ah yes, sitting in the hot tub in the rain makes much more sense.
I spotted the second sim with the full name of a Harry Potter character! Not as awesome as Albus Dumbledore, but still cool.
Severus's birthday was fast approaching so Tom got a glass of cow plant milk just in case Severus won the heir vote.
He also finished one last (maybe) skill challenge (+5 points).
Birthday Sparkles!
And with that, Severus will either become the heir or be kicked out of the house. Only you can decide! Heir vote will close tomorrow (9/24) at midnight.
_________________________________________________________
SCORECARD
- 5 Fire
- 20 Passing Out
+20 Birth
+50 Skill Challenge
+20 Honor Roll
+50 Maxed Skill
+40 Lifetime Wish
________
+155 Total Points
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Love is a Riddle - Chapter 17
Don't forget to vote in my heir poll! Nymphadora is currently in the lead, followed by Bellatrix, with Severus bringing up the rear.
This coffee machine is making me nervous, so time to replace it with a snow cone machine!
At the fall festival Tom, Salazar, Bellatrix, and Liz had a great time bobbing for apples.
'Dora would rather compete in the pie eating contest... all by herself. At least she won!
Severus had to go do some work thing not long after they got to the festival, but he was able to stay long enough to take the family photo.
Nymphadora graduated with highest honor as the class valedictorian. She was voted Most Likely to be Mediocre. I love her kitty hat!
Salazar passed out (-5 points) almost immediately after exiting the graduation ceremony, embarrassing his family.
As if that wasn't bad enough, 'Dora was then hit by lightning!
Me thinks the whole ordeal will show up on YouTube later thanks to this fellow graduation attendee.
Another maxed skill for Tom (+10 points), and he can now make Bottled Witches' Brew.
He also got this skill challenge (+5) but I forgot to get a screenshot of the notification.
Tom had been growing a variety of alchemy plants in preparation for learning the witch elixir recipe, and then he didn't need any of them! I probably should have googled the recipe lol. So now he has to go learn fishing and catch a bunch of toads.
Severus started a new painting, which coincidentally looks almost exactly like his first painting only smaller.
Tom and Bellatrix spent some quality father/daughter time with the foosball table. Looks like Bellatrix is winning.
Liz and Nymphadora hung out together after work. 'Dora is still singed from being struck by lightning. Her hair actually kinda looks like I pictured Tonk's hair when reading the books!
Sooo close to completing his second painting when he gets a stupid phone call. >.<
Muhahaha! The cowplant has taken another victim! Tom will wait until closer to Severus's birthday to drink the milk so he gets the most benefit before possibly handing off the torch.
I got super excited about this until I realized it was the hidden chess skill that doesn't count rather than logic.
Tom then completed another skill challenge (+5 points) to make up for it.
Everyone wears their swimwear when reading inside their house in the winter, right? I had to check and make sure she wasn't insane.
Everyone loves the snow cone maker and I'm okay with that. They spend less time making full meals every time they get hungry, but the downside is snow cones aren't as filling.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but I have the story progression mod set so whenever anyone in town gets married it prompts me to set their new married name. I've been assigning everyone names from the HP universe, the goal being everyone in town having a HP last name eventually. I have not, however, made anyone else for the town other than Tom. So it surprised me when he walked into the alchemy shop and this wish popped up!
This is what Albus Dumbledore looks like, in case you were wondering.
_________________________________________________________
SCORECARD
- 5 Fire
- 20 Passing Out
+20 Birth
+40 Skill Challenge
+20 Honor Roll
+40 Maxed Skill
+40 Lifetime Wish
________
+135 Total Points
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