Everlasting: A Legacy – 1.2 The Singles Mingler

Week 1, Day 4:

Today I earned my first promotion at work. SimNation is a world of opportunity and abundance – it rewards those willing to work hard generously. 

Having established a steady source of income, I have begun to consider the possibility of securing myself a mate. I had purchased this quiet expanse of land with the hope of filling it with the laughter of children and mates, yet it appears that Sims are socially monogamous. I will have to abide by local conventions in this matter, which means the sooner I acquire a spouse, the sooner I can guarantee the continuation and prosperity of my line.

Back home, optimized matchmaking programs are offered to those in need of mates. No program of equal caliber or effectiveness exist here. I will have to search for a potentially life-long mate unaided, but I already have some ideas as to how to begin. Perhaps this will prove to be the start of an exciting adventure. 

Everlasting: A Legacy – 1.1 Brave New World

Dear Diary:

I have safely arrived in Windenburg, a sleepy town in the Northern reaches of SimNation. My new home, a plot of fertile land purchased with the help of a long-time resident, is even more impressive than I’d imagined. It is vast, carpeted by a layer of thick, sweet-smelling grass. Waterfalls adorn the rolling hills around me, and to the South I can see the edges of the sea. To think, so much space, so much green! Things cannot look more promising. 

It is unfortunate that the purchase of this beautiful lot had put me in debt–Sims, curious creatures they are, still rely on a more primitive system of currency and exchange. But it is of no concern. I have endured wars, famines, years of space travel. I am confident in my ability to conquer any hardship that may come my way. Soon, I shall build my new home and populate the land with my progeny. 

I have designed and perfected my disguise. The townspeople will never suspect that an off-worlder walks among them. All is well.

Everlasting: A Legacy – Introduction

As a long-time Simmer, I haven’t actually played the game all that much. The vast majority of my time spent in the game has been devoted to building and messing around in CAS, so despite the sheer number of game hours I have, I’m not overly familiar with the gameplay itself. This is perhaps partly due to how tedious and aimless the game feels after a certain point, so to change things up, I have decided to embark on a legacy challenge, hopefully to give myself a fresh perspective.

My founder, Evie Everlasting, is an alien who has just landed in Windenburg and hopes to establish her own dynasty among sims. She is a Genius, like most of her people (relative to sims, that is..). Also like the rest of her people, she is Vegetarian. Her last trait is Insider, to better insinuate herself into sim society. Unsurprisingly, her starting aspiration is Leader of the Pack.

I will be following Pinstar’s Legacy Challenge Rules, with the help of the beautifully made Hilliee’s Legacy Scoresheet. I will be using the Extreme Start Option, meaning I start the game with a 64×64 lot and 200 Simoleons in debt. This is both because I adore Windenburg and because I want to make the game as challenging as possible. The other rules I have chosen are as follows:

Succession Laws:

Strict Matriarchy gender law: following the tradition of Evie’s home-world, daughters and only daughters may be named heir. Once the previous Matriarch (the head of the household) dies, the heir becomes the next Matriarch.

Strict Traditional bloodline law: Only biological children may be named heir.

First Born heir law: The eldest living daughter is named heir. In the event of multiple eligible twins, an heir will be chosen based on Merit (number of aspiration and skills they have completed).

*Heirs are named when firstborn daughters successfully reach the “child” stage.

To make the game even more challenging, I have imposed some Additional Rules on myself:

Estate Tax (aka Inheritance Tax): Upon the death of a Matriarch, if the household worth (lot value + liquid funds; business funds are exempt) exceeds $1,000,000, a 5% one time tax is collected. (I will use console commands to remove the funds). If the household worth exceeds $3,000,000 at the time of a Matriarch’s death, a 7% tax is collected, at $5,000,000, 10%. If there isn’t enough cash on hand, furniture and other properties must be sold until the payment is met.

Dowry: Have you ever wondered how cruel it is to kick out non-heirs to fend for themselves, with nothing to their names? Worry no more! With this rule, every time a sim leaves the main household, whether due to marriage, divorce, or lack of household space, they will take with them 10% of the overall household worth (lot value + liquid funds; business funds are exempt). Yes, 10%. Of course, neither death nor being taken away by social workers incurs any fees (unless its the death of a Matriarch, in which case an Estate Tax applies, depending on the family’s financial situation) If there isn’t enough cash on hand, furniture and other properties must be sold until the payment is met. This creates a curious dilemma: the more sims you have in a household, the faster you amass points, and you have more fail safes in the event your heir meets an untimely end. But to make room for newborns, you inevitable have to send some of the sims on their way, losing money in the process. I believe this will create a lot of interesting situations to explore. Of course, death is a much cheaper alternative, but for the purpose of this challenge, I will never intentionally kill a sim.

 

 

Voxel Journey

Out of sheer frustration and despair caused by life in general, I’ve decided to head back into Minecraft and have a brief session of cubic escapism. It quickly became not so brief, unsurprisingly.

At some point during the past year I’d sworn to myself to never touch the stuff again, but like all promises this one was never followed through, and here I am, once again slaving away into voxel oblivion.

Anyhow, meet Stevie, a perfectly average young man who wakes up one day on a strange, strange beach made of giant sandy cubes. He stares at his handless arms and feels a curious compulsion to dig into the ground.