The Beginning – About the Apocalypse Challenge

See here for the Contents Page.

Before we get to the story, some housekeeping.

First, I am playing Pinstar’s Apocalypse Challenge. Click here for the rules. I prefer looking at the spreadsheet within to get a handle on the rules, since it’s easier to read, but the spreadsheet doesn’t contain every single detail.

I’ve learned a bit about this challenge by looking at this Carl’s Sims 4 forum thread about it, such as suggestions how to deal with newer features since Pinstar will not be updating the challenge for every pack. I’m primarily sticking to the main rules since those are more than enough, but some updates such as being able to cook fried fish (only) are relevant to this playthrough. This forum thread also has ideas about strategies which I used to inform how I approach the challenge.

Some of the story I’ll be creating is inspired by the Murray Apocalypse Challenge story by BallerinaHippo on the same forums. You may notice some similarities in initial strategy and how to convey the apocalypse rules in a story. I had actually decided on my initial strategy before reading BallerinaHippo’s story, but it did confirm that I had made a good choice.

A few things:

• I forgot to include lot traits so I’ll add them next time we hit Sunday in the game since that’s when we can enter build mode. I’ll keep the traits the same until I lift Babysitter, which restricts choosing sim traits, and Retail, which restricts build mode. – Update: I’ve chosen Ley Line, Good Schools and Romantic Aura. I decided not to go with skill-oriented traits, but figured the school kids may need a little help.
• Like BallerinaHippo, I’m not going to be too harsh on myself for minor mistakes.
• I’m not going to use the Yoga mat until I lift Bodybuilder. Because it’s too powerful and I doubt sims are going to be canonically strong enough until they’re also strong enough to move furniture larger than 1 tile.
• I haven’t decided whether to use Clubs or not. I used them quite liberally in the Wonder Child Challenge once I realised I could, but since they’re such a powerful feature, I probably won’t use them the same way if I use them at all. Nevertheless, I won’t even think about touching them until Comedian is cleared (to allow home lot meetings), and then they can only meet on the home lot until Diamond Agent is cleared. Idea comes from this comment on the Challenge page. I also won’t purchase club traits until Professional Athlete is cleared.
• No wishing well, like BallerinaHippo. I don’t even use that thing in normal play anyway.
• BallerinaHippo’s strategy gave me the idea of using the Rippling Flats lot in Newcrest because it has outdoor grills, plants, fishing spots, monkey bars and a jungle gym.
• The strategy forum gave me the idea of purchasing the cheapest storage chest since sims can’t carry more than one stack at a time. I’ll need to stock up on produce to eat during winter since, when it gets really cold, fishing is impossible. Ideally, I’ll have maxed my founder’s career and imported another Wonder Child to clear the Chef career track, but I have to be prepared in case this doesn’t happen.

Now, let’s meet my founder.

Nia Chambers is a Wonder Child of my creation. She has 541 points (which is good, but some simmers have managed Wonder Child sims with upwards of 800 points!). My Origin username is devilchild803 if you want to use her yourself. The Wonder Child Challenge is another Pinstar challenge that feeds into the Apocalypse Challenge as well as the Sims 4 Immigrant Challenge.

Nia’s ordinary traits are: Cheerful, Loves Outdoors and Genius. She has the Quick Learner starter trait from her first aspiration as a Wonder Child, and has also picked up the Gregarious starter trait since I saved to and then downloaded her from the gallery. She has 20 additional traits:

• All 5 positive upbringing traits from Parenthood
• Top-Notch Toddler
• Savant
• Mentor
• All 4 child skill traits
• Night Owl and Morning Sim
• Connections
• Professional Slacker – because the challenge rules state that sims with this trait are exempt from the Business (Management) restrictions about not being able to take days off, leave work early or be late for work. Sims without this trait have to quit their job if any of these things happen and cannot retake that career.
• Entrepreneurial
• Storm Chaser Sim (so I don’t have to worry about her mood tanking during thunderstorms)
• Incredibly Friendly
• Handy (reward trait)

Nia also has 9 maxed skills:

• Cooking
• Gourmet cooking
• Mischief
• Programming
• Video Gaming
• Comedy
• Handiness
• Logic
• Rocket Science

She also has 8 charisma and 4 mixology, which are sufficient for the Comedian and Chef careers respectively.

I’ll be approaching Nia’s relationship to her past life differently than BallerinaHippo, but we’ll cover that when the story starts.

I think that’s everything I wanted to cover. I may add more to this later, such as the lot traits I choose.