Augusta the Adventurer (PalmArrow's gameplay thread)

1/?

I've started playing the reboot of my first Sims 3 gameplay - Augusta the Adventurer's life in Isla Paradiso.

Augusta starts life as a YA with no skills. After buying a little houseboat, basic furniture and an easel for her future artist career, she went to the library and learned the charisma skill.

After learning the skill, she used Charming introduction on the townies in the library.

Afterwards, I wanted her to learn the athletic skill by swimming in the ocean... but then I remembered you can't actually do that! (Swimming can only raise the skill level if a sim already has it.) Never mind, she is enjoying herself! I decided to take a look at the two sailboats in the background.

The ghost of Mrs Dregg was sailing in one of them. In the other one was Aidan, Augusta's future love interest! I wasn't going to send Augusta to follow him, because I decided I they will have to meet by accident, not orchestrated by me. But I followed him with the camera because I was curious where he was going.

I think he was going to Rebecca's Bar - but I had to save and quit after taking this screenshot, because something came up.

It made me think - I've played Sims 4 Island Living a lot and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will probably play it again. in the Sulani world the sea is always full of sailboats sailing around and it looks wonderful, but the sims in the sailboats are doing just that - sailing around. It is just a fun activity, not a method of transport. In Isla Paradiso the amount of boats is smaller, but every single one contains a Sim who is going from point A to point B, and if you follow them you will see where they are going to. in an ideal Sim game both of these things would be true!

Next: 2

2/?

The old Augusta was Adventurous, Artistic, Bookworm, Good and Vegetarian. The new Augusta is almost the same, but Vegetarian is replaced with Eco-Friendly. The reason is that I now know that there is a specific adventure in Al Simhara that is very complicated for Vegetarian sims, while easy for everyone else.
Augusta has been living in Isla Paradiso for four days now. She started the game as a blank slate, with no skills or Lifetime Happiness points, but she has been using her time very productively.

Learning to cook by preparing Autumn Salad:

Picking and selling some expensive flowers at the main square:

Learning the Athletic skill at the gym:

Reading a Logic book at the beach, with a merman sunbathing in the background:

Relaxing and getting to know townies at Rebecca's Bar in the evening:

Thanks to her Artistic skill, painting makes Augusta happy. To make her even happier, I placed a radio next to her easel, so that she can listen to her favourite Egyptian music and daydream of travelling to Egypt while she paints.
Her first painting is finished! Let's face it, it's terrible. But she has two and a half skill points in painting now, and has registered as a self-employed painter. 
The painting sold for 31 simoleons. She has earned much more from selling those Cosmos flowers!

She has also learned the scuba diving skill, by snorkeling at a beach near her houseboat.

And all this time spent in the sun has given her a nice tan, which also enhances her mood.

Next: 3

3/?

Because Augusta had accomplished so much - she learned the three skills important for adventuring, Charisma, Athletics and Handiness, and two additional ones - I decided she deserved to go on her first travel, even though she hadn't earned the Opportunistic lifetime reward yet (another important asset for adventurers, because it doubles the visa points). But I knew she would gain happiness points faster once she starts adventuring.

A taxi boat came to pick her up, and she drove towards the afternoon sun.

Here we are, Shang Simla! Augusta is riding a bike to the house of the townie who will give her her first task. She is bursting with happiness - because of her Adventurous trait she is happy to be abroad, and because of her Eco Friendly trait she is happy to be riding a bicycle.

Before exploring her first tomb, she changed into an explorer's outfit.

And.. this is why it's good to learn the Athletic and Handiness skills before adventuring!

This is an easy tomb, though, and Augusta quickly found her way through it.

By the evening she was in possession of a level 1 visa to China, and she even had enough happiness points to buy the coveted Opportunistic skill. At the base camp she prepared the only dish she knew - autumn salad - but this time she ate it using chopsticks.

And, finally, a well deserved sleep! Tomorrow we are learning Sim Fu. Someday, when we visit Egypt, we will have mummies to beat up!

Next: 4

PalmArrow

Great start and love your sims  

Thank you, SimmingPuddin ! 🙂

4/?

A hazy morning dawns in Shang Simla.

Augusta goes down to the dining room and joins Enrico, another explorer, who is eating the autumn salad Augusta made yesterday. They chat over breakfast.

Augusta then checks the notice board to see if any new adventures are posted there. She finds one: the relic merchant needs two pieces of lapis lazuli.

She accepts the adventure, but no lapis lazuli is visible on the map. 
Still, there is another possible way to acquire it - and that is, ironically, to buy it from the relic merchant.

So she goes to the market in the Forbidden City to see what the relic merchant is selling today.

He has three pieces of lapis lazuli on offer! Augusta buys two and immediately gives them back to him, and gets double the simoleons as her prize, plus some visa points and ancient coins. If all adventures were this easy... they would be kind of boring, to be honest!

She also sells a valuable half-moon cut jade she had found in the tomb the day before, and now she has the money for some travel necessities. She visits the general store next door.

A cheap tent, a shower-in-a-can and a bicycle will do for now, but I'm planning another round of shopping for her before she returns. 

The relic merchant had immediately given her a new task: to find two pieces of mercury. This time she is not going to attempt to buy it from him. The map shows me there is mercury all over the place. She will collect it herself, but there is another thing she will do first.

A visit to the Academy! Every explorer needs to learn Martial Arts.
She is finding it very difficult so far, and is in awe with the local elder lady who is doing it with ease.

The elder lady's husband is watching her train from behind a bush. I can't decide whether that's sweet or creepy!

Augusta stopped training when she became smelly and tired, not having learned Sim Fu yet. Before returning to the Base Camp to sleep, she collected a piece of mercury on the way. Now she just needs to collect one more tomorrow.

Next: 5

5/?

Augusta wakes up very early and goes out to finish the current adventure. She just needs to collect one more piece of mercury.

There is mercury all over the map. I chose to send Augusta to pick up two pieces that were in the prettiest setting: next to the Great Wall.

She now has a surplus piece of mercury, which is great: it is valuable and she needs the money.
Before going back to the forbidden city, she visits the nearby Terracotta Army, because she has rolled the wish to see it.

After this she returns two the forbidden city, gives the relic merchant the promised two pieces of mercury and sells the extra one. Now she can buy herself some more nice things!

She buys two things to place on her little houseboat: a treasure chest to keep her finds, and a Sim Fu dummy, so that she can practice the skill without travelling to China.

She also visits the book merchant and buys a Sim Fu book and the recipe for stir-fry and, since she now also has some Ancient Coins, chats with the special merchant. She buys just a piece of pemmican from her, for now.

The relic merchant has actually given Augusta a new task: to catch two assassin bugs. But I'm not in a hurry to send her around catching bugs. If I remember correctly, assassin bugs are a pain in the neck because they are difficult to catch. She might not succeed anyway, and she deserves to take it easy on her last day. She has accomplished so much! Her visa level for China is now one and a half, she has bought some awesome things with her rewards, and she even earned enough lifetime happiness points to buy the opportunistic reward.

So she can take it easy on her last day. She stays at the market, chats with locals, orders food and afterwards makes herself a fortune cookie.

Thank you, fortune cookie, that's very helpful!

Finally, she goes to try and collect two assassin bugs from two different parts of the map. She catches the first one, but the second escapes and there aren't any more left.

The evening has started to fall, so she calls the travel agency and ends her trip a few hours earlier.

Next: 6

6/?

Having safely retuned to Isla Paradiso with some relics and a bit of money, Augusta stores her finds in her new Chinese chest. Her Sim Fu training dummy will be on the roof of her houseboat. She also buys a fire alarm, a burglar alarm and curtains to make her little houseboat look a little prettier. 

But why is this screenshot greenish? That's not the colour of lighting inside the houseboat...

... that's the full moon rising over Isla Paradiso!
I almost never play with moon cycles turned on, but since zombies come from Caribbean folklore, I wanted to have them in this save.

I send Augusta to the nearest beach to see if she will have a zombie encounter. While she is chatting with Sean Vidal, a head and an arm appear out of the sand!

The zombie seems confused and maybe a little tired.

He does not attack anyone. Instead, he lays down a beach towel, puts up a beach umbrella and reads a book while Sean, unbothered, starts to play the guitar. Life (and death) is relaxed and easy on this island. Augusta gets home safely and goes to sleep.

The next day Augusta works on her job (painting), reads skill books and goes around town to meet new townies.

She gains her first Sim Fu belt by reading the Sim Fu book she bought in China at the salon, and immediately shows off.

Since this day was dedicated to work and learning, tomorrow will once again be dedicated to adventures - but underwater adventures this time!

Next: 7

PalmArrow: Great updates.  Smiles, that's funny about the zombie on the beach.

Thank you, SimmingPuddin ! 😀