Apocalypse Challenge Discussion Thread

The restriction to not use the computer for anything but daily tasks, does that mean I can't write books on it for the Writer Career?

You can write books if that is your daily task as a Writer. That means you can only write books from job level 3 to job level 5 of the Writer career and at all levels of the Author branch. You can't write books at job level 1 or 2, or in the Journalist branch, unless you've already done eSport Gamer.

Keep in mind that you cannot publish books until you lift the Business/Investor restrictions and you cannot self-publish them until you lift the Painter/Patron of the Arts restrictions. That means there's no reason to write books unless you want them for your Apocalypse family to read. For instance, my founder wrote about 16 skill books after he completed the eSport Gamer career to help the family get started on skills.

Aidan and Liberty got married and tried for baby shortly after she moved in. I was careful about the timing because I didn't want Liberty to lose her job by leaving work early when she went into labor. Something I've learned from this challenge is that pregnancy actually lasts 4 days if you don't do a pregnancy test. On the first day your Sim doesn't know that she's pregnant yet but her Hunger, Energy, and Bladder needs all drop faster than normal. The first trimester doesn't actually start until your Sim realizes that she's pregnant, about 24 hours after she tried for baby. The first, second, and third trimesters also last about 24 hours each and then your Sim goes into labor. That means you should allow 4 days for pregnancy if you haven't lifted the Journalist restrictions. Liberty gave birth to a boy who I named Isaiah Ellsworth.

Aidan completed his career and lifted the eSport Gamer restrictions about halfway through his Adult lifestage. With those restrictions lifted, my Sims can use computers, cellphones, TVs, and tablets except for a few actions that are restricted by other careers. Aidan later lost his job because he was late for work. He was playing chess so he could go to work focused but I wasn't paying enough attention to the time and I waited too long to cancel the chess game. However, since he was already at level 10 the restrictions remain lifted. He used the extra time to write skill books for as many skills as he could, starting with the Cooking skill. I have Outdoor Retreat, so the way the rules read right now my Sims can only cook fish items and the first fish recipe on the grill is at skill level 3, so the skill book is very important for letting them get started on the Cooking skill. He died of old age.

Liberty stayed in the Astronaut career and chose the Space Ranger branch. She completed her career on her final day as an Adult. She managed to keep her job until just a couple days before she died of old age. This time, I sent her on a space mission for her daily task and she didn't make it back until she was already late for work. I should have just let her go to work with the task unfinished. With the Space Ranger restrictions lifted, my Sims can now use tents, place things outdoors, sleep outdoors, and visit Granite Falls. Of course, putting things outdoors doesn't help much since the items still have to be in the 8x8 area used for the house but it does mean I can put other things on the roof besides the rocket. Similarly, even though the family can visit Granite Falls, they can't go to the National Park area or the Hermit's Hideaway since they haven't lifted the Diamond Agent restrictions on visiting community lots and other homes.

Isaiah got the Art Lover, Clumsy, and Geek traits from the Legacy Challenge Random Trait Generator, in that order. His childhood aspiration was Artistic Prodigy and his adult aspiration is Renaissance Sim, these also came from the trait generator. Isaiah completed his childhood aspiration and got A's in school as a Child and Teen. I paid close attention to the aging up time and day when he became a Young Adult and decided that his next birthday would be around 5 a.m. on a Friday. After comparing that to the work schedule, I chose the Criminal career for him so that he could complete the Oracle branch. It turned out I was right, so he had his birthday on his day off and was able to complete the career. He wasn't as fortunate on his next birthday, which was also around 5 a.m. on Friday, because that is a workday for the top level job. He's now an Elder and contributes to the family income by hacking.

Isaiah made friends with Summer Holiday as a Child and Teen, and asked her to move in when he became a Young Adult. This time, I actually did move her in. Isaiah and Summer quickly developed a romantic relationship but I waited until they were both Adults before they tried for baby. Summer gave birth to a boy who I named Darryl Ellsworth.

Summer kept her job in the Culinary career. I had originally planned to have her lift the Chef restrictions but I discovered that Aidan's skill books gave little or no skill gain at the upper skill levels, so I chose the Mixologist branch for her instead. She was doing well in that career until her birthday. Unfortunately, her aging up time overlapped her job, so she left work early and had to quit. I got her a new job in the Business career and chose the Management branch. She's currently a Vice-President, level 7, and due to age up but she's also in the third trimester of her second pregnancy. She should go into labor around 10 p.m. Sunday, and I expect her to age up early Monday morning or after work on Monday, but I'm not certain I'm correct. She might lose another job. I'm finding the Management restrictions quite difficult, so I really hope she'll be able to complete the career.

Summer gave birth to twins this time, named Anna and Zach Ellsworth. The twins are now children, Anna got the Geek trait, Zach got the Outgoing trait, and they both got the Rambunctious Scamp aspiration. They are both A students and they are both on the final milestone for their aspiration. They have another week before they age up.

Summer's first child, Darryl Ellsworth, is now a Teen with another week before he ages up. He has the Art Lover and Cheerful traits. His childhood aspiration was Social Butterfly and his adult aspiration is Chief of Mischief. He completed his childhood aspiration, got an A in elementary school, and has an A in high school.

Isaiah died of old age a few days ago. Everyone else slept through his death but Summer got the Widow moodlet and was Very Sad for about 2 days. Summer aged up to Elder a few hours after she gave birth to the twins. She reached level 9 in the Management career over a week ago (Simtime) but she needed two skill points to max the Charisma skill and another skill point to reach level 8 in the Logic skill, so she just got her final promotion. I've been warned that she's on her final days and I expect her to die of old age tomorrow night around 10:30 p.m. That means she only has one more workday, so that second pregnancy was probably necessary to give her the time to complete her second career. The Management restrictions are now lifted and that's a great relief. It should make lifting the rest of the restrictions much easier. Summer's traits are Outgoing, Cheerful, and Active. Her aspiration is Friend of the World. She is not going to complete it because she has to meet someone new in 3 different places and right now the family is not allowed to go anywhere except Granite Falls. That would give her two locations but that's not enough.

I added another Sim from the Wonder Child challenge to the household while Darryl was a child. I'm allowed to do that because Isaiah lifted the Oracle restrictions. Her name is Lyla Knight and she's by giudittajudita. Her traits are Creative, Cheerful, and Active. Her aspiration is Bodybuilder. She has max skill in Cooking, Gourmet Cooking, and Painting. I was looking for the cooking skills so that I can get the Chef restrictions lifted. Lyla also has the Professional Slacker reward trait, so the Management restrictions don't apply to her and quite a few other reward traits, including Connections. I put her in the Culinary career and chose the Chef branch. She's now a Pastry Chef at level 7. She will age up to Adult in another week, which should be the same day that Darryl becomes a Young Adult and the twins become Teens. I intend to have Darryl marry her when he becomes a Young Adult and have at least one child very quickly. I am taking a slight risk by moving her in so early, since I won't be allowed to add another Sim to the household for this generation unless the Comedian restrictions are lifted. However, with three other Sims in this generation, including another female, I don't think the risk is very big.

Recap: I have completed the eSport Gamer, Space Ranger, Oracle, and Management careers. The first generation was Aidan Ellsworth and Liberty Lee. The second generation was Isaiah Ellsworth and Summer Holiday. The third generation is Darryl, Anna, and Zach Ellsworth and Lyla Knight. It's currently Thursday of week 15, which makes it day 103.

@Pinstar1161 has posted the rule changes for Get To Work. You can find them at Get to Work Challenge Rules Mega-Update on The Sims Legacy Challenge website. The mega-update also includes the GTW rule changes for the Legacy Challenge and Wonder Child challenge.

The rule changes for the Apocalypse challenge are pretty simple.
1. You may not take careers in the new Doctor, Scientist or Detective careers. There are no restrictions related to them and they are not required to reach level 10 to complete the challenge.
2. Aliens may be freely incorporated into the family using the existing rules for adding sims to the household.
3. You may not purchase a retail business.

There was another rule change in May, restricting the ability to influence baby gender with food or music. It's under the Babysitter restrictions. So far, no restrictions or other rule changes have been added for the stuff packs.

• Summer reached the end of her expected lifespan and has survived several days beyond it. She is still in the Business/Management career.
  
• Lyla is an Adult with 18 days to her next birthday. She just completed the Chef career. I can finally have a stove, a refrigerator, and cook other meals besides Fried Fish and Grilled Salmon. Unfortunately, it came just a little too late for the latest round of birthdays.
  
• Darryl is a Young Adult with 18 days to his next birthday. He finished high school with an A. His final trait was Clumsy, to go along with Art Lover and Cheerful. I got him a job in the Special Agent career and plan to make him a Diamond Agent. That will allow the family to travel to other lots and also lets me move Sims out.
  
• Anna is now a Teen with 11 days to her next birthday. Her aspiration is Public Enemy, her second trait was Glutton, and she's also a Geek.
  
• Zack is also a Teen with 11 days left. His aspiration is Chief of Mischief, his second trait was Geek, and he's also Outgoing.
  
• It's currently Saturday of week 16, day 112.
  

You might have noticed that all three of Isaiah and Summer's children got aspirations from the Deviance category. I'm beginning to wonder whether the random trait generator is really random.

Summer died of old age the same day, and gameday, that I made my last post. She went upstairs to help with Anna's homework but laid down to die instead. :'(

Grim Reaper was over at the neighborhood picnic area and took quite awhile to arrive. He carried his food with him and continued eating while he processed the death. I think it was the longest death scene I've had in any Sims game.

Thanks for starting this thread and reporting on your progress, #Sketch793! I am contemplating on starting my first attempt of this challenge and find your insights very interesting and useful.

I was surprised to see that you chose Tech Guru - eSport Gamer as your first career. I did not consider it at all important until I read that you can actually write skill books! I did not know that - how do you do that?? Can you write different level skill books?

And the fact that your second generation married Summer made me realize that you don't have to have aging on for unplayed sims.

I have my own WonderChild for the challenge. I had not read the restrictions very thoroughly before finishing, so my sim is both well and not so well equipped for this challenge. He has lots of skills (e.g. max on cooking, charisma and logic) but I played for lots of points and chose the cheaper reward traits for him. So instead having Steel Baldder and being Antiseptic, he is Always Welcome and gets Free Services which traits are useless for the founder of the Apocalypse challenge.

With your experience, what career would you choose for my founder? He has maxed charisma, cooking, fishing, logic, painting, violin and writing, has 6 pts in video gaming, 5 in handiness and photography and random points in all the rest of the skills (3 pts in Programming).

Good luck with your challenge! I hope you keep on posting about the Ellsworths!

Thank you, @Tiipii. I'm glad you found this thread helpful and I hope you will continue posting to it. I've been spending most of my time on other games recently but I will be posting more on the Ellsworths when I get back to them. I do intend to complete the Apocalypse challenge.

You can write skill books if your Sim has completed the Renaissance Sim aspiration, which gives you the Professorial trait. You can only write low-level skill books as far as I could tell but this is the only time I've written any so I might be wrong. I only wrote one set. I might have gotten higher-level books if I'd written more of them.

I do think eSport Gamer is fairly important because it unlocks the major restriction on the computer. I rely on the computer for getting Focused and Inspired, having fun, and learning skills. eSport Gamer also unlocks the TV, the notebook computer, and the major restriction on the phone. Summer and Lyla watched a cooking channel on TV while they were mixing drinks for the Culinary career. That gave them fun and cooking skill while they were doing their daily task. Summer used the phone to make business calls as her daily task in the Management career. All of the children have used the computer for some of their child skills and aspirations, and they are now using the computer to learn Mischief (Troll teh Forums). None of that would have been possible without eSport Gamer being finished.

With the skills your founder has, I would probably choose Management, Author, or eSport Gamer. You'd have to learn more programming and video gaming for eSport Gamer but you have enough skill to get started in the career. I don't recommend Chef for your founder unless he already has level 8 in Gourmet Cooking, because there isn't any way to learn Gourmet Cooking until you finish Chef or Author. Of course, you should make your own choice and any career will be useful.

Good luck with your challenge! I look forward to hearing about it, either here or in your own thread.