Trade Off - TS4 Game-play Challenge by EQCreations
Introduction: The Trade Off challenge borrows elements from other game-play challenges. It is a type of rotational challenge with members in the same household. It begins simply with two Sims that can only be controlled during assigned time frames. More on that later but first how about some background to get your creative storytelling juices flowing.
Backstory: The letter was handwritten on stationary embossed with a strange logo. The envelope has only your name and the logo with no return address. Thinking it is just junk mail you toss it in the bin but then take it back out again when you realize the writing was vaguely familiar. Was it from someone you knew? Just what kind of prank were they trying to pull? "You have been selected for a special project." Yea ... sure. Not going to fall for that trick. As you glance back down at the letter a phrase catches your attention "... and a vast fortune awaits when the assigned tasks are completed". Hmm this could be worth investigating even if it is a fake. "Just wait til I find out which of my friends sent this" you say thinking out loud. You decide it could be worth a good laugh and quickly make note of the address and arrange transportation.
Your story starts here: Who sent the letter? Was it an old friend or family member? Why was it sent to you ... for what purpose? There will be someone living on the same lot with you. Are you related, old colleagues or a previous romantic interest or perhaps an enemy from your past or a total stranger?
I am still playing my Sims they have undergone many changes, Evil Sim with more access to Good Sim has become a bit more autonomously mean. Evil Sim has under gone career changes after getting an offer to join culinary, since she enjoyed the cooking channel while uncontrolled and maxed cooking I took it, she maxed it and has now joined the painter career. I have left Good Lazy Sim in her writer career since she hates work always has whims for vacation days, where as Evil has whims for promotion.
They have also just moved house to a more luxury shack, had a very eventful day, both are 5 star celebs now. Good lazy Sim has had a bad day when I sent her to collect the post, evil Sim came out to Imply her mama was a lama before yelling at her (not my doing), she was just on her way to work. Thorne Bailey joined the conversation and also insulted her before kicking over the bin. Good lazy Sim picked up the rubbish and took it to her kitchen bin, the first time I have ever seen deal with rubbish voluntarily. She has since picked up 2 plates voluntarily maybe they can be trained. Given a very generous amount of time.
I really should learn my Sims names, Evil and Lazy are just there stand out nick names for now. I have a house made ready for my next couple but have opted for a shared kitchen this time.
@Plainevil It is a bit liberating to only control one Sim at a time. Watching them do things autonomously can be very entertaining ... or maddeningly frustrating. >:)
I really should learn my Sims names, Evil and Lazy are just there stand out nick names for now.
Remembering Sims names is so overrated :lol: I am prone to giving my Sims unique names and especially bad at remembering them or how to spell them! :grin:
@EuphorialQueen ehehe Aww, thanks for making that and wanting to be his Stan! Or... did you make that in tribute for my love of Josh? Either way, it was a nice surprise to open. *Hugs* <3
@Plainevil Sounds like you made a really fun pair for this challenge. I need to make my Sims much more opposite for my next play through of this challenge instead of only using one opposing trait. Not much drama happens with them. But, they do get up to some SMH moments when I'm not controlling them. Especially Zack, I swear he has the attention span of a gnat!
While Aubree was at work, I watched him; dance, then do push-ups, play on the computer, watch 3 seconds of a movie, run on the treadmill, dance again, get a glass of milk, cry under the covers, do sit-ups, dance again, clean his shower and inbetween every single one of those interactions, he ran outside to shovel a random pile of snow. o.O Usually a pile alllll the way around the back of the house. And, he never actually finished shoveling any of them so they're all still there. *rolls eyes*
@Karababy52 Glad you like <3 --- Sims traits not "opposite enough"? Use the Re-Trait (think that is the right name) potion bought with aspiration points.
@EuphorialQueen Pfft, I LOVE it! That's exactly how I feel about that Sim. If I had Get Famous, I'd make him a Global Superstar and put my Self Sim in there just so I could stan him. LOL >:) Self Sim Hubby might get a little jealous, but meh... He'd have to wait until I made my Adam Lambert Sim a Global Superstar first though. ehehe I love the Sims, so fun how you can play out silly little stuff like that with no repercussions.
Hmm, retraiting would be a good idea if I were closer to the beginning than the end of my challenge. Plus, neither one of them have enough reward points to buy it. I spent some on Gym Rat, Creative, Marketable, Steel Bladder and Frugal. Oh well, I'll keep that in mind for next time. :)
Just realized I never put up my starting info or updated or anything! So here are the first two weeks in the life of Ophelia Marshall and Felicia Upton (Marshall & Upton - new from CAS) - all pictures except the Sims themselves will be under the spoiler buttons to keep the post from being ridiculously long. This is Week 1, with Week 2 coming right after.
First up - Ophelia. Bodybuilder aspiration, Active, Foodie, Outgoing traits:
And her housemate - Felicia. Best-selling Author aspiration, Lazy, Glutton, Loner traits. She's pretty much the exact opposite of Ophelia and is going to add even more challenge to this challenge, since having her do anything strenuous (which is pretty much everything to a Lazy sim) will drive her into the 'too uncomfortable to do whatever it is I'm wanting her to do' range:
Next, the house - Stuck Together Stucco. I used the shared kitchen option, and included a vault for each of them, which meant the house was even more basic than it would've been otherwise. §22,000 goes by really quickly when §6000 is used up in vaults. :smiley:
WEEK 1: First thing they did that sunny, spring morning was get jobs. Ophelia found a team in need of a waterperson, and Felicia answered a job posting looking for a writer's assistant. Since Felicia's job and aspiration both require writing, I decided that she needed to get moving on that during the first week. So she'd be the first one controlled. First up - before they ever made it into the house - a trip to the newly opened Oasis Springs Library (which used to be the Futures Past Museum) where Felicia could get started writing and Ophelia could start meeting people:
The next couple of days passed much like this. Go to work, come home, go to library to write (drag Ophelia along so she can socialize and apparently search for a penpal online - I got the notice for that one evening), come home, eat dinner, send Felicia out to gather, then home to read until it was time for bed. Then things changed: Wednesday night, while Felicia was out gathering, they had a visitor:
But then Marcus showed up, and Ophelia apparently decided he was much more interesting company, and took her pho and went to talk to him: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7838/46394527024_656b54a4d4.jpg Which left Felicia alone in with a bunch of strangers. To curb her loner stranger issues, I sent her to harvest the plants. And there she met an interesting person by the name of Maximiliano Irwin. What makes him so interesting? The fact that he scanned her in mere moments after they met (unfortunately I missed capturing the scanning itself and got only the leaning backwards reaction that happens from being scanned), and she got the confident Xenophilia moodlet (from finding out a sim's alien status through socialization) and they continued to stand there and chat until it got late, and then parted with a hug: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7824/47065938972_871799446f.jpg Saturday evening, Maximiliano called to ask Felicia if she wanted to go get something to eat - not a date - and I had Ophelia join them so she could satisfy her foodie tendencies eating the fancy food at Chez Llama: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7875/32176173917_b56db3ca98.jpg Photos of food were taken and now reside on the kitchen wall:
Standings at the end of Week 1: Household funds: §2313, which dropped to 1758 once I purchased a desk and chair for Felicia to put the Milton Word Processor on. Promotions: Both of them moved up in their career - Ophelia made it to Locker Room Attendant, and Felicia to Blogger - so level 2 of their respective careers. Aspirations: Nothing for Ophelia this week, but Felicia made it to milestone 2 of her main aspiration and has only one objective to complete before moving on to milestone 3. I also started her on the Curator aspiration, but kept forgetting to switch her over when she went out, so she got the first milestone completed and a little of milestone 2.
WEEK 2: Joint Control Day, but Felicia had to work at 9 AM thanks to her promotion, so it was just Ophelia in the morning. She went gathering - which was much faster with her as she'll jog wherever she goes. Then Youssef (the librarian that Ophelia made friends with on that first day in the library) called and asked if Ophelia wanted to go look for bargains at the Flea Market. She had time before work, so she accepted:
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7855/32176168717_25b08785ac.jpg That purple lamp looked like just the thing to spruce up Ophelia's room, so that evening, a brief build/buy session for both of them produced this: Ophelia's additions - the lamp and her currently empty trophy case:
Monday was work day for Felicia, so off she went. Ophelia, who doesn't work again until Tuesday, went gathering and then headed to the gym. This time her trainer was Marcus, and while working out, she completed the first stage of her aspiration:
After Felicia returned home from work, Maximiliano called Ophelia (I guess they became friends when they all went out to eat) to see if she wanted to go the dance party out at the Bluffs. Ophelia made sure that Felicia and Marcus were also included in the invite:
After dinner, there was a knock at the door, and since Ophelia's always wanting to chat up more people, I had her answer it. And there on the other side...
Wednesday night after work, she got a call from Marcus. "I can't get you off my mind. Do you want to go on a date?" Sure! So off to Chez Llama they went:
Saturday, just minutes after Ophelia headed to work - in the rain - a visitor stopped by Stuck Together Stucco... Clara Bjergsen. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7861/33242717358_cc8659f66a.jpg Felicia had taken out the trash just moments before Clara showed up, and stood out in the rain by the trashcan hoping to avoid Clara.
When it finally became clear that she just couldn't stand there any longer, Felicia headed back inside... right past Clara, and left her standing there. Gotta love Loner sims and strangers: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7862/32176126357_8703fb9f64.jpg
After the work day for Ophelia, it was time to head to the Romance Festival! Clearly Ophelia was going to invite Marcus, but she and Felicia - despite their differences - have become really good friends, so Felicia and Maximiliano should come along, too: https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7861/47118105741_05e8733f80.jpg Not bad for her first ever painting. Even though the quality is Poor, it adds Flirty Ambiance 2 when enabled :smile: :
and here we get to see what was said - "I see... oh... that's the oddest destiny. Well don't make any plans." from the Guru, and the moodlet reads "Sad +1 Romantic Doom (from speaking with the Romance Guru) The Romance Guru has just informed Ophelia that her romantic destiny is filled with challenges and hardships." :
Then the night was over and it was time for sleep, as they both had to work on Sunday.
Sunday: (included here because I forgot that the new week starts on Sundays even if we don't move to single control until Monday, so I didn't factor the weekly standings until they were in bed Sunday night) It's New Skill Day! But both of them have to work, so getting those skills up wasn't very easy. However, the day was bolstered by the fact that Ophelia came home sporting a new uniform. Congrats to the new Dance Team Captain! :
Both women did achieve success on New Skill Day though. Ophelia got her Charisma up to 4, which would be needed for her next promotion - perfect timing considering I wouldn't have control over her for the coming week. And Felicia got her Writing to 6, which was a great start to the coming week. Also, a small makeover for Felicia's room with her promotion rewards now added to her room - the painting and the super comfy chair which is perfect for her Lazy self:
Standings as of Sunday night of Week 3 (because apparently my brain decided the week started on Monday, so I factored Sunday's earnings into the standings): Household funds: §4142 Vault funds: §2428 for Felicia, and §1001 for Ophelia - writers get paid more, and get bigger promotion bonuses than athletes do until the last three levels, thus the major discrepancies in vault holdings. Promotions: Both earned two promotions each this week to get level four in their respective careers - Ophelia is Dance Team Captain, and Felicia is Advice Columnist. Aspirations: Ophelia moved to milestone 2 of her main aspiration, with one objective left before moving to milestone 3. I also started her on the Curator aspiration, and she completed milestones 1 and 2.
https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/ECEB9BA6396211E9834E26975FCF53D6 The Sim of your dreams is finally yours. But then you realize they have truly nightmarish traits ... UGH! Fret no more Polly's Potions and Beads Emporium to the rescue! Serve up this potion to give your new pal a brand new outlook on life. Shared by #EQCreations #ReTraiting #Potion
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