Yet another scenario gameplay thread

Thank you for commenting, @Babykittyjade and @maggiemae8135 :)

About the new scenario, I played just enough to start captioning the screenshots. One of the triplets really walked by the very first day, but had already left before I could greet him. It's probably for the better, because Amadeus realistically could know what Tamara looks like and see through her disguise.

Here's adult Amadeus:
https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-09-4332k1a.png

Let's start this (even though it won't be nearly as adorable as the toddlers).

To avoid spamming, I will post the full story with tons of minor character name dropping on my blog (https://enkisstories.tumblr.com/tagged/sims4PerfectlyWellRounded/chrono) and in this thread focus on the scenario goals.

Prologue

Lansing, State Capital of Michigan, 2046

https://abload.de/img/17.11.21_22-25-06irk80.png

Governor Donner: “…what brings us to Detroit. Well, in the past the city was known as a giant open air cesspool. Nowadays it is more on the erratic side, with, if you believe the gossip, the organized crime turning cops into fishes and vampires dropping bat guano on people at every corner.

Any suggestions what to do about the situation…”

https://abload.de/img/17.11.21_22-23-450gj1o.png

Vice-governor Bellamy: *raises hand*

https://abload.de/img/17.11.21_22-24-11ookkj.png

Governor Donner: “…that do not involve a tactical nuke?”

https://abload.de/img/17.11.21_22-22-27q0kr7.png

Vice-governor Bellamy: *lowers hand*

https://abload.de/img/17.11.21_22-25-15mhkuk.png

Governor Donner: “Sigh. Okay. Here’s the plan: I’ll pull a Harun a Rashid and go see for myself, coming to Detroit as just another backwoods dweller hoping to make her fortune. Once I’ve got a better picture of the situation, I’ll call another meeting.

That was everything for today, thank you, ladies, gentlemen and autonomous mobile devices!”

Tamara left the conference room whistling.

Any excuse to throw a party, ey? a small part of her brain said in an almost accusing tone.

The woman chuckled. ONE party? Haha! Nah, one wouldn’t be nearly enough.

(Note: The vice-governor was mayor of Detroit up until 2043. In the long run he is very likely to become president, but there are two heavy contenders who are also played sims.)

After picking veggies and fruit at the community garden and discussing street art with total strangers, Tamara returned to her apartment. Up there, right in front of her door, a trio of locals was idly chatting on the floor. They were not from the same apartment building, just the general neighborhood, and Tamara soon realized why they had come over:

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-18-16jejap.png

Turned out her next-door neighbor was none other than Reese Thornton! Officially a lowly employee in CyberLife’s PR department, Reese had gathered impressive local fame as pianist. Despite this, she had never lost her connection to the “common man”.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-20-395mjl9.png

Reese had fun dancing through the evening with Tamara. She may be on to "Tammy"'s game, but keeps her mouth shut.

The same-aged women even parted as friends that night, the first of three friends Tamara has to make for her aspiration and the first of the five she has to make to win the scenario. I'm happy that this happened so organically.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-24-37ftjfg.png

On the downside, Reese and her husband seem to have a fulfilled love life!

Tamara couldn’t even complain, for fear of Reese really knowing her secret and spilling it to the press. She better returned to her apartment, make a salad or something and kept her mouth shut, so that Reese would keep hers shut about Tammy’s undercover shenanigans, too.

And so ended Tamara Donner’s first day in Detroit.

The next day Tamara already left Detroit again, to drive to the suburbs, Dearborn, specifically. Tamara's new acquaintance, Timothy what-was-his-name-again, had told her on the phone that he knew a junkyard owner who wanted to get to know her. The man's name was George Cahill and he was the father of another acquaintance Tamara had made yesterday: Erwin Pries.

It all sounded a little fishy, and by right one should avoid such a setup. But for one, following the invitation served to keep up Tamara's cover as naive girl from the province, and for two, her real life persona had the experience to deal with stumbling into a hive of crime or whatever. Especially because Tamara wasn't in deep cover. She had her real phone on her all the time. Therefore she felt prepared to deal with whatever she'd find in Dearborn. Hopefully it would shed some light on the situation the city was (or wasn't) in!

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-33-129tk69.png

The Cahill junkyard was a place where all young children wanted to play. It definitely wasn’t a place where you wanted to raise young children!

Nevertheless the Cahills were doing exactly that. George’s son Erwin and his girlfriend were certainly not in a hurry to find a place of their own, and George didn’t see anything wrong with the twins playing among the trash.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-34-47h9kxx.png

Tamara spent a good deal of the morning picking Karl and Mark up from the street, carrying them back inside and trying to tell them apart.

She also got in a row with George's foreman/housekeeper. Nothing serious, just a testament to that man's Paranoia that was well in line with the whole family's. But after what George and Erwin had went through in Strangerville in 2038 and 39, their attitude was even justified.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-29-120qjm2.png

So why had George wanted to get to know Tamara? Turned out it was rather simple, nothing criminal at all:

“Heard you were new to Detroit, gal”, the man said with a smile when Tamara finally found his underground party cellar. “Timothy claimed you're planning to throw parties by the dozen?”

“Yes, that’s true! It’s my... aspiration, for lack of a better word!”

“Good!"

George nodded eagerly.

"I think we can help each other. See, I have this party cellar, but little to no connections in the city. I want to expand my business, like recently I bought Sibley Quarry, and I thought of maybe renting a dozen or so prisoners. Sounds stereotypical, I know...
Getting a foot into the android upgrades & repairs bizz sounds promising, too. With CyberLife having dropped that branch, I suppose I could rake in big money if I turned my junkyard into sort of an android hospital.

But without friends in the right places I’m stuck, so that’s where you come in. You are a people person, but also a bit on the naive side. So before you fall into some gang’s clutches, I thought I’d offer you to team up with me. I provide the party location, and you make folks like being here and pass the word around!”

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-39-460nk5g.png

Who’d have thought! No shady deals at all, just plain old greed coupled with a hint of a good heart buried beneath. That was something Tamara could get behind.

Maybe her undercover gig would even help doing some good for this city? That would be awesome, and reminded the woman of why she had went into politics in the first place.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-39-59gukcv.png

Provided whatever George had caught in the Sibley forest wasn’t contagious.

Maybe Tamara should leave now and return later..

George isn't friend #2 yet, but he is the most likely candidate. Also their age difference isn't that glaring, so George is also a potential romantic interest for Tammy.

It's probably too early to think about what three skills Tamara will maximize, but even so GARDENING is high on the list.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_21-57-59lzk61.png

She got a first taste of it when she picked veggies at the Rooftop Farm, like any new sim or sim below the poverty line is a allowed to in my game. (Contrast to picking the whole farm clean, what yields something like 75K, and is a privilege of the owners and managers.)

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-30-405bjaj.png

Then she helped the Cahills with their soy beans & trash plant garden.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-46-15mjk0n.png

After her visit to the junkyard, Tamara visited The Future House right across the street. It was a community center that sported a cafeteria, crafting stations and even a jacuzzi on the roof. A message board announced the latest neighborhood projects that residents could vote on and a man whom Tamara had briefly seen running a foodstall in the Arts Quarter was trying to be helpful as the Future House's official Crafting Mentor. In practise he was annoying, so Tamara avoided him.

Tamara spent a nice afternoon here, carefree playing on the swings with her recent acquaintance, Lime...

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-47-54q0kw5.png

...or finding a batch of lemon soda that nobody wanted. After bottling the brew up and taste-testing it, she also understood why nobody had touched it before.

So JUICE FIZZING is probably off the list.

But Lime was very eager to share FABRICATION tips with Tamara and she will build COOKING naturally just by virtue of being a single, and CHARISMA will auto-level with each succesful party.

https://abload.de/img/18.11.21_22-49-57g9jr6.png

On a sidenote, Tamara also got prank-called while two locals opened a brawl right next to her. Welcome to Detroit, I guess.

After befriending Reese, Lime and George, Tamara could start to think seriously about hosting a pary. She now had enough “pull” for people to actually attend.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-13-40rvjhv.png

For the first event Tamara opted for a costume party. Not only would the colorful outfits liven up the location, the undercover Governor also felt a little more secure wearing a costume.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-23-596rkqb.png

Had Tamara expected everyone to congregate to the party cellar, she was now proven wrong. The guests enjoyed dancing outside.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-20-24s7kt4.png

That gave her time to prepare snacks and drinks. Being low on funds, Tamara had to both cook and staff the bar herself (Maybe MIXOLOGY should go on the list of skills to master).

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-21-52sdkyn.png

Her efforts seemed to have paid off, because in the end Reese, the celeb, hugged Gerge Cahill, the ambitious junkyard owner, like an old friend.

This party ended Silver level by the barest thread. The last task was "Eat cake" and I wasn't sure to get it out of the stove in time to actually get eaten up before the timer would run out.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-50-59zikgf.png

Llamacorn is judging you, Tammy...

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_19-51-525sknc.png

The second event was a House Party and Juice Party rolled into one (the second started right after the first ended).

Invited were all residents of the neighborhood, including the landlord, and the main attraction was the glass llamacorn George Cahill had gifted Tammy after the succesful costume party.

The houseparty ended comfortably in Silver, the keg party shoot up to Gold level. That completes tier 2 of the aspiration. Tamara also has Charisma 6 now and a quick dip into Friend of the World provided points to buy the Always Welcome Bonus trait.

As for her real mission, Tamara spotted a few spellcasters here and there, but nothing in their or the bystanders' behaviour suggested that they were posing a problem.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_20-01-26avje0.png

People getting turned into fishes left and right seemed to have been a severe exaggeration.

Our next goal is to attend social events (not neccesarily parties) in five different places and host three parties of silver level or better.

https://abload.de/img/19.11.21_20-05-49cakkd.png

For starters Tamara decided to take the teens, Emma, Alice and Tane, to a dance party as their adult supervisor. Tane kept going on about how the Renegades had a much better party place on an island in Lake Erie, but secretly he enjoyed being here.

Result: Dance parties aren't scored.

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-11-41qtkyb.png

Next was an informal barbecue in the park with the Cahill household and the Thornton family. The idea here was to strenghten the emerging bond between the two families.

It was a very relaxing event.

Result: Silver

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-43-14lqjqq.png

Emory Thornton inviting Tammy to a workout much to my surprise counted as a social event.

In between doing push-ups, the man kept looking at a poster of his wife Tamara has put up and clapped excitedly. Apprantly they are still in love like the first day and he adores her :-)

Result: Neighbor visitors aren't scored either, but may I remark that Reese probably has scored jackpot with her hubby?

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-51-28e4jka.png

Geek Con didn’t count as a social event.

Result: Tammy won a computer at the Hackathon!

Her score was a mere 14%, so apparently the festival management fudged the numbers to let the sim most in need for money win. Or maybe Tamara mixed the announcements up and the computer was actually the price for the best costume?

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-29-51q4jt9.png

Next was a Kava party upstairs at the Bowling Alley.

The drawback of this kind of party - random sims inviting themselves - was actually a benefit in this story. Among others, Tamara met the inventor Elijah Kamski, a man she couldn't just have approached normally in her "Partygirl from the countryside" persona. In fact, El for the longest time was an npc that I only played in side saves. He is far too (in)famous to walk around random venues in Detroit (also a bit of a recluse). Only recently did he become more approachable.

Of course in her real identity as Governor of Michigan Tamara Donner could easily approach Kamski whenever she wanted. El in turn is totally oblivious to whom he is really talking to here. I doubt he’d recognize anybody outside his techie circles. (Their cars maybe).

Result: Bronze (mainly because the "Call to" glitched and without sims taking kava I couldn't toast them for the higher tier goals.

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_02-01-3986j6q.png

And finally Tamara planned a pool party (houseparty) in the Kamski villa.

The guest list was filled exclusively with androids this time, because Tamara imagined this as a Meet & Greet of the android inventor and several ordinary androids of later generations that he hadn't personally planned/programmed anymore. Sadly the androids weren't interested in their distant creator and El wasn't interested in run of the mill androids that didn't turn the world upside down.

Result: Bronze

Not only preferred the sims to watch a movie on Elijah’s showy TV in the basement over using the pool, they didn’t even move aside to let Tammy play on the console to fulfill a secondary objective. This was the first party since starting this scenario that ended in a desaster. Yes, technically it reached Bronze, but in practise it was just awful.

Next: Who's going to pay for all of this, by the way?

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-36-08nak8i.png

Returning from her latest gig, Tamara was greeted by a heap of bills: The rent, water, power...

When had been the last time Tamara Donner had paid a bill? She couldn’t remember. What didn’t get deducted from her bank account automatically, a secretary saw to that it got paid. But “Tammy” didn’t have a bank account of her own. Or sufficient money to pay all those bills.

What Tamara Donner had instead, was a pressing need to stay in character, meaning she had to raise the money with the means available to her alias only. Which were... few, to say the least.

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-45-174xjvd.png

Good thing the landlord swang by that day! Tamara used the opportunity to ask him to grant her a respite for this month.

Byron: “Can’t, even if I wanted. See, I’m just the handyman.”

My actual landlord is one Ritvik Johnson, but he lost the position after a makeover and got replaced by several new landlords that I tend to accidently delete on townie purges. So now I headcanon all those throwaway landlords as handymen in Ritvik’s employ.

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_01-45-53m5jac.png

Byron: “But that aside, why don’t you just apply for welfare? The bureau would cover your rent. Ey, probably not the rent for an apartment this size, but it would be better than facing eviction.”

Tamara: “Because I... can’t?”

Byron: “Why the heck not?”

Tamara: “Uh... Ask all the other homeless in this city?”

Byron: “Hm, yeah, I see. Well, you may still turn out a five meter high monster plant in disguise, but then you'd still be a decent person. So how about a loan? I give you 500 bucks now, and if you cannot pay me back by next month, then your glass llamacorn will be mine. Deal?”

Tamara: “My llamacorn?! No! Uh... okay? With an option to buy it back!”

Byron: “Okay, deal!”

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_22-56-52jyke5.png

We still have two Silver tier parties to host for Tamara’s aspiration, so let's do that! I chose a Gala Dinner, along with keg the easiest party type. In-story it was nothing Gala at all, but a bunch of friends meeting to share and try out new recipes.

Daneel: “This is your apartment, Tammy? You told us it is large, but from else what you said, I imagined it to be way more dreary!”

Tamara: “Haha, no! This is my neighbor’s apartment. Reese was so nice to let me borrow the place for the party! She's sucha dear!”

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_23-01-56nnkow.png

Since she was in dire need of money, Tamara decided to blur her two personas. Just a little! Hosting parties to raise money (or secure votes) was part of her almost daily routines as a politician, after all.

And so, while on the surface a neighborhood cookout was going on, Tamara subtly nudged the attendees into loaning her money.

Everyone contributed...

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_23-05-40bikm9.png

...well, ALMOST everyone. Daneel ardently refused.

I’d been surprised and annoyed had materialistic Daneel given away money!

Result: Silver

With the money from all the loans and a very convenient "Marry for an inheritance" phone call, Tamara is now swimming in 5,000 dollars in cash - a fortune in regards to her current situation, but a hardly noticeable sum compared to the funds she normally has at her disposal. Tamara fully intends to repay at least double that money when she is back in her office.

Next: Still one party to go and that one brought about a big turning point.

During the cooking party Byron took a selfie with Reese. It was hard to say what was the more impressive motive: the famous pianist or the rocketship in the background.

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_22-59-33i0kt4.png

You know I love my rooftop farm, but it, especially now that they have that rocket, completely trashed the view from the Thorntons' apartment.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/7c38da0edf4e968da351c156d066b171/tumblr_phhjom7SRE1t1fm14o1_1280.jpg

Byron: "You really should get a reduction on rent for those neighbors! Aren't you afraid that thing might crash into your window sometime?"

Reese: "You mean like the UFO in 2038...? The damage has long been repaired, but if you know where to look, the marks are still visible."

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_23-15-544pj0y.png

One final party to complete tier 3! Tamara made it a Keg Party with the intent of bringing George Cahill together with more potential investors. So she invited all the high rollers she had gotten to know so far:

Luna Villareal, Elijah and Chloe Kamski, and this was the moment to remember that teenaged Emma came from a wealthy background, too.

Mind you, neither of the guests had any idea why they were so willingly following the invitation of this stranger to their city.

Elijah: “It's the glass llamacorn, of course! See, it’s like a stuffed giraffe, only made from glass. And a llamacorn instead of a giraffe. Naturally. But in all other regards it’s totally the same principle!”

Luna: “That... posed more questions than it answered."

https://abload.de/img/20.11.21_23-25-573jkci.png

The morning after the party, when Tamara went to clean up, she found a notebook on the kitchen (and only) table. She had seen Emma scribble into it during the party, so the label reading “My diary” didn’t come as a surprise. Maybe this was an opportunity to gather the intel the Governor had come here for? On the other hand, would the diary of a random teen contain anything useful?

Emma's diary is a gold mine, seeing that she is a major character with strong ties to the main sims. Brace yourself, Tamara - everything you have come to Detroit to learn about will get covered, and then some!

- Emma lives in a haunted penthouse

- Her mother is a civic designer involved with the floating festivals

- Her step-father is the CEO of CyberLife, Detroit's erstwhile biggest job provider. The diary confirms how much the company is in shambles at the moment, and lines out how Brandon Villareal defacto owns it and is using CyberLife to fund for his personal space program.

- Her best friend is Max Villareal is leader of the Young Renegades, a different entity from the original gang, that is more or less inactive. By extention there is some information about the current state of the Villareal mafia.

- She plays piano at Stargazer Lounge, the hottest celeb hangout in the city. Lots of dirt on them to be found within those pages.

- Her godfather is a teacher. On first glance there is little to gain here, except that Daniel is married to a police lieutenant. The diary contains a full account of the "people turned into fishes" incident as well as the vampires of Detroit (fewer than estimated, but one actually is aforementioned police Lieutenant).

Tamara has just more or less read my whole blog including the Reed/Phillips/Manfred family tree that links Emma to Daneel across several obscure nodes.

It seems the Sulani civil war and its results left a special impression on Emma:

https://abload.de/img/screenshot3142wmkdm.png

But most interesting was how casually Emma wrote about all the oddities that had reached the State Government in form of gossip and rumours.

Tammy now understands that the strange things she'd heard about were considered perfectly normal by the residents of Detroit, as people had the amazing ability to normalize everything. Androids, vampires, aliens and spellcasters existing wasn't notworthy in this city. Only when they turned criminal did it make news, and then it was no different from when a mundane human would have committed the same crime.

Who’d have thought!

THE END

At this point the story portion of the scenario was concluded and I'm topying with the idea of just stopping to play, accepting the fact that I'd lose the scenario. Grinding for the still missing objectives doesn't sound that appealing. Sure, I could clickety-clickety-click a fifths friend for Tamara to get the checkmark, but that wouldn't have any meaning, it would just be a mechanical exercise. I'm much more interested in following a plot point concerning Daneel (that will yield one more post at best). Maybe afterwards I'll take Tamara back to Lansing and follow her life there.

These are my stats so far:

- Complete an aspiration
She reached, but didn't complete, tier 4
- Have five friends
Tamara has four: Reese Thornton, George Cahill, Lime CyberLife and Byron Schubert
- Maximize three skills
Her best skills are Charisma 8, Cooking 5 and Rocket Science 4