Forum Discussion

jonnydnicholson's avatar
jonnydnicholson
6 years ago

English monarchy story...

I've been going with my idea to create the royal household of the Plantagenet - they're a medieval dynasty who were synonymous with European monarchy during the Middle Ages and especially with the English throne. The household was founded by Geoffrey Plantagenet (Count of Anjou), a cadet branch of the Angevin empire and through Geoffrey's marriage to Empress Matilda was related to the House of Normandy.

The monarchs of Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III, Edward I, Edward II, Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III are the direct line monarchs. Henry VIII is a grandson of Edward IV, but the House of Tudor isn't a cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet like the houses of Lancaster and York). The House of Plantagenet ruled over England for 300 years.

However, I won't be following the exact hereditary/historic line, but using some Simtistic license to create a game based on the House of Plantagenet as well as the royal court of Henry II. These include the Great Officers of State:

Lord High Steward which can be represented by the Judge Career

Lord Chancellor - Politician Career

Chief Justiciar - Politician Career

Lord Great Chamberlain - Politician Career

Lord Constable - Military Officer Career

Earl Marshal - Judge Career

I'm using real names where available (like Eleanor of Aquitaine) and making realistic names whenever I want to add someone not based on reality. I'm also adding the extanct earldoms (Arundel, Essex, Gloucester, Pembroke, Richmond, Worcester) at the time of Henry II's succession (this is the same for the people who are the Officers of State). This is because I want to realistically carry on the officers of state etc in a hereditary way and the occupation of Grand Marshall will be given to the monarch. I've given Matilda, Geoffrey and Henry's siblings military careers too. I'm debating whether to include Stephen of Blois, Matilda's rival for the English crown after Henry I.

As you can probably, this is more of an experiment type game rather than a challenge as, once Henry II there weren't any threats from outside the House fo Plantagenet for the crown other than Prince Louis of France at the end of King John's rule. Also, another bonus to this is I get to experiment with making houses/castles...

Mods? Only the monarchy mod...

However, I would like to create a Wars of the Roses game, perhaps even as a challenge for myself (and anyone else inclined). I would start that off with Edward III and creating his children:

Edward, The Black Prince, Prince of Wales

Isabella

Joan

Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

Edmund Langley, 1st Duke of York

Mary

Margaret

Thomas of Woodstock

I should also count building Windsor Castle be a challenge too...

By having Edward III as the starting point, I can have deposition/usurpation challenges using the monarchy mod. There's lots of scope for the challenges. Henry IV (grandson of John of Gaunt) deposes Richard II (grandson of Edward III) and usurps Richard, Earl of Cambridge - the line should have been carried through the line of Lionel of Antwerp and not John of Gaunt's line - the latter of which Henry IV was of (as an FYI, Henry deposes Richard II for personal reasons to do with Richard II confiscating Henry IV's inheritance). Richard, 3rd Duke of York who eventually tries to depose Henry VI, but fails and its Edward IV who deposed Henry VI in 1460 at the Battle of Towton who is then himself deposed in 1470 by Henry VI, but then reclaims the throne in 1471. Finally, Richard III deposed Edward V and is then deposed by Henry VII...

I know that last paragraph, especially with my notes, gets complicated - all those Richards, all those Henrys... Anyway, I just wanted to share my ideas. If you've got the monarchy mod, feel free to have a go. I don't really know if I would download just for this as I wanted the monarch mod for the Plantagenet game.

One reason I like playing The Sims, especially like this, is the family relations stuff (not just the family tree, but the faces popping up in the relationship panel and such).

Still, I hope people are in good health. Stay safe and enjoying the game!

gameplay issue

6 Replies

  • lovecat182's avatar
    lovecat182
    6 years ago

    That's such a coincidence. 

    I have just made Geoffrey d'Anjou, Matilda, Henry II, Eleanor of Acquitaine, John (son) and Eleanor (daughter). I'm going to play the monarchy from the Plantagenets to the Windsors. I haven't made all the children because I thought it would become too complicated, so any offspring who have no children or whose families do not play a role later on by marrying back into the family or being a key figure in history (e.g. Margaret Pole/Plantagenet) are excluded from my neighbourhood. I am making generic commoner families to populate my neighbourhood. When I get to the Tudors, I will probably make the Boleyns, Howards, and Seymours. I'm just playing it by ear 🙂

    I have the Royalty mod as well, so I can assign titles, name the heirs, decree offspring legitmate or illegitimate, and win or lose favour with townies.

  • jonnydnicholson's avatar
    jonnydnicholson
    6 years ago
    @lovecat182 That sounds good - I hope you're having fun with the game. What other mods, if any, do you use? I downloaded a couple, but can’t find them in Create-A-SIm as they were mostly medieval clothing mods, but the medieval bed doesn’t work either. I’m not very sure as to how I can create my own mods (and frankly, not really confident of success) either.

    I like your ideas about 'townies' as well. I’m going to let the game generate them for me and have them being non-played sims that come and go around the neighbourhoods. As a friendly suggestion to you, perhaps have your townies could have business, private attorney, spy (not the Strangeville military career one), gardener, fisher and academic careers. Maybe there can be the odd writer as well (there was Chaucer, Erasmus, Hobbes, Machiavelli, More, Rousseau and others). Copernicus and Newton were scientists as Holbein and Michelangelo were artists.

    ‘Commoners' (Thomases Cromwell and Wolsey are good examples) did start to rise on a more regular basis in to becoming the officers of state (both rose to Lord Chancellor). This is mostly due to the situation of most aristocratic families being extinct after the Wars of the Roses. This even happened at the highest levels of society as Richard II became King because Edward, The Black Prince (Edward III's son and heir, Richard II's father), died in battle during The Hundred Years War. I don’t know when this more meritocratic society actually started because Thomas Becket came from ‘commoner’ origins and held the posts of Archdeacon of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor on merit. Like all history, there are continuities and changes (rather than some people claiming that history started for all at (for example) the French Revolution).

    All of my royals have officer careers to start with as do the second-born sons of the nobility. In my game, the heir apparent become a Grand Marshall straight away (the other members of royalty start off as brigadiers, any second-born son of nobles start off as Lieutenants and lower if they're born of high 'Newcrest' stock lol).
  • lovecat182's avatar
    lovecat182
    6 years ago

    I am having fun and learning a lot - this was my main purpose in starting from Geoffrey and Empress Matilda - I find the period of history from them to the Stuarts fascinating but I learnt it out of order and incompletely. I've had a rethink about the Sims in my game and I added Henry the Young, Richard I, and Geoffrey II. Originally, I was just going to play the lineage but as the Royalty mod allows people to vie for the throne, and I want to learn the history, I have added more of the key players.

    Currently in game I have:

    Geoffrey Plantagenet (deceased)

    Empress Matilda (deceased)

    Henry II (King)

    Eleanor of Acquitaine (Imprisoned - not living in neighbourhood)

    Henry the Young (deceased)

    Richard I

    Geoffrey II

    Constance Duchess of Brittany (Geoffrey's wife)

    Eleanor, Fair maid of Brittany (their daughter, just born)

    John 

    Eleanor Queen of Castile

    Alfonso VIII of Castile (Eleanor's husband)

    Berenguela (aka Berengaria) (their first child)

    Richard I and Geoffrey have the officer career as you suggested. Henry II is monarch as his job, due to royalty mod. 

    I also have a story progression mod, but I installed it years ago so I cannot remember which one. I think I turned it off for this game though, as it allows non-active households to run amok, get married, get pregnant, etc. It has been fun in previous games where I wanted my Sims to have more free will and surprise me.

    For Custom Content, I used The Sims Resource (a staple website) and Tumblr blogs (search key words: Sims 4 Medieval). Lots of cool meshes, recolours, conversions from The Sims Medieval, medieval versions of instruments, stoves (pot over fire), fridges (larders), etc. I was at a loss until I found dedicated Tumblr pages 🙂

    I like your idea about adding in other notable figures from history! Definitely have Chaucer, Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Brontes, Charles Dickens, Newton, Einstein, Michelangelo, etc. when their time comes around. Also love the idea about the careers for people in my neighbourhood. The Pole family will definitely be spies when Henry VII and Henry VIII are on the throne. 

    How's your game going? 🙂

    I think I will set up a blog/Tumblr at some point to document my game. I've been taking lots of screenshots. Makes killing them off easier cuz I grow very attached, especially to the attractive ones haha. 

  • lovecat182's avatar
    lovecat182
    6 years ago

    @lovecat182Oh, I wanted to add that I used cheats to:

    • Afford fancy castles - I downloaded lots of pre-made medieval houses, castles, and community lots. I also have a cathedral and Westminster Abbey in my game (may not be historically accurate).
    • Change Sims' appearances once I had made them - found out they had red hair or grey eyes, etc. or the toddlers born in game looked wrong.
    • Change the sex of a toddler cuz Eleanor Queen of Castile would not give birth to a girl so Berenguela was born male but now is a healthy female toddler :laugh:
    • Create the Sims I forgot so they were part of the correct family, i.e. all Henry II's children in my game are on his family tree as the offspring of him and Eleanor of Acquitaine, and they are all siblings and in the correct age order, despite me making some of them after their younger siblings.
    • Change the age of Sims to make them younger when needed. This was mainly due to me not turning off ageing for non-active households so they grew up while I played other houses. Also, to make Henry II have children that were already young adults, I had to age him up to adult and then back down to adult again when he became an elder.

    Come to think of it, I think that may be part of a mod. I think it was a mega mod or something, the same one as the story progression. I can enter CAS using Change Sim on the mirror or dressers. I use the cas.fulleditmode cheat to edit everything including traits.

    I use a swimming pool surrounded by a wall to dispose of Sims when their time comes. 

  • jonnydnicholson's avatar
    jonnydnicholson
    6 years ago
    @lovecat182 Most builds aren't going to be historically accurate nor are they to scale. Windsor Castle can only really be put on the Twin Oracle Point lot and needs a square keep at one end with an octagonal (it should be round, but octagonal is the closest I'll get) keep in the middle and houses/offices in the walls at the opposite end to the square keep.

    Twin Oracle Point is where my Palace of Westminster is. Any of England's great halls or minor castles that came with a particular Earldom can be created on pretty much any 30x20 lot as a two story homestead (I'm trying to keep the 40x30 lots for royalty) - the square 64x64 lots are too big for me and I just get carried away, so I'm going to leave those as they are. Perhaps they can be bought and changed as money trickles down the generations. I'm fine with that choice, but its a shame I can't create other royal castles/palaces and have them owned by the monarch for his/her children. Never mind - the children can always be moved out to make these other places.

    Turning Westminster Abbey in to a restaurant feels wrong to me.

    I'll be creating castles and such nearby for royalty (I think Newcrest will be the royal district with lot size being determined on closeness to the crown). Then I'll have the Great Officers of State and (possibly) the other barons being in the other districts depending on how much space is left.
  • jonnydnicholson's avatar
    jonnydnicholson
    6 years ago

    The game keeping my brain active (having something to focus on and gets me to think about things). I’m finding it relaxing as the game is distracting me from the present local/national/global situation - nothing about it is good. I like having something to do as well when I’m listening to audiobooks, podcasts and stream programmes or watch debates/interviews.

    I find this era fascinating too. The nation-state of England (Britain and the UK too) really starts to develop in the Norman/Plantagenet eras and when it comes to history, I’m interested in state formation. However, I started with the Plantagenets because its pretty immediate in terms of house creation to monarch of England. I created the House of Wessex (Cedric of Wessex to Harold Godwinson) and tried to get the dynasty going from Cedric to Alfred the Great to Edward the Confessor, but that got too long and tedious (although, in a sense, this might work in favour of The Sims as Windenburg could be the Saxon kingdom of Wessex and Willow Creek could be the Kingdom of Mercia). This is similar to the House of Normandy - it was several generations from the house being founded to William I coming to the English throne in 1066. The Plantagenets were house founder to legitimate monarch in one generation, so I could have them rule straight away (I’ve not bothered with Stephen of Blois) and get in to developing the network of administration/officers of state.

    I’m adding sims on different turns, so Henry II (the officers of state and their first child) on turn one then Geoffrey FitzEmpress etc on turn two (until I've got the sixth child fathered by the Earl of Oxford). This brings age gaps as well as (more importantly for me) ensuring the order is correct. To make things a little less predictable, William FitzHenry survives. From then on, allow each sim couple to have a maximum of three children (this allows them to complete the family aspirations). There aren’t virulent diseases, sims dying in tournament accidents, being poisoned by devious cooks or spies etc in the game. There are other ways, like not using the fertile trait, potions and only have them try for a baby once every turn and that's only when they've been out to socialise - this way even having three children is not guaranteed.

    Still, if you want to do this, then you would also have to include the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France (House of Capet). Furthermore, dukes paying homage to the French crown (Henry II does this as Duke of Aquitaine and Duke of Normandy) as the Scottish king (as Earl of Huntingdon) and Welsh princes pay homage to Henry II. Something like this isn’t possible in the game, unless you have them meet up and just say that is one king paying homage to another. The Pope invites Henry II to invade Ireland and start a reformation of the church in Ireland. At the time of King John, the Pope declares Magna Carta void. I’m not really interested in putting other countries on the map as I regard SimLand to be the same country already. Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Windenburg, Stangeville etc are parts of that same country. There’s no right or wrong way to play The Sims - I’ve heard it being referred to a ‘sandbox’ game (there is a limit to the game, but within that you can do as pleases you). This idea of The Sims being a sandbox game reminds me when I played in the garden with my digger toys as a kid. I would pretend they were operated by people inside who were actually doing things (like clearing an area of the garden to build something).

    I’ll have a look at your Westminster Abbey, but Westminster Abbey is only relevant to monarchy for coronations, deaths and marriages. There is Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Perhaps if/when you get to Henry VI, build Eton College and Kings and Queens colleges at the University of Cambridge (there are a couple of other colleges at Oxbridge founded by royals and those around the crown).

    When I get around to imprisoning Eleanor of Aquitaine I’m going to be building a dungeon for her… That way Henry FitzEmpress can go downstairs to be mean to her lol. I've not decided what William FitzHenry will do, but the decision might have been made for him...

    The royalty mod isn’t working all that well for me (or it could be working and I've got things wrong). I can give them the general titles, but apart from that its not really doing anything. I was under the impression that I could actually give sims the title of Earl (I know not Earl of Leicester, or even Earl of Newcrest etc), but the option to invest them as Earl  doesn’t seem to be available… Although, I have just noticed that as one of my noble’s reputation has increased and one of the mood squares says “You can ‘count’ on me”.

    I really should look for more medieval things - thanks for the tip. I’m currently using the standard clothes in Create-A-Sim (made in to the colours of the coat of arms of the individual) and the Tudor filter in build and buy mode. I don’t have the story progression mod, but I’ll have a look in to it and see if its any good/useful…

    All that said, I hope you're well...

About The Sims 4 Gameplay Questions & Issues

Get help and answers to your gameplay questions and issues in The Sims 4.20,022 PostsLatest Activity: 9 days ago