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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 7:07 AM
Default Challenges and having the right EPs.
I used to try to do the legacy and apocalypse challenges in the past. Now, I can't seem to find anything really compatible with what I own.

I own all the EPs and one stuff pack (teen style stuff). I can't really seem to find anything about the legacy challenge with the apartment life expansion. Also, the only link I've found for the apocalypse challenge that factored in apartment life also required the mansions stuff pack (I don't even know why a stuff pack of any kind would be necessary).

I have thought about using the any game starter to play the game without the incompatible eps (like apartment life), but I don't know if that thing is meant for you to actually play a game with. I used to use it just to make cas screens.

Does anyone even do challenges anymore? I can't find much on youtube. Most series seem to end rather quickly. I don't think I've even seen one that saw the founder turn elder.

What can be done if you don't have the right EPs for a challenge? I think with the legacy challenge you have the option to ignore stuff you can't fulfill due to lack of certain expansions. I don't know about the apocalypse challenge though. Also, I remember the difficulty of the challenge spiking when seasons came out. I'm tempted to play it with the original rules (assuming I could even find them, this site's challenge section only seems to only list fan variants).
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just a girl
#2 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 7:44 AM
For Apocalypse I'd recommend this two links:
http://apocalypsechallenge.kaleiope.com/ (updated original, multiple versions depending on EPs)
http://modthesims.info/t/453459 (realistic revision)
I'm not sure of importance of M&G, but it's probably only about restricting certain objects. If you see a restriction for an object you don't have in game due to not having M&G, you could just ignore it and consider yourself restricted by default.
Alchemist
#3 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 8:10 PM
Well, if you don't have the right EPs for a challenge, you could always ignore the rules don't apply and add new ones to fit your EP set up. I think a few people still do challenges (check livejournal and tumblr--more so tumblr), but I think that a lot of them are short so that there's a better chance to actually finish it.

As for the legacy challenge, I'm not sure what specifically needs to be handicapped for apartment life--unless you mean using apartments for the challenge. But I wouldn't recommend that, because very quickly you'll find that there's too much money going around and also not enough space. I find apartments, after a while anyway, are a bit of a tax shelter. But, now that I think about it, that probably happens with all legacies--after a few generations, the challenge is gone.

Take a look at the different types of challenge rules out there and maybe mix and match. There are a few variations of the legacy challenge out there like the Officially Wacky BoolProp Challenge, which I like because it is a 3 generation legacy (so your founder will grow old and die, if you so choose) and it's highly customizable, having several handicaps to choose from. It's here: http://boolprop.net/viewtopic.php?f=218&t=35. And wow, I haven't been to Boolprop in ages. Anyway, there are rules about voting for heir, but you can adjust those to whatever platform you're using or just pop in places like here and ask for a quick vote.

Otherwise, I'm not really sure what challenges you looked at, but just in case, there are quite a few challenge lists out there, like the one on MTS, http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=560, or the one on boolprop: http://boolprop.net/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=19. If you encounter dead links, you should be able to google the challenge name and find rules somewhere.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
Mad Poster
#4 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 8:20 PM
I use to do challenges too (playing them is really fun), but lately, I got caught up working with a custom hood. It's soon to be finished (at least, If I found it isn't completely corrupted along with the back up) anyways, so I might return to playing them again.

Now back to the topic on hand, what particular challenge you have in mind? I have all eps installed apart from bon voyage and no stuff packs. I usually try to adapt to the rules and change/make new one's If it ain't current settings of my game. For example, If there is one that requires sims digging (BV feature), I just instead have sims as a replacement use another activity/recreation to earn money, like through painting on a easel or fishing from a pond (Seasons thing).
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#5 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 8:39 PM
It's easy enough to make up rules as you go. The main thing with AL is apartments, decide if you will allow them or not. You won't find anything about it because Pinstar wrote the challenge before AL came out. Any AL rules that you find-if there are any- are simply made by other players so you may as well make your own.

Now and then I will do a challenge, I rather like the asylum and toddler mania challenges, but again I change the rules to suit myself. Most of us have our games modded to an inch of it's life so you have to be flexible whether it's your mods or EP set up. What you want to do is keep to the spirit of the challenge. Also you know how well you play, if you are a master at the apoc challange make your own rules harder, if you are fairly new player or a player who hasn't really tried a section of the game before doing a challenge, give yourself some room. The point of a challenge is to be challenged but also have some fun.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 10:26 PM
Really the only challenges I've ever attempted are the legacy challenge, apocalypse challenge, and asylum challenge. I only did the latter once.

Honestly, to me, the only significant thing AL adds is witches. For the legacy challenge, I guess you could add that on to the 'black sheep' challenge. Or I guess you could give yourself an extra point for maxing a warlock's/witch's magic skill or w/e its called (haven't played the game in years).

As of right now, honestly, I'm not going to attempt challenges. I actually don't know how to do a lot of things. I've always had a problem with my sim's biological clock (so to speak) getting out of sync if I had them go to a community lot for a bit (they would run out of energy before it was actually bed time). Also, I find it really hard to run a business because of this. You can't really stay open for more than 2 or 3 hours (or just a few minutes in the real world). I just find that too short a time frame to really get anything done. I really just don't know how to use community lots properly. Yeah, I know you can refill most of your motives on community lots, but you can't restore energy other than through coffee and dream dates. Honestly, using dream dates are the only way I've found to really get anything done on a community lot.

Also, I haven't really explored the entirity of the game. I've never had a plantsim. I've never gotten a business past rank 2 or 3. And I haven't really ever tried to play a romance or popularity sim (I was mostly making family, fortune, and knowledge sims). I don't even get how you're supposed to accomplish the '20 best friends' LTW (or w/e it is). I've never managed to get a single sim past 10 friends. When you have that many you have to spend all of your 'socializing' time maintaining them. Note that I was just playing the base game back then (I was playing a lone fortune sim, he ended up having to marry because he couldn't get enough family friends on his own to reach the top of his career). But this was long before BFFs existed, which honestly I think might make this actually doable. Also, I've never really gotten parties to work, and I think I've only gotten an 'outing' to work once. I'm not even sure how you're supposed to do a party really.

In short, I don't think I've really explored the game enough to seriously attempt a challenge. Looking at the kinds of strats people on youtube use for the apocalypse challenge, its become apparent to me that the challenge was meant for people who were highly familiar with the game's mechanics. One guy was thinking about unlocking a career that would let him move in the diva, because she's always at the top of the slacker career. And she apparently brings in $70,000. I didn't know either of these things. And besides, the only npc (aka, not a townie) I ever tried to move in was the cow mascot. The game let me marry them, but they weren't added to my household. She just walked off the lot. And I ended up having to abandon that attempt at a legacy challenge, because the game wouldn't let me marry anyone else!

Oh, as for another amusing noob mistake. I've only ever used the noodlesoother ONCE. That's because the first time I used it I couldn't figure out how to remove it and my sim died as a consequence. Yeah, I've had a lot of sims die over stupid reasons. On another legacy challenge, my founder had just gone through college, I built his house and then had him watch the clouds until the newspaper arrived. A satellite fell from the sky and killed him before he even got his first paper. Yeah, FML. I didn't even try again for a while after that.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#7 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 11:26 PM
For a new players challenge I would suggest the official wacky Boolprop challenge over on Boolprop forums- or it use to be not sure since they moved. That's a challenge that can be easy or hard depending what you pick from it. Next would be the asylum or legacy challenge.

Remember to tick the need perks if you are having a hard time with motives. For needs buy the best bed you can, use bubble baths for comfort, make meals and stock the fridge, use dates to raise aspiration and for quick fun play red hands or look at a cheap picture if you have no cash and your sim is alone. I've done just about everything the game has barring a few LTW that I wasn't interested in so feel free to pick my brain.

You can marry in the mascots so I am not sure what happened there. If you are on disks make sure that you are fully patched.

We also have a silly question thread in here if you are unsure of something.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Theorist
#8 Old 9th Dec 2017 at 11:40 PM
Personally I have been playing Sims 2 on and off since it was released and I have yet to play a single legacy challenge. Sticking 10 generation with just one family is just not something I enjoy as a rotational player. If I wanted that I could play Sims 3/4.

I used to love the Apocalypse Challenge but never actually played it the way the creator intended it. The whole thing, especially with the later ruler additions just gets way too ridiculous and "gamey" no dancing, no changing your sims' clothes even if they happen to age up into a fancy ballgown (you know, because those would be so easy to come by and practical after the end of the world) eternal winter etc. etc. etc.
So oevr time I developed my own version of a Post-Apocalyptic "Playstyle"

BACCs, while itneresting, just take waaaaay too long and waaaay to many Sims. Same with the (otherwise very excellent and creative) Test of Time Challenge.

So my experience is don't get bogged down on the rules of a particular Challenge, but just use them as a lose guideline, make them up as you go along etc etc etc.

The Challenges I like best are the ones that have very general themes and don't try to micromanage everything. Like the totally awesome Pleasantview Epic Challenge, which simply has "Play the Pleasantview Families for 10 generations, preserving all the family names, using no CAS Sims and as few Townies as possible"
Mad Poster
#9 Old 10th Dec 2017 at 12:27 AM
You can use the setHour [#24 hour point, for example, 2100 for 9 am] cheat to set the time accordingly to when you left the lot back at the residential lot. I believe it doesn't allow to change minutes to specific point other than zero, so what I do is set the clock one hour ahead, while taking in mind that it took that much to walk/drive/fly or got caught off guard by something that stop them reaching the house If it's only a block away. There's also a mod out there, that makes time community time in synch with residential lot, called Community Time Project.

P.S. And hey If you need help with anything, you can always consult with us, the community. If you want, we can help you around with getting familiar with the game a bit, more or less
Alchemist
#10 Old 10th Dec 2017 at 12:45 AM Last edited by Phantomknight : 14th Dec 2017 at 2:35 AM. Reason: spelling
I linked to the new boolprop forums and the OWBC rules in my previous post--it's still up and I agree it's a good starter challenge.

@xBlackHeartx, don't worry so much about not knowing how to do something. The best way to learn is to play. And if you get stuck, well, in-game, there are tool tips for general questions and you can always google your other questions. Since TS2 is an old game, chances are someone had the same question as you and it was answered. (By the way, owned business lots are treated a bit differently than regular community lots--your sims should be able to sleep there. I think you can buy beds and I definitely know that you can buy Bon Voyage's tent and sleep on business lots. That's what I usually do. )

Don't worry so much about making mistakes or "failing" a challenge--that's how you learn. Besides, the challenge failures often make for the best/funniest stories to read. And speaking of reading, a lot of tips I learned was from other simmers, reading other legacies/challenge stories. There's plenty of simmers with challenge stories on tumblr and livejournal and the old stories from the Sims 2 Exchange were archived here: http://clockwatching.net/~jack/s2/reader/. I recommend starting with ephemeraltoast's Apocalypso A-Go-Go if you decided to read up on older legacies. It's one of my favorite challenge stories and you should learn a bit from reading it.

ETA: Turns out Snooty Sims TS2 info center is still up too: http://www.snootysims.com/thesims2i...p?id=infocenter. It's a great resource, especially when you want to look up a part of the game you've never played before. I still have old paper printouts of some of the charts and faqs there and use them regularly.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
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