The Apocalypse Challenge... Love and Hate at the same time...

One thing about this challange is that you need to be able to get to the top of the career fast before friends you made in college start droping like flies. Thats what sucks >.<; Im planning on starting this one with a female in the military occupation and trying to marry a scientist

I don't have the link but if you search for "Pinstar" under Sim Pages on the EA site you will find their page and the downloads.

i'm about to start this challange but I have one question before I start Do I have to fallow all the restictions or just the ones for the spesific career?

P.S. Thanks for the help Scout

I'm currently working on a packet of files for this challenge that might help some of us who are having difficulty keeping everything in order. It's going to consist of an Excel spreadsheet book and a couple of Word documents, and should help keep everything in the game under control without the help of a mod (which would be amazingly hard to program, :wowsers: ).

Things I Have Planned For the Packet:
- Individual Sim Information Sheets (Includes a section for notes, so you can write down interesting things that happen during the sims' life)
- Sim Family Trees (with spaces to list restrictions specific sims have lifted)
- Condensed, Color-Coded (by EP) and Easy Reference Rules
- Score Checksheet

All of these are made to be printed off and written all over while you play the game.

I was wondering if anyone who has completed the challenge thinks I should add anything else to the packet before I finish it and put it online (should be sometime in early January when it's done) for everyone to use.

I'm doing the Apocalypse Challenge with the Legacy Challenge.

With the Apocalypse Challenge, I cannot place anything outside of the 8x8 square, but to get 9 points, I need a family fruit bearing tree. I can't have the tree?

Can my Sims marry NPCs from college? The Legacy Challenge rules say that only Sims that were played from freshman to graduation (or drop out) may move into the Legacy House. Can I marry the college NCPs as an adult OR can I move them in after my Sim has graduated (but still has 72 hrs) and play through their college years? Or are college NPCs not allowed at all with both challenges being played?

Must all bloodline Sims live in the Legacy/Apocalypse house for the restrictions to be lifted? Or can they live off the house and still lift the restrictions?

Can we put away leftovers, make a meal on the next day, but put the meal away while eating the leftovers?

Does the desert/dirt landscape hinder any aspects of the game? (other than beauty of the lot)

If my Sim is turned into a werewolf or plant Sim, can I buy cures for those, even if the Medical restriction is in place?

Preemtive thanks!

Hi, guys! I found the downloadable safe houses on the Sims2.com website and thought that I would just share the direct link to them with you all since it took me so long to find them. http://thesims2.ea.com/mysimpage/pod.php?user_id=131247
Just go down and they are on the right side of the simpage.

I haven't played this challenge in so long and now see that it's even more difficult with the introduction of other EP's now. Looks like just what I need to fill my free time while at home on medical leave and awaiting the birth of my first baby. :D



EDIT:



1. About the tree: you must first lift the politics restriction to be able to place objects outside of the 8x8 square, then lift the Natural Science Restrictions. I believe that would then allow you to have your tree.

2. I would think that since the rules on the Apocolypse challenge say "Only townies or NPC's may join the family - that college NPC's qualify as such.

3. The Military restriction must be lifted to technically let a sim move out. As far as I know, once they are gone, they cannot contribute to the restriction lifts. I believe that the heirs must remain on the lot until they lift a restriction and produce the next generation.

4. I really don't know. Sorry.

5. Nope... Just the appearance of the 'hood and lot.

6. I don't believe so, no.

Hi, I made a new neighboorhood just to play the challenge. Now, time for questions, lol.

My english skills are not very impressive, so I need a little hand to clarify some points.

1- When it's said in "Business restrictions" that you can't sell via tabs, and you also can't start a home business, buy crafting benches, it means you can't sell anything at all (besides building stuff)?

2- If a sim is going to lift the business carreer, how is he going to do that with all restrictions? Is there a business field in the jobs you can get via newspaper? (never noticed it) It's alright if you can't tell me this answer if I should find it out by myself.

3-Should we look at the refrigerator as a refrigerator or as a pantry? I mean, I need to know how to deal with leftovers. =)

4-Would it be fine (and inside the spirit of challenge) to get a hack that allow the kids to study at home? I thought it would be realistic, untill the restrictions of people going out of lot get lifted, but don't know if it looks like an unfair advantage.

5-I know you might lift "Show Business" to change appearance and "Artist" to decor your home, but I love to use CC to take pictures and build the scenario, it's half of the fun in my way of view. I hate cheating (it takes the fun away), but don't see the followed as cheating, so I needed to ask. Could I buy custom objects that doesn't add to the sims motives and needs? Could I buy custom clothes for no money via hack that won't add anything to the sim's wanting, just to make it cooler to play with items that fits the challenge better? (sometimes the games may give you nonsense clothing and it spoils the mood)

That's it! Thanks for this new exciting challenge!

Ths is in regards to the Pure Entrepeneur challenge which is on the Apocalypse challenge website. There doesn't seem to be any way of asking anybody about updates (I tried asking about something at one time, but never got any response), but I was wondering if the rules for that challenge have been updated to FT yet? It is incredibly easy to make money now since we have many different choices including selling a couple of maxis decorative objects for a huge profit (the dream catcher costs $50 and sells for $1260 after midnight and the animated brook pic costs $300 and sells for $2k after midnight). Thanks!

Hey, this sounds fun! *rushes off to create and destroy a neighborhood*

I've been playing with my simplified Seasons/Free Time rules, which basically applies the original career restrictions to the new expansions' stuff instead of dealing with a dozen new careers/restrictions (the Gaming and Journalism restrictions in particular made the game seem impossible!).

Long story short:
GENERATION ZERO
Founder - Mimi - Popularity - Medical, Hopelessness
Spouse - Tracy - Fortune - Slacker
GENERATION ONE
Heir - Charlie - Romance - Law Enforcement
Spouse - Kiera - Fortune - Military
Spare - Fabian - Popularity - Science (reinvented Thinking Cap)
GENERATION TWO
Spare - Garrett - Fortune - ???
Heir - Christopher - Family - Culinary
Spouse - Lara - Fortune - Paranormal
GENERATION THREE
Spare - Joshua - Fortune - ???
Heir - Thomas - Knowledge - Criminal
Spouse - Hope - Family - Politics (in progress)

Right now the Morenas run high to Elf Ears (Mimi had them, they bred out by Christopher, he married Lara who has them), Fortune Sims (every spouse up to Hope has been one), and BOYS (every child born to the Morenas thus far has been male).

QUESTION: If Kiera was at the top of her field when she married into the family, does that qualify to lift the restriction?

QUESTION: What do you do with the restricted goods in a Townie's inventory when they move in? They can't stay there, according to the Athletic restrictions, and you can't place them according to Politics and whatever restrictions they fall under, but you can't sell them according to Business.

I just finished doing my expanded Serial Killer Challenge and now I'm prepping for this one.

I have FT and AL. Are there rules for those EPs? (I was thinking of making my founder a witch so she could craft things using the cauldron and thus sidestep the crafting bench restrictions, but then I realized with the Military and Law Enforcement restrictions still in place she wouldn't be able to go looking for the witches and thus seek training :d'oh I wouldn't be able to use the hacked insta-witch potions I have, either.

Sounds interesting, but a list of instructions with a "what part of this do you not get" icon? It irks.

Rules for Seasons make the game just impossible... Journalism career! So unless you complete journalism, you can't accept any jobs in newspaper except the first one? How many generations will it take to accept journalism in that case? When you find it and finally at the first position and accept, you might already be an elder.

There isn't an official update for AL but here is an inofficial update of the rules for all EP's (reply #623).

There are several unofficial updated rules for FT/AL at different forums (boolprop, MATY, TSR, etc), but honestly, they're not worth bothering with. Most of them focus on making the challenge absolutely unplayable, just for the sake of torturing the player. The spirit of the original challenge was to find creative ways to overcome the bans - these new updates just aim to make the player miserable. Until pinstar comes out with official updated rules, I just ignore the FT/AL careers if they come up in the paper.

OK then! Good to hear I can move dormies in... my founder recently got into a committed relationship (she's still in college as a senior), so I can move her boyfriend into the house with her when they graduate.

I also figured out how to lift three restrictions in one generation: Henriette (founder) will lift Natural Science, which allows the use of telescopes. Use the telescope to hitch a ride on a UFO and thus lift Alien Technology as well as Hopelessness. Genius!

Meanwhile, here's a pic or two for your viewing pleasure:

Henriette van der Merwe - Currently a senior at La Fiesta Tech:




EDIT: Would you believe she's dating Goopy's cousin?

You know you can't move her boyfriend in right out of college before Hopelessness is lifted, right? You have to lift her career first, which will automatically lift Hopelessness, and only then you can move the boyfriend in to lift something else. (eta: also, how do you plan to graduate him if the spouse can't be playable?)

One way to start with a female founder is to have the boyfriend visit (you'll need to get red hearts before she leaves uni) and get her pregnant before he moves in. So if she takes a while to top her career and is almost an elder when he moves in, your house doesn't die because she can't get pregnant anymore. You have to time your pregnancies right so she doesn't miss work (and has to quit because of the Slacker ban), but it's doable.

It's all about timing. I boolpropped her boyfriend so he can declare a major and graduate along with her, so that's not a problem. The best way to avoid the Slacker ban without lifting the Slacker restriction is to make babies first before sending her off to work. Don't forget, also: if her hubby uses the telescope, he'll come back pregnant with alien babby.

You're not supposed to use cheats, though, so technically by using testingcheats and meddling with your future spouse you already failed. But hey, it's your challenge.

It says the normal restrictions don't apply to the founder when he/she is in college.

EDIT: It also allows you to build a basement in your house, and cheats are required for that to some extent. So, technically speaking, no, I didn't fail. If I used cheats once the founder graduated, then yes, I would fail.

Building cheats are always allowed, they don't make anything harder or easier for gameplay. And the "normal restrictions don't apply" means you're allowed to have showers, alarms, everything you want while you're in college. What you're not supposed to do is use cheats that make the challenge easier, like making the future spouse controllable to skew him as a better match for your founder and future plans. You're supposed to take what you get from the NPC you chose to marry and make do with it, that is also part of the challenge. Apocalypse is not supposed to be easy, and using loopholes here and there to make it easier kinda defeats the purpose.

So yeah, if we're talking about following the rules strictly and playing it exactly as it's supposed to be played, you did lose, sorry. But like I said, it's your challenge, if you wanna cheat, go for it.

Goddamn it. OK then, I'll restart.


EDIT: It's not really 'my' challenge per se, since someone else drew up the rules. I didn't actually see any specific rule that says "no gameplay cheats", but if they're really not allowed, then I'd rather start anew and not use them.

I mean it's "your" challenge in the sense of, you're the one playing it, so if you wanna bend some rules, it's your call. You know?

The rules say no cheats or hacks that give you advantages that other players wouldn't have. Basically, anything that makes the challenge easier for you isn't allowed, the only cheats you can use are those that don't make any difference - building cheats to make basements, moveobjects to delete stuck sims, force age (if the kid has already completed the full age cycle but won't grown up), etc. There's no hardcoded list of cheats allowed or forbidden, you just have to use discretion and ask yourself, when you think of doing something via cheat, if you're doing it because you absolutely need to (you have a stuck sim), or because it'll make your gameplay easier (you wanna make things easier, when they shouldn't be).

Good luck with the next attempt! I had to try two or three failed times before I finally managed to complete it the first time.

Exactly! Unless you are playing for points, the goal is to have fun. As soon as you stop having fun, change the rules.

When I did this challenge I created a heavily modified rule set which fit my play style and my mods - there was no way I was taking my mods out for this challenge. Some of my changes made things easier (teens can use the phone to call for scholarships or go to college anytime not just Tuesdays, and they can go to college even if Body is less than 10) and some made them harder (townie aging and random townie death devastated the pool of potential breeders).

I blatantly cheated a couple of times, such as when my guy on Athletic level 8 was scared to death. I debated for a long time but in the end realized this event had totally ruined the game for me, so I quit without saving and replayed the day. Another time I dragged up someone's hunger bar a little bit because for some reason she hadn't gotten fed at work and she was so hungry she wouldn't eat, just whined about being hungry.

I encourage people to try the challenge as written because it *will* challenge your playing abilities, but don't follow the rules off a cliff. It's a game. Have fun.