GAZ NOTE: I'm in the final stages now. I've toyed with various ending requirements, but I've settled now firmly on The Artisans; all three current heirs have masterpiece portraits hanging in my lowest basement (aka "the gem room"). It is week 21, day 4, when I have Wesley and Anya move out. That leaves Sims in the house, or to put it another way, that leaves 3 open slots. I think you know where this is going.
An old acquaintance was easily persuaded to provide me the necessary genetic material. Prior to the necessary (and not entirely unpleasant) ritual, I had utilised the extradimensional entity once more to supernaturally increase my fertility, in combination with the genetic fertility enhancement treatment Faith had prepared. I was confident I would not have to engage in such primitive rites often.
Triplets, just as the extradimensional entity promised. All males, unfortunately, though that may be sufficient.
Indeed. As I write this I am awaiting a ruling on whether or not the final heir must be female, given my It's Hopeless handicap. Assuming of course one of these boys is a werewolf, it will mean that I can start painting them as a toddler, potentially - the only The Artisans requirement is that a portrait of each heir must exist, there is no requirement that the heir must be an adult. I could start as an infant except that I can't tell whether they're a werewolf at this stage.
It is week 21, day 7.
Glorificus has been somewhat outstaying her welcome, but I indulged her research. She became a world renowned artist and author, and a particular anonymous fan sent her some blueprints for an intriguing device. It requires a certain amount of life force to construct, but both Angelus and Doyle are young and will shortly have sufficient excess.
Moodlet manager unlocked! Now all I need is 60k LTR points, but honestly that seems doable for Glory in reasonably short order; she has 35k banked, and some fairly big ticket wishes locked.
Doyle was now the President of the Newly Unified Planetary Governent. We were not at all hesitant to ruthlessly exploit this for our own purposes, especially since we could finally make use of our large amount of land. We would ride out the rest of the apocalypse in luxurious comfort. But Doyle's duties would require him to live elsewhere - or at least, so I informed him. Then I invited over a random male of reasonable health to once again acquire his genetic material.
Politics lifted. A surprisingly powerful lift actually, since it unlocks the Funny interactions that I am so used to relying on to build friends. Of course it's a little late in the day for that now.
On week 23, day 6...
Glorificus has been trying and failing to successfully paint an appropriately perfect portrait of Gunn. She was this close to having me kick her from the premises, when she suddenly revealed an inspiring talent. With a little of my own inventive genius, we created a reusable device that I call the "Device for Managing Biological Functions and Neurobiological Abnormalities", or "Moodlet Manager" for short. Though Glorificus appears to prefer the name "Panacea", and I do have to confess that is a little catchier.
The last of my cubs is born. Lorne has a different father to the others, but both had adequate genetic potential.
Note that the choice of a single final child here is deliberate (it is the 8th Sim, so it could only have been a single birth). Earlier when I said I had requested a ruling on whether the final generation heir could be a male werewolf; the adjudicators were kind enough to rule that yes, this was allowed, so Gunn is the heir (which is why Glory keeps painting him - no masterpiece as yet). Same day as before.
Angelus became a very popular popular music performer. This has led to our pack being permitted several indulgences such as music, more television channels (though they still only broadcast in the evenings), and various toys - useful for the younglings, if not nearly as impressive as my own contribution.
Entertainment lifted, week 23, day 7. I decided to keep Angelus around so he could tutor skills into the next generation - it's not like I need the space. I have four restrictions remaining (Communications, Criminal, Master Thief, Naturalist) and four kids, so that will be sufficient.
One neat thing about Rock Stars - once you reach level 10, you have no fixed work days. Master Thief or no Master Thief, I can no longer be fired for missing work.
Time passes. On week 24, day 3, my children become teens, and Glory finally finishes a masterpiece portrait of Gunn. Ending Requirement achieved.
And so it falls to me to chronicle our final days. I am Gunn Badmoon, son of Winifred, daughter of Tara, daughter of Buffy. For decades since the Event our pack, and we alone, have endeavoured to not merely repair the damage, but to construct a superior society from the ruins.
But we do not do this for humanity. Not even those members of our blood that lack the changing gene. We do this for the lycanthropes alone - nah, not even the lycanthropes of other packs. The future of the world is Badmoon, and only Badmoon.
I get a little ahead of myself.
Week 24, day 3, Winifred is now an elder. Note that it would be apparently legal for me to leave her in werewolf form and never transition to elder - but as it happens she has sufficient LTW points to get me a ghost point, so I have no problem letting her age up.
With the moodlet manager I have no more rest cycles. Everyone is always active, always working towards a goal. I need neither beds, nor food, nor showers, nor friends, nor fun. Of all the LTR available in the game only the Motive Mobile comes close (and that requires Generations, so you're definitely looking at a trade off there). Moodlet manager even clears such conditions as Fatigued, so you can rapidly train Athletics.
Not only that, but if you Cure someone as they are leaving the lot, it interrupts their leaving, so you can get them to stay. This is very useful for Adonis training (as well as being able to clear their fatigued state).
My siblings and I were raised by my aunts Faith and Glory, by my uncle Angelus, as much or more than mother Winifred. We bear her no ill for this; there were many plans she needed to put into motion ready for me. We had very little childhood - perhaps Lorne had a little, perhaps we even spoiled him a little - but when we were not at school, we were studying. When we reached our teen years, we never slept, we never ate, we never once veered from our goals. With the Panacea (and each of we teens had such a device, bequeathed by our forebears), we had no need to do any of these things. And there was so very much to prepare for.
We lived, in effect, in two houses. The plot that all my forebears had called home still stood, as a monument to their achievements, but with all of the land restrictions removed we constructed a massive house on the same plot of land. The adults spent more time in the old house - perhaps they felt more comfortable there - but we teens thought of the larger house as our true home.
Athletic ability was foremost. Not a one of our forebears could have been described as anything less than peak physical condition, and we of the fourth generation were no exception. Intensive training on superb equipment meant that we reached our potential rapidly. Then it was time for knowledge transfer - all the adults remaining were masters of many crafts, and masterful teachers. We absorbed everything like sponges.
Mother and aunt Glory hunted throughout the day - whenever we were at school, and had no need for their tutelage - and we obtained a king's ransom in gems and precious metals. A target for thieves, indeed - but only the licensed ones. Unlicensed thieves dared never risk themselves, for we never slept, and the weakest of us was a match for the strongest merely human rogue. Time machines adorned our lot, though we lacked the correct power source to use them. Mother claimed she understood the physics behind such machines, and even suggested a path by which they might be powered, but she also cautioned we could not avert the Event, so I deemed the suggestion a waste of resources.
I was basically smacking down Tutor In skills as quickly as I could. I also trained some more Adonises, and via the Transfiguration Trick I created a Compendium bar worth more than $2 million (so enough on its own to max out the bonus points for cash).
One by one the elder generation got old...
... and died. Not beyond our reach, thanks to previous contracts with extradimensional entities. But, presently, beyond our desire. They worked hard, let them rest for a time.
Once Faith died of old age, I immediately ranted Winifred to death. So that's 2 unique large tomb stones (old age and ranting). Note that the usual consequences of this (a mood crash) can be averted by... the moodlet manager.
Except for poor little Lorne, but hey - being a child sucks.
When we turned 18, my brothers and I entered the workforce. Of the four, only Spike's career would be at all ordinary - and even then, that is somewhat stretching the definition. Spike would be infiltrating the organisation that had, over the course of four generations, stolen millions of credits from us. His goal was nothing less than the leadership of this organisation, even if he had to start at the bottom. It must be said that Lorne vigorously disagreed with this plan, going so far as to issue an ultimatum, that if Spike succeeded then Lorne would never again speak to him. But the plan was the plan, and while Lorne was of course free to feel as he wished, it could not be allowed to prevent our rise.
Because Lorne is Good. Good characters hate the Emperor of Evil. I first discovered this when I had the unfortunate experience of having an EoE heir married to a Good spouse - it was exceptionally difficult to produce children, shall we say. Every moment they are near to the EoE their relationship takes a hit; you can, with a Charisma 10 Sim and extreme micromanagement, manage to raise it faster than it falls - but I seriously do not recommend it. Of course it won't matter here for anything other than roleplay purposes.
When Angelus hit his 60th birthday, it marked a phase shift. Lorne was still in school, but it was now clear that it was our generation, and not mother's, that would be in charge. I had been awarded an Einstein award in part from Angelus' teachings; since I could not effectively create elixirs without ingredients, I was inspired to end the toxic infection of our soil. This was a task that would be many layered; the first step was to fully understand the effects of the Event on both animals and plants. Since there were so few remaining, I decided I needed human subjects. I took a job at the local graveyard, ostensibly helping with interrment but under cover of secrecy, taking samples for analysis.
While I engaged in these necessary-but-unpleasant subterfuges, Riley's idea was to restore the fabled international computer network. We had the hardware capability, we just needed infrastructure and implementation. He began by infiltrating the business world to secure funding, by fair means or foul. We no longer cared about the laws of man, except where they served us, for a new day was coming.
I needed to know whether the problem was the water - it shouldn't be, aunt Faith should have remedied that decades ago - but to be certain, considering that uncle Angelus was surplus to requirements, I had him swim around for a while. And continue swimming. And swim some more, until the exhaustion drowned him. But I got the data I needed - water was not the problem. It is important to rule out certain hypotheses, however cruel. And I'm sure if I had explained that he would have volunteered. Well, reasonably sure. I couldn't actually leave that to chance. Perhaps we'll bring him back some day and explain it properly then.
Drowning ghost achieved.
Glory was also part of an experiment. I knew that those of the changing gene were hardy, but exactly how long would they take to die of starvation? As it turns out, a very long time indeed. That was excellent data. I left the graveyard job and got a job at the local laboratory so I could cross reference my findings. Riley, having secured funding for his communication network, also joined the lab to get access to their unique electronic inventions that he would need to complete his task.
It is week 27, day 3. Werewolves starve at least half as slowly as humans, possibly even less than that. But in any case, hunger ghost achieved - not the first to die of starvation, but the first to do so with a platinum tombstone.
But eventually, Riley and I took different paths. He had obtained his funding, and his technology, but to work within the legal system was never our intent. Only criminals had the necessary connections for what we desired; he infiltrated their organisation as if born to it.
A slight exaggeration; Riley got caught by the cops once.
I extracted a large number of fish subjects from the polluted oceans. Approximately half of the cure for toxic soil is there; I need only find the rest of the cure.
I'm not sure how visible that is, but this is capturing Gunn getting "The Perfect Aquarium". It is week 28, day 1. He is at Science 6, but the plants are going to be the thing that takes the time.
To assist me, Lorne - now 18 - decided to infiltrate the black market. This was a separate organisation to the gangsters, though the low level grunts were typically shared. Given his new occupation, Lorne had a change of heart regarding his earlier ultimatum. Or at least, he did after (under cover of night) I performed a little impromptu neurosurgery on him.
That's right. Master Thief last. I am nothing if not unpredictable. Oh, and I gave Lorne a mid life crisis to zap out Good and replace it with Evil. I don't know if Evil helps. But it's thematically appropriate.
The key, as you now know, was to resequence the genetic structure of the hardiest fish and plants, to produce a new hybrid species that not only thrived in the toxic environment, but actually cleansed it as a result of its normal lifecycle. I was very close.
Week 27, day 2, science level 7 achieved. I have 7/8 perfect plants, but the way these things go is that I will probably need at least 3-4 more days to get the last one... except that I forgot at science level 7 you get bestowed a perfect death flower! So now all I need to do is let it mature, and we're golden. In fact not quite so easy, I get the old bug where I have 11/8 Perfect Plants, but the life time wish (on Riley) does not trigger. I will wait a couple of days to see if it works.
Riley finally managed to make the contacts he desired. WolfNet is now established. With it, those of our bloodline can be in constant contact, coordinating our attacks. Within days, we have effective control of the city; the military are no match for us, the politicians fear us, journalists are unable to get out any negative stories, and with our new camera technology there is nowhere for anyone to hide. The populace are largely unaware of their new masters. Only a few obstacles remain.
We are the Badmoon pack, and the world is ours. We know how the Event occurred. We can trigger it again at will, but in such a fashion that we would not be affected by it. We are become the ultimate predators, and the world itself is our prey.
Communications lifted. It is week 28, day 4.
Don't go out tonight.
Naturalist cleared, week 28, day 5. The lifetime wish for Riley hasn't triggered yet, but strictly speaking I was just using that to keep an easy count - I definitely have (more than) the plants required. I got a bit fed up in the end and did a Save & Quit followed by a reload, which finally triggered the LTW.
This allows me to start bug hunting.
As things wind down, let me pre-empt a few questions:
- "Hey Gaz, you must have a massive house right now." Yep. "So you're getting stung twice per week by Criminal still yeah?" Indeed. "How are you managing to pay the bills then? Most of your dudes don't even work, and the bills must be a few grand." The bills are typically 50-60k at the moment.
But paying them is easy:
I have what amounts to my own Tiberium mine. I mean, I have plenty of ways of earning quick cash if I want to, perhaps most straightforwardly I can transfigure Compendium to the appropriate level. But this way is trivial. Werewolves hunting for collectibles will find even collectibles that strictly speaking shouldn't exist - such as the World Adventures gems and metals. I have a massive collection of gems and metals too, but I won't bore you with screen shots - that would just seem like bragging, and that is absolutely not my intention. Rather you need to understand that I suck at collecting - normally I would have done whatever I needed to do in order to score a Collection Helper - but werewolves are really good at it. Of course you need a few lifts first, primarily things like Military so they can wander around, but they can haul back massive amounts of gems and metals.
Now that naturalist is lifted, I have Gunn hunting for insects - we'll see what he manages to come up with before the game ends.
- "Is there anything you'd do differently?" Well, that's a tough question; the answer is certainly yes because I don't like to repeat myself.
- "OK, then did you make any mistakes?" I definitely think if I had it all to do again, I'd have made some different choices. Military would arguably have been a better first lift than Journalist; when you have a large family the way I do Journalist doesn't give you much on its own (though early access to the library and power skilling is very handy; I didn't beeline for Journalist because of that, but it turned out to be at least a reasonable choice once it was factored in. Long story short, don't lift Journalist first for better job control, do it for access to the library.
- "You're playing with World Adventures right?" I am. "Yet you don't seem to have taken any trips." That's right. You need to be very careful with "unmanaged time" like World Adventures, University Life (except for the founder), and Into the Future.
Remember that the primary goal is to lift restrictions; if you spend 1 day "off world" you need to be sure you've scored points, or gained skills, or whatever you need to make the trip worth it. The Apocalypse Challenge is no time for sight seeing.
In the case of World Adventures all the collectibles were available to my werewolves without needing to travel, so it would basically have been a trip to grab martial arts and nectar making devices. I judged that to be marginal utility at best; you may decide otherwise.
In the case of University Life it is a much tougher sell; really, the only thing you get from UL is a head start on your career. But even if you manage to graduate in 14 days, you only get to start at level 4 or 5; I am usually able to get to level 6 or 7 in 14 days starting from scratch. It's true, you get to skill a bunch in those 14 days too - the comparison is not entirely fair, since it's a lot harder to skill (early in the challenge at any rate) while trying to get promoted. I judge UL to be a trap past the founder - an enticingly baited trap, but a trap nonetheless, that you would do well to avoid.
Into the Future is a tricky one. There are collectibles there that cannot be had anywhere else, and if you are sufficiently precise you could probably justify a short trip there on the basis of the bonus points you score. But remember every day is -1 point, so you need to be prepared to score at least 2 collectibles per day and ideally 3-5. It's possible, no doubt. In my case I wasn't playing with ITF anyway so the temptation never arose.
It's bound to take your life.
Criminal lifted. It is week 29, day 3. While my dudes were at work a burglar came, and foolishly I hadn't put a burglar alarm in the "new house". I have to be honest with you - I have absolutely no idea what they took. There are lap tops, a big television, bunches of masterwork sculptures that the burglar never touched. He didn't take any of my fish either, or any of my numerous ingots of metal. Whatever it was, I clearly won't miss it. Anyway, I picked up No Bills Ever - I still have to pay the mob on Mondays, that was my handicap, but that's no problem - they won't get much any more, I have plenty of ways to spend my cash.
Riley's reward for being a superstar at LTR points is to get burned to death. Fire ghost achieved.
There's a bad moon on the rise.
Master Thief lifted, challenge complete. Here is my score:
- 19 from raising restrictions.
- 250 from Bonus Points:
- Admirable Adonis 49/50 (I didn't have 20 Sims, so that was the max!)
- Amazing Naturalist Collections 60/60
- Copious Librarian 10/20 (I didn't write any masterpieces)
- Family Einstein 6/30 (Buffy, Winifred, Gunn, Spike, Riley, Lorne; all for adult achievements only)
- Family Gallery 19/50 (portaits of the 4 heirs and many masterpiece sculptures by Riley)
- Ghostly Ghosts 15/15 (Faith old age, Glory starvation, Riley fire, Angelus drowning, Winifred ranting)
- Gnamely Gnomes 3/10 (Invention, Sculpting, and Master Manchu)
- I Want It, I Want It 15/15 (only a couple of my Sims missed their LTW)
- Money Money Money 10/10 (from a single Compendium bar; actual net work probably 10x that. I believe that pretty conclusively proves money is not difficult to get, even when you're zeroed out twice a week).
- Parenting 101 15/15 (almost all kids qualified)
- Photographic Memory 0
- Professional Student 2/10 (for Buffy's start)
- Sculptor's Anonymous 0
- Simply Simbots 0
- Skill Meister 26/40 (various. Noteworthy only perhaps in that I got neither the chess grandmaster nor the celestial explorer challenges - I never once challenged anyone to a game of chess, and barely used the telescope that I got towards the end).
- Slackers Not Allowed 10/10 (none of my Sims were permitted to not lift restrictions - how dare you sir! :) )
- Time in a Bottle 10/10 (I never halted aging).
- 0 from Occult:
- Call of the Wild 0 points
- 0 from Game Start Handicaps/Advantages:
- Higher Education -5
- Everyone's a Critic 5
- 10 from Breeding Handicaps:
- Pack Rivalry 10
- 40 from General Handicaps:
- Evil Cartel 5 (was never a problem, I never lost a job)
- Greedy Gangsters 5 (annoying but tolerable)
- It's Hopeless 10 (potentially could have sped me up a tad)
- No Country for Old Sims 10 (no problem - uncontrollable, might as well die was my reasoning)
- Walk to Work 10 (everyone had Athletics 10 as a teen, except the founder, who had it before the challenge started from Uni training - and I wanted Adonis points anyway, so this wasn't really a problem)
- -10 from General Advantages:
- Heavily Guarded -5 (extended curfew quite useful at start)
- Mental Endurance -5 (means that combined with No Country for Old Sims the elders died very soon after they stop being controllable)
- 0 from Bloopers:
- The only mistake I made was missing that Architect now restricted you to two floors. I had nothing on the third basement floor, so I deleted it when I noticed that. As you're allowed 5 mistakes, I don't get penalised for 1.
- 94 from Days to Finish:
- Finished on Week 30, day 4 (206 days)
- TOTAL SCORE: 403
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