Build a City Challenge Chat

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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Mesa Vista just experience a growth spurt; my population increased from 7194 to 7710 7810!

I played a super productive household yesterday with Talin Deppiesse, who I wasn't really looking forward to all that much. Talin is engaged to Kerie Ng, but not living with her.

He easily became a Business Tycoon, which earned him over §25K for the week and gave me another Business District and raised the SM from 66 to 71.

And because Talin didn't roll any wants to marry Kerie, his elderly "father" Makoto St Julien moved in with him (for more graves :twisted:). Makoto is in the Entertainment career and has a gold Styling badge and a bronze Register badge. So, I retooled a prebuilt salon by ambers_journey into Manly Manes Barbershop (copied from a RL one located in Ohio :haha:) for Makoto, which cost around §11.5K.

I have 10 more BDs lined up, so now I'm focusing on getting more Tycoons, of which I think there are at least 5 more coming up this week.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by katrisims »

Congrats, that's some really good progress! And with all those Tycoons, you're lined up for even more. :)

I'm kind of itching to get back to Lakewood, it's been a while since I opened the game. But I'm currently on a Don't Starve kick, and I suppose it doesn't really help that the current household, the Fortunatos, are such that if I want to do well in their challenge (Pure Entrepreneur), I have to spend as much time as possible on community lots making money. So it kind of feels like it takes forever to play that one household. So I suppose I'll wait for the itch to grow a bit bigger yet.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Population update: 8023! :party:

I just installed my third Business District (out of 7 earned so far).

Barren Springs is an outskirt located over the mountain from Mesa Vista (I believe the Sedona template) and because of its remote location, it's more affordable for struggling households. But, the land is basically hardpan with scant vegetation and a few scraggly trees. Another detractor is that it's accessible by just one poorly-maintained road, so for everyday living most inhabitants are basically stuck there.

There will be varying degrees of hardship challenges here (surprise), Legacy-style handicaps and Jar Challenges, renovating houses "in the middle of nowhere," things like that. I'm not looking for anything too extreme or difficult, mainly just want to take into account the overarching remoteness of the area. I'm having fun searching for distressed and stripped-down residential and community lots for the aesthetics.

The first victim household is the Nichols: mom Demi, child Daisy and toddler Dean (created from my pool of 150 available CAS) which is my first Nickel & Dimed Challenge. Adding those 3 brought my population past the 8000 mark. So far I've only moved in the family and tweaked the official Nickel & Dimed house from blue and white to a more neutral but still mismatched color scheme to keep the cheap vibes goings, but fits a little better in a desert setting to me.

Thanks for reading this and Happy Simming!
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

That's great going. I have to start a new bacc over again soon.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by katrisims »

Congrats on passing the 8000 mark Lorinsv! :party: That's some really nice progress you've had there, and the BD idea sounds cool too.

I'm almost done with the Fortunato round. I've been playing in brief sessions, since the household can get a bit overwhelming with its goals to run businesses AND get those 50 first dates for Daniel F., who isn't getting any younger. I'm at Sunday now already, and I think I'll let the family just relax at home mostly, they've earned it and so have I. Then comes the writing, and I'm kind of getting cold sweat over how I'm ever going to make it to a readable length with all the pictures I've taken. So the usual I suppose. :lol:
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Peachy: They're so fun :D

Katri: I hear you! Sometimes the challenges we give ourselves are like, "why did I do that again? :fisty:"

I'm glad to have some households with nothing specific in mind, they can be such a relief from extra challenges, but still contribute to the end goal!

And the storytelling... :| I've gotten so bad I hardly take any pics now of my households, even some of the originals I'm so fond of, unless something really cool or funny or unexpected happens. For me that makes playing more fun and I really like seeing the quicker score progress, but also my Sims become less engaging than when I put so much effort into telling their stories.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Anne »

*rises from the dead* Hi guys! I've been away from the forum for a looong time but I've been lurking around for a few days haha!

So cool to see Mesa Vista is still going strong, Lorin! Sounds like you're having a great time. Same goes for Lakewood!

I haven't been playing Blueberry Island anymore lately, because I've been focused on the Sims 4. I did load up the Sims 2 a little while ago and it was so nice to be back on the island with those families! They're the OGs for me and I do miss them sometimes, but I just haven't really been able to get back into TS2 gameplay. I have been doing a TS4 BaCC, though! It's very different, but a lot of fun - and this one I'm doing just for me, no photos or anything.

Anyways, just figured I'd pop on by and say hi!
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

Hello Anne. I remember your BACC. But whatever you feel like playing is good for you. Hopefully pop back soon as say hello again.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by katrisims »

Lorinsv wrote: March 7th, 2023, 4:26 pm Katri: I hear you! Sometimes the challenges we give ourselves are like, "why did I do that again? :fisty:"

I'm glad to have some households with nothing specific in mind, they can be such a relief from extra challenges, but still contribute to the end goal!
Yeah... The Pure Entrepreneur challenge is a bit like that sometimes. :lol: In most other households, I can play businesses at my leisure, but if I want to make money for this challenge, then businesses it is, allll the time. Well, now the round's again done, so that's good. I think I should also consider having some challenge-free households sprinkled in later on, to give myself a break. If I can, that is. :)
Lorinsv wrote: March 7th, 2023, 4:26 pm And the storytelling... :| I've gotten so bad I hardly take any pics now of my households, even some of the originals I'm so fond of, unless something really cool or funny or unexpected happens. For me that makes playing more fun and I really like seeing the quicker score progress, but also my Sims become less engaging than when I put so much effort into telling their stories.
It's a bit of a double-edged sword, isn't it? I know I've overwhelmed myself with the storytelling multiple times. And then, even though my plotty challenges have been in limbo for several years now... I still miss those sims, those characters. It's a difficult balance to keep, and if you feel the current way you play is the most fun for you, then I think you're doing it right, for you right now. :highfive:
Anne wrote: March 9th, 2023, 7:44 am I haven't been playing Blueberry Island anymore lately, because I've been focused on the Sims 4. I did load up the Sims 2 a little while ago and it was so nice to be back on the island with those families! They're the OGs for me and I do miss them sometimes, but I just haven't really been able to get back into TS2 gameplay. I have been doing a TS4 BaCC, though! It's very different, but a lot of fun - and this one I'm doing just for me, no photos or anything.
Hi Anne, great to see you! ^^ We're still at it, yeah. :) Fun that you're playing, in any way that works for you right now. Sometimes just playing without documenting and taking pictures is the most fun and relaxing thing, and then it's the best way. :) Hopefully we'll see you around again!
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Hi Anne, good to see you again!

If you ever feel like it, I'd love to hear some of the differences in the BaCC between TS2 and TS4.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Anne »

Lorinsv wrote: March 10th, 2023, 12:31 pm Hi Anne, good to see you again!

If you ever feel like it, I'd love to hear some of the differences in the BaCC between TS2 and TS4.
Definitely! I don't know how familiar you are with TS4, so I'm sorry if I'm being overly elaborate, haha!

I love TS4, but the BaCC gameplay definitely works better in TS2. For starters, it's impossible to create a whole new world from scratch in TS4, which is one of the things I love most about a TS2 BaCC. You can bulldoze all the lots, but whenever you load into a lot, you're still going to see the rest of the neighbourhood around that lot the same as it ever was, full of houses and buildings. Because of that, I've found it kind of impossible to tell the story (in my head haha) of someone starting a completely new civilisation somewhere, so that's a pity.

What I do like is the fact that you can delete all the townies and create new ones from scratch, or the game will generate new ones (although I do believe there's a mod that will stop new townies from being generated). That way, you can fully customise the Sims walking around in your city and that makes it feel a bit more unique. In TS2, I got a little sick of Goopy Gilscarbo and Benjamin Long after a while :lol:

In terms of rules, there's just a completely new ruleset set up for TS4 (which you can find here, which makes sense since it's a different game. It's still got the same core aspect of having to do certain things to unlock careers, but in TS4 you can't just build whichever community lots you like; you have to unlock those too. Once you've unlocked them, though, you can place however many you like. There's no restriction as to the number of lots. Oh, and you also have to unlock the different worlds.

The thing that's more or less remained the same is the fact that you have to unlock CAS points. But here's the kicker: population isn't a thing in the TS4 version of the BaCC. In TS2, we keep working towards that (nearly impossible) 50,000, but in TS4 it's all about unlocking all of the different aspects of the game and creating a new community, I suppose. I think that's also partly because the number of lots is very limited in TS4, so you can't just build indefinitely.

That's the thing I miss most about TS2: being able to place lots wherever you want (as long as it's on a road)! I've gotten so used to the other aspects of TS4, though, that I doubt I will go back to TS2 anytime soon (even though I do still adore it - TS2 was my first love!).

Anyway, that's more or less it in a nutshell (although I now realise I've typed quite an essay :lol: )!
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Anne wrote: March 26th, 2023, 12:20 pm The thing that's more or less remained the same is the fact that you have to unlock CAS points. But here's the kicker: population isn't a thing in the TS4 version of the BaCC. In TS2, we keep working towards that (nearly impossible) 50,000, but in TS4 it's all about unlocking all of the different aspects of the game and creating a new community, I suppose.
The TS4 goal sounds like a fun and worthy alternative to 50,000 population.

As for the Goopy and Ben Long townies, I wanted to avoid that too, and I was able to, although I can't remember how since it's been over 11 years since I started MV! :spin: Pretty sure it was some combination of clean templates (at least, I remember looking into them) and the Tombstone of L&D. I do remember choosing to keep the default downtownies because I like a lot of them, and the AL townies because I hadn't played AL with my Apocalypse, and then I went straight to my BaCC from that.

I bought the TS4 base game awhile back along with Eco Lifestyle and Cottage Living, but I haven't even opened them :misspeak:. I assume BaCC gameplay would require more EPs to be worthwhile, like in TS2. I don't think I'd ever have enough time to play another BaCC anyway.

So glad you're enjoying TS4, and thanks so much for the info! And again, it's great to see you!
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

There is a mod the ts2 so you don't get the same townies. I do like the look of ts4 but sometimes the sims just look like you've just stuck piece of paper on the screen. But it does sound an interesting concept for a bacc
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Chase »

I've got a question for you all: is there a max amount of households you'll allow to exist?

I love to see the neighborhood full, but I'm at 11-ish households and it's a lot for me. I have some very big generations growing up, so I've been planning on how I'm going to condense the population while still keeping the growing, thriving feel of the neighborhood... my plan currently is keeping some childless couples and sending them to a nursing home once they're elders, giving their house to a niece/nephew :lol:. I've also got a mostly-romance sim vampire commune that will suck (vampire joke?) some spares from a few families. I've also got an asylum lot, which I think I'll keep as a rotating asylum population (with CAS patients, not my playables haha), with rotating spares functioning as the controllable sim. It's funny seeing my quirky asylum patients shopping at all the businesses in town.

Also, I don't know that I've ever shared my record keeping. Part of the reason I love playing this is the fun of updating this spreadsheet, hahaha. Since I'm not publishing this BaCC, here's a taste of it, in case anyone likes looking at spreadsheets, lol :D
Spoiler:
This is just a selection of the 7 tabs in this. :lol: It's an overwhelming amount of information, but I figured someone might be into this :rotfl:

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This is my finances tab. Each row is a household and this is the most important tab that I update after each house is played. It's got all of the essential info for scorekeeping and taxes.

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This is half of my census tab. It's got all kinds of individual Sim info and is color coded to their extended family (based on the CAS Sim/Sims they're descended from). Rows in italics are deceased Sims. I don't update this one super often. The biographies are as much written storytelling as I plan on doing with this neighborhood, haha. The bios are somewhat self-referential, referring to my completed apocalypse challenge a bunch, as this exists in my Sims 2 cinematic universe :P

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This is my generations tab, to keep track of the timeline of births and deaths. I also coordinate university cohorts here, pretty much to minimize the amount of time I have to play uni by grouping neighborhood teens up.

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Business list! The far right tab tracks business districts, which I'm using as the main score builder in my 50k plan. I forgot about the 5 comm lot per new business district rule until around rotation 16, so I've been catching up on the 35 businesses I should have for my 7 business districts since then. I think I'm going to finally catch up on this rotation, so I'm super happy about that! I have a new crop of business Sims leveling up currently, so it'll be exciting to get that SM growing again soon.

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This is my end of rotation tab. It's basically all the summary black bars from the finances tab put in one convenient place. It also allows me to program those super satisfying graphs!

There's a bunch more, but that's the gist of it :lol:
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

Most of the rules i have seen, there is no max households, i always thought the more households you have the more it counts towards population.

I have finished a B.A.C.C. and if you look here https://crystalspringbacc.blogspot.com/ ... ty-r8.html at the end is my stats not sure if it will help but might give you ideas.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Chase »

That's so impressive!! There is no max in the rules, but a max amount of households is just self-imposed for my sanity, haha. I'm super invested in my families and would get bored with the hood if I had to go potentially months without playing them while I slog through the rotation. Plus I really love seeing them grow up and feel like I miss out on that with too many households; my founding family is close to birthing their fifth generation! :D
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

Not sure which rules you follow but having lots of people in the business career and lots of business helped me but yeah it does take time going through if you have a lot of houses.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

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Mesa Vista's population is now 8968! :party:

After the Nickel & Dimed household in Barren Springs, I added a Starving Artist challenge with a teen named Drew Stark. Then Chester Gieke, who surprised me by hooking up with a gal, Laila, that he met at Barren Creek Park. They got engaged, and then on the last day, he got abducted, and now they're married. She wants a kid. Well, guess what, Laila? :toast: :alien:

I also added a Legacy Challenge - Advanced in another new district, Faux Valley. After a week enduring the eXtreme start, founder Austin Cruz moved in his soon-to-be-spouse Ashley Jefferson, which is where I had to leave them. I really didn't want to stop playing them, but the Giekes helped. :D
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by peachy123uk »

Sounds like your B.A.C.C. is going very well. I might do a B.A.C.C. again one day.
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Re: Build a City Challenge Chat

Post by Lorinsv »

Played the Outside household this weekend. Mom Ciel became a business tycoon on Tuesday, and their daughter Mina, a recent college grad, bought a kitchen supply store, making it the 100th community lot in Mesa Vista. Her brother Neil headed off to University, almost permaplat from lifetime aspiration (my first). I found three more households with boys almost ready for Uni so I can play them all together in a dorm rather than them establishing a fraternity.

Population is now 9676!
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