Sims 3: Xenon Legacy

[JadedDM]

It's been awhile since I've played 3 so I don't remember, but do sims that die come back to haunt the place like in older games?

Yes, as long as their tombstone/urn is still on the lot. (Although in my own experience, and maybe it's just me, it seems like all ghosts do in Sims 3 is watch TV, play video games, and then take a short nap...)

[Sipex]

Yes, as long as their tombstone/urn is still on the lot. (Although in my own experience, and maybe it's just me, it seems like all ghosts do in Sims 3 is watch TV, play video games, and then take a short nap...)

You can interact with them too.

[FantasyFoxMan]

I say, if it's a boy, name it Mel. If it's a girl, name it Rebecca.

On a related note, I wish I had the power to cast Summon Police 1.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Elvendork. It's unisex!

Thats an interesting thought, but it would only work if you can garuntee your elder male has a young wife, or someone else who can take care of the kids after he is gone...

Get the Panter chick to take care of them. She'll be have done it for the full-blooded heirs, and she isn't even an adult yet.

[Goldfly]

Hmm...
Vidcund if it's a boy, Jenny if it's a girl?

[Mewtarthio]

she isn't even an adult yet.

Oh, right, one more thing: The Sims does still have a "Young Adult" category, right? Our new painting slave isn't still a teenager, right?

[JeminiZero]

Get the Panter chick to take care of them. She'll be have done it for the full-blooded heirs, and she isn't even an adult yet.

She's a few days younger than Victor though, so when Victor passes on, she won't be too far behind.

Oh, right, one more thing: The Sims does still have a "Young Adult" category, right? Our new painting slave isn't still a teenager, right?

Yes, she is a Young Adult. Same as Victor.

Monday

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Its harvest day again! This time round, the grapes have also yielded fruit. As usual, we ditch the originals, and replant their higher quality seeds.



Anyway, with the carpool coming for our 2 budding mad scientists, its a quick meal of Autumn salad (courtesy of Narcissa) before they take off to work. Although I must say, I prefer Dorothy without her hat.



Victor: I do declare, this Autumn Salad is MUCH better than the lettuce leaves I've been munching on all this while.

Dorothy: I dunno, I don't think it suits my taste... In fact it makes me feel like throwing up...



Dorothy: <HURK!> See what I mean?

Dorothy comes back first from the lab (her shift finishes 30 minutes before Victor's). As she tends the garden, a bump appears on her tummy. She also undergoes a costume change from her country dress to pregnancy clothes.



Despite their brutal tax regime, this town has a comprehensive maternal welfare policy. So until she gives birth, Dorothy is placed on PAID maternity leave. She spends her precious time off... continuing to garden. In the meanwhile, Narcissa has woken up and is back painting once more.



With the fresh harvest, Victor now has tomatoes of sufficient quantity and quality to turn in that opportunity. So he takes a ride downtown and delivers the produce to the restaurant, in exchange for a nice $370.



With the money from the Tomatoes and Victor/Dorothy's pay, we buy a new Stove*.

*Up to now, we had a Fridge and a Counter, and that was enough to prepare meals that did not require heat, like Autumn Salad and PB&J sandwiches. But most other food in game requires a stove to cook. A small handful require a grill or microwave instead of a stove, which we may get later.



Victor spends the rest of the watching gardening TV. Dorothy on the other hand, suddenly feels the urge to read a pregnancy book**.

**All prospective mothers get this urge. Which is why said book was included in the Community Centre library. It is in fact the only non-skill raising book*** in there.

***In case it isn't obvious, whereas skill progress is denoted by blue bars, reading normal books is denoted by a green bar. When you reach the bar is full, you finish the book.



Dorothy: Dear, you must read this, it is most informative!

Victor: Is it an instruction manual on how to construct a Hyperbeam Death Ray?

Dorothy: ... No?

Victor: Meh, I'm watching TV now, maybe tomorrow.

And its off to bed for the 2 of them.



In the early hours of the next morning, Narcissa completes her latest piece.



Yeah, it still looks like a bunch of kid scribbles. Nonetheless, this one manages to fetch $100+. As she keeps practicing, Narcissa's Painting skill will keep getting better, and her work will gradually look better, and sell for more.

Tuesday (part 1)

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First thing in the morning, Victor's Neuroticism kicks in, and he brushes his teeth 3 times. Its a mystery why there is even such a function, when nobody in Sim-land ever gets tooth decay. Its like the action exists solely to give OCD people something to do.



After that, he gets cracking on that Pregnancy book his wife was nagging him to read. Said wife joins him shortly, and continues to improve her Handiness.



Victor goes to work, and gets promoted to Science level 4 (Fertilizer Analyst, one step below Carnivorous Plant Tender). Here's a shot of him tending the garden after work, in his new uniform... which looks exactly the same as his Lab-Tech uniform. Oh well.



All this while Dorothy doesn't budge from her seat. You gotta admire the Sims ability to sit down and concentrate on a single task for hours. This of course, also includes Narcissa's non-stop painting, speaking of which...



When Dorothy eventually gets up to go home, her phone starts ringing. QUEST OPPORTUNITY TIME!



Apparently despite their utter failure to catch any giant Minnows so far, the former local Tomato Suppliers have stuck with their guns and continued fishing. And now another restaurant* is running short of Tomatoes and they want Dorothy to supply 3 Very Nice specimens for cash.

*The game has 2 distinct eateries. One resembles a traditional restaurant, and the other is a fast food joint.



Dorothy agrees to the request. The family still has a bunch of Very Nice Tomatoes from the last harvest, so she immediately proceeds to turn those in for the reward.



Victor in the meanwhile is skilling up Handiness.



Narcissa gets an Opportunity of her own.



Recently, the Board of Education has approved a funding increase for the local school. They intend to use it to hire external professionals to give one-off classes to students. Narcissa's work hasn't gone noticed, so they want her to teach an Art Class.



Sounds like easy money, so Narcissa agrees, before continuing to paint.



The finished product... sorry, but it still looks like a bunch of elemetary school scribbles. Nonetheless, it manages to sell for $146.

Remember how both Scientists have been skilling up Handiness like mad? Well there is a reason for it: Aside from being a skill required for promotions in certain careers, Handiness is also easily the second most powerful skill in the base game**. At moderate ranks, you can start to upgrade normal stuff lying arond the house in various ways. For example, take our brand new stove: We can upgrade it to be Fireproof, as Dorothy demonstrates with her hammer***.

**And for those of you wondering, the first most powerful skill is Gardening, as it lets you grow the godly Lifefruit. Each fruit extends a Sim's lifespan by one day, and in sufficient quantities, grants you functional immortality. Gardening also gives you Death Flowers, which (despite its name) acts as an "Extra Life", and staves off any one death from unnatural causes (i.e. everything except old age). Unfortunately, both are banned under Legacy rules, or I would be shoving Dorothy full of Lifefruit.

***Bizarrely enough, the animation for upgrading any object is precisely this: Hammering it repeatedly. This applies regardless of whether the object is electronic (computers, TVs and radios), plumbing (toilets, sinks and showers), or flammable (stoves and fireplaces).



In the Meanwhile, Victor goes to bed first, with his head full of... trashy thoughts.



In a few hours, Dorothy has finished upgrading the Stove. Future generations (and Narcissa) are now assured that the place won't catch fire while they cook.



With the house made a bit safer for her unborn child (as well as her former Guinea Pig), Dorothy finally joins Victor in dreamland.



"... zzz ... Killer Vegetable Army ... zzz ..."

"... zzz ... WORLD DOMINATION!... zzz ..."

I haven't closed Voting yet, so those who want can cast new ballots, or change your existing vote. The tally so far:

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Boy
Dave (Deme, Toric, Volt)
Gabriel (Mewtarthio, Eldonauran)
Artie (Trazoi)
Joel (Eviljoe15)
Mel (FantasyFoxMan)
Vidcund (Goldfly)
Elvendork (AtlanteanTroll)

Girl
Gabrielle (Mewtarthio, Eldonauran)
Rebacca (Volt, FantasyFoxMan)
Helen (Deme)
Valerie (Toric)
Mell (Trazoi)
Miranda (Eviljoe15)
Agatha (Agent Paper)
Jenny (Goldfly)
Elvendork (AtlanteanTroll)

[The Glyphstone]

I'll vote Elvendork/Elvendork. She can be nicknamed 'Elle'.

[AtlanteanTroll]

She's a few days younger than Victor though, so when Victor passes on, she won't be too far behind.

Aren't we worried about when Dorothy passes on, not Victor?

I'll vote Elvendork/Elvendork. She can be nicknamed 'Elle'.

I. LOVE. YOU.

[The Dark Fiddler]

***Bizarrely enough, the animation for upgrading any object is precisely this: Hammering it repeatedly. This applies regardless of whether the object is electronic (computers, TVs and radios), plumbing (toilets, sinks and showers), or flammable (stoves and fireplaces).

I see Sims 3 takes a page from the Engineer school of upgrading things.

[Woot Spitum]

I think you should name the kid Mario if it's a boy, and Zelda if it's a girl.

[Fri]

by the way, may we see the bird eye view of the Xenon Science Shack?

[JeminiZero]

Aren't we worried about when Dorothy passes on, not Victor?

I already planned for Dorothy's children to be looked by Victor/Narcissa. It is the children that might arise should Victor remarry (after Dorothy is dead, when Victor's an elder or almost there), that I was worrying about.

by the way, may we see the bird eye view of the Xenon Science Shack?

I'll try and get some out for the next update.

Since there don't appear to be any other votes, I'll close name for now. The final tally is:

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Boy
Dave (Deme, Toric, Volt)
Gabriel (Mewtarthio, Eldonauran)
Elvendork (AtlanteanTroll, Glyphstone)
Artie (Trazoi)
Joel (Eviljoe15)
Mel (FantasyFoxMan)
Vidcund (Goldfly)
Mario (Woot Spitum)

Girl
Gabrielle (Mewtarthio, Eldonauran)
Rebacca (Volt, FantasyFoxMan)
Elvendork (AtlanteanTroll, Glyphstone)
Helen (Deme)
Valerie (Toric)
Mell (Trazoi)
Miranda (Eviljoe15)
Agatha (Agent Paper)
Jenny (Goldfly)
Zelda (Woot Spitum)

Don't worry if your choice didn't get selected. I'm hoping to get a lot of babies out of this legacy, and they will all need different names.

[JeminiZero]

Wednesday

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For some reason, Dorothy has the urge to buy a shower. Seeing how it could be useful*, we spend Victor's latest paycheque on one.

*Generally speaking, Showers clean Sims faster than Bathtubs, so that they can spend less time bathing, and more time doing other stuff. Apparently sitting in stagnant water isn't nearly as cleansing as standing in a running stream, as the dirt drifts off your body, and than stays in the puddle you are soaking in.



Victor is the first to wake up and use this shiny new appliance.



After that, he starts reading Handiness when he gets another phonecall.



Apparently, the School Bonus Budget for extra lessons extends to subjects other than art. In fact, they include Handiness for some bizarre reason. (To understand why this seems strange, consider the following question: were any of you ever taught how to repair broken pipes in high school?) Anyway, the school wants Victor to go down and teach children the basics of Handiness, in exchange for a cash reward.



Again, it seems like easy money so Victor agrees. Dorothy in the meanwhile has started upgrading the Sprinkler with the Auto-Water function**.

**This will let it automatically turn on for a few hours each day to water the plants. I have been doing this manually thus far.



But in the midst of hammering a timer function into the Sprinkler, her handphone rings as well. Not only is the school asking for someone to teach Handiness, they have requested TWO seperate experts. Dorothy, is being asked to go down and deliver a lesson of her own.



Dorothy takes up the offer, and then finishes upgrading the Sprinkler. Seeing how she isn't quite skilled enough to start upgrading the shower just yet (and Victor is hogging the Handiness manual), we send her down to the school.



But in the middle of the lesson, it happens- Dorothy goes into labour. The lesson is cancelled, and Dorothy runs out clutching her tummy.



Victor drops the book and rushes down to the Hospital to accompany his wife.



Victor: AIIEEE!!!! BABY INCOMING! BABY INCOMING! PANIC! PANIC!

Dorothy: <Casually strolls into the Hospital>

Anyway, the 2 stay in there for a couple of hours before...



Its a Boy! Presenting Dave Xenon, the first member of Generation 2! Since Dorothy had a smooth pregnancy, we get to choose the 2 traits the baby starts with. Or at least we could, if Legacy rules did not demand that we randomize it. A roll of the dice and we get... Insane and Loner.

Yeah... thats definitely not a good start. It would appear I just used up all my luck to get a boy named Dave (as opposed to a girl named 'Elvendork'). Anyway, since we now have a baby, we need a crib for it to sleep in. We add a small extra room to the shack, and place a crib inside. We also move the rest of the furniture around a little. The house now looks like this:



And the exterior looks like this:



Here we have Dorothy placing Dave in the crib. He'll be spending most of the next few days in there, until he becomes a toddler. In Sims 3, babies only require periodic attention, when they are hungry, lonely, or pooped themselves. The rest of the time, they'll be in their crib staring at the ceiling. Really, taking care of babies isn't time consuming. Its just that they'll frequently require attention in the dead of the night. Fortunately, we have a plan to get around that little problem.



Victor has reached Gardening rank 5, which means that he can now plant the uncommon crops: Watermelons, Limes, Potatoes and Onions. He buys some seeds from the conveniently located grocery store, and adds them to our growing garden.



Dorothy has reached Handiness 6, which unlocks the most important upgrade we'll be giving the most of our household stuff- UNBREAKABLE. Dorothy starts upgrading their brand new shower.



Those of you who've seen Zarah's Lets Play, should know that stuff breaks down hilariously often in Sims 3 (or at least, its hilarious for Lets-Play viewers). This is rather inconvenient for the Sims who might need to use the item. And occasionally outright dangerous if they attempt to fix electronic goods without appropriately high skill in Handiness (there's a chance of Death by Electrocution). But the Unbreakable upgrade, as the name implies, prevents the item from ever failing. If we're going to build a house that will last 10 generations, this upgrade will be its backbone.



Incidentally, it appears I was wrong. Not all upgrade animation involves repeated hammering. The shower apparently gets spanner treatment, as shown above.



And this is Narcissa's latest piece. Her work is starting to look like proper art now. She's not far from Painting rank 7.

Come night, Victor's OCD activates once more.



Victor: Must... clean... dirt... on... counter. No! Resist the random compulsive urges... MUST CLEAN DIRT ON COUNTER! *Sigh* Hopefully my children won't be as nuts as I am.



Meanwhile, Dorothy has finished upgrading shower.



Next up, the Dishwasher!



In order to ensure there will always be someone awake to tend to Dave, I'm going to start staggering their sleeping hours a little: As such, Victor turns in early, and will wake up earlier tomorrow when Narcissa goes to sleep. Unlike people, Sims don't have an internal biological clock, and konk out the moment their heads touch the pillow, regardless of how tired (or not) they may be.



"... zzz ... Bwuhahaha! EMERALD LEGION! ... zzz ..."



"... zzz ... Goo Goo ... zzz ..."

Soon, Dorothy tires of tinkering with the Dishwasher, and retires for the night as well.



"... zzz ... mmm, Bedroom Chemistry ... zzz ..."



As predicted, at about 2 in the morning, Dave poops himself and starts crying blue murder. Fortunately, Narcissa is on hand to change him.



Finally, as morning approaches, Victor wakes up early, and Narcissa ends her shift.

[Trazoi]

Insane and Loner were two of the traits of my first Sim in Sims 3. It's a fun combination.

Maybe Dave can aim for a lifetime wish of writing or painting? One of the ones that doesn't require a lot of Sim interaction and is fine if done in your underwear?

[The Glyphstone]

So, how many more days does Dorothy have of fertility? Still holding out hope for Dave's lovely little sister Ellevendork

[AtlanteanTroll]

Well crap. Get cracking on a second child. Once again, I suggest Elle (Elvendork) as a name. Boy or girl.

[Fri]

insane and loner? are you sure the game randomzie and don't simply read this thread for ideas?

[JeminiZero]

Maybe Dave can aim for a lifetime wish of writing or painting? One of the ones that doesn't require a lot of Sim interaction and is fine if done in your underwear?

Yeah... there's a good chance that he'll wind up with either the Professional Author or Illustrious Author lifetime wish.

So, how many more days does Dorothy have of fertility? Still holding out hope for Dave's lovely little sister Ellevendork

I'm aiming to concieve a second baby 2-3 days before Dave ages into a child. The baby will then be born shortly after Dave ages, so that the family only has to deal with 1 screaming infant at a time.

insane and loner? are you sure the game randomzie and don't simply read this thread for ideas?

Its a distinct possibility. EA already uses draconian DRM that checks online whenever you start up a game, so adding AI that searches the interwebs for player torturing ideas is a small step away.

[Raistlin1040]

I love this thread.

[MeatShield#236]

Insane and loner, next generation is gunna be fun to watch.

Keep up the good work!

[JeminiZero]

Thanks.

Thursday

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Aside from higher pay, Victor's promotions have apparently upgraded his Carpool as well. Whereas he used to get an old grey boxy saloon with sputtering exhaust, he now gets a roaring orange SUV (and a more eye-catching driver ).



Dorothy continues to be on maternity leave, so that someone can remain at home to watch the baby*. We let her continue upgrading the Dishwasher.

*The game requires that at least 1 adult stay home with the baby to look after it. It literally does not allow the last adult on the lot to leave the premises, if a baby is around. The family can choose to hire a baby-sitter, if they must all go somewhere, but we'll be relying on Narcissa.



Once the Dishwasher has been rendered unbreakable, Dorothy heads down to school to deliver that lesson on handiness she was giving last time, before ya'know, going into labour.



While Victor is at work and Dorothy is teaching, Narcissa continues to look after Dave.



Victor finishes work**, this time he comes home in his ACTUAL Fertilizer Analyst uniform. Apparently, they don't wear their new costume until they next go to work.

**Incidentally, Sims 3 has a Work Performance bar, which indicates clearly how far you are from your next promotion (or raise once you hit the top job). Going to work increases it, while having high ranks in the appropriate skills increases it faster. On the other hand missing work or going late decreases it. There are various means of boosting it, such as that opportunity Victor got, to read a mutation book. Sims can also choose to work harder while at their job, at the cost of having the fun sucked out of them.



Although if you ask me, he looks less like a scientist, and more like some nerdy paper pushing clerk. And of course, the compulsive hand-washing behaviour does not help either.



Narcissa's latest work. A squirrel in the style of pointilism.



Narcissa gets the urge to buy and learn a new recipe*. For her hard work thus far, we let her pay a visit to the bookstore and pick up a book on Ratatouille.

*Recipes in Sims 3 are a mixture of automatic and manual. Most recipe's are automatically learnt, the moment you attain the appropriate rank in the Cooking skill. But some require you to have appropriate ranks AND to read a recipe book to learn it. Oddly enough the reading process destroys the Recipe book, preventing you from passing it on to someone else, after you're done.



As with the previous night, Victor turns in early.



With Victor's pay for the day, and the money Dorothy made from teaching a Handiness Class, we add a toilet to the house. Now the Xenons don't have to run across the street to answer nature's call (or wash their hands 3 times, or brush their teeth 3 times). However, the very presence of a Toilet has created an unusual side effect. Sims apparently have a desperate want to sit down when they eat. And since I haven't bought any chairs yet...



Anyway, once she's eaten her fill, Dorothy starts upgrading the sink with Unbreakable.



Dave starts crying again, and since Dorothy is up and about, we have her attend to him. Can't leave everything to Narcissa can we? ... Well actually we can, but Dorothy was about to sleep, and Dave was on her route between the new toilet, and her bed.



And thats it for the day.



"... zzz ... Dave Xenon ... zzz ..."

"... zzz ... Dead Weight ... zzz ..."

In the wee hours of the morning Narcissa completes yet another picture. She's also finally attained Painting 7, and will start on Dorothy's protrait tomorrow.



Hmm... this looks familiar, where have I seen... WAIT A MINUTE! THAT'S AN IN-GAME ADVERTISEMENT FOR SPORE!

Friday (Part 1)

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While Victor is at work, Dorothy continues to upgrade the toilet. First the Sink is made unbreakable



The Toilet Bowl we bought is the Porcelain Throne- the best Toilet in the game, which already comes inbuilt with the Unbreakable property*. So Dorothy instead adds the Self-Cleaning upgrade**.

*Some objects come with an inherent property that is normally conferred by an Upgrade. Another such object is the Tri-Forge stove we are using which has the Self-Cleaning property**. Normally an object can hold only a single upgrade at once, although objects with an inherent property can hold that property plus one more upgrade.

**Self-Cleaning is a lower level property/upgrade that lets an object automatically clean itself whenever it gets dirty. Since dirtiness is largly a cosmetic function (e.g. a dirty shower/stove/toilet bowl can still be used normally) its obviously not very important. Its only useful for people with the Neat traits who otherwise refuse to use dirty items, or OCD Neurotics who would otherwise obsess over cleaning it.



With Victor's pay, we buy dining table and chairs, so that the Xenon household will no longer sit in the toilet to eat.



A quick check shows that it works as expected.



Narcissa wakes up, and Dorothy gets ready to have her portrait painted, but the duo are interrupted by Dorothy's phone.



Dorothy's upgrading streak has earned recognition. And as such, a certain Abraham Finkel, wants her to upgrade his Radio, in exchange for a cash reward.

[Starbuck_II]

She looks different without her hat. Why does she take it off?

[FantasyFoxMan]

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That painting... I WANT IT.

Also I want to change my vote for a child to Elvendork. After hearing that name, I automatically love it.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Also I want to change my vote for a child to Elvendork. After hearing that name, I automatically love it.

May the being of your choosing bless you kind sir.

[JeminiZero]

She looks different without her hat. Why does she take it off?

Sims have different outfits for different purposes. The Cowboy Hat/Country Dress/Biker glove combo is her "everyday" outfit which is used for most things. The ones of her without her hat are:
1) Pyjamas (which she wears to sleep, and consists of a blue bathrobe), and
2) Athletic (which she normally wears to exercise, and is the one she changed into for the portraits).

Besides these, there are some outfits which she hasn't worn yet:
1) Formal
2) Swimwear

That painting... I WANT IT.

It was unfortunately immediately sold for much needed moolah.

Also: Hold onto your horses, voting hasn't yet opened to name the 2nd child.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Also: Hold onto your horses, voting hasn't yet opened to name the 2nd child.

It shall be Elvendork. As will half of the other children.

[Mewtarthio]

Also: Hold onto your horses, voting hasn't yet opened to name the 2nd child.

This is a democracy: Campaign season begins when the last election ends!

May the being of your choosing bless you kind sir.

My, that's an awfully convenient way to bless someone, is it not, good sir? It seems to me like this man is nothing more than a consummate politician, too concerned about his own image to make a firm stand on anything. Is this the sort of man we can afford to have naming the next children of this great LP? I'll leave that to the people to judge.

Paid for by the Committee to Elect the Name "Gabrielle"

[Deme]

I'll support Gabrielle; I'd like a name I can think of without snickering.

[Trazoi]

As a compromise between "Elvendork", "Gabriel/le" and "Mel/l", I suggest the next child should be called Elle Xenon if it's a girl. If it's a boy, El Xenon*.

* (Incidentally, does the Sims wardrobe allow a luchador mask?)