@PeregrineTook I'm really happy that you enjoyed Kendall and Ayato's tales. I was rather tempted to turn their story into one of those Korean drama plots with the chaebol (wealthy, spoiled male) and impoverished, spunky, yet gorgeous female, haha. I see you are really like the word "glorious" these days.
@dontmindme The reason that the Zannas turned out to be the most aggressive saboteurs, rather than the Dineros, is because of their tool kit. Vampires can pull a double-whammy: vampirism and pregnancy. As for the Dineros and Zannas buying a sixth lot, is that a real possibility? Since Momo will be born just 3 days later than the Gen5 Dinero and Zanna heirs, the Gen5 Dinero and Zanna heirs won't have time to raise and move out a Gen6 heir before Momo is ready to move out. Well, I won't know for sure until Week 9.
Purple is my favorite color, too! Well, lavender, to be precise. The retail line only faces the hardest requirements if their restaurant/store suffers glitching. Otherwise, the household needs to make lots of money to afford renovating the restaurant/store and paying for a restaurant's advertising and employees. Buying the perks just requires clicking on a customer then queuing up retail/restaurant socials to spam, hahaha. The restaurant's actually harder because we need to frequently adjust the cooking difficulty and, accordingly, the menu. I'd rather play restaurants but they are too buggy.
Thank you for your complimentary feedback on my writing. What really fascinates the most is, as you already know, the gameplay mechanics. I love discovering faster, easier ways to get things done in the Sims 4. Photo-editing is another new thing that I've grown to love this year. But I'm too excited about moving forward in a challenge to spend a lot of time staging storytelling "moments." Yes, I am guilty of very game-driven storytelling.
By the way, I hope you find the motivation/inspiration to pick up where you left off on your own Rival Dynasties Challenge. It would be great if, when you reach its end, you create a thread with details about each household, including their traits, aspirations, and careers. <3