Author Topic: End of the Line Dynasty (4x4)  (Read 179053 times)

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Haunted by Death (5 April)
« Reply #345 on: April 05, 2014, 04:45:18 PM »
Wow, you've seen a lot of Grim lately! R.I.P. everyone.

Love that screenshot of Grim emerging from the floor boards, creeps me out!

I've never managed to catch him at that point in a screenshot before.  Spooky, isn't it?

Wow... that's a lot of visits from Grim XD Do you remember how many days were between that or where they all on the same day or close to it?

It happened over four days (or just possibly five).  Certainly an astonishing concentration of Grimness.

Offline Rhoxi

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Haunted by Death (5 April)
« Reply #346 on: April 05, 2014, 07:56:00 PM »

Poor girl. Life is just not going easy on her is it?

The look on Simon's face as the sparkles come is just kind of adorable, though. He looks so pleasantly clueless.



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Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty
« Reply #347 on: April 06, 2014, 06:28:39 AM »
Poor girl. Life is just not going easy on her is it?

The look on Simon's face as the sparkles come is just kind of adorable, though. He looks so pleasantly clueless.

I love that expression.  Glad someone else did, too.  There he was, about to sit down and play video games in his pyjamas as usual and Huh?  Sparkles?  Excitable Sims just pull the best faces.



The Final Move

Abi arrived home in the early hours of the morning.  She’d been exhausted when she left the Plaza, with the beginnings of a sore throat and a headache from all the speechifying, but now she felt ready to face a demanding day.

Thank goodness for motive mobiles.

While she waited for her parents to wake up, she tidied the house, put the finishing touches to the museum and, most important, checked the contents of that Chinese chest.  Yes, she’d remembered correctly.

Saying goodbye to her mum and dad was hard.



Quite apart from the whole never-seeing-them-again thing, they kept giving her good advice (by their standards) on how to get established in her new home.



Most of it conflicted with what India had told her.  Since her great-great-grandmother had actually experienced a town move, Abi was inclined think India’s views were worth more.  Not that she told her parents that.  She just listened, agreed with everything, then hugged them both hard and ran out to the waiting carpool.  She’d thought of taking the day off but she wanted to say goodbye to everyone at work, too.

Leo and Victoria gazed after the car until it was out of sight, then fetched two of the flasks from the chest in the basement.



Next up, a visit to the mirrors and dressers, now that they could look like real pirates again.



Having met Leo when he was already in late adulthood, Victoria hadn’t realised quite how attractive he’d been as a young man.

Wow!



A quick phone call later, they were running up the road, enjoying their newly resilient muscles.  The house next door was small but it had plenty of room for a young couple on their second honeymoon.



A few hours later, Abi came home to an empty house.  A note was taped to the fridge door:

Quote
One serving left!  Enjoy Odessa’s cooking while you can :)



Then she took the final two flasks from the chest.  One was a mood enhancer.  Quite frankly, she needed it: the tears weren’t far off.  The other was the last Young Again potion.  She downed it in one.



Maybe it was time for a makeover.  The face on that ‘Wanted’ poster had looked a lot like hers.



Yes, that would do.  The serious-artist-not-a-forger-at-all look.

Then, like her parents, she called the estate agent.  Except that she was going a lot further than just next door.





She walked out of the house, taking a last look at the garden with its flowers and sundial.  It’d be a while before she lived anywhere as nice.



Too late for regrets now – and she was still sure that acting in haste had been best in this particular case.



The taxi pulled away.



They drove through the centre of town, past her old school…



…and the criminal headquarters, with the flickering sign that no-one ever seemed to get around to fixing…



…and out of town.





Summary – Generation 12

Heir: Abigail
Traits: artistic, insane, ambitious, avant garde, perfectionist (rebel influence), workaholic
Lifetime wish: Swimming in Cash

Unique maxed career: Art Appraiser (Acquisition)
Two unique best friends: Valarie Adcock, Brie Marin
Three unique skill challenges: Proficient Painter, Master Painter, Brushmaster
Four unique opportunities: Interior Décor, Advanced Art Training, Skilled Painting, Brilliance
Buildings bought this generation: Sharma Day Spa, Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital
Newly-upgraded properties: Almost everything!  (Ophelia's Fishing Hole, Olde Pillager's Pond, Founder's Beach, Goldbeard Galleon Gallery, Smuggler's Beach, Jollyboat Plaza, Dead Men Tell No Tales Cemetery, Landlubber Bank, Barnacle Boneyard, Barnacle Beach, Barnacle Community Pool, Founder's Park, Goldbeard's Gym, Landgraab Sell'n'Swap and Phoenix Martial Arts Academy.)
Vacations used: 3 out of 4



I extended Leo’s life because I wanted to get Abi to level 10 rebel influence by her young adult birthday and a father at level 9 seemed like a useful thing to have around.  (Victoria, despite a late start, reached level 10 at about the same time as her daughter.)  Abi had full-length child and teen life stages, working on her painting skill and then her rebel credentials, so I’d been assuming that Leo, and probably also Victoria, would have died before she moved towns.  The change of plan came right at the last minute, after that final protest.  I suddenly realised that all of her requirements were now completed but, since Brie and Valarie were both old, I wasn’t sure how long they’d be around and all of her remaining co-workers, who would have been the most likely stand-ins as best friends, were also elders.  Barnacle Bay really was a town with an ageing population by this point.  Moving as soon as possible seemed like a good idea.

Leo and Victoria were both 56 at this point, so I was half-convinced they’d also drop dead while Abi and I were sorting out the house.  Then I remembered that Ken and Odessa had made rather more Young Again potions than were strictly necessary for the dynasty :).

I don’t think Abigail Stone would approve of her namesake, despite their shared love of painting.  She was the eldest of generation four of my legacy family and the resident portrait painter from late childhood until she died, well past a hundred.  She was on the opposite side of the law from Abi, in the forensic career.  Come to think of it, she was also quite unfortunate.  She never seemed romantically interested in anyone until late adulthood, when she re-met an old friend who’d recently been widowed and suddenly fell head-over-heels in love.  Romantic wishes all over the place.  She invited him to the house and then asked him to stay over.  It was their only night together.  In the morning, he said he’d have to go and take care of a few things, which turned out to mean a meeting with Grim.  Maybe naming Sims Abigail is a bad idea…



Outtakes

It's been a while since I posted any outtakes, so here are a few recent ones.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty
« Reply #348 on: April 06, 2014, 07:01:45 AM »
Barnacle Bay Museum

The school collection really isn’t worth displaying this time.  Since nobody graduated (although everyone had time off work anyway), there were no ‘Most Likely’ ribbons.  Tim was Prom King and Abi was Queen but for some reason Beth was the only one to get a photo.  Apart from that, there was one school trip souvenir – Abi’s graveyard poster.  Several other kids went on trips but came back empty-handed (even Leo!)



The Collections

The collections for this town are very much The India and Simon Show.



1. Gems
Tiberium from boards broken by India, collected and sent off for cutting by Simon.
Total value §170,775

2. Relics
Collected by India.
Total value §14,881

3. Inventions



Masterful time machines made by Simon.
Total value §8160

4. Celebrity gifts



Extravagator 5000s given to India and Simon (two each).*
Total value §60,000

Total value for all four collections §253,816

*Simon actually ended up with three of them – the advantages of being a very old celebrity. The family also had something like twenty hot tubs.  I didn’t originally intend Simon to live so long but ended up having two reasons to keep him around.  First, his original time machines started depreciating even though they were in the family inventory, so he made another batch later.  In fact, his occasional wishes to blow up the junkyard had left him with so much scrap that he ended up making fifteen time machines towards the end of his life, all of which held their value.  The other reason was that I wasn’t sure that the gems would count for the collection if Odessa picked them up and sent them off to be cut.  She was the main gem-cutter but Simon picked up all of the green ones, in case they turned out to be tiberium.



All buildings and properties owned and fully upgraded.















Career Rewards

India didn’t do so well here.  None of her rewards qualify but I thought she deserved her own area in the museum anyway.


                                                                         India’s rewards


                                                                                  Simon’s rewards




                                                                                      Ken’s rewards


                                                                                      Leo’s rewards

Official list: Medal of Genius (Simon), XS4285p Laptop from Landgraab Industries (Ken), Architectural Designer's Honour Trophy and Architectural Designer's Key to Barnacle Bay (Leo).



And the family graveyard, at Ophelia's Fishing Hole.




                                                                                      Dude and India


                                                                                    Simon and Coral



                                                                              Ken, Beth, Odessa and Moe


                                                                                Andrew, Melanie and Tim

Qualifying large tombstones: India, Dude, Simon, Ken.

I'm not sure what happened to Danica the SimBot.  She was never seen again after Ken and Beth's wedding and there was no tombstone for her in the mausoleum.

Abigail moved on week 58, day 7.  The family finances stood at just over five million Simoleons, a surprisingly small total given that Barnacle Bay is by far the cheapest town to buy out.


Next chapter

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: The Final Move/Barnacle Bay Museum (6 April)
« Reply #349 on: April 06, 2014, 04:18:48 PM »
Congrats on the final move!  Can't wait to see where Abi goes next!

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: The Final Move/Barnacle Bay Museum (6 April)
« Reply #350 on: April 07, 2014, 03:26:03 PM »
Thanks  :).  It'll probably be a little while before the next update, because she only moved yesterday (my time).  I just wanted to get the story up to date.

Offline Rhoxi

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: The Final Move/Barnacle Bay Museum (6 April)
« Reply #351 on: April 07, 2014, 07:42:23 PM »

Wow, three towns down; one to go! The 4x4 challenge is certainly a long haul. It's strange that your Abigail's would be so similar and yet so different. I like her new makeover. Not at all forger-like.  ;)



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Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty
« Reply #352 on: April 09, 2014, 05:02:48 PM »
Wow, three towns down; one to go! The 4x4 challenge is certainly a long haul. It's strange that your Abigail's would be so similar and yet so different. I like her new makeover. Not at all forger-like.  ;)

It is undoubtedly a long haul :-\, although moving to a new town freshens it up nicely.  I've been enjoying starting again - even with some annoying (and worrying) lagging.  I really like playing with poor Sims.

Abi has an odd face - she seems to suit hair that normally looks awful on my Sims.  I may change her into that terribly middle-aged one from Generations at some point.

On to generation thirteen...



Unlucky for Some

And so Abi found herself in Starlight Shores.  “Find a big house,” Dad had said.  “Find a rich man,” said Mum.  India’s advice had been different, though.

“Big houses can lead to big problems.  Keep it simple.  Just buy yourself an empty plot and return the rest of the money to Grim.  No idea what he does with it but still…”

The big houses were tempting.  The Castle looked amazing and that modern one was pretty good too – but Abi trusted India.  She resisted all the estate agents' hype and instead bought a good-sized, if not lavish, area of grass at the back of town.
 


What now?  Well, there was nothing much to her right.  On the left there was a house, so she ran over to meet the neighbours.



Two of the Luck brothers ignored her and went indoors.  Isaac, the youngest, stayed to chat.



This was a promising start.  A couple of hours later, she was inviting him to move in.



Things progressed quite nicely from there.





Then, by mutual consent, they cooled it down a little.  Skills and moneymaking were also important, after all.



The next morning started surprisingly, with a phone call Abi had never expected to get – or at least, not after all this time.  She was still happy to accept…



…although graduating with merit was disappointing for a former honour student.  Still, better than nothing, she supposed.  ‘Most Likely to Achieve Her Lifetime Wish’ was presumably ironic.

A celebration was clearly called for.  They couldn’t afford much.  On the other hand, some forms of entertainment are free.





Uh, wait!  Isaac wore socks in bed?  Even for someone who was given to sleeping in random outfits this was well beyond the pale.  Time to buy a dresser!



And, as was traditional, Abi was soon feeling unwell.



Very, very unwell, as it happened.  For the next day or so she didn’t dare stray far from the bathroom.  It was lucky that her easel was in the next room.



With the revelation of The Cause of It All, she started to feel better.  Well enough to venture into town and look for other pregnant ladies and mothers of small people.  Abi was a great believer in mutual support networks.



Time went placidly by, filled with romance, painting and the odd discounted spa treatment, until…



What with the throwing up, the backache and now this, Abi was beginning to have second (and third… and fourth) thoughts about this whole motherhood lark.  This wasn’t fun at all.



And then there was that magical moment when it all somehow seemed worthwhile after all.



The moment when her daughter was born.  Her precious little Pearl.



If you’re a member of an extended dynasty, possession by the spirits of ancestors is probably inevitable at some point.  In this case, Abi was apparently channelling Susanna…





…and Grace, appropriately enough, entered the world surrounded by paparazzi.  After all, she was going to have to get used to them sooner or later.




Next chapter



And so we’ve reached the end of the rainbow.  I could possibly revive it again with siblings but this time I’m not going to.  Like the first time, the file size got larger, rather than smaller, with the town move.  It’s still some way behind the Life States but I’ve already had to do two or three global resets, which doesn’t bode too well.  (I did research the town online, by the way, and know there’s a broken intersection by the school  ::).  My test family were OK, so I’m hoping the Golds will be, too.)

Unexpected twins again.  It’s clearly in the genes.  That’s all right: I was planning on a spare in this generation, although things would have been a little calmer if they’d arrived one at a time.

Offline Rhoxi

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Unlucky for Some (9 April)
« Reply #353 on: April 10, 2014, 06:44:35 PM »

Hahaha, that is some scowl! Just . . . back away slowly and leave the pregnant/birthing lady alone.

Well, I suppose you could always try for a colorful son to provide a spouse for gen 4 if you really wanted. Or who knows, maybe it'll pop up from a grandparent?

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Unlucky for Some (9 April)
« Reply #354 on: April 11, 2014, 02:30:58 PM »
Hahaha, that is some scowl! Just . . . back away slowly and leave the pregnant/birthing lady alone.

Scary, isn't it?  ;)

Well, I suppose you could always try for a colorful son to provide a spouse for gen 4 if you really wanted. Or who knows, maybe it'll pop up from a grandparent?

I'm not going to bother. With the file bloat that's set in,  I'd rather keep things simple.  I was getting rather tired of all the washed-out green Sims anyway.  I was originally planning to have a freed genie in this household and try for a blue heir but probably won't do that either.  A tame genie feels a bit too cheaty.


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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Unlucky for Some (9 April)
« Reply #355 on: April 12, 2014, 07:42:26 AM »
Yay, generation 14 is here! Welcome nooboos  ;D I agree with the plan to keep things simple, particularly if the game is starting to play up. Not long to go though.

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Unlucky for Some (9 April)
« Reply #356 on: April 12, 2014, 02:00:33 PM »
Only generation 13 as yet - but still definitely getting there :).

The game's been playing up at intervals almost since the beginning but does seem to be worse since the last move.  So: small family, relatively simple house (I loved the landscaping of the last one but it took forever to switch between live and build/buy modes) and try to get through it as fast as possible.  I hope this doesn't make the story suffer too much but the priority is going to be completing the challenge.

Offline hazelnut

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty
« Reply #357 on: April 13, 2014, 11:41:46 AM »
Growing Up in Public

Abi was, of course, publicly disgraced for having a baby out of wedlock, although she was singularly unbothered by her newfound notoriety.

“Which one do you think they’re objecting to?  Would one baby have been OK?  Or are the paparazzi so stupid that they didn’t notice it was twins?  It’s all a load of nonsense – but do you fancy getting married anyway?”



And, without further ado, they exchanged rings, before one of the babies started crying again.







And, equally unconventionally, they celebrated with a pair of birthday cakes instead of the usual wedding variety.  The twins crawled off to the mirror and dresser while the paparazzi helped their parents to eat their cakes.


                                                                               Pearl (left) and Grace (right)

With Isaac concentrating on his career in the music industry, the toddler training was largely left to Abi.  She relieved the boredom with terrible jokes.



“Who’s Mummy’s little gem, then?”



“So graceful!”



Their tiny house wasn’t really large enough for a family of four and much of their time was spent outside, in the fresh air (which was good, wasn’t it?) and surrounded by paparazzi (definitely not so good).



After what seemed like an eternity but was actually only two or three days, the twins were ready for another birthday.



Now that they were more independent, Abi went back to her easel.  She wanted to make the most of her extended graduation/wedding/maternity leave.  Isaac was too busy with the requirements of his job to spend much time playing his guitar for tips, so her paintings would have to be their major source of income for some time to come.  The girls would be fine.  They’d inherited her seriousness without the artistic eccentricity.  They were sensible kids.



“I hate being stuck in the house.  Why can’t we have a table outside?”



“I want to fish.  Stupid homework!”

Abi was right, though.  They were conscientious enough to finish their work anyway – although leaving them to get their own tea didn’t turn out to have been such a good decision.





As usual, time failed to stand still.  Isaac aged up to full, crisis-ridden adulthood…



…and, just after midnight the following day, the girls stood in front of their third cakes.





They started their teens as they meant to go on, out in the garden, fishing.

“No school!  We can stay out here all day if we want.”



“Yeah, but the reporters will be here soon.”

Isaac wasn’t at all keen on the prospect of a gardenful of paparazzi ogling his teenage daughters in their nighties.  After a lot of careful financial calculations, a long session of playing for tips and the sale of several paintings that Abi would really rather have hung on to, they scraped together enough cash for a sizeable extension to the house, complete with paparazzi-proof fencing.  It wasn’t pretty but it did the job.



Finally allowed some privacy in their lives, the twins got on with the business of growing up: school, homework, driving lessons, making friends and learning skills.  And, most important of all, going to Prom.



It was a relatively quiet evening: a few fights, a few refusals for dances, a same-dress crisis.  The standard stuff.  Oh, and Pearl acquired a romantic interest.

“Mark Best?  Yes, I remember him.  Cute little thing – but a horrible temper.  Isn’t he too young for you?”

Abi’s artistic temperament sometimes came between her and the real world.  It turned out that she’d last met Mark when he was a toddler and she reluctantly agreed that he must have grown up quite a lot by now.  Where had the time gone?

“He’s still cute, though,” said Pearl, sotto voce – and, “He’s still mean,” said Grace, equally quietly.

Maybe it would all come to nothing anyway: it barely even rated as a high-school romance.  Pearl had more urgent concerns.  Both girls would have been happy to spend the rest of their lives as self-employed anglers and Grace had the luxury of doing just that, while also pursuing her other interests.  Pearl, as the heir, had more limited options.  She wasn’t convinced that fishing would pay well enough, soon enough.  She needed another career.  But what?  There weren’t all that many options left – and even fewer that suited her personality.

“It’s a pity Professional Ditherer isn’t an option,” said Isaac, who was offended that she wouldn’t even consider a career in the entertainment industry.

And, all too soon, the twins’ teenage days were over.  First Grace, and then Pearl, started to sparkle.





And, after several hours of trips to the mirror and dresser, two young adults were ready to take on the world.




Next chapter



Abi totally failed to get negative moodlets from her various public disgraces.  I’m not sure whether it’s her insane trait or just a glitch – not that I’m complaining.  About the only thing I’ve been using the moodlet manager for is getting rid of those annoying moodlets, so it delayed having to buy one for this house.

Offline Shewolf13

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Growing Up in Public (13 April)
« Reply #358 on: April 13, 2014, 12:46:05 PM »
Wow, the girls are beautiful! 

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Re: End of the Line Dynasty: Growing Up in Public (13 April)
« Reply #359 on: April 13, 2014, 01:02:41 PM »
The first thing I noticed about the move to Starlight Shores is that I think you chose the same lot I did my life states dynasty on (it's a good lot for dynasties). And the girls turned out great! Unique, but thankfully without Abi's cheekbones. I don't hate her cheekbones, but they sometimes distract from her otherwise gorgeous features.
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