It’s interesting to read accounts of other Sim players’ Legacy Challenge families and realize that even within the scope of this challenge, people can take very different approaches to the game. Some go for the wealth points, others are determined to collect a ghost of each color, and yet others just want to get to 10th generation without something catastrophic happening. I’d put myself in that last bunch. I’ve never been a wily strategist — if I analyze my game too much, I stop having fun with it. And purposely killing off Sims just isn’t my cup of tea. I’m more fascinated by the various stages of Sim life, the ins and outs of their daily existence, and the passing on of family traits. I like the challenge of trying to keep all of my Sims happy, satisfying as many of their wants as possible and watching their aspiration meters zing into platinum.

I also enjoy silly things like taking my Sims shopping for new clothes and making them pose for family portraits in the backyard, neither of which has anything to do with the Legacy Challenge. In fact, they could be detrimental, considering my Sims could have been raising their skills while I was dressing them like models from a Lands’ End catalog and making them stand still for hours on end.

Of course Leo had to be difficult and refuse to stand up straight — darn those Lazy Sims. He’d either slump forward in the usual Neanderthal pose or gaze listlessly at the sky, neither of which was particularly photogenic. I also noticed just before I posed everyone that Devin had a bout of acne. Woops. I considered “rescheduling” for another day, but it was too much work to get everyone all happy and clean and awake, so I just went with it. As it was, I had to use the Mood Energizers on all three adults. Liam and Devin seemed fine until they both started doing the “I need a toilet NOW” dance. Next time I’m energizing everyone and putting ALL of the lazy Sims in chairs. Sheesh.

On to the update…I seem to have solved the ghost problem for the time being. Actually, I’m not sure if I solved it or if it’s just coincidence, but what I did was delete Sheldon’s headstone (bye bye, Sheldon!) and have everyone in the family mourn Nia’s headstone at least once a day. Her ghost hasn’t shown up at all since then, which is too bad for the Knowledge Sims who want to see ghosts all the time, but at least everyone can get a good night’s sleep. I moved the cemetery closer to the house and put some more trees and sculptures around it to raise the Environment score, too, so maybe that helped. Here’s what it looked like before I did all that (I don’t have an “after” pic just yet):

I forgot to mention that when Devin became a teenager, I rolled Popularity for his aspiration. When Liam became a teen a few days later, I rolled Knowledge (yay!). I got rid of Devin’s glasses because they were warping strangely near his cheeks, so it’s hard to tell the boys apart now. Devin has the messy hair and Liam has the Elvis hair, but otherwise they’re practically identical.

Liam spends a lot of time playing chess and almost has his Logic score maxed out. Both boys were accepted into private school when their grandparents were still alive (Sheldon burnt the lobster AGAIN but the headmaster didn’t seem to mind!), and they somehow manage to do their homework every day.

Devin also got a job in Politics and reached the top of the teen career track in one day of work. That, along with his A+ report card, made him an “Overachiever”, which gave his parents oodles of aspiration points. Unfortunately it also puts a crimp in his social life — he barely has enough time in the evenings to do homework, eat dinner, hang out with his friends, and raise that all-important FUN score. One tragic evening I answered a chance card incorrectly, and Devin was demoted. That same night he came home from work sick. I put him to bed right away, and within a day he was healthy again. Phew.

As for the adults, both Leo and Kiara reached the top of their respective careers — Hall of Famer for Kiara, and Chief of Staff for Leo. Kiara had a want to “Quit Job” right after that, but I figured since she’s a Fortune Sim and only works three days a week, I’d have her keep working. On her days off I had her work on her novel, and she finally finished it! Not long after that she received a phone call stating that her novel was selling well, and she received a royalty check for §2,302. Definitely a nice supplement to her usual income. I figure if she keeps going to work and writing novels/painting masterpieces on her days off, she might just hit her “Earn 75,000” want before she passes away.

As for Bree, she’s still unemployed, but very close to maxing out her skills, as is Leo. Both of them had the “Max all skills” want spin up in the aspiration panel, so I locked it immediately. In the Legacy Challenge, that is considered an “Impossible Want”, since it gives them 30,000 aspiration points, but it’s probably the easiest Impossible Want to satisfy. We get 1 point for each Impossible Want we fulfill, so that’s cool.

But even Knowledge Sims have to take a break from studying sometime. Here’s Bree playing in the bathtub after a shower…

Both Bree and Kiara transitioned into elders in platinum mode (at least, I think they did — those meters have a tendency to drop at the worst possible moments). I took the obligatory picture of them sitting on the sofa. Kiara is on the left as usual, and Bree is on the right. You’ll notice Bree is insanely gaunt — I have no idea why, since Sheldon had pudgy cheeks, and Nia’s face was angular but soft. I guess Nia had hollowish cheeks as an elder, but Bree’s are much worse. From some angles she looks almost skeletal. Eeek.

The next day Leo followed them into elder land… (that’s Bree in the thinking cap and Liam looking on)

Kiara started wanting shrubs, flowers and trees — just like her parents — but thankfully she also wants to write novels and paint masterpieces, so I have her painting and writing all the time. I love how Sims look so serene when they’re painting.

Here’s a pic of the cool Shanley men. Devin and Liam are on their way to catch the bus, and Leo is heading out to his carpool, which at this point is a sleek black limousine (no more helicopter since Nia passed away).

Here’s another funny thing about Kiara’s wants — remember how her parents wanted to Woohoo a lot when they were elders? Well, Kiara has never been in love or even had a crush on anyone, and yet a “Woohoo” want showed up in her aspiration panel! What is it about elders and woohoo? Anyway, I figured that would be an easy want to fulfill, so I had her invite her friend Kennedy Cox over. She had a high Daily and Lifetime relationship score with him, so I had her kiss him. Well, it was her very first kiss, if you can believe that. 55 years old and never been kissed! It’s like she was too busy for romance until she hit middle age. Heehee.

So there you go, a slightly shorter update this time around. My current goals are to have Devin befriend the maid Kaylynn, then marry her when he grows up so we can get started on the fourth generation. Liam is going to be my stargazer — I’m hoping he’ll get abducted by aliens so I can get a bonus point for an alien born on the lot. Meanwhile Bree and Leo are very close to maxing out all skills, and Kiara is earning money by the bucketful. The Legacy goes on!