Hey all, here’s another update on the Shanleys, my Wishful Living Challenge family. This one’s a little shorter than usual – I want to try doing smaller updates so I have a better chance of remembering what the heck happened and so it doesn’t take me forever to write it all up. We’ll see how that goes…I’m actually quite a bit past this point, so it’ll be a couple of updates before I’m all caught up. Anyway, onward and upward!
Last we left my generation 4 torch-holder/heir/crazy inventor Gibson Shanley, he was searching high and low for a pink diamond so he could build his third and final Simbot. Unfortunately, he wasn’t having any luck, which is odd for a Lucky Sim.
While he was taking a break from his search one afternoon, I had Simbot Franklin take the miner up to the schoolyard and do some drilling for gems. I thought it’d be cool if he could make a tunnel up there so the family could travel downtown more quickly.
All of that drilling didn’t agree with Franklin, and I found him shorted out in front of the miner. His needs weren’t low, so it wasn’t from exhaustion or anything. Therefore, I deduce that the miner electrocuted him. Naughty machine!
It’s a pain to have to fix ‘bots all the time, so I didn’t make Franklin mine anymore.
Gibby says: “Don’t try this at home, kids.â€
Gibby repaired Franklin and sent him home for recovery. Now Gib was back to square one in his search for the elusive pink diamond.
Meanwhile, life went on as usual at 862 Bayou Gulch Road. Jules and Norris ran around looking like the Hardy Boys…
…until Jules aged up to teen, anyway. I started him on a strict skill-building regimen so he’d be all set when he moved out on his own. He learned to cook, garden, and deal with people, all while keeping his grades up and working on his athletic skill.
Jules’s traits: Brave, Genius, Perceptive, Charismatic
I was still hoping that either the Ghost Hunter or Private Investigator LTWs would roll up for him, but they hadn’t yet.
Verna became a teenager not long after Jules. She’s the spitting image of her Grandma Violet (only brunette instead of blonde).
Verna’s traits: Excitable, Easily Impressed, Frugal, Dramatic
With Verna, I was hoping one of the money-related LTWs would roll up, but none had yet. I eventually just purchased the “Change Lifetime Wish†reward for her. Thankfully “Swimming in Cash†was one of the options, so I nabbed it. It must be proportional to the family’s wealth, however, because instead of wanting §50,000 in cash, Verna wanted §195,000.
When Verna realized the family would have to earn about §45K in additional funds before her greatest dream could come true, she passed out on the kitchen floor. OK, not really. I just had her try the fake fainting thing that Dramatic Sims can do. Heh. Her brother Norris had almost no reaction, though. What’s the point of fake fainting if it doesn’t freak people out?
When a family member in an inactive household dies, Twallan’s Story Progression divvies up the items in that Sim’s personal inventory and distributes them among friends and relatives. Well, Gibby’s dad Benedict passed away, and Gibby inherited his guitar. It made me a little sad when I dragged it out of Gibby’s inventory and set it in the basement. *sniff* Rock on, Benny.
After many days of collecting and drilling, Gibby FINALLY found his last pink diamond! The cool thing is, he had the “Lucky†moodlet up, so it was indeed his lucky day. He ended up finding it while drilling at the junkyard. I had him send it away for the heart-cut immediately, and when it returned, Gibby started working on his last Simbot.
IT’S ALIVE! Gibby’s last Simbot was a male named Nikola, after the famous inventor Nikola Tesla. He’s a cool charcoal gray color, which makes it easier to distinguish between him and his brother Franklin. (Side note to other MST3K fans: he also reminds me of Crow’s evil twin “Timmy” in the host segments during Fire Maidens from Outer Space — he’s about 5 minutes in. :-D)
Nik has the Childish trait, so he likes to play with toys. Boats, in fact. Why oh why are Simbots drawn to water and aquatic items?? They all have a death wish, I tell ya.
Take Edison, for instance. She is Hydrophobic, as are all Simbots, and yet she regularly tries to play in the garden sprinklers. For a long time plants were blocking her route, so she couldn’t get to them and would throw a tantrum instead, but after a few plants died and were disposed of, Eddy found her way to the fountains of death.
She shorted out, of course, and I took the opportunity to reprogram her and give her some traits that would help her in her quest to become an International Super-Spy (things like Workaholic and Ambitious). Franklin did the honors, since his Handiness skill is almost as high as Gibby’s.
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Great update Jen! I love the simbots they are funny. I can’t wait to build one (or two) in my game. I just started the Wishful Living Challenge and so far no one has reached their LTW! Ugh!
I’m interested in Twallan’s Story Progression mod. I did use it for a short while on another family but the game became buggy fast and I had to remove everything. But so far you don’t seem to have experienced any bugs. So I’m curious what you did exactly. I really want the family’s to keep living their lives once the heir moves out.
I always love your title images, jenba. :O))
What is it with the boy’s jawline in this family?? Did they get it from their mother? They had to, I guess, considering that the time-traveling boy doesn’t belong to Gibby.
Jules grew up to be kinda cute. And Verna grew up pretty. :O)
Congrats to Gibby for finding that final pink diamond! Hi, Nikola!
As far as sims putting on the pounds easily compared to some … yes, I’ve noticed this myself, but not with a born-in-game sim. I noticed it with my sim-self. She started off overweight … as she IS my sim-self. Though she knows martial arts and has slimmed down, it’s very easy for her to put weight back on. Just like in real life!! :Op
Gibby has such a strange expression on his face after he returned from the future. Sorry nothing interesting happened. :O)
Happy birthday to all the sims! Jules needs to update his glasses to something more modern I think. :O)) Who knows? Maybe the stylist will be his future wife! :O)
Great job on the scoring, jenba! WOOT!
I’m with you on needing to do shorter updates more frequently… I think thats part of my current problem with my Mystics! (Rolls eyes at self)..and other stuff.
Wow!! Verna really DOES look like Violet, but with darker hair. You can really see the Shanley nose…er features. Actually I think she is gorgeous!
Congratulations to Gibby on achieving his LTW!
The simbots seem like fun…but annoying with their water-deathwish. So the fence around the garden didn’t work?
Have you picked an heir/heiress this generation?
Great update :-) I love the Shanley nose – personally, I’d make it a requirement for the heir to have the nose :-p Your simbot looks cool – mine looks like Wall-E. *sigh* Great update!
PS: Fence works great, Tracy :-) Thanks for that!
Wow, that’s a big family. I think I might go crazy, especially since I’m still having a hard time letting go and leaving my sims to do their own thing. Control freak that I am :)
I agree, it’s way to easy to make cash in TS3. It’s no challenge at all, which disappoints me, I like challenges.
I love Gibby, he’s so cute…..and weird, in a cool way. I was dreading the robot thing, thought it might be like the bots in TS2, which I didn’t get along with :) . But they actually look cool, I’m looking forward to trying one out.
OMG the robot hugging the microwave! I was laughing so hard, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Great pictures as always, Jen. BTW Jules looks very good with the Wayferer style glasses.
Jules is still grumpy-looking, which is a bit of a shame, and what’s with those sideburns? Does he have aspirations to become SimElvis? Still, funny update, and now I gotta try to make me a SimBot next time I play.
Great update Jen!
My sims used to be like Norris with their weight too. I had to constantly keep the overweight ones working out if they wanted to be slim, but the thin sims could almost eat whatever they wanted and never gain weight (SO not fair!). Awesomemod has a fix for that though, and I can’t live without it (because I like to have TS2 style aging as I play mainly prosperity style). Also wow, I’m impressed by how many LTWs you’ve completed! Lol I am a sorry excuse for a sim player, I’ve probably achieved 2 since I’ve started playing TS3… seriously.
Wow, you really don’t have much luck with your SimBots, do you? Shorting out playing in the sprinklers, shorting out using the mining machine… *grins*
Wow, the boys really do look a lot alike! (Although the bowl haircut HAS to go!)
Poor Jules, such a harsh task-mistress he finds himself under. *comfort* Although he did grow up to be a rather cute teen. :-)
Ooo, Verna grew up into quite a beauty as well! *blinks* Really? The “Swimming in Cash” LTW scales? That’s just WRONG! *grumbles*
*snickers at Verna fainting and Norris just standing there*
Aww, enjoy playing for the angels, Benny. Kinda neat that Gibby got the thing that mattered most to his dad though. :-)
Welcome, Nikola! Did you get to choose the color or was it random?
Happy birthday, Norris! Wow, I wish it were that easy to lose weight in real life. But yes, I do think they have set-points in their weight and you have to either use the body sculptor or keep exercising/not exercising to keep their weight different than what they default to.
*blinks* Wow, um, I hope you cleaned the microwave before using it to cook food in, after it received all that luvvins. *shakes her head*
Happy birthday, Lolly! *cheers* And happy birthday, Jules! *throws confetti*
while sure i do love the whole update, its just the mw lovin is the best! That was too funny!!
Super fun as always! :-) I love your captions on the family’s happenings–too funny! Wow, Verna does look like Violet! I guess the better genetics update is working! I haven’t gotten any cool outfits or anything from time travelling–I’m jealous! :-) The dark gray robot is neat–yay for MST!!! And it is totally impressive how many LTWs you’ve done–you really are the queen of challenges, Jenba! :-)
Hey jen, I was just wondering how you got the heart-shaped cut for your pink diamond? I have all my life fruits and I have 3 pink diamonds, but I don’t know how to get the cut! I have read all sorts of different things, but none have worked! I have collected over 100 gems and I have every other single cut! Do you have any ideas? I would appreciate anyones answer. Thanks!
Hi Maddy, to get the heart cut, you have to send at least 10 different gems away to be cut. So even if you’ve collected 100, if you haven’t sent at least 10 completely different types away, you won’t get the heart cut to show up. I hope that helps!
Thanks Jen! It totally worked! I had 10 different types but I hadn’t sent 10 different ones to get cut! Thanks so much!