6 replies to this topic

[daeloth]

I loved playing Toddlermania challenge in Sims 2 and I thought to try it out in Sims 3 also. For those who don’t know, the objective of toddlermania challenge is to raise 7 toddlers to childhood. Sounds easy, right? In Sims 2 it was pretty much chaos. Somehow, I don’t think it will be any different in Sims 3, but we’ll see. :)

I try to play according to the original rules as much as I’m able; I’ll make the following modifications to the scoring though, to accommodate the differences between Sims 2 and 3.

* In Sims 2, 3 points were awarded for each toddler that grew up well (determined by the memories of the parent). I guess I’ll give 3 points when I’m able to choose the trait upon growing up. This probably means that I’ll get no points for that, as the toddler has to learn all three skills to be able to do that.
* In Sims 2, each skill point the toddler learned gave 0.5 points. Since toddlers no longer have visible skills, I guess 1 point given if the toddler can no longer raise their skill level (after the message that So-and-so has learned all he/she can about given skill) is fair.
* No points are given for growing up in platinum (because we don’t have platinum mood anymore).
* Also no minus points for visits from Sim therapist (because he doesn’t exist anymore) and deleted baby bottles. I guess that makes up for lost points from skilling and such.

Oh, and this won’t be a challenge told as a story, as I’m not much of a storyteller. Instead I’ll just report on my progress and hopefully post pictures.

Well, I guess that’s it for the introduction, it’s time to meet the family!

The family is named after their Sims 2 predecessors - Weather. The mother is called River (1) and the kids are Rain (2), Moon (3), Cloud (4), Fog (5), Aurora, Snow and Sun. I chose the traits for River but kept the traits game generated for toddlers. River’s traits are Good, Family-Oriented, Excitable, Easily Impressed and Friendly. I’m hoping they help her bear the enormous challenge of raising those seven tots to children. Maybe even get some lifetime happiness rewards. We’ll see.

The kids’ traits are as follows:
Rain – Virtuoso, Heavy Sleeper
Moon – Loner, Good
Cloud – Loner, Light Sleeper
Fog – Loves the Outdoors, Grumpy
Aurora – Slob, Friendly
Snow – Virtuoso, Grumpy
Sun – Virtuoso, Heavy Sleeper

Attached Files

•  1_Weather_River.jpg   114.97K   74 downloads
•  2_Weather_Rain.jpg   127.8K   78 downloads
•  3_Weather_Moon.jpg   90.15K   68 downloads
•  4_Weather_Cloud.jpg   101.11K   74 downloads
•  5_Weather_Fog.jpg   106.3K   80 downloads

[daeloth]

Pictures of the rest of the kids - Aurora (6), Snow (7) and Sun (8). Also some pictures of their home. I'm not much of a builder, but at least they have a roof over their heads.

The house is by the beach to take advantage of the beautiful vista moodlet (9). Each kid has their own "room" so they wouldn't wake their siblings up. Then there's a big playing room with training potties and toys. Mommy has her own room, although I doubt she'll get much sleep. (10) I guess I'll modify the house once the kids have grown, but at first it'll have to do.

Attached Files

•  6_Weather_Aurora.jpg   88.17K   76 downloads
•  7_Weather_Snow.jpg   106.21K   75 downloads
•  8_Weather_Sun.jpg   104.23K   67 downloads
•  9_Weather_house.jpg   155.75K   66 downloads
•  10_Weather_house_layout.jpg   133.95K   111 downloads

[daeloth]

Day 1

The day starts out fine. River is feeling optimistic and while other kids crawl off to play with their toys, she teaches Sun to walk (11). She’s pretty happy until she realizes that she has 6 more kids to teach (12). She gets the wish to see Sun age up well, but it’s too early for that. Sun’s bladder motive is a bit low, so River takes her inside and starts potty training. Then she gets wishes to potty train Fog and to teach Cloud to talk. I’ll save those, maybe she actually has time to fulfill those and rake up some lifetime happiness points and buy Steel Bladder or some such. I have a feeling this will be very needed, as River’s needs are getting low but she has six other kids to take to the potty. She starts out very enthusiastically and even claps her hands excitedly when I tell her to potty train Aurora. Let’s hope this enthusiasm doesn’t fade. :)

While other kids are skilling or playing together (13), River potty trains. And then potty trains some more (14). It takes quite a bit of time, though, and some of the kids just can’t wait. Rain’s the first to have an accident, then Moon and Fog. They sit and scream, guess they don’t like to be dirty. Some kids are very tired; most of them are also hungry. River puts the more tired ones to their cribs, feeds and cleans up the rest and finally has them all sleeping snugly. Each kid also has a teddy bear in their inventory, so they wouldn’t get lonely while sleeping.

River dashes to bathroom and then eats a can of soup. Shower has to wait till morning (which is in a couple of hours), because she’s too tired. She crawls to bed and falls into an exhausted slumber. She has survived the first day...

Attached Files

•  11_Weather_and_they're_off.jpg   146.65K   66 downloads
•  12_Weather_6_more_to_go.jpg   166.88K   63 downloads
•  13_Weather_playing.jpg   144.52K   66 downloads
•  14_Weather_potty_training_Cloud.jpg   95.94K   69 downloads

[darlingviola]

You know I think the toddler challenge may actually be a bit easier with S3...though not by much :lol:! Hopefully River will be able to keep her sanity :).

[daeloth]

It *is* a bit easier. For one thing, no more cleaning up used bottles and kids not crying in their cribs.

Day 2

River has only slept couple of hours when the first kid wakes (15). Since he isn’t all that annoyed about being in the crib, I don’t wake River until 5 am. By that time about half the kids are up and River’s morning is spent taking kids from their cribs (still takes annoyingly long time)(16), feeding them as needed (17) and potty-training. She doesn’t have time for breakfast, but eats a raw lettuce from her inventory. Her first break is at 2 pm (yes, it takes 7 hours just to get kids ready for the day). Since the kids are now set and her energy bar is very low, River goes to sleep for a few hours. When she wakes, it’s time for another round of potty training and feeding. One of the kids, Sun, is finally potty-trained, yay! Life should be a bit easier now. :D

River is not happy. All those full training potties that she doesn’t have time to empty are upsetting her and lowering her mood. Also, the kids are throwing temper tantrums over nothing (18). (Maybe she didn’t like her new clean diaper :huh: ). Still, since she’s a trooper, she tries to ignore them and starts putting kids to bed for the night. Since it takes quite a time, it’s almost morning (4 am) when the last child is in her crib. River eats a quick breakfast and tries to clean up some, before going for a quick nap (19). The kids will wake soon and she needs to be ready.

Attached Files

•  15_Weather_Rain_is_up.jpg   91.23K   52 downloads
•  16_Weather_rise_and_shine.jpg   94.2K   49 downloads
•  17_Weather_feeding_time.jpg   102.33K   61 downloads
•  18_Weather_River_upset.jpg   102.81K   60 downloads
•  19_Weather_River_sleeps.jpg   84.28K   54 downloads

[daeloth]

Day 3

The morning starts, as always, with getting the ones that are awake from their cribs (seriously, can this take any longer?), feeding and potty-training. This time it really pays off - 5 of the kids (Snow, Rain, Moon, Cloud, Aurora) are finally potty-trained! Maybe River will now have time to teach them something else, too.

The rest of the day passes quickly. River eats showers and naps a bit. The kids are playing with their toys (20) and learning valuable skills for their later years. Almost all of them have either the peg box (21) or the xylophone (22) mastered. All too soon, it’s time for bed again. By the time all the kids are in their cribs, River is about to pass out on the floor. Luckily, she makes it to bed just in time.

Attached Files

•  20_Weather_Kids_playing.jpg   75.64K   50 downloads
•  21_Weather_Cloud_peg_box.jpg   90.15K   52 downloads
•  22_Weather_Rain_xylp.jpg   94.22K   50 downloads

[darlingviola]

Wow busy days for River! She probably won't know what to do with herself when the kids are all trained.