Author’s Note
Hi everyone! It makes me happy to be writing here again. Before anything else, let me provide an update on what became of the last Stone dynasty attempt…
While I did play for a few more in-game weeks, lag and crashes became a significant hinderance. It’s not a mysterious issue: my overly-optimistic, liberal use of expansion packs was a major contributor to the problem. I already load my game with so much store content and CC, and I think this choice—particularly with regard to Seasons—ultimately weighed too heavily on my game.
Unfortunately, the previous attempt has been discontinued. However…
I really, really want to complete an Immortal Dynasty! And I’ve ended up with a pocket of a few months here where I think I’ll have the time to play through it. Before starting my new attempt, I set out to make some changes to try and rectify things that have stalled previous attempts:
1. Playing faster/making decisions that will expedite the dynasty
I get so caught up on the minutiae of the game, which leads to really slow playtime. In the context of a challenge where such a substantial balance of in-game weeks need to be played through, I think this has hindered my progress in past attempts.
I’m making some changes related to general play style (have everyone asleep at the same time, so I can triple-speed through nights; be less caught up on making sure every birthday party, or whatever, plays through perfectly). Others are choices with the dynasty timeline itself. In the past, I think I’ve left too much of a buffer between the generations. One of my favorite things about the Immortal Dynasty is actually the challenge posed by the first generation—such a mad rush to get everything done!—so I’m hoping, by waiting less time for each heir to have a baby, the challenge goes by quicker, and possibly becomes even more entertaining and challenging.
2. Fewer written updates
This one breaks my heart! I adore spinning a long yarn about my Sims, but this also adds to the overall time that I spend on the challenge. As much as I would love, and have always longed, to write a sprawling, Dreamweaver-esque story, I think fewer written updates will speed things up and increase my odds of succeeding. I’m aiming for one update per generation.
3. Play with fewer expansion packs
What I set out with last attempt (using every pack except Into the Future) was not realistic. I have reduced my packs this attempt to:
World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Supernatural, University Life
This is more similar to the set I played with during Emerald Stone’s attempt, where lag was much less of an issue than it was with my last attempt. The big omission here is Pets. I don’t know if I’ve played a single game without Pets since it was released, but I realized there was no real reason I “needed” it in the game—no skills or careers that I had planned to use for any of my immortals—so it’s gone! It will be interesting to see what features, outside of the obvious, that I find myself missing.
With all that covered, we can proceed with the story! I’m pleased to say that I’ve already played through the first generation of my new attempt; here it is…
Generation One: Rainbow Stone
I liked Rainbow and felt that she didn’t get the chance she deserved during my last attempt. Therefore, I stuck with her as my founder, with traits slightly updated to reflect my new array of packs:
Rainbow Stone
Traits: Green Thumb, Technophobe, Eco-Friendly, Artistic, Loves the Outdoors (to replace Animal Lover)
LTW: The Perfect Garden
With Pets gone, I also had to pick a new setting for her. I chose Sunset Valley. On her first day, I had her go introduce herself to the three prospective husbands I’d scouted…
She met her husband in Stiles McGraw—the only one she had a romantic connection with. His traits are Loner, Loves the Outdoors, Frugal, Neat, and Light Sleeper, and his lifetime wish is Swimming in Cash. I was glad it was Stiles, but slightly disappointed when she invited him over and they travelled in a taxi. I was hoping he’d have a car for us to sell.
Even during Emerald’s attempt—when I didn’t allow myself to farm gems for income—Emerald’s husband, Booker, had a nice car to give them some funds to start off with. Stiles and Rainbow started off much poorer than I’m used to my Sims being. It’s a good thing everyone loves the outdoors.
While Stiles was busy sculpting, I had Rainbow running around collecting gems to help get the dynasty off the ground. This is usually a job I’d outsource to a dog—the collectibles they can hunt are so ridiculously overpowered compared to the gems that spawn naturally in the world. I’ve had dogs with level four or five hunting finding pink diamonds and Tiberiums. It was honestly a nice change of pace to collect the old-fashioned way; it was significantly less profitable, but it returned some excitement to finding a moderately-priced gem like a diamond or a luminous gem.
I had to tap into some other creative strategies for money-making. I had Rainbow feeding books to the omni plant at the science building—I hadn’t experimented with the plant much, because I’d never had real reason to play around with it before.
Her career and SuperMax skill, as with my last attempt, are both gardening. Usually, to max out the self-employed gardener career, I have the Sim grow Glow Orbs (which, at Perfect quality, sell for just north of §400 at the consignment store). However, I realized rare books can be much more profitable—in the thousands of simoleons!—and do count towards gardening revenue, if grown from an omni plant. I came up with this grand idea where Rainbow could rely on a whole fleet of omni plants, fed on rare books, to max the gardening career. Of course, this depended on her getting the opportunity early enough, which, unfortunately, didn’t happen. Oh well. I still want to experiment with the omni plant, and I think I want the family to start collecting rare books… I’ve just never done it before, and it seems like the kind of thing a dynasty family should do.
When they had hit about §10,000 in family funds, I put it all immediately towards building their home. I had this idea for a whimsical stone tower—which, done properly, could’ve been cute, I think, but my vision definitely exceeded the budget.
Kind of an eyesore. I don’t think I picked a good pattern for the exterior walls. The inside was incredibly sparse.
I quickly tired of spiral staircases, too, which wasted time and caused pathing issues. The tower’s one redeeming quality was a nice balcony that overlooked Rainbow’s garden—this functioned as their art studio, and also the setting for their belated private wedding.
Does Rainbow seem to carry a particular glow in those pictures? Yes, she was pregnant with their first child. Their little girl was born a few days later—Winonaite Stone, same as my last attempt, with the same traits, Good and Genius.
By this point, Stiles had accumulated enough lifetime happiness points to purchase the collection helper. (Those sculpting wishes are so hefty!) This expedited the gem collecting significantly, and once Winonaite was a toddler, the family had about §30,000 to their name. The stone tower was torn down and not missed. A more respectable family home went up in its place.
Rainbow’s garden, which, by then, had expanded nicely, is out behind the home.
The house is modest—especially compared to the neighbors’—but the family is biding their time and funds.
Winonaite was the most precious little girl. I had the thought to put those round glasses on her and fell in love.
Here is a shot of Rainbow catching a rare butterfly, which I’ve decided is exciting and important enough to include.
I tried to collect butterflies, once, in another save, and I find it much more challenging than collecting rocks, gems, or metals. I want to try again this dynasty. Did you know, for instance, that certain butterflies only spawn during certain times of day, and furthermore, only on certain days of the week? I love this game... there’s always something new to do!
Rainbow’s adult birthday happened around this time, as did Winonaite’s child birthday.
Winonaite took after her parents and gained the Loves the Outdoors trait. She got a telescope in the backyard, and a costume chest...
Her bedroom also got an upgrade, with a chess table.
Here she is at the library, reading with her dad.
She’s got a skill book there there, but I wasn’t concerned about grinding skilling in her childhood, or really even into her teenagehood. Her SuperMax skill is science, not logic, and science has easy challenges; her logic would only need to be high enough for her career, which I decided would be medicine. (I had considered the science career itself, but it requires so many skills; I’d also considered her becoming an astronaut, but I didn’t feel like Winonaite was the militaristic type.)
Instead, she just had a lot of fun.
During this time, Rainbow cooked, gardened, painted, scaled her career, and completed some BlackOps.
Stiles became adept in the broad number of disciplines needed at the beginning of a dynasty—painting, sculpting, photography, science, fishing. He actually got through his 25-ice-sculpture grind quicker than I’m used to. Something else new I learned: Sim ice sculptures sell for more, and get completed much faster, than normal ice sculptures, at least in my experience.
Soon, it was Winonaite’s birthday again. Her parents threw the first party of the dynasty, with real guests. Winonaite thought very carefully about what to wish for.
Her wish was granted! Her very own Science station, in her bedroom!
Stiles, speaking of, had set out on a quest to secure the genetic future of the dynasty. He ran around town gathering DNA. I had him learn charisma to help him out, which was an interesting experiment on a loner Sim—I think the trait naturally slows their skill gain.
So serious was this quest that it could not be paused even for his elder birthday. He aged up unceremoniously at Thornton Wolff’s house. He got his sample, though.
Ultimately, he got DNA from a few more Sims than I anticipate us needing, because I wasn’t sure who Winonaite would be marrying (and whose genes she might thus disqualify)—also because I haven’t mapped exactly who the future generations will get paired off with.
Stiles got a mustache for his elder stage. I’m using a new default skin, and it makes the elders look so fresh-faced!
Winonaite met and brought home Alton Keaton, a classmate, the baby Justine Keaton is pregnant with at the beginning of the game.
He was her only male classmate. I thought he might be an option for a potential spouse. They became friends, but when Winonaite went to prom, she didn’t develop any kind of romantic interest. She did win prom queen, though.
Her mother is more of a bike person, so Stiles soon taught Winonaite to drive. I’m used to this being a lengthy and stressful endeavor, but—and it must be because of her genius trait—Winonaite learned lightning-fast. They even finished with time to get dinner at the Bistro. Stiles gifted her her first car.
She got a Tofunda Wagon. She’s lucky; it’s a nicer car than her dad drives. I guess that’s every parent’s dream, to provide for their child more than they themselves have.
At this point, Stiles began thinking even more about his baby girl’s future. He’s almost three weeks older than Rainbow, and by this stage of the game was getting pretty old. I wanted him to see Winonaite married—maybe even have a grandbaby—before he died. I had the idea that Winonaite’s young adult birthday party could also serve as a meeting-possible-spouses party, so I had Stiles go around and befriend every young man that I thought would be a suitable spouse for Winonaite. My criteria was any Townie who is a child or younger at the start of the game.
Stiles also had an excess of lifetime happiness, so he became Never Dull, a Long Distance Friend, a Legendary Host, Observant, and Attractive to help him out.
Stiles was quite taken with Miraj Alvi. He’s Family-Oriented and Good, along with Neat, as Stiles is himself.
Alton Keaton had aged to young adult at this point. Stiles really respected this Charismatic, outdoor-loving, Science-and-Medicine degree-holding young man—so much that he autonomously decided he wanted a DNA sample.
Here is Rainbow talking to—I would say more accurately harassing—the bell pepper plant that she desperately needed to produce some high-quality peppers in time for her final BlackOp.
Here she is sharing a tender moment with Stiles after he took her photo for her adult life stage. That same day, she purchased her building: EverFresh Delights Supermarket, known henceforth as EverFresh Organic Market.
Winonaite mastered the Science skill before her teen stage ended. She got this huge, horrible-looking thing that I’m going to have to do a hundred experiments with in order to complete a Science skill challenge:
I had it out on the home lot, but everyone kept using it—including random paparazzi—and it was getting really irritating. I think I’m going to somehow try and incorporate it into Winonaite’s property, so it can have a home outside of the dynasty lot.
Winonaite saw a meteorite fall in her telescope and tracked it down. I’ve been having the family collect all kinds of space rocks, but we have yet to find a Winonaite, which I would love for her eventual museum.
Winonaite and Rainbow both had a wish to be worth more than §500,000, so Rainbow finally transfigured a Tiberium. Winonaite then analyzed it and did her first cloning experiment on the sample.
I have my own personal interest in raising the household funds: I’m ready to upgrade their home again. We’re running out of space in the house, and we’ve started to utilize the random-things-scattered-around-the-lot approach, which always drives me crazy.
Here’s Stiles, catching a Deathfish:
And Rainbow, on the last day of her adult life stage, reading the recipe for Ambrosia:
She finished it just in time to celebrate.
Honestly, I didn’t hate the blue daisy in her hair matched to the blue in her dress. I almost considered keeping it. Maybe I’ll bring it back at some point. There will be plenty of time, if I want to.
Her birthday gift to herself was Summer Hill Springs—the park across from the dynasty lot, in the center of that complex with the Alto and Landgraab houses. The property was upgraded to a three-star park with ease, fulfilling one of Rainbow’s last outstanding Ambrosia requirements. The family had, at this point, about §300,000 in cash.
The park served as the setting for Winonaite’s young adult birthday. Stiles’ charisma skill had exploded by this point—he becomes friends with a Sim as soon as he shakes their hand, and he knows almost everyone in town. I invited as many guests as the game would allow. Here’s Sandi French, whom I thought looked quite chic and Parisienne:
Winonaite had her moment with her cake, and became a Workaholic. She made quick use of the facilities to get to looking more like herself; such a gorgeous, gorgeous girl.
Here she is speaking with Malcolm Landgraab, one of her potential husbands. Winonaite was acutely aware of Stiles’ age: eighty-six on her birthday. She knew that she’d need to be swift and decisive if she wanted her father at her wedding.
The full list of potential suitors was: Malcolm, Mortimer Goth, Sam Sekemoto, Arlo Bunch, Miraj Alvi, and Alton Keaton. (The Ursine baby, in case you’re wondering, was a girl.) I had Winonaite interact with each of them, to see who she felt attracted to. Well... I have to be honest: I did not even have her bother speaking with Arlo Bunch. Here’s a photo from when Stiles went to go meet him. That insane, diabolical outfit, to top it all off. I was just never going to let it happen.
Malcolm was one of two suitors Winonaite felt a romantic connection with. The other was Mortimer Goth.
I thought hard about this choice. Malcolm was such a good match for Winonaite. He has outstanding traits: Workaholic, Good, Bookworm, Ambitious, and Computer Whiz. And, since Winonaite will be going into medicine—and Geoffrey, Malcolm’s dad, starts the game as a surgeon—I loved the idea of her marrying another Sim with a family in the field.
The dealbreaker was the same as it was for Arlo; I just could not, in good conscience, condemn a child to possibly having that face.
So, Winonaite settled on Mortimer. He has decent traits. They both Love the Outdoors, and his others are Grumpy, Eccentric, Ambitious, and Artistic. The lattermost trait will be useful, since he’ll need to help out with museum pieces. Mortimer is also slightly younger than Malcolm, which I preferred; though both of them are about three weeks older than Winonaite, Mortimer was still a young adult here, while Malcolm was already an adult.
Winonaite has always been a forward-thinking girl. She and Mortimer talked late into the evening, discussing their families, hopes, and the future. They left the night as best friends.
Winonaite spent one last night in her childhood bedroom. She was in for a whirlwind few days—the next morning was graduation. She was awarded Valedictorian.
That wasn’t the only degree she walked away with that day. Winoniate, ever-provident, had been saving her lifetime happiness points, and used 50,000 of them to purchase an Honorary Degree in Science and Medicine. She added the Perceptive trait.
While they were at City Hall, Rainbow got asked on a date—and this nearly made me reconsider my choice—by Mortimer Goth.
Young man, I am going to choose to believe that you thought this was my daughter’s phone number.
Winonaite’s bedroom got expanded and updated.
Much needed, as—the following day—the family made arrangements, and Winonaite married Mortimer Goth at Summer Hill Springs.
Their wedding was massive. Stiles and Rainbow sat front row (at least, I directed them to sit in the front row; they sat as much as anyone in that shot is sitting). Stiles and Mortimer actually had a nice moment, just prior to the ceremony, where Mortimer asked for Winonaite’s hand.
The dance floor was a little slow at first—maybe because whoever arranged this wedding had, in a gross oversight, not provided lighting—but after the family got things started, the party took off.
Both couples shared moments...
And Mortimer celebrated his adult birthday, right on the dance floor.
A few stragglers danced late into the night.Our newlyweds had, at that point, long departed, to make use of a special honeymoon-issue bed.
I didn’t change much about Mortimer’s looks after bringing him into the household. I think I gave him new eyebrows. I liked his haircut, and I thought his outfit, with the necklace of teeth (?), suited someone from the Goth family. His lifetime wish is Master of the Arts—master guitar and painting. Mortimer, just for you, I’ll throw sculpting in there, too.
We’re nearing the end of this update. Mortimer got to work becoming the next dynasty artist.
Winonaite spent her pregnancy fulfilling the skill challenge of analyzing a hundred items. She swears she’s done the research, and the radiation is fine for the baby.
Stiles was overjoyed with the news.
He and Rainbow had both rolled a wish to be a grandparent. (After the baby was born, Stiles rolled a wish for five grandchildren.)
Rainbow, at this time, was going around town completing her final Ambrosia requirement: securing her six best friends. She had to suffer through Putrid waffles and Talking about Computers with Malcolm Landgraab, who is a Computer Whiz. Rainbow, remember, is a Technophobe.
Mortimer was an excited expectant father. He rolled ample wishes to read books and purchase teddy bears. Both he and Winonaite were hoping for a girl.
Their wish came true a few nights later: Winonaite emerged from the hospital with Diamond Stone, Artistic and a Heavy Sleeper.
They were able to head home in style—through various opportunities and friendships, the family members are all celebrities, and Mortimer and Winonaite are both four-stars.
Stiles, at this point, was ninety-two. He got up in the middle of the night to welcome his new granddaughter home. This was the engine behind the somewhat-mad rush, and I’m so glad it paid off.
Thornton Wolff (2.0)! Diamond’s future spouse.
Stiles is taken with both babies. In his old age, finally freed of all his duties, he’s become their primary caregiver. I have to check periodically to make sure he doesn’t get overexcited and put the swings on “fast.” It makes the babies nauseous.
To cap this update—Rainbow finally secured her six best friends, and with them, her ambrosia requirements were complete. She sat down for a well-deserved meal.
Generation One: Rainbow Stone, immortal at 82 days
Lifetime Wish: The Perfect Garden
Career: Gardening (Self-Employed)
SuperMax Skill: Gardening
Building: EverFresh Organic Market (formerly EverFresh Delights Supermarket)
Property: Summer Hill Springs
3 Unique LTRs: Super Green Thumb, Extra Creative, Fireproof Homestead
6 Best Friends: Stiles Stone (McGraw), Kaylynn Langerak, Alton Keaton, Malcolm Landgraab, Sam Sekemoto, Winonaite Stone
6 Opportunities: Great Greens, Uncommonly Good, A Just-In-Time Harvest, Outstandingly Rare, A Bag of Produce, Peppers on Parade