Month: November 2016

Jeanette, Chapter 5

Was That What It Was?

3-34am-gone-for-an-hourWell.  That was surprisingly anti-climactic and underwhelming.  I don’t know what I was expecting, never having been ABDUCTED BY ALIENS previously, but I was returned hours later with a distinct loss of memory for the time gone, and a really low Fun level.  I kind of expected it to at least be fun.

11-04-16_2-58-47-pmBut no.  Now I’m returned home, bereft of both fun AND sleep, none the wiser for having – apparently – been on an alien craft in what I hope was space.  It would be really disappointing to find that we only went to Willow Creek or Pleasantville or something.

11-04-16_2-58-52-pmHuh.  Aliens are going to make me late for work.  I wonder if they’ll buy that at the lab?

11-04-16_3-05-35-pmWell, back to work.  I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I was ABDUCTED BY ALIENS LAST NIGHT.  I don’t know if I should tell anyone.  Is this a regular occurrence in Windenburg?  Is it just because I’m playing with forces and chemistry that no human should have access to?  Was it the basil?  Did the robot sell me out?  Did Georgia take me out for a late-night … probe … session… without asking?

11-04-16_3-09-23-pm“Oh the aliens!” says Caitlyn.  “No, that happens all the time.”

I’m sure it wasn’t included in the brochure for FutureSim Labs.   “Full medical and dental, three weeks holidays to start, occasional alien kidnappings that you likely won’t remember anyway.”  Eh.  The money’s good, I likely would have signed up anyway.

11-04-16_3-35-16-pmI tried talking with Meagan about it, but she wasn’t interested.  “Nope! No such thing no way NO ALIENS HERE.” I think she’s in denial.

As the day grinded along, I worried about it more and more.  Would they be back?  Are they waiting for me?  Will I ever get some goshdarned sleep?  My fun level grew lower and lower.  Hey… you know what’s fun?

11-04-16_3-37-53-pmPlaying video games on the office computer. I’d finished all my work for the day, and decided to stick around to get some other things sorted out.  That hover-lamp, for instance.  But maybe some quick gaming while everyone else is up in the lunch room.

11-04-16_3-39-59-pmWell, that certainly did the trick, I feel refreshed and lighter, and ready to finish up some work at the chem station.  I should get back before someone…

11-04-16_3-40-24-pmJeez, Meagan.  I shut it down just in time, but she certainly likes to sneak around.  I’d hate to have my progress with this organization held back because Meagan thinks I was playing video games on the company dime.

The work day ended well, with more breakthroughs, some added plants and rocks and things, and another promotion!  I’m moving up quickly.  I’m now FutureSim Lab’s new “Junior Tinkerer”.   The boss seemed really please to give me the title, so I’m hoping I Tinker well, and live up to their expectations of my tinker abilities.  But it did come with a raise, and a spiffy new table lamp shaped like a UFO.

11-04-16_3-51-06-pmIf I *had* a table, I’d totally put the lamp on it.

11-04-16_4-18-11-pmIt’s late, and I’m exhausted again.  I considered heading over to The Chowder House to have a quick “WHAT THE HELL!?” with Georgia, but it’s already half past nine, and I just want to sleep.  I’m hoping that maybe the lamp will help protect me from any further abductions.  I’m not exactly certain why, but something about … UFOs… and shapey things….  or …

I slept.

chapter 6 …

Jeanette, Chapter 4

She Blinded Me With Science

11-01-16_3-03-41-pmAnother beautiful morning in Windenburg, and my bed has the greatest view.

11-01-16_3-05-00-pmI took some time to wander my yard, picking various wild flowers and taking some microscopic samples for analysis later.

Returning to work, I spent an uneventful day of chemical experimentation, plant maintenance, rock collecting, and messing about with the Inventor robot. Personally, I think he’s got a thing for me; nobody else seems to spend any time talking to him.  I figured out how to splice various plants together to create new species, and made a new “Red Hot” serum, that looks like it’s meant to make people angry. Maybe because it tastes like concentrated basil and rat urine.

11-01-16_3-11-23-pmWith Summer’s assistance, I made another sample of SynthFood.  And this one….

11-01-16_3-11-29-pm… worked! It looks like I can create this as viable on a regular basis. This could seriously solve my hunger problems. Heck, it could solve the world’s hunger problems. If I hadn’t signed that stupid proprietary information agreement, I’d market it and make a fortune.  Or … you know … solve the world’s hunger problem.  Whatever.

The rest of the day passed without incident. I got to know the team a little better, and felt pretty good at the end of the shift.  On the way home, I collected a bunch more rocks and various trophies, then sold the lot for a small bit of cash.  That, along with the day’s pay, allowed me to buy …

11-01-16_3-29-49-pm…plumbing!  I have no roof over my head, nor walls to hold up said roof, but I have a shower of my very own, a sink, and – the best thing ever – a toilet.  My own toilet.

11-01-16_3-30-18-pmIt’s a beautiful thing.

As I was marveling over my newly gained assets, I got a phone call from Georgia, the alien bartender I’d met last night at the Chowder House. She invited me back to the restaurant for dinner, which sounded great.  I left, hoping that the service will be a little faster this time.  I actually want to eat.

11-01-16_3-35-16-pmWe had a great time!  The food was good, and came to the table without much delay. We had a few drinks, and some great conversation.

11-01-16_3-35-43-pmI made a great friend this evening. Yeah, she’s an alien, but I can’t hold that against her, can I?  Isn’t my job as a scientist to discover new things, investigate every opportunity with an open mind?  We joked and laughed well into the night.

11-01-16_3-49-45-pm

I went home, exhausted but happy.  I sent Georgia a text message thanking her for a fun evening, and looking forward to more.  I changed back into my jammies, and had just crawled into bed, when my lights came back on.

11-01-16_3-51-37-pmWait.  I don’t own any lights yet.

11-01-16_3-51-26-pmShit.

11-01-16_3-51-56-pmShit!  What was that I said about open-minded new opportunities?

11-01-16_3-52-06-pmWAIT.

11-01-16_3-52-07-pmSHIT.

chapter 5 …

Jeanette, Chapter 3

This Bed

001The nap didn’t last very long.  I was up at 3am with the sudden realisation that I had enough money to have that ancestral suit of armour brought over, with enough left over for …

11-01-16_2-21-04-pmA bed!  A glorious, wonderful (slightly small, but private) bed.  With no tvs on or dudes trying to talk to me.

11-01-16_2-21-27-pmI have some time to get some real sleep before work.  Luckily it never seems to rain here.

11-01-16_2-22-09-pmA beautiful morning, which I nearly slept through completely.  I got up just in time to head back to the lab.

11-01-16_2-22-50-pmUgh.  It’s going to be a rough day.  I didn’t get a lot of sleep, nor did I have time to grab a bite on the way to work.  I’m grateful that I don’t have to sleep at the spa any longer, but I’m going to need some time to adjust, I think. In the meantime, I’m starving.

11-01-16_2-23-14-pm

It was then that I remembered I’d made that meal-replacement serum yesterday.  Time to see if it works.

11-01-16_2-23-23-pmCrap.  That’s going to require some more experimenting.

11-01-16_2-24-05-pmI made another one, and while I had a further breakthrough while doing so, failed to make a viable serum. I’ll just grab a sandwich and coffee again.

11-01-16_2-26-59-pm

Had a great chat with Meagan, another scientist here at FutureSim Labs, and started to feel like I could get through the day. I spent some time with the rather chatty Invention Constructor, and together we made a SimRay, which I named “Steve”.  I was a good day on the job, getting to know the team of scientists better, working in the chemistry lab and analyzing various plants and minerals.

11-01-16_2-29-08-pmCaitlyn told a few jokes near the end of the shift, but Meagan wasn’t impressed.

11-01-16_2-36-23-pmI spent the last hour of my shift collecting rocks.  It seemed like an important thing to do.  But I’m starving again.

11-01-16_2-39-10-pmAnother shift ended, and I return home.  I want to head into town again to visit the library, but I’m really going to have to eat something first.

11-01-16_2-39-15-pmI *did* make another sample of that meal-replacement drink, this time with basil and daisies.  Maybe this one will work better than the last.

11-01-16_2-39-16-pmDammit.

11-01-16_2-39-19-pm

Instead, I headed down to The Chowder House, a little restaurant over in Willow Creek.  Unfortunately, it was quite busy, and although I’d ordered food, after two hours it hadn’t arrived.  I cancelled the order and grabbed some fish and chips at their bar.  There I met their bartender Georgia Knupp, who came to sit with me for a while.

11-01-16_2-50-09-pmThat’s when she hit me with some weird mind voodoo, and let me know that she’s actually an alien.  An alien!  Her disguise was amazing. We talked for almost two hours after that, and I think we’re going to be pretty good friends.

After finishing my meal and using the restaurant’s washroom, I said goodnight to Georgia and took a stroll over to the library again, to do some research.  I’m going to have to get my own computer eventually, but right now I’d settle for my own toilet.  I returned to my near-vacant lot for the evening, and fell into bed.

chapter 4 …

Jeanette, Chapter 2

The Second First Day

I did manage to get some sleep, and woke up bright and *very* early the next morning, eager to start my new job.

004An early morning run…

11-01-16_2-16-06-pmFollowed by a shower – I think I broke it.

006-look-whos-hereI arrived at FutureSim Labs, and was greated by Caitlyn Paynter, who showed me around the place.

It’s a great laboratory, with the most modern – and some of the friendliest – equipment. My first day was spent learning the ropes, experimenting and introducing myself to the team of scientists. I built an interesting momentum dealybob, and learned how to make a meal-replacement serum from basil leaves and bluebell flowers.

007Hanging with the coworkers, Summer Holiday and Caitlyn Paynter.
(ed. It was cool to see Caitlyn here at the lab. She was my earlier Scientist sim, who I’d injected into this game as a townie.  -hnef)

008Time for some much-needed coffee, and a sandwich. My energy was waning, but this will keep me going until the end of the day.

009-promotionHome! After a great day of hard work, along with two startling breakthroughs at the lab, they promoted me to Apprentice Inventor.

11-01-16_12-57-08-pmI think it’s time for a nice meal to celebrate.

(ed. Sitting off to Jeanette’s left is Cassandra Goth and her daughter, from another earlier game. I had saved the household files, but lost the save game files.  -hnef)

11-01-16_11-31-55-amAfter dinner, I walked over to the library for some research and socialisation. And maybe some more chess. Caitlyn was here for a while too, but took off after an hour or so.

11-01-16_11-37-53-amThe library seems to be a great place to meet people. Eventually though, it was getting dark. Time to head back to the spa to see if I can get some sleep.

11-01-16_2-06-09-pmMy second home, apparently.  But that’s when I met …

11-01-16_2-08-11-pmThis guy.  Said his name was Sergio Romeo.  Of course it is.  I tried lying down to sleep, but he pushed me aside, turned on the tv, and started talking.  AND started talking.  WHILE watching tv.

11-01-16_2-08-18-pmSeriously dude, I’m just trying to …

11-01-16_2-08-24-pmSerge… come on man…

11-01-16_2-08-33-pm

I turned the tv off, but he turned it back on.  Maybe I’ll try the other couch again.  Serge is confused by my lack of interest.

11-01-16_2-08-37-pm11-01-16_2-08-54-pmI think old Serge is finally getting the idea.

11-01-16_2-09-06-pmAhh.  Thank you.  It’s almost midnight, and I have to go to work in the morning.  I’m really hoping that coffee does it’s job tomorrow too.

chapter 3 …

Jeanette, Chapter 1

It’s A Brand New Day

And so, I’ve arrived in Windenburg. The trip was pretty unexciting, although the view coming down into this town was fantastic.  I had bought some property, a large lot on the Island off the coast.  When I got there, there was a family already living on site, and I doubt the Villareals were too happy about being evicted.  Or watching their beautiful house being bulldozed as they walked away.  I hope they got all their stuff out first.

004This place is huge.

006Great view though.

The remainder of the day was spent wandering the village of this new town, meeting a few folks at the local cafe, and getting a library card.  Considering my desire to read everything and build up logic skills, that library is going to be a usual haunt.  Free Internet!

cafe02I guess the local book club was meeting when I arrived.

cafe01A nice cup of mocha, a good book, and some new friends.

park_1A walk up to the local chess park … this town has a CHESS PARK.

right-chocolateOOohhh right.  Chocolate.  I forgot that chocolate does that.  Suddenly feeling all … frisky.

claras-friskyApparently chess makes people flirty.  Who knew?  Clara’s really getting in to it as well.  Mmmm… chess….

However, there still remains a slight problem.  Since I can’t buy anything yet, I have nowhere to sleep.  However, there’s a local spa & gym that’s open 24 hours a day. I’m sure they’ll let me crash somewhere.

007009It wasn’t a bad couch.

During the day, I spoke with the management at FutureSim Labs, and got the Lab Technician job! I look forward to meeting the team tomorrow, and start the job of creating the future!

If I can get some sleep here.

I think I’m going to invent better couches.

chapter 2 …

First Person vs Third

I noticed after the fact, that in my first write up of the Clan Ross Legacy (Gen 1 Chapter 1), I switched from third person voice to first person. I fully intended this *not* to be a “story mode” write up, and had begun as such. But suddenly I’m describing the events *as* the character.

It’s not what I had wanted to do, honestly. It always felt weird reading others’ stories in first person. I was adamant I wasn’t going to do that.

And yet… there it is. I guess I am.

Also, there’s wine involved.

— hnef

Ross Legacy, Prelude

I forgot to mention something.  Before I created my Legacy Founder sim, I spent some time preparing the world for her arrival.  I added several restaurants, a cafe or two, and a spa, building that last on the swimming pool lot in Windenburg.  Since I knew which lot I was going to build the Legacy on, I filled all the other residential lots with houses; MC Command Center will move families into those later.  I also threw in any of my old sims that I still had saved, which included the household I’d created for the Bachelor Challenge, and the Scientist Caitlyn Paynter I’d been playing up until now.  Overall, I think I added about 20 sims into the world, thinking it would be fun to see them wandering around, and getting on with their lives.  Maybe one of their descendants will marry into my Legacy…

 

— hnefatafl

Lady Jeanette Ross, Our Founder

 

001Well… here she is, the illustrious Founder of Clan Ross, Lady Jeanette. The Founder had to be a woman, due to the Succession laws, and I chose the Aspiration and Traits based on my desire to play the Scientist career.  (My first and only other Scientist was originally an Artist who switched careers, and it was tough trying to keep her “focused”.  She spent all her time “inspired” by frickin’ everything.)

002

003

Legacy Challenge, the setup and decisions.

Before the challenge starts, there are some decisions to be made, which – to me – determines the sim I’ll create.

First off, I’ll state that I *do* have a billion or so mods and scripts installed in the game, including MC Command Centre, but I don’t use the “MC Woohoo” package, or any of the quick-learning cheats or mods like that.  Mine are almost entirely furniture and clothing … okay, they’re almost all feminine hair and high-heel shoes.  And furniture.

My first task was to chose the various Laws of Succession.  For “Gender Law” this time, I decided on Strict Matriarchy; “The Founder must be female. Only girls are eligible to be named heir. Male children cannot, under any circumstance, ever be the heir to the next generation.”  This might mean some adoption, so my “Bloodline Law” will be Traditional: “Children who are naturally born from the previous generation are eligible to be named heir. Adopted children are ineligible to be named heir unless there are no naturally born children, at which point they become eligible for that generation.”  So, if the current generation only has male children, she’ll have to adopt a girl, who will become heir over her older, natural-born brothers.

My Heir Law is going to be complicated I guess.  I’m going with Exemplar: Genius.  So, While our Founder will have the Genius trait, any eligible heir must have this trait to be named the official heir.  If a single generation has no children with the Genius trait, or more than one are, we revert to the first born female child, followed by an adopted girl.

Species Law is new; I didn’t have “Get to Work” the last time I tried this.  I’m going to go with “Xenophobic”; heirs must be the same species as the founder.  So … humans.  I realised though that I wanted to play with the founder as a Scientist, so the aliens might come eventually.  I did have one sim nearly finish the Scientist career, and I wanted to keep playing that.  Never ran into any aliens though.  Anyway…

Now, to create our glorious Founder!

Legacy Challenge, Clan Ross

I’ve started the Sims 4 Legacy Challenge previously, and while I have some screenshots of that attempt, a hard-drive failure caused me to lose the game and all those data files.  I’ve since added “Get to Work” and “Get Together”, so finally got around to restarting the challenge.

But *this* time, I’m documenting.  I don’t know if I’ll ever show this to anyone, but …. who knows? This way at least I remember.  This gives me a chance to write the memories soon after the events, and get things in print before continuing.

If you’re not familiar with the Legacy Challenge, the original blog and rules are here:

http://www.simslegacychallenge.com/

 

— hnefatafl