Week 4, Part 1: Davidson (Legacy)

[lakewood_bacc]

Hello, and welcome back to Lakewood: Just a BaCC! This is the beginning of our fourth week, and it's back to our founding family, the Davidsons, who are also a ten generation legacy family.

Hello there, Aaron! Are you looking forward to growing up?

Aaron: Uh-huh. I've been waiting very patiently.

Good boy. It seems your Daddy is a little worn out after work, but maybe you can do some cleaning up and have some fun, and then he'll probably be ready like everyone else.

Aaron: Okay!

So after cleaning the kitchen, Aaron got to play with his little sister, our heiress Lauren, while their mother, Lizzie, continued working on her painting. If I'm not completely demented, she's working on a portrait of Ajay. Meanwhile, her spouse Ajay showered.

After that, everyone was ready for the big moment, especially Aaron.

I'm sure everyone was excited for him, although most sims apparently couldn't decide where to stand.

In any case, Aaron blew out the candles and was ready to become a teenager.

Which he promptly did.

And as usual, I did my randomization dance. Aaron rolled Knowledge for his primary and Fortune for his secondary aspiration, and his LTW is to Become Education Minister. His turn ons are Good at Cleaning and Vampirism, and his turn off is Makeup. He also became my first sim ever to officially randomize ace*.

Now seeing how the attraction system of the game works, plus how ACR works, making him ace requires a bit of interpretation. I can of course skip giving him a gender preference, but given that it's initialized at a romantic interaction, that wouldn't do much. Plus, being ace isn't equal to not having a gender preference anyway. I checked ACR's documentation, and apparently it makes no sense to take away an eligible sim's token, because ACR would just give it right back. But, to accomplish what I want, I can set Aaron's autonomy to zero (no autonomy), and set his token to static. To my understanding, that should work just about as intended: he won't woohoo on his own, or perform other ACR-directed actions. I'm not sure if he can be the target of those, though. In any case, it's possible that he forms a gender preference based on base game interactions. Basically, if he does, I'll take it that he's a romantic ace. I'll leave that part up to him.

Also, a personally interesting thing is how, despite using the same randomization method, I seem to be ending up with a lot more non-straight sims in Lakewood than I do in Alphabetia (my alphabet legacy 'hood).

* I had a question about this and realized that not everyone is familiar with the term. So, for clarification, "ace" is a colloquial term for asexual.

With these interesting tidbits out of the way, Aaron headed to the Walmart right away to buy some clothes and a cell phone, which he wanted.

While he was at his makeover, the family and their guests enjoyed the birthday cake.

Here's Aaron after his makeover. Still into skulls. And he really looks a lot like his Dad, especially with those clothes, and the hairstyle is similar too.

Our two guests, buddies of Aaron and Lauren, spent their evening playing chess, until we sent them home.

Yep, I was right, Lizzie was indeed working on Ajay's portrait. Good, good.

Aaron always liked chess as a kid, and he's pretty far along in his logic skill. Now he gets to work on it more, because if he wants to go to college, he's going to need scholarships (that's the rule in the college that his mother founded). And he's a Knowledge sim, so of course he wants to.

In the morning, we take care of teaching little Lauren to study. Ajay gets the honor.

Meanwhile, Lizzie tends the family's garden. Although, since she's already maxed her enthusiasm in Nature, maybe it'd be smarter to make someone else take care of that.

And then, it's time to go take care of the family's new business, Face the Music, which Ajay purchased just in the end of last week. It's a music venue, the purpose of which was to unlock the Music career for Ajay, so he can get his LTW. Now, the secondary purpose of it will be to make some money, so that we can purchase yet another business so that Lizzie can get her LTW.

Clear as mud? Good. Let's get to it.

Our plan is to have Lizzie perform and rake in the tips, while Ajay works on the other aspects of the business. Like apparently tipping his wife.

So let the sales begin.

And begin they did. Ajay gained his bronze badge quite quickly.

The visitors are pretty good at being interested in the instruments, and at tipping each other.

There's one addition that I made after I showed around this business in the end of last week: the dartboard. I wanted another fun object to lure sims into staying longer, and decided that darts would fit a place like this.

Pascal: "Hey, I made a pretty nice sum for tips."

That's great. Thanks for your contribution, Pascal!

Pascal: "..."

Yeah, sorry about that. It's a property of the game. The Davidsons are the active family, so all the tip money goes to their household funds. A feature we're soooo going to take advantage of!

But don't worry Pascal, you're not the only one working on tips. Actually, Lizzie is a pretty good player, isn't she Circe?

I didn't actually expect the music venue to work in this sense. I love it that the guests are actually able to sit down and listen to the music!

Meanwhile, Ajay kept customers company at the dartboard. Or in other words, kept a certain known grump from disturbing other customers.

And then, what happened then? Well then, I screwed up. You see that energizer, with one light out? Remember that legacy handicap that the family had? The one that says "no aspiration rewards"? Yeah.

I just totally goofed, and had Ajay energize before I even thought about it. Then a bit later, after having stuffed the once used energizer into inventory, I suddenly remembered that he wasn't supposed to use it. That's what you get for playing too tired, boys and girls! Or beeing a goof. Your pick.

I sat there for a few minutes thinking. I considered quitting without saving, but that carries a penalty, and it would only take another goof like that to negate the bonus points from the handicap, plus I would have lost some otherwise nice progress. So in the end, I decided to concider the handicap broken and move on.

On the plus side, the aspiration reward used was the energizer, so the no elixir handicap is still unbroken. Plus, toddler training without smart milk was a pain anyway, so from now on, the family can at least take advantage of that life saver.

Lizzie: "Also on the plus side, I collected a pretty nice tip."

That too. Well done, Lizzie.

As you can probably guess, this particular star wasn't very long-lived. But, we gained it back shortly afterwards, so we're now on level 1.

Ajay also learned to dazzle, so that's a plus too.

When he's not busy with sales, Ajay usually tends the bar. And apparently, someone occasionally even orders a drink.

Back at home, Ajay checked the job situation right away. There was an opening in Music, but we decided to take it a little bit later, after he got his salary from his day off in the Business Career.

Meanwhile, the younger generation tackled their schoolwork. And they did it well, Lauren gained her first A+.

After that, they had some time for their favorite pastime, chess.

The adults had some after-work activities as well.

In the evening, while Lauren tackled her homework, Aaron worked on his logic by stargazing. As he's a Knowledge sim, an abduction would be a plus, but there was none tonight.

Lizzie finished Ajay's portrait, and gained her 9^th creativity skill point at that. I quite like the first generation's portraits, although I only now realized that they're at a different distance. Oh well.

Ajay remembered to take the open Music position in the evening. Via the computer, he was able to start at level 3.

In the morning before school, Aaron and Lauren played some more chess, and Aaron made it to 8 creativity points. Lauren isn't far behind. For Aaron, that's one of the three obligatory scholarships in the bag (by the private college's admittance rules).

The kids headed to school, and Ajay headed to his business, while Lizzie stayed home to work on her body skill. It shouldn't be too long until she can join the Dance career, so she's going to need it.

For Ajay, it was back to Face the Music, and selling some tickets.

The customers seemed to enjoy themselves. In principle, Ajay can run such a small business on his own, but I noticed one thing is kind of tricky. Because those who are going to tip a sim performing music, generally do it the first thing after arriving on the lot, it's a bit hard to first sell tickets and then quickly make it to an instrument before the tippers wander off to do something else. But Ajay still managed to get some tips.

Plus, before the end of our business session, we managed to get to level 2. Thanks, Stephen!

After returning home and taking care of his needs, it was time for Ajay to head to work.

Meanwhile, Lizzie did some financial consulting. I have a business planned out for her, and the family can almost afford it. It's a little bit of a group effort to get all the way there.

As for the kids, they worked on their fun levels and their skills at the same time. Aaron managed a bronze badge on gardening.

Evening rolled around, and Ajay came home with a promotion. Already level 4! Well done Ajay, you'll make it to a Rock God yet!

Ajay: "Thanks. It's about time, too."

Yeah I know. We took a little bit of a long route, and with Lizzie even more so, but hey, you've both advanced the BaCC really well.

Lauren kept working on her chess, and it became her first earned scholarship for college – before teenage, even!

As Ajay and Aaron weren't too tired, they headed out to Face the Music for a session. Ajay took care of the sales...

... and Aaron was our performer for the night. Right now I'm actually happy that the custom keyboard doesn't have sounds.

The guitar, however, does. Don joined Aaron on stage, and I can't say that it was an improvement. But hey, he seemed to enjoy himself.

The general wasn't too impressed by tonight's show. He sat there and kept shaking his head.

Mostly Ajay goes for the basic sell, but whenever I notice someone he's already in good terms with, we'll do hard sell. It does get the sales meter go up faster, plus it also looks hilarious.

The general seems to have decided to improve the show by joining it himself. Well, what can I say. It was definitely a show!

Aaron: "Hooray, I got some nice tips!"

Well done Aaron! Now time to head back home.

Ohh I can't wait to get to 500 population so we can finally get a maid.

Lizzie: "Me neither!"

Lizzie did some more painting, in the hopes of gaining more money. We're pretty close to getting that new business now!

Meanwhile, Aaron worked on the garden, to earn badges and to gain some enthusiasm. It'd be nice to max his enthusiasm for that half a point before he parts the household after college. Plus, with the badge scholarship hack, a silver badge would ensure him that trip to college.

Ajay was again successful at work, bringing home another promotion. And a promotion bonus, hooray!

And with that bonus, the family finally had the money for a business that I had in mind, one that would help Lizzie get Lizzie moving towards her dreams.

Lizzie: "Finally! I'll make the call."

Me and Lizzie left Ajay to repair the broken bathtub and headed out to Pleasant Lakes. Welcome to The Dance District, Lizzie's new business. Naturally, it's a dance studio, meaning that once it reaches level 5, we'll have an open position in the Dance career, and Lizzie can finally start advancing towards her LTW. Let's take a tour, shall we?

This is the reception. It has and receptionist's desk, but no actual receptionist. Also, snacks are available for those needing a snack after some hard work dancing.

The ladies' dress room and showers. The men's side is identical, except with blue lockers. I felt like I should have divided the space between dress room and showers somehow, but didn't think of a way since it felt like a wall would have made the space too small. Well, the sims won't mind in any case.

And here's the actual dance hall, with ballet barres, mirrors and a stereo. This was a lot of fun, and made me want to build a gym too. Well, at some point I'm sure I will.

The sales are on! It seems our first actual customers are a couple of teenage boys.

And Dustin even used the dance studio *gasp* for dancing!

Lizzie: "Come one Daniel, buy a ticket! I know you'll love it!"

Daniel P.: "Umm, ahm..."

The Atrociously Evil Warlock: "Why does no one ever try to hard sell me a ticket?"

There was a lot of ballet dancing. Even Lizzie did some, when she could tear herself away from the sales.

I think the trick to running this business is luring the customers to smustle, though. It seems they'll stay longer that way. And look hilarious for their lack of smustle skills, too.

With a bit of money now in the bank now, we bought an espresso machine and a couple of chairs in the reception. The customers might not use them often, but seeing that Lizzie isn't always in gold aspiration, they're going to be useful for her.

By the way, notice the plumbbob wallpapers. They're way cute, and I'm happy to have found a place to use them.

This is when we hit jackpot: the good witch came around. Here's our business strategy for the dance studio. Step one: dazzle the good witch in.

Step two: lure the witch into smustling.

Step three: the witch will smustle indefinitely, and help lure your other customers into smustling too. Profit!

As an added bonus, the witch will gain stars too. She was who got us to level one.

At about this point, we decided to try and make it a marathon session until level 5. That would gain the family some money, plus Lizzie could finally work on her LTW. Sadly, she's closing in on elderhood quite quickly.

So a marathon session it was. It involved smustle parties...

... the evil warlock continuing to be ignored...

... and reporter visits. Unfortunately, I couldn't make him stay long enough for a good review or a Best of the Best award.

But, in any case, the customers liked it and we climbed in rank.

Lizzie's aspiration was getting pretty low over time, and just about the only thing that she wanted that she could do on a community lot (and even that thanks to the community lot skilling mod) was to max her creativity. So I bought her an easel, put it in the dress room that the customers rarely used anyway, and let her paint while the good witch lured the customers to smustle. She managed to get some pretty nice aspiration points, and was able to energize again.

After that, she wanted to max her Music and Dance Enthusiasm, and that fit my plans quite well: she needs body skill for her future job, and a hobby plaque doesn't hurt either. So whenever there was a bit of time between the sales, Lizzie got to practice at the barre.

And not that long afterwards, we made it to level four. Thanks, Don (and mirror Don)!

The Prettacy founder from the other side of Lakewood, William, paid a visit. He didn't exactly play nice, though.

But other than that, things were going pretty well. Lizzie gained maximum enthusiasm in Music and Dance.

The reporter came over again, and immediately liked the business. He also smustled inexpertly with the good witch – who's quite the dance instructor by now.

Best of the Best award, here we come again!

And soon after that, we made it to level five. Thanks Bianca! Thus we've opened a position in the Dance career, and Lizzie can finally get that job she wants and get working on her LTW!

Special thanks go to our good witch, who must have done a non-stop dancing marathon of like two sim weeks altogether. Thanks, I don't think we could have done this so well without you!

So it was time to head back home, and Lizzie immediately checked for job openings. She had to start all the way from the bottom, but there was a position open that evening, so we didn't need to head to Walmart anymore.

Shortly after returning home, Lizzie also received her hobby plaque for Music and Dance. So now two plaques done for the family collection.

The evening was spent at the computer for Lizzie: she has a storytelling handicap novel to write, too. No, we didn't just forget that for most of the week, why do you ask? *ahem* Meanwhile, Aaron worked on his charisma skill the fun way.

Heiress, what heiress? Yeah, Lauren's still there, only leading a quieter life than the rest of the family I suppose. She's still digging the garage toy, too. Not for long, though, as she's about to have her teen birthday.

I'd be terrible at that "don't let any plants die" -handicap, because I always forget about gardening. This time though, Aaron got to do some, to raise his Nature enthusiasm.

Lilith walked by, and I thought why not greet her and maybe make buddies.

It seems Aaron disagreed with me though.

I tried making them talk, but this agreeing face was about as good as it got. Fine, be that way.

Lizzie came home from work, and earned her first promotion.

Lizzie: "Only nine more to go!"

As Aaron wasn't willing to play nice, he got to practice on his charisma instead. That paid off, that's another scholarship in the bag.

Aaron: "You're trying to make me be social, aren't you?"

Yep. You gotta eat you know. It's your sister's birthday you know, you're going to play nice, like it or not.

Indeed, after dinner it's time for Lauren's birthday.

So let's get to it! The family was to cheer Lauren on, except for Ajay, who was at work.

Here she goes! Still cute, isn't she?

Lauren: "The outfit is pretty horrible, though."

True, but that happens. Don't worry about that, have some cake and we'll take care of those clothes ASAP.

Ajay came from work, with a promotion. Well done Ajay.

Ajay: "Yeah, that's pretty great. What about my little girl? She all grown up now?"

All up to a teenager anyway. We're heading out to get some clothes for her right now. Go have some cake if you're hungry.

And out we went with Lauren. Embarassing outfit or not, we obviously needed to meet some other teenagers, who were plentiful at the Walmart. We also remembered to buy clothes, and food.

And here is our heiress after a makeover!

Lauren: "Much better, thanks."

You're welcome.

Oh, and Lauren's stats for the record. She rolled Knowledge/Romance for her aspiration. She also randomized bi, likes Grey hair and Great cooks, but isn't too much into Brown hair. (What did I just say earlier about having lots more non-straight sims in Lakewood than in Alphabetia?)

After that, well, it was a lot of skilling. Lauren's the heiress so of course she can't not go to college, and the LDC won't accept students without enough scholarships. No, even relatives to the founder of the college are no exception. While we were at it, we discovered that Lauren's OTH is Tinkering.

Oh, and Ajay still needs mechanical for his job too.

Lizzie gets some phone time while her kids work on scholarships. Notice Aaron working away in the garden.

In the midst of all the studying, Lauren did pinch in the time to greet some walkbys. You know, since she's nice and Aaron is rather not. Not that she and Tank got along that well.

Well, at least Lauren doesn't pick fights like her brother.

Aaron: "I heard that!"

Yeah, I figured, thanks. Anyway, Lizzie got a promotion.

Lauren also greeted Johnny Smith. The two Strangetown teens then proceeded to hog the chessboard and discuss making out. Because of course they did.

Meanwhile, Aaron earned his silver gardening badge.

It started snowing rather heavily, and the plants just got ready to harvest at the same time. Apparently being covered in snow heavily lowers the health of plants, so it was a bit of a family effort to get them harvested/sold before they were completely ruined.

The week started coming close to its end, and the teenagers continued their work towards scholarships, sometimes by cooking, sometimes by painting. Aaron's giraffe-llama was so cute that we saved it and hung in on his wall.

Meanwhile, the parents of the two continued working on their respective careers, both with good success. Ajay's a bit younger but also some distance ahead, because he got to start on his career earlier.

Ajay took the kids out to Face the Music for one more session before the end of the week. That was for two reasons: to raise some money for the family, and to work on the kids' creativity skill. As you can see, Chester thinks they're pretty creative already.

Well, Jenny and Pascal appreciated them too, or at least Lauren. For some reason sims will sit down and listen to her in particular, even though Aaron's ahead in his creativity.

In fact, he reached his 8^th skill point and gained another scholarship. He's secured his admittance to the college already, but well, he's a Knowledge sim and enjoys skills and scholarships. Not that the money hurts either.

The reporter stopped by and approved of the place. He wouldn't stay long enough for the award, but at least we got a good review.

After that, the business was even busier.

Ajay kept selling, and the kids kept playing, only energizing in between. (Of course, now that the handicap has been broken, we're taking advantage of the aspiration rewards.) The townies started having slight logistic problems getting to tip them on the stage at once.

Lauren was a little bit behind, but she too gained her creativity scholarship.

Shortly after, we made it to level 3, thanks to Vidcund.

Nina here must be a true fan: she came to stand and cheer right by the stage.

All in all, it was a pretty good session. The customers seemed to like the place, the teenagers got their creativity scholarships – Aaron actually maxed his skill – and while they were at it, they raked in pretty nice tips, too. They checked their jars a couple times each, making around 1,000 simoleans each time. Not bad.

It was time to head back home, where Lauren amused herself by making a snow angel in the ground. In her indoor clothes. Hrr.

Meanwhile, the adults had some alone time. Lizzie was left home on purpose, as it's her birthday tonight and she needed some aspiration. Conveniently, she happened to want for her kids to earn scholarships, so that's now taken care of.

Lizzie: "You'll still love me when I'm old and grey, right? I mean, in a couple of hours or so?"

Ajay: "Umm, why wouldn't I?"

Those couple of hours passed quickly, and so it was time for Lizzie to blow her candles out. The first elder in Lakewood is on her way!

The family was in attendance, as was Vidcund from work.

Alright, let's get to it Lizzie!

Lizzie: "Well this is not too bad. Except the outfit, that's actually pretty terrible."

Yeah, well considering some of the other options, I suppose it could be worse. But don't worrt, we'll get you to Walmart pronto, right after we've had some cake here.

While Lizzie got ready to head to the Walmart and Ajay headed to work for the night, Aaron greeted the leader of the pack, who happened to visit the lot. I haven't decided yet what his challenge will be when he grows up, but I figured that knowing the leader of the pack couldn't hurt.

Well, I suppose it could be that I was wrong. No, bad doggie! No destroying Aaron's bed, he needs it!

In any case, we got the wolf shooed away from the bed, and Lizzie also made it back from her trip to Walmart. Here she is after her makeover, she seems to be quite pleased. And I do think the new look suits her.

On that last night, Ajay had a bit of a rough night, falling asleep standing up. He needed to use the bathroom before heading to bed after work, but it seems he was too tired.

I think I've said it before, but I'm glad I didn't pick the noble composure handicap. That would be so out the window.

Monday morning, only a half a day left in the rotation. I decided to keep week 4 extended until Monday evening, too, as according to my calculations that should give William in the Trollson household a chance to make it to Business Tycoon.

Neither Lizzie nor Ajay had work in the morning, so they got some phone time instead.

While Ajay worked on his mechanical skill, Lizzie got back to the novel.

She then headed to work, and it seems that the employer dictates not only the dress code but the... um... hair code as well.

The teenagers returned from school, and it seems that Lauren has discovered the mirror. And she's pretty pleased with herself, too.

Well, with two Knowledge teens in the house, you can pretty much guess how the remaining couple of hours of the rotation went. Hint: they went like this.

So, with the teens studying and Ajay paying the taxes, this is where our current household wraps up. All that remains are the two scores.

The BaCC score:
 

Playable sims: 25
SM: 14
Population: 350

Households: 7

CAS sims: 3 placed / 19 + 1 (for The Dance District) = 20 earned

Community lots: 9 + 1 (The Dance District) businesses + 1 free = 11

Businesses:

Lakewood Recreation Center (Lizzie Davidson, level 10)
Yummy! (Regan Capp, level 8)
Curious Gadgets (Pascal Curious, level 10)
Variety Buffet (Daniel Fortunato, level 10)
Face the Music (Ajay Davidson, level 3)
Better Dressed Sims (Jenny Capp, level 1)
Club Flamingo (Nervous Curious, level 4)
It's Art (Daniel Pleasant, level 6)
Pretty Pretty Flowers (William Trollson, level 4)
The Dance District (Lizzie Davidson, level 5)

Other community lots:

Lakewood Walmart (general store)

Careers:

Business: Unlocked! / 1 taken (William Trollson, level 5)
Medical: Unlocked!
Architecture: 2 openings / 1 taken (Jenny Capp, level 8)
Culinary: 1 opening / 1 taken (Brandi Broke, level 4)
Criminal: 1 opening / 1 taken (Regan Capp, level 5)
Music: Unlocked! / 1 taken (Ajay Davidson, level 7)
Slacker: 1 opening / 1 taken (Bella Goth, level 5)
Education: 1 opening / 0 taken
Artist: 1 opening / 0 taken
Dance: 1 opening / 1 taken (Lizzie Davidson, level 4)

Business Tycoons: 1 (Ajay Davidson)

Universities: 1 (privately funded, founded by Lizzie Davidson)
Business Districts: 1
Downtown: no

Fires: 2
Burglaries: 2
Electrocutions: 2

Taxes collected from this household: 89,500*0.05 + 50,000*0.05 (for level 10 business) + 25,000*0.05 (for level 5 business) + 15,000*0.05 (for level 3 business) = 9,000 simoleans*

Taxes collected total: 78,000 + 9,000 = 87,000 simoleans at 5% rate

* I round both the net worths and the results so as to make calculations and keeping track of payments easier.

 

Legacy score:

No new points this week.
Total score carried over from last week: 10.25 points.

Total so far: 10.25 points.
 

So now we've kicked off the fourth week in Lakewood. Thanks for reading, and welcome back next time for the Capp household. Until then, happy simming!