Week 5, Part 1: Davidson (Legacy)

[lakewood_bacc]

Hello, and welcome back to Lakewood: Just a BaCC! It's been way too long hasn't it? Well, these things happen with me, and this time part of the reason why I haven't updated in a year and a half is that I spent a year playing and documenting another challenge. It was a supernatural asylum challenge, and I thought it would be just a quick little challenge and I'd be back to my regular stuff in no time... Well you can see how quick it was.

Anyway, I'm finally back so let's get on with the show! It's a brand new week, week 5, and we're starting it off with our founding family, the Davidsons. Before that, though, I'll give you a couple of neighborhood pictures, as I was asked for those.

Here we have the main 'hood Lakewood in its current state. On the right hand side we have the small cluster of businesses that were established before the first business district was opened. On the left we have the current families: the Davidsons live closest to the businesses, the Brokes and the Capps on the shore, and the Fortunatos, the Curiouses, the Goths and the Trollsons in between.



We have our first business district placed, Pleasant Lakes. There's still plenty of space for businesses in there, although new families may need to move in there as space in the main 'hood is limited. We unlocked a second business district in the end of week 4, but that one is currently unplaced. I was planning to leave it so until we need the space, but now I'm not so sure, we'll see.



We also have one vacation destination, Tropical Lagoon. I allowed building one when we unlocked our first business district (there's nothing on vacation destinations in the rules). I suppose we could add a second one now, but I'll probably hold on for a bit.

In addition, we have unlocked and placed a private university, the Lizzie Davidson College. There's not really much to show in there, as the college 'hood is completely empty at the moment. However, that will be changing in week 5, as our first teens will be heading to college this week.



With the neighborhood tour over with, let's head back to business, that is, the first family in the rotation, the Davidsons. The last week was extended so that William Trollson had the chance to top the Business career and unlock our second business district, which he did. So it's currently Monday evening. Ajay, the generation one spouse is currently at home enjoying his coffee.




Also currently at home are the family's two teenagers: Aaron, the firstborn, and Lauren his younger sister. The Davidsons are a matriarchy, so Lauren is the heiress. Both of the youngsters rolled the Knowledge aspiration (Aaron is Knowledge/Fortune, Lauren is Knowledge/Romance), so homework is a priority.

Our foundress Lizzie was at work, but just returned home. She's in the Dance career, finally able to work on her LTW. Unfortunately, no promotion today. Also the employer seems to require a long hair from employees, which is not Lizzie's style at all.

There, much better, now she's actually looking like Lizzie. The adults got a bit of phone time to start off the week.



I had a couple of realizations in short succession. First, I realized that Ajay had already earned the Music career reward. We had a bit of trouble placing it, as it's huge and we don't have a separate rewards room yet, but in the end it was stuffed in the living room for now.





Second of all, I realized that not only have we unlocked services, but also alarms were unlocked during week 4, so it's high time the Davidsons got a burglar alarm and a smoke alarm. Done and done!


Aaron has been slowly working towards maximizing the Family Hobby, which is Nature. He's able to blog about it now, so that's what he did tonight. Unfortunately, he broke the computer while he was at it.



Ajay was up the latest, he's often studying into the night. He wants to become a Rock God, and that seems to require hitting the books.


Oh, right. It's clearly been too long since I last played an actual aging family. I totally forgot that elders wake up the second their energy bar is full and tend to mess up their sleep schedules. Oh well.



At least Lizzie could put the early hours to good use, as she needs body skill for her career in Dance. And Yoga shouldn't completely wipe her out, either.



The others start waking up, and Aaron gets to work on his cooking skill.



As soon as it's seven o'clock, his sister gets to make a couple phonecalls. We're allowed services now!


Lizzie gets in shape with her yoga.



Ajay is up too, so they get to enjoy a nice breakfast together.




There's no rush, because someone else is doing the chores for them! Ah, how I've missed having a maid! It's been a while since I've hired a repairman, too. It's nice to leave the electronics to the professional and not risk electrocution.





Instead, after breakfast Ajay and Lizzie head to Ajay's music venue, Face the Music. It's already fulfilled its primary purpose, making the Music career available for Ajay, but making money is a good secondary purpose. I'd like to expand on the house a bit.


Apparently the venue is beneficial for Lizzie's career, too. Jason Larson was so impressed with Lizzie that he arranged for her to get higher wages. Thanks, Jason!




It wasn't a hugely eventful session, but the customers seemed to like the place still, and Ajay raked in some tips.


Back at home, the kids have brought Melody Tinker home from school.



I've seen her cause trouble for a lot of simmers, but in Lakewood she's been okay, she's even dating one of the girls in the Curious OWBC and they're pretty cute together. Here she headed straight for the chess board.


I'm not sure how well playing chess worked for her, when Lizzie came to play Ajay's huge rock guitar in the living room.


She did get some company from the kids, Lauren sat down for a bit to play with her, and Aaron came to watch the game.


The chess got interrupted when Lauren got a phone call from one of her friends.


Unfortunately, Aaron and Melody didn't seem to come along meanwhile.



The computer was free tonight, so Lizzie sat down to work on her novel. It's taking ages, with everything else that's going on.


Melody stayed for dinner, and she admired the hobby plaques in the dining room.



She was apparently also rather impressed by Ajay for some reason. See? She can be nice.


What was perhaps not so nice was the kiss that she shared with Lauren, when she's seeing someone else. Though, I'm not sure, it could be Lauren's doing too.


In any case, Aaron said goodbye to Melody before anything else happened.


That night, Ajay came from work with good news: he was promoted to Concert Pianist. Only two more promotions to go before he's achieved his lifelong dream.


The next day the snow was so deep that the school was closed. Our dutiful little heiress decided to (ahem, well technically I decided) to spend the day studying.


Meanwhile, her big brother needed a bit of a break, so he just danced to the stereo.




He didn't get to just slack off the whole day, though. Ajay took Aaron with him to Face the Music for another session, as it's easier when someone else rakes in the tips.




The customers seemed to enjoy themselves, each in their own way.


Pascal even so much that he gave us the last needed star for level 4. Thanks Pascal!

Pascal: "Well, making out with Nervous is always fun."


Once again, someone else had other ideas of what was fun. Damn it, Consort!


Back at home, we found our heiress right where we left her. (Funny how that works.) She was being productive, another scholarship in the bag!


Lizzie wasn't given a snow day, so she had to head to work.



Apparently Jeff the uncontrollable rebel from the neighborhood's TPC came to steal another newspaper. (Don't tell him that but he's not that rebellious at home despite being uncontrollable. But he does steal newspapers from his neighbors.)



Ajay had gotten a bit of a tummy, so he jumped some rope to get back in shape.


If only it was this easy in real life.



Lizzie came home with a promotion, now a Dance Video Star. She got to start on her career later than Ajay, but she's making nice progress.





The night was again the usual: skilling and socializing.





While the family was busy in the living room, I found an opportunity to work elsewhere. We finally have enough money for a separate rewards/hobby room! Now we can start gathering the career rewards in here and don't have to stuff the huge guitar in the living room anymore. Also the hobby plaques are now here instead of the dining room. And of course, there's a pool table, for scholarships.



Lizzie got to try the new rewards room quickly yet before bed, and it seemed to work as intended.



In the morning the legacy tree needed some attention. As Lizzie is the only one with a gold gardening badge, she got to take care of it.


It's Ajay's birthday tonight, and he had business wants, so we headed to Face the Music for another session to get him in platinum. Mary Sue apparently found him pretty cool.




We got started, and the tips were flowing pretty nicely. For both Ajay and others, and of course Ajay gratefully accepted their contributions.


As there was some extra cash, we upgraded the business a bit. Ajay got a little break room so that there's less need for him to go home in the middle of a good session.




After that, we did a bit of a price adjustment and re-opened. We lowered the price a bit so that the tickets would mostly sell themselves and Ajay could focus on entertaining the customers.


The business made it to level 5 pretty quickly, but Ajay could still use more aspiration, so we stayed.




The usual song and dance, as well as some townie romance, kept the customers happy.


It took a bit of time, but we did make it to level 6. Patrizio was kind enough to give us the last needed star. Now Ajay could go home and get ready for his birthday.




There wasn't really much to do while waiting for Lizzie to come home from work. Aaron worked on his Nature enthusiasm, while Lauren studied. Again.


Lizzie did eventually return from work, and she did so with a promotion. She's now an Interpretive Dancer. Good job Lizzie!
Lizzie: "Thanks. I take it that we'll be having Ajay's cake as soon as possible."
Yeah, go get changed and take care of immediate needs, we'll see you soon.


So, as soon as everyone was ready, it was time to gather for Ajay's birthday. Only a small celebration among the family this time.


So Ajay, are you ready?

Ajay: "Oh yeah. I'm looking forward to growing old with Lizzie."

Aww.




So, here we go then!


With that twirl, Ajay became an elder. How are you feeling?

Ajay: "Pretty good, pretty good. Even the outfit could be worse. But we'll get a new one, won't we?"

Yes, I don't think that's really your style.



One trip to Walmart later. How about that, Ajay?

Ajay: "Oh, this is definitely much better. Thanks."

You're welcome.


The next morning, it was Ajay who was up early. Luckily, he had some studying to do for work, so the time wasn't wasted.


Everyone got together for a nice family breakfast. There isn't that much time left for those, as the rotation is closing in on its end, and at least Aaron needs to leave for college at the end of it. I'm leaning more and more towards sending Lauren at the same time, because 1) it's less laborious to play through college once and 2) I don't want to spend all of Lizzie and Ajay's elderhood waiting for their kids to graduate college.




The morning was spent in the usual activities. Gardening, sozializing and whatnot.


After Ajay left for work, I noticed some weeds appearing in the flower benches and had a lightbulb moment. The service calls are unlocked, the family can get a gardener! So they did.


In the afternoon, Aaron brought home Jeff Broke from the Broke TPC. Jeff has been seen stealing various newspapers around Lakewood.


Ajay came home shortly afterwards. Hi Ajay, back already?

Ajay: "Yeah, I got demoted."

Ow, sorry about that.

Ajay: "You never learn not to click on chance cards do you?"

That one's kind of on me, yeah. And it seems I've had rotten luck with them lately. Although you could have concentrated on your meeting and not some game on tv, too.

Ajay: "Hey, I tried, but it couldn't be done!"



Aaron and Jeff seemed to come along nicely.



Lauren and Jeff would probably have come along nicely too, if Jeff hadn't insisted on cheating her at chess. Which she noticed, and wasn't impressed.



Nobody cheats at eating, so that was a good friendly activity to invite everyone to. Plus eating keeps crankiness at bay.



After the sandwiches, Aaron and Jeff had a bit of a smustle session in the living room.



While the hosts were busy skilling and gardening, Jeff played some pool by himself.



After he upset Lauren by a balloon prank, it was time to politely send him home.



Oh hi Lizzie, welcome home. And congrats on the promotion!

Lizzie: "Thanks. It does feel good to be making progress. Just three more steps away from my lifelong dream!"

That's a good place to be. I'm proud of how much you've accomplished, both for Lakewood and for your own family.



I remembered to check, and true enough, Lizzie now had the career reward earned, so it went into the hobby/rewards room.



In the evening, Lizzie spent some time with her novel. It can't be that long before it's finished.



Later the same night, Ajay came home with a promotion too. Congrats Ajay! It looks like you've managed to fix what I broke with the chance card.

Ajay: "Yeah, that was just a minor obstacle really. At least I didn't lose the job, or any skill points, so I'm still on track towards my dream."

Oh yeah, good point. I really have to be careful with the chance cards. If Lizzie or Ajay were to lose their job, they wouldn't be able to get it back because elder jobs are different. Good thing that didn't happen to Ajay here!



Saturday morning. Only the weekend left of the rotation, and before the teens are off to college. Yes, I've decided that Lauren will go too. She's a little bit young, but she's got the necessary scholarships and everything, so I figured she's ready.



Lauren had the want to ask someone on a date, so I checked her relationship panel. She has two bolts with Tank Grunt, and the two of them were already friends, so she called him up.



Walmart was their very romantic date location. Ahem. Well, at least the pickpocket didn't seem to be paying attention to them.



My strategy was to take care of friendly wants, then see what happens. One of those friendly wants was to take a picture together.



Well, both Lauren and Tank stopped rolling date wants, but ACR kicked in the second I let go of the mouse.



They were crushing in no time at all.







And it didn't take many interactions until they were in love, too.



Amusingly enough, the General showed up right then, wanting to greet Lauren. As you might recall, he's not Tank's father in Lakewood. It's kind of as if he was though!



He then proceeded to hover over the youngsters for the rest of the date as they hung out in the checkout area. In real lif it'd be really weird but I suppose in the Sims it's perfectly normal.



Regardless of any weird adults, Lauren and Tank had a Dream Date.



Back at home, Lauren headed for the pool table. Playing is fun, and who knows, she might be able to score a scholarship.



Meanwhile, Aaron went for a hike. He's still working on his Nature enthusiasm, although he won't be able to max it before college. He'll remain a member of the legacy household until the end of college, so he still has time to try and score points. Then after college, he'll likely start his own challenge, though I'm not entirely decided on which one yet.



Lizzie: "Finally, the novel is done!"

Oh, hey, great. Congratulations!

Lizzie: "Thanks. Not really so much my thing, but at least the Storyteller handicap is now secured for this generation."

Yep. That's something to be proud of, and I'm once again very proud of you.



And it was a bestseller too, hooray. One doesn't really live with royalties in TS2, but money is money.



And at least you get a copy of it delivered to you, that's kind of fancy. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, so I've stuffed it into Lizzie's inventory for now.



Aaron planted some eggplants, as those are always useful, and planting vegetables improves his Nature enthusiasm.



Ajay came home, and with a promotion once again.

Ajay: "So close, only one more promotion to go. I might even get it yet this week if I'm lucky!"

That's great. Hmm, what are you now exactly? Symphony Conductor?

Ajay: "Yeah."

Well, however one goes from that to Rock God suddenly isn't entirely clear to me but...

Ajay: "I've no idea, but I'll take it."



Lauren was the first to try out the new ballet barre.



Meanwhile, playing his father's guitar and making silly faces was more Aaron's thing.



Lauren got a call from Dirk Dreamer, suggesting an outing since his buddy Tank had such a good time with Lauren. I thought why not, so Lauren headed to Walmart.



The outing started off with Dirk swooning over Lauren while she entertained Tank with red hands. I sense drama, so Lauren is set on a leash.



Bianca Monty was the only adult in the outing group, and at first she seemed more interested in playing pinball with Nervous than hanging out with the teens. Understandable perhaps.



But once Lauren got her engaged in conversation and the boys entertained each other, the outing started going pretty well.



There was some minor disagreement between Tank and Dirk, but otherwise, it wasn't too bad!



In the night, Lauren even got a game console as a gift. It went into her inventory, for college.



While I remembered, I started our first elixir collection for the points. For now, I put it in the back yard, since the family doesn't really have much of a back yard yet. It might get moved in the future, when I expand the house. Anyway, not a bad start, although we don't yet have a full collection.



Early Sunday morning. The last day of the rotation, and the day that the kids leave for college. Ajay was up first, and started the morning with some dancing.



And romancing his wife, who was also up early.



After breakfast, Lauren spent most of her remaining time at the pool table.



Aaron had a competition with the gardener on who gets to weed the eggplants.



After that, he relaxed by dancing.



In the afternoon, it was time to make the calls to get all the final scholarships. Aaron's score was rather impressive I'd say, he even got the scholarship for his dancing. Well done Aaron!



Lauren didn't get quite as many, which is understandable, since she had less time. Still, pretty good, and both teens qualify for the college founded by Lizzie.



The kids said their goodbyes before Lizzie and Ajay left for work.

Lizzie: "Now be good okay?"

Lauren: "When are we not good?"



And so, Aaron and Lauren left for college, the first kids of their generation to do so. Or well, in Lakewood, the first kids ever to do so. Others will be joining them later on, but not everyone will go to college, it all depends on each sim's challenge, skills and wants rolled.

Aaron and Lauren make the 8^th household in Lakewood, and we'll be seeing them after the regular rotation. Also, because they are the 8^th household, we've earned a free community lot! I'll be building it during the rotation, it'll be a college lot but I'm not entirely sure on specifics yet.



The rotation was really on its last legs, but there was one thing yet to happen. Lizzie and Ajay had a work day, and late in the evening, they came home.

Ajay: "Finally! Rock God like I always wanted to be!"

Congrats! That must feel really good.

Ajay: "It does, it does. Of course, I can't just sit back and relax, I'm already thinking of something new."

... and?

Ajay: "I think I'd like to have 5 top level businesses."

Erm... Well, let's say "never say never". Having more businesses is good for the BaCC of course, but your family already has three. And, truth to be told, it's a lot of work, so I might want to save that energy for someone who has it as their first LTW.

Ajay: "I thought you might say that, it's fair enough. But let's keep working on Face the Music and see how things look then?"

It's a deal, Ajay.



Lizzie, too, came home with a promotion. Only two levels to go!

Lizzie: "We're getting there. There should be a good chance to make it there next week. Although I do have some days off coming up."

That's okay, you'll get the chance to skill and spend time with Ajay.

Lizzie: "That'll be nice."



There wasn't much left to do. After Lizzie and Ajay's evening routine, I calculated the tax and put the payment into the tax account. Then it was time for some well deserved sleep.

That's it for the Davidsons for week 5! I'll yet give you the score. I'm changing things a bit there too: in addition to the full BaCC score, I'll now try to give the full score for each sub challenge where possible. Like for instance, for legacies I have a full score card. So, here goes.

The BaCC:

Playable sims: 30

SM: 19

Population: 570

 

Households: 7 + 1 (the Davidson college household) = 8

CAS sims: 3 placed / 27 + 1 (for new community lot) = 28 earned

Community lots: 12 businesses + 1 +1 (for 8^th household, unplaced) free = 14

 

Businesses:

Lakewood Recreation Center (Lizzie Davidson, level 10)
Yummy! (Regan Capp, level 9)
Curious Gadgets (Pascal Curious, level 10)
Variety Buffet (Daniel Fortunato, level 10)
Face the Music (Ajay Davidson, level 6)
Better Dressed Sims (Jenny Capp, level 1)
Club Flamingo (Nervous Curious, level 6)
It's Art (Daniel Pleasant, level 8)
Pretty Pretty Flowers (William Trollson, level 4)
The Dance District (Lizzie Davidson, level 5)
Furniturize (Daniel Fortunato, level 3)
Chloe's Quick Cookery (Chloe Trollson, level 5)

Other community lots:

Lakewood Walmart (general store)

 

Careers:

Business: Unlocked! / 1 taken (William Trollson, level 9)
Medical: Unlocked!
Architecture: 2 openings / 1 taken (Jenny Capp, level 8)
Culinary: 2 openings / 2 taken (Brandi Broke, level 4; Chloe Trollson, level 3)
Criminal: 1 opening / 1 taken (Regan Capp, level 6)
Music: Unlocked! / 1 taken (Ajay Davidson, level 10)
Slacker: 1 opening / 1 taken (Bella Goth, level 5)
Education: 1 +1 = 2 openings / 1 taken (Peter Ottomas, level 1)
Artist: 1 opening / 0 taken
Dance: 1 opening / 1 taken (Lizzie Davidson, level 8)
Law Enforcement: 2 openings / 0 taken

Business Tycoons: 2 (Ajay Davidson, William Trollson)

Universities: 1 (privately funded, founded by Lizzie Davidson)

Business Districts: 2

Downtown: no

 

Fires: 3

Burglaries: 3

Electrocutions: 2

Taxes collected from this household: 181,700*0.05 + 50,000*0.05 (for level 10 business) + 30,000*0.05 (for level 6 business) + 25,000*0.05 (for level 5 business) = 14,300 simoleans*

Taxes collected total: 125,550 +14,300 = 139,850 simoleans at 5% rate

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

The legacy:

Category [My Score] {notes}
Point Reason (Worth): How many I have {notes}

LEGACY [1.5]
Each Generation (.5): 2
Heir Portraits (.5): 1
Generation 10 (1): 0

MONEY [0]
Every $300K (1): 0 {Net Worth = $0}

FRIENDS [6.25]
Family Friends (.25): 25 {Lizzie + Ajay, Generation one}

IMPOSSIBLE WANTS [1]
Each Impossible Want Fulfilled (1): 1 {Lizzie: Earn 100,000}

PLATINUM GRAVES [0]
Platinum Grave (.5): 0

GHOSTS [0]
All Ghost Types (10): 0

• Old Age | Fire/Heat Stroke | Fright | Drowning | Electrocution/Lightning | Cowplant | Elevator | Satellite | Disease | Flies | Starvation | Sunlight | Rally Forth | Hail

BUSINESS [0]
Per Generation Family Business is Level 10 (1): 0
Each Platinum Death with all Gold Talent Badges (1): 0

SEASONS [0]
Per Generation Legacy Tree is Alive (1): 0 {max 9 points (Gen 2-10)}
All Fishables Plus Wishing Well (1): 0 {only once}
Able to make all Juices (1): 0 {only once}

BON VOYAGE [0]
Every 9 Mementos (1): 0 {max 5 points}
Each Generation uses Vacation Home (2): 0
Founder buys the Vacation Home (1): 0
All Souvenirs on Display (2): 0
Each Bad Vacation (-1): 0

FREE TIME [1.5]
Each Sim who Maxes Family Hobby (.5): 1 {Lizzie}
Family Hobby is Founders OTH (1): 1 {Nature}

COLLECTIONS [0]
Each Alien Pregnancy (1): 0
Each Set of Platinum Graves (1): 0
All Career Rewards (1): 0

• Base Game: Athletic | Business | Criminal | Culinary | Law Enforcement | Medical | Military | Politics | Science | Slacker
• University: Artist | Natural Science | Paranormal | Show Business
• Seasons: Adventurer | Education | Gamer | Journalism | Law | Music
• Free Time: Architecture | Dance | Entertainment | Intelligence | Oceanography

Every 25 Bottles of Unused Elixer (1): 0
All Impossible Wants Fulfilled (2): 0

• Family: Have 10 Children | Have 30 Grandchildren
• Fortune: Earn $100,000 {Lizzie} | Own 5 Top Level Businesses
• Knowledge: Max All Skills | Be Abducted 3 Times
• Popularity: Have 30 Best Friends
• Romance: Have 20 Simultaneous Lovers | WooHoo 30 Different Sims
• Pleasure: Have 50 First Dates | Have 100 Dream Dates
• Grilled Cheese: Eat 200 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Complete Bug Collection (1): 0
All Hobby Plaques (1): 0

• Arts & Crafts | Cuisine | Film & Literature | Fitness | Games | Music & Dance {Lizzie} | Nature {Lizzie} | Science | Sports | Tinkering

MASTER [0]
Black Sheep (1): 0
Social Bunnies Need Love Too (1): 0
Spotless Record (1): 0
Finish What You Started (1): 0
Child Prodigy (1): 0
Happy Birthday (1): 0
No Regrets (1): 0
Capitalist Master (1): 0
Ivy League (1): 0
Hobby Horse (1): 0
Finish Line (1): 0

HANDICAPS [0] {earned at end}
Matriarchy (1)

Aspiring to do it the hard way (2) (accidentally broken early generation 2)

One-way street (1)

Free-roaming ghosts (2)

Storyteller (1)

OVERFLOW [0]

PENALTIES [0]
Each Shrink Visit (-1): 0
Each Child Taken by Social Worker (-1): 0
Each Repo-Man Visit (-1): 0
Each Sim who Drops Out/Gets Expelled from Uni (-1): 0
Each Visitor Death (-1): 0
Each Mr.Big/Dive Moved In (-1): 0
Each Reload (-1): 0
Each Aspiration Change Unless to Grilled Cheese (-1): 0
Each Animal Taken Away (-1): 0
Each Animal who Runs Away (-1): 0
^If Animal is Returned (.5): 0

TOTAL SCORE: 10.25 out of 140

So, that's all folks. Thanks for reading, and I hope you join us again next time, when it's time for the Capp DITFT. Until then, happy simming!