Grow Your Own Hood Challenge

Welcome to the Grow Your Own Hood (GYOH) Challenge.

This challenge is designed to sit between the build a city challenge (BACC) and the medieval charter challenge (MCC), with many aspects of the Unlock an Uberhood challenge (UaU). I wanted a challenge with some of the challenging parts of the MCC and to use my own Social Class system, but wanted to start a fresh in a newly created world that grew over time.

Whilst the premise of a BACC was intriguing, the need for business and not using careers was not for me as someone who doesn't enjoy too many businesses, hence making up my own challenge and the Grow Your Own Hood Challenge was born. As I wanted this challenge to grow and unlock in chunked sections over time, the Unlock an Uberhood approach felt most appropriate.

This post will start with the set up of your own GYOH challenge, but if you want to see how to play it, please skip to the 'Stages in this Challenge' section.

Setting up

To set this hood up, load a new empty hood and let it generate townies and NPCs, alternatively you can make your own townies and NPCs whichever you would prefer.

The hood will be locked to certain career paths at the beginning and will be made up of 9 families in total to begin with, see the table below.

So family one will need a sim who is Mayor, level 10 in the politics career and no other sim can be the same level in that career within the hood. Family 2 needs a General level 10 in Military and so on so forth. The last family (technically number 9) are the farmers/grocers selling their produce and for me the only option of an owned business style of lot. Other sims in these families can be in any of the available careers (but only certain levels as stated further down this post).

You want roughly 40 sims overall within all 9 families. Roll (using a randomiser) between 1 and 8 for the families to see how many sims you get. I chose to roll 1-4 for the Law family and Medical family. Then roll between 5-8 for the Farmers to ensure variation.

Once you have the family numbers you can randomise what their ages/life stages will be. I roll 1-5, 1 being Toddler, 2 Child, all the way to 5 being Elder. I don't strictly stick to this as I got a family of 5 which was 1,2,1,1,5. This did not make sense to me to have an elder and 3 toddlers, so I changed it to make sense a little but still allow the variation that randomising created. When setting up these families you would need at least 1 adult/elder in each family made in CAS, and you also need at least 1 toddler or child in the entire hood, but the likely outcome is you will have many. Thanks to Chymea1024 on reddit for suggesting that clarification.

Now it is time to make the sims, do this anyway you want to whether it be random or pooklet, or using the premade faces. I personally chose a method similar to pooklet but more random and not as defined. I rolled 1-20 and did that many clicks at random in each face category, nose, eyes etc etc

Once the sims are made, have a plan for your hood, add the lots in (be creative with the street and lot names if you desire) then add in the families and start building their houses.
Here you can see my hood during this process and the rough set up I have for a 'town centre' style approach to my hood. 

Remember the point of this hood/challenge is to grow over time as the families and lot needs expand. Ensure you leave room for this to happen and some logical spaces for further family growth and community lot growth.

I placed the farmers and their farm lot further away from town because it would not make sense for a random farm in the middle of the town centre in later generations.

Because you are making this hood from scratch don't forget to add bios and stories to your sims and make their friendships and other relationships around town, otherwise the town will not feel like a community. Also some of these sims that are not the head of their career will need careers, below is a list of the careers and the levels the other adults can be in. For example the Mayor's wife in my hood is level 3 of the Medical career.

Once you have made the families to your liking time to make some community lots, I recommend a market lot, a cemetery, and a park to hang out at (or 2 like I did). Below you can see my starting point. Note the empty lot to the right of the hood is for my Dorms as I play University in the main hood. If you play University the traditional way, please attach whatever university you would like and carry on from there. University is available in this challenge from the beginning!

Stages in this Challenge

Now the basics are done and the town/sims set up you can play the challenge and grow your very own hood. Whilst business will be important later down the line, the point of this hood is to unlock all other careers, gain new families and to grow the hood from its humble beginnings into a thriving town.

The challenge expansions will go in ascending order from 1 to 5 and each expansion has certain requirements before you can move to it.

In this initially Base Game, you can expand the hood with up to 10 houses for sims to live in and an apartment block or 2. No strict rules really with this but adding 10 houses in and an apartment lot will help fuel the 'Growing' feel and give more space as your families expand.

1) The Grand Expansion

This expansion shows 'The Good, The Bad, and the Builder' in your hood.

This expansion gives you:

• Criminal Career
• Journalism Career
• Architecture Career
• 2 Sim owned businesses (can be community or home businesses)
• Sim owned Gym Lot (additional to the above 2 owned businesses) 
• Community Pool Lot
• Community Pub/Bar Lot
• 1 Newly created family (Architecture Level 7 Sim is head)
• Pets can now be added to the households
• Retirement Home lot can be built and used
• Up to 8 New Townies can be created/added into the Townie Pool
• Up to 10 New Residential lots can created/added and then used.

Requirement to unlock this expansion: A premade toddler (or child if no toddlers in hood) at the beginning of the game grows into an adult and raises their own child to become a teenager.

Finding reaching this requirement difficult? Why not try the 'Easy Mode Requirement'?

Easy Mode requirement to unlock this expansion: A premade toddler (or child if no toddlers in hood) at the beginning of the game grows into an adult and births their first child

Thanks to Chymea1024 on Reddit for this suggestion.

2) The Energetic Expansion

This expansion has a focus on body skill and fitness of your sims and gives you the following:

• Athletic Career
• Adventurer Career
• 3 Sim owned businesses (can be community or home businesses)
• Community Library Lot
• Community Coffee Shop/Small Bistro Lot

Requirements to unlock this expansion: 

• Sim owned Gym Opens
• The two newly opened Sim owned businesses reach Rank 5 (Not including the Gym)
• 5 Sims in town are 'Fit'

3) The Learning Expansion

Focused on studies and knowledge, this expansion opens up new knowledge and study in your growing town, giving you:

• Natural Scientist Career
• Oceanography Career
• Paranormal Career
• Intelligence Career
• 1 Sim owned business (can be community or home business)
• Community Art Museum Lot
• Community Arcade/Leisure Lot
• 1 Newly created family (Intelligence Level 6 Sim is head)

Requirements to unlock this expansion: 

• All University Degrees have been achieved/completed
• 1 Sim has maxed All Skills
• Community Library Opens
• 1 Sim reaches Level 10 in the Science Career

4) The Creative Expansion

In this penultimate expansion, creativity is key and this creative side of the sim brain gives you:

• Artist Career
• Culinary Career
• Music Career
• Gamer Career
• 1 Sim owned business (can be community or home business)
• Community Restaurant Lot

Requirements to unlock this expansion: 

• Community Art Museum Lot Opens
• Maximised Hobby Enthusiasm (Arts and Crafts, Music and Dance, Cuisine, Games) NOTE - Does not have to be one sim maximising all four.
• 1 Sim owned business must be selling car/robots
• Community Arcade/Leisure Lot Opens

5) The Glitzy Expansion

With this, the final expansion your sims want to taste the finer things in life and have extravagant entertainment available to them. This final expansion gives you:

• Entertainment Career
• Showbiz Career
• Dance career
• Slacker Career
• 1 Sim owned business (can be community or home business)
• Community Nightclub Lot

Requirements to unlock this expansion: 

• Number of Active Playable sims reaches 75
• 1 Sim reaches Level 10 Music Career
• 1 Sim owned business reaches Rank 10

From here, you can choose to head to an end point and make it up to your own play style. Perhaps you want a population number to be reached or you want to reach the top of every career, you decide!

Extra Points/Rules

A few other rules to add in, sims can move freely out and in. But there is no spare houses at the beginning of the challenge so a sim can only move out if they have the funds to do so. This is also an important aspect as growing the sim number from around 40 up to higher realms is a requirement for certain expansions but required to have a larger feeling town.

I run quite an intense tax system and so to add some extra challenge to this hood I only 'open' a community lot to be used by the town when at least 50% of it's cost has been paid using taxes. Of course that doesn't count the initial community lots as they exist at the beginning of the challenge, but for me need paying off by the town taxes.

Add and grow to the hood with hood deco as the hood grows. A nice way to do this is to add some new hood deco in every round. Initially you will have the same sims and families for a while before opening an expansion (likely 5+ rounds) so add some new hood deco in every round. I personally add a new house in every round as I know the lineages will grow into them eventually.

Additionally houses and apartments can be added when needed and when a family moves out to be in that house and you can manage how that works. I use no20KHandout and so sims have to earn the money to buy a house, but you do it whatever is fun for you.

Now this blog post has so far focused on how the play the challenge and how you would create your own hood to do so, but if you would like my hood to play it is already set up and ready to and can be found here:

Welcome to Gyoh Plains!

In this expanse, even the greatest things bloom from a small seed once planted. From Farmer to Politicians, everyone is here with one reason in mind to "Grow Your Own Hood".

Cartwright Family

Surrounded by 'the wall' and the bosom of his family, Robert makes every political decision in Gyoh Plains. But will a higher power cause him to make more drastic political changes?

Cadman Family

Eric and Gwen were blessed with a darling daughter, the most perfect daughter you could have asked for, and they formed the most perfect family. Then it was all ruined when little Gretle arrived...

Chamber Family

Sally agreed to come to Gyoh Plains not because it is a great job opportunity, but because of the new men she could encounter. Will she last in her current job long enough to get with the local hotties?

Darwin Family

The sciencey Darwins were a great family unit, then Marie's brother came in need of a place for him and his daughter to stay. But will they ever leave? Will all the children adjust to this eclectic living situation?

Chevalier Family

Outgoing Thierry is the town police. Along with Katriane they are raising their darling son to be the best sim he can. But with an odd streak showing, will their hard work all be turned on it's head?

Thatcher Family

As the leaders of education in the hood, the Thatchers know family values and key skills are vital to the growth of the economy of the future. But will their children become functional members of society now that their dads have revealed their true parentage of their deceased birth mother?

Cash Family

The Cash family are rich in potential, but each member of this family has a peculiar character flaw that makes them seem at arms length from the rest of the town.

Sana Family

The Sana Sisters are pretty and witty. Catalina wants to meet boys, Valentina wants to meet the elite, and Dolores is a miserable know-it-all. But now left at the helm, is Veronica ready to give up her own dreams for the sake of her siblings?

Bond Family

Having ran the farmstead for years, the Bond's are fuelling the town with food and the next generation. But when his father passes, will Walter really want to continue as just a farmer...

Each of these 9 families have their own storylines and 3t2 traits, LTW matching Lamare's 50LTWs and much much more detail. I included my very extensive spreadsheet with the hood to help you out. Note this spreadsheet includes a simple challenge tracker to know when you have unlocked each expansion. Find it on Sim File Share combined as 'Gyoh Plains.rar' here:

 http://simfileshare.net/folder/233324/

This hood comes with a custom set of townies by TheCuriousClockwork  and all credit goes to them for them, they can be found here:
https://modthesims.info/d/686770/curious-townie-pool-custom-and-default-replacement.html

I would love to hear from you about this challenge and if you played it!

Insert this into your Game and Insert the Sims into your life!

If you would like to contact me, please comment down below, or alternatively send me an email at insertthesims@gmail.com, I would love to hear your feedback.

Sims 2 Modern Social Class Challenge

Sometimes the Sims 2 can become a tad boring. Find the partner, get married/pregnant, make money, gain skills, grow up, and then repeat the cycle over and over again.
A way to make this feel less boring is to do 'Challenges' and whilst many exist, as someone who does not do challenges, often they feel a burden to prep for or work on an idea of a new hood and new sims. I wanted a challenge that would feel similar to the Victorian Social Class challenge and the Medieval Charter Challenge but with the well-known premades and the modern Sim world and no need for creating an entire world or lots of sims/families etc.. 

Hence the 'Modern Social Class Challenge' was born (in my head...).

Now whilst not a traditional challenge in the sense, because this can be seen as more of an 'Add-on' challenge to any existing world you are already playing really i.e. there is not end point, this is continuous within your own gameplay. But you could always set yourself an end point?

The challenge bases its' premise on there being 3 social classes, Upper, Middle, Lower. Whilst social classes are technically a thing of the past, they are still seen in practice in many places around the western world and further afield, and still discussed in the UK (my home nation).

Modern Social Class Challenge Main Rules

Whilst these rules are not definitive, they do make the challenge into exactly that, a challenge! You could adapt them to be more strict or less so to suit your play style.

Under these rules you need a few things in your hood to make it work. Mostly a large Grand Hall that can be where the Balls are hosted. Note in my head canon one of the rich elder female sims hosts the balls acting as a sort of 'Social Matriarch'. For the ball to work I make the Social Matriarch make a group (you will need the bigger groups Mod, allowing 20 Sims in a group) and eligible sims who are looking for a match aged Teen, Young Adult or Adult are able to be added to it. If you want to play with the boarding schools you will need LordCrumps' 3t2 Boarding Schools. II also suggest you work a tax system, both my tax system, my adapted boarding school system and my social class system and tracker can bee found on my blank spreadsheet which is downloadable from my shared google drive here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1yylFVZNq1Y6rufYGNAiPO5EeRElA4Sgw

Moving on Up

When a sim/family have met the household fund requirement to move up after a round/season, they are now that social status but on a sort of probation. To retain their social status, by the end of the next round/season the household must meet the household fund (HHF) requirement and all other requirements for that specific social class. As an 'Easy Mode' version of this challenge you could simply focus on whether their HHF meets the requirement and keep them in the social class that reflects their HHF. See details below:

Requirements to become Middle Class:

• HHF must be at £5,000 (Just this in 'Easy Mode')
• Lot Value of £50,000 minimum
• One Sim must be at Level 3 in their career (Retired Elder Counts)
• Adults have a net savings of £10,000 (Moniques Hacked Computer required)
• One child/teen is in Private school or one Adult Alumni of Private/Boarding School
• One Adult must be in a Middle class career track (Retired Elder Counts)
• (If the sim/household runs a business) Business Rank 5 must be reached

Requirements to become Upper Class:

• HHF must be at £15,000 (Just this in 'Easy Mode')
• Lot Value of £100,000 minimum
• One Sim must be at Level 5 in their career (Retired Elder Counts)
• Adults have a net savings of £50,000 (Monique's Hacked Computer required) NOTE: Investments would be allowed, such as holiday homes, or more of a Lot Value.
• All children are in Private school and teens are in Boarding school or 75% Adults Alumni of Private/Boarding School (if there are no children/teens in the household)
• 50% of Adults must have a degree
• Main Adult(s) must be in a Upper class career track (Retired Elder Counts)
• (If the sim/household runs a business) Business Rank 8 must be reached

Student/Roommate Mode

Sims living together in an owned or rented property can be different social classes. You would need to check two instances to deduce their social status.

1. Historical Social Status If a sim has living family of a certain social status they would remain that status for one round. On the second round the sim would remain that social class if they were friends with all members of their familial household. Lastly by the third round they must meet the 'Solo Social Status' outlined below. or drop to the social class their situation would dictate.
2. Solo Social Status The sim must have the correct career path (with a degree if necessary for their career level which is 3 for Middle Class and 5 for Upper Class). They also need to have the following individual net worth:
• For Middle Class the sim needs a net worth of £30,000
• For Upper Class the sim needs a net worth of £50,000

To calculate a sims individual net worth you use their proportion of the HHF and owned house/lot, their owned items in the house, whether these items be in their own room/space or communal, and any savings they have using Monique's hacked computer

I find that sims going to university always meet scenario 1 in this mode as I count their 4 year college degree (which I play short as 8 days) is completed in 1 round and thus they meet the first round social class stipulation. 

Let us see an example below to help with 'Solo Social Status' of this mode.
Three sims Stan, George, and Dave live together in an owned house. Their house/lot is worth £60,000 and their HHF is £9,000 (Lot Value and HHF will remain the same throughout this example). Stan has Upper Class parents in the Hood, George and Dave are new to the Hood

Round 1

Stan remains Upper class due to Historical Social Status.

George has a net worth of £23,000, a Physics Degree and a Career in Science (Lvl 4)
    Despite the correct degree and career path to be at least Middle class his net worth matters

So George is Lower Class.

Dave same as George has a net worth of £23,000 from a 3rd share of the HHF and Lot value, but he has £8,000 in savings using Monique's Hacked Computer and £2,000 value for his owned items, totally his net worth at £33,000. Dave has a Biology Degree and a Career in Oceanography (Lvl 6), making him Middle Class.

Round 2

Stan is friends with his family and thus remains Upper Class.

George has the £23,000 net worth from lot and HHF but now has £5,000 in savings and £7,000 value for his owned items, giving him a net worth of £35,000, Physics Degree and Science (Lvl 5) now makes him Middle Class.

Dave now has no savings, but owned item value of £5,000, making his net worth £28,000. So regardless of his job he is now Lower Class.

Round 3

Stan regardless of his previous standing can no longer rely on Historical Status. He has no career and no savings, but owned item value of £20,000 and a share of the lot and HHF value, totalling his net worth at £43,000. Despite his heritage being upper class, his worth being middle class, Stan is now Lower Class. His only way to retain his social status would be to move back in with his family or marry into an upper class family

George has the shared value of £23,000, his degree and career are the same, but his savings are now £15,000 and his owned items value is £15,000. This makes his net worth £53,000. George would now be Upper Class.

Dave has the same career and degree, and same share as before (£23,000). His owned items now have a value of £8,000 and he has savings of £4,000. Making Dave's net worth £35,000, so he moves back to being Middle Class.

Remember this mode only works for SOLO sims living in owned or rented properties as roommates. If the roommates live in a rented apartment they still need to meet the same requirements but would not have a owned property to share the value of.

Some families premade living together may be difficult to deduce who owns what item, such as the Singles in Strangetown, you would need to either ignore the owned items or make up a story for who those items belong to

For families who rent an apartment they also need to meet the same career/degree/HHF requirements but it would be all the apartment item's value added to their HHF to work out the family net worth. For example the Cleveland family from Belladonna Cove would have a net worth of over £50,000 with their HHF and owned items in the apartment added together, making them Upper Class (as they should be) at least for the first round...

Careers, Schools and Degrees for the Social Classes

Each social class has specific schooling, degree and careers they require to have their social status which can be seen on my spreadsheet or below:

Do you do something similar in your game? Have you had a go and have some improvements to the challenge?

Insert this into your Game and Insert the Sims into your life!

If you would like to contact me, please comment down below, or alternatively send me an email at insertthesims@gmail.com, I would love to hear your feedback.