The Baby Boomer Challenge

[Cel_sims3]

What day was your 3rd set born on?

Thursday. I am sooo trying the insane asylum after this one. It should be relatively easy compared to six toddlers. At least you only control one sim.. My first set are children, so thankfully they can help around the house. My second set should be aging up any day now. For today though, I'm simmed out.
How's Greta doing, Met?

I'm loving all the participation and comments!  You guys are cracking me up with your stories!  Keep 'em coming!

Newcomers might want to look at my walkthroughs for large families.  I've got one for the Surrounded by Family Lifetime Wish, plus the story of this challenge.  Here are the links:

http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/challenges/babyboomer.php

http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/lifetimewishes/surroundedbyfamily.php

I've tested the thing with kids music and television causing multiple births.  It happened with TV, but not with music for me.  Being proactive on their needs is definitely a good idea.  I always make sure they are full in all areas before putting them to bed.  It makes the parents more stressed at the moment because they're usually exhausted by this time, but it will pay off with better sleep that's not interrupted by a screaming child who wakes up too hungry.

thanks so much for the advice, I didn't even think to top off all the kids need before putting them to bed, that's smart.

well, I'm off to irritate my hubby with sims stories. Who knows, maybe he'll start playing these challenges too.

[Metropolis Man]

The Carbonara's are making nice progress. The household is completely full now at 8 members. And I've got one thing to say — Eight is definitely enough!   This is about the point where I threw in the towel the first time around — when the oldest turned into a Child and started going to school. But, it's a whole new ballgame and I've got things pretty well under control. It can still be chaotic, but the fact that I can now issue commands to the children makes scheduling their lives so much easier. With babies and toddlers it's just so difficult.

Gordon should get another raise soon, so with the extra money I'll need to give the initial twins a bathroom to adjoin their new bedroom.

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EDIT: I forgot that I needed to ask a question: What's the deal with the toybox? No one in my house can put toys back in it — there's always the pathfinding bubble above their heads. I have it against a wall, but there's tons of room on both sides of it.

[Cel_sims3]

EDIT: I forgot that I needed to ask a question: What's the deal with the toybox? No one in my house can put toys back in it — there's always the pathfinding bubble above their heads. I have it against a wall, but there's tons of room on both sides of it.

I can't get them to put them away unless they are neat sims. What I usually have to do is manually put the toys back in by opening the toy box just like the fridge or book shelf.

[Pam]

It sounds like your toybox is glitched, Metro.  I've also had the same thing happen with peg boxes and xylaphones.  I'm assuming it's turned the right direction because the kids can get the toys out.  You can try dragging the toys yourself or opening the toybox and dragging the toys to the window.  Also, try deleting the toybox and buying a new one.  That always works for the other toys.

[Metropolis Man]

The toybox is definitely turned the right way (towards the middle of the room). I guess I'll see if I can just clean up manually by opening it.. Funds are tight right now to spring for a new one. Remodeling and expanding takes priority.

[kat]

Love hearing everyone else's stories, well done Metro for giving it another shot!
Well I have 5 teenagers now, and 1 child, and am just sitting waiting for the blimmin things to grow up so I can have more babies! Their lives are going quite well though, I've got all the kids working part time jobs and bringing money into the family coffers, and most of them are on the honour roll at school. Unfortunately my youngest turned out with the evil trait...oops...
I am thinking of doing the asylum challenge next too, sounds fun!! 

[Cel_sims3]

oh, this sucks so much. My first set of twins just turned into teen and they'll be adults in fourteen days. My Mom will be an elder in sixteen days. Aka I'm not sure if she'll get another set of twins but I'm sure that she's not getting anymore.

[Metropolis Man]

Oh, that does stink. You won't be able to get the Woo Hoo option before your oldest twins move out because you'd still have 8 in the house. I may very well run into the same dilemma. There seems to be minor variation in a sims lifespan even if you set it at a certain length. So, if Pam or someone else actually had their female sim not turn Elder for one extra day that's a huge advantage if you can time things just right. If everyone's female aged up on the exact same day that would be the ideal situation for this challenge.

[kat]

FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was my first Sims3 Challenge, and it was fun!

Pam, I have NO idea how on earth you got that score, let alone managed to get 6 YA evicted...you must have acquired a lot of lifetime points early on and been able to get the fertility??
Well dear old Mork and Mindy managed to squeeze out a total of 9 kids, which I think is pretty good going! Mork also achieved his lifetime wish of becoming a world renowned surgeon just days after he became an elder. Mindy was pregnant (with her last set of twins, as it turns out) whilst she was aging up - got knocked up the day beforehand, phew! - so that got delayed until after she gave birth (but didn't affect my score at all). She became a very proficient artist and was churning out masterpieces by the motherlode, which was a great supplement to the family's income.

Well after all that blurb, my final score was.....
7,600!  That was made up of - 3x evicted young adults (4800), 3x teenagers (2400), 1x toddler (200) & 2x infants (200)

[Pam]

I've wondered what would happen if the female got pregnant at the time she's supposed to age up.  Sounds like the aging up gets delayed until after the birth.

Congratulations on finishing, Kat!  I'll add your score to the leaderboard.

[wildredchild]

The aging up will be delayed if she is pregnant.  So get that mom preggers as soon as them teens hit the road!

[Metropolis Man]

Nice job, kat. This and the Centurian Solo Challenge are by far the most popular ones based on the sheer number of participants.

So, I'm assuming once teenagers age up to Young Adults, then the Parents will have the Social option to Evict if I click on one of the Young Adults? This will be a new thing for me. Or do I Evict at a different game screen?

[Cel_sims3]

So, I'm assuming once teenagers age up to Young Adults, then the Parents will have the Social option to Evict if I click on one of the Young Adults? This will be a new thing for me. Or do I Evict at a different game screen?

You choose one of the young adults and click on a phone or computer. Choose the option move. Then when you've chosen who to move out, check the "kick out" box.

And good job kat, I'm going to reanalyze mine and start over.

Oh, and I had a question for Pam. Did you use throw a birthday party for the kids when it first reminded you or wait until the game aged them up for you?

[Metropolis Man]

Oh, and I had a question for Pam. Did you use throw a birthday party for the kids when it first reminded you or wait until the game aged them up for you?

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This issue just came up a couple days ago (after Pam had already finished, so I don't know how she handled it) —

Explicit Rules: ....No prematurely aging Sims with the birthday cake, and certainly no giving mom perpetual life with life fruit or ambrosia.

[Cel_sims3]

This issue just came up a couple days ago (after Pam had already finished, so I don't know how she handled it) —

Explicit Rules: ....No prematurely aging Sims with the birthday cake, and certainly no giving mom perpetual life with life fruit or ambrosia.

I know it came up, I was just curious on that front. My brain is in sneaky Mode and I'm trying to figure a way to get more kiddies in less time or more time without cheating.

[Bhaskarath]

My first set of twins just moved out, their mom is pregnant again but I don't think I'm going to manage to kick any more kids out before elder, so I think 8 kids might be my maximum... >.> I'll try again though, see if I can do some method tweaking and get a few more tots out...

[Metropolis Man]

I know it came up, I was just curious on that front. My brain is in sneaky Mode and I'm trying to figure a way to get more kiddies in less time or more time without cheating.

I hear ya. I'm not sure what else you can do. As soon as my Teenager twins age up and are kicked out I'm promply sending Greta and Gordon to the rabbit factory for another round.

The only thing I wondering about is the order in which sims are chosen to age up. That may have a factor in last-day strategy.

[Cel_sims3]

My second set of twins are now teens. Lee Jr. is a burial specialist (read: grave digger) and Kyle is a grocery clerk. I haven't decided on jobs for Jane and Julia. Maybe Spa specialists? Lee is the top of the business track and I have him hold meetings every chance he gets so I now have a seven bedroom house with three bathrooms, all the toys I need and 26,000 in the bank.. obviously money isn't a problem. Chanelle is bored now that there are no kids to take care of. She gardens and cooks during the day, but not much else. I'm hoping to max out her skills. Until the next set of kids, I'm going to try and make my kids as happy as I can. They're all on the honor roll and have plenty of friends. I have a feeling this is the easiest the challenge gets.

[Pam]

Oh, and I had a question for Pam. Did you use throw a birthday party for the kids when it first reminded you or wait until the game aged them up for you?

For the first set of six kids, I let the game age them up for me mostly because the family was too poor to spend all that money on birthday cakes.  For the second set of six kids, I used birthday cake, but only on their actual birthday, no sooner.

[Cel_sims3]

I've got all teens now. After this is over I'll go play some other challenges and come back to try again. That's so cool that you got twelve kids, btw Pam. Major talent.

[Metropolis Man]

For the second set of six kids, I used birthday cake, but only on their actual birthday, no sooner.

If that's the case and you are Carl are fine with that, then please be very specific in the rules. Right now one could easily make the interpretation that any use of the Birthday Cake was not allowed.

[Honeymooners]

Sorry I've been MIA  was out of town for a wedding.

I'm finished-  I don't know how in the world I finished.  I will say the 2nd group of kids are a breeze because you will probably have teens in the house and your spouse will have more days off because they have advanced in their career. 

5 YA   8000
1 Teen  800
2 toddlers  400
3 infants 300    Total 9500

I was one day off from having my infant triplets age up oh well!

[kat]

For the second set of six kids, I used birthday cake, but only on their actual birthday, no sooner.

If that's the case and you are Carl are fine with that, then please be very specific in the rules. Right now one could easily make the interpretation that any use of the Birthday Cake was not allowed.

Yes, If I had realised that we could use it as soon as the little message popped up, rather than waiting several hours for them to actually age, it might have made a little difference. Probably not much, but every bit helps :-)

[Pam]

So, the issue here is the definition of "premature?"  As in, no premature aging up using birthday cake?  The rules didn't say no aging up with birthday cake at all, just premature aging up.  That means no aging up before their actual birthdays.  Carl updated the rules to be even more specific, but if we had meant no birthday cake at all we would have said so instead of using the word "premature."

[Metropolis Man]

So, the issue here is the definition of "premature?"  As in, no premature aging up using birthday cake?  The rules didn't say no aging up with birthday cake at all, just premature aging up.  That means no aging up before their actual birthdays.  Carl updated the rules to be even more specific, but if we had meant no birthday cake at all we would have said so instead of using the word "premature."

Sims age up naturally without a Birthday Cake around 8PM. So, even if you use a Birthday Cake on the day they're supposed to age up, and do it at, say 8 AM -- that's an enormous difference, Pam. You're forcing them to age up "prematurely" before the game would have done it naturally. I'm totally okay with it as long as it's their Birthday anyway because doing so actually introduces more strategy to the endgame.

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EDIT: I got your results in the leaderboard, Honeymooners. Nice job grabbing 2nd.