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riverview_baccThe Build a City Challenge
(Latest updates in Red)(My updates in Green)
The goal of this challenge is to start with a completely blank neighborhood and a single Sim and to create an entire “Sim City.”
Setting Up your Neighborhood for Game play
- Start out with a blank neighborhood. You can manually empty the neighborhood yourself or you can download a blank neighborhood template:
- Manual Process:
- Evict all Sims from existing households
- Demolish all Residential Lots using the Bulldozer tool
- Download: You can find blank Riverview and Sunset Valley neighborhoods available for download on ModTheSims. You WILL need an account, but the downloads are free.
- Manual Process:
- Save all community lots to your Sim Bin. (You can also save any residential lots to your Sim Bin that you would like to use during the challenge.) You aren’t restricted to using only Sunset Valley lots. Feel free to add community lots to your Sim Bin from Riverview or other neighborhoods.
- Delete all community lots except for ONE of the following so that you start with only one community lot. These lots are available because they blend in with the natural landscape and do not contain any man made structures.
- Stoney Falls
- Pinochle pond
- Crystal Springs
- Summer Hill Springs
- Recuve Strand
- Sunnyside Strand
- Create a single Sim to be your founder and move them into a lot. (Select a Poverty Class lot if you are playing with the optional Boomtown-style Class System explained below). The Sim can be made however you choose (looks and personality) and their home lot can be any size (the smaller the better since money will be tight).
- Create a Placeholder Lot. Use your imagination and give this placeholder lot a theme. You can create a Bed and Breakfast, an Asylum, a Hotel, a Halfway House/Group Home or anything that inspires you. Don’t create a “lot story” that is too compelling because you will never play this lot. Build the lot from scratch or place one you have downloaded or extracted from the game.
- Create a “family” of any combination of 8 Sims (Young Adults, Adults and Elders) and place them on the Placeholder Lot. These will serve as your Townies.
- You can create either one sibling relationship or one parent-child relationship for two members of your townie household. All other household members must be roomies.
- You can make these Sims look however you want but you must randomize their traits using the dice. If you have World Adventures you can click the randomize dice until you roll traits that are base game only to avoid wants and wishes that require travel since you can’t go on vacations yet.
- If the townies die before becoming playable, their gravestones do not count towards the graveyard.
- Once the townies have moved out of this lot into the city, they cannot be replenished. You only get 8 townies to help you get started.
- Playable Sims can’t visit this lot UNLESS they have one best friend who lives there. You must initially meet and befriend at least one townie on the town before visiting this lot.
- Turn Aging OFF temporarily. This is optional but highly recommended. Through play testing it has been discovered that it can take anywhere from a day or two to several Sim weeks to meet sims who live at the Placeholder lot. You may choose to leave aging off until you get all of these Sims moved in to playable households. Use your judgment as to when to turn aging back on, but note that once you turn it on you can’t turn it back off. While aging remains off you will be unable to earn the community graveyard (see Unlocking Neighborhood Additions below).
Starting the Challenge
- Move the Townies into the Placeholder Lot. This is the only time during the challenge when a money cheat is allowed. Depending on the cost of your placeholder lot, you may need to move your eight Townies to a cheaper lot and increase their family funds before you can move them into the placeholder lot. Note that if the cost of the lot is very high, the Sim identified as the household owner will be identified as Rich. If this happens, you cannot make the Rich Sim playable unless you revert his or her family funds back to the standard 16,000 that Sims start with from the Sim Bin. To adjust the household’s family funds, use the following cheats (where 500000 is the dollar amount you need to purchase the Placeholder Lot and Townies is the name of the household):
- testingcheatsenabled true
- familyFunds Townies 500000
- Move your Founder into the Neighborhood.
- Place a small house costing less than 16,000 on the community map and move your founder into this house
- Build a lot from scratch and move your founder into a custom house
- For either house:
- Remove any existing fire or burglar detectors as they are not allowed at the start of the challenge
- If you are playing with the optional Boomtown rules, retrofit the existing house or build the custom house to the specifications of a Poverty Class lot
- Familiarize Yourself with the Rules and Begin Game play
- Your Sim can’t have a job so decide how you will earn money and pay bills.
- Keep an eye out around town for Townies so you can meet them and move them in to the neighborhood.
- Come up with a strategy or a list of initial goals you will achieve increase your population of Playable Sims and your Sim Multiplier
General Game play Rules
Increasing the Population of Playable Sims and Households
The actual number of Sims residing in your city can increase in one of the following ways:- By adding earned CAS Sims
- Using the Placeholder Lot described above
- By meeting and befriending eligible Service NPCs and moving them into an existing household by marriage.
- By adopting children
- Wait until the household has at least 10,000 in cash on hand. If you have more than 10,000 and want to leave the household you are moving from with some of the money, purchase items that are worth the approximate value that you want to leave with the household. You can sell these items back when you return to the lot.
- Select the Sim you want to move and use the Cell phone from personal inventory to initiate the Move
- Move the Sim to a poverty class lot (if you are playing with the optional Boomtown rules). Note, that the Sim will need more than 10,000 simoleons if there is already a house on the lot as it will likely cost more to purchase.
- Make this Sim the active household by clicking the Active Household check box. This will transfer the funds to the moving Sim so they have enough cash to build their home.
After the founder, new households may be moved into pre-built houses or blank lots.
Community Services
Sims may not call for any services except for the Baby-sitter and Adoption at the start of the challenge. Service calls are unlocked when the population reaches 500 (figuring out population is in the next section). Pizza delivery is unlocked with a population of 3,000. Sims cannot have fire detectors or burglar alarms until the first position in the Law Enforcement Career is unlocked (rules in the career section).Service | Initial State | Requirement to Unlock |
Newspaper Delivery | Unlocked | - |
Police | Locked | Unlocked with Law Enforcement Career |
Fire Department | Locked | Unlocked with Law Enforcement Career |
Adoption Service | Unlocked | - |
Pizza Delivery | Locked | Population 3,000 |
Repairman | Locked | Population 500 |
Maid – Recurring | Locked | Population 500 |
Baby-sitter | Unlocked | - |
Optional Game play Options
- Story Progression – You can choose to play with Story Progression ON or OFF
- Story Progression OFF – As your neighborhood expands, you must play EVERY household for the same amount of time. It is recommended that you begin the challenge with story progression off if you want to found the town with the townies you created for the placeholder lot. Otherwise, some (if not all) may move out of town before they become playable.
- Story Progression ON – Change households at will for the duration of the challenge. Play out the lives of Sims you find interesting, strategically choose to play Sims whose lifetime wishes or developed traits could advance the community in some way, or simply free play for fun.
- Create a Boomtown-style Collection of Class-Based Neighborhoods in your city. See the Boomtown-Style Neighborhoods section at the end of this document for rules on how to craft the lots in these neighborhoods.
- Change the Lifespan of your Sims – It is recommended that you play this challenge either at the Default Lifespan (Normal/90 Days) or the Long Lifespan (Long/190 Days). However, you can choose any lifespan you want.
The Sim Multiplier
The goal of this challenge is create a city with a population of at least 50,000. Of course you won’t literally have that many Sims to worry about. This number is purely figurative and that is where the Sim Multiplier (SM) will come into play.The SM is just a number that you will multiply your number of playable Sims by in order to get the city’s population.
At the start of the challenge, the SM is 1. As you progress and unlock certain additions for your neighborhood you’ll increase your SM. Points for your SM are added as follows:
+1 for your first community lot
+1 when you reach a total of 5 community lots
+1 for every 5 additional community lots
+1 when the first Sim invests in a business (see the Investing section)
+3 when 4 businesses have Investors
+5 when all 11 businesses have Investors
+2 when the first Sim owns 1 business outright
+6 when Sims own 4 businesses
+10 when all 11 businesses have owners
+5 for each Airport
Note that each of the above increases to the Sim Multiplier can be taken only once except for the addition of +1 for every community lot and the addition of +5 for each airport.From now on when population is mentioned, it simply means your total number of playable Sims multiplied by your SM.
Unlocking Neighborhood Additions
You will earn one community lot for every 4 Sim Households. Community lots add to your SM, and for each community lot you also earn 1 CAS Sim. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]Before you cleared Sunset Valley of all community lots, it contained 29 pre made lots. Each of these lots was added to your Community Lot bin during setup.
When you have created enough households to add a community lot or a neighborhood addition, you can add one of these to it’s original location on the community map or you can create an equivalent replacement if you are attracted to the “Build” in Build a City.
AS LONG AS THERE IS AN EARNED COMMUNITY LOT AVAILABLE, you can:
- Add certain lot types at any time (Parks, Beaches, Empty Lots, Hogan’s Deep Fried Diner)
- Add other lot types after the achievement of a mini-challenge, a certain population or a specific goal (see table below)
- You can take a weekly tax from each household. This tax would be 5% of their lot value. To do this you may use the familyfunds cheat, a hacked object (e.g. something similar to the ATM or the checkbook created for The Sims 2), or buy an item that equals the tax value and leave in your Sims inventory. Once you have collected $1,000,000 in taxes you may add your airport. If you choose this method make sure you keep track of how much you’ve collected, and a calculator or spreadsheet will be useful. The community will name this airport in a special election.
- Reach a population of 50,000, and the state will build your neighborhood an airport for free. This option is only good if you simply want to meet the population goal, as this would mark the end. However, if you play beyond the goal, this method may work for you.
- Have a wealthy Sim donate $1,000,000 to build an airport. Move this Sim to a smaller lot if you need to, in order to subtract the money from their funds using any method you choose. They can name the airport what they want.
- Have two wealthy Sims donate $500,000 a piece to build an airport. They can name the airport what they want.Until you get an airport, Sims CANNOT go on vacations. So, if you plan on buying World Adventures, you will want an airport. In addition to adding to your SM, for each airport you also earn 5 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Bookstore: Unlocked with a population of 1,000. This earns you 1 CAS Sim. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Central Park: Unlocked when a Sim in the Politics career track becomes the Mayor (Level 7)
Graveyard: Must have 20 deaths first. Until then, if you really hate ghosts, you can keep the tombstones in someone’s inventory.
Community Gyms and Workout Facilities: You must have at least 5 Sims maximize the Athletic Skill in order to have enough demand for these facilities.
Community Pools: Available when population reaches 500
Fire Department: Have 3 fires.
School: Your kids cannot go to school until the population reaches 250. Once it does, place your school (as long as you have an available community lot) and they can go off to school each day. At 500, you can place a second school. Each school will earn you 5 CAS Sims. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
Supermarket: There are two ways to unlock the Supermarket: by population goal or by an individual Sim with lots of cash on hand who has met several Gardening skill challenges and milestones.
- Population Method: Unlocked with a population 3,000. At this time, you can order pizza delivery. This earns you 1 CAS Sim. [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]
- Sim with Cash and Gardening Skill Method: A Master Gardener with a flourishing farm can build the town grocery store. To qualify, this Sim must have completed the following objectives:
- Achieved all 3 gardening challenges
- Harvested at least 5,000 items
- Harvested at least 2,500 perfect items
- Earned at least 80,000 from gardening
- Have $20,000 cash on hand
- These objectives must be met by an individual Sim, not the collective efforts of a household. The Sim must invest in the store immediately after it is placed as an owner.
Community Lot Name | Related Career | Can Invest In | Skill Class | Lot Type | Added |
28 Hour Wellness Gym | None | No | No | Gym | After 5 Sims max Athletic Skill |
350 Oak Grove Road | None | No | No | Empty | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Central Park | None | No | No | Park | When a Sim Becomes Mayor |
City Hall | Politics | No | Charisma | Public Service | When the Politics Career Track is Unlocked |
Community School for the Gifted | None | No | Painting | School | Every 250 Residents |
Crystal Springs | None | No | No | Park | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Divisidero Budget Books | Part-Time | Yes | No | Bookstore | Population 1,000 |
Doo Peas Corporate Towers | Business Journalism | Yes | Writing | Business | When the Population reaches 1000 |
Everfresh Delights Supermarket | Part-Time | Yes | Fishing | Grocer | Population 3,000 |
Fort Gnome Military Base | Military | No | Handiness | Public Service | When the Military Career is Unlocked |
Hogan’s Deep Fried Diner | None | Yes | Cooking | Restaurant | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Landgraab Industries Science Facility | Science | Yes | Science & Gardening | Business | When the Science Career is Unlocked |
Le Petit Shark Pool Center | None | No | No | Pool | Population 500 |
Little Corsican Bistro | Culinary | Yes | Cooking | Restaurant | When the Culinary Career is Unlocked |
Llama Memorial Stadium | Athletic | Yes | Athletic | Venue | When Athletic Career is Unlocked |
Lofty Cerulean Blue Pool | None | No | No | Pool | Population 500 |
Maywood Glen | None | No | No | Park | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Mirabello Plaza | N/A | No | No | Grocery Store, Theater & Bookstore | See Plaza vs. Individual Lots below this Table |
Old Pier Beach | None | No | No | Beach | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corp. | Criminal | Yes | No | Business | When the Criminal Career is Unlocked |
Papyrus Memorial Library | None | No | No | Library | Population 250 |
Pinochle Pond | None | No | No | Park | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Pleasant Rest Graveyard | Part-Time | No | No | Graveyard | When there have been 20 Deaths in the City |
Police Department | Law Enforcement | No | No | Public Service | When the Law Enforcement Career is Unlocked |
Recurve Strand | None | No | No | Beach | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital | Medical | Yes | No | Hospital | When the Medical Career is Unlocked |
Sharma Day Spa | Part-Time | Yes | No | Service | Population 500 |
Stoney Falls | None | No | No | Park | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Summer Hill Springs | None | No | No | Park | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Sunnyside Strand | None | No | No | Beach | Anytime a Community Lot is available |
Sunset Institute of Modern Art | None | No | No | Art Gallery | When a Sim Becomes a Master Painter |
Wilsonoff Community Theatre | Music | Yes | Guitar | Venue | When the Music Career is Unlocked |
Mirabello Plaza vs. Individual Lots
In Sunset Valley, the Bookstore, Grocery Store and Theatre are all located in the same lot, which is called Mirabello Plaza. Each venue has a different unlocking requirement, so you can use one of the following methods to place these lots:- HARD – Add the individual businesses to your Community Lot bin from Riverview and add each lot according to the Placement/Unlocking rules where they will fit in Sunset Valley. Place Mirabello Plaza once each lot has been earned as long as there is an available earned community lot.
- MEDIUM – Add Mirabelle Plaza once 2 of the 3 placement rules have been met but don't use the third venue until it has been officially unlocked.
- EASY – Add Mirabello Plaza once 1 of the 3 Placement rules have been met but don’t use the second or third venues until they have been officially unlocked.
Unlocking Careers
At the beginning ALL careers are locked, meaning no job for your founder. You must find other ways to make money (painting, novels, music, gardening, scavenging, etc.). This section describes how to unlock each career.- A Locked Career is unavailable to Sims in your neighborhood.
- A Partially Unlocked Career has a certain number of open positions that become available based on criteria stated below. The associated building can be placed in the neighborhood as soon as the objectives have been met and an earned community lot is available.
- Open Positions are not restricted to the Sims who unlocked them. Any Sim in the neighborhood can apply for an open position.
- An Unlocked Career is available to all Sims in your neighborhood. Some careers are never fully unlocked.
Athletic: The Athletic Career earns an open position for each player who completes all athletic skill challenges (e.g. Body Builder, Marathon Runner, and Fitness Nut). It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Business: The Business Career track is unlocked for the Sim that owns a share in every business. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Criminal evil/thief: Wherever there are people there is also crime. The Criminal Career track gets one opening when your population hits 100. Every time a Sim reaches the top of the criminal career they open an additional position in both the Criminal and Law Enforcement careers. The Criminal career is never truly unlocked, but can have many open positions.
Culinary: The Culinary Career earns an open position for each player who completes all the cooking skill challenges (e.g. Star Chef, World-Class Chef, and Menu Maven). It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Education: At a population of 250, one position opens up. Education is unlocked when the career is topped.
Firefighter: When the Fire Department is placed, one position opens. Another position opens for every 5 fires.
Ghost Hunter: When the Science Department is added, one position will open for every 5 graves in the town. Another position is opened for every 5 graves thereafter. It will never be unlocked but can have many open positions.
Investigator: When the police department is unlocked, one position opens. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Journalism: When the town reaches a population of 1,000 the first position in Journalism is unlocked. An additional open position is added for every Sim who reaches the top of ANY career increasing the number of newsworthy Sims in the community.
Law Enforcement Forensic Analyst/Special Agent: An open position is created in Law Enforcement when any of the following events occur. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
- There have been 3 burglaries
- The population reaches 500
- There have been 3 fires in residential homes
- A playable Sim reaches the top of the Criminal career
Military: An open position is created for every 4 playable households. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Music Rock/Symphonic: The Music Career earns an open position for each player who becomes a Master Guitarist. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Politics: Politics is completely unlocked as a career choice when the town reaches of population of 1,000 but it is only available to one Sim at a time. A Sim is eligible to enter the political career if they have achieved the Celebrity charisma skill challenge plus any one of the other four remaining Charisma challenges (e.g. Personable, Super Friendly, Everybody’s Best Friend or Comedian).
Science: A Science Career position will be earned every time any Sim transitions into Young Adulthood with maxed Logic. An open position is created for every 3 electrocutions by electronics.
Stylist: When the salon is added, one position opens. It is unlocked when a Sim reaches the top of the career.
Part-Time Jobs
Part-time jobs become available to any Sim once the related lot has been placed in your City. Sims can apply for part-time jobs at the Graveyard, the Bookstore, the Grocery Store and the Day Spa. Sims may open a daycare as soon as City Hall has been added.Investments
You can invest in several businesses by buying shares. This is a good way of getting money, but first the associated building must be unlocked and placed in the city. Business Investments and Ownership also increase your Sim Multiplier. Here are the share prices for each building:Business Name | Business Type | Cost to Invest as Partner | Cost to Invest as Owner | Weekly Income* |
Hogan’s Deep Fried Diner | Diner | §6,000 | §18,000 | §2,000 |
Divisidero Budget Books | Bookstore | §7,000 | §20,000 | §2,000 |
Everfresh Delights Supermarket | Grocery | §7,000 | §20,000 | §2,000 |
Little Corsican Bistro | Bistro | §12,500 | §25,000 | §4,000 |
Sharma Day Spa | Day Spa | §15,000 | §35,000 | §6,000 |
Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corp. | Warehouse | §15,000 | §35,000 | §6,000 |
Doo Peas Corporate Towers | Corporate | §18,000 | §40,000 | §6,000 |
Wilsonoff Community Theatre | Theatre | §18,000 | §40,000 | §6,000 |
Sacred Spleen Memorial Hospital | Hospital | §30,000 | §75,000 | §12,000 |
Llama Memorial Stadium | Stadium | §35,000 | §80,000 | §13,000 |
Landgraab Industries Science Facility | Science | §40,000 | §100,000 | §15,000 |
Appendix A: Helpful Hacks
As of today (February 9, 2010) I have not been able to find any useful hacks that could be used to keep track of the weekly residential tax. Sims 2 Objects that would’ve been used (like the checkbook from Sim Wardrobe or the ATM machine from ModTheSims) have not been created for the Sims 3.Appendix B: History and Credits
Authors: Carizzo08, simentalove, and SimsDivaDSource: Official Sims 2 BBS / Boolprop Forums
History: The Build a City Challenge was created for The Sims 2 by clintcasey85 who posted it on the Sims 2 BBS. The rules were later re-written for clarity and posted to the Boolprop forums by PnkPnthr334.
Carizzo08 and simentalove posted an initial Sims 3 version on the Boolprop forums.
Version 1 – by Carizzo08 and simentalove
http://www.forums.boolprop.com/viewtopic.p
SimsDivaD modified their version of the rules for personal gameplay. These modifications include additional challenges to unlock specific lots, some modifications and clarifications in the Career Unlocking section, additional Start Up rules, and Boomtown-style Class-Based Neighborhoods.
Version 2 – by SimsDivaD
http://buildacity.wordpress.com/about/
