Homeless in the Big City - A Sims 3 Saga (part 4)

Darn jerk thieves, always taking your easels...

Willow spent a day hanging out in the park with her one and only friend who wasn't Jacob. It was nice spending time with one of the few people she'd ever met who was as childish as she was.

Jacob was now a full adult as well. Whoo?

Later that evening he dragged her out, insisting he had a surprise.

 Willow was so surprised, but there was no hesitation in saying "Yes!"

To Be Continued...

Homeless in the Big City - A Sims 3 Saga (part 3)

Having earned upwards of §4,000, the pair decided it was high time for a day of fun.  So...Date Night!  Not a lot of story here, just a lot of pictures from their date.

All in all, it was a great night.  Of course, after this it was back to the grind.  I have decided when they hit 5k I'll start looking to see what the costs of homes in this city are, but until then it's back to novel writing.

This is lousy lighting and makes her look old, but in reality Willow has reached full adulthood!  Jacob is not far behind of course.

To Be Continued...

Homeless in the Big City - A Sims 3 Saga (part 2)

The pair has been slowly gaining money.  Enough so, that they were reasonably confident in stopping by the store and picking up some produce to tide them over until the small garden was producing more regularly.  Twenty apples cost them §100... tough economy!

Novel writing was proving to be a decent source of income - not earth shattering earnings, but reasonably consistent if small.  Willow eventually registered as a writer down at city hall, which from a game play point of view had the benefit of stopping those "get a job" wants.

The pair made occasional efforts to get to know people, but folks rarely stuck around long.  They all had lives to get back to, families and jobs and most importantly, homes.  And that's not even counting all the stuck up, too good to talk to the slightly stinky homeless people, stars that seemed to infest this town.

Even though homeless, Jacob still cared to look as though he hadn't been camping outside for the last several weeks.  He spent the most time of the two taking trips down to the gym to shower and occasionally work out.

Eventually, they managed to save up enough money for Willow to buy her very own easel.  With novelling royalties still coming in from time to time, she felt free to spend a little time working towards her life goal.  Her lousy beginner paintings didn't bring in a lot of cash, but it was much more fulfilling.

To Be Continued...

Homeless in the Big City - A Sims 3 Saga (part 1)

Willow Weathers and Jacob McGill are very much in love.  They want nothing more than to live their lives together.  However, due to circumstances beyond their control, the two of them have found themselves homeless in the large city of Bridgeport.  Determined not to let this get in the way of continuing with their lives together, the two make the best of it.

Meet Jacob.  He is Neat, a Snob, and a Bookworm.  Despite having a Green Thumb, he Hates The Outdoors.  I may have been feeling a bit mean when I created him, because being homeless means a lot of time spent outdoors and a lot of time feeling stinky.  However, his affinity for plants will at least help with the food situation.  His lifetime goal is to be worth §100,000.  Good luck buddy.

And this is Willow.  She, on the other hand, Loves The Outdoors.  She is Clumsy, but Artistic.  She is also Childish, but is drawn to Jacob because she too is a Bookworm.  She doesn't have a talent that lends itself to the basics of survival, but, considering that it's hard to get a job when you do not have a permanent address, she does have one that might lead to some spending money.  Her lifetime goal is to master the painting and guitar skills.

The pair is just boyfriend and girlfriend at the start.  They "live" on a small empty lot I placed near the library, which is lucky because I honestly didn't pay much attention to the surroundings when I placed it.  Because this is Bridgeport, city of subways and way too many streets, I am allowing them to use public transportation.

First order of business was to find food.  My default strategy when playing homeless sims is to look around the parks and fishing areas for wild plants.  Bridgeport is now officially on the "hard" end of the neighborhood list because there are no wild plants in the parks and whatnot.  If you could eat fish raw that would be my strategy, but luckily I finally managed to find a small garden outside a dwelling.  No, I'm not telling you where it is.

While Jacob was harvesting plants in an effort to stave off starvation, as well as starting a small garden of his own, I sent Willow across the way to the library to begin the task of earning some money.  I set her to work at writing a novel - possibly not the most ideal method of earning money, but as I opted not to start them with even sleeping bags this time around, my typical method of camping by a fishing spot was a bit impractical.

 The first night, they snuck into the fire station to shower and sleep.  I decided this was a bit too easy, however, and this was a one night thing.

The next day it was back to the library.  As there was little that could be done with Jacob's garden, I set him to writing a novel as well.  One of the few advantages to multiple people is more people to earn money.  The other main advantage being that there is someone guaranteed to be easy to find for social needs.

 The library turned out to be a perfect place to camp.  They were both loved to read, Willow loved the kids toys, and no one cared if you made out in the computer lab.  But the most important reason of all was that it was simple enough to fill most needs there without it being "fire house easy".

 Here's Jacob at his garden.  Someday, it will provide them with enough food to not have to worry anymore.

A few novels later, they finally had the §200 needed to buy sleeping bags.  Now they can sleep - for real, not just repeated couch naps - anywhere they may be.  Here you see them sleeping in the gym after using the public showers.



To Be Continued!

A Cuteness Interlude

(Click image to see larger)

Diary-ghan

I've had an idea off and on for years now.  It's not uncommon to make a blanket by making one 12" square every month, and at the end of the year you have enough for a decent sized afghan/blanket.  But I've always thought it would be cool to make a blanket out of squares that represent every day of the year.  Do I think I'd stick with it?  Of course not.  I have a project attention span of about 2 weeks...if I'm lucky.

But I can't get the idea out of my head for some reason.  Just think, a blanket based off of the calendar.  Each square has the date embroidered onto it and perhaps an applique of something relating to that day.  Then all the days sewn up into months and the months sewn up into a year.  Perhaps even little headers for each month.  At the end of the year you'd have a blanket that represented the year exactly.  Like a diary that keeps you warm.  You could look at it and go "Oh, that was the day I was late to work but I saw a rainbow on the way in so it made it seem better" or "Wow, was it really that long ago that I finished that sweater?"

Thankfully for my sanity, I never seem to remember about this idea at the beginning of the year.  It wouldn't be that bad to catch up a day here or there, but a whole month would be tricky since you would have already forgotten what seemed most important that day.  I would love to do it some day.  I've even worked up a "chart" for 2013 so I could see where there'd have to be blank filler places (hey, some months are five weeks long, it happens).  Eh...someday.

Sims 3 Homeless "Challenge"

Ok, maybe it's a bit less "challenge" and a little more "starting condition" or "play style".  My favorite way to start a sims game is with a completely broke sim living out in the middle of nowhere.

 Basics
Imagine - as a homeless sim, no one really wants you around.  They expect you to snitch their stuff, regardless of if you really would or not, and think that you bring down the neighborhood property values by your mere presence.  Unfair? Sure.  But it's understandable.  So instead, if you must call some place home it must be somewhere away from society where they won't kick you out.

So, long story short, this is the basic setup:

• Place an empty lot somewhere away from the main town centers.  It's up to you how far away, but most places empty enough for a new lot are kinda in the middle of nowhere.  I've not played one yet where the lot was actually connected to a road.
• The size of the lot is really up to you.  If you're feeling mean, use the tiniest lot possible.  If you're feeling nice, use a bigger one. 
• Move in your sim/family.  Doesn't matter what your family is comprised of.  More sims are harder to take care of obviously, especially if there's children involved who will not be able to leave this lot after curfew.
• If desired you can decorate the lot with trees and other landscaping stuff.  If you're feeling really nice, go ahead and add a park bench.  Keep in mind that selling these for later is frowned upon.  I won't say "against the rules" if only because this is more a play style than a challenge, but still, don't.
• Use the familyfunds cheat to set the family's money to 0.  Yes, I said zero.  You can see for info about this cheat here.

 Living the Homeless Life
You've found yourself a little bit of land where no one bothers you.  You don't dare build here for fear of attracting unwanted attention.  If you're lucky, you've managed to scrounge enough to get yourself something to sleep on other than the cold hard ground or the park bench downtown.  You're still pretty broke though, and so you are forced to hoof it rather than take public transportation, and no one will hire you because you don't technically have an address.

So, what this means in actual play terms?  Here is how I play a homeless sim:

• Place out possessions and garden and such all you want.  But no walls or other construction on this lot.
• If you can afford it, go ahead and buy a bed or something.  If you have World Adventures, go ahead and use buydebug to get the cheapest tent.  I don't think it's fair you have to go on vacation to get a crappy tent when real people can get far better at walmart.  If you have Generations, feel free to get a sleeping bag.  In fact, I think tent or sleeping bag is a more realistic option than an actual bed.
• You do not have running water.  You're camping out in the middle of no where, so no items that would require running water.  This includes showers, toilets, sinks, etc. 
• You do not have electricity.  So this rules out anything that requires electricity that cannot be conceivably be powered by batteries.  So something like a boombox is ok if you really want one, but no tv.
• Anything that you can't use on your home lot is still free to use on any community lot that has one.  I find that even though I do have that home lot I end up spending most of my time on community lots.
• While cabs are technically free in the Sims 3, I maintain that you shouldn't get to use a cab if you don't have any money.  So until my sims can afford a vehicle they have to walk or run everywhere.  Yes, this is a nuisance. It's slow, and requires me to take the extra effort of using "Go Here" set to walk/run instead of being able to just send them to a community lot without thinking about it.  And yes, bikes count as a vehicle. Also, feel free to set a § goal to reach before being able to use a cab if you like.
• If you're mean like me, no real jobs until you're actually living in a house.  Any other method of earning money is up for grabs though.  Self employment from Ambitions is still allowed, but no professions.  So Angler is ok, but Ghost Hunter is not.
• Go ahead and adopt/buy any pets you want.  Have fun taking care of them.

The Future
Sure, you've managed to carve out a life - scrounging for food and using community lots for things they probably weren't intended for.  But you want something more.

Playing a homeless sim is a fun but if you're anything like me, you need a goal.  For me, this is usually earning enough money to buy a lot in town or starting a family despite the homeless conditions.  Here's some possible goals:

• Save enough money to purchase a home/lot that's actually part of the town.  This lifts any building/item/job/transportation restrictions you've decided to follow the way I do.
• Save X amount of simoleans.  §100,000? §500,000? Whatever you want.
• Get married and have a kid.
• Buy -insert expensive item here-
• Reach the top of a career.
• Raise a child to adulthood while still homeless.  For added challenge, do it as a single parent.  Hope you don't have twins.

I'll be honest, the point at which things become easy is the point at which I stop caring about the family.  So playing homeless sims helps keep things interesting longer.