Legacy Challenge on Steroids
I’m often asked how I keep my Sims 4 gameplay engaging after so many years of playing. My secret? Letting go of control.
It might sound counterintuitive for a life simulation game but hear me out: boredom and repetitiveness have been the ultimate killers of my legacy gameplay. Over time, I’ve developed a set of principles—built on the classic Legacy Challenge but enhanced with mods and an emphasis on autonomy—that keep every generation exciting, unpredictable, and truly alive.
I call it:
The Legacy Challenge on Steroids
#1. More time for everything:
The base lifespan of a sim is set to 200 sim days, with each pregnancy lasting 10 days. The game speed is adjusted to 55, which is twice the default setting of 25, making each sim day 53 minutes long instead of the usual 24.
The purpose of such changes is to allow sims to meet their grandchildren, to experience different paths, max out careers, aspirations, develop their overall character without feeling constricted by time. (Settings enabled by mccc mod).
#2. No Legacy Sim Left Behind:
All Descendants must be played without exception; even children the household does not have custody of; in which case, they can be played once aged enough.
#3. NPCs Stay NPCs:
Any NPC in a relationship with a legacy sim (NPC spouses/lovers etc.) is never added to the household. Temporarily controlling them is okay (e.g caring for babies). They may only live with the household through the "roommate" system from Discover University pack. Control Any sim mod can help manage any annoying quirks.
#4. Work for it:
No career, skills or money cheats allowed; sims have to put in the work. Having individual bank accounts makes them responsible for personal expenses and forces everyone to contribute to the bills. Should sims run short for that expensive villa in Del Sol Valley, a loan is to be taken and, of course, paid back. The best financial mods are available over at Simrealist.
#5. All Death is final:
No cheating your way out of Death. Paying closer attention to sims' wellbeing becomes even more crucial when there are no magical do-overs. Crafting ambrosia or the book of life is allowed (along with other revival means the game has to offer), however. the process cannot be cheated according to rule #4. While it is true that the accidental death of a sim can be upsetting, it forces the player to adapt their storyline to the given situation and explore paths they wouldn't voluntarily.
#6. Randomization:
Characteristics such as traits, preferences in music, fashion, color, attraction, orientation, relationship, parenthood, character values for children, are all randomized, making every sim unique. The addition of hereditary traits also helps set a tone for what a sim could become. A combination of RPO, WW, and mccc mods make such chaos possible. A simple choice randomizer off google would also do the trick as a last resort.
#7. Autonomy and Deduction:
The best choices for a sim's path should be deduced from their personal characteristics (randomized by rule #6), consequently, any choices in contradiction with their characteristics should be avoided unless the sim autonomously leans towards a different path. For instance, a sim that hates children may not actively seek to become pregnant unless they randomly happened to get abducted by aliens and made to bare an alien child.
#8. World Boundaries:
Sims may travel to worlds that share a similar weather as it would be implied that they belong to a same geographical region (exception: rentals and vacations). Referring to a "world map" made by fellow simmers may visualize the sims surroundings as a whole.
Comments
Post a Comment