Oceanview: Week 4 (Newton-Ferreira)

[snarkbotanya]

Hello, friends! It's been a while between posts, hasn't it? Real Life has been a bit of a biatch lately... I have a job now, but it's retail, which leaves me feeling drained most nights when I get home. Hopefully I don't have to stay there too long before I can move on to better, less-physically-taxing things.

Last entry, Estella and Mark got married and welcomed Oceanview's first baby, the adorable Una Greene. They also made some career progress and contributed a nice little chunk to the university tax thanks to a lucky chance card. It was a pretty big week, and is going to be hard to follow up on. Thankfully, I've got a bit of help in that area, because we're now moving into the realm of new households!

At the suggestion of a few readers, I've decided to alternate between ex-townie and CAS households. Since there are 3 ex-townies and 2 new CAS families, that means we'll start off with one of Victoria's move-ins. Without further ado, let's jump back into the game!

Lillian Newton begins her first day in Oceanview with a rousing round of jumping rope. As an aspiring mad scientist, she's elected to purchase a plot of land on the outskirts of town, barely within sight of the growing commercial district: 2048 Laboratory Lane.



Lillian has a gold sales badge and some lofty goals, so neither of us really bother with a house starting off. Instead, we place down the bare essentials on the lawn and get right to purchasing a business. I also let her grab a bookcase for the aspiration points.



After buying the business, I noticed that Lillian had the expensive computer in her inventory, so the crappy one got sold and the good one got placed down. We only need the one, and as nice as it is to have the extra cash, a future mad scientist needs the best of the best. This computer won't see any use right away, though, because it's time to head down to our new community lot...



...Newton Laboratories! Lillian's gold sales badge means that she can easily set up a 999-Simoleon Tickets plus Dazzle scheme, so this one room will be enough for now. There's a stereo inside so that guests can dance, which should be enough to keep them occupied and on-lot for the early levels while Lillian works on other things.

What other things will she be working on, you might ask? Well...



"Oh my god, Alexis, I am going to build SO MANY ROBOTS!"

"THAT IS SO COOL LILLIAN!"

As long as the Science career is locked, Lillian won't be able to make much progress on her LTW... but she sure can get some experience freelancing. The inside of Newton Laboratories contains a robot crafting station, into which most of the funds from tickets will be poured. Excess funds will go into expanding the lab and adding some outdoor attractions, which has a bit of a nefarious purpose. See, while the standard way to unlock a Science position is to have a Sim age up to Adult with maximized Logic, there is another way to unlock positions: every three electrocutions (by broken electronics or lightning) opens one up. If Lillian's guests stay outdoors during thunderstorms and just happen to get zapped, we can unlock a Science position in no time!

Once that nefarious purpose is served and Lillian has a gold Robotics badge, Newton Laboratories will be expanded into a legitimate robot-making business, as well as a retailer for science-themed items. For now, though, it's Lillian's money-mill.



The first round of ticket sales allows me to add some chess tables, which keep Alexis and Patrick on the lot for hours while Lillian works on her robot-crating.



Business goes swimmingly, and stars are starting to fly by the time Clovis shows up as if to give his Good Witch Seal of Approval. I actually got a vote from MichelleCYoung on Boolprop to set up Clovis and Lillian, but it turns out that Lillian is turned off by black hair, so I don't think that's likely to work out, even if he does turn out to be a fellow Knowledge Sim like I think he is. That's no huge loss, though; he can still be a friend, and who knows, maybe he and Dominique will hit it off.



Speaking of chemistry, though, it seems that Lillian does have a hair-color-related turn-on... she likes blondes!



Time drags on, and one of the new CAS Sims drops by to give us a preview of her smustle face...



...while Lillian earns her bronze Robotics badge!

"Okay, so now I can build CleanBots and HydroBots. When can I make servos?"

In two more badge levels. That okay?

"Yeah, I could make these things forever!"

Keep it up, then! You'll be making Servos in no time with that attitude.



*stares*

"Ummm... hello?"

Yes? Sorry, did I space out?

"You were staring... right at me..."

Oh... sorry about that... I'll try not do it again. You're very pretty. Seriously, guys, why does this game generate such pretty maid NPCs?



It seems I'm not the only one who thinks Yvonne is pretty, either. Want me to try to set you up, Lillian?

"Uh... no... I mean... *nervous giggle* ...maybe just one date... she has such beautiful hair..."



The business model is still raking in the cash. It hasn't been that long that she's been in the time warp, and yet she's already gotten to the 50k earning milestone!



Shortly thereafter...

"Why hello, you ungrateful Simmer... would you care for some lightning? 'Cause I can do some lightning, if you promise to make me playable..."

I already want to make you playable, Connie! Just, um... make sure you don't hit Lillian, okay?

"Hee hee, no promises..."



"Why hello, Miss Newton... yes, I'd love to buy a ticket to your fine 'laboratory'... how would you like me to cast some lightning spells for you? The voice in the sky might prefer you to step inside, but I know you Knowledge Sims..."

"I have always wondered what it feels like to get struck by lightning..."

CONNIE! Lillian, you go inside and make more robots, I need to have a word with the Atrociously Evil Witch.

"What? It's in my nature! You need people to get zapped too, and beggars can't be choosers!"

Well, if you're going to be like that, I think I need to call in some backup...

"Backup? What backup?"



"Why hello! I heard somebody call for backup; is everything all right here?"

"Aw shit, it's the good witch... just smile and nod, smile and nod... oh god can this broom please just start faster..."

Thanks, Clovis! Just, uh... stay away while we're trying to make storms, OK?

"Storms? Why do you need storms?"

Um... for science?

"Oh! Carry on, then!"



Clovis didn't stick around for long after that. Lillian, meanwhile, hit the silver badge in Robotics, unlocking the ability to put a different plan into motion...



...the weather machine! It's time to MAKE IT RAIN!

"You planned for that pun all along, didn't you?"

I admit nothing.



To make sure that the rain leads to electrocutions, I moved the stereo outside and put down a hot tub. Lillian was once again put on robotics duty while the customers blatantly ignored every single storm safety tip ever. At first I worried that this would take a while, since my ridiculous gaming luck tends to keep things like lightning strikes from happening and the chance can't get that high when they get in the water... but then... well, I think the pictures speak for themselves.



About two Sim hours in, we had our first one...



...then, another Sim hour later, two...



...and finally three. I put that hot tub down around 7 or 8 Sim time, and the electrocutions had all happened before noon.

Credit for this idea goes to MichelleCYoung, by the way, though her proposed business model involved snapdragons. I didn't really feel like bothering with snapdragons, though, so I just went with the weather control and hot tub. The townies' needs can get recharged in the Inaccessible Townie Dimension.



"So wait, does that mean my dream career is open?"

Yep! We'll check for it once you get home, but I do think you could benefit from getting that gold robotics badge.

"I do too! Can we close the business while I work on that, though? I just earned 100,000 Simoleons; I don't think we need any more spending money."

Well... I do have a build in mind for your house that might get pricey... so how about we compromise and have the business only open during daylight hours?

"That's fair, I suppose, as long as most of my time is spent on robots."



"Behold: a great workaround for those pesky law-enforcement restrictions!"

Indeed! Burglar alarms and smoke detectors aren't allowed yet, but SentryBots and HydroBots? They're fair game. Heck, with these babies, the police and fire department are pretty much redundant.



Especially with this guy on the force... hello, Useless Cop, what's put all that sand in your pants? That's one angry stompy walk you got there.

"Rrgghhh... I got demoted."

Well, you did let that burglar get away...

"SHUT UP!"



FInally, after a long night of doing nothing but build robots between the necessary mood-ups, Lillian gets her gold robotics badge! The badge itself didn't show up, but the aspiration points from getting it did, so that's what I have to show you guys.

"Can I make a few servos before going home?"

Go right ahead!



And so, Lillian creates artificial intelligence. Now, I've seen Servos used to pretty much hack the BaCC, most notably in TwilightOutside's Instant City, so I know how powerful these are. Fortunately for the longevity of this series, I'm way too story-focused to just go for a servo-explosion win. I have ideas about how I can make Servos in this world interesting, and part of it involves keeping them a relative rarity. Lillian will build and sell them, and occasionally give them to important characters, but I'm not going to activate them at the slightest provocation.



Lillian returns home with three unactivated Servos in her inventory. I'm not sure whether to activate one here yet, so I'll just have her keep them for now. We have more pressing matters to attend to... like jobs!



My Freakish Game Luck is definitely in effect on the home lot, because Science comes up fourth on the job search! Lillian came in with pretty low skill levels, so she starts out as a mere Test Subject; however, with a resume like hers, I'm sure she'll be getting promoted soon.



The carpool arrives half an hour later, and Lillian eagerly heads off to work. While she's out of the house, I size up her bank account, consult my mental notes, and get my build on.



Welcome, dear readers, to the official Newton family residence! Half house, half lab, and all ultra-modern, it's the perfect lair for our city's first mad scientist. The interior contains plenty of spare rooms for skilling objects and/or future children, while the rooftop deck is an ideal stage for alien abductions. The trees surrounding the home offer a bit of extra privacy, invaluable for more unorthodox experiments.



Though her skills may look lackluster, they're easily enough for the early promotion levels, so Lillian breezes through the day and comes home with a promotion to Lab Assistant. Whatever skill buffer she has will be gone next promotion, though, so once she's been greeted by the passing townie, I send her inside to skill.



Of course, being a Knowledge Sim, Lillian is more than happy to sit and read skilling books for hours on end, and thanks to that Eureka! benefit, skilling goes a bit faster than usual. Has my love for Knowledge Sims gotten tiresome? Meh, I don't care: I LOVE KNOWLEDGE SIMS.

I actually haven't given Lillian a secondary aspiration yet. I'm not sure what it would be if I did, though, so I think I'll play her a bit before deciding.



All that skilling does have a tendency to make one tired, though; plus, Lillian was a little low on energy when she came home from the Time Warp. I really can't blame her for going to bed early. It's been one seriously productive Monday. Lillian's bedroom might not be as big and fancy as Victoria's, but it sure is comfy.

Sleep well, you awesome Knowledge Sim, you.



Lab Assistants work evening shifts, so Lillian has the next morning to continue building her skill buffer before heading to work...



...and returning with a promotion to Field Researcher, plus a Logic point for letting the lab's chimpanzee do some menial tasks while she caught up on scientific journals. Yay, progress! This does, however, mean that she has tomorrow off... so I'll have to come up with some other stuff to make Lillian's first Wednesday interesting.



It's not as if I have no ideas, though, because there's a certain Want that Lillian has had in her panel for a while, and I'm pretty sure it's now fulfillable. So as soon as it's light out (phone harassment is bad, mmkay?) she places a call...



...'cause it's time to get sparkly!



"Now that I'm a witch, I wonder whether I can integrate magic with technology..."

I don't think they mix much in Sims... but perhaps you can activate one of your Servos and turn them into a witch.

"Oooh, that sounds fun!"



Lillian may look ridiculously cute in that witchy getup, but she prefers outfirts that are more practical for lab work, and I kind of like the everyday outfit she came in with anyway. While we get her hair pinned back according to lab standards, though, I decide to give her a little makeover. She's not in need of any serious changes, but a little bit of eyeliner and lipgloss help to give her face some definition.

"I like it! It's not too heavy, and this brand of makeup won't react with anything in the lab."

Glad you approve, Lillian!



"Thanks for teaching me how to witch, Clovis!"

"You're welcome, Lillian! Use your new powers well!"

"I will!"

All right, now that that's done, time to get something lined up for the afternoon. Hmmm... hey, Lillian, are you up for some more social interaction? Because I think it's time I make good on that offer I made earlier...

"Ohhhh, you mean the, um, date? With Yvonne, the maid from the lab?"

Yep!



"Well hello! Is that new lipgloss I see? I hope it's the strawberry-flavored kind..."

I swear this happened on its own, people. Lillian greeted Yvonne, and Yvonne immediately went for the flirting. That's what two-bolt chemistry does, I guess. Needless to say, the date got off to a great start.



"Yes, all you boys reading, this really is what lesbian dating is like. Flavored lipgloss, pillow fights, and maid outfits. It's a constant slumber party!"

"Yvonne, don't encourage them!"

"Hey, y'know they're thinking it. Might as well get a laugh out of it."



This interaction is adorable and I will hear no word to the contrary. Plus, Lillian and Yvonne just make such an adorable couple that it's threatening to fry my brain.

The date was a Dream Date, of course. Heck, it went so well...



...that I decided Yvonne had to move in!

Yvonne Ferreira, who must have had one French and one Spanish parent with a name like that, comes into the household with 15k Simoleons. She's a default Cancer (6/3/6/4/6) and a Family Sim, which goes a bit further to explaining the two bolts, since Knowledge/Family is one of the most compatible aspiration pairings in the game. Her LTW is to have six grandchildren, and her One True Hobby is Music and Dance. As a maid, she comes in with maximized Cleaning skill.



Now that she's a playable Sim, Yvonne gets a makeover too! I found this nice little black dress in the family wardrobe, took off the weird little lace hat, and gave her a little blush and lipstick for some color.

"Sweet Sim gods, it's good to get out of that uniform... and that job, for that matter. You would not believe the number of married men I've had perv on me while I wiped up their toddlers' accidents."

Ehh... actually, I probably would. *accusatory glare at Daniel Pleasant*



Anyway, I see in your Wants panel that you'd like to get a new job, so how's the Business career sound to you? It's got two openings, and you've got decent Charisma, so you should be moving up pretty quickly.

"Much better than scrubbing toilets for a living."

Sweet! Business districts, here we come! Now go get some sleep before the carpool arrives.



Before work the next morning, Yvonne's Family aspiration kicks in hard and she rolls the want to propose.

"Some people might think this is a bit fast, but... well, we're living together, so why not make it official?"

*squee* "Of course! I mean, yes, yes I'll marry you, right now if you want!"



And so, in the grand tradition of Sim elopements, they do indeed get married right then and there. I know the game would usually register this as a "joined union", but since that's a bit behind the times I got a mod that converts all joined unions to marriages.

Yvonne immediately rolls a Want to adopt a child, but there's no time to pick up the phone before the carpool arrives to bring the newlyweds to work. With a nice skill buffer on both of them and Yvonne in platinum, we're pretty much guaranteed promotions.



"OMG, you would not believe what happened at work today!"

Well, you're home early, so I'm going to guess a chance card...

"I found the ruins of an alien civilization! My team kind of lost me on the way to our research site, and I stumbled upon this archway with weird glyphs on it, so I radioed HQ and they brought TWO whole teams, and when we all went in we found all sorts of technology that none of us had ever seen before. Then I spotted a few symbols that kind of looked like alien letters Estella taught me, and managed to figure out what one of the things did, so they put me in charge of the project!"

Awesome!

"Yeah! FIrst order of business is seeing if this stuff can be reverse-engineered... the ruins might be, well, ruined, but some of the circuitry is still almost intact, so we should be able to take it apart for a better look... ooh, I can't wait to tell Yvonne!"



Yvonne, of course, comes home with her own promotion... and now we get to the subject of adoption!

"I did want to call tonight, but with our new schedules, neither of us would be here tomorrow morning when the social worker gets here. It just makes me worry that we'll never get around to it..."

"The wait shouldn't be too long; don't most positions in your career track have Saturdays off?"

"At the higher levels, yes, but not at my next promotion level. I suppose I could just skip work..."

"Wait! I have an idea! We can activate one of my Servos!"

"That's... brilliant! But I do think I'll have to show up to work late; I don't want our child to wait to meet both of us."

"Neither do I... I think I'll be late too. Let's go activate a Servo, and then you can call the service."



"So... I just use this remote? Or are you going to wave your magic wand and activate her that way?"

"The remote will work. I'm just practicing my wand-whipping techniques."



"Greetings! My name is AXIOM, and I am programmed to keep your family safe."

Yes, that is a female Servo with a default replacement, because I cannot stand the horrid lipstick on the vanilla ones. I also find the eyelashes and bow completely unnecessary, because addition of tertiary sexual characteristics for female Servos pretty much says "men are the default", and things that do that rub me entirely the wrong way. If I could find a default replacement that got rid of the eyelashes and bow as well, I would take it.

Anyway, since AXIOM was activated by Yvonne, she's a Cancer with the Family aspiration as well. Her LTW is to reach the top of the Law Enforcement career, which is pretty much exactly what I was hoping for with the name I gave her. She obviously won't be career-ing for a little while seeing as I haven't had enough fires and/or burglaries to open a Law Enforcement position, but she's a robot, so she's got time. For now, she can exercise her "protect and serve" directives to keep the Newton-Ferreira family safe and heatlhy.



With AXIOM activated, Yvonne's next order of business is to call the adoption agency...



...while Lillian gets a surprise visit from Victoria, and takes the opportunity to gift her a Servo!

"How did you fit it in this box? Those blueprints you showed me made it look Sim-sized."

"A little bit of magic, along with the inventory principles that allow us to carry things in our pocket-dimensions."

"Cool."



The next morning, following an evening of finger-drumming anticipation, Lillian and Yvonne welcome their adopted son, Zephyr Newton-Ferreira!

Here, I must admit that when I set up Oceanview, I did tweak the adoption pool a little bit. I figured it would be fun for the adoptees to be elves/fairies and aliens, so I made a bunch of elf/alien kids and added them to the adoption pool. Besides being elves/fairies and aliens, they're completely randomized; I didn't change their coloration (aside from the skin and eyes of aliens), and kept the personalities they were asigned in CAS. Zephyr here is a default Pisces (5/3/7/3/7).



Once he's settled in, it turns out that I didn't really need to get AXIOM activated to watch him quite yet, because it's Friday and he can just walk to school while Lillian flies to work and Yvonne walks. Still, with school ending an hour before Yvonne gets home and two hours before Lillian does, it's definitely useful to have a Servo around to keep him out of harm's way. I don't expect a nice kid like Zephyr to go looking for trouble, but it's always good to have an adult around in case of emergency.



It also turns out that sci-fi is one of Zephyr's biggest interests! You'll fit in well, kid.

"Whoa, we have a real robot? This family is awesome!"



Being late to work apparently screws up performance enough to deny both Yvonne and Lillian a promotion, but I don't think Yvonne cares about that as much as getting to spend quality time with the kiddo...



...and Lillian, being the Knowledge Sim, is happy to have the time off skilling to help him out with his homework.



The next day is Saturday, which is a day off for Yvonne, so she spends pretty much the entire time either chatting with Zephyr or playing the violin to the point that she got invited to the Music and Dance hobby lot. Thankfully, I've got the mod that keeps the hobby lot people from stalking you to deliver the membership cards. The tooltip did inform me, however, that the Music and Dance club leader in Oceanview is named Charisma Bancroft. Thank you, custom name generator!



Zephyr, meanwhile, has rolled some skilling wants, which I just love. Here he is working on his chess skills.



Ah, the "swing around" interaction... how it dances along the line between "adorable family fun" and "holy shit watch out you're gonna kill someone!"



Finally, Lillian comes home with a promotion to Inventor...



...and a brand new SimSanto Inc. Biotech Station!

All right, Yvonne, Lillian, I think I need a word with you. Readers, you as well. There are a few extra things I've been kicking around in my head with regard to the rules, and now that we've got this thing, I'm going to bring up one of them. I've been thinking that since this is a biotech station, unlocking it should mean that I get access to a thematic hack or two... namely, the InSIMenator reproductive adjustor in its capacity as, well, basically IVF.

"Oooh, does that mean we could genetically engineer a baby?"

Well, um... yes, that's pretty much what I was getting at.

"That's so cool! Yvonne, what do you think?"

"Hmmm... Zephyr has been talking about wanting a brother or sister... but I kind of had my heart set on adopting again..."

"Why don't we do both?"

"All right, but can we wait on the genetic engineering until next week? I don't think either of us wants to be pregnant when the week ends; the time warp would have us stuck like that for every other house's entry."

"I'll get on the phone!"



"Hello, adoption service? My wife and I would like to submit an application to adopt... yes, we have adopted before!"

You're pretty gung-ho about this, aren't you, Lillian?

"Well, I've had such a great time with Zephyr, I've decided that Family seems like a good secondary aspiration."

All right, then! Carry on!



And so, the Newtons adopt their second child, another elfy boy named Hyperion. He's a default Virgo, and also really likes sci-fi. Lillian used a vacation day so that she could help him settle in while Yvonne reluctantly went to work.

Want to see a cute family moment?



If you said no, TOO BAD, I'M SHOWING IT TO YOU ANYWAY. Hyperion dancing on Lillian's feet is freaking adorable.



While we're at it, here's a pic of the boys playing chess and talking sci-fi. I just love how geeky this family is... I bet Zeph and Hype will be friends with Una when she's school-age, too; they seem like they would get along so well.



Yvonne comes home with a promotion to Field Sales Representative and a Want to become friends with Hyperion. I decide to go ahead and lock it, because even though it won't take long, it's definitely something I'm going to make happen. Zeph's only been here a couple days and he's already friends with both his moms.

By the way, I found out the boys' predestined hobbies!



Hype's is Science, yet another reason I think he and Una will get along...



...and Zeph's is Tinkering, as befits a kid who loves robots so much. I'll have to get him on the robot crafting station when he hits the Teen stage.



With everything in order on the home front, I decide it's time for Lillian to head back to Newton Laboratories. It's high time we scrapped the little placeholder box and started converting it into a legitimate robot business.



The build I have planned for it is a bit expensive, though, so when Lillian gets there, I have her dazzle the first round of customers into buying tickets, then head inside to study a bit of magic.



She also manages to build a couple more servos...



...and meet more ridiculously pretty townies. Seriously, game, why do you keep throwing those five or so cute face templates at me? There are ugly Sims in Oceanview, but they're not nearly as common here as they are in most neighborhoods.



Eventually, I decide that the family coffers can handle a business remodel, and throw up this skeleton structure. The inside is still under consideration, but I can definitely say this is the exterior of Newton Laboratories and will be for the foreseeable future.

Next week, we'll look at finishing up the interior as a robot shop. For now, though, I think it's high time to head home and wind this week down.



Tomorrow is a school day, so the boys get in bed on time. Despite the number of spare rooms in the house, they seem perfectly happy to share.



While everone else is in bed, Lillian stays up at the telescope, working on her Logic skill and perhaps hoping to be picked up by a passing spaceship. No flying saucers appear, though, and she eventually heads to bed, finishing up the week for the Newton-Ferreira household. With that, there's nothing left to do but save the game and take a university tax of 12207 Simoleons.

Next entry, we head over to one of the CAS families, a pair of Sims I lifted from one of my other saves to give them a chance at striking out on their own. Until then, happy Simming!