Don't Need Nothin' But A Good Time: Our Humble Abode

UPDATE:
It has been quite correctly pointed out that my design for the house could use some simple improvements. Check the first comment for details.

It's time to build our home. Just for reference, this is what it looks like right now:

Observe the portal. This is not considered part of my house; I do not have to construct my house such that it lies within the 8x8 area. To all intents and purposes this is considered to just be a feature of my lot. I cannot interact with it until I invent a time machine anyway. Emit, if he shows up, will be treated as a service Sim that I cannot interact with until that point.

The university goodies I can keep, if I want to, but I don't particularly, so I toss them into family inventory. The first thing that I have to do is visit the book store, so off I go.

I'll be buying a Classically Tasteful bookshelf when I get back to the lot. This will always contain volume 1 of the Cooking, Handiness, and Logic books, plus a random toddler book. I must buy at least three books, and I can buy as many as I like.

Keep in mind it will likely be a long time before you can visit the book store again. On the flip side, though, you don't want to blow all your money here. Some players deal with this issue by making a nearby lot a community lot that has a bookshelf on it - I call this a "virtual library". It means that your Sims can do all their study there, until the real library (with its study bonus) becomes available with Journalism. It's definitely a strong choice. I'm not going to do that here though - other than a bit of bulldozing for residential lots, I'm using this town unaltered.

What books you decide to get is up to you, but I can give some general advice:

• If you won't be able to use the skill that the book teaches, don't buy it. Alchemy is a great skill, but you can't use it for quite a while; similarly with Mixology or Photography, and definitely with Social Networking. The exception is Gardening. You want to get at least the first Gardening volume, and probably all three, since without them Science will be very difficult to lift. About the only exception is if your founder is going to lift Science and he already has Gardening 10 from University.
• If you can learn the skill without a book, strongly consider whether it's worth buying the book. You might want to get the first volume of Charisma, but after that your friends will be the main limitation, and you will automatically skill Charisma while making the friends. You can learn Logic from the chess table, and you probably will use a chess set a lot anyway. When you are eventually able to get an Inventor's bench, you'll have the means to skill it without the books. On the other hand, it can be dangerous to cook or tinker; books are a safer way to learn those skills.

While you learn faster with books - a lot faster in some cases (library + Bookworm trait) - you generally don't do anything except learn. With an Inventor's bench, for example, you might pick up the skill more slowly but you'll be making inventions as you go.

With all that in mind, I'm buying Charisma volume 1, Cooking volumes 2 and 3, the three Gardening books, Handiness volumes 2 and 3, and the three Science books. I'm throwing in the three pink toddler books as well (the logic ones). The total cost is $4885. If you're strapped for cash - as you might well be for a Hard Start, and will almost certainly be for a Prestige Start - then the bare minimum is the Gardening books, and really try to get the first Charisma book too.

Notice that I'm choosing not to bother with the other toddler books. They aren't by any means useless - buy them if you like, they're fairly cheap. I just feel that I can get Painting and Writing stills fairly easily as a child, but a nice 3 point head start in Logic (since it helps with homework) is more useful.

Before I go home, I visit the hospital and get my Medicine job. Thanks to my medical degree and Science skill I'm starting as an Intern, level 4, in 20 hours time.

Now, the fine art of Apocalypse architecture. There are two main approaches:

1. Stilts, and an above ground living area. You'll put your car on underneath the house.
2. Bunker life, with everything underground. In this case, the car will be on top of the house.

You can mix and match if you like. I'm going with option 2; I will start by laying out an 8x8 basement.

I drop down one level and place the stairs. Then I place the bed. I purchase the Classically Tasteful bookshelf, a Chillgood fridge, a single Country Fried Counter, a Bargain John (use the Common Commode if you have it), a Plain Basin, a Table-Licious, and a single Bistro chair. Above ground I buy the cheap parking space and place the car. I have $417 left:

Notice I haven't built any walls. Privacy is not going to a feature of this Apocalypse for some time. But this set up allows us to deal with Hunger, Bladder, and Energy. Social we'll get from work and our occasional visitor. We still need Fun. Now, my Sim has already increased Logic to the maximum value, but otherwise I'd buy a chess set and share the one chair between it and the dining table. As it is, I'm going to buy a kicky bag instead. Oh, and don't forget to buy a hamper if you have Ambitions.

I'm left with $342. If you like, you can spend more and get yourself a radio or something, but I'm happy with what I have right now.

Next, I empty the bookshelf of any non-skill books; there are 2, and these count towards the Prestige Librarian. The random toddler book was Counting for Those Who Cannot, which means I have two of those. Hang the diploma on the wall (to clear my inventory - except for a beeper), and we're ready for live mode!

There's really nothing crucial to do before work starts. I have Anna play Kicky Bag, which is a way to build Athletics in addition to a source of fun. The trick with Kicky Bag in snow is that you must place it on the ground; if you try to use it from inventory it will refuse and say the snow is too deep, even though you're inside.

A useful thing to do at this point is go to the Buy menu and note the Lot Value:

If I subtract the Unfurnished value from the Furnished value, and then multiply the result by 0.6, I see that I have to come up with $5610 within the next 8 days so that I can make the first mob payment. I have 5 work days of 10 hours each, with $97 per hour. That's only $4850! But don't panic. I expect to get promoted a few times; we'll make the first mob payment easily enough. If you're worried, though, you don't have to get as flash a bed or car as I bought.

But you can see why I haven't even bothered with lighting yet. I've bought what I consider the bare minimum.

As far as meals go, the founder can only eat quick meals and peanut butter; the latter can only be made as brunch or lunch. Try to make peanut butter when you can, as it's better (especially if you chose it as your favourite food). They will get fed at work, usually; it's weekends when they tend to whine a lot. Despite this advice, I have to have a quick meal on the first day of work, since I start at 0900. Remember the "Hand of God" rule - do not have your Sim waste time with dishes, but rather get rid of those yourself.

Try to go to work early. You don't want to get in the habit of only just making it, because at some point you'll only just miss it, and then (without Master Thief lifted) you're fired. A few lifts in, and the house can get quite crowded; try to get moving the moment you receive the carpool message. If you get to work early, use one of the social options until work officially starts; before that point, you'll still lose Fun from Work Hard (for example) but you won't get any performance credit for it.

It's worth it to try and Work Hard as often as you can. Workaholics get away with this more often than others, but you want to try and aim to get promoted at least every couple of days, and more often at the start. Once it becomes obvious you're going to fill the bar, switch to another option - your boss, if possible, since it's always useful to be friends with your boss in the challenge. If you're friends, and you just missed a promotion, you can call them over and ask for one. In dire circumstances that can make all the difference.

Sometimes you can do opportunities; often you cannot. On the first day, a little before closing time, I got this:

"Can we 'ave your liver then?"

The relevant restriction is Military. If I can complete this immediately after work, then it's OK. I didn't know off hand whether I would be allowed to, so I accepted it figuring I would cancel it if not. But it seemed fine, and I came home from work at as a Resident, but minus a pancreas. Anna didn't seem to enjoy that very much, but she seems more or less alive.

I put her straight to bed. Thanks to the promotion, she has $2475 now. As you can see, making the mob payment isn't going to be a problem. Meditative Trance Sleep means that she gets up only a few hours later to read the medical journal she brought home. Incidentally, that journal counts towards Prestige Librarian as well, but they keep getting replaced, so it's only ever one book. She has time to play a little more kicky bag before going to work on Tuesday.

On Tuesday I get offered medical work; it is important to note that I cannot do this. Military is not yet lifted, so I can't just wander the neighbourhood handing out bandages. They are in short supply, necessary for the troops keeping the zombies at bay.

Anna gets another promotion, and incidentally is now best friends with her boss. Trauma Surgeons work late, which means that she gets a day off. That's actually a bit unfortunate, but there's nothing to worry about, since she now has $8722 and will comfortably make the mob payment.

I'm not going to buy anything just yet though. The optimal time to buy things is Monday just after midnight. You are allowed to accumulate your "right to build" on a weekly basis, which means that on Monday just after midnight I can place 14 of any thing in the build menu. I can't do this with Buy mode objects, but there's nothing I desperately need there, and why buy it just to increase the mob's payment? During the challenge you'll quickly reach a point where the mob is nothing but an annoyance - but don't get overconfident at the start of the challenge!

Thanks to a couple of emergencies, by 0300 Thursday when her shift ended, she got promoted to Gene Therapist and now has $17060. And again, because the shift times change so much, she has a day off. But that's actually great, because last night I had her invite her lover over from 1st term to visit, and he'll be at the house in 6 hours. Just enough time to get a quick sleep.

Note: Hopelessness only says that you can't marry or move in anyone. You are allowed to have visitors, you are allowed to Try For Baby, and you can even propose if you want. Of course I don't recommend you Try For Baby unless you've decided not to bother with lifting a restriction - at least for a female founder - but it is legal.

Derek is complaining because he's starving and he can't reach the fridge. Remember that until Hopelessness is lifted you cannot make group meals. But the other Sims don't know the rules; they will try to raid your fridge. You are allowed to build a little room with a door and lock it if you like, but the simplest and cheapest solution is to just turn it sideways, as shown.

I couldn't quite make it to a promotion on Friday, but the boss happens to be my best friend...

By the way, as you can see I'm in a group there. That's just something that happens occasionally when you invite someone over; as long as it wasn't intentional it's OK.

The weekend was spent playing a lot of kicky bag. She managed to get to level 9 Athletics in this way. And then midnight rolled around. Let's recheck how much I owe:

(13911 - 4749) * 0.6 = 5377.2, so I owe 5378. Note this is less than I'd calculated 7 days ago; that's because you'll note that both the Furnished and Unfurnished numbers have decreased due to depreciation.

I have $27439, so after paying the mob I have $22061 left. Time to start building.

Here's the plan. I'm going to slowly build lower basement levels, and slowly decorate from the top to the bottom. This time, I've built part of the basement, a few walls, and a few floor tiles, and I've bought a Light of Brahman (remember: no electricity yet).

And that ends the first week. I have $20638 left, and two more promotions to get before clearing Medical. That should comfortably come in by Friday, and it is possible it will be slightly faster if I get an emergency or an opportunity.