Build A City for your Sims

The Sims Build-A-City Challenge is a challenge for Sims2. It is a way to make the game more interesting and to build up a Sim City.

I found this challenge in the Yahoo Group TS2Challenges, where you can find a treasure of challenges and links to blogs by people who actually play these challenges.

Because the BACC is a long list of rules, I have tried to split it up a bit, to make it more easy for myself.

I have tried this challenge a few times, but halfway I ended up with so many Sims, lots of notes, a card system, an unfinished Access database, an Excell spreadsheet that I could not understand anymore, etc. So now that I tried again, I hope to keep things tidy and clear from the start, I want to play the game more slowly, keep a blog about what my Sims are doing, and a separate blog, where I keep a sort of simple Sims database. I hope this helps. If not, I will have fun playing the game and maybe start another project after I am halfway with this one. Never mind. That is how I play the Sims and why not? ;)

But for now, I am full of good intentions, so here we go.

Please note, this challenge is not my invention, and the text is mostly copied and pasted from other sites, please read the credits page to read more about this.

Starting out

You must create an entirely new Neighbourhood to start with. It can be on any template you choose, but you MAY NOT add a University, Downtown, Shopping District, or any community lots. However, if you have Bon Voyage, you MAY add vacation destinations.

Create a single Sim to be your founder and move them onto an empty lot. 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).

As your neighborhood expands, you must play EVERY household for the same amount of time. If you move in townies just for their money and move them back out, they CANNOT just sit in the Sim Bin. ALL Sims MUST be played.

When Sims have children, it is up to you whether or not they remain at home or move out. Keeping them home means a higher lot value which can earn a university (rules in a later section). Moving them out means more households and more community lots. Choose which works best for you.

New households after the founder may be pre-built houses or blank lots.

At the beginning ALL careers are locked, meaning no job for your founder. You must find other ways to make money (painting, novels, business, treasure hunting, etc). We’ll get to how to unlock careers soon, but first we must cover a few other subjects.

Sims MAY NOT have fire detectors or burglar alarms until the first position in the Law Enforcement Career is unlocked (rules in the career section).

Sims MAY NOT call for any services except for the Nanny and Adoption. Service calls are unlocked when the population reaches 500 (figuring out population is in the next section). Pizza and Chinese Food delivery are unlocked with a population of 3,000.

Servos are allowed and do count in the population.

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 neighbourhood 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 additional 5 community lots
+5 for adding a Downtown
+5 for each Business District
+5 for each University

From now on when population is mentioned, it simply means your total number of playable Sims multiplied by your SM.

Community Lots

There are two ways to unlock a community lot.
• The first way is to place any community lot, have a Sim purchase it, and start a business on it.
• The second way is to have 4 Sim households.

 If you place a community lot using the second way, it does not need to be owned by a playable Sim, but if you want a Sim to have a business there they can.

In addition to adding to your SM, 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.]

Business Districts

You unlock a business district by having 5 player owned community lot businesses of any rank, and having the Business Career unlocked (rules in the career section).

You MAY earn multiple business districts. To do this you will need 5 additional businesses on community lots and another Business Tycoon.

For example: If you want to add a 2nd business district you’ll need 10 community lot businesses and 2 Business Tycoons; to add a 3rd you’ll need 15 businesses and 3 Business Tycoons, etc.

In addition to adding to your SM, for each business district 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.]

Downtown

Adding a downtown only requires that your city’s population reaches 25,000. Unlike other additions, you may only earn a single downtown. In addition to adding to your SM, the downtown also earns you 20 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.]

Universities

These are the official rules for adding a university. However, for me that is much too complicated, so I changed the rules for myself. 
In my game, rich sims can volunteer to contribute to the founding of a university. To do this, in my game they buy a painting or something else with a 'round' price, and keep this in their storage. 
I keep track what each family pays and when I have $1,000,000, I can build the university. With thanks to the generous sims who made this possible. :) 

But for those who want to play it according to the rules, here they are:

Adding universities to your neighbourhood may be the hardest to unlock because they are expensive to build. There are three ways to go about raising enough funds for a university.

1. 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 (ex. ATM), or buy an item(s) that equals the tax value and leave in your Sims inventory. Once you have collected $1,000,000 in taxes you may add your public university. If you choose this method make sure you keep track of how much you’ve collected, and a calculator will be useful.
2. Reach a population of 50,000, and the state will build your neighbourhood a public university 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.
3. Have a wealthy Sim donate $1,000,000 to either build a public or private university. 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.

A public university will accept any Sim. However, if you choose to have a wealthy Sim build a private university, they (you) get to decide who gets to enroll and who doesn’t. The founder of the private university gets $50,000 per Sim who enrolls.

You may earn multiple universities using any of the three methods mentioned. In addition to adding to your SM, for each university you also earn 5 CAS Sims (students perhaps). [You don’t have to add the new Sims as you earn them. You can save up and add whole families if you choose.]

Apartments

Each family living in an apartment counts as a separate household when calculating how many NPC community lots you can have.

However, each apartment building only counts as ONE lot towards the Architecture career.

You may not have Sims ask the landlord to do repairs or any other chore around the apartment until Service calls are unlocked at a Population of 500. The landlord doing his daily rounds of cleaning up outside is okay.

Pet Careers

In case you like to have pets and let them go to work, here are the rules to unlock:


Show Biz: 
Only "talented" pets who have learned all their tricks may enter this career (excluding toilet training for cats).

Service: 
Career opened once phone service options are unlocked when the population reaches 500.

Security: 
1) Job opened for all pets when there at least 5 sims in Law Enforcement. OR...
2) Owner must be in Law Enforcement.

Careers

At the beginning ALL careers are locked, meaning no job for your founder. You must find other ways to make money (painting, novels, business, treasure hunting, etc). We’ll get to how to unlock careers soon, but first we must cover a few other subjects.

In the sidebar to the right of this page you can find what is needed for each career to unlock it.


If you move in a townie that has a job in a career that does has not been unlocked, they MUST quit. If you move in a townie and they have a job in a career that already has all its available positions filled, either they must quit or have another Sim with that career quit. The fairest way is to have the person with lowest rank quit.

Teen and Elder jobs count as a position filled in any given career.

Athletic

The Athletic Career path is unlocked as soon as a sports themed community lot is placed. The actual “sport” being played can be anything from Bowling, Darts, even Kicky Ball (use your imagination). The lot can look however you wish but it must be on a 5x5 (or larger) lot, contain an area for competitive games, and be worth $250,000.

Oceanography

The career is open to any Sim with a gold fishing badge. The career is unlocked when a Sim tops the Natural Science career.

Intelligence

A position in the Intelligence Career is opened each time a Sim reaches the top of the Military, Criminal, or Science Career.

Entertainment

A position is opened whenever a Sim transitions into adulthood with maximum charisma. The career is never unlocked.

Dance

A position in the Dance Career is opened whenever a Sim owned dance studio opens and reaches Rank 5.When a playable Sim reaches the top of the career, it is unlocked to everyone.

Architecture

A position in Architecture will be opened for every 10 lots, residential or community, and each neighbourhood addition (University, Downtown, Business District). The residential lots must be occupied. The community lots must be complete and functional (no blank lots), and can be player owned. Apartments only count as one lot, no matter how many playable families live in the building.

Show Business

A position is open for every Prestidigator (entertainment) and Professional Party Guest. Whenever a Sim reaches the top of the career, a position is opened in Journalism after the population reaches 1,000.

Plus, for this career you need a diploma from University.

Paranormal

The first position is opened when a cemetery is added and there are 5 graves in the neighbourhood. After the first position opens, another is opened for every 10 additional graves. The graves do not have to be sent to the cemetery and pet graves do NOT count.

Plus, for this you need a diploma from University.

Natural Science

A position is opened for every nursery, flower, or landscaping business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with gold gardening badges.

Plus, for this you need a diploma from University.

Artist

A position is opened for every art gallery business that reaches Rank 5. It is always open to Sims with maxed creativity who have also sold 10 masterpieces.

Plus, for this you need a diploma from University.