After many, many months of not Simming, I was so pleased to see Aberuthven intact and (mostly) playable.
You see, back in May I decided it was time to get fit and healthy, so I joined a gym. The trainer talked me in to buying a protein shake mix, which I promptly made up when I returned home. Fast forward a few minutes, and I had spilt 400ml of thick, gooey protein shake all over my (not yet 12-month old, very expensive Simming laptop). I cried.
Several trips back and forth to the computer repairer and a few hundred dollars later yielded nothing but a machine that would start sporadically and then fizzle and die. I stored the laptop away with the intention of disposing of it, threw out my Simming notebook and resigned myself to a future without TS2.
This month we moved house, and I’d just gotten to unpacking the office when I stumbled across the laptop. Out of interest, I plugged it in and charged it, just to see what would happen before I threw it out. Miraculously, it booted up. All of my game files were still saved, and after reinstalling TS2 (just to see),the game works! And Aberuthven is just how I left it. My graphics are a bit dodgy (although I think that is from my groaning downloads folder), and I am now regretting throwing out my very detailed Simming notebook, but the laptop is working and pretty much holding its own (except that the number 5 & 6 keys don’t work, and the space bar sometimes gets stuck).
Anyway, I have been mucking around in Aberuthven, and the ‘hood is ready to play! I have 21 households, 93 playable Sims and 28 pets (dogs & cats). I have updated my spreadsheet, and am ready to kick of with a Medieval Charter Challenge/Warwickshire Renaissance Challenge mashup, all set in a not-quite historically accurate Anglo-Saxon kingdom. I am so excited!
The Burh is finished, I just need to build a little travellers camp on the outskirts, which will essentially be a forest lot with tents and a big campfire. The Ealdorman, 2 Ceorl families and 2 Slave families will live in or around the Burh, as well as a group of 8 travellers (extra, marriageable Sims).
The Roman Town is well on its way to being complete. This is the section of the map that is least historically accurate, as at the peak of the Anglo-Saxon era, any remaining Roman buildings would have been crumbling messes. However, I’m borrowing inspiration from ‘The Last Kingdom’ series, where Anglo-Saxon Lundene was pretty intact (plus, I like the aesthetics so I’m staying with it). I have pretty much finished with the stone buildings, and everything else will be the typical Anglo-Saxon wattle & thatch. The Royal family will reside in the Roman Town, along with the Shire Reeve (Thegn) and his family, 2 Ceorl families, 2 Slave families, the Household Guard and the Clergy.
The little Hamlet around the river bend (almost opposite the Roman Town) is a small fishing village. A Thegn resides there with his strict and pious mother, as well as 1 Ceorl family, 1 Slave family, and the residents of the Almshouse. I’m not particularly happy with how it is currently laid out, so will change things around once I’m finished with the Roman Town.
I’m not 100% certain that the neighborhood will actually be playable. I can almost hear my graphics card groaning when I load it up!
