#ts4btdc

[btdcsims]

Starting this challenge will be a bit more like a Build a City Challenge than like a Decades challenge. First, you will need to either start with a blank save, or actively bulldoze all the lots and delete all of the sims in the save (unless you plan to use them in your households). The only exceptions are destination worlds, such as Granite Falls or Selvadorada, but since this is a Decades challenge, you still might want to change the buildings to fit the decade you’re in when you visit them.

Once your world is empty, you need to figure out what world you’ll want to live in. Yes, you could make your sims first, but knowing what world you start in might influence the sims you decide to make. For example, if you start in Mt. Komorebi, you might want to dress them in traditional Japanese garb. Not all worlds will be available at the beginning, and I will get into this a bit more later, but the only worlds available to start out in from the very beginning (1600) are:

Brindleton Bay

Glimmerbrook

Granite Falls (if you have the All Worlds are Residential mod)

Henford-on-Bagley

Mt. Komorebi

Newcrest

Oasis Springs

Tartosa

Willow Creek

Windenburg

Chestnut Ridge

Now, you might be wondering why I chose the worlds I did. It’s because they’re the most realistic for the decade that I have chosen the challenge to start in - ordinarily for the BACC, you would need to unlock spellcasters to unlock Glimmerbrook, but I feel it would be unfair to keep it locked when it’s such a perfect spot for decades gameplay, especially if players do not want to have spellcasters in their decades game. You will be able to unlock the other worlds later, but most of them will require a certain period of time to pass first.

Once you know where you’re starting, you need to make your sims! This is going to be fun!

Unlike the regular BACC where you decide the exact number of starting sims with a dice roll, the BTDC will determine the number of starting households with a dice roll, as well as the number of sims in each household, and the wealth/type of household. Seems like a lot, I know, but it’ll be worth it, I promise. You will never get the same start twice with a system like this!

You will start off with 1 household already, and that household will be wealthy by default because they will be the mayoral household. The patriarch of this household will be the mayor of your town. But now you need to decide how many other households will be joining the mayor on this adventure, and that is when you will need to roll a 6 sided die. Whatever number it lands on is how many side households you will start out with. 

For example: If you roll a 3, that means you will start out with 4 total households.

Next, you will roll for the amount of sims and type of household. This will require a 10 sided die. If you roll an option for the mayoral household that doesn’t make sense, you may freely roll again until you get an option that does make sense. However, for the rest of the households, you may only roll once. If you get an option you dislike, you will have the opportunity to turn your luck around later just by playing the household.

Single sim

Married couple

Two siblings

Single parent & a child

Single parent & 2 children

Two parents & a child

Two parents & two children

Grandparent, parents, & 1 child

Elderly parents & married couple

Orphanage with 1 matron and 3 unrelated children

Now, these starting sims can be of any age - if you roll for an orphanage with 3 children, that doesn’t mean they all need to be of child age. The only ones that must be a certain age are the elderly parents and the grandparents - they must at least be adults, although elders would make the most sense.

The next decision that needs to be made is the wealth//status of each household. This will only require a 4 sided die. Once you have your number of households and the size of each, you will roll to find out their status - the only exception is the mayoral household, because they are a naturally wealthy noble house.

Destitute (think extreme rags to riches)

Poor/peasant

Average/middle class

Wealthy/upper class/nobility

And with that, you should have your households all planned out. If you feel like you didn’t do it correctly, I will put an example of what I rolled under here so you know what to look for:

Mayoral Household + 6 households (rolled a 6) Mayoral household: Wealthy, two parents and a child (rolled a 6) Second household: Single poor sim (rolled a 1 on the d10 and a 2 on the d4) Third household: Single destitute sim (rolled a 1 on d10 and a 1 on d4) Fourth household: Poor single parent and child (rolled a 4 on d10 and a 2 on d4) Fifth household: Two wealthy/noble siblings (rolled a 3 on d10 and a 4 on d4) Sixth household: Middle class grandparent, parents, & child (rolled a 8 on d10 and a 3 on d4) Seventh household: Poor parents with two children (rolled a 7 on d10 and a 2 on d4)

[btdcsims]

For a long time, I’ve been obsessed with two different challenges: the Build a City Challenge, and the Decades Challenge (any version of it, really). While playing through the Ultimate Decades Challenge, and keeping track of my side households, I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be fun to do this, but these side households are their own families, and I actually give them more time than just occasionally visiting them, like in a BACC?” And so I came up with this idea. I toyed with it a long time before actually deciding to write up some rules. 

Now, I will be setting up a set of rules, but these will not be strict. If you decide that some part of this challenge doesn’t fit you, please change it for your own gameplay. After all, we’re all here to have fun, aren’t we?

Please be aware before you start: There will be death. That is part of the point of a decades challenge, especially an extended one. There will be death rolls, and there will even be the deaths of young children. If you feel you can handle that, read on.

Last Updated: March 25th, 2023

With so much help from @melsie-sims! This wouldn’t exist without her help!

Challenge inspired by/based on the following:

Morbid Gamer’s Ultimate Decades Challenge: RULES HERE CuteCoffeeGal’s update of ZombieCleo’s original Decades Challenge: RULES HERE The Build a City Challenge, by Purzel and DaisyDezem: RULES HERE

General Notes to Read Before Continuing -

Unlock achievements are to be used to only unlock one things, just like the regular BACC. For example, if a sim maxes charisma, you can either choose to make that a CAS point, or you may use it to unlock a spot in a career that requires it. Either one, not both.

A lot of the aspects of this challenge will be subject to change, depending on how you choose to begin. I will be writing the rules from the POV of American settlers, but that is not a required start. This can start wherever you want it to - Canada, Japan, Mexico, etc. And the year is also optional - if you want to start in 1890 instead of 1600, to be more like the normal Decades Challenge, that's okay too. Heck, you can even start earlier than 1600!

Mods and custom content aren't necessary but I absolutely recommend using them. In fact, I will be including a list of recommended mods.

If you're having trouble with any of the rules or getting started, please feel free to either send me an ask either here or on my main at @cyazurai, or a message. If you have more you want to ask me about, too, please feel free to ask for my Discord name so we can talk on there.

If you do play this, please tag it with Build the Decades Challenge or BuildTheDecadesChallenge, either one or both - I would love to see your progress!