The Offical Legacy Rules for TS3

[Pinstar]

Enjoy!

Legacy Challenge

The Legacy Challenge is a long, 10-generation challenge where you start out with a single founder and very humble beginnings and try to lead the family to fame, fortune and success over the course of 10 generations.

Starting out
Create a brand new game file. You will be using this file exclusively to play your Legacy Challenge. You may use an existing game file, but your Legacy family must immediately become the “Active Household” and not cease to be active for the duration of the challenge. You may select any neighborhood.

The challenge begins with a single founder. Make this founder in Create A Sim. They may be male or female. They may be any age that can have children (YA, Adult and Elder for males, YA and Adult for females). You have full choice over their look, color and clothing. Custom content may be used if you like, including create-a-style custom patterns and colors. You may choose all 5 traits as well as their three favorite likes (food, music and color) and a lifetime want. No other sims may be created in the founder’s family. Be creative with the family name, you’ll be seeing it for quite some time.

Now to place the founder. While you are free to choose either standard town, there is a very specific lot that must be used. If you move into Riverview, you must move into “345 Riverblossom Hills Drive”. If you move into Sunset Valley, you will be moving into “15 Summer Hill Court”. The common thread between these lots is that they are large, empty and cost $14,700. Yes I know that leaves you with only $1,300 in cash to build a house, that’s the point. All legacies start out with very humble beginnings and expect your founder to live like a hobo for awhile. If additional neighborhoods are made available with mods or EPs, or we gain the ability to plop our own lots down, they may be used, as long as the lot in question is completely empty and costs at least $14,700.


Rules:
No cheating. Plain and simple, no money or mood cheats. You may use custom objects, as long as their price and mood effects are in line with similar ‘official’ objects. Objects purchased from the Sim Store are considered 'offical' as well as the ones included with the game.
Aging and story progression must be on and lifespans set to the normal level.
You are allowed to play with any Mod that does not give you a signifigant advantage over a player without the mod. The only specific mod I know of at the moment, Awesome Mod, is allowed.
The Legacy family must be the “Active Household” during the entire challenge. You may never switch the active household to another family. If you want to take a break from Legacy play, it is recommended you play in another saved game slot.
No Ambrosia! Your sims may learn the recipe for Ambrosia, but may not cook or consume the dish. Nor may ambrosia be used to ressurect ghosts.
You may not ressurect dead sims via the Science lab.

Black Market Restriction:
The used goods market is being monitored by the local police. As a result, it is next to impossible to pawn stolen goods for cash.
Items obtained "Illegally" may not be sold for cash. They may be placed on the family lot and used by the family or kept in inventory, just not sold.
An "Illegally obtained" item is the following:
Any item stolen by a Kleptomaniac
Any item salvaged from another sim's trash can
Any item obtained automatically while a sim is in the criminal career track.




Moving Sims in:
Any sim may be moved into the Legacy Family via marriage or move-in except for the following:
Sims created by the player
Sims/households downloaded and imported from the exchange
Sims that had previously lived in the Legacy household but had since moved out
Sims that are identified by your sim as "Rich'

All other sims are fair game. You are allowed to create/download/import sims and families into your Legacy neighborhood, they just cannot join the family.
No sims/families may ever be merged into the Legacy family. If you wish to add members, they must be done in game.



Challenge concepts
Generation: Order of birth in relation to the family at large. Your founder is generation 1, your founder’s son/daughter would be generation 2, the grandchildren of the founder would be generation 3 and so on. The challenge ends the moment generation 10 is born.
Founder: The sim you create in CAS who starts the family.
Heir: The sim belonging to the family bloodline who is slated to bring in the next generation once he/she is old enough and finds a mate.
Spare: A sibling of an heir, who can become an heir should anything happen to the current heir. Spares may be fed to the time stream or kept on the lot if you wish. They are eligible to earn legacy points for the family.
Fed to the time stream: Moving a controllable sim out of the legacy house. A sim fed to the time stream no longer can generate legacy points for the family, but still may be interacted with. Legacy points that have already been earned by this sim still count towards your total, even after you move the sim out.
Legacy Points: Your score for the challenge, earned in a variety of ways described below. The goal of the challenge is to get as many legacy points before the 10th generation.
Legacy House: The lot initially moved into by your founder. You may not move the family to another lot during the entire challenge. All heirs must be born in this house (or rather, born from sims living at this house, even if they use the hospital to give birth)
Bloodline: Any sim who can trace his or her family tree directly to the founder. Adopted sims are NOT part of the bloodline. Sims that are moved in are only considered part of the bloodline when they contribute to the birth of the next generation.
Mate: A sim brought in from outside the family to reproduce with the current generation’s heir to produce the next generation. When the next generation is born, the mate becomes part of the family bloodline and eligible to earn points.

Points:
You earn points for your family in the following ways.
Generation: You get 1 legacy point for your founder, and 1 point for every generation born until the 10th. You earn each point at the birth of the first child in each generation. Further births in that generation do not generate more points. Thus you can only earn a maximum of 10 total Generation points by completing the challenge and birthing the 10th generation.
Lifetime wants: You gain 1 point for every unique lifetime want fulfilled by a family member. The sim in question must be living in the legacy house and be part of the family tree to earn this point. Once a specific liftime wish has been fulfilled by a sim, further sims fulifilling that wish will not earn you a legacy point for doing so. There are 32 unique liftime wishes in the game, meaning you could earn a maximum of 32 points in this category.
Portraits: 1 point for creating a portrait of a family member and keeping it on display after their death. Like above, the sim must be part of the family tree and living in the legacy house to qualify for this point. You earn this point after the portrait is created, you do not have to wait for the sim in the portrait to actually die. Portraits are still worth their points even if the family member pictured is moved out of the house later on. The skill of the artist doing the portrait does not matter, as long as it features the sim in question it counts. Portraits may be of any size or style. Keep in mind that a sim must have a painting skill of at least 5 to get the option of painting a still life (needed to capture a sim’s picture).
Legacy House: Earn 1 legacy point for every $100,000 in net worth the house is worth. Use the "Furnished Value" of the house to get this figure. Do not include the net-worths of legacy family members that have been moved out of the house. Round up. Your family's weath in cash does NOT count tword this number.
Aspiration Rewards: If a sim is able to earn 100,000 points worth of aspiration rewards, they earn your family 1 legacy point. You are free to spend aspiration points as you gain them, it is your lifetime total, not your current total, that matters for this point. Like the other sim-based points, this may only be earned by family members. You may earn an additional point in this category from a sim if they somehow earn 200,000 points in their lifetime. .

Birth and growing up
Whenever a sim is born or ages up, they will often obtain new traits. Sometimes these traits are randomly assigned by the game. Other times the game lets you pick them. In the Legacy Challenge, all traits are random. If you are given the option to pick traits for any sim, you must hit the random button and accept the trait that is randomly assigned. The only exception is if you are playing with the "Family Trait" optional rule. If you are, and the family trait is one of the options, you may select that trait rather than hitting the random button.
Death
Sims that die on the family lot may be kept around as ghosts, or may be moved to a cemetery. It is up to you. If a sim dies and you forgot to get their portrait, making a portrait of their ghost does not count. If the bloodline is cut short by death, the challenge ends immediately. It is always a good idea to have at least one spare in case the heir perishes. Even if ghosts become playable, they may not earn any further points for the family. Ghost babies are not considered part of any bloodline.

Bringing in the next generation.
In order to bring in the next generation, a new sim must be born. Adoptions do not carry the family bloodline and thus don’t count. (You are still allowed to adopt sims if you really want to, but they won’t help point wise) If the heir is male, you must move their mate into the legacy family house before having a baby. If the heir is female, she may move her mate in, or simply get pregnant while off the lot. In either case, the heir and their mate don’t have to be married. Sims may be born at home or in a hospital, whichever you prefer. The moment the next generation is born, the heir’s mate officially becomes part of the family bloodline (and thus can earn lifetime want, aspiration perk and portrait points for you, provided they are living in the Legacy House).

Optional Rules
These are optional rules you may play with if you wish. They don’t affect your score in any way, and are merely tools to help establish a theme for your family.

Family Trait
When creating your founder in CAS, choose one of the founder’s 5 traits to become the ‘family trait’ for your legacy family. There after, every sim born to the legacy family must possess this trait by the time they reach young adulthood. If they do not inherit it at birth, you must choose that trait the moment you are given the option to. The remaining traits still must be rolled for.

Matriarchy/Patriarchy

Whatever gender your founder was, this must be the gender of every heir. Meaning if you started with a female founder, only female children may become the heir to bring in the next generation. Children of the other gender are still counted as part of the family bloodline and may still earn the family points, they simply may not bring in the next generation.
A male dominant family is called a Patriarchy, a female dominant family is a Matriarchy.

Story Teller

A popular practice is to write a story for your Legacy family and upload it in chapters. If you feel the creative energy, why not try uploading your own story? There is no in-game bonus for doing this, but the addition to the community is always welcome!




FAQ

Why do I have to buy such a big lot. I barely have money in the beginning.
Early poverty is a hallmark of the challenge. A large plot of land not only drains the available cash from your starting funds, it gives you the ability to build some epic sized legacy homes as you play through the generations and get more wealth.

If I’m playing with the family trait option, does my sim’s mate have to have that trait too?
No.

Can I move in/marry sims into the legacy home that aren’t going to help bring in the next generation?
Yes, keep in mind that they don’t earn any points for the family. Even sims that are destined to help bring in the next generation won’t count as part of the family until the next generation is actually born.

Does the first born have to be the heir?

No, as long as they are part of the bloodline and born on the legacy house they are eligible to be an heir, regardless of order of birth. They must be the proper gender if playing with the matriarchy/patriarchy option.

Are collection items, such as rocks, insects and seeds subject to the black market restriction?

No, you are allowed to sell any collection items you find...as long as they weren't stolen out of someone's house or garbage.

[legacylover264]

Thanks Pinstar! The rules look great. Thanks for making them!

[hugaloaf]

Thanks for the rules, Pinstar!

Although I think I'm going to have to make an unofficial legacy, because some of the rules limit what you can do as far as side-plots go.

[shella4711]

Thanks for the rules update! I just so happened to have started my legacy family on the "Official Legacy Lot" and the only rules I've broken so far are marrying a rich sim and selling salvaged items. Oh well, I'll press on.

[hrootbeer]

Thanks for the rules. Unfortunately I have broken a few already. I didn't start in the starting lot and I married a rich sim. However, I have been playing with random traits and I did marry a townie sim. I have used no cheats whatsover. I also haven't salvaged any materials or sold said materials.

Oh well, I'm going to keep going. I like my story and family.

[Scoob94P]

Thanks a lot Pinstar!!
Can't wait to start the challenge!

[zaby]

Awesome! Thanks!

[strangerhood7]

Thanks Pinstar, these rules are very much appreciated. ^_^ They've motivated me more.

[SimOSW2]

That is amazing, even though I have broken a few rules I am going to start playing by them now A fresh start even though I'm on the second generation!

[Scallywag]

Woot time to turn poor sim me's world upside down! Thanks Pinstar.
Vixen

[Ginnycat]

I'm really happy to have the official rules now, but I think I'll be breaking a couple of them for the sake of my own amusement. (Like how I'll be setting lifespans to short so that my inability to get to generation 10 might change, even if it wouldn't be official.)

[brinkofinsanity]

Great rules!

Unfortunately, I've already broken the Black Market Restriction--I sold a couple items my Kleptomaniac sim stole. Oh well! I just won't do that again. I'll probably break the ghost rules too. I may want to have a ghost baby later on in my legacy, and I may want to use ambrosia to bring them to life.

Anyway! Overall, I like them!

[Sporks]

Sweet! Thanks for posting, I might acutally be able to keep up with all of the rules this time.

[AlphabetFish]

Thank you, Pinstar! Seems I broke a rule already--my founder's spouse was technically "rich" even though she didn't bring in squat... Ah well, I'll adhere from now on!

Also, for people who have already started legacies on different lots than the one specified, should we adjust our family funds or move to that lot? I broke that rule, too.

[PrincessMajestic]

Yayyyy! Great job.

[jessicasparkles]

Thanks so much Pinstar! XD
i`m excited to start my first legacy! ((:

[Aaroc200]

I don't really like the ruleset for TS3 that you've come up with. The points one can attain are rather limited. No master points for maxing out skill challenges? No rewards for bringing your sims up properly (having to randomize traits even if you get the option to choose)? I can understand the not being able to move in a rich sim, but that severely limits the amount of eligible spouses, since after a while, most sims will be considered rich simply because of expanding household funds in each household over the generations, and besides which, even "Rich" sims don't often bring very much money with them when they move in. And the No Ambrosia rule means that if my male heir marries an adult who happens to have only 3 days left before her elder birthday (since there's really no way to tell how old a sim is, other than by keeping tabs on everyone in the 'hood), it's rather unlikely he'll be able to even have any children to bring in the next generation; And not being able to marry sims that you make and place in the neighborhood yourself, that also limits your options if there happen to be no sims of proper child bearing age for your heir to marry, something an heir in my current "Legacy" ran into. Granted, I can understand the spirit behind these rules, (because they put a hard limit on how long a sim has to obtain points for the Legacy) but I still don't like many of them.

They simply don't seem as well thought out as the rules you came up with for TS2. I'd rather have more options for gaining points (like maxing a skill challenge or career track, collecting ghost types, etc.) and then having penalties for using ambrosia or the science facility to bring a sim back from the dead. That way the player has to weigh their options over having too many sims in the house and taking a penalty point vs getting more points for bringing that sim back from the dead or extending their life. Maybe also throw in penalty points for using the Mid Life Crisis Lifetime Reward, which you make no mention of in your rules. According to your rule set, there are no stipulations on said reward. Does that mean we can use it if we like an heir, but hate their personality or their personality isn't conducive to their LTW (I had a Loner Sim once who, as a child, rolled up the LTW to have 20 Friends, which makes no sense)?

Also, I would rather have some sort of point modifier for using different life spans, rather than "forcing" Legacy players to use the normal life span (For example, $200,000 for long life, $400,000 for Epic, $50,000 for short and $25,000 for Very short).

I think I might make up my own rules for playing a Legacy-like Challenge.

[Taliwog]

I don't really like the ruleset for TS3 that you've come up with. The points one can attain are rather limited. No master points for maxing out skill challenges? No rewards for bringing your sims up properly (having to randomize traits even if you get the option to choose)? I can understand the not being able to move in a rich sim, but that severely limits the amount of eligible spouses, since after a while, most sims will be considered rich simply because of expanding household funds in each household over the generations, and besides which, even "Rich" sims don't often bring very much money with them when they move in. And the No Ambrosia rule means that if my male heir marries an adult who happens to have only 3 days left before her elder birthday (since there's really no way to tell how old a sim is, other than by keeping tabs on everyone in the 'hood), it's rather unlikely he'll be able to even have any children to bring in the next generation; And not being able to marry sims that you make and place in the neighborhood yourself, that also limits your options if there happen to be no sims of proper child bearing age for your heir to marry, something an heir in my current "Legacy" ran into. Granted, I can understand the spirit behind these rules, (because they put a hard limit on how long a sim has to obtain points for the Legacy) but I still don't like many of them.

They simply don't seem as well thought out as the rules you came up with for TS2. I'd rather have more options for gaining points (like maxing a skill challenge or career track, collecting ghost types, etc.) and then having penalties for using ambrosia or the science facility to bring a sim back from the dead. That way the player has to weigh their options over having too many sims in the house and taking a penalty point vs getting more points for bringing that sim back from the dead or extending their life. Maybe also throw in penalty points for using the Mid Life Crisis Lifetime Reward, which you make no mention of in your rules. According to your rule set, there are no stipulations on said reward. Does that mean we can use it if we like an heir, but hate their personality or their personality isn't conducive to their LTW (I had a Loner Sim once who, as a child, rolled up the LTW to have 20 Friends, which makes no sense)?

Also, I would rather have some sort of point modifier for using different life spans, rather than "forcing" Legacy players to use the normal life span (For example, $200,000 for long life, $400,000 for Epic, $50,000 for short and $25,000 for Very short).

I think I might make up my own rules for playing a Legacy-like Challenge.

I have to agree with you. You've thought this out a lot, I'd like to see what kind of rule modifications you come up with. The official rules seem sort of basic and limiting.

[MsJessica]

I don't really like the ruleset for TS3 that you've come up with. The points one can attain are rather limited. No master points for maxing out skill challenges? No rewards for bringing your sims up properly (having to randomize traits even if you get the option to choose)? I can understand the not being able to move in a rich sim, but that severely limits the amount of eligible spouses, since after a while, most sims will be considered rich simply because of expanding household funds in each household over the generations, and besides which, even "Rich" sims don't often bring very much money with them when they move in. And the No Ambrosia rule means that if my male heir marries an adult who happens to have only 3 days left before her elder birthday (since there's really no way to tell how old a sim is, other than by keeping tabs on everyone in the 'hood), it's rather unlikely he'll be able to even have any children to bring in the next generation; And not being able to marry sims that you make and place in the neighborhood yourself, that also limits your options if there happen to be no sims of proper child bearing age for your heir to marry, something an heir in my current "Legacy" ran into. Granted, I can understand the spirit behind these rules, (because they put a hard limit on how long a sim has to obtain points for the Legacy) but I still don't like many of them.

They simply don't seem as well thought out as the rules you came up with for TS2. I'd rather have more options for gaining points (like maxing a skill challenge or career track, collecting ghost types, etc.) and then having penalties for using ambrosia or the science facility to bring a sim back from the dead. That way the player has to weigh their options over having too many sims in the house and taking a penalty point vs getting more points for bringing that sim back from the dead or extending their life. Maybe also throw in penalty points for using the Mid Life Crisis Lifetime Reward, which you make no mention of in your rules. According to your rule set, there are no stipulations on said reward. Does that mean we can use it if we like an heir, but hate their personality or their personality isn't conducive to their LTW (I had a Loner Sim once who, as a child, rolled up the LTW to have 20 Friends, which makes no sense)?

Also, I would rather have some sort of point modifier for using different life spans, rather than "forcing" Legacy players to use the normal life span (For example, $200,000 for long life, $400,000 for Epic, $50,000 for short and $25,000 for Very short).

I think I might make up my own rules for playing a Legacy-like Challenge.

I have to agree with you. You've thought this out a lot, I'd like to see what kind of rule modifications you come up with. The official rules seem sort of basic and limiting.

I agree as well - these were my thoughts. I also don't totally understand not being able to sell objects rummaged from garbage cans. Several careers require you to either rummage or question people, and I have had a lot more success with rummage than with question (both Law Enforcement and Journalism do this). My sims picked up a few random things in there, but those things were presumably garbage from the houses. I'm not sure I understand why the rummaging rule - I can understand why for criminals and kleptomaniacs, but I did it for work and happened to come home with a few candles and things. Why a penalty for that?

I think this just looks kind of uninspired, especially compared to the rules already posted on this board - they did include some of what Taliwog and Aaroc were talking about.

[Fairyindia2]

Thank you for the ruleset Pinstar! Although I've already broken a rule as well.... heh heh