Vacations and Skilling

Well, I’m back to the smart-a$$ed commentary…  partially because the narrative style is harder for me to do..and partially because I suck at taking pictures in game.   I get so involved with playing that I forget to take a picture.  Or if I do, I take pictures and look back later going “Why the h@ll did I take that?  What was I thinking?”

The great thing about having a founder with Level 3 visas and “prepared traveler” perk is that you can spent like 15 days (or is it 18?) in a location.  Once Risk was a child (and old enough to come along), I sent the family to Egypt.

But before we look at some of the pictures from Egypt, here is the family vacation home in China.  I liked how it turned out, except I screwed up the basement– added it in after the house and thought I had put the stairs in right to be accessed from inside the house, but it didn’t work.  I’ll probably either redo the whole house at some point or just make the basement be an outside access. (shrugs)

Just before the family left for Egypt Brandon became a full adult and Nabila turned elder.  (She is 10 sim days older than he is… I wonder how that translates to in real life ages?…)

Here’s Brandon in his “sports superstar” suit.  (Yeah, he has the same job that I gave Nabila, but its her lifetime wish to get to where her husband is career-wise.)   Originally her lifetime wish was “Golden tongue, golden fingers” (maxing charisma and guitar skills) but I am going to save that for a spare, I think.

Here is Nabila as an elder… ooh, this outfit is SO not her!  I used the dresser to get her back to her previous everyday clothing choice.

Now before the family left I had the kids skilling some.  Dare read the beginning martial arts book and that took him to level 3 easy-peasy.  (He probably skilled fast that way due to the fact one of his traits is “disciplined”.)  Then I discovered another way to raise his skill quickly.

Sparring with Dad.

Brandon:  Prepare to have your ass whupped, son.

Dare:  Look Dad, you still aren’t mad about me being out after curfew, are you?  It was just that one night..and I was at the gym, honest!

(hehehe – Dare did get caught out after curfew, ’cause I’d never had a teen in TS3..or rather I’d never had one out late.. when IS curfew for teens anyway?)

There will be more sparring pictures later, and I may have them out of order in terms of belts, etc.  I should have took notes as to what belt gets earned at what skill rank.

But back to the Egypt vacation home.  I neglected to take far away shots of it to begin with.. which is just as well since I’m not 100% happy with the layout (especially the downstairs bathroom!)

Here’s a picture of Sultan Sam and a friend gnome that Chance fished up.  Unfortunately later Sam disappeared and I can’t find him on the lot anywhere! (bah!)

In the Egypt house I did a similar layout to the Chinese one, but with a flat roof… the patio is for martial arts equipment (but later I did put 2 easels on and a chess set for little Risk.)  There is a bathroom right off the patio so stinky martial artists don’t have too far to go to get clean.

This shot I included because for some reason Dare spun into glasses with his martial arts gear.  Maybe he thought it would help him land his blows better?  Or maybe he was hoping Dad wouldn’t hit a guy in glasses (lol!).  That said I think it did something for his face — made him look a little less doofy… I dunno.

Don’t you just love the background scenery in the game?   Brandon bought a plot of land right along the Nile.  I was trying for a vacation house in each location that was sorta central to make it easier to visit various locales.

More sparring.  I had them spar two or three times a day and it REALLY raised Dare’s levels up fast… from like 3 to 7 in no time at all.  After that, he would autonomously use the dummy trainer or the board breaker.

In my head as they were sparring they were trash-talking each other.

Dare:  You’re going down, old man!  (Cause of course anyone older than a teen is old.)

Brandon:  I brought you into this world, and I can take you out…

and somewhere along the line Brandon also quipped to Dare, “Old age and treachary will overcome youth and skill… and I’m still more skilled than you are, punk!”

And while they were doing this I had Nabila reading a Nectar-making book Brandon had bought (I had him buy copies of the various skill books to leave at each vacation house)   And she worked in the garden.

Risk spent much of his time glued to the computer refining his writing ..or at the easel painting… with an occasional side trip to town with mom or dad when he got the stir-crazy moodlet.

Risk’s first book was a nonfiction titled Ruh Roh Raggy:  Mummy Snacks and Other Fun Facts about Egypt.  (Title I made up and cracked myself up with… hehehe)

His second book was a children’s one called:  The Potty Cried (game generated title)

Both did well.  (His lifetime wish is to be an illustrated author.. and he’s at level 8 for painting I think..and 8 or 9 for writing.)  I know you can only have one designated spare..but i wanted to see how hard it would be…

Chance spent his time adventuring.. most of those “gather X amount of THIS” but he did go into one tomb — the servants quarters at Hatshepsut’s…  This pic (sorry its so dark) is him getting his level 3 visa for Egypt.   It was level 3 even though the game showed it as level 2… yay EA glitches!

I figure since he’s my heir (with no lifetime wish locked in yet).. I ought to get him a good visa for each destination so he can one day take his own heirs on skilling vacations.

Here is Dare getting his level 10 rank/belt in Martial arts.  Now all he has to do is to become a grand master in the tournaments to achieve his lifetime wish.

Dare:  I am fluid like the water.

Dare:  I gotta spar an old woman?

You gotta work your way up, kid…

*I took Dare and Chance to China on their own…not sure how long it would take Dare to work his way up the ranks… I think at day 3 of their 6 day stay (visa level 0, +3 days for prepared traveler for Chance)… Dare is at rank 4 or 5.

And that catches me up to current game play.