More Regular Saturday
Sep. 14th, 2024 11:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickYes, happily this was a much more normal Saturday for me than the last few have been, given all the bullshit going on. Maybe not a PERFECT Saturday, but certainly more relaxing! I needed that. :) Here is the breakdown of my day --
Tumblr: Decent enough day over here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Spent the time before lunch catching up on my dash a bit, then got the four posts that will make up this week’s Chill Valicer Save update (covering Marm’s first day at the Van Liddelton Groceries store) drafted – two before lunch, two after. And yeah, just four posts this week – I found that I could cover the entire time they spent at the store in one post instead of two. *shrug* Works for me! Anyway, main text and tags are all done on those – as per tradition, we will get the image alt text done tomorrow!
Valice Multiverse – Just had the one ask from Toonsisters tonight, describing her ideas on how to make a Victor-based Pokemon evolution line to Cuddlepile!Victor (obviously, it’s a butterfly-based evolution line that has an extra ghost/bug type form if you expose it to a spirit stone). Victor thought it was very well done and appreciated the work she put into it – the problem is, neither she nor I know what to call any of the Pokemon in the line. I mean, you obviously want the names to be puns or something descriptive of both Victor and what the Pokemon is like, but – drawing a blank. Hmmm…maybe inspiration shall strike later!
Sims 4: Got into the game a little later than I thought I would thanks to finishing up the Chill Valicer Save post drafts above and helping Mom with the laundry, but I still got in about a solid hour of “prepping Selvadorada for the Chill Valicer Save quartet’s upcoming vacation” build mode action –
A) First stop was the Alam Museum of Archaeology, in the Puerto Llamante Marketplace neighborhood of the world (you know, the area with the bar and the outdoor market where you buy all your jungle supplies). In the vanilla version of the world, this is an absolutely PATHETIC lot, with a TINY museum with barely anything to see in it (on a 64x64 lot!!) and a pool near some vague jungle ruins. I was like “no, there MUST be something better out there” and promptly hit up the Gallery to find it (learning in the process that hey, you can actually look for specific lot types on the Gallery! I don’t think I ever realized that before!).
And boy, did I ever find something. One quick sort by “most popular” brought up the “Selvadorada Temple Museum” by HighlandGaming, an utterly AWESOME build that turns that pathetic museum into an amazing converted temple with two levels of various objects and artifacts on display (not just the usual stuff either – there’s crystals, statues, treasure chests, and all sorts of other Selvadoradan goodies, all with informational plaques in front of them), a cafe area on the third level, and a tiny little wedding area at the top! :D It all looks absolutely fabulous and I was utterly thrilled with it the moment I downloaded it. However, me being me, I had to make a few tweaks to the build to make it “my own,” so to speak –
I. I replaced the standard toilets in the cafe area up top with the fancy painted versions you unlock in the “Arts Critic” branch of the Critic career from City Living, because I felt like those fit the vibe better – certainly seemed to go better with the colorful sinks from the pack!
II. I also added a little busking station to the corner of the balcony on the cafe level, so Sims could play there if they wanted and the patrons could enjoy a bit of live music with their snacks. :)
III. There were a couple of picnic tables down on the bottom level, near one of the fountain ponds on the side of the build, so I added the fancy cauldron grill that was added to the base game a few patches ago near those for anyone who wanted non-cafe food – I was going to use the Jungle Adventures grill, but that’s just a converted trash can, and I wanted something a bit nicer.
IV. I put in a second pop-up archaeology table behind the first included on the side of the lot, facing the other way behind the foliage, since I felt it important to have two just in case I wanted two Sims at once to be uncovering and authenticating artifacts. Gotta make sure you have plenty of ways to keep Sims occupied!
V. I added the Werewolves fancy telescope to the second-story balcony for Sims wishing to stargaze or moongaze while on their vacation – always nice to have more activities!
VI. I adjusted the displays on the first level so I could add in SomeCreative CC’s special “Selvadoradan Artifacts” and “Selvadoradan Temple Treasures” display cases! Specifically, I removed two displays that weren’t really Selvadoradan (an ornate base game storage box and the Spa Day rock stack, both on fancy plinths); moved two other displays (a collection of fancy skeleton statues and the two Omiscan treasure chests) into their spots; and then put the two display cases into their spots. And then put some random chunks of temple rubble on either side of the displays to fill in the space beside them a little bit. XD End result is that the entire central “square” of the first floor is now ringed with display cases for Selvadoradan stuff. Granted, the two SomeCreative display cases are completely empty at the moment, but...well. Part of the reason for the vacation is to bring some stuff back from the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse to help fill them.
VII. And I updated the Lot Traits and Lot Challenges a bit! The lot comes with the “Sunny Aspect” Lot Trait (meaning Sims get Happy, Inspired, or Energized moodlets when the sun goes down) and the “Quake Zone” (the ground sometimes shakes a bit and opens up with little steaming cracks) and “Spooky” (attracts random ghosts) Lot Challenges – I added “Creepy Crawlies” (random bug and bat attacks can happen to Sims) as a Challenge since the lot was reasonably near the jungle, and “Natural Light” (which makes Painting and Photography go better) and “Geothermal” (helps with power production and heats pools) as Traits because I felt they fit the lot’s vibe (“Geothermal” in particular felt like a good fit with the “Quake Zone” Challenge).
So yeah – when Victor, Alice, Smiler, and Marm arrive here for their vacation, they’re going to have a MUCH better museum to visit than Victor and Alice did the first time around!
B) Speaking of which, once I was done admiring and updating the new museum, I took a moment to swing by the “Jungle Bungalow” rental lot which I intend for them to stay in while they’re in Selvadorada and see if I wanted to make any changes to that as well. Turns out I did, though just a few small ones –
I. I replaced the base game mailbox on the lot with the Werewolves one on a stick, since that felt like it fit the vibe a little better to me – at any rate, it was more fun. XD
II. I recolored the pool on the side of the lot to be more brackish-colored (since that’s one of the color options that came with Jungle Adventures); added some pool lights so it would be at least somewhat lit at night; replaced the standard ladder with the cool Get Together rocky one (I also wanted to add the matching diving platform, but that apparently requires both a wall and flooring, and I didn’t wand to mess with the build too much); and threw in a fun “bubbles crack” on the bottom of the pool to liven it up a bit. So now the pool looks a little more jungley, yay~
III. Speaking of which, the lot also had a plain rectangular “fountain” on the other side of the lot, so I threw in some of the algae clusters and big old lily pads that came with Jungle Adventures, along with a fun “spitting fish” water emitter. Now this fountain has some character! Along with actual fountain elements! XD
IV. I put an archaeology bench on the front porch, to make it easier to authenticate artifacts while at “home” – never know when the ones in the world might be in use!
V. I swapped out the uncomfortable regular base game toilets in the bathrooms with the nicer “antique” base game toilets – who wants to be uncomfortable pooping while on VACATION?
VI. Since the lot had the “Peace & Quiet” Lot Trait that meant Sims got more out of reading, I threw some books up on the fireplace on the first floor (since those decorative books between two stands now also function as bookcases – I would have put a PROPER bookcase into the build, but I wasn’t sure where I could stick it).
V. And speaking of Lot Traits, I added “Natural Well” to the list, since I wanted to make sure all three slots were filled, and I might as well have nice water for my Sims to use while they’re staying there. :p
Oh, and I also put the two plates Victor and Alice left on the table the LAST time they stayed there in the kitchen for easier clean-up. XD So now this lot is ready for Victor, Alice, Smiler, and Marm to stay in it! :D Meaning, next time I play the Chill Valicer Save, I can get these four off to the jungle post-haste!
C) Oh, and short adorable side note – I actually hit up the Valicer farm for a couple of minutes right at the end of the session (because sometimes, when I do some building in this save, the game goes “Oh, your last played family was Geeker McTest, right?” and I’m like “...no”) – while Smiler, Alice, and Marm were all told to keep going what they were doing at the end of the last playsession (upgrading the party barn stereo, painting a new impressionistic painting, and reading books, respectively), Victor, who was a bit tired, got sent upstairs to bed. However, Surprise was also heading upstairs to the bed to lay on it for a while –
Meaning, when Victor climbed into bed, Surprise jumped in after him, like the cat wanted to sleep with him. Awww. :) Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it, and Surprise phased through the covers shortly thereafter, but it WAS cute. :) Good note to end the session on!
Writing: Well, I got to this SUPER late, and didn’t quite manage my usual full page, BUT I did work some more on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3 – covering Alice finishing off Boris, then wondering how she was going to get out of the office without bringing down the whole gang on either her head OR Venus’s. Wonderland has given her an interesting suggestion regarding that, though – one that involves her truthfully admitting to being an assassin, but falsely admitting who she’s an assassin for… We’ll see how that goes for her next week!
YouTube: Managed to get in my Saturday Two without issue, I am pleased to report –
A) First up, before supper, we had GrayStillPlays and “Cars vs animals in GTA 5” – a very silly Torture Board which put Gray up against various animals in a variety of stupid challenges:
I. Which Service Vehicle Can Outrun A Deer? – meaning, which of a tractor, a forklift, an airport baggage cart, a tractor, and a flat transport vehicle thing could outrun old Meaty Bits to make the checkpoint. XD This was a tough one, as deer in this game run very, VERY fast (Gray estimated like 40 mph), and none of the vehicles on offer had a great top speed – but the flat transport vehicle thing came the closest on its initial run, and Gray quickly realized that if he took advantage of the “curb boost” glitch in the game, he could probably win. And he did – just barely. Like, he got onto the platform that would take him to the checkpoint RIGHT before it started sliding away in response to Meaty crossing the finish line. But hey, it did it, and that is all that matters!
II. Which Compact Car Can Plow Through 40 Layers Of Cows Faster? – meaning, which of the various small cars in the game (including Mom’s smart car and various knockoff Beetles) could get through a corridor of forty cows in 20 seconds before the wall came up in front of the checkpoint at the other end? Gray tried out a sporty bug with a spoiler and Mom’s favorite ride, but unsurprisingly, the ultimate winner proved to be the arena Bug with the plow attached to the front. Took a few tries and a handful of cows launched into space when the plow hit them, but eventually it made it through within the time limit! Even nearly took a few cows with it. :p
III. Which Vehicle Can Smite A Person Faster Than A Mountain Lion? – meaning, which of the quad, the bulldozer, the motor scooter, the RC flamethrower tank, and the Bandito could kill a man faster than the mountain lion? The sacrificial victims were set up on either side of an invisible wall, and Gray had to hit the script circle and then charge into the death arena to murder his guy before the mountain lion murdered hers – and trust me, a mountain lion can take down a dude FAST in this game, so Gray had to be equally quick. The bulldozer proved to be almost too unwieldy to even get into the death arena (Gray couldn’t activate the script circle until he raised the scoop), and then was absolutely pathetic at murdering people; the RC tank, by contrast, was much better with its flamethrower, but was still just a LITTLE too slow (probably because it took the dude slightly longer to burn to death than the other dude to get mauled). Hilariously, THE BANDITO proved to be the ultimate winner, with the combination of “hit ‘em in the ankles, then hit him in the skull” being JUST faster than the lion. So I guess if you need to kill someone, grab an RC car!
IV. Which Super Car Can Catch Two Fish? – meaning, which of the open-wheeled F1 car, the boosted super car, two regular super cars of slightly different models, and the pink electric super car could shoot through a slice of ocean in the middle of the board and murder a fish – twice? That last part was very important, as Gray discovered at least one car could do it ONCE – but then the engine flooded out and he couldn’t go for the second fish to actually win the board. Most of the cars just straight-up flooded out when he tried, while the boosted car proved too unwieldy to actually AIM – like, Gray kept overshooting the edges of the board and diving straight into the water around it. XD Leaving the winner to be, surprisingly, the pink electric car, aka the car you think would do the WORST in the water. But nope – he was able to line up, kill a fish, then turn around and kill the other fish, all without flooding out! I guess electric really is the way of the future!
V. Which Off-Road Car Can Outswamp a Crocodile? – meaning, which of the rescue quad, dump truck, shark van, sport SUV, and the Sherp could basically outrun a crocodile in reasonably deep water. The poor rescue quad drowned immediately, while the shark van drowned after a few more feet – but the dump truck did surprisingly well, pretty much keeping pace with the crocodile’s tail. Despite Gray’s best efforts, though, it wasn’t able to beat the croc to the finish line, meaning this one was taken by the big old cube on big floaty wheels, the Sherp! And while I am glad for another win for the Previously-A-Failson car, I know yearn to know what challenge the dump truck could win legitimately. *waves flag* All trucks must have their day!
B) Then, after supper and Game Night (Sequence – I won four games, Mom won three, Dad won two), we had Jon and “Fallout: London - Part 8 - Throw The Book At Them!” Featuring the continuing adventures of Lady Aria and Archie as they do a bunch of busywork for the Vagabonds and Aria keeps getting sidetracked checking out new locations and running into things that murder her! XD Specifically, today’s adventures saw them –
I. Go after an “Isle of Dogs Scout” for the Syndicate bastards who the Vagabonds killed at the end of last episode (and who Aria stripped for their natty suits) at the behest of Vagabond Yvette – the scout had retreated to Dom’s Cafe nearby to try and send a message to the Syndicate to get some back-up. Yvette wanted the woman killed, but Aria found she had enough Strength to intimidate the woman into giving herself up – the scout pleaded that she’d just joined up with the Syndicate and didn’t want to get involved in all this murder, and Aria, sympathizing, let her go. Nice to see a softer side from Lady “I will murder anybody who has a hat I want” Aria!
II. Encounter a fight between radshrews and bloatflies near Bromley North Station, which turned into Aria and Archie running for their lives from a Drenched Radshrew, which proved to be a LOT TOUGHER than its brethren. Aria did eventually kill it (though she nearly died herself in the process – good thing she’d just picked up some milk to drink from Dom’s) – but then, while poking around near the station, she encountered something called a “dryad,” which proved to be a tree-person version of a feral ghoul. She killed THAT too, made a note to avoid trees, and then hightailed it back to the Swan & Mitre.
III. Tell Yvette very vaguely that the problem with the scout was “sorted,” then get shuffled into doing busywork for the gang because Sebastian Gaunt was apparently having a bad day and not willing to speak with them (Jon was quite put out that nobody seemed to respect her cool “I came out of a tube in a lab so I must be the chosen one” backstory). Specifically, she was tasked by Blind Nelson (the group’s intel guy and a ghoul – though apparently in London, the polite word for them is “commuters”) with helping fix his busted radio – and when she went to talk to Chill Winston about getting the parts, he sent her to check on a package of his that was late for mysterious reasons. Sorry, Lady Aria, but as the new girl, you get to do all the dogsbody stuff. You know, like every other Fallout protagonist joining a faction. :P
IV. Visit The Hound pub on their way to track down the late courier, Nadia – a place that had a lot of radroaches; a collectible coaster that upped Aria’s melee and bashing damage and made Jon all excited because apparently he collects coasters himself in real life; a bunch of blood on the stairs and a skeleton holding a knife in a bed upstairs – and a terminal explaining that this was an unlucky tenant who slipped and fell on the stairs once, and then suffered an infestation of cockroaches shortly before the bombs dropped (Jon theorized that the poor person died fighting the radroaches that resulted from the radiation); and another Cutethulhu doll, that when picked up, caused Aria to feel like she and the dolls were becoming good friends and that there was a presence watching over her. ...Well, Aria, I hope it’s Dadthulhu from the original Oxventure and not any other version of that particular Elder God. XD
V. Visit the Churchill Library while wandering around Bromley, which resulted in Aria killing a few ghouls and then opening up the Banned Books closet and collecting the books inside (stuff like “Brave New World” and “Catch-22”) – she wasn’t sure WHY she did that, but it felt important to get the books back in circulation again.
VI. Visit The Glades, some sort of shopping center they stumbled across while getting back to actually finding Nadia and Winston’s package – only to stumble across a fuckton of mysterious cultists, all of whom were keen to cripple Aria’s head. She did her best, but – yeah, turned out to be a “die, reload, AVOID” kind of area. XD
VII. Get back on the path of the package and kill some Hooligans along the way – then get distracted trying to get into Bromley South Station, which resulted in them looping around the back and descending some scaffolding to the trainyard below...where they ended up fighting a Womble. Jon was like “why is it always cocking Wombles.” XD However, in this case, by doing a bit of drugs, pulling out the good guns, and scrambling up the scaffolding to get the high ground, Aria WAS able to kill it, and thus gain access to the packages it was guarding – all of which were Expert-locked, but that was no barrier to good old Archie! Though Aria DID discover that Archie actually USES the bobby pins he has on him when he opens locks, so if you want to keep him for his lockpicking skills, you’d better keep him in bobby pins. (Also, adorable side note – this kid not only starts with 20 bobby pins in his inventory, but three cookies and a teddy bear. It’s very sweet and Jon was quite charmed.)
VIII. Visit Bromley Police Station – Aria was a little worried about finding members of the police faction within, but fortunately the only residents were radroaches and feral ghoul prisoners. More importantly, the stop yielded Aria some pieces of police riot gear armor (a MASSIVE improvement on her current kit); a “Constable Cruel” perk magazine (featuring a Judge Dredd parody and giving her +1% chance of avoiding all damage from an attack, nice); and her first companion affinity conversation with Archie after he started admiring her after seeing her pick open a safe (he asked why she let him tag along, and she said that it looked like he could get into anything; Archie was pleased and said they make a good team and he doesn’t know where he’d be otherwise, saying he needed a partner in crime). So that was all very good! Plus there was a bed there, so she could get in a very important nap to avoid wandering about at night.
IX. Finally find Nadia, who was running around nearby being chased by a bunch of Hooligans. Aria took out the threat and chatted with her – but Nadia’s nervous chatter about how the Vagabonds were always looking out for the merchants around here didn’t exactly fill her with confidence that she was working for the good guys. Not that she had much time to think about it, as the conversation was very rudely interrupted by more Hooligans attacking. XD Aria blew them up with some cricket ball grenades she found and got the package to take back to Winston – she also took a look at Nadia’s regular wares, but there was nothing she wanted. Ah well. At least she finally got the damn stuff Winston wanted! XD
X. Poke their heads in nearby Holy Trinity Church – only to encounter more cultists and end up very dead; and then in the Outskirts Bunker nearby, with an air raid shelter underneath, only to encounter a whole bunch of radshrews (including another Drenched) and – when Lady Aria insisted on opening a door with “DO NOT ENTER” painted next to it – a LEGENDARY GLOWING DRYAD and end up very VERY dead. XD At least Aria MIGHT have gotten a combat rifle out of the whole mess? Depends on when Jon saved, I guess...and it can’t even do her any good yet, as she doesn’t have the Gunsmith skills to upgrade it properly! (She did get a chance to upgrade some of her other guns, though – again, if Jon remembered to save after doing so! I hope he did.)
XI. And finally return to the Swan & Mitre after a save reload and Aria going “I’m doing exploring” to give Winston his package, get the antenna needed to fix the radio, bring that to Bullettooth Anthony to get it fixed, and finally bring that to Blind Nelson (who was rightfully like “what the fuck took you so long??”). He did thank her for her efforts and had her listen with him to the latest news –
Which revealed that a Vagabond prisoner was going to be hung by the Syndicate over in Millwall in order to send a message to the Vagabonds – namely, don’t bomb our shit, or this is what happens. Nelson immediately told Aria that he expected Yvette to be down there, because apparently she has roots in that area of the world and she would immediately want to check that it’s not one of her people getting the noose – and that he was worried that she was going to do something very stupid. So he asked Aria to go down there, unfuck any fucked-up situations, and bring Yvette back in one piece, promising to make it worth her while. So it appears that next week, Aria will be finding her way into Syndicate territory to help cool down any potential gang wars there! Should be loads of fun. :p
Not too shabby, I feel. :) And now it's time to start wrapping things up before I hit the sheets. Tomorrow is Sunday, with the goals being to get that image alt text done for the Chill Valicer Save update posts; play Fallout 4 and investigate Slocum Joe's inner offices; update the FO4 Playthrough Progression appropriately; get in a work out and start the next episode of the "Every Life Stage Challenge" by James Turner; and keep up with GrayStillPlays and Jon with the Sunday Two. Hopefully all achievable goals! Night all!
Tumblr: Decent enough day over here –
Victor Luvs Alice – Spent the time before lunch catching up on my dash a bit, then got the four posts that will make up this week’s Chill Valicer Save update (covering Marm’s first day at the Van Liddelton Groceries store) drafted – two before lunch, two after. And yeah, just four posts this week – I found that I could cover the entire time they spent at the store in one post instead of two. *shrug* Works for me! Anyway, main text and tags are all done on those – as per tradition, we will get the image alt text done tomorrow!
Valice Multiverse – Just had the one ask from Toonsisters tonight, describing her ideas on how to make a Victor-based Pokemon evolution line to Cuddlepile!Victor (obviously, it’s a butterfly-based evolution line that has an extra ghost/bug type form if you expose it to a spirit stone). Victor thought it was very well done and appreciated the work she put into it – the problem is, neither she nor I know what to call any of the Pokemon in the line. I mean, you obviously want the names to be puns or something descriptive of both Victor and what the Pokemon is like, but – drawing a blank. Hmmm…maybe inspiration shall strike later!
Sims 4: Got into the game a little later than I thought I would thanks to finishing up the Chill Valicer Save post drafts above and helping Mom with the laundry, but I still got in about a solid hour of “prepping Selvadorada for the Chill Valicer Save quartet’s upcoming vacation” build mode action –
A) First stop was the Alam Museum of Archaeology, in the Puerto Llamante Marketplace neighborhood of the world (you know, the area with the bar and the outdoor market where you buy all your jungle supplies). In the vanilla version of the world, this is an absolutely PATHETIC lot, with a TINY museum with barely anything to see in it (on a 64x64 lot!!) and a pool near some vague jungle ruins. I was like “no, there MUST be something better out there” and promptly hit up the Gallery to find it (learning in the process that hey, you can actually look for specific lot types on the Gallery! I don’t think I ever realized that before!).
And boy, did I ever find something. One quick sort by “most popular” brought up the “Selvadorada Temple Museum” by HighlandGaming, an utterly AWESOME build that turns that pathetic museum into an amazing converted temple with two levels of various objects and artifacts on display (not just the usual stuff either – there’s crystals, statues, treasure chests, and all sorts of other Selvadoradan goodies, all with informational plaques in front of them), a cafe area on the third level, and a tiny little wedding area at the top! :D It all looks absolutely fabulous and I was utterly thrilled with it the moment I downloaded it. However, me being me, I had to make a few tweaks to the build to make it “my own,” so to speak –
I. I replaced the standard toilets in the cafe area up top with the fancy painted versions you unlock in the “Arts Critic” branch of the Critic career from City Living, because I felt like those fit the vibe better – certainly seemed to go better with the colorful sinks from the pack!
II. I also added a little busking station to the corner of the balcony on the cafe level, so Sims could play there if they wanted and the patrons could enjoy a bit of live music with their snacks. :)
III. There were a couple of picnic tables down on the bottom level, near one of the fountain ponds on the side of the build, so I added the fancy cauldron grill that was added to the base game a few patches ago near those for anyone who wanted non-cafe food – I was going to use the Jungle Adventures grill, but that’s just a converted trash can, and I wanted something a bit nicer.
IV. I put in a second pop-up archaeology table behind the first included on the side of the lot, facing the other way behind the foliage, since I felt it important to have two just in case I wanted two Sims at once to be uncovering and authenticating artifacts. Gotta make sure you have plenty of ways to keep Sims occupied!
V. I added the Werewolves fancy telescope to the second-story balcony for Sims wishing to stargaze or moongaze while on their vacation – always nice to have more activities!
VI. I adjusted the displays on the first level so I could add in SomeCreative CC’s special “Selvadoradan Artifacts” and “Selvadoradan Temple Treasures” display cases! Specifically, I removed two displays that weren’t really Selvadoradan (an ornate base game storage box and the Spa Day rock stack, both on fancy plinths); moved two other displays (a collection of fancy skeleton statues and the two Omiscan treasure chests) into their spots; and then put the two display cases into their spots. And then put some random chunks of temple rubble on either side of the displays to fill in the space beside them a little bit. XD End result is that the entire central “square” of the first floor is now ringed with display cases for Selvadoradan stuff. Granted, the two SomeCreative display cases are completely empty at the moment, but...well. Part of the reason for the vacation is to bring some stuff back from the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse to help fill them.
VII. And I updated the Lot Traits and Lot Challenges a bit! The lot comes with the “Sunny Aspect” Lot Trait (meaning Sims get Happy, Inspired, or Energized moodlets when the sun goes down) and the “Quake Zone” (the ground sometimes shakes a bit and opens up with little steaming cracks) and “Spooky” (attracts random ghosts) Lot Challenges – I added “Creepy Crawlies” (random bug and bat attacks can happen to Sims) as a Challenge since the lot was reasonably near the jungle, and “Natural Light” (which makes Painting and Photography go better) and “Geothermal” (helps with power production and heats pools) as Traits because I felt they fit the lot’s vibe (“Geothermal” in particular felt like a good fit with the “Quake Zone” Challenge).
So yeah – when Victor, Alice, Smiler, and Marm arrive here for their vacation, they’re going to have a MUCH better museum to visit than Victor and Alice did the first time around!
B) Speaking of which, once I was done admiring and updating the new museum, I took a moment to swing by the “Jungle Bungalow” rental lot which I intend for them to stay in while they’re in Selvadorada and see if I wanted to make any changes to that as well. Turns out I did, though just a few small ones –
I. I replaced the base game mailbox on the lot with the Werewolves one on a stick, since that felt like it fit the vibe a little better to me – at any rate, it was more fun. XD
II. I recolored the pool on the side of the lot to be more brackish-colored (since that’s one of the color options that came with Jungle Adventures); added some pool lights so it would be at least somewhat lit at night; replaced the standard ladder with the cool Get Together rocky one (I also wanted to add the matching diving platform, but that apparently requires both a wall and flooring, and I didn’t wand to mess with the build too much); and threw in a fun “bubbles crack” on the bottom of the pool to liven it up a bit. So now the pool looks a little more jungley, yay~
III. Speaking of which, the lot also had a plain rectangular “fountain” on the other side of the lot, so I threw in some of the algae clusters and big old lily pads that came with Jungle Adventures, along with a fun “spitting fish” water emitter. Now this fountain has some character! Along with actual fountain elements! XD
IV. I put an archaeology bench on the front porch, to make it easier to authenticate artifacts while at “home” – never know when the ones in the world might be in use!
V. I swapped out the uncomfortable regular base game toilets in the bathrooms with the nicer “antique” base game toilets – who wants to be uncomfortable pooping while on VACATION?
VI. Since the lot had the “Peace & Quiet” Lot Trait that meant Sims got more out of reading, I threw some books up on the fireplace on the first floor (since those decorative books between two stands now also function as bookcases – I would have put a PROPER bookcase into the build, but I wasn’t sure where I could stick it).
V. And speaking of Lot Traits, I added “Natural Well” to the list, since I wanted to make sure all three slots were filled, and I might as well have nice water for my Sims to use while they’re staying there. :p
Oh, and I also put the two plates Victor and Alice left on the table the LAST time they stayed there in the kitchen for easier clean-up. XD So now this lot is ready for Victor, Alice, Smiler, and Marm to stay in it! :D Meaning, next time I play the Chill Valicer Save, I can get these four off to the jungle post-haste!
C) Oh, and short adorable side note – I actually hit up the Valicer farm for a couple of minutes right at the end of the session (because sometimes, when I do some building in this save, the game goes “Oh, your last played family was Geeker McTest, right?” and I’m like “...no”) – while Smiler, Alice, and Marm were all told to keep going what they were doing at the end of the last playsession (upgrading the party barn stereo, painting a new impressionistic painting, and reading books, respectively), Victor, who was a bit tired, got sent upstairs to bed. However, Surprise was also heading upstairs to the bed to lay on it for a while –
Meaning, when Victor climbed into bed, Surprise jumped in after him, like the cat wanted to sleep with him. Awww. :) Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of it, and Surprise phased through the covers shortly thereafter, but it WAS cute. :) Good note to end the session on!
Writing: Well, I got to this SUPER late, and didn’t quite manage my usual full page, BUT I did work some more on “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Chapter 3 – covering Alice finishing off Boris, then wondering how she was going to get out of the office without bringing down the whole gang on either her head OR Venus’s. Wonderland has given her an interesting suggestion regarding that, though – one that involves her truthfully admitting to being an assassin, but falsely admitting who she’s an assassin for… We’ll see how that goes for her next week!
YouTube: Managed to get in my Saturday Two without issue, I am pleased to report –
A) First up, before supper, we had GrayStillPlays and “Cars vs animals in GTA 5” – a very silly Torture Board which put Gray up against various animals in a variety of stupid challenges:
I. Which Service Vehicle Can Outrun A Deer? – meaning, which of a tractor, a forklift, an airport baggage cart, a tractor, and a flat transport vehicle thing could outrun old Meaty Bits to make the checkpoint. XD This was a tough one, as deer in this game run very, VERY fast (Gray estimated like 40 mph), and none of the vehicles on offer had a great top speed – but the flat transport vehicle thing came the closest on its initial run, and Gray quickly realized that if he took advantage of the “curb boost” glitch in the game, he could probably win. And he did – just barely. Like, he got onto the platform that would take him to the checkpoint RIGHT before it started sliding away in response to Meaty crossing the finish line. But hey, it did it, and that is all that matters!
II. Which Compact Car Can Plow Through 40 Layers Of Cows Faster? – meaning, which of the various small cars in the game (including Mom’s smart car and various knockoff Beetles) could get through a corridor of forty cows in 20 seconds before the wall came up in front of the checkpoint at the other end? Gray tried out a sporty bug with a spoiler and Mom’s favorite ride, but unsurprisingly, the ultimate winner proved to be the arena Bug with the plow attached to the front. Took a few tries and a handful of cows launched into space when the plow hit them, but eventually it made it through within the time limit! Even nearly took a few cows with it. :p
III. Which Vehicle Can Smite A Person Faster Than A Mountain Lion? – meaning, which of the quad, the bulldozer, the motor scooter, the RC flamethrower tank, and the Bandito could kill a man faster than the mountain lion? The sacrificial victims were set up on either side of an invisible wall, and Gray had to hit the script circle and then charge into the death arena to murder his guy before the mountain lion murdered hers – and trust me, a mountain lion can take down a dude FAST in this game, so Gray had to be equally quick. The bulldozer proved to be almost too unwieldy to even get into the death arena (Gray couldn’t activate the script circle until he raised the scoop), and then was absolutely pathetic at murdering people; the RC tank, by contrast, was much better with its flamethrower, but was still just a LITTLE too slow (probably because it took the dude slightly longer to burn to death than the other dude to get mauled). Hilariously, THE BANDITO proved to be the ultimate winner, with the combination of “hit ‘em in the ankles, then hit him in the skull” being JUST faster than the lion. So I guess if you need to kill someone, grab an RC car!
IV. Which Super Car Can Catch Two Fish? – meaning, which of the open-wheeled F1 car, the boosted super car, two regular super cars of slightly different models, and the pink electric super car could shoot through a slice of ocean in the middle of the board and murder a fish – twice? That last part was very important, as Gray discovered at least one car could do it ONCE – but then the engine flooded out and he couldn’t go for the second fish to actually win the board. Most of the cars just straight-up flooded out when he tried, while the boosted car proved too unwieldy to actually AIM – like, Gray kept overshooting the edges of the board and diving straight into the water around it. XD Leaving the winner to be, surprisingly, the pink electric car, aka the car you think would do the WORST in the water. But nope – he was able to line up, kill a fish, then turn around and kill the other fish, all without flooding out! I guess electric really is the way of the future!
V. Which Off-Road Car Can Outswamp a Crocodile? – meaning, which of the rescue quad, dump truck, shark van, sport SUV, and the Sherp could basically outrun a crocodile in reasonably deep water. The poor rescue quad drowned immediately, while the shark van drowned after a few more feet – but the dump truck did surprisingly well, pretty much keeping pace with the crocodile’s tail. Despite Gray’s best efforts, though, it wasn’t able to beat the croc to the finish line, meaning this one was taken by the big old cube on big floaty wheels, the Sherp! And while I am glad for another win for the Previously-A-Failson car, I know yearn to know what challenge the dump truck could win legitimately. *waves flag* All trucks must have their day!
B) Then, after supper and Game Night (Sequence – I won four games, Mom won three, Dad won two), we had Jon and “Fallout: London - Part 8 - Throw The Book At Them!” Featuring the continuing adventures of Lady Aria and Archie as they do a bunch of busywork for the Vagabonds and Aria keeps getting sidetracked checking out new locations and running into things that murder her! XD Specifically, today’s adventures saw them –
I. Go after an “Isle of Dogs Scout” for the Syndicate bastards who the Vagabonds killed at the end of last episode (and who Aria stripped for their natty suits) at the behest of Vagabond Yvette – the scout had retreated to Dom’s Cafe nearby to try and send a message to the Syndicate to get some back-up. Yvette wanted the woman killed, but Aria found she had enough Strength to intimidate the woman into giving herself up – the scout pleaded that she’d just joined up with the Syndicate and didn’t want to get involved in all this murder, and Aria, sympathizing, let her go. Nice to see a softer side from Lady “I will murder anybody who has a hat I want” Aria!
II. Encounter a fight between radshrews and bloatflies near Bromley North Station, which turned into Aria and Archie running for their lives from a Drenched Radshrew, which proved to be a LOT TOUGHER than its brethren. Aria did eventually kill it (though she nearly died herself in the process – good thing she’d just picked up some milk to drink from Dom’s) – but then, while poking around near the station, she encountered something called a “dryad,” which proved to be a tree-person version of a feral ghoul. She killed THAT too, made a note to avoid trees, and then hightailed it back to the Swan & Mitre.
III. Tell Yvette very vaguely that the problem with the scout was “sorted,” then get shuffled into doing busywork for the gang because Sebastian Gaunt was apparently having a bad day and not willing to speak with them (Jon was quite put out that nobody seemed to respect her cool “I came out of a tube in a lab so I must be the chosen one” backstory). Specifically, she was tasked by Blind Nelson (the group’s intel guy and a ghoul – though apparently in London, the polite word for them is “commuters”) with helping fix his busted radio – and when she went to talk to Chill Winston about getting the parts, he sent her to check on a package of his that was late for mysterious reasons. Sorry, Lady Aria, but as the new girl, you get to do all the dogsbody stuff. You know, like every other Fallout protagonist joining a faction. :P
IV. Visit The Hound pub on their way to track down the late courier, Nadia – a place that had a lot of radroaches; a collectible coaster that upped Aria’s melee and bashing damage and made Jon all excited because apparently he collects coasters himself in real life; a bunch of blood on the stairs and a skeleton holding a knife in a bed upstairs – and a terminal explaining that this was an unlucky tenant who slipped and fell on the stairs once, and then suffered an infestation of cockroaches shortly before the bombs dropped (Jon theorized that the poor person died fighting the radroaches that resulted from the radiation); and another Cutethulhu doll, that when picked up, caused Aria to feel like she and the dolls were becoming good friends and that there was a presence watching over her. ...Well, Aria, I hope it’s Dadthulhu from the original Oxventure and not any other version of that particular Elder God. XD
V. Visit the Churchill Library while wandering around Bromley, which resulted in Aria killing a few ghouls and then opening up the Banned Books closet and collecting the books inside (stuff like “Brave New World” and “Catch-22”) – she wasn’t sure WHY she did that, but it felt important to get the books back in circulation again.
VI. Visit The Glades, some sort of shopping center they stumbled across while getting back to actually finding Nadia and Winston’s package – only to stumble across a fuckton of mysterious cultists, all of whom were keen to cripple Aria’s head. She did her best, but – yeah, turned out to be a “die, reload, AVOID” kind of area. XD
VII. Get back on the path of the package and kill some Hooligans along the way – then get distracted trying to get into Bromley South Station, which resulted in them looping around the back and descending some scaffolding to the trainyard below...where they ended up fighting a Womble. Jon was like “why is it always cocking Wombles.” XD However, in this case, by doing a bit of drugs, pulling out the good guns, and scrambling up the scaffolding to get the high ground, Aria WAS able to kill it, and thus gain access to the packages it was guarding – all of which were Expert-locked, but that was no barrier to good old Archie! Though Aria DID discover that Archie actually USES the bobby pins he has on him when he opens locks, so if you want to keep him for his lockpicking skills, you’d better keep him in bobby pins. (Also, adorable side note – this kid not only starts with 20 bobby pins in his inventory, but three cookies and a teddy bear. It’s very sweet and Jon was quite charmed.)
VIII. Visit Bromley Police Station – Aria was a little worried about finding members of the police faction within, but fortunately the only residents were radroaches and feral ghoul prisoners. More importantly, the stop yielded Aria some pieces of police riot gear armor (a MASSIVE improvement on her current kit); a “Constable Cruel” perk magazine (featuring a Judge Dredd parody and giving her +1% chance of avoiding all damage from an attack, nice); and her first companion affinity conversation with Archie after he started admiring her after seeing her pick open a safe (he asked why she let him tag along, and she said that it looked like he could get into anything; Archie was pleased and said they make a good team and he doesn’t know where he’d be otherwise, saying he needed a partner in crime). So that was all very good! Plus there was a bed there, so she could get in a very important nap to avoid wandering about at night.
IX. Finally find Nadia, who was running around nearby being chased by a bunch of Hooligans. Aria took out the threat and chatted with her – but Nadia’s nervous chatter about how the Vagabonds were always looking out for the merchants around here didn’t exactly fill her with confidence that she was working for the good guys. Not that she had much time to think about it, as the conversation was very rudely interrupted by more Hooligans attacking. XD Aria blew them up with some cricket ball grenades she found and got the package to take back to Winston – she also took a look at Nadia’s regular wares, but there was nothing she wanted. Ah well. At least she finally got the damn stuff Winston wanted! XD
X. Poke their heads in nearby Holy Trinity Church – only to encounter more cultists and end up very dead; and then in the Outskirts Bunker nearby, with an air raid shelter underneath, only to encounter a whole bunch of radshrews (including another Drenched) and – when Lady Aria insisted on opening a door with “DO NOT ENTER” painted next to it – a LEGENDARY GLOWING DRYAD and end up very VERY dead. XD At least Aria MIGHT have gotten a combat rifle out of the whole mess? Depends on when Jon saved, I guess...and it can’t even do her any good yet, as she doesn’t have the Gunsmith skills to upgrade it properly! (She did get a chance to upgrade some of her other guns, though – again, if Jon remembered to save after doing so! I hope he did.)
XI. And finally return to the Swan & Mitre after a save reload and Aria going “I’m doing exploring” to give Winston his package, get the antenna needed to fix the radio, bring that to Bullettooth Anthony to get it fixed, and finally bring that to Blind Nelson (who was rightfully like “what the fuck took you so long??”). He did thank her for her efforts and had her listen with him to the latest news –
Which revealed that a Vagabond prisoner was going to be hung by the Syndicate over in Millwall in order to send a message to the Vagabonds – namely, don’t bomb our shit, or this is what happens. Nelson immediately told Aria that he expected Yvette to be down there, because apparently she has roots in that area of the world and she would immediately want to check that it’s not one of her people getting the noose – and that he was worried that she was going to do something very stupid. So he asked Aria to go down there, unfuck any fucked-up situations, and bring Yvette back in one piece, promising to make it worth her while. So it appears that next week, Aria will be finding her way into Syndicate territory to help cool down any potential gang wars there! Should be loads of fun. :p
Not too shabby, I feel. :) And now it's time to start wrapping things up before I hit the sheets. Tomorrow is Sunday, with the goals being to get that image alt text done for the Chill Valicer Save update posts; play Fallout 4 and investigate Slocum Joe's inner offices; update the FO4 Playthrough Progression appropriately; get in a work out and start the next episode of the "Every Life Stage Challenge" by James Turner; and keep up with GrayStillPlays and Jon with the Sunday Two. Hopefully all achievable goals! Night all!
