The Sims 3 'Build A City' Challenge

I'm attempting this challenge as per the rules laid out on The Sims Forums by Tom Simkins, with some edits/improvements based on Natasha Rasmussen's alternate rules (also posted on Mod The Sims), which include more expansion packs. I am not using mods and am doing most of my tracking through a spreadsheet - you can view/copy the template here.

The goal of the challenge is to begin with an empty neighborhood and develop it into a city over several generations.

Preparation for the Challenge

Neighbourhood

Before you begin, note that it might be helpful to create a back-story to the neighborhood. In my case, I took the back-story of Appaloosa Plains - that the sleepy ranching town was in decline - except instead of nouveau riche coming in and causing a conflict between old and new, the town deteriorated and was essentially abandoned. The "government" responded by clearing out all of the buildings except a Victorian-style boarding house, which it refurbished. This explains the presence of the NPC household, but we'll get to that in a moment.

First off, choose a neighborhood that has a map that you want to use. This could be either a pre-made neighborhood or a custom made one. Next, go to Edit Town and delete all lots in the neighborhood. You can leave the lots that have no/little "Sim-made" objects on them (purely nature).

Since you begin with one community lot, I recommend it be a fishing spot or a garden to make up for the lack of plants. You should set it to "No Visitors Allowed" and only let a Sim go there to get seeds once per week, maximum. You may want to use DebugBuy to find fish and plant spawners for your starter lot.

The NPC Household

The first thing you will create is the NPC household. The household will represent the townies that you cannot control - you will not play this household. It will consist of 4 males and 4 females, all Young Adults or Adults. You create them in "Create A Sim" by creating a person and randomizing their traits, favorites and Lifetime Wish. You may customize their looks and voice, but you're not supposed to know their traits. Repeat the process until you have your household of 8, with 4 of each gender Sim. You may create relationships between up to 3 of them, but I personally did not as I wanted to have more variety rather than a set of siblings.

When back at the Neighborhood view, you may build their house as you like. Feel free to give it a theme - a boarding house like I did, a hotel, an asylum, government housing, or whatever you'd like - but remember you will not play this household.

You can move the NPC family into the house using the freeRealEstate cheat.

Rules for the NPCs

  1. You may not play the NPCs unless you move them into your household.

  2. No moving NPCs in just to move them out… that’s cheating.

  3. They do count towards your Population. (Population count will be explained below.)

  4. However, their deaths only count if you moved them in.

  5. The NPCs are non-replenishable. You cannot create a new one each time you move one out, or if they somehow die before you can move them into a played Household. That would inflate your Population count. You may only add 1 new NPC (randomized traits, favorites and Lifetime Wish) to the NPC Household for every 5th Community Lot you earn/build.

  6. Fires that occur on the lot while you are on it count towards the fire limit.

  7. Lastly, you may visit the actual household only after you became best friends with one of the NPCs.

At this point, you should have a mostly blank neighborhood with only a few “parks” and an NPC household of 8 people. If you do, you may continue.

Your Sim Founder

Time to create your Sim… Just do it like normal. The exception would be that you have to move them into an empty lot since nothing else exists yet.

Note: Any Sims after this 'Founder' may move into pre-built houses.

Settings / How to Play

  • Story Progression - You can choose to play with Story Progression ON or OFF

    • Story Progression OFF & Aging OFF – This style is most similar to the Sims 2 style. As your neighborhood expands, you must play EVERY household for the same amount of time.

      • In this option, you should play each household for 1 week. After that week, switch households. Once all households are played, the round/cycle has ended and a new one can begin.

      • You will have to keep track of your Sims' ages (or find a mod that makes aging similar to The Sims 2) and manually age them with birthday cakes or by clicking on them with TestingCheatsEnabled true.

      • You may also have to keep track of your Households' funds once you begin rounds/cycles. I found that the game would make weird changes to Household funds in some cases. Simply note the amount of funds at the end of that Household's week you play, and when you return to that Household for the next round/cycle, check your Sims' inventories for anything they shouldn't have (I've found cars often get given to Sims not in your Active Household) and sell/delete those that don't belong. Then use the familyfunds cheat to set the funds to what you previously recorded.

    • Story Progression ON & Aging ON – In this option, you may change households at will for the duration of the challenge. Play out the lives of the Sims you find interesting, strategically choose to play Sims whose lifetime wishes or developed traits could advance the community in some way, or simply free play for fun.

  • Lifespan – It is recommended that you play this challenge either at the default Lifespan (Normal/90 Days) or the long Lifespan (Long/190 Days) since you are probably going to count the days manually. However, you can choose any lifespan you want.

​​

The (Actual) Challenge

The goal of this challenge is to create a city with a population of 50,000 or more people. Of course, you will not be playing 50,000 sims. That would be extreme!
Instead, a simple formula is used:

Population = # of Playable and NPC Sims X Sim Multiplier (SM)
In words: The Population of the city is the number of Sims you play combined with the NPC household, times the Sim Multiplier (SM).

Since NPCs are included in the Population count, you may only add 1 new NPC (randomized traits, favorites and Lifetime Wish) to the NPC Household for every 5th Community Lot you earn/build. You may not simply replenish them as you move them into playable Households or if they somehow die before you move them out.

Sim Multiplier (SM)

Now, you may be wondering how to get the Sim Multiplier (SM). The SM begins at 1 and is raised by:
+1   for the first community lot you earn
+1   when you reach a total of 5 community lots
+1   for every 5 additional community lots
+1   when the first Sim invests in a business
+3   when 4 businesses have investors
+5   when all 11 businesses have investors
+2   when the first Sim owns 1 business outright
+6   when Sims own 4 businesses
+10 when all 11 businesses have owners
+5   for each Airport

How to Unlock Lots, Careers and Services

If the neighborhood is all but a blank slate, how do you add lots, invest in businesses, or get employed?

What makes this challenge difficult is that pretty much all buildings and jobs as well as most services are locked when you begin. Your Sims, number of Households and Population must hit certain milestones to unlock them. These requirements will be explained in detail in the following sections.

​Careers are often limited to a certain number of Sims or Sims with certain skills until they are "fully unlocked." Often, a career must be "topped," in other words, a Sim must reach career level 10, to fully unlock it for the community. When a career is "fully unlocked," that means any Sim - and as many Sims as you'd like, unless otherwise stated - can join that career / accept a job in that career.

Throughout the challenge, the number of Community Lots must be less then the number of Households. When you begin, you have 2 Households (Founder and NPC) and 1 Community Lot. That means you must add another Household before you can add another Community Lot.

Increasing Households

You can increase the number of Households in the following ways:

  • 1. Getting and using CAS Sim points (highlighted below under Unlocking Community Lots). CAS points can be used right away or "saved up" to use at the same time to create a family of 2 or more.
  • 2. Having or adopting children who move out when they are a Young Adult or older.
  • 3. Moving out a Sim who is a Young Adult or older.

Unlocking Community Lots

A Community Lot can be placed at any time, but only one can be added per round/cycle. What type of Community Lot you add depends on what you have unlocked. I've tried to list them in roughly the order you could unlock them.

The list is still a bit daunting - personally I find the spreadsheet I use a bit less intimidating than the list below. You can view/copy the template here.

Once you unlock a Community Lot, you can place a lot that came with the game, that you download from The Exchange, or that you create yourself. If creating a lot yourself, you may want to use the DebugBuy cheat to place special objects and spawners. You may place lots with multiple buildings/rabbit holes on the same lot (e.g. the combined Bookstore and Spa, Hospital and Science Center, School and Stadium, etc.) if you have unlocked all of the relevant/respective buildings.

Expansion Pack requirements override the normal requirements unless otherwise stated.

Colour Code:

Base Game Challenge

Ambitions Add-ons
Late Night Add-ons
Generations Add-ons*
Pets Add-ons
Showtime Add-ons*
Supernatural Add-ons
Seasons Add-ons
University Life Add-ons*
Island Paradise Add-ons
Into The Future Add-ons*
Store Content Add-ons

If you don't have the Expansion Pack or Store Content listed, ignore that coloured script.

Tip: If you use my spreadsheet template, you can delete rows for Expansion Pack or Store items you don't have, or use "strikethrough" formatting for ones you may get later but don't have yet. For example, I deleted rows for Into The Future lots, but applied strikethrough formatting for Generations and University Life add-ons since I might buy those later. This means I won't have to re-add rows to my spreadsheet and mess around with formatting; I can simply remove the strikethrough and get back to the Challenge!

Unlocks by:

Skill Levels
Events
# of Households
Population


• Small Parks & Beaches - Always unlocked, but limited by the 1 Community Lot per round/cycle rule.

    • Dog Parks & Cat Jungles require 5+ of the respective pet type.

• Military Base - 3 Households. Unlocks 1st Military Career position.

    • +1 Military job every 3 Households.

• Consignment Store - 2 Sims have maxed a creating skill (e.g. Painting, Writing, Photography, Sculpting, Inventing).

    • Elixir Consignment Store - 3 Sims have maxed the Alchemy skill OR 3 Supernatural Sims (e.g. Witches, Wizards, Werewolves, Zombies, Vampires, Fairies, playable Ghosts, and/or Genies) with an Alchemy skill of 3 or higher live in town.

• Gypsy / Fortune Teller Wagon - 3 Witches, Wizards and/or Genies live in town. Unlocks the Fortune Teller/Clairvoyant Career for Sims who are Witches, Wizards or Genies, as well as every Sim with both the "Supernatural Fan" trait and a Charisma skill of 5 or higher.

    • Fully unlocked after 3 Sims top the Career.

• Street Market (Al Fresco Street Market) - 2 Sims have maxed the Gardening skill AND 1 Sim has maxed the Cooking skill.

• Arboretum & Greenhouse (Stones Throw Green House) - 3 Sims have maxed the Gardening skill AND 1 Sim has completed a Gardening skill challenge (e.g. Master Planter, Botanical Boss, Master Farmer).

• Gym / Workout Facilities - 5 Sims have maxed Athletic skill.

• Art Gallery - 4 brilliant or better paintings AND 4 brilliant or better sculptures are created but are not sold. These must be placed in the Gallery.

• Art Studio -

  • • (Prism Art Studio) - An Art Gallery has been built AND 2 Sims have maxed the Painting skill AND 1 Sim has maxed the Sculpting skill.
  • • (Skylight Studio for the Performing Arts) - An Art Gallery has been built AND 2 Sims have maxed the Painting skill AND 1 Sim has maxed the Athletic skill.

• Bakery (Deliciously Indulgent Bakery) - 5 Households AND 3 Sims have maxed the Cooking skill.

• Laundromat - 10 Households without washing machines or dryers.

• Salon / Tattoo Parlor - 10 Households AND 2 Sims have maxed the Charisma skill. Unlocks 1st Stylist Career position.

    • +1 Stylist job for every 10 Households.

• Bars -

  • • 10 Households for a Dive Bar or a Local Watering Hole;
  • • 10 Households AND 1 topped Criminal Career for a Dive Bar Criminal;
  • • 15 Households AND 1 topped Athletic Career for a Sports Bar.

• Clubs -

  • • 20 Households for a Dance Club;
  • • 25 Households AND 5+ Sims with a maxed instrument skill for a Disco Club;
  • • 30 Households AND 5 Celebrities with 3+ Star Level for a Poolside Club.

• Lounges - 5 different Sims top 1+ careers OR 5 Celebrities with 3+ Star Level. Unlocks 2 CAS.**

    • Future Lounges - 5 different Sims top 1+ careers including at least 1 Science Career, AND 1+ SimBot has been created (with the Inventing skill) or a Sim has maxed the Bot Building skill.

• Graveyard - 20 Sims die. Unlocks Mausoleum and associated part-time jobs.

    • Ghost Hunter Career unlocked after a Graveyard and the Science Center have been built. Only 1 Sim in career at once.

• Bistro / Diner - Every Sim who completes 2 of the Cooking skill challenges (e.g. Star Chef, World-Class Chef, and Menu Maven) is eligible for a Culinary job.

  • • Once 1st topped, any Sim with max Cooking is eligible.
  • • Fully unlocked at venues where Culinary Career has been topped by 1+ Sims.

• Stadium - Every Sim who completes all Athletic skill challenges (e.g. Body Builder, Marathon Runner, and Fitness Nut) is eligible for an Athletic job.

  • • Once 1st topped, any Sim with max Athletic is eligible.
  • • Fully unlocked after 3 Sims top the Career.

• Criminal Hideout - 100 Population. Unlocks 1st Criminal job.

    • +1 Criminal job for each Sim who tops the Criminal Career.

• Playground - 10 Sims are in the Child life stage at the same time.

• Pet Store / Adoption Center - 15 stray cats and/or dogs are adopted.

• Horse Ranch / Training Grounds - 5 Horses AND 5 Sims with a Riding skill of 3 or higher.

• Equestrian Center - 10 Horses tamed from the wild OR 20 Foals bred OR 5 Sims with maxed Riding skill, 3+ of which have a Jumping skill of 3 or higher.

• Hangout - 1 unlocked at Population levels 100, 1000, and 30,000.

  • • Supernatural Hangout - 15 Supernatural Sims, with at least 3 types represented (e.g. Witches, Wizards, Werewolves, Zombies, Vampires, Fairies, and/or playable Ghosts). Genies can also be included in these counts if you have the Showtime Expansion Pack.
  • • If you have the University Life Expansion Pack, you can use the following types of lots in place of a Hangout, provided you have met the requirements to unlock them. Since this increases the number of lots you can create, you can unlock additional Hangouts at Population levels 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000.
    • • Java Hut - 1+ Sims have completed University AND a Bistro, Diner or Bakery has been built.
    • • University Hangout - 5+ Sims have completed University.
    • • Nerd Shop - 5+ Sims have completed University AND the Science Center has been built.
    • • Rebel Hangout - 5+ Sims have completed University AND an Art Gallery, Salon / Tattoo Parlor or Dive Bar has been built.
    • • Arcade - 5+ Sims have completed University AND a Theater has been built.

• Library - 250 Population.

• Vault of Antiquity - 3 Sims have maxed the Alchemy skill AND a Library has been built.

• School - 250 Population. Unlocks 1st Education Career position. Unlocks 5 CAS.**

  • • +1 Education job every 250 population.
  • • Boarding School is always unlocked, but travel penalties apply.
  • • University - School must have been built, the Sim must have completed high school, and travel penalties apply.

• Police Station - 500 Population OR Criminal Career topped. Unlocks burglar alarms.

  • • If you do not have the Ambitions Expansion Pack, there is an additional requirement that there have been 3 fires on residential lots, but it also unlocks fire alarms.
  • • +1 Law Enforcement or Investigator job for each Sim who tops the Criminal Career.

• Fire Station - 3 fires occur AND a Police Station has been built. Unlocks fire alarms and 1st Firefighter position.

    • +1 Firefighter job every 3 fires.

• Spa - 500 Population. Unlocks associated part-time jobs.

• Community Pool - 500 Population.

• Show Venues -

  • • 500 Population OR a Java Hut has been built for a Coffeehouse (can add necessary Showtime Expansion Pack objects to the Java Hut, if desired);
  • • 750 Population for a Live Show Venue;
  • • 1,500 Population for a Private Venue;
  • • 5,000 Population for a Big Show Venue;

• City Hall - 1,000 Population. Unlocks 1st Politics Career position AND Self-Employed Careers.***

  • • +1 Politics job every 4,000 Population.
  • • *** Daycare positions are limited by the number of Toddlers in town. +1 Daycare position for every 5 Toddlers.
  • • Architectural Design Career requires City Hall has been built AND 8+ Households. Only Sims with max Painting are eligible.
      • • +1 Architectural Design job per 8 Households.

• Big/Major Parks & Beaches - A Sim in the Politics Career becomes the Mayor (Level 7).

  • • Festival Grounds - A Sim in the Politics Career becomes the Mayor (Level 7) AND 3+ Sims have the "Loves the Outdoors" trait.
  • • Business Park - A Sim in the Politics Career becomes the Mayor (Level 7) AND 3+ Sims have topped the Business Career.

• Hospital - 1,000 Population. Unlocks 1st Medical Career position. Unlocks 1 CAS.**

    • +1 Medical job every 5,000 Population.

• Bookstore - 1,000 Population. Unlocks associated part-time jobs. Unlocks 1 CAS.**

• Unlocks 2 CAS.**

• Business Building - 1,000 Population. Unlocks 1st Journalism Career position. Families that own 2 lots or shares in 3 businesses can have 1 Business Career position.

  • • +1 Journalism job for every 5 Sims who top ANY career.
  • • +1 Business job for each Sim in the Business Career that is Level 5 or higher.

• Casino (The Lucky Simoleon Casino) - 1+ Sim has topped the Business Career AND 1+ Sim has topped the Criminal Career.

• Film Studio - 3 different Sims top 1+ careers AND 2+ Sims have completed the Prolific Writer skill challenge. Unlocks associated part-time jobs. Unlocks 1st Film/Acting position; only Sims with maxed Charisma OR Writing skill are eligible for a Film position until 1st topped.

  • • +1 job every time one of these requirements is met.
  • • Once 1st topped, Film Career fully unlocked.

• Science Center - 3 electrocutions, 1 alien abduction. Unlocks Science Career for Aliens, SimBots and every Sim who becomes an Adult with max Logic and Inventing. Unlocks associated part-time jobs.

  • • Once 1st topped, Science Career fully unlocked.
  • Ghost Hunter Career unlocked after a Graveyard and the Science Center have been built. Only 1 Sim in career at once.

• Junkyard - 2,000 Population unlocks 1st Junkyard.

    • 4,000 Population unlocks 2nd Junkyard.

• Supermarket / Grocery Store - 3,000 Population. Unlocks associated part-time jobs. Unlocks pizza delivery. Unlocks 1 CAS.**

• Theater - 3,000 Population OR a Sim completes the Money Maker skill challenge. Unlocks associated part-time jobs. Every Sim who has a maxed instrument skill is eligible for a Music Career position.

  • • Fully unlocked when any branch is topped.
  • • (Le Cinema Plumbob) - A Theater or Film Studio has been built AND 1+ Hangout or Bar has been built.

• Resort / Retreat (Serenity Retreat) - 5,000 Population AND 1+ Beach must have been built.

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• Bot Emporium - 5 Sims have maxed the Bot Building skill OR 15 Sims with the "Bot Fan" trait are living in town.

• Cafeteria - 5,000 Population AND 3+ Sims have topped the Culinary Career.

• Stellar Observatory - 10,000 Population AND the Science Center has been built.

• Plumbot Competition Arena - 10,000 Population AND a Bot Emporium has been built.

• Subways & ZEPHYR Stops - 20,000 Population.

• Airport - $1 million in "donations" or taxation from Sims (deducted with familyfunds cheat).  Unlocks 5 CAS.**


** Unlocking CAS points means you may use Create A Sim (CAS) to create any Sim you would like, including selecting their traits, favorites and Lifetime Wish. 1 CAS = 1 Sim. These points can be used right away or "saved up" to use at the same time to create a family of 2 or more.


Unlocking Services

Newspaper Delivery - Always unlocked.
Baby-sitter - Always unlocked.
Adoption Service - Always unlocked.
Repair Services - Unlocked at 500 Population.
Maid - Unlocked at 500 Population.
Butler - Unlocked at 10,000 Population.
Burglar Alarm - Unlocked with Police Station.
Fire Alarm - Unlocked with Fire Station (see Police Station notes if you don't have the Ambitions EP).
Pizza Delivery - Unlocked with Supermarket.
Boarding School - Always unlocked, but travel penalties apply. 
University - School must have been built, the Sim must have completed high school, and travel penalties apply.