UPDATED: The Grass Roots Challenge

Created by Zylria

This challenge originated in Newcrest but has now expanded to all of the current worlds. Each world will have a varying difficulty level based on the number of lots that will need to be filled with additional buildings!

The founders of this town have moved to here to get away from it all. They believe strongly in living off the land and enjoying a strong family environment and surrounding themselves only with Sims who have like minded values. Most town founders build their town slowly but these founders want the entire town built by them and their blood children, they will be the town’s Grass Roots.  

In order to complete this challenge as it is written you will need the Outdoor Retreat, City Living, Dine Out, Spa Day, Jungle Adventure and Seasons game packs/expansions.

Getting started:

• Turn aging on for played households only
• Since pregnant sims do not age, and the number of pregnancies needed, it is ok to adjust the male sims age to match the mothers. You can do this in game by taking youth potions or modify in cas when they age up.
• I do not recommend turning aging off in the whole house for this because that will stop aging on the children too.
• Set lifespan to normal
• Set Season length to 7 or 14 days.
• Using CC is ok in the Founder’s House when building before you start play, however any CC that is significantly cheaper than game items cannot be used once gameplay starts.

There are several mods that I recommend to make this challenge more fun and immersive, that list can be found at the end of the rules

Download the Empty Worlds:

*These include the lot titles and traits
Windenburg:

Newcrest:

Willow Creek:

Brindleton Bay:

Oasis Springs:

All lots:

Lots Map:

Easiest:

Newcrest

Moderate:

Willow Creek

Brindleton Bay

Oasis Springs

Hardest:

Windenberg

Please note that rules starting with ** have additional information located in the Additional Rules section on the last page.

Founders:

Goal: Have enough children or sets of twins to fill all 10 of the essential function lots in town (all children must be given the vegetarian trait when they age up to child lifestage)

Aspirations: Family (not vampire) or Nature (Eco-Living/Homesteader - Modded Aspiration)

Traits: Vegetarian plus 2 of your choice

Challenge starts with a vegetarian/raw vegan couple, as the children do need to be born for the challenge you will need to have one sim that can have babies and one sim that can impregnate the other, otherwise gender is not important

** Please see Getting Started for some clarification on aging rules

Founders Lot: Home of starter household/founder

• You may make your house any size, but keep in mind that your starting funds are $0 Simoleons, and that you will have to pay bills.  You CANNOT use any cheats to pay the bills and selling any household objects is forbidden
• Your house CAN NOT include a greenhouse.
• See rules below for building one later
• Exceptions:  When upgrading an item it is acceptable to sell the old item.
• Use freerealestate on cheat to buy the house you have built on the lot.
• Once you move cheats are forbidden.

If you have the Cats and Dogs EP feel free to add pets to your lot. Keep in mind that they take up a slot in your HH and might make having enough children before the founders die harder.

Keep in mind that we are creating a town with no outside influence, see Additional Rules at the bottom.

Objectives:

• Grow a lush garden with at least 8 full garden boxes (or 32 plants)
• You must purchase, find or create the seeds  
• The use of DEBUG to get the seeds is cheating and is forbidden
• If you chose to shelter your garden:
• MUST have your first 3 babies (pregnancies if multiples) before you may build a greenhouse/garden shelter.
• ONLY 1 of each type of plant is allowed inside
• ONLY plant seeds you find growing or create with grafting (buying seed packets is forbidden)
• Be sure to always have at least 1 of each of these plants: mushroom, carrot, spinach and strawberry
• Founders may either eat what they grow or sell it for money
• **When choosing things to eat, you are only allowed to cook things you could have grown or found growing
• Each parent will have to help financially support the family without having a job/career. Instead they must take up a money making hobby like painting, music, writing etc.
• All children must have the same last name as the founders
• Every child must max at least one skill before they age up (toddlers and children)
• If a toddler or child fails this step before their birthday, it is a sign to the Founders that they will not be suitable to continue with the Town. They must be sent to live outside of the town immediately after aging to teen. They will not be given the starter seeds.
• Children can be aged up as soon as they max at least one skill to 10.
• Toddlers can be aged up once they max at least one skill to 5.
• Founders may travel within their town to find items and are allowed to visit approved festivals (Spice Festival, Flea Market or Romance Festival). All eating rules must be maintained when traveling and one sim must stay home if you have children (babies, toddler and children life stages).
• Before your first child becomes a teen and moves out, you must build Town Hall:
• Town Hall: Must be built with the total amount of Simoleons the Founder’s have when the oldest child becomes a teen. This will set the Founder’s household funds back to $0 (cost must be deducted from Founders household funds).

• When you building Town Hall it cannot have a lot value more that the amount deducted from the Founder’s at the time of the oldest child's birthday to Teen life stage.
• Be creative and make the most of this build to set your town up for success in the future as this will be the only lot that the children will be allowed to visit for awhile.
• Must include a feature to represent what the town is about
• Must include a feature that represents the Founders
• Must use the Museum lot type and include all items necessary.

As time passes feel free to add to the park for gameplay and immersion

• On the day of every teens in the family’s birthday or “age up day” they will move out to their designated lot after the party (or after they age up if you chose not to have a party)
• See Founder’s Children below for more detailed information on this
• Before sending teens to their own lots you must give them the following:
• 4 seeds from your own garden (1 of each: mushroom, carrot, spinach and strawberry)
• A level 1 Gardening book
• Another level 1 skill book determined by the lot they are going to.

Once your first child/children ages to a teen you can continue in one of the following ways:

1. Move the teen out to their lot and play the founder until all 10 children (pairs of twins or a combination of both) are born and moved onto their lots then move on to the kids playing each lot in order of age; or
2. You can move with each teen to their lot and finish their mini lot challenge then go back to the founder and continue having children and aging them up.
3. Move back and forth between the lots. This is the best way to keep immersion and have the most consistent believable storyline.

The following section is all about the Founder’s children.

Founder’s Children:

Goal: Make a house worth at least 35k Simoleons and marry a townie and convert them to our lifestyle (vegetarian) and complete their lot’s task list.

Aspirations (teen): Family (not vampire) or Nature (Eco-Living/Homesteader - Modded Aspiration)

Traits: Vegetarian plus 2 of your choice

When a child ages to teen they are sent to their own lot to start their life living off the land and becoming closer to nature. Once on the new lot you must use the money cheat testingcheats true and money 0 to set your money to $0

• Grow a lush garden with the seeds you are given when you aged up (a lush garden is 8 or more plants).
• Look around your lot for items to sell (rocks, frogs, plants) or fish for them.
• You can only eat food you have grown or found growing (eating at school is fine as you can't control it) until you reach young adult
• **Once you have aged to young adult and made enough money to buy a full kitchen you can start cooking (1 fridge, 1 stove, 1 counter and 1 sink)
• Like their parents they will have to financially support themselves and their future family without having a job/career. Instead they must take up painting, music, writing or gardening etc unless specified by their lot rules.
• You believe in making our town the only town we need and therefore traveling outside of town is not allowed.

Exceptions to this rule:

• Each lot may have an exception based on the collections that are required to be completed.
• Traveling to the Romance Festival, Flea Market, or Spice Festival
• In order to travel to the festivals you must be a young adult, already have a garden with at least 8 full grown plants and have your lot worth at least 7k.
• When at the festival you can not visit any other lots in the city (like the karaoke bar).
• Twins must travel together

• **Find a townie to marry. Your spouse must be willing to convert to our lifestyle by becoming a vegetarian, moving to your town to live with you, take the family name and quit their current job if they have one.
• **Once you start a family, the town Healer must be present on your lot when you select the action “have baby in bassinet”.  
• If the healer is not present we can’t be certain that the child will be acceptable to continue the family lineage, this child must be sent to live with someone outside of town immediately as town secrets could be learned as it ages.
• Until the healer lot is complete the Founder’s take the Healers place.

Twins:

Same rules as a single child except twins must be placed on the same lot. Same rules apply but each twin must form their own house on the lot. They are essentially making 2 households on one lot.

• Twins need to build 2 separate houses on their shared lot, these can be stand alone or adjoining, the total lot value needs to be over 50k. The houses must match in value of items so each mini house is worth relatively the same amount.
• Buying items for your house: if Twin 1 gets an item like a toilet, you must buy Twin 2 a toilet before anything else is purchased.

Triplets or Quadruplets:

• Triplets must be broken into 2 lots (2 sims on 1 lot and the 3rd on their own)
• Quadruplets must be broken into 2 lots (2 sims on 1 lot and the 3rd and 4th on their own)

Town Professional Lots:

All of the following lots are for the children. These lots must be completed in sections starting with Section 1, the order the lots within the sections are completed is not important, however the recommended order and detailed list of objectives for each lot is stated in the children’s section.

At this point in the game your Founder’s have likely accumulated a good chunk of Simoleons. If they can afford it, they are allowed to “loan” money to their children to build simple versions of the public lots to enhance gameplay. This will allow your children more options for places to visit and meet friends and romantic interests!

Lot Section 1: The Cultivators

The three Town Professional lots in this section will be responsible for completing the community garden on the designated lot. (Use Generic, Park or Retail Store lot type)

• They must build this lot with a max of 60k Simoleons and then deduct ⅓ of the total lot cost from each of the Sims who were responsible for building the lot.
• This lot must include one of each of the plants the gardener has found
• All Sims living within your town are welcome to visit this completed garden. The garden can be used for gathering seeds, however harvesting the entire gardens plants solely for money is considered cheating and is forbidden.
• Once this lot is complete all of the lots to follow will be allowed to get their seeds here OR order them using the Seeds Mod from the mod list!

Healer Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Bracing Breezes, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Healer of the town lives.

• The sim or sims that live here will be the town’s “doctor”. Your other sims must visit them when sick or call them to help in the delivery of all babies.
• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the Crystal collection.
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for crystals but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)
• Must have all of the Outdoor Retreat plants growing and on hand all the time for making medicine by the time you reach the adult lifestage.
• You are allowed to install the “herbalism doesn’t use insects” Mod for a more believable herbalism experience. If you do this be sure to keep the other needed plants for making medicines on hand in the garden.
• Must max out the herbalism and wellness skills
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Wellness Center/Hospital/Vet”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Hospital/Vet/Wellness Center on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins then the following applies:

• Both sims must max out herbalism and wellness.

Guru Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Sunny Aspect, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Guru of the town lives.

• The sim that lives here will be the town’s “priest/holy man/woman”. Your other sims must visit them when they are feeling down or call them to help with weddings. This sim will also keep the town's graveyard.
• Must max out the charisma and wellness skills
• This sim will also be a florist and must max the flower arranging skill and grow at least one of every flower type on their lot. (Using a greenhouse is acceptable)
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Chapel”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Chapel on the designated lot.

• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the MySim Trophies collection.
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for Trophies but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Both sims must max out charisma and wellness.

Gardener Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Great Soil, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the gardener of the town lives.

• The sim or sims will be responsible for maintaining the community garden once it is complete.
• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the plant/gardening collection which includes the following plants: Apple, Basil, Blue Bells, Carrot, Chrysanthemum, Daisy, Grapes, Lemon, Mushroom, Parsley, Plantain, Sage, Snapdragon, Spinach, Cherry, Lily, Onion, Pear, Potato, Rose, Strawberry, Tomato, Tulip, Bird of Paradise, Blackberry, Bonsai Buds, Cow Plant, Death Flower, Dragon Fruit, Orchid, Pomegranate, and Trash Fruit. (If you wish you may plant your cowplant at the garden rather than your home lot)
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for seeds but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)
• Must grow at least one of each of the collected plants on the lot.
• Must evolve all of these plants to perfect evolution
• Buy the “Super Green Thumb” reward from the reward store as soon as possible
• Must plant at least one of every plant on the Community Garden lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Must evolve the entire garden until all the plants are perfect
• Both sims must max out Gardening and buy the “Super Green Thumb” reward

Lot Section 2: The Park Party

The lots in this section will be responsible for building the community park on the designated lot.

• They must build this lot with a max of 60k Simoleons and then deduct ⅓ of the total lot cost from each of the Sims who were responsible for building the lot.
• This lot must meet all the park lot type requirements plus:
• Must have water feature
• Kids section with some toys for toddlers
• Must include an Observatory
• Fancy area that could be used for weddings

As time passes feel free to add to the park for gameplay and immersion

Teacher Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Good Schools, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Teacher of the town lives.

• The sim or sims will be responsible for helping the entire town learn.
• Must max out the writing and logic skills
• Must have a space for other sims to come to study and learn.
• Must complete the Fossil collection and Space Prints collection.
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “School house”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a School on the designated lot.

• After the school is built I recommend using the Private School mod to enroll all toddlers, children and teens in the school
• Must write books as their primary source of income.
• Starting as a young adult.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Both sims must specialize in two different writing genres
• Both sims must max out writing and logic skills
• Must also complete the Microscope Print collection

Technician Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Fast Internet, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Technician of the town lives.

• Must max out the programing, video game and logic skills
• Must make enough money to purchase at least one of every computer model and keep them all functional
• Must use programming or video gaming their primary source of income.
• Starting as a young adult.
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Tech Center”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Tech Center on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Both sims must max out programing, video game and logic skills.

Historian Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Fast Internet, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Historian of the town lives.

• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the Relic and Artifacts collection.
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for Relics/Artifacts but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)
• Must display 1 of every item in the Library/Museum once built.
• Must max out the writing and archeology skills (If you do not have Jungle Adventure substitute charisma)
• This sim spends 1 day per week (after reaching Young Adult) exploring Salvadorada
• This sim must complete all of the Temples
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Library/Museum”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Library/Museum on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Both sims must max out writing but specialize in different genres and max out charisma.

Lot Section 3:The Clean-up Crew

The lots in this section will be responsible for building and running the community outdoor restaurant on the Midtown Meadows lot. (Use restaurant lot type or bar if you don’t have the Dine Out pack)  

• They must build this lot with a max of 60k Simoleons and then deduct ¼  of the total lot cost from each of the Sims who were responsible for building the lot.
• This lot must meet all the restaurant lot type requirements (may use bar lot type if you do not have Dine Out).

Chef/Baker Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Chef’s Kitchen the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Chef/Baker of the town lives.

• The sim or sims will be responsible for running the town restaurant and baking all the wedding and birthday cakes for the town.
• Must max out the cooking and baking skills. This must be accomplished by reading or cooking and baking ONLY vegetarian foods.
• Must own all the cooking and baking books.
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Bakery”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Bakery on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Must grow a large garden with at least 8 garden boxes full of fruits and vegetables for supplying the restaurant and the in home bakery.
• Both sims must max out baking and cooking skills.

Town Janitor Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Grody and Filthy, the other 1 is up to you

This lot is where the town dump is located and the garbage man/woman of the town lives.

• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the fish collection.
• These fish must be mounted and displayed.
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for fish but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)
• The sim or sims will be responsible for maintaining the trash pile for the entire town.
• Must grow and maintain at least 10 trash plants.
• Must max out the fishing and mischief skills
• Must visit every Sims lot in town once per week to “collect trash”
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Town Dump”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Town Dump on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Must also complete the Fish Collection twice and each sim must mount all the fish and display them outside their house.
• Both sims must max out fishing and mischief skills.

Handyman Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Gremlins , the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Handyman/woman and the Craftsman/woman of the town lives.

• The sim or sims that live here will be responsible for completing the Metals collection.
• Travel rules will not apply when this lot’s sims are looking for Metals but travel can not begin until the sim becomes a young adult (twins don’t have to travel together)
• Must max out the handiness/woodworking skills
• Must make at least one of each of the following items with the woodworking table: Knife Block, Horse Sculpture, Barstool, Garden pot, Garden Planter, Bunny, Dragon and Elephant Sculptures, Mirror, End Table, Wall Shelf, Large Bear and Lumberjack Sculptures, Wall Hanging, Dining Chair, Dining Table, Craft Bathtub and Craft Toilet.
• Newcrest: Must create a room or structure to be used as a “Workshop”

All Other Towns: Must purchase and build a Workshop on the designated lot.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Both sims must max out handiness/woodworking skills.
• One twin must level the skill by fixing things and the other twin must level it with only the woodworking table.

Entertainer Lot:

Lot Traits: Must have Great Acoustics, the other 2 are up to you

This lot is where the Entertainer of the town lives.

• The sim or sims must own at least 1 of each of the following instruments: Guitar, Violin, Piano.
• Must max out the guitar, violin, and piano skills
• Must make play for money or write music as their money making trade.

If this lot has twins the following applies:

• Must build a music center on the lot that is separate from the house (worth at least $7,500).
• Since its not possible to separate how much a structure on the lot is worth please track how much your lot was worth before you start building this addition and make the center worth at least the $7,500
• Both sims must max out the guitar, violin, and piano skills.
• Both sims must make play for money or write music as their money making trade.

When the Founders Pass Away:

When the Founder’s pass away their house will be torn down and become a National Park.

• The park must meet all the requirements of the lot type.
• Must include a large shrine to the Founders.

Additional Rules:

• There will be no outside service people allowed (examples: nannies, butlers, repairmen, gardeners).
• You may purchase 1 Patchy per lot however a romantic relationship with him is not allowed.
• When choosing things to eat, you are only allowed to cook things you could have grown for example: fruit salad, garden salad, grilled fruit and baked potatoes (feeding toddlers fruit or veggies foods is fine even though some of the options can’t be grown). Try to remember that the whole point is to eat only things that you could grow or find growing and then have cooked. Exceptions: Cake for birthdays and weddings
• As there is currently no “grown” Grand Meal, Tofurkey is acceptable but ONLY on holidays that require one
• When meeting sims outside of the town group you must use the “Evangelize Vegetarian Benefits” interaction.
• When converting a townie, please edit their traits in CAS, you may choose which trait is given up and replaced with Vegetarian but do not alter the other 2
• Until the Baker lot is created teens must age up on the Founder Lot with a cake made there.
• Until the Healer lot is completed Sims must invite the Founders over and wait for them to arrive before doing the “Have Baby at Home” command.
• Until the Guru lot is complete weddings must occur on the Founder lot or park with the Founders present.
• 1 Money tree will be allowed on every lot but ONLY when purchased with reward points and only AFTER completing the lot objectives

Recommended Mods:

Sprinklers: https://brazenlotussims4.wordpress.com/2018/02/02/functional-garden-sprinkler/

Canning mod: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=598557

Candle Making: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=608357
Beekeeper: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=594645
Live in Business Mod: http://littlemssam.de/live-in-business/

Harvestable overhaul: https://brazenlotussims4.wordpress.com/2017/12/08/harvestables-overhaul/

Custom Harvestables: https://brazenlotussims4.wordpress.com/category/harvestables/

Harvestables: http://modthesims.info/browse.php?tag=harvestable&go=Go&gs=4&f=38
Harvestables Fill more: https://brazenlotussims4.wordpress.com/2018/04/26/eat-harvestables-fills-more-hunger-mod/

More Traits: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=537389

More Traits for kids: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=605868

Fisherman trait: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=606981

Eco Friendly Trait: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=606496

Eco-Friendly (Homesteader) Aspiration: http://modthesims.info/d/609159

Herbalist Aspirations: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=608922

Herbalism w/o insects: http://littlemssam.de/herbalism-no-insects-as-ingredients/
More Herbalism potions: http://littlemssam.de/herbalism-new-potions/

Grocery Store Mod:

Private School Mod: https://kawaiistacie.wixsite.com/sims/downloads/private-school-mod

Custom Food:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=590647

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=589067

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=570239

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=569505

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=604289

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=603981

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=586092

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=583281

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=579405

http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=579347