ELC: The Rules

Standard rules: Setup

Base Game

  • Cannot start with an occult as founder (even if you have them)
  • Can choose any traits , any aspiration, & any likes & dislikes you want for your founder
  • Normal lifespan
  • Lot must be 50×40 or bigger
  • You can move into any empty lot, go to manage worlds, evict a household/s & demolish the lot you want, then go back & move your sim in to that now vacant lot.
  • Once you’re on lot for legacy, Money Cheat down to $1000
  • Cannot move lot during challenge
  • Can only play this household/lot in this save.
  • No cheats/hacks/mods that give you an advantage over someone who didn’t use them.
  • You can set any, all, or no neighbourhood stories

Seasons

  • You may set your season length, but it must remain constant the entire challenge
  • Holidays (Maxis-made or self-made) are permitted, & can be altered/added/removed, except for the lottery which must be deleted before it runs.

Eco Lifestyle

  • Can turn off NPC voting for NAPs in main menu if you want, until you have completed the 2nd milestone of the aspiration “Eco Innovator” as you need them on for the next part of that aspiration. After this aspiration is complete, you may turn NPC voting for NAPs off again.

Cottage Living

  • Animal Aging on

High School Years

  • You may turn off NPC relationship autonomy

Growing Together

  • Self Discovery on (rules for gameplay below).

Standard rules: Gameplay

Base game

  • Once set, Aspiration cannot change until completed
  • Traits & aspirations must be random rolled / generated (cannot choose) at birth
  • When you get a Like/Dislike or Family Dynamic pop up you must accept it.
  • Only spouses or pets may move in.
  • Only the founder & heirs’ spouses & children (including adopted) count towards points.
  • Spouse cannot bring money in when they move in, so use the Money cheat to remove whatever they added on marriage/move in
  • If moved in spouse comes with child/teen they must come too as though adopted
  • Adoptions count as family members & can be heirs
  • Any Sim in the household can be set as an Infant or Toddler’s caretaker
  • Cannot age a sim up before their birthday, unless they are a teen vampire. Then you can age them up after 21 days.
  • Anti-aging item one per sim per lifetime
  • To count for heir, sim must have completed 1 child aspiration
  • If a sim moves out they are no longer eligible for heir. Ever.
  • Cannot bring sim back from dead (pleading at death is fine, including with a death flower)
  • You cannot use ambrosia to resurrect a dead sim, but living sims may cook & eat it (anti-aging item rule applies)
  • You may not invite a ghost sim back into the family.
  • Sims who become playable ghosts by misadventure must be changed back after 3 sim days, but must die for real within a week of whatever made them a ghost. Fate is only so patient.
  • No restarting after bad events (such as chance cards, fires, or accidental deaths). Restarting after a bug/glitch is fine.
  • You cannot sell a collectible unless it is a double up.
  • Fish collection should be mounted (preferrably when fresh)
  • You cannot sell a masterpiece painting unless it is a double up
  • Memorial photo/painting must be done by a sim with maxed photography/painting.
  • Points are only earnable by family members living on the legacy lot or the heir’s first spouse.
  • BFF is for life.
  • Generation “in charge” changes when next generation ages to Young Adult
  • Challenge ends when Generation 20 ages to YA

Get to Work      

  • Must follow sim to work.  If you have a live career & a teen in school, you can choose who to follow, but the one you don’t follow wont gain progress that day.

Get Together

  • Clubs cannot be household members only

City Living

  • Can reroll aspiration if spouse has City Native aspiration (as it is not possible to do in this challenge)

Seasons

  • Money tree is NOT allowed & cannot be grown in this challenge. If you want to purchase a seed for it purely for collection’s sake, you must keep it on a shelf & not sell it or plant it.
  • May NOT participate in lottery
  • Patchy is allowed
  • Weather machine is allowed
  • Gnomes can only bought once per generation, & only one type of gnome can be bought each time. Gnomes that appear from the tradition or rummaging do not count against purchases.
  • Trait rearranger potion is allowed, but traits must be rolled/generated
  • Attic Stack Decoration box can be rummaged through once per week, & you can sell finds
  • You may only have the present pile on the lot for one week per year, regardless of your season lengths
  • Father Winter may only attend one holiday per year, & you can sell his gifts
  • Create 2 holidays at death of founder:
    1. “Remembrance” on date of death. 1 tradition: Remembrance
    2: “[Family name]” on 1st day of season that challenge started. Select 1 tradition to reflect founder’s personality.
  • At death of each heir, choose 1 tradition to add to alternating family holiday. The tradition should reflect the heir’s personality or achievements.

Eco Lifestyle     

  • You may not accept inheritance. You must say “No Thanks”
  • You can have a dumpster & dive in it, but you have to place items on your lot & go to live mode with them there before you can sell them

Discover University

  • Cannot live on university lot

High School Years

  • Must follow sim to school.  If you have a live career & a teen in school, you can choose who to follow, but the one you don’t follow wont gain progress that day.

Growing Together

  • Popups that offer to CHANGE traits you must say NO.
  • Popups that offer to ADD traits you must say YES. Added traits count towards the unique spouse trait collection.
  • Stay overs & visits are allowed. Move ins remain spouse only.

Parenthood

  • Can choose which upbringing values to influence (if any)

Romantic Garden Stuff

  • Wishing Well can only be used once per sim per lifetime

Laundry

  • One full generation must have laundry (your choice which generation)

Expanded rules

Hard Mode rules are in addition to the standard rules above.
Some will overrule the standard, such as starting with Money set to $0 instead of the standard starting with $1000 .

If a rule is overridden, you get points for both Standard & Hard Mode versions.
eg: If you start with $0, you also get the point for starting with $1000.

Hard Mode: Setup

Base Game

  • Money Cheat down to $0 on moving into vacant legacy lot
  • Start with off-grid lot challenge for first 2 weeks in game time
  • 1 Lot trait must be random rolled per generation. (Use the in-game randomiser & keep the first on the left)
  • 1 lot challenge must be random rolled per generation
  • Lunar cycle default, permanent phase disabled, lunar effects on

Cats & Dogs, & Horse Ranch

  • Must have at least 1 cat/dog/horse at all times. If not made with founder in CAS, then you must adopt before end of first week

Seasons

  • Winter start (Sulani is still legal, but good luck in those year round storms)
  • Rain & Thunderstorms, Snow & Blizzards set to On
  • Enable temperature effects on sims

Snowy Escape

  • Enable thunder/snowstorms, & icy conditions

Growing Together

  • Career Layoffs enabled

Bust the Dust

  • One full generation has the dust system enabled

Hard Mode: Gameplay

Base Game

  • You can only place walls if you can afford to add ‘wallpaper’ to both sides
  • To be eligible for heir, sim must have max 2 toddler skills, max 2 child skills, & completed child aspiration
  • All graves: spirit must stay linked to physical world
  • Weddings cost $1000 (cheat money down if you elope or move in together without marriage event)
  • Sims cannot move out; leaving the lot is by death only.

Get Together

  • To complete club aspiration, you must join an established club – not create your own

Cottage Living

  • Lot challenge simple living minimum first generation

Discover University

  • Must have a matching degree before the following careers:
    • Conservationist (biology / economics)
    • Scientist (physics)
    • Doctor (biology)
    • Astronaut (physics / villainy)
    • Business (Economics / communications)
    • Civil Designer (physics / communications)
    • Education (phychology / economics)
    • Engineer (physics / computer science)
    • Law (Language & Literature / history)
    • Politics (communications / history)
    • Secret Agent also requires secret society (villainy / psychology)
  • Founder can have a “part-time” job before their career if they’re getting a degree restricted career

parenthood

  • Heir needs 1 or more character value traits to qualify (red OR green)

Laundry Day

  • Must have laundry for five full generations, including one while off grid. Laundry generations do not have to be consecutive.

Tiny Living

  • Must be a legitimate tiny home for the points. No tricking build mode that it isn’t a room.

Rules Exceptions

Base Game

  • A Child sim’s child aspirations after the first completed one can be chosen
  • A Young Adult (or older) sim’s aspirations after the first completed one can be chosen
  • Child ghosts (haunting) taken by social services for missing school is a bug, & aren’t penalised.
  • Fish dug up or gifted as foul can be sold instead of mounted.

City Living

  • Can change aspiration if it’s an excluded one for the challenge (ie City Native)

High School Years

  • A Teen sim’s teen aspirations after the first completed one can be chosen

Generator

Excel Spreadsheet for scoring

If you like this challenge &/or the resources for it, please consider supporting my work via my KoFi.

I don’t want to charge for the spreadsheet, but it was a lot of work.
You can set whatever amount you choose (it will show in AUD).