My take on the #BuildNewcrest legacy challenge – meet Kirk Bloomer

I have always been a legacy style player. Granted, the furthest I’ve ever gotten was generation 6, but nonetheless, playing one family for generations and bringing them from rags to riches is my preferred way of playing (although I tend to try to put off the riches part for as long as possible). I’ve been intending to start a new legacy for a while, and wanted to incorporate the town of Newcrest somehow. Luckily I came across Simply Vanilla Sims Blog and her #BuildNewcrest legacy challenge.

What this essentially is is a legacy challenge with a bit of a twist, as your family has been given the task of building the Newcrest neighbourhood from scratch. You start in the blank world and each generation has a specific goal, such as building the community park, gym and so on. For a full list of rules and background information, you should definitely check out ShadyLady_DQ’s original thread on the challenge here.

Meet my founder, Kirk Bloomer. He loves the outdoors, is a perfectionist and is a cheerful sim. With no possessions to his name – other than his positive attitude and enthusiasm – he could not believe his luck that he became the sim responsible for building the Newcrest community.

In line with the challenge’s rules, Kirk’s main quest will be creating the community park – his family’s lot will become the public park once he fulfills the Freelance Botanist aspiration. I have decided to start off with no money whatsoever (this is not an official requirement of the challenge, just my own sadistic preference).

Additionally, I am also making the challenge a tiny bit harder by not allowing Kirk to get a proper job. The challenge does not allow Sims to leave Newcrest (with the exception of Magnolia Promenade and Granite Falls), and my take on this is that since there is no businesses in the area yet, there are no jobs he could actually work that are close enough for him to get to. It will be Kirk’s job to attract investors to the area and make sure his family members will struggle less than himself.

This means Kirk will primarily be earning money from gardening, fishing and collecting. Collecting is especially important at this stage, since he is going to need a place to sleep in tonight, and with no skills his chances of catching a fish are pretty slim. Also, he’s going to need to collect plants in order to start his dream garden.

Searching for frogs is my favourite method and is actually more profitable than some simmers realise. Once you have two frogs in your inventory, you can breed them to get an extra frog to sell for cash. This gets especially fruitful if you happen to breed two rare species.

As the founder of the neighbourhood, Kirk introduces himself to the locals. They don’t seem to have a lot of faith in him quite yet, but hopefully he can convince them that he can make Newcrest the place to be, starting a thriving community with a park at its heart.

Being restricted to an empty neighbourhood and starting out practically homeless can prove to be challenging, considering I can’t send Kirk to the gym to shower or mooch some food in the Magnolia Blossom park. Luckily, I was pleased to discover that the neighbourhood provides for most of his needs, with public toilets and grills being practically at his doorstep… if he had a door, that is.

Nina Caliente appears to need to use the restroom as well – perhaps the ladies loo is clogged? I have never played with any of the Calientes (unless Don Lothario counts) in the Sims 4 and would love to change that, so Nina might well be future partner material (although I’m fairly certain she does not quite want to commit to anyone).

After gathering all that was humanly possible to collect in the area, including what will hopefully be the start of Kirk’s dream garden, it’s time to catch some dinner… So far it’s not looking too promising, and Kirk’s stomach is growling.

Luckily Bob Pancakes comes to the rescue and fries up a burger for Kirk. I think this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Kirk was able to purchase a tent by the funds he got from collecting, so he will not have to sleep on the bench tonight. He sets up his garden by planting some flowers on the each side of the entrance, waters them and calls it a day. Time to get some rest!

Waking up dirty and smelly, unfortunately Kirk will have to complete a round of collecting before he can afford to clean up. Perhaps I should have let him spend the night on the bench and invested in a shower first?

Luckily for him, all of the plants in the area were ready to harvest, bringing the much needed cash. Kirk was able to purchase a camping shower (with mysterious plumbing) and scrub away his blues.

Being all clean presents the perfect opportunity to meet the ladies. This is Ruby Perrin. I don’t know much about her yet. but she seems cute and her and Kirk get along well. Definitely a contender.

While having dinner, another lovely lady, Maranda Bales, catches Kirk’s eye.

I feel like her outfit seems to insinuate she might also be a gardening enthusiast, and the way her dress matches the cherry blossoms around certainly works in her favour.

Kirk seems to think so too – he can’t take his eyes of her.

We learn that Maranda is outgoing, and a perfectionist just like Kirk. Being a mail courrier, Maranda has taken on the task of delivering post to the residents of the neighbourhood, in spite of nobody having house numbers quite yet… or even houses.

That sounds very brave, Kirk can use people like Maranda in his new world. He appears smitten, pondering about what him and Maranda could build together in the future as she walks away…

It’s been quite a day for Kirk, so he’s going to say his goodbyes to you for now and head off to bed. Until next time!