postcards from the winning team

November 2086.

#1: strong enough to put hair on your chest


Nathan Lind was in Catalina this month for business, so he popped in to visit his sister and the kids. After much begging and pleading, and pleading and begging, Aurora finally agreed to let him take Zach to the Humor & Hijinks convention. She had worried it was too late on a school night and too adult for a little boy.

"Can I have some?" Zach pointed toward a glowing purple fountain.

"I think this is juice," Nate said. "Pretty sure, but you never know. Hey, how old are you now? Ten?"

"Almost nine," Zach said.

"Close enough!"

Copper Hill November, a seasonal texture pack

Please note: this mod comes AS-IS. Because of the way I work on my seasonal texture replacements as I play through the calendar year in my game, these monthly packs may never be 100% complete. For example, right now, northern districts in my game are about 80% done and southern districts are about 20% done. But it's time for me to move on to December, so I won't get a chance to work on this November set again until next sim-year.

At my pace, that could be another year in real life, too.

Also note, we can probably expect a seasons EP soon that will blow the whole thing out of the water.

But some people have expressed interest in partaking in the Copper Hill experience anyway (as I do in my own game, obviously), so here it is. I will likely share the other months, too, as I work through my sims' calendar year.

(click for bigger)

Copper Hill November represents the tail end of autumn in Windenburg. Fall colors are past peak and some of the trees are beginning to thin. You'll find lots of ruddy reds, muddy browns, and if you look closely, even some decay as the dying leaves begin to crumble.

the beginning and the end

November 14, 2086. Ryanne Phoenix and Sam Harris are 15.

previously: the bus stop // Ryanne is angry // girl talk // Ryanne hates Piper // the mistakes


"I'm bored," Ryanne said. "Wanna ride the ferry to Copper Island?"

"I'm not allowed," Sam said.

elections 2086

A quickie history on TS4 world building: 

In America of my imagined future, there are six districts. We are following three of them in this story—Mid-Atlantic (states bordering the Atlantic from about DC to South Carolina), Lakes (states bordering the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Superior and Lake Michigan), and Pacific (states bordering the Pacific, as you might guess). The districts we are not following are New England, Gulf, and Mountain. (You can sort of see on my map how my played towns are clustered in the south-west, north, and south-east.)

I set it up this way because of, in part, the way TS4 is designed with towns that are pre-designed and not editable. If they ship me a world that looks like South Carolina or Arizona, there is very little I can do to change that. So they are what they look like, and that's that. That was the main reason that my story was written at first between two regions—Fort Palmetto and Sierra Nova—working from the first two towns we had, Willow Creek and Oasis Springs. Then they shipped me Windenburg that looked like Europe and I had no freaking idea how to fit it into my story. I ended up knocking down some mountains and opening up the water, and now it's become Copper County, my third region. As best it can be without world editing tools, anyway.

TS4 is still being developed and they're still making new worlds for us. That's great, because we desperately need the space! But it means that my game is still constantly changing, so new areas come along all the time that I need to figure out what to do with. I have decided that three districts is well enough for me to keep track of (since each district needs its own schools, communities, leadership, and economy), while having some variety and space for my towns. The three areas that I chose are differentiated enough in climate and landscape that I think I should be able to find a good fit within for whatever kind of world they give us next. (The world from the new Pets EP will fit nicely in Wisconsin for me!)

We will imagine the other US states of 2086 are doing just fine and carrying on off-camera. Just, none of my sims will ever be allowed to move to Florida or Colorado or Maine, lol!

Anyway.

all's well that ends well

November 6, 2086. George and Blossom McCarthy have been married for three years.

* briefly NSFW


George and Blossom never had time to take a honeymoon when they married three years ago. On the weekend of their third anniversary, the idea of a babymoon sounded very appealing. George worried that he'd been ripped off when he bought a vacation package for this place, but once he stepped into the lobby, his worries subsided. It was a beautiful hotel. Blossom kicked off her sandals and made herself right at home.

They checked into their room, freshened up from the long trip, and went down to the lounge for dinner.

there you are

November 4, 2086. Justin Kim and Stephanie Nova are 26. Willow is 5, Lily is 4, Benji is three months old. (Ally Lind is 32, Bianca is 9, Julia is 7.)

* NSFW