How to Do the Survival Island Challenge in The Sims 4
The Survival Island Challenge is a fun way to really switch up how you play The Sims 4. This challenge follows the story of six Sims who have been stranded on a deserted island after a terrible shipwreck. They are all okay for now but they don’t have many resources and they have no way to get back to civilization. When it comes to food, these Sims will have to rely on fishing and gardening. In order to make the island feel a little more comfortable, these Sims get crafty with some of the driftwood and create some rather primitive furniture. They might find a way back home one day but for now they just need to survive.
To get started, you’ll need to create six Sims that are Young Adults. Three must be women and three must be men. All of their aspirations and traits must be randomized but you have full control over their names and appearances. Once you have your collection of six Sims ready to go, you’ll need to move them into an empty lot. This won’t, however, be where the Survival Island Challenge takes place. Now you’ll need to go bulldoze the largest lot in Oasis Springs and evict any occupants that may already live there. This is the lot you will use to create your island. Be sure to use the pool tool to create water around the island. You can make the island look however you want but you’ll want to leave a good amount of actual livable space. Once your island looks the way you want it to, move your Sims in and feel free to use any cheats necessary to do so.
Once your Survival Island Challenge Sims are all moved in, you’ll need to place a few extra items on the island.
- One campfire
- A fishing pond
- Three double airbeds
- One woodcrafting table
- One outdoor trashcan
This inventory list assumes that three of the Sims were carrying the airbeds. You can decide on three other Sims that will have some other portable item in their inventory. Keep in mind that these items should reflect the type of Sim that has the item. So try to consider the Sim’s traits and aspirations when deciding what item they were holding on to when the ship crashed. The last thing you’ll need to do before the Survival Island Challenge can officially begin is to zero out your resources with the “testingcheats true” and “money 0” cheats.
General Rules
These are general rules that you should keep in mind throughout the challenge.
- None of the Sims can leave the island during the first phase of the challenge. The Sims are allowed to swim around in the pool but they should not leave the lot for any reason. You will need to bring them back to the island if they do.
- Other than moving Sims back to the island, you are not allowed to control the Sims unless all of their fulfillable needs are at least yellow. Keep in mind that since there is no toilet, bath, or shower on the island so the hygiene and bladder needs will not count here and should be ignored.
- If a Sim has managed to get their needs to yellow on their own, you will not be allowed to control them for a while. Any time all their fulfillable needs are still yellow, you can direct them to accomplish their whims so long as these things do not interfere with the story. For example, even if a Sim wants to get a job this would interfere with the concept that the Sim is on a stranded island.
- Assign daily tasks to Sims at sunrise every day and you may direct Sims to accomplish these tasks throughout the day if their needs meet the previous requirements. It’s also okay to assign multiple tasks to one Sim. Keep in mind that Sims are not allowed to continue completing daily tasks once the sun goes down.
- Daily tasks can be: watering the plants, weeding the plants, harvesting the plants, fishing, crafting at the woodworking table, swimming and playing an instrument.
- You are allowed to sell fished or harvested items in your Sims’ inventory if you want.
- You will need to pay bills throughout this challenge but you don’t want to interfere with the resources that have actually been gained from your Sims’ actions on the island. So when bills arrive you will need to remember the exact amount of money you owe and use a cheat code to pay off that exact amount. You are not allowed to give yourself money through cheat codes and keep it for any purpose other than paying bills. Your money should be reflecting actual resources gathered from the Sims in the challenge.
- Gravestones of dead Sims must remain on the lot but you are allowed to move them around if you want.
Items to Unlock
Unlocking the following items will not only make things a bit easier for the surviving Sims but it’s also necessary to get to the end of the challenge, which ultimately gets the Sims off the island. The items you can unlock are the Carbonette Charcoal Grill, bathtub and toilet, Icebox Vintage Refrigerator, walls, roofs and doors. Here’s how to unlock each one.
- Carbonette Charcoal Grill: Have a Sim get a cooking skill of 5 or better
- Icebox Vintage Refrigerator: Have a Sim max out the cooking skill
- Bathtub and toilet: You can only craft these by reaching level 9 and 10 on the woodworking table
- Walls, roofs and doors: A Sim has maxed out the handiness skill
After unlocking all of these, you will want to build a small bathroom and surround at least one of the beds with walls to create a small bedroom. After building these two rooms one of your Sims will stumble across an old spyglass in the sand. You can use a cheat to give yourself the money to purchase one and then place an observatory on the island. This unlocks a new daily task for your Survival Island Challenge Sims—observing the horizon in search of land.
Your Sims will have to continue doing what they can to survive and all the previous rules about not controlling your Sims should still be in play. As your Sims use the spyglass keep in mind you are not allowed to sell the space prints to get more resources for the island. Once a Sim gets the “anime planet” prince, however, this means they have spotted land. The Survival Island Challenge is coming to an end and your Sims will soon be reunited with the rest of civilization. So here’s what you have to do after your Sim has spotted land.
Find the Sim with the highest athletic skill and send them out to the mainland in search for help. This Sim must leave the island and befriend a wandering towny before coming back to the island. Once that Sim has brought the new friend to the island’s mailbox, you are allowed to cheat yourself the money for a bridge that can be built to allow Sims to cross over to the mainland. The surviving Sims have made it to safety!!
This challenge also offers a point system you can use to see just how well you did at the end of the challenge.
You earn:
- 1000 points for every Sim that survived
- 500 points for every skill that the highest Sim has maxed
- 200 points for each skill that the highest Sim has at levels 6-9
- 100 points for each skill that the highest Sim has at levels 1-5
- 500 points per friendship between two of the original six surviving Sims
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