esmeiolanthe

The challenge is to play a successful spy. There are a few Dos, a few Don’ts, and lots of flavor.

DO

Max Body skill (Spies need to be able to climb things, swim away from things, ski down mountains after jumping out of airplanes, and fight big thugs with metal teeth – or at least James Bond does in the movies…)

Max Logic skill (Spies need to know how to figure things out from little hints and scraps of information, and know what information is important and what isn’t)

Max Charisma skill (Spies often have to recruit others to find things out for them, so they need to be charming)

If your sim was a playable with a family, you have two options.

1.       Easy Mode: You can have contact with your family as normal – unless your cover is blown

2.       Hard Mode: You can have contact with one relative of your choice, once per week +200 points for voluntarily completing the challenge on Hard Mode

DON’T

Do NOT take a job in the Intelligence career, if it’s available in your game set up (Successful spies don’t go around saying “Hi, I’m a spy!”)

Do NOT use strawberry juice (If someone gets mad at a spy and somehow blows their cover, their life is on the line, after all)

FLAVOR SKILLS

Spies have lots of skills they need to know. I freely admit that I picked up a lot of these from a BBC reality show called Spy that came out in the early 2000s. I’ll list the skill and then how to incorporate it into your game.

Go gray/Go undercover: Spies need to be able to blend in with everyone else and not stand out in any way at all. Get a job in any career (except Intelligence), but make sure you do NOT pass Level 5. If you pass Level 5, your cover is blown. You may not ignore chance cards.

Withstand torture: Spies need to be able to keep their heads at all times, even under adverse conditions. Keep your sim with all meters in orange/red for at least 24 hours without any critical failures or death. “Critical failures” are the Shrink, the Social Bunny, or any of the Aspiration desperation actions. If your sim wets their pants, that’s okay – just have them drink three glasses of water right away afterwards. +15 for every time you complete this. You can only choose to do this once. It may trigger additional times based on other circumstances.

Talk their way into someone’s home: Spies need to be personable and able to talk their way into places. Build a relationship with another sim such that they invite you to a community lot/on a date. When you get the invitation, accept it, and have the outing/date be at least a Good Time if not better. Bonus points if this sim is a townie or a safe NPC. +5 for every time you complete this.

Follow someone: Spies need to be able to follow people without being caught. Go to from one community lot to another and see the same sim 5 times in a row. (This is somewhat random due to game mechanisms, but theoretically possible.) +20 for every time you accomplish this.

Get someone to do iffy things for them: The first step for a spy to recruit an informant is to get them to do something a little bit iffy but not actually illegal. If that works, they ask for a bit more and a bit more and all of a sudden, the spy has another unwitting spy working for them. Use Influence 5 times in a row without being rejected. Refusal to perform the task resets the counter to 0 and means that you can never try Influence on that particular sim again. Bonus points if you manage this on 5 different people. +5 for every time you complete this. +25 bonus points for completing this with 5 different people.

Be good at languages: Spies need to be able to talk to people from other countries. In some cases, they even need to pass as people from other countries. Travel to all three vacation destinations and learn the vacation greetings. Do not stay at expensive hotels, and do not stay a long time, as both of these will make your sim stand out. +10 for every vacation destination greeting mastered.

Evade pursuers: Spies need to be able to get away when an enemy is following or actively chasing them. Learn to teleport, either from the ninja or from meditation once your Logic skill gets high enough. +10 for learning via meditation, +20 for learning from the ninja. You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

Have covert contacts with allies, informers, double agents, and so forth: Sometimes spies need to meet with contacts that they can’t really be seen with, so these meetings need to be brief, casual, and apparently accidental. In Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman stated that this was usually done by feeding the ducks, but there aren’t any ducks to feed in TS2. Fish in public and chat with other sims fishing. +5 per event.

Romance/seduce people: Spies sometimes have to use their sex appeal to get information from the enemy. Get Mr. Big/The Diva to fall in love with you. Bonus points if the love is one-sided (them to you only). Double bonus points if the one you seduce is the one that’s opposite your autonomous gender preference. +50 for successful completion. +25 for a one-sided love. +50 for a successful romance with the opposite of your autonomous gender preference.

Take covert pictures/plant cameras: Spies often need to get footage of an enemy doing something, or need to photograph important documents. Take pictures on four separate, busy community lots without having any other sims looking in your direction when you take the picture. If you do not have Bon Voyage, see if you can figure out a way to use the University career reward. +15 for every time you manage this.

Send hidden messages in innocuous things: Spies sometimes send messages in otherwise ordinary items rather than on secret thumb drives or microdots or similar. (For instance, sending a contact a perfectly ordinary book where the message is conveyed by the book chosen.) Paint a picture or write a novel.  The painting cannot be a masterpiece, and the novel cannot be a best-seller, since this will make your sim stand out. +10 for every time you complete this.

Drive well: As anyone who has ever watched a spy movie knows, car chases are inevitable. Buy a car, install an alarm, and “Go for a spin” 3 times a week to practice driving – and to learn the lay of the land. +10 at the end of the challenge if you have completed this faithfully. If you have not completed it faithfully, -10 points.

Hack into systems: Spies often need to get into protected databases. Have a LAN party 2 times a week and chat online 3 times a week. +10 at the end of the challenge if you have completed this faithfully. If you have not completed it faithfully, -10 points.

Courier items from one place to another: Spies often need to transport secret documents, packages, or messages. (Fun Fact: Josephine Baker once smuggled important documents past an enemy checkpoint in her underwear.) Take something from one lot to another lot and leave it at the second lot. The second lot must be a community lot. You can hand the item off to a secret contact identified with the appropriate code phrase (see below). Bonus points if you somehow manage to leave the item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact. Extra bonus points if the item in question didn’t belong to your sim in the first place – for example, a gnome stolen from a different sim’s house. +10 for each successful courier mission. +20 if you manage to leave the couriered item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact. +10 if the item in question didn’t belong to you in the first place.

Use code phrases: Spies often have to identify allies they have never met to get help in difficult or emergency situations. To be sure that you are working with an ally, first pick an area of Interest. There are 18 of these in TS2. Each area of Interest has 5 icons that represent it. For example, for Sci-Fi, the icons are rocket ship, astronaut, robot, planet, gray alien. (You can find a full list here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Interest) Before you go to a meeting, pick a sequence of icons. This sequence can be as few as two icons, or as many as you like. (The higher the number, the more unlikely it is that you be able to use it.) When you arrive at the meeting, go up to the sim you think might be your contact and initiate a conversation about the chosen Interest. When your first chosen icon starts off the conversation, this is bringing in the code phrase. If the other sim replies with the next icon in your chosen sequence, they are an allied agent. (If your chosen sequence is longer than two icons, then matching icons need to continue until the correct sequence is reached.) In English, this exchange might go something like “The pelican flies at midnight” answered with “Crickets chirp in the rain.” In TS2, the exchange might go “Rocket ship” answered with “Gray alien.” Feel free to make up your own fancy code phrases to go along with the icons; making up silly code phrases is fun! +25 for every successful pair of code phrases exchanged. -10 every time the initial code phrase is not met with the return code phrase. -25 if the entire topic of conversation is rejected.

Use dead drops: Spies often communicate with or leave things for allies who they never meet. They do this by leaving things in a public place to be picked up later, leaving things visible in an area they control, or doing specific things that are publicly visible. This way, their ally can get the message without ever having to come in contact with the spy. Every day, flip a coin or roll a die to see if you need to do one of the “dead drop” type tasks listed below. Heads/evens= yes, tails/odds=no. If you get an assignment, roll a d20 or use a different randomizer of your choice to choose what your assignment is for the day.

1.       Put red flowers out in front of your house (in a vase or a pot or something, not on a bush)

2.       Mail something (this can be paying a bill or using the custom mail system of your choice)

3.       Wear a blue shirt

4.       Read the newspaper in your front lawn

5.       Wear a hat

6.       Play fetch

7.       Go jogging

8.       Buy a magazine

9.       Walk to work/drive to work (whichever is not usual for you). If it is your day off, walk/drive to a community lot, again doing whichever is not usual for you.

10.   Order groceries

11.   Have coffee on a community lot between 4-6 pm

12.   Comb/style your hair differently (do not cut or dye it – just a different part, an updo, something like that)

13.   Sunbathe (either on a towel or in a recliner – if it is currently winter, this will be quite cold)

14.   Water your plants between 2-3 pm

15.   Dig for treasure and leave the hole for 24 hours

16.   Make and play with a paper airplane, then leave it on the lawn

17.   Buy and display a new lawn ornament (you can leave it on the lawn after – it won’t be new anymore, so it’s okay)

18.   Leave trash on the lawn while you are at work

19.   Wear sunglasses

20.   Hang out in the yard with a radio playing salsa music in the yard with you

If you do not have the specific EP needed to perform one of these actions, do something similar given your particular game set up. +1 for every dead drop completed

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

These are special circumstances that may or may not come up in your game, depending on your set up and play style.

Friend or Foe?: When you identify an allied agent using a code phrase, spend 3 hours cultivating a relationship with them. If you end up with a positive relationship, you earn points. If you end up with a negative relationship, as enemies, and/or with the other sim furious at you, they will betray you. You lose points when they betray you. If you are Enemies, this blows your cover. +15 for a positive relationship. -25 points for a negative relationship.

 Take a Chance on Me: If a stranger calls you up and asks you to go out (either date or outing), always accept. Flip a coin before you head out. Heads=the person is an ally, tails=the person is an enemy agent. If the person is an ally, nothing further happens – have an ordinary outing. If the person is an enemy agent, try to befriend them. If you max out the outing/date meter, you turn them into a double agent who is now secretly on your side. If you have a positive (but not maxed) or a neutral outing/date, you and your enemy go your separate ways with a new respect for each other, but without interference. If you have a negative (but not bottomed out) outing/date, this triggers the torture scenario above. If you bottom out the outing/date meter, you become the double agent who is now secretly on the enemy’s side. If you become a double agent, adjust your relationship with the enemy spy to 75/75, and change your relationships with your former allies to no more than 30/30. For all scoring purposes, your former allies are now your enemies and your former enemies are now your allies. Every time you complete a mission for your former allies, call your friendly enemy spy and chat on the phone for one game hour. +25 for a maxed outing/date meter, 0 for a neutral meter, -20 for a negative meter, -100 for a bottomed out meter.

Sim of a Thousand Faces: If you are contacted by a hobby leader, you must put on a disguise – in fact, a whole new identity (see below) – go to a community lot (or even the hobby lot), and pick a sim you don’t know to interact with in keeping with the disguise for 3 hours. At the end of the time, if your relationship with the sim is positive, your mission was a success. If your relationship is negative, this triggers the torture scenario above. If you end up as enemies/furious, your cover has been blown. +25 for a successful mission, -20 for a failure triggering torture.

Identity Elements (Choose all 20 elements randomly via whatever randomizing method you prefer)

1.       Male/Female

2.       Young Adult/Adult/Elder

3.       Hair: Red/Blonde/Brown/Black/Custom

4.       Fit/Average/Fat

5.       Eyes: Brown/Dark blue/Green/Gray/Light blue/custom

6.       Supernatural/Not supernatural

a.       If supernatural: combination supernatural/just one type of supernatural

b.       Vampire/Alien/Zombie/Witch/Bigfoot/Genie/Servo/Plantsim/Werewolf

c.       If witch: Good/Neutral/Evil

7.       Employed/Not employed

8.       Rich/Not rich

9.       Hobby: Cuisine/Film & Literature/Tinkering/Sports/Music & Dance/Fitness/Arts & Crafts/Science/Games/Nature

10.   Turn On: Hair Color/Clothing/Accessories/Makeup/Fitness/Smell/Life State/Employment

a.       Hair color: Red/blonde/brown/black/grey/custom/facial hair

b.       Clothing: Swim wear/formal wear/underwear

c.       Accessories: Glasses/hats/jewelry

d.       Makeup: Makeup/full face makeup

e.       Fitness: Fat/fit/average

f.        Smell: Cologne/stink

g.       Supernatural state: As in #6b above

h.       Employment: Unemployed, employed, hard worker (Level 6+ in career)

11.   Turn Off: As in #10 above. Remove the Turn On you chose from consideration.

12.   Primary Interest: Environment/Food/Weather/Culture/Money/Politics/Paranormal/Health/ Fashion/Travel/Crime/Sports/Entertainment/Animals/Work/School/Toys/Sci-Fi

13.   Career: Adventurer/Architecture/Artist/Athlete/Business/Culinary/Criminal/Dance/Education/ Entertainment/Show Business/Journalism/Law/Law Enforcement/Medicine/ Military/Music/Natural Scientist/Oceanographer/Paranormal/Politics/Science/Slacker          (Note that Intelligence is NOT an option!)

14.   Successful/Not successful

15.   Pet/No pet

a.       If pet: cat/dog/bird/fish

16.   Taken/Available (for romantic purposes)

17.   Kids/No kids

18.   Favorite color: Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Purple/Pink/Black/White/Gray/Brown

19.   Conservative/Rebellious/Quirky/Sporty/Elegant/Geeky/Ordinary

20.   Social group: None/Gearhead/Bohemian/Jock/Tech/Socialite

Some of these things may require custom content to pull off. (For example, if a male sim has to pass himself off as a female sim, you will probably need some form of custom content for his clothing.) Some of the things you choose will not show (such as social group), but can inform your interactions. For example, if your sim is supposed to be a Socialite, they should greet people with the Kiss Kiss Darling interaction. If your sim is supposed to have a Turn Off for red hair, they should not flirt with any redheads. If your sim has kids, they might turn the conversation topic to School or Toys. If your sim is a geeky sim with a pet fish and with the favorite color of pink, they might wear a pink shirt with a picture of a fish on it. Some of the Turn On options listed above are not available in game, or are broken. That’s okay – you’re not really changing your sim’s preferences, just having them pretend. (It’s harder that way.)

Maintain a Legend: Have a pretend relationship with another sim, preferably an allied agent. This pretend relationship has all the trappings of marriage/romance, including living together and sleeping in the same bed, but without romantic attachment. This sim may NOT be Mr. Big or The Diva. Bonus points if, when you’re playing a different household and invite the spy over, this pretend partner comes along when the spy asks “Can my friend come too?” +100 for a cover identity, +50 if the pretend partner your sim’s friend brought to a different household.

END OF THE CHALLENGE

This challenge can end in one of two ways: Either you are successful enough to eventually be brought in from the cold, or you mess up badly and can never work as a spy again.

If you make it to Elder without having your cover blown, you can come in from the cold. You can drop your cover identity, and even take a job in Intelligence if you like. (This represents getting a nice desk job or training new recruits.) Alternatively, you can relax and enjoy retirement without any fear of anyone torturing or killing you. You do have to move to a completely different house. +500 for honorably coming in from the cold.

If your cover is blown once, you lose all your points, lose your job, and lose any Rewards or inventory you may have earned. You have to move to a new house with a new cover identity (use the Sim of a Thousand Faces chart to help pick this) and start a new job. Your new job cannot be in your old career track. You are immediately placed in Hard Mode, if you weren’t already there. -200 points for being forced to complete the challenge on Hard Mode because your cover was blown (Yes, this means you might start over with negative points.)

If your cover is blown a second time, you are not cut out for the spy life. Flip a coin or roll a die to decide what happens to you.

1.       Heads/evens=You are forcibly retired. You move to a new house with a new identity. You can never see your family again (if you had one), and you have to get a new job that is not in any prior career path, in Intelligence, or in Law Enforcement.

2.       Tails/odds=You are found out and killed by the enemy. You lose all your points. Kill your sim via the method of your choice. Hey, being a spy is dangerous!

SCORING

+1 for every dead drop completed

+5 for every time your sim is invited on an outing/date with a known sim

+5 per covert contact

+5 for every successful completion of the “iffy things” requirement above.

+25 bonus points for completion of the “iffy things” requirement with five different sims

+10 for every vacation destination greeting mastered

+10 for learning to teleport via meditation

You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

+10 for every time you send a message via an innocuous object

+10 if you faithfully complete the driving requirements

-10  If you have not completed it faithfully

+10 if you faithfully complete the hacking requirements

-10  If you have not completed it faithfully

+10 for each successful courier mission

+20 if you leave the couriered item on a community lot without handing it off to a contact.

+10 if the item in question didn’t belong to you in the first place.

+15 for every time your sim is invited on an outing/date with an unknown sim

+15 for every time you successfully take covert pictures

+15 for every time your sim withstands torture

+20 for every time your sim successfully follows someone

+20 for learning to teleport from the ninja

You can only learn to teleport via one method, not both.

+25 for every successful pair of code phrases exchanged

-10 every time the initial code phrase is not met with the return code phrase

-25 if the entire topic of conversation is rejected

+50 for successful romance/seduction of Mr. Big/The Diva

 +25 bonus points for a one-sided love

+50 bonus points for a romance with the opposite of your autonomous gender preference.

+200 points for voluntarily completing the challenge on Hard Mode

-200 points for being forced to complete the challenge on Hard Mode because your cover was blown

+500 for honorably coming in from the cold

Friend or Foe? scenario

+15 for a positive relationship

 -25 points for a negative relationship

Take a Chance On Me scenario

+25 for a maxed outing/date meter

0 for a neutral meter or a positive but not maxed meter

-20 for a negative meter

-100 for a bottomed out meter

Sim of a Thousand Faces  scenario

+25 for a successful mission

-20 for a failure triggering torture

Maintain a Legend scenario

+100 for a cover identity

+50 if the pretend partner is the “bring a friend” at a different household when your sim goes to visit