Both of my college Sims, Gina



and Randy



are in the Landgraab Society now (Gina did it the hard way, and Randy persuaded her to covertly identify to him the members living in his dorm so he could befriend them), and we have lots of questions about how the Society works.

Is there a FAQ or something?

When in the Secret Society lot, a Sim has roughly (but not exactly!) 40,000 extra Simoleons, presumably for upkeep of the place. Does that ever get refreshed? What happens if it gets used up somehow?

When going to the Society lot and when coming home again from it, needs seem to get sort of randomly jiggered. In particular all the good need-satisfying that one can do at the Society doesn't get reliably carried back home to the dorm. (What the heck goes on in that limo on the way back??) Is there an explanation for that anywhere?

Do other members of the Society count as visitors to the lot? (Can they get eaten by the cowplant, in particular, if one leaves the gate open?)

When trying to meet three existing members in order to get induced, do other controllable Sims who are members count? (I had Randy befriend three members in his dorm, not even thinking that Gina might count since she became a member before he did.)

And other stuff that I was wondering about at the time, but have forgotten.

Interesting place, the Society...

DC . . . be very careful with the Laganaphyllis Simnovorii (cow plant).

Keep the gate closed (or better yet, remove it all together until feeding time) if you want to keep your sims alive!

When the "cow plant" in hungry, it will taunt sims by dangling a large piece of cake from its tongue. Sims of all kinds are greatly tempted by this and once they try to grab the cake, it's "bye bye Charlie" . . . they WILL become a snack for the "cow plant".

In regarding to "running out of funds" . . . that can easily be fixed by :

Opening the cheat box (tap and hold the following keys in order to do so: ctrl + shift + c)

Click in the cheat box (to bring up the prompt) and then type in: Motherlode and hit the Enter key

Doing the above will give you §50,000 each time you type it in. =D

In regard to the "other" questions regarding the Society, I'll have to let someone else chime in . . . as I've never played the "Secret Society" to much extent (I think I've been there perhaps once).

Regards,

~*~ Carrot ~*~

Tx very, Carrot! My impression is that only "visitors" are vulnerable to the Dreaded Cow Plant's lure, but I don't actually know what that means. It might just mean that controllables don't get autonomous "take cake" motives, in which case non-controllable members of the Society might be at risk. But then I've also heard that on Community Lots the cowplant doesn't actually eat people. But is the Secret Society lot actually a Community Lot within the meaning of the Act?

So many questions! (I did repair the fence after Randy fed the plant, just in case.)

Motherlode: yeah, but that's cheating... :spinspin:

dmchess wrote:

Tx very, Carrot! My impression is that only "visitors" are vulnerable to the Dreaded Cow Plant's lure, but I don't actually know what that means. It might just mean that controllables don't get autonomous "take cake" motives, in which case non-controllable members of the Society might be at risk. But then I've also heard that on Community Lots the cowplant doesn't actually eat people. But is the Secret Society lot actually a Community Lot within the meaning of the Act? So many questions! (I did repair the fence after Randy fed the plant, just in case.) Motherlode: yeah, but that's cheating... :spinspin:

Hmmm . . . good question regarding "lot status". The SS lot is most definitely "secret" (can't be seen on the campus map from overhead). The only time I've ever known the "exact" location of a SS lot was when I endeavored to build my own Campus/University from scratch, then I had to place the SS lot myself.

I haven't been on an SS lot enough to know if random visitors happen by (as in regular community lots).

I'm not sure if SS members are "immune" to the autonomous "take cake" actions, but that would make sense. You could test this by NOT feeding the plant and see if one of the SS members approaches the plant to take the bait. =) (just make sure you've removed the gate, unless you DO want someone to become "cow kibble". hehe

Yep, "motherlode" is indeed cheating . . . in a most lurid fashion I might add. An alternative to "motherlode" on the SS lot would be the counterfeit machine (which is there I presume just so the SS always has funds . . . ). But that too can be construed as "cheating". So . . . I guess if your SS runs out of funds you could always have the SS members work at a coffeehouse on campus. =D

Regards,

~*~ Carrot ~*~

You play the Landgrabb Society lot just like any other. It's kind of a mixture of a community lot and a residential lot. You can modify the place, buy things, build things, just like in any residence. On the other hand, it's like a community lot because while you are there, only your viewpoint character is controllable.

If put a bed in the building, you can even sleep there, which means your sim can stay there indefinitely. However, as with a community lot, don't stay more than one or two days because otherwise the game will override its memory buffer and crash.

The real advantage of the Landgrabb Society is that you can play with all the career rewards and you can meet other sims.

You can go there any time. Once you're a member, transportation to the Secret Society lot becomes an option on your telephone.

I thought it was mildly amusing the first couple of times it happened, but after a while the Secret Society abductions became tiresome, and then even horrifying when a bunch of guys kidnapped a young girl late at night and left her standing in the street in her underwear while they all laughed at her. They never did induct her into the Society so she ended up running around in her dainties.

With the aid of Rodney's Death Creator, I imposed capital punishment on the jerks for that offense. I wrote some other notes about those events, which you will find around here somewhere.

And yeah, what Carrot said about the furshlugginer cow plant. I fenced it off and provide acess only via an airlock controlled by SimLogical lockable doors. I'm still debating myself whether to just dump some weedkiller on the pest.

Tx also for the advice. Any data about the extra 40K Simoleons? My Fortune side is very curious about that. *8) [I don't think that money spent while in the Society lot changes the amount one has when not in it, but I can't swear to it.] And the whacky Needs effects? (I'm greedy.)

Greg wrote:

They never did induct her into the Society so she ended up running around in her dainties.

How odd! What made them do that? In my Sims universe, the story is that the abductions are effectively consensual, in that it takes the sworn testimony of three members to the effect that the target is up for it. So I get to like the Society despite their odd ways. :spinspin: But if they were to abduct and then not induct -- heh. I'd get annoyed, too...

Tx again, Carrot!

Carrot wrote:

An alternative to "motherlode" on the SS lot would be the counterfeit machine (which is there I presume just so the SS always has funds . . . ). But that too can be construed as "cheating".

By my completely arbitrary and subject to change at any time standards, motherlode is cheating but the Simoleon machine isn't. (I wonder again if the police ever come and arrest conterfeiters on the Society lot.)

Although I've never tried the Legacy Challenge, I play pretty close to its cheat rules: no use of ctrl-shift-c except moveObjects to remove glitched things, and those verbs that don't actually affect gameplay, like the video controls. No particular reason for it; that's just the specific Maxis design-point that I feel like exploring right now. I'm sure if I listen to Greg enough I'll start doing all sortsa weird and twisted things... :spinspin:

dmchess wrote:

I'm sure if I listen to Greg enough I'll start doing all sortsa weird and twisted things... :spinspin:

LOL . . . that is a certainty DC! = O

And if I'm not mistaken, there is always a risk of getting caught when preforming "nefarious" acts . . . then again, I just may be mistaken . . . given my limited gametime in SS lots . . . :winky:

Regards,

~*~ Carrot ~*~

dmchess wrote:

Greg wrote: They never did induct her into the Society so she ended up running around in her dainties. How odd! What made them do that? ...

I didn't understand it at the time. It might have been a visitor whom I was controlling using Merola's Mind Control Mirror that triggered the glitch in the game; but I'm not 100% sure of that. She had a terrible time getting home, too. I think I finally got her to walk off the lot somehow.

Another time they kidnapped a gal (again, in her underwear, and this time a controllable sim, one of Gregsim's daughters) just moments before she was scheduled to go to her final exam, with the result that she missed her final. There are a lot of tombstones at the Landgrabb House now.

I think I identify too closely with my sims, or at least I think about how I'd react in real life to things that the sims do. If some bunch of idiots were to handcuff and kidnap me or anyone I know in real life, for any reason, there would be absolute Hell to pay. If the criminal were lucky enough to survive the initial crime, he'd never again walk the streets as a free man.

There are at least two felony crimes being committed by the Landgrabb Society abductions: impersonating a police officer and aggravated kidnapping. Aggravated kidnapping is a federal offense that will get you a life sentence in prison, and appropriately so. I don't know the penalty for impersonating a police officer, but I'd guess it's 10 to 20 in the state pen.

Greg wrote:

There are at least two felony crimes being committed by the Landgrabb Society abductions...

Quite correct. So every time they do it they're taking an enormous risk: betting that the target will, after the fact, not want to press charges. They take this risk, presumably, because of ancient tradition, because they're young and foolish, and because of whatever connections to the dark underparts of the world they may have. In my universe the risk has always (i.e. twice in fact, somewhat more in backstory) paid off (or whatever it's called when you take a risk and get away with it; I'm groping for the right wording tonight). In yours, not so much. *8)

I don't know if these interesting ethical dimensions were in Maxis' mind when they wrote the feature; neat that they're there, though...

Carrot wrote:

And if I'm not mistaken, there is always a risk of getting caught when preforming "nefarious" acts . . . then again, I just may be mistaken . . . given my limited gametime in SS lots . . . :winky: Regards, ~*~ Carrot ~*~

You are right Carrot. I got caught hacking grades at the SS because the sim didn't have enough logic points :/

Liss wrote:

Carrot wrote: And if I'm not mistaken, there is always a risk of getting caught when preforming "nefarious" acts . . . then again, I just may be mistaken . . . given my limited gametime in SS lots . . . :winky: Regards, ~*~ Carrot ~*~ You are right Carrot. I got caught hacking grades at the SS because the sim didn't have enough logic points :/

Thanks Liss . . . I'm sorry to hear that . . . but glad to know I knew what I was saying when I said that. =D

Regards,

~*~ Carrot ~*~

Greg wrote:

I don't know the penalty for impersonating a police officer, but I'd guess it's 10 to 20 in the state pen.

By the way, ladies (and gentlemen), silly season is upon us again... If you're stopped on a back road by someone claiming to be a cop, but has no uniform and is driving an unmarked car, DO NOT COOPERATE with this gentleman until he shows you ID!

No, this isn't an urban legend. It happened right here in Olean! Fortunately, the guy only tossed her car for half an hour and "let" her go, but he might be "rehersing" for something else.