Starting Rules

Goals:

My ultimate goal is to make my rules as historically accurate as possible. Eventually i plan on adding themed rules, and optional rules for those who would like a more difficult experience. I want to educate people on what's actually historically accurate so they don't force themselves to struggle for no real reason, from there you can decide to add, remove, or change rules to taste.

I am constantly researching, and am qualified to call myself a Dress Historian, as well as going to be working towards a degree in something history related within the next couple years. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact me at dalakanan312@gmail.com or @Kokadaan on discord and either just send the correction so i can put in more research, or provide sources so i can continue reading as well as verify the source!

This challenge is a lot to keep track of, that's why we use Google Sheets to keep track of our timeline, sims, statistics, etc., family tree programs such as Family Echo and My Family Tree since the game's is rather unreliable, and some may even use Google Docs to make things like family bibles or write storylines and biographies.
You can find an example of my spreadsheet here
One of my trees here

Now lets talk aging

First, some ground rules:
1) Our aging will not match any in game settings
2) If you use MCCC aging i suggest adding extra days and manually aging up sims, just using the MCCC as a backup or just for unplayed sims. It can be rather unreliable just due to how the game handles aging.

My aging is structured to real life in several ways. Its year/month based, as in real life you will always age up on your birthday. If your sim was born on the first day of the year, they will turn 5 on the first day of the year. I also adjusted the age groups to match their real life counterparts. Do not calculate birthdays based on the number of days, as that invites mistakes (such as if newborn is 1 day, people may put one full day between birth and infant instead of aging them the day after theyre born), but if you really need  the number of days in each stage, Newborn is 1, infant is 3, then the rest just multiply the total years in the age group by 4.

Newborn- age up to Infant the day after birth, equivalent to about 3 months old
Infant- age to toddler exactly on 1st birthday, so if they were born on day 2 of 1303, they age to toddler on day 2 of 1304
Toddler- age to child on 5th birthday, 4 total years
Child- age to teen on 10th birthday, 5 total years
Teen: Split between "Pre-Teen" and "Teen" for rolls sake, you will roll for both teen and preteen on their 10th birthday, on separate rolls.
Pre-teen- a teen is considered a "Preteen" until their 13th birthday, 3 total years
Teen- age to Young Adult on their 18th birthday, 5 years as teen, 8 total years in "Teen" ingame lifestage
Young Adult- age to Adult on their 40th birthday, 22 total years
Adult- age to Elder on their 60th birthday, 20 total years
Elder- elders you will use a Random Number Gen to determine what age they die, put the minimum as 60 and the maximum as 120, thats 61 total numbers, as they also have the chance of dying at 60. That's a total of up to 60 years
The oldest people i have found record of from before the modern era were 115, some eras may use that number instead of 120

The reason you multiply the number of years by 4 is because that's the standard year length for this challenge. Sim pregnancy with a test is 3 days, and while its 4 without, we are sticking with 3 for simplicity's sake.  If you would like to lengthen years, i suggest doing so by multiples of 4 (such as  8 or 12 day years) and adjusting ages and pregnancy length to match. If you'd like to shorten years, for 3 day years i suggest 2 day pregnancy, for 2 day years i suggest 1 day pregnancy, and for 1 day years just stick with 1 day pregnancies and have your sims take pregnancy tests.

On your Timeline make sure to use first AND last names, as it will get confusing otherwise.

If you have Seasons, the timeline will also not align  with seasons unless you extend the timeline. Because of this, i strongly suggest turning off "weather effects on sims" in your game settings, so sims who just so happened to be in a different season, don't get screwed and die.  It keeps snow and plant cycles, don't worry.  Also, keep in mind if you make years too short, you may end up with holiday whiplash.

**My suggestion to help you keep track of all the birthdays and deaths on a specific day is to click the row number to highlight the entire row. If you're using my blank spreadsheet make sure to delete day numbers as you go, if not just change the color of the days that have passed to help you keep track.

Causes of death do not correlate to in game deaths, unless the game kills the sim. If they die of starvation, that's what you put down as their cause of death, and for events you put what would make sense or what is listed (if causes are listed)

If your sim dies from an aging roll, the cause of death is made up. You can use these wheels to determine the cause depending on their age.
Being Born/Newborn/Infant: https://spinthewheel.app/9N1izkswdL
Toddler/Child: https://spinthewheel.app/6EbWZ6fBDy
Giving Birth: (to come)
Teen/YA/Adult/Elder: https://spinthewheel.app/oMmvgTF0ed 

To be realistic and keep the population from exploding, we are going to do dice rolls whenever our sims are born, give birth, and age up. I did a lot of math to make these rolls as accurate as possible for each era while leaving room for the deaths that will be caused by outside forces, such as events.

When a sim is born, you roll twice for each baby, once to see if they die being born, and once to see if they die in the first 3 months of life. These are separate rolls, you must keep them separate. To kill newborns you shift+click on the cradle with testingcheats on, and press "(DEBUG) Starve Baby", or if youd like a grave you can age them up to kill them.

When a sim is born you also roll for the mother for each baby she has. If she has twins, you roll twice to see if the mother dies. You roll according to her age group in the "birthing" section, and if she gets a "bad roll" (the numbers listed on the chart are the bad rolls), you follow this:

Its hard to get correct percentages when limited by the most common set of dice. For example, Maternal mortality through history was a mere 2%, but the lowest you can get with a single roll of a D20, is 5%.

To remedy this, you roll again.
For Preteens, if they roll to die in labor, roll a D6
If they roll a 1, then that means they die, any other number is a traumatic birth, and that sim is now infertile

For Teens, if they roll to die in labor, roll a D4
If they roll a 1, then that means they die, any other number is a traumatic birth, and that sim is now infertile

For Young Adults, if they roll to die in labor, flip a coin
If they get heads, then that means they die, tails is a traumatic birth, and that sim is now infertile

For Adults, if they roll to die in labor, roll a D4
If they roll a 1, then that means they die, any other number is a traumatic birth, and that sim is now infertile

For Elders, if they roll to die in labor, roll a D10
If they roll a 1 then that means they die, any other number is a traumatic birth, and that sim is now infertile

This ensures that the death rate will always be around 2.5% for all sims under 60 while still adding something to both discourage young or old pregnancies, help to prevent your sims from being eternal baby machines, and to add a bit more realism.

***Note: these additional rolls only work when using my maternal death rolls. If the death rate is 1 number on a d20, flip a coin, if there's 2 bad numbers on a d20 roll a d4, and so on.

When a sim ages to Infant, you roll once to see if they survive the infant stage (infant roll). If they die, you may put their death on any of the days included in the lifespan. *Example: If they age to infant on day 2 of the year, you can mark their death as day 2, 3, or 4. To kill infants, toddlers and children, you either need to move them to a new household and delete the household, or download this mod

When a sim ages to Toddler, you roll once to see if they survive the toddler stage (toddler roll). If they die, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 1 and the max as 5, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year. To kill infants, toddlers and children, you either need to move them to a new household and delete the household, or download this mod

When a sim ages to Child, you roll once to see if they survive the child stage (child roll). If they die, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 5 and the max as 10, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year. To kill infants, toddlers and children, you either need to move them to a new household and delete the household, or download this mod

When a sim ages to Teen, you roll once to see if they survive the Preteen stage (preteen roll), and once to see if they die in the Teen stage (teen roll), these are separate rolls, you must keep them separate. If they die as a Preteen, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 10 and the max as 13, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. If they die as a Teen, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 13 and the max as 18, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year.

When a sim ages to Young Adult, you roll once to see if they survive the Young Adult stage (young adult roll). If they die, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 18 and the max as 40, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year.

When a sim ages to Adult, you roll once to see if they survive the Adult stage (adult roll). If they die, use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 40 and the max as 60, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year.

When a sim ages to Elder, you do not roll to see if they survive this stage, as they cannot. Instead you just use a Random Number Gen to determine the age they die, putting the min as 60 and the max as 120, then you can put their death as any day within the year they are that age. *Example: If the RNG determines they die at 3 years old, and the sim turns 3 in the year 1307, you can put the toddlers death on any day within that year.

See Below for my Death Rolls for every era.

This sectioon is all about pregnancy, theres a lot to cover so im gonna be bouncing around a bit. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

First: to enable teen marriage and pregnancy, you need Mc Woohoo, which is a separate download from the all-in-one

Note that any fertility and marriage settings in MC Pregnancy are for NPC’s

To enable: MC Command Center (on computer)>Mc Woohoo> Woohoo Actions> Allow Teens
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For Fertility, ideally the use of the mod Relationship & Pregnancy Overhaul by Lumpinou. It automatically gives each sim their own fertility value and miscarriage/pregnancy complication chance, all based on age, health, and other factors, and if they roll to be infertile you can change their fertility. Note: you must set mc risky woohoo % to 0%. You may only improve fertility rate if your founding sims are infertile. After that you either need to skip childless heirs, or have spouses have affairs to keep the line. 

Without the use of RPO, you can manually change fertility using Mc Woohoo

Set Try for baby to 100%, and Risky woohoo to 30% for teens, 25% for Young Adult, 20% for adult, and 1% for Elder
Use Try For Baby for side households, and risky for heir households.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

You may have guessed that certain levels of multiples would've been impossible in certain time periods, but you may also be a bit shocked on when they came to be:

The first set of twins i found were in 1990 BCE
First set of triplets in 670 BCE
First quadruplets in 1750
First quintuplets in 1896
First sextuplets in 1866 (yes they were before the first set of quints that i found)

To set: MC Command Center (on computer)>Mc Pregnancy> Offspring> Maximum Offspring> (number)

If your sims try to have quintuplets between 1866 and 1896, you have to randomize the pregnancy as many times as it takes for them to not have quintuplets
To do that: MC Command Center (on sim)>Mc Pregnancy> Specify offspring> (leave both sections blank)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Your heir automatically is allowed to get married and have as many children as they can produce, however, side households you have to roll for a few things.
First: you roll to see if the non-heir sim marries.
If they do, you roll to see how many pregnancies their marriage produces
If they dont, you can decide to send them to a Nunnery (female sims) or Monastery (male sims), or a brothel. You may also, alternatively or in conjunction, roll to see if they have any children out of wedlock. Nuns will not get kicked out due to pregnancy before the 1700s, but afterwards they must either leave the convent or give the baby to a bishop to raise.

See below charts for rolls:

Your sims may try for a baby up to 3 times per day, unless your female sim just gave birth. On the day your sims give birth you can only have them try up to 2 times. This is because the fertility rate for this challenge is the monthly average, each day is 3 months, and women must wait about 6 weeks after birth before they can... woohoo. If you are using different year lengths, adjust according to how many months are per day.

If youre using MCCC (and your computer can handle it) i suggest increasing your household size. 

Sims can continue to have children after they have grandchildren, if you so choose.

When you start the challenge, you start with two sims, these are your founders. they are considered Gen 1. Do not start with more than this if you can help it, your population will grow fast enough, and if it doesnt....
I grant you 3 free save a sims you use if you are down to your last living sim. You may choose to increase this, but you cannot have less. You can only use these if youre down to your final sim.
There, now you have an excuse ;)

To pick names, use my name gen

Now to talk heirs. We will use the gen 1 founders and their 3 imaginary children for this example.
Your gen 1 has 3 children, a daughter and 2 sons, in that order.
Both gen 1 sims die
The oldest son is the heir.
Lets say he dies without children
The younger son is now the heir.
Lets say he dies without children
The daughter is now the heir
If the daughter dies without children, and ONLY then, will it pass to a more distant male relative, such as an uncle. With each generation it will pass in the same pattern. Sons -> Daughters -> Uncles -> Aunts etc. Always from oldest to youngest within each section. A woman's husband, has no right to his wife's inheritance. This all continues until the 1970s. Your main surname is likely to change frequently, don't stress too much about it, but an early on extra son can cause it to be a long-lived side household surname.

Bastards (born with unmarried parents) cannot inherit unless they are your only living sim.  If two sims get pregnant out of wedlock, no drama will come of it unless the baby is born out of wedlock.

If a household was previously a side household but has now become the heir household, they drop all the side household rules such as pregnancy rolls, and may be treated as you were treating your heirs. I recommend following side households for many reasons, but ultimately that is your choice. If your side households start to grow out of control, you can always marry distant cousins to eachother to keep the population down. It is also one of a few ways you can get a died-out heir surname back into the heir line.

Do not move the heir's parents out of the heir's home unless they decide to become part of the church (Nuns/Monks/Friars) or they become too much to care for and the heir decides to get them room and board at an Abbey. Though the church tended to help the needy for free, I'm giving this optional rule that if you do drop elders off at an Abbey, the sim who moved them out must pay $500 simoleons per year. Think of it as tithes to ensure well treatment.

Now we are at the start of our challenge, see  era pages for start conditions and era rules.