Archaeology Kit 2.0.5b, Prerelease Beta

New in this update: Patch 1.90.358 tuning error fix, relic additions.

This update fixes a minor tuning error due to patch 1.90.358. I also added some kind of major abilities to the Ordinary Necromancy tome relic, and some additional enhancements to some others.

First, a little backstory…

When I began the ArchaeologyKit, I had a mythological history in mind as a backstory that incorporated elements of all the Sims game lore with a bit of old time D&D legend mixed in.

[EXTREME NERD WARNING!]

Several characters that appear in stories and relics in the Archaeology Kit are drawn directly from the old Greyhawk D&D setting, such as St Simbert (aka St Cuthbert of the Cudgel), Simca (aka Vecna, an evil Lich/Vampire type) and Aegwareth (a druid from one of the original D&D campaigns).

[/EXTREME NERD WARNING!]

Recently to my surprise I started to see Vecna memes popping up everywhere, since it seems that the US TV show Stranger Things made Vecna a meme again. In honor of that, I added some enhancements to some of relics to emphasize this mythological Good/Evil dichotomy.

Relic of St Simbert

Evil sims who get near it will feel a deep sadness about their terrible lives. Vampires will fear it, as they still remember the legends of St Simbert. It also provides a powerful confident buff to non-Evil sims nearby, and removes their fear.

Hand of Simca

Evil sims who get near it will feel confident and lose fear. Vampires will gain more benefits from talking to it. Good sims treat it like an accursed object from Paranormal. It will also tend to haunt the lot it’s on if you have it displayed — so be advised. Maybe keep it in your pocket, lol.

Ordinary Necromancy

This had the biggest addition. If a vampire reads this forbidden book they will learn to control, and consume, other undead such as specters. They get the DeathEater trait, which allows them to ‘consume’ the spiritual volatility of a lot to satisfy their thirst (and also completes paranormal career assignments relatively quickly!). They can also ‘eat’ specters to satisfy their thirst, cause a lot to act haunted (specters, etc), summon a skeletal servant, can perform Necrocall and summon a ghost from an urn, and scream like a night wraith, frightening all the nearby sims for a bit.

Tidbit: I discovered that Vampires can already use their Command powers on ghosts, even Temperance. When she showed up at an exorcism job, I was able to command her to clean the client's house, lol. 

(btw, why does Rory the werewolf keep stopping by? They hate each other...)

When I play tested these features, I discovered a whole new way to play vampires (I normally never play vampires). Instead of drinking blood, you command and live off of the undead. You can play this way even as a good vampire, and feels a bit different than playing a regular vampire. I might explore and develop this feature a bit more, but it’s fun as a relic enhancement, in any case.

Also in this release

Almost forgot. You can list and sell artifacts on Plopsy now. You'd usually get a better price from a museum, though.

Future Release Plans

Since the XML Injector broke and took the Archaeology Kit 1.x with it, I’d like to get this new version out as soon as possible. But with a new pack arriving in 2 days, I might do a ‘dark launch’, which means I just post it publicly here to get some extra feedback, then wait a bit to move it to all of the higher traffic sites like MTS. If all goes well, that would start this weekend.

To see all of the features in the new Archaeology Kit 2, check over the previous beta release posts. I’ll put together a comprehensive new feature list for the public release.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/archaeology-kit-68177848 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/archaeologykit-2-68296706 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/archaeologykit-2-68784083 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/archaeologykit-2-69210911 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/archaeologykit-2-69454985 

2.0 Release Change Log

• 6/23/2022, 2.0b, First beta preview release
• 6/26/2022, 2.0.1b, Beta preview release, added Send Away for Authentication interaction, more Moonwood Mill integration, added the ability to sell artifacts to Museum Docents.
• 7/7/2022, 2.0.2b, New Sulani cultural artifacts, relic bug fixes and improvements, improvements to museum docent situation, improvements to Study for Historical Insights interaction, Brindleton Bay mission objective label corrected
• 7/17/2022, 2.0.3b, Fixed Ancient era mission objective for Forgotten Hollow, further work on archaeology dig social event and museum docent interactions, increased chance of finding relics on specific lots from 1:25 to 1:15, some missions moved from level 2 to 3 in the museum archaeologist mission career, additional bug fixes
• 7/22/2022, 2.0.4b, Converted Yacothian Armor and Komorebi Scroll to relics, finished drafts of three tutorial sections, bug fixes to relic interactions, as well as additional ones
• 7/27/2022, 2.0.5b, Minor fix for patch 1.90.358, added DeathEater trait for vampires who read the Ordinary Necromancy relic

As always, if you notice anything not working or have suggestions, let me know!