The newest expansion for The Sims 4, Royalty and Legacy, introduces some major new wrinkles to the way this digital world works. The main one is that your Sims can now become ruler of the city they live in and start a dynasty that can solidify the family’s power for generations.
Since the Royalty and Legacy expansion is fueled by pretty much entirely new mechanics, it’s not actually that obvious how to get started on the road to power. But that’s what we’re here for.
It’s all about the nobles
A Sim who wants to rule must be a noble, and unless your Sim is literally a dynasty’s heir to the throne, that means partaking in the Noble career. Being a professional noble is very different from any other career in The Sims 4, because it’s a 24/7 gig. Everything your Sim does can hypothetically affect their status. And this career isn’t one you can join with a phone call. To start things off, you’ll need to one of three options: request a knighthood from a noble who likes your Sim; choose the Research Nobility option on the book The Duchess Diaries: A History of Nobility, which is stocked on every bookshelf; or buy a throne in build mode and simply declare your Sim a noble.
Progressing through the ranks of Nobles will require doing various daily tasks, and leveling up the skills that are most important to a rule in The Sims 4: swordsmanship and charisma. When it’s time to level up, you’ll need to use a throne to claim your Sim’s new title. This means you can also choose to maintain your Sim’s noble rank where it is, if you want. Leveling up the Noble career is a lot easier with a strong dynasty–more on that in a moment.
Your Sims can work their way up to the ninth tier of the Noble career by completing tasks, but the 10th and final rank–ruler–is only available to one Sim at a time in each World. The good news is that there are no rulers anywhere when you start a fresh save with this expansion, and the new world of Ondarion is the only one where you’re likely to find opposition to your rise to power.
Building a better dynasty
It’s a lot easier for your Sims to get what they want if they’re part of a strong dynasty. Leveling up your dynasty can make every member more likeable or more successful at romance, or cause them to gain some other advantageous ability, depending on the perks you choose. A member of a high-level dynasty will face far fewer obstacles than a single Sim without a family would. So it’s important to build up your Sim’s dynasty as you work through the Noble career.
How to depose a ruler
There are four main ways to deal with a ruler that you want out of the way. The first is to force them to step down, either using blackmail or by challenging them to a sword duel. Public pressure from a scandal (which requires the ruler to do something bad in public) is another option. If the ruler likes your Sim enough, they could potentially be convinced to abdicate without coercion. And, lastly, you can kill them with an “accident.”
To be clear, Royalty and Legacy is not adding a murder mechanic to The Sims 4. This expansion adds a new secret passage mechanic. A Sim can use large cuckoo clocks to move between different parts of their house–like Batman in those serials from the 1930s and ’40s. A Sim who’s up to no good can sabotage these secret passages and potentially kill a Sim who tries to use them. If you manage to do this to the existing king, it’ll create a power vacuum that your Sim might be able to fill.
Any of the other methods of “accidental” death will be similarly helpful. Your Sim could get a cowplant and feed all their rivals to it, for example.
There are also some shortcuts that can be used to circumvent this entire process. The most notable is the sword in the stone in the Verdemar neighborhood of Ondarion. Pulling the Simcalibur out of the stone, which requires high swordfighting skill and favor with Commoners, will allow your Sim to immediately depose the current ruler and take over the throne, like in the legend of King Arthur.
You’ve won the game of thrones–now what?
Once you’ve become the boss, now what? Well, all that stuff that your Sim could do to the previous ruler is now stuff that other Sims can do to you–but you can also do those same things in a defensive way. The easiest way to maintain your Sim’s rule is to be well-liked by as many other Sims as possible and to level up their dynasty–a high-level dynasty can hold power much easier than a low-level one. And you can head off blackmailers by gathering secrets of your own and blackmailing them back.
