Carl’s Sims 3 Challenge Hall of Fame2010 TournamentThe Perfectly Happy Challenge, March 14Participants: 29
Champion: ik
The 2010 Tournament officially kicked off with this long 100-day event involving a single Sim trying to catch all perfect fish, cook all perfect meals, and plant all perfect fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the Sim needed to acquire as many happiness points as possible. 29 players from all over the world participated in the event, which shattered the previous participation number for a forum challenge.
When all was said and done, ik, a 40-year-old mother of two little girls, topped the large field. It was touch and go initially for this native of Germany. Her Sim got buggy and was unable to use bait when fishing during Week 8. She went back to a previous save and all was good. She explained, “I did not expect to come out first with all the trouble I had with fishing. I did not even do anything special, I just went through the guide concerning traits, chose the ones that seemed most suitable for getting many lth points, and then went with what came my way.”
ik continued to tell me a little more about her character: “As for strategy, I have not really had any for the Perfectly Happy Challenge. I decided to not choose any skill related traits (no natural cook, angler or green thumb) since I had been playing enough gardening and fishing Sims before to be sure to get the perfects without those traits, and suspected that the same would go for cooking, especially with perfect ingredients. Instead, I chose by checking Carl's guide, and came up with an Over-Emotional, Ambitious, Perfectionist, Bookworm and Lucky Sim (Lucky was really just because I did not know what to choose as last trait
).”
ik was only one of three players to approach 500k happiness points. Ambitious was obviously a key trait for anyone’s character in this event. But, Bookworm and Perfectionist were important traits for ik’s character as well. “Bookworm was helpful early on to get a quick start on the gardening and cooking skill. It also gave a lot of 'read xx books' wishes, and towards the end, gave an almost guaranteed wish to finish a book just by going to the library anytime I did not have anything to do and an open wish slot. Perfectionist also came up with a lot of 'catch perfect xx', 'grow perfect xx' and 'prepare perfect xx' wishes that I did not expect, but were very helpful
. 'Prepare 25 different perfect meals' was a nice big wish over the last few weeks, too.”
Zeus and Hera’s Nectar-Making Invitational, April 4Participants: 25
Champion: ik
Next up on the 2010 Tournament schedule was Zeus and Hera’s Nectar-Making Invitational. This was another long 100-day event quite different from
Perfectly Happy. Players had to be single-minded in their pursuit of acquiring a huge stockpile of nectar and then selling it at the last minute to make as much money as possible. The official “hosts” of the event were Zeus and Hera Olympus. It was great to see many of the 25 players play along with the theme and create other Greek gods/goddesses.
Zeus and Hera had a short 2-week reign at the top of the leader board with $6,618,092 simoleans from nectar sold. meamalso2 threw down the gauntlet and said before starting, “I will buckle down and try to beat Metro at his own game.” Turns out those words were prophetic and meamlaso2 posted an incredible $8,018,330 nectar total, pushing Zeus and Hera down to 2nd. Then, fresh off of her victory from
Perfectly Happy, ik posted her results of $8,733,633 and never relinquished the throne for the duration of the challenge.
ik (Imme) explained, “My basic strategy was to get enough LTH points for the traveler rewards quickly. I made it by day 6 (week 1) and went to France for 9 days. I got home with 8 nectar-making machines, all three nectar skill books, several bottles of lime-renoit and apple-renoit nectars (I had taken a good many apples and limes with me, and harvested renoit grapes and pomegranates whenever possible) and several skill levels in nectar making for each Sim.”
She continued, “I used the first few weeks for growing Life Fruit and tons of other special seeds, to max the gardening and nectar making skills of both Sims and get all nectar makers upgraded. I also tried to force the relevant gardening and nectar making skill challenges for both Sims, especially the 200 bottles and 40 bins of fruit challenges, which I fulfilled mostly by making apple-renoit and lime-renoit nectar since those fruits grow quickly. I replanted all of the early Life Fruit harvests to get lots of perfect fruit quickly. I made my first Life Fruit/Pomegranate nectar in late Week 5/early Week 6, and made the first Perfect one in late Week 6/early Week 7 (with all nectar challenges in place). In the end I got most of my total from Life Fruit Pomegranate nectar (about 8.3 million from close to 4k bottles).”
ik finished up by telling me, “Traits I used were Bookworm (to learn gardening, handiness and nectar-making quickly), Loves the Outdoors, Green Thumb, Ambitious (to get the LTH points for the traveler rewards quickly) and Over-Emotional (for better mood). Rewards bought were the traveler rewards, Super Green Thumb and everything related to needs. Lifetime Wishes were Perfect Garden and Bottomless Nectar Cellar.”
So, ik put it all together for another great win. Well done, Imme!
Sunset Valley/Riverview Team Upgrade Race, April 25Participants: 36
Champion: omega2alpha
A whopping 36 players participated in leg #3 of the 2010 Tournament, the Sunset Valley/Riverview Team Upgrade Race. In this event, players formed a team of 3 Sims and raced around both Sunset Valley and Riverview to Upgrade all objects in public facilities as fast as possible. It was a lot of fun and very quick.
omega2alpha, a 16-year-old US resident, edged out lovergirl by one hour for the win. Despite the winner’s young age, omega2alpha has been playing Sims for a long time: “I've been playing since the Sims first came out (I was six and playing a teen rated game
). My brother got it for his birthday and I've been hooked ever since.”
I was very eager to get some strategy from the champ. I got plenty: “Red, Green, and Blue Upgrade (their name corresponds with their skin color) had the traits of Handy, Over-Emotional, Loves the Outdoors, Ambitious, and Loner. I used the list of places with number of upgrades on the rules, and assigned each Sim venues based on how many upgradeable objects there were in each place (the Sims split up and were never at the same place at the same time). When someone completed an upgrade, I put a tally mark next to the place name on the list. When they were done at a venue, I had them pack up and go to the next one on their list. This way, I stayed organized and was able to keep each Sim constantly busy with minimal transportation time.”
“Immediately after Red, Green, and Blue moved into Riverview (this is my favorite neighborhood, so I started them here) I sent them to the grocery store to buy raw fruit and the bookstore to buy handiness level one books, I sent them on a vacation to China. There, they read their handiness books and upgraded a whole bunch of stuff (to get money). On the last day, they each bought a tent and 50ish shower-in-a-cans. Back in Riverview they upgraded until their needs got low, and they then slept nearby in a tent, ate a piece of fruit, or showered (with a can). All LTH points were used for rewards related to needs.”
“Sunset Valley was the same - go to a venue, plop a tent down and start upgrading. I finished quickly because by that time I had almost all the needs rewards bought so there was less downtime for when the Sims needed to sleep or eat.”
Thanks to this big win, omega2alpha had a lock on the #2 position when the World Ranking debuted on April 26th.
The Career Couples’ Grand Slam Challenge, May 16Participants: 29
Champion: NancyJ
29 participants finished leg #4 of the 2010 Tournament, an event focusing on careers for Sims. The goal was to have 2 Sims max out 4 different careers (a “Grand Slam”) as well as complete as many different career opportunities as quickly as possible.
NancyJ, a veteran player since the Tournament began in January, topped the field and was one of the few players to finish in the 8th week. Hazel (Nancy’s real name) is a 27-year-old self-employed web developer currently residing in Bradford, UK.
Hazel adopted a smart strategy as to which careers to choose for her Sims: “Originally I'd planned to select professions based on skill overlap but in testing it became apparent that it wasn't a good strategy, the professions didn't line up well in terms of days off, plus the risk of arrest with the criminal career was too much. Solid Mon-Fri jobs worked out better for maximizing the number of days worked. In the end for Sim 1 I chose Business to start because it has no skill requirements, then athletic, military and police. For Sim 2 I chose Cooking first for the rewards and moodlet boosts from good food, I then went into medicine, music and politics.”
“For traits I chose Ambitious, Schmoozer, Workaholic and Charismatic then Athletic for Sim 1 and Bookworm for Sim 2. Workaholic was essential for working at home to get promotions on the weekend/days off. Charismatic & Schmoozer helped quickly butter up my new bosses to get promotions.”
Lifetime Rewards I took were: Observant + Never Dull + Office Hero for quickly making friends with bosses and co-workers; Steel Bladder - no moodlet benefit from using the toilet so no need to do it; Dirt Defiant - I still showered every day but it takes much less time and the mood boost lasts > 24hrs. Most free time was spent either working from home on the computer or working on skills.”
Hazel’s overall big tip: “Most important was never being late for work, even if it meant skipping breakfast, I had to get a promotion every worked day possible - one missed promotion could throw off the whole schedule. With the Mon-Fri jobs you could generally get to level 6 or 7 in the first week of the job (including 1 promotion at the weekend) then get the remaining 3-4 promotions over the next week.”
Congratulations to Hazel for her entry into the Hall of Fame and for sharing some great tips!
Baby Boomer II: 50 Days of Extreme Parenting, June 6Participants: 34
Champion: LenaLJ
2nd only to the Upgrade Race for sheer participation to date, the Baby Boomer II Challenge saw an impressive 34 players have their Sims make lots of babies over the past 10 weeks. In the first Baby Boomer Challenge the focus was on pure numbers of children. This time around important milestones in the children’s development were key, as well as fulfillment of Lifetime Wishes.
Lena LJ, an 18-year-old woman living in Denmark, has been a consistently strong Tournament player from the start, including a 4th place finish in the Nectar Challenge, a 6th place finish in the Upgrade Race, and 2nd place in Career Couples. She put it all together this time and scored a win. Lena shares some of her thoughts on this Challenge: “I actually didn't have much time to play this challenge because of getting my driver’s license. I was already behind in the Career Couples’ Challenge, so I only had a couple of weeks to complete this before the next big school period in my education. I’ve always loved playing challenges. In fact, I’m very competitive and challenges are nearly the only way I play Sims.”
Lena continued: “When I finally was able to play I put together a strategy. Then, I saw some of the impressive 84-point scores and they were higher than what I thought was possible. So, I revamped the last part of my strategy in hope of getting more points. The most important thing was to get those babies fast so the first 6 kids (twins, triplets and a single one) were made as fast as possible. The mother, Venus Ai, had the LTW of Surrounded by Family, and the dad, Mars Ai, got the LTW of Becoming a CEO. Mars' biggest part in this challenge was to provide the money.
“All the children worked hard on their school performances and toddler skills and if they weren’t working on that they worked on other skills that would fit to the LTW I chose for them. Mars moved out as soon as he reach the top and got enough money. So there was a place for one more baby — the original couple got 7 children. Each of the children got a LTW about skills as these are the easiest to complete.”
“When the twins became YA they had not completed their LTW yet, but their mother and some of their younger siblings had finished their LTW so I had them move out. That made space for three spouses for the 3 eldest children. The tactic with the spouses was getting Sims with Snob as one of their traits in hope of Swimming in Cash and Living in the Lap of Luxury LTW. I was lucky and one of the 3 had Swimming in Cash, the two others I accumulated enough Lifetime Happiness Points so they could change traits and LTW, 1 got Living in the Lap of Luxury, the other Heartbreaker.”
"As time was running out I moved everyone out except for 2 pair. They got twins and a single baby and there was just enough time for them to learn their skills.”
Well done, Lena! Great tips and congratulations on your Hall of Fame entry. Yeah, I can vouch for the LTW strategy at the end. I used Mid-Life Crisis/Change LTW rewards myself on some Sims to make things as easy as possible.
Political “Traiter” to the World, June 27Participants: 26
Champion: Delgar
Political “Traiter” was a very short challenge — only 30 game days plus one vacation. The goal was multifaceted — you needed to raise a lot of money in the political career by throwing Campaign Fundraisers, learn as many traits from Sims as possible, and the real key in getting a big score was the NPC multiplier where you had to become Best Friends with an NPC as well as learn all their traits. So, scores were all over the place depending on if you had one component really high and another one not so high. tosho ended up with the most Campaign$ — 1763 which translates to $1,763,000 raised from Campaign Fundraisers. Schipperke found a staggering 613 traits which was tops for that score. And Kaori had the best NPC score, a mind boggling 4.10 which means 62 NPCs!
But, the player that ended up winning the challenge did not have the best score in any category. Jerry, aka Delgar on the forum, had high scores in all 3 categories, and most importantly, his NPC score was 2nd best overall.
This Calgary, Alberta, Canada native who recently moved to New Jersey is relatively new to the Sims franchise and started playing with Sims 3 because his wife downloaded it while waiting for her new job to begin. Needless to say, Jerry is the one who became quickly attached to the game.
Here’s some words from the champ: “First off let me say that this was by far my favorite challenge so far. It really forced me to play the game in a totally different way. Never before had I interacted with so many Sims and held so many parties. My strategy was simple, I knew I had to focus on befriending as many of the NPC's as possible. I wasn't sure at the beginning how I was going to accomplish this, but on the way I did learn a few tricks.”
“My Sim, Tex Longhorn, was Ambitious, Workaholic, Charismatic, Friendly, Schmoozer. I knew that I needed to get as far into my political career so that I could start hosting parties by the first weekend, hence the Ambitious/Workaholic. His wife was merely there as a marriage of convenience. She would further his political career by befriending and introducing him to as many NPC's as possible.”
“My first two LTR and really the only two that mattered were Observant (3 traits for free, yes please) and Never Dull (so I could spam Get to Know and learn all the traits as quickly as possible). Once my Charisma was high and many of the Charisma challenges were completed, I had to deal with the annoying fact that everyone Tex would meet would start out as friends. So, he would have to insult them once or twice to bring them back down to an acquaintance so he could fill up the queue with the Get to Know action to learn the final two traits. But I still needed to figure out how to find more NPC's.”
“Late in my game I discovered something interesting. I had Tex’s wife order a pizza, and when the pizza guy/gal arrived, asked them to hang out. Then he ordered another pizza, bringing yet another NPC to the house. In one day I was able to get 8-10 different pizza guys/gals to the house. I wasn't able to befriend them all that day, but I now had a way to access more NPC's because I could call over any of these NPC's whenever I wanted. So, I decided to try the same thing with repairman/repairwomen and lo and behold, I could do the same thing. Had I known about this trick earlier I think I could have easily improved my NPC count dramatically.”
“I'm still surprised my score held out. I can't believe I won.”
You did great, Jerry. Thanks for offering up the great tips and congratulations on your induction into the Hall of Fame.
