Bishop Takes Head Kick: Grandmaster Quan's Grandmaster Challenge

[Metropolis Man]

Bishop Takes Head Kick: Grandmaster Quan’s Grandmaster Challenge

Goal
Try and be the first player to achieve Grandmaster rank in chess and Grandmaster rank in the Martial Arts Tournament.

General Challenge Rules
The General Challenge Rules always apply. If applicable, exceptions will be noted below.

Specific Challenge Rules

• Create 1 Young Adult Sim.
• You may not add to the household.
• You may restart this challenge fresh ONLY in the event an opponent is a shopkeeper, or some other circumstance breaks your Sim's ability to advance in the tournament(s). Please be patient though and don't jump the gun. Try and work out solutions before deciding to restart.
• This challenge ends when your Sim has attained Grandmaster rank in chess and Grandmaster rank in the Martial Arts Tournament.

Scoring
Instead of listing finishing times in terms of weeks, days, hours and minutes, it would be simplest to boil everything down to minutes...

Time References:
One Day = 1440 minutes
One Week = 10080 minutes
 
Town Time — When you no longer need to play in your neighborhood, pause the game, mouse over the game clock and note the Week and Day. Then jot down the time of day also.

Vacation Time — When you no longer need to be on vacation, pause the game, mouse over the game clock and note the Day. Then jot down the time of day also.

Total — Everything needs to be converted to minutes (see above references). It’s not that difficult, but if you want to leave it to me, I totally understand. I’ll walk you through an example.

Example: You play in Riverview and finish on Week 2, Day 4, 11: 56 PM. You finished in Week 2 which means you have a full Week (10080 minutes) under your belt. You finished on Day 4 which translates to 3 full Days (4320 minutes). Finally, just figure the minutes for the time of your last day. So, it’s 23 Hours + 56 minutes (1436 minutes). So, the Town Time = 10080 + 4320 + 1436 = 15836 minutes.

And yes, I realize we all start a new file at 8 AM, but since everyone is in the same boat, there’s no sense in adding more work and have players subtract time too.

Okay, now let’s say it takes you 2 vacations to win the Martial Arts Tournament. Your first vacation is a full 6 days (you’re tossed back to town at midnight on Day 6) and your second vacation ends on Day 4, 2:46 PM. So, vacation #1 is 6 full Days (1440 X 6 = 8640 minutes). Vacation #2 involves 3 full Days (4320) plus the minutes for the time of your last day. 2:46 PM translates to 14 hours and 46 minutes = 886 minutes. Vacation #2 = 4320 + 886 = 5206 minutes. Now, add your two vacations together — 8640 + 5206 = 13846 minutes for Vacation Time.

Total for this example is Town Time (15836) + Vacation Time (13846) = 29682 minutes. I know, I know...it’s a lot of math. Like I said, I’m totally okay with you blowing off the computations and just posting all the info I need to figure it out myself.

Helpful Guide Articles
Chess Grand Master Guide
Martial Arts Master Lifetime Wish Walkthrough

This Event is Now Closed

Good luck! I think it's only logical that you'll get a kick out of this event.

Final Leaderboard

Player	Town Time	Vacation Time	Total
winnow	5505	5727	11232
Largo The Stampede	6835	5897	12732
LenaLJ	3537	9467	13004
omega2alpha	7172	5838	13010
surlyduck	4458	9157	13615
NancyJ	3394	10836	14230
lilygirl	3448	10996	14444
Metropolis Man	3879	10775	14654
Anushka	4828	10188	15016
Alexandria_	3772	11500	15272
jaxpylon	4249	11153	15402
ClayMask	8657	6748	15405
ChronicR	6271	9243	15514
Anjielicka	4278	11399	15677
Agneza	8082	8011	16093
GoslettM	6442	10244	16686
Veldmuisie	4365	12665	17030
nzgirl	8438	9445	17883
Zylphe	7342	10652	17994
Aiwe	5093	12960	18053
Dagger	5443	12690	18133
alyssa.cole	4258	14114	18372
rahmbr	10703	8044	18747
kvscorpio	7242	11559	18801
crth	5699	13868	19567
lvrugger	5704	14205	19909
lulu	7344	12621	19965
Alsier	7879	12143	20022
RJ	7880	12426	20306
stella_d	6637	13869	20506
Schipperke	8642	12297	20939
Nicky	8556	12630	21186
mtglady	12119	9074	21193
fluffyj00	7710	13665	21375
Margerita	4783	17054	21837
ratchie	11075	10952	22027
jewalsb	5852	16345	22197
Lizzy3272	11616	10912	22528
BellaClo	10163	13230	23393
Paula2424	10784	12783	23567
Cindalee115	11372	12382	23754
MerryWiddow	6895	17052	23947
Thoughtfairy	10300	13820	24120
momofmany	6197	17980	24177
muddawg	10265	13976	24241
tjsmetana	5995	18517	24512
HelenP	12625	11916	24541
annieb	16740	8157	24897
Nikitachi	10672	14456	25128
Nyteglori	12220	12960	25180
tosho	8725	17113	25838
Danielle	11015	15118	26133
Sims3lover2010	12678	13828	26506
Kaibilly	13006	13640	26646
Dittie	11406	15398	26804
ClumsyMum	8746	19357	28103
A.Drake	14094	14230	28324
klop90	13542	15222	28764
CarlaluvsSims	15180	13890	29070
tiffieleigh	11882	17436	29318
Joria	18716	11021	29737
Hege	5760	23040	31167
Twinmum	14998	16887	31885
akurinne	15191	17271	32462
bored1	17172	15972	33144
Pam	18305	15690	33995
Hosfac	16429	18448	34877
Gheez	19717	15521	35238
LisaBlade	18698	16595	35293
Canuckfan	18399	17846	36245
YolandaBlu	17160	19626	36786
mistysun978	17697	19574	37271
Illianna	21000	18125	39125
SimmerAtHeart96	21376	19920	41296
biancasimone	30793	15885	46678
hrdrdrdr	36000	20160	56160

[ik]

What about the hours you lose at the beginning of each vacation (since vacation day 1 does not start at midnight)? Should they be taken out of the count, or is that just personal bad luck if you take several short vacations instead of one long one?

[Metropolis Man]

What about the hours you lose at the beginning of each vacation (since vacation day 1 does not start at midnight)? Should they be taken out of the count, or is that just personal bad luck if you take several short vacations instead of one long one?

Look at starting vacation times at 8 AM the same way as the starting 8 AM town time — everyone has to deal with it, and yes, that's all part of the strategy, so no more needs to be discussed. 

[Schipperke]

What should we do if the next opponent is a member of the paparazzi?  This just happened in my practice game.  My sim was in China and I was having her work on the chess tournament as she was fatigued.  The paparazzo came to the lot but would not sit down at the chess table. 

[Metropolis Man]

What should we do if the next opponent is a member of the paparazzi?  This just happened in my practice game.  My sim was in China and I was having her work on the chess tournament as she was fatigued.  The paparazzo came to the lot but would not sit down at the chess table.  

I honestly can't think of a global fix for this situation except simply cheating to delete the Sim. I'd be okay with that. If you didn't you'd be stuck and could not advance in the Tournament.

[Schipperke]

I honestly can't think of a global fix for this situation except simply cheating to delete the Sim. I'd be okay with that. If you didn't you'd be stick and could not advance in the Tournament.

Yeah, even waiting until the next trip would mean wasted time, and in a challenge where the minutes count, wasting time is something we don't want to do.  Deleting paparazzi sounds great to me!  (good riddance)

[Aiwe]

I've been doing a testing run of this and I had the same problem, except it was a sparring opponent that was paparazzi, as I've previously had it that going on holiday a second time meant I had a different opponent (back when I was having a problem because the sparring opponent was a storekeeper) I tried this and although I got the same opponent she was no longer paparazzi for some reason and I was then able to spar with her. I don't know if that would happen reliably though of course, but I thought I'd post my experience in case the information was helpful.

[Metropolis Man]

@Frey — too much info in your question so I nuked it. It's all part of strategy if you choose to go that route. But, the answer is yes.  

[ClayMask]

I honestly can't think of a global fix for this situation except simply cheating to delete the Sim. I'd be okay with that. If you didn't you'd be stuck and could not advance in the Tournament.

I remember having a similar problem with shopkeepers in the past.  I don't remember whether I was ever able to get them to spar or play chess.  If we can't get them to do these things, is it okay if we delete them also?  Does anyone know whether you can still shop on a trip if the shopkeeper is deleted?

[Metropolis Man]

I remember having a similar problem with shopkeepers in the past.  I don't remember whether I was ever able to get them to spar or play chess.  If we can't get them to do these things, is it okay if we delete them also?  Does anyone know whehter you can still shop on a trip if the shopkeeper is deleted?

Yes, that bug has happened to me as well. Yeah, deleting the shopkeeper in that situation is okay with me.

[bored1]

I had something strange happen while I was testing this challenge. I was progressing through the spar tournament ranks and called for my next opponent. She didn't show up, even though it said she was on the lot. I checked and checked and couldn't find her. The next day I went to her house and called from there- she said something had come up. So I went to the Martial Arts Academy as a last attempt before figuring out a cheat to move on. I called and a few minutes later she came- completely naked. not even blurs. When I challenged her to the match, she changed into her Simfu clothes.

The next time I had to fight her, she came normally. I wanted to mention this so that people will be aware of this bug, unless it is already well known (hard to keep up with all of them).

[Metropolis Man]

I called and a few minutes later she came- completely naked. not even blurs.

Are you maybe forgetting you might have a mod installed for that effect? This would be the first time I've ever heard of naked Sims without a mod.

[ElectricMonk]

Are you maybe forgetting you might have a mod installed for that effect? This would be the first time I've ever heard of naked Sims without a mod.

http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,68.0.html

You did post on the next page of this, after all.

[Metropolis Man]

http://www.carls-sims-3-forum.com/index.php/topic,68.0.html

You did post on the next page of this, after all.

Ha ha. I forgot about that screenshot. Hey, I believe you. Just covering all the bases. 

[LenaLJ]

Okay maybe its just me who is dumb but the way i just read the rules agian it came out like this

Town Time — When you no longer need to play in your neighborhood, pause the game, mouse over the game clock and note the Week and Day. Then jot down the time of day also.

Vacation Time — When you no longer need to be on vacation, pause the game, mouse over the game clock and note the Day. Then jot down the time of day also.

In my head it sound when im finished with all i had to do in hometown then i take the time, but if i need to seperate vacations after that the time where my sim just waits in town and does nothing doesnt count?

Im totally sure its not that but in my mind when i read the lines that what i get. Please dont be mad at me im a little beside my self today.

[Metropolis Man]

In my head it sound when im finished with all i had to do in hometown then i take the time, but if i need to seperate vacations after that the time where my sim just waits in town and does nothing doesnt count?

Yeah, I know, the vacation clock is goofy isn't it? What you need to do, Lena, is pause the game when you make the phone call to go back home and note that time. Then the added processing time to kick your Sim out of there is irrelevant.

[Alexandria_]

This question may seem a bit silly, but I only just got World Adventures.
Can you play ranked chess matches in other countries?

[n8thegr8]

Can you play ranked chess matches in other countries?

Yes, in fact, I have become a grandmaster in China.

[Teresa]

Do you have to be completely done in the hometown before starting to travel?  Or can you play a little in the hometown, take a vacation, play some more in the hometown, take another vacation, etc.?  Then add up all the vacation times and take the ending hometown time to calculate the score?  Just got a little confused with some of the wording so wanted to check.

[Metropolis Man]

Do you have to be completely done in the hometown before starting to travel?  Or can you play a little in the hometown, take a vacation, play some more in the hometown, take another vacation, etc.?  Then add up all the vacation times and take the ending hometown time to calculate the score?  Just got a little confused with some of the wording so wanted to check.

Yes, that's fine. I'm guessing everyone is going to have to take more than one vacation anyway to accomplish the Martial Arts Tournament depending on how many roadblocks players run up against, so you'll go back to your hometown at least one additional time anyway.

[Alexandria_]

I have a question relating to all challenges.
I live in Australia, so we're quite a few hours ahead of the other countries.
Do we need to wait until the date specified as the starting date reaches England/America? Or can we start 'early'?

For example, this challenge begins on January 24.
But it will be January 24th here when it is still January 23 in the other countries.
Do we need to wait until January 24th England/American time? Or can we start on January 24th Australian time?

[ratchie]

The following is from the general rules so from what it says you can start playing when the start date is in your time zone.You don't have to wait for other countries or time zones to catch up.


Starting Dates/Closing Dates
All challenges begin on a specific date (a Monday) and close on a specific date (a Sunday). You need to be aware of these dates because playing your scoring file before the starting date or playing after the closing date is not allowed. Scores submitted after the closing date will not be accepted. The only time reference you need to remember is your local time/date. You must submit scores in the individual challenge thread before the closing date has come and gone in your local time zone.

[Metropolis Man]

Yeah, Alexandria, as ratchie correctly quoted from the rules it all depends on where you live. Whenever it is the 24th for you, you can begin. Don't worry about what time it is elsewhere.

[Alexandria_]

Thank you, both of you, for clarifying that.

[CarlaluvsSims]

I'm running a test game for this challenge and am having difficulties with next rank chess opponents and next rank sparring partners accepting. I did 3 chess matches at home then I was unable to get the next opponent to accept the match (tryed for several Sim days). I went on vacation to China (leveled up some for Martial Arts) and unable to get a sparring partner and still no chess opponent. I've looked at some of the forums for a reasonable suggestion to help, but there doesn't seem to be an easy solution. Should I just wait and keep trying? I've not have this issue until recently. I'm not much into killing off Sims, but deleting would work just fine for me. If deleting is acceptable, can someone tell me how to do this.

Thanks for any help!
Carla