The Centurian's Solo Challenge

[Metropolis Man]

Metro, did you complete the guitar opportunities to unlock the bonus to tips ? I wonder if this bonus is additive or multiplicative to the bonus given by the number of compositions played

I've probably played 10+ guitarists and I've never achieved the Guitar Star challenge. It's bugged. It has to be. Then again, the last few guitarists I've created I've honestly had no interest in doing the opportunities to achieve the Guitar Star challenge because of the amount you can make in tips via employing the exploit. I mean if your guitarist can make over 100k in a single tip session what difference would it make if he made more by achieving that challenge? But, I must admit I'm still curious as to how much difference there is in tips by having that challenge completed. It's the only vanilla challenge I've never done, so at this point it's like discovering the cure for cancer for me.

[Titus]

I completed the challenge a few times more for RP reasons than anything else. The only way to do it is to avoid taking another skill than guitar for your sim (so no cooking, gardening, no repairing of broken stuff,...)
I stopped getting guitar opportunities as soon as I got another skill and it is only by completing those opportunities that you can finish the challenge. Even the opportunity asking you to go to the bookstore to help organize the music section counts.

I'll check if I have a save of my sim shortly before she completed the challenge so I can then compare the highest tip received before and after getting the challenge with the same number of compositions played

[Metropolis Man]

I completed the challenge a few times more for RP reasons than anything else. The only way to do it is to avoid taking another skill than guitar for your sim (so no cooking, gardening, no repairing of broken stuff,...)

I've read that on other forums too, and it's a prime indicator that the Guitar Star challenge is completely whacked out and busted. If you're playing a single Sim, why on earth would you not have them pursue at least a moderate amount of cooking and handiness just to make life easier?

[Titus]

I just made a check : with 51 compositions performed, my sim got a highest tip around 150.
With the challenge completed and 53 compositions performed, the highest tip jumped to around 250. So there seems to be a huge increase from the challenge

[Metropolis Man]

Thanks for doing that. Wow. Amazing. I think I pushed the number close to 1000 in this challenge. I can't remember for sure, but I didn't complete Guitar Star. Kind of makes my head spin as to the money you could make with that completed.

[Metropolis Man]

I'm giving this one more shot while I wait for the nectar tourney to start. Johnny B Goode lives again. I'll be doing one key difference this time around in hopes of finally getting the Guitar Star Challenge. So, we'll see if it works.

[Pam]

I'm giving this one more shot while I wait for the nectar tourney to start. Johnny B Goode lives again. I'll be doing one key difference this time around in hopes of finally getting the Guitar Star Challenge. So, we'll see if it works.

Ha!  I double dog DARE you to beat my score!! 

[Metropolis Man]

Alright, Pam. Looks like some moderator smack talk has just heated up. I'll be gentle on you and resist beating your flimsy effort before Week 3. But, until then you're safe.

[Pam]

I really have to laugh every time I look at the leaderboard for this one.  The next person ahead of me got TWICE as many points!  My glorious reign as Queen of the Lowest Possible Score will continue through eternity! 

[Kaitlin9613]

Hi, I am new to the forums. Just spotted this website through google and it is A-MAZ-ING! After a lot of thought, I have decided to try this challenge first. It seems the most challenging to me - I am hopeless at making money and happiness points, so hopefully this should help. And Pam, I am going to steal your title

[Metropolis Man]

Hi Kaitlin. Welcome to the forums and good luck in this challenge.

[Kaitlin9613]

Thanks, I think I'm going to need it I have created my Sim (Matthew Pretage) who shall live the most full filled and wealthy life ever.....I hope.

[Metropolis Man]

If you don't mind me asking — what will Matthew's main source of income be?

[Kaitlin9613]

I have given him the Heartbreaker LTW (As it is easy to fulfil and gives 35,000 points, one of the better ones) and I think I shall try painting. The last sim I made to paint did very well for themselves. I would probably be better off doing a career, but I like a challenge

Any tips to help with this challenge would be greatly appreciated  Hint, hint

[Metropolis Man]

Any tips to help with this challenge would be greatly appreciated   Hint, hint

I've done plenty of painters and they can be lucrative. Much more so than a standard career because your Sim won't be tied to a work clock.

Tips:

Only do small canvas size until all 3 challenges are done. At that point, make the switch to Large canvas size.

Buy the Sleep Slave Double Bed and eventually get the Meditative Trance Sleep reward. He'll need very little time to fully recharge for more painting.

When you can offer it, start getting the Soothing Salvations spa package.

Best traits (for this particular tourney IMO) — Artistic, Loves the Outdoors, Over-Emotional, Ambitious, and Perfectionist.

[Kaitlin9613]

Omg I must be psychic.  I gave him Great Kisser and Flirty (for his LTW) and Artistic Perfectionist and Over Emotional

Thanks for the great tips - I wouldn't have splashed out for the great bed at the start, but now I actually think about it, it makes sense.

I have also read Carl's guide to Swimming in Cash, where he made an Artist. I'm quite competitive, so I want to try to stay away from the bottom I just said "try" though, so don't hold me to it

[Metropolis Man]

I'm quite competitive, so I want to try to stay away from the bottom I just said "try" though, so don't hold me to it

Ha ha. Yeah, the challenges are really picking up lately which makes me happy.

I've got a pretty amazing update for Johnny B Goode, my guitarist. He just nailed the Guitar Star Challenge! YEEEEESS! This is like the Holy Grail for me everyone. Everything I've ever read about making sure not to do any other skill than guitar really panned out this time because the Guitar opportunities really came on a regular basis since he had no cooking or handiness. And here's a couple tips: The challenge description I think says you've got to play guitar at 10 parties and venues around town. EA might have changed the original requirement from different venues. I'm almost certain they all had to be different. But, not any more. Not only that, but non-playing Opportunities like Sorting the Section go towards fulfilling the Challenge also.

Johnny is almost halfway through the tourney. He climbed his way to Rock Star and then promptly quit the music career to focus completely on round the clock (well, almost — I still don't believe in using the Moodlet Manager) weekday training for composition performances. He's coming up to a weekend of tip playing in front of the theatre. Should be a good one now that the Guitar Star bonus kicks in.

--------

Johnny's up to 3 million simoleans and he just started Week 8. That means 7 more weekend gigs in front of the theatre @ 1 million average per weekend. You do the math. It's going to be a lot of money in the end. I'm guessing between 11-12 mil. Actually, I stopped "training" him a week ago. It's just to boring and too stupid. Who in their right mind would do this exploit for 14 straight weeks? I just can't. I wanted to in the beginning. But, there's too much in the game to explore. The past week before his last theatre gig I just had him max out Handiness by going all around town and upgrading stuff. It was a blast. And it gave me a fun idea for a future challenge.

[Titus]

Congrats on completing the challenge. You must have gone crazy training him on those performances. I just remade my sim to check what the max tip would be at 100 compositions performed with or without the challenge completed and saw the max tip jump from 287 to 429 simoleons so it seems the challenge increases all tips by 50%.

[Metropolis Man]

Johnny B Goode is done. "Pushing the Envelope" doesn't really describe what I did with this guy. I took this guitarist probably farther than anyone has to date. 1750 performances. Let me repeat that....1750 performaces. I know. It's nothing short of insane. And the thing is — he maxed painting, handiness, charisma, and athletic on top of guitar. So, there was plenty of time to push that to 2000+ in those 100 days. But, it just was brutal. Day after day of cueing up Perform for 16 hours at a stretch.

I don't even really feel like listing myself at the top of the leaderboard. Holmes deserves to be at the top. But, anyway, here's the final tally:

household funds: 11,613,059
furnished lot: 19908
Total Happiness Points acquired: 356,520

The best thing as a result of this final effort of mine was I think I came up with a really cool idea for a tourney, a handiness challenge. I was just looking for something to break up the boredom and had Johnny go out and start repairing and upgrading objects all around Sunset Valley just for the heck of it. And then I thought it would be so cool to have a character literally try and upgrade the entire game world — all locations.

I don't want to look at a guitar for at least 2 months!!!!

[Kaitlin9613]

Sorry everyone - My Sims 3 game crashed the other day and it has deleted all my families

I am going to restart the challenge though. It's just gutting that I was at day 90-something and now it's gone.

Ah well - I will do even better this time around!!!

[Metropolis Man]

Bummer, Kaitlin. About how much money had you accumulated with your Sim?

[Kaitlin9613]

Somewhere close to around 4.5 million. I had done Painting and Guitar, had all the helpful Lifetime Rewards, so I basically played Guitar for tips all day until people left, did some Painting, got some sleep and something to eat, then started again.
And my character was a Mooch too, so when he got the new friend moodlet, I made him go and ask for money

EDIT: Sorry, I was doing Maths homework and typed the wrong number. It should be around 9.5 mil. No idea how I made that to 4.5 

[Kaitlin9613]

Sorry everyone, but my homework load has increased and I'm having more fun with the Trump challenge, so I'm going to withdraw from this one at the moment. Might come back to it later.

[Tealeaf]

Ok, I just finished the Perfectly Happy challenge, and I think I learned enough from that to make a good showing at this one.  A couple of questions:

Is it still on?  That is, is the leader board being updated?  And is there a specific time when it is over?  I'm on vacation this week so was able to do the perfectly happy challenge pretty fast, but it wouldn't be the case with this one.  Is eating ambrosia and using the moodlet manager ok?

[Pam]

Hi Tealeaf!

This challenge is still on, meaning that we will still update the leaderboard with your score.  This was one of the earliest challenges and it's not part of our new tournament ranking system, so it doesn't have a start or end date.  Nor will your score for this challenge be included in calculating your ranking.  But sure, if you want to play it, go for it!  Ambrosia and the Moodlet Manager aren't banned in the rules, so they are fine to use.