Author Topic: The Perfectly Happy Challenge (Read 26229 times)

Metropolis Man · « **on:** December 23, 2009, 01:49:05 PM »

The PERFECTLY HAPPY Challenge

GOAL: Perfect recipes. Perfect plants. And Perfect fish. How many different Perfect varieties can you obtain in 100 days while striving for the ultimate in Happiness points acquired?

RULES

Create 1 Young Adult Sim with Lifespan set to Long. No other Sims can be played.
Move your Sim into a new Sunset Valley or Riverview town.
You are not allowed to enter the Edit Town screen to switch Active Households during the tournament.
No cheats or modifications.
Use of the Moodlet Manager is banned.
You are allowed a single 3-day trip to each World Adventures location. No more.
The Challenge ends after your Sim's 100th day (Week 15, Day 2).
You are allowed ONE attempt at this Challenge.
Discussing Strategy and Explicit Info. Revealing very detailed information about how best to achieve a certain goal is forbidden. Ignoring this rule hurts everyone involved, and gives distinct advantages to late-starting players. Here is an example:

General "playing for tips" advice that is fine: "A great place to play for tips is in front of the Theatre on the weekends. Not many Sims are working, so there are plenty of Sims available. Don't forget to bring a piece of fruit to ward off hunger late in the day."

"Playing for Tips" advice that's way too much information: "Click on your Sim's guitar for the Perform cue and cue up 8 songs. But, as soon as the first note begins, cancel the cue. The more songs you "perform" the larger the tips your Sim will earn.

The 2nd bit of info is obviously walking someone through the steps of an advanced exploit and has no place in a challenge thread. But this information is still solid and there's no reason why players should be hidden from it. So, it simply belongs elsewhere on the forum, or Carl can put it somewhere on the Guide.

If you're not sure if something you want to say in this event thread would be divulging too much information — don't say anything.

SCORING:

PERFECT -- Receive 4,000 points for each different Perfect recipe, Perfect plant and Perfect fish obtained in the game. The key word is different. You do not receive points for making a Perfect recipe a 2nd time, or catching two of a given Perfect fish. It's a one-time reward for each variety in the game.

Special Note: As long as you've completed the restaurant chain of opportunities and you have an Omni plant that has produced fruit, you're allowed to give yourself 4k points, no matter what quality the parent plant.

LHPA -- Lifetime Happiness Points Acquired. Open your Lifetime Happiness Points tab and hover your cursor over the treasure box for total Lifetime Happiness Points acquired.

Add your Perfect points and LTHA points together for the total.

This Event is Now Closed

Final Leaderboard

Player	Perfect	LHPA	Total
ik	384000	482332	866332
Jonna	384000	477198	861198
Eftyen	352000	499245	851245
HelenP	380000	420580	800580
jmz95	380000	414211	794211
nobi_fawkes	372000	420536	792536
omega2alpha	384000	400861	784861
Tealeaf	364000	395293	759293
TheCub	384000	372973	756973
xK-la	376000	380280	756280
mordana666	364000	387216	751216
Margerita	364000	379027	743027
tosho	384000	357820	741820
Metro	384000	335910	719910
Carl	380000	339151	719151
meamalso2	268000	445568	713568
Canuckfan	372000	333558	705558
Simfulicious	372000	326338	698338
LenaLJ	372000	319143	691143
Pam	384000	293327	677327
AriaGirl77	332000	341834	673834
Twinmum	364000	289184	653184
wildredchild	384000	266279	650279
Rowan	380000	260153	640153
NancyJ	376000	252015	628015
Ormonster	380000	228616	608616
Kaibilly	356000	249104	605104
icftidu	368000	224980	592980
kat	332000	247774	579774

kat · « **Reply #1 on:** December 23, 2009, 02:10:37 PM »

I'll be giving this one a go in the new year - thanks metro!

Have a great christmas!

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #2 on:** December 23, 2009, 02:18:29 PM »

A Merry Christmas to you too, kat. Or I guess I'll say -- have a Perfectly Happy Christmas!

Pam · « **Reply #3 on:** December 23, 2009, 03:25:59 PM »

I like this one, Metro! Would you mind explaining what is meant by "Challenge Begins" and "Challenge Ends" please? Does it mean nobody can start it before January 1? And then everyone has to be finished by March 31?

wildredchild · « **Reply #4 on:** December 23, 2009, 03:44:18 PM »

Awesome Challenge Metro!!! I will be ready to start my try on Jan. 1st, meanwhile I will have to decide on the traits for my sim.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #5 on:** December 23, 2009, 04:42:25 PM »

Quote from: Pam on December 23, 2009, 03:25:59 PM

I like this one, Metro! Would you mind explaining what is meant by "Challenge Begins" and "Challenge Ends" please? Does it mean nobody can start it before January 1? And then everyone has to be finished by March 31?

That's correct, Pam. And it's March 15 for the close date. A definite close date is critical on several levels and something that I'd like to see as the standard M.O. from now on. It spurs participation and this tournament as well as others will fuel the data necessary for rankings. So, there has to be a cutoff. 10 weeks seems like an ample amount of time.

The start delay is there for an important reason too just to build interest as well as rules clarifications before kickoff.

Pam · « **Reply #6 on:** December 23, 2009, 07:56:11 PM »

That's great, Metro. I like all of that and it will be interesting and fun to see how they all work out and what everyone thinks. The challenge itself appeals to me, too. I like gardening, fishing, and cooking. Looking forward to giving it a shot.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #7 on:** December 23, 2009, 08:21:13 PM »

I'm glad it's appealing to you, Pam. When I PM'd Carl on the idea a week ago he suggested also adding Nectar since it can be Perfect as well. But, after we both thought about it some more it's just too much of an unknown -- the whole recipe combination of ingredients in trying to find Perfect ones vs. just going to some location and trying to catch a Perfect particular fish, etc.

romagia · « **Reply #8 on:** December 25, 2009, 10:57:30 AM »

i am giving it a try...

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #9 on:** December 28, 2009, 07:45:29 AM »

Just wanted to let everyone know that my family is back safe and sound from Florida. I'm listing all players who have expressed interest in this event on the leaderboard. Obviously, participation in any challenge is completely voluntary and there's no commitment for anyone. The reason I'm doing it is a) to build interest, and b) to create a "dynamic" and changing leaderboard once the event begins. That is, if you would like to improve your position with periodic updates, that's great. Just Reply to this thread and mention what your new score is, and I will update the leaderboard.

One other point: Just because the start date is January 1 does not mean you have to start on that date or that you can't start after that date. Starting dates for tournaments are simply the earliest one can begin. But, the closing date is final for everyone.

If you would like to participate in this event and your name is not on the leaderboard, then let me know.

HelenP · « **Reply #10 on:** December 28, 2009, 08:26:47 AM »

I think I'm going to try this but will be later starting because I got WA for Christmas and need to play with it a bit first before doing a challenge.

Pam · « **Reply #11 on:** December 28, 2009, 04:07:53 PM »

Quote from: HelenP on December 28, 2009, 08:26:47 AM

I think I'm going to try this but will be later starting because I got WA for Christmas and need to play with it a bit first before doing a challenge.

Just be sure you start early enough to be able to finish the challenge before the ending date!

romagia · « **Reply #12 on:** December 29, 2009, 08:14:47 AM »

Quote from: Metropolis Man on December 28, 2009, 07:45:29 AM

If you would like to participate in this event and your name is not on the leaderboard, then let me know.

i don't really want to participate;

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #13 on:** December 29, 2009, 08:30:21 AM »

I removed you from the leaderboard, romagia. You can always jump in at any time if you change your mind.

romagia · « **Reply #14 on:** December 29, 2009, 09:01:52 AM »

thanks

NancyJ · « **Reply #15 on:** December 30, 2009, 07:26:43 AM »

I would like to participate. Just out of interest, what checks will be in place to make sure scores are correct?

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #16 on:** December 30, 2009, 07:50:45 AM »

Quote from: NancyJ on December 30, 2009, 07:26:43 AM

I would like to participate. Just out of interest, what checks will be in place to make sure scores are correct?

Hi Nancy. I'll add you to the leaderboard.

It's my responsibility as host to make sure that player's scores add up to the correct total for the table. Beyond that, we're all on the honor system.

Schipperke · « **Reply #17 on:** December 30, 2009, 09:55:45 AM »

Sounds like fun. I've never done a challenge before, but I'll have a go at this.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #18 on:** December 30, 2009, 02:20:13 PM »

Great, Schipperke. You're in.

Carl · « **Reply #19 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:18:55 PM »

Coming in a little late, but count me in. I look forward to using the 'classic' skills a little bit for a while. But we'll need to keep in mind that with 3 days as the limit, people shouldn't take the prepared traveler reward as that will boost the minimum stay to 6 days, breaking the rules.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #20 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:29:03 PM »

Ah, great reminder on Prepared Traveler, Carl. It will boost minimum stay to 6 days, but that doesn't mean a Sim has to stay there 6 days. Of course, then you'd have one more thing to think about which means increasing the chance of unknowingly breaking the rules. I may just ban the reward tomorrow for simplicity.

Carl · « **Reply #21 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:29:56 PM »

Hehe, yeah, who'd take it anyway if you have to keep track of your three days? waste of 10,000 valuable happiness points.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #22 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:35:24 PM »

I'll tell you what — that 3 day limitation is an integral part of the overall strategy in this challenge. There's a lot that has to be done in all 3 locations if players want to maximize the PERFECT score for the endgame.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #23 on:** January 01, 2010, 07:48:12 AM »

Happy New Year!

I don't know if anyone was waiting for me to officially throw down the flag, but that wasn't necessary if you were. As long as it's Jan 1 in your neck of the woods, then you're good to go.

Good luck in this one, everyone. Take your time. Remember that you only have one shot at this. There's wealth of information on the Guide. Use it and write out a plan. That's why it's there.

And, of course, anyone can jump in this event as long as it's running, so just let me know if you want to be added to the leaderboard.

I'm off to finish my Visionary walkthrough for the Guide, and then I'll dive into this probably tomorrow.

NancyJ · « **Reply #24 on:** January 01, 2010, 12:31:26 PM »

I already started but I'm thinking that it isn't going to be possible to get a perfect 'perfect' score. If you were very lucky, you might be able to get Pangu's Axe in 3 days in China but that wouldn't leave time for anything else. I spent 3 days fishing in China and I didn't even managed to get all perfect fish (just couldn't get that Tanchu Koi, then I ran out of plums and the holiday was over!) The guide here says [edit --

I want players to find out for themselves — MM]. As far as I can tell there is no way to activate the stairway down to the garden from that side. Got my game paused while I puzzle this out but I don't think its going to be possible.