Author Topic: World Handyman Championships (Read 14107 times)

LenaLJ · « **Reply #225 on:** January 28, 2012, 06:16:11 AM »

Done with the first challenge of the year and even a day early wich doenst be my kind of doings.

Number of upgrades: 436
Unique %: 100

Total: 436

A nice start of this years journey and the upcomming challenges all look good. Thumbs up Metro.

Jinx13 · « **Reply #226 on:** January 28, 2012, 06:31:02 AM »

Objects Upgraded 111
Unique Objects 79%

111 x .79 = 87.69

Total 87

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #227 on:** January 28, 2012, 07:19:39 AM »

Great score, LenaLJ. I would not expect anything else from you.

The clock is ticking for those of you still hammering away on those objects. We're down to the wire so get those scores in. Just a reminder that you must submit your score no later than January 29 (whenever January 29 for you is).

crth · « **Reply #228 on:** January 28, 2012, 10:24:41 PM »

Handy Manny finished! He upgraded 237 items and completed 96% of the unique upgrades.

237 X .96 = 227.52

Total = 227

07dparte · « **Reply #229 on:** January 29, 2012, 05:44:16 AM »

Think I did quite badly in the end

97 objects, 63% unique .....

97 X 0.63 = 61

Great challenge looking forward to the next one.

mammabec · « **Reply #230 on:** January 29, 2012, 01:36:39 PM »

Harold ManOfHandy finished 75 upgrades and 81% unique which equals a very meh 60.

Think I practiced too much and still didn't get it. Can't wait to hear the strategies.

MomOfMany · « **Reply #231 on:** January 29, 2012, 02:55:49 PM »

I finished! I was hoping to do better but I'll take it!
I had 119 objects upgraded and 96% upgrades completed.
119 x .96 = 114.24
Making my final score 114!

Can't wait to hear the strategies tomorrow. I honestly have no idea how people did it with 400+ upgrades or even the 100% upgrades. I thought I had a good strategy for getting 100% but it didn't work out quite as I had intended!

Sunnysabjes · « **Reply #232 on:** January 29, 2012, 05:24:59 PM »

Aaaand I didn't make it

My computer is getting to old and slow to run the sims properly... I hope I can enter other chalenges when I have my new computer.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #233 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:01:32 AM »

And that's a wrap to our first challenge of the 2012 Tournament, folks. Great job to all and a special tip of the hat to Chuckles. Wow, those scores in the 400's is really amazing. Heck even I have no clue how they did it, believe me. Or I would have done it too! Lol.

The Motive Mobile was a big thing for me. I had my guy get that asap so he could hammer around the clock. The whole Tinkering vs choosing regular upgrades seems so inconsistent. Sometimes Tinkering took way more than 3 or 4 hours and was maddening. What seemed to work best in the end is buying sprinklers and Tinkering on those -- 75% of the time the upgrade was done in an hour or hour and a half.

CSquared2 · « **Reply #234 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:13:42 AM »

I also used sprinklers. Once I got to the point that I decided pursuing a higher percentage of unique upgrades was not going to bring me the same results a higher quantity of upgrades would, I bought ten at a time, set the speed to 4 and watched him go. I did not purchase the motive mobile, though I did go for the lesser, single-need LTRs, though he never got to stop showering.

I purchased meditative trance sleep first, figuring sleep takes up the most time. I really didn't think I had the time to concentrate on wishes to the extent I would have liked to.

The worst thing I did was play in Bridgeport. I use it a lot for challenges because the starter houses are my favorites, but it backfired this time. A lot of the nicer things were in nicer houses and I simply didn't want to give my sim time to try and make friends with someone. There's really just one family that isn't a) rich with a gate or b) in an apartment that takes too long to access (this was a problem with clubs, too); that one family saw A LOT of my sim as he upgraded everything in their house. I also was unaware that the single public hot tub in town was really upgrade-able, but because my sim wasn't actually on the lot with it, it didn't show up as an option. I thought something was wrong and that particular tub was a no go. Money turned out to be a real problem in the end since I wound up buying him a hot tub (and a tattoo machine) to upgrade.

I wrote this part and deleted it, but then I thought I should be honest and re-post it. It occurred to me that I might have unwittingly cheated; I only just thought of it that way now. I hadn't known what all the upgrades were and thought and thought about how I could find out. I thought it was too bad that I didn't have a sim who'd already done them; then they'd be in that sim's skill journal. Then I remembered Max (thanks Leto!) Sure enough, they were there, and it definitely made a difference. I doubt I would have gotten more than 50-60% of the unique upgrades otherwise. I just did it at the time, I didn't even think that he would constitute custom content that would give me an advantage.

I didn't win, or even come close, but if that means my score should be disqualified, I understand. I hope everyone knows I didn't intend to skip around the rules when I did it.

drift9999 · « **Reply #235 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:23:56 AM »

The strategy I used (though my score was the lowest of the 400s) was basically to quickly pull together LTH points from the start, grab the prepared traveler and opportunistic rewards and then head to France for a six-day vacation. During the 6-day vacation, I focused on the adventures to get a level 3 visa and also to earn enough money for my sim's LTW, Swimming in Cash. The traits I had were Handy (obvious reasons), Ambitious (the food replicator and teleportation pad have upgrades as well), Over-Emotional (same reason as Ambitious), Loves the Outdoors (as again to collect lifetime happiness points) and Adventurous (to help with the level 3 visa). I also remember joining the firefighter career early on as you'll need to do the extinguisher upgrade which occurs at level 5, I think, and I didn't want to waste possible handiness-related time with emergencies. (I feel a bit disturbed writing those last few words...)

Following this, I bought the motive mobile and, after clearing the required stuff to attain as high a unique % of upgrades as I could, focused on changing doorbells. At home, I built a room next to the road with a single door so that access to the motive mobile would be very fast. In France, the base camp door is near the road and thus allows for pretty quick refreshment of needs as well. The level 3 visa allowed me to take two 15-day vacations (though those with 100% upgrades had something else in mind as they'd have to visit China for the fortune-cookie machine, I think).

It basically became a game of just hammering away, changing the bell to a haunted scare-chord and back to the usual tone over and over again until the time ran out. I didn't get enough LTH points after that to buy the Teleportation Pad as well, so I missed out on that.

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #236 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:29:39 AM »

Quote from: drift9999 on January 30, 2012, 08:23:56 AM

The level 3 visa allowed me to take two 15-day vacations...

Oh, my gosh. Of course. I'm kicking myself right now.

CSquared2 · « **Reply #237 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:48:42 AM »

Quote

I also remember joining the firefighter career early on as you'll need to do the extinguisher upgrade which occurs at level 5, I think, and I didn't want to waste possible handiness-related time with emergencies.

This was something I found out in perhaps the third week. I was totally not going to go for it then!

annieb · « **Reply #238 on:** January 30, 2012, 09:52:06 AM »

My strategy was basically the same as drift9999's. First thing I did was join the firefighter career and ask for a 5 day unpaid vacation. Just by learning the handiness skill I was able to get to level 5 without working a single day and was able to get a lot of LTH happiness. My big thought was that I needed to get as many LTH points as fast as I could. I gave my sim the neurotic, ambitious, over-emotional, handy, and adventurous traits. Her lifetime wish was super popular. I got the Attractive reward and after that it was just a matter of introducing herself to 40 sims (20 to get the super friendly challenge and after that she became friends with every person she met). I tried some other lifetime wishes, but I liked that this one also helped me get her level 3 visas faster (travel opportunities that involve talking to people or convincing people). After getting her lifetime wish fulfilled, my sim kept earning points until she saved up for the motive mobile. Once she had the mobile she just kept upgrading things until she had enough points for the prepared traveler reward and opportunistic reward (to get her level 3 visa faster).

I spent almost the entire first vacation in France getting her level 3 visa. I was also able to get the certificate of partnership with France for an additional 3 days each vacation. From then on it was just a matter of continual upgrades until she had to hop in the motive mobile. I tested all the upgrades for time and found the doorbell to be one of the fastest, plus the benefit of only having to have one door was nice.

tara1727 · « **Reply #239 on:** January 30, 2012, 10:02:01 AM »

Yes, you can take two 18-day vacations if you can get enough ancient coins for certificate of partnership during your first visit. And you really don't need to go to France as you can buy a community lot and buy a nectar register on it to get a nectar maker. All this I realized too late for my own good lol.

BellaClo · « **Reply #240 on:** January 30, 2012, 10:30:02 AM »

Huge congrat' to you Chuckles!
I had no idea that such a score was even possible until you posted, then I had to understand "how" you did it... and this drove me almost nut for a week

. Yet, after many hours of mind numbing tests, I found out how to reach the 400 mark.

Most upgrades last 240 minutes (4 hrs). I think that a few ones take more time (the nectar machine for instance). But others take less = yesssss! Namely, "auto water" for the sprinkler, and "auto fill" for the water troughs. Those only take 160 minutes, a tad little bit less than 3 hours. I think this is where the gap between the 300 and 400 score comes from. I tried many variations around the tinker option, but never got good results with it. That's why I went for round the clock (thanks to the motive mobile) "auto fill" upgrades on water troughs. Additionnaly, they are very cheap to buy.

Besides this, my strategy was very close to Annieb and Drift. Meka Tronic was Handy (surprise

), Ambitious, Loves the outdoors, Adventurous and Snob. I had chosen this trait to give more wishes related to buy things or be worth X $, and in combo with her LTW, Swimming in cash. I played in Twinbrook because the fire station has more different objects to upgrade. Meka started as Annieb's Sim. Thanks to all the wishes related to reach level x of skill/career, and upgrade stuff at the fire station, she got enough points to buy Prepared traveller and Opportunist before the end of the 1st week. The 6 days in China were spent to do enough adventures to gain a Visa 3 and at least 1350 ancient coins to buy the Certificate of Partnership (+ 3 days). Thanks to this, the 2 next vacations lasted each 18 days... full of "auto fill". As Tara mentioned it, there is no need to go to France for the Nectar machine. On the other hand, China is a must for the Fortune cookie machine.

She also spent the last days of this first travel to collect as many ores and gems as possible, so that she could produce Supernovium, Compendium and Soulpeace gems back home. Thanks to this, she fulfilled her LTW and grabbed the Motive Mobile, but also fulfilled several wishes to be worth more than X $, have X $ in cash, and be partner or owner of X business. Those whishes, and the fact that she was elated most of the time, brought me enough point for the Food Replicator and the Teleportation Pad. And also, she had no money problem and could buy anything she needed to reach the 100% upgrade.

I should have stopped pursuing those wishes earlier (and rely more on the elated mood to bring LTHP) and could have upgraded a bit more water troughs.

Sportsfan · « **Reply #241 on:** January 30, 2012, 10:54:11 AM »

I guess I did okay. I chose neurotic (freak out and check sink) handy (duh) over emotional slob (no need to take showers) and loner.
I couldve probably increased my score to around 150 total but I wasn't very efficient towards the end and started goofing around. I also lost about a day total because of fires. I guess I was at a disadvantage without motive mobile. Interesting reading the strategies. And congrats Chuckles!

xFezIsAFreakx · « **Reply #242 on:** January 30, 2012, 11:39:18 AM »

Kicking myself while reading all your tips!

I was on a mission to get as much LTHP, get the food replicator and teleport pad things and upgrade them. i was so focused on those that any hint of other strategies flew out of the window! I definitely should have practised and did a lot more research, and not try to get Hansyn Handyman to be an astronaut.

Sportsfan · « **Reply #243 on:** January 30, 2012, 11:57:40 AM »

Oh and I just remembered that I joined architect profession to get a discount on buying stuff.

cndneh · « **Reply #244 on:** January 30, 2012, 01:16:55 PM »

I forgot about the motive mobile, I didn't think about the firefighter career until the last week, I went on one vacation and forgot about any others. I made the mistake of playing in Bridgeport, where it takes forever to go anywhere. I spent my LTHP on things like steel bladder, etc and didn't think about food replicator or teleportation pad until the last week when I had no points. I was happy with my score though, I thought I did well. I didn't time upgrades like sprinklers so I didn't know they were faster. But you live and learn and now I know. Congratulations to everyone!

Quote from: CSquared2 on January 30, 2012, 08:13:42 AM

It occurred to me that I might have unwittingly cheated; I only just thought of it that way now. I hadn't known what all the upgrades were and thought and thought about how I could find out. I thought it was too bad that I didn't have a sim who'd already done them; then they'd be in that sim's skill journal. Then I remembered Max (thanks Leto!) Sure enough, they were there, and it definitely made a difference. I doubt I would have gotten more than 50-60% of the unique upgrades otherwise. I didn't win, or even come close, but if that means my score should be disqualified, I understand. I hope everyone knows I didn't intend to skip around the rules when I did it.

I don't that would be any different than looking up in Carl's guide what all the upgrades are (which I did), I didn't even know you could up grade the horse trough for example!

jewalsb · « **Reply #245 on:** January 30, 2012, 03:02:39 PM »

Wow, thanks for the explanations. I was baffled by how people were able to get enough happiness points to get all the upgrades, and I spent weeks banging my head against the computer ( figuratively

trying to calculate how over 400 upgrades in the allowed days were possible (voila, certificate of partnership and re-upgrading the doorbell!!). And I tried the firefighter route in my testing, and it seemed that doing those upgrades didn't affect my percentage of uniques, so I assumed they were considered by the game to be different, not handiness upgrades. But apparently that was wrong, I guess I should have tested that further. My low uniques score was quite frustrating to me.

Now back to the career challenge for me, maybe I can get in a bit more testing on that one before I have to do my final run.. Scores posted there so far are insane!

Metropolis Man · « **Reply #246 on:** January 30, 2012, 03:07:56 PM »

Quote from: CSquared2 on January 30, 2012, 08:13:42 AM

I wrote this part and deleted it, but then I thought I should be honest and re-post it. It occurred to me that I might have unwittingly cheated; I only just thought of it that way now. I hadn't known what all the upgrades were and thought and thought about how I could find out. I thought it was too bad that I didn't have a sim who'd already done them; then they'd be in that sim's skill journal. Then I remembered Max (thanks Leto!) Sure enough, they were there, and it definitely made a difference.

Oh, my gosh, no. Pure and simple, that's called doing your homework.

Chuckles_82 · « **Reply #247 on:** January 30, 2012, 04:18:11 PM »

Well, I certainly held my breath for quite a long time for this one! I knew when I saw the first 400's score that at least someone had latched onto the same strategy I used.

My sim was Ambitious and Adventurous (and of course Handy). She joined the firefighter career, and quit after level 5, though I didn't think of taking leave to not have to deal with emergencies! That said, I used a number of wishes related to the career to get as many LTH points.

My first purchase was the motive mobile, then prepared traveller and opportunistic. After that, I took a 6 day vacation to France, and had Level 3 visa and Partnership in less than 3 days, followed by two 18 day vacations.

Doorbells were also my choice of fast upgrade. The fireplace is also possible - autolight and fireproof were just as fast, but too dangerous.

Whilst in Sunset Valley, I checked the junkyard EVERY day until the fortune cookie machine turned up. I salvaged it, then replaced it for X amount in order to upgrade it. I spent a little bit of wasted time fulfilling wishes to get the teleporter, when really I could have focused on just upgrades and got a higher final score, but I guess I can't complain!

Thanks Metro for such a fun first challenge!

MarianT · « **Reply #248 on:** January 30, 2012, 05:22:17 PM »

You make it sound so simple! I actually had found a fortune-cookie maker at the junkyard before, but did I think to do that? or go for Visa 3 level? no. Although I will say that my experience with the doorbell in a previous game was that it took a long time.

CSquared2 · « **Reply #249 on:** January 30, 2012, 06:01:11 PM »

Quote

Oh, my gosh, no. Pure and simple, that's called doing your homework.

Phew! I patted myself on the back for weeks for that one, then today it gave me the heebie jeebies!

Congrats to everyone with those super high scores!

This was definitely a favorite. It was so nice to focus on just one sim.