Thanks Metro! This one was a micro-managers dream
At the beginning of my game file, I planted the following missing EA lots: National Park (Lost Gardens of Healing), Spa (Perfect Balance Spa), and Restaurant (Chez Llama). I chose Chez Llama for the experimental food for pictures.
The broad summary of my whole plan was to fill my house with Collectors & Geeks so they could all fish, harvest, and dig for items needed for the picture collections. I would only take pictures of Sims with the In a Flash Photo Studio - for the commission. I would also utilize Clubs for several things: 1) Rally the Troops; 2) set one of the club activities as Cook so the non-household club members will cook meals that don’t cost me anything, even when they do it in my own kitchen; and 3) bring Sims to my house to take their picture.
I decided to have a female Spellcaster as my main Sim. One reason was to get to magic land faster to fish, harvest, and dig over in the garden area. She had The Curator Aspiration for the bonus trait of Collector. Her other traits were Cheerful, Geek, and Insider. She moved in to Oasis Springs: Nookstone (§13,019) - the cheapest furnished house available. This house cannot be deemed a Tiny House - it is 3 tiles too big - BUMMER. I made sure one of the lot traits was set to Natural Light for when she started taking pictures.
The first thing I worked on was to shop for Aspiration points so she could buy a few key traits (Incredibly Friendly & Savant). I had her go to the Willow Creek Library to speed through the first pieces of the two Vampire Aspirations - very quick & easy 1,200 points. She dabbled in a few other Aspirations and she had Incredibly Friendly by 1:00 that first day. She started a Club, Photo Phrenzy, but did not add anyone else yet. She also joined the Good Timers club so she could use Rally the Troops in her own club.
Over the course of the first few Sim days, I befriended (easy with Incredibly Friendly) and moved into my household various Townies that I felt would suit my needs: Caleb Vatore (Vampire - he’s a daywalker right from the beginning - all the perks of a Vampire with none of the pesky sunshine issues!), Ekram Elderberry (Collector Trait & Level 8 Fishing), Moira Fyres (Level 9 Gardening), Akira Kibo (Collector Trait), Travis Scott (Geek Trait), Grace Anansi (Collector Trait), and Darrel Charm (Spellcaster that knows the Necrocall spell). I was going to use the Necrocall spell to summon Ekram after he naturally passed away so I could get a picture of his ghost, however by the time he naturally died, I had already completed the Occult pictures collection, so I did not need to do that.
One thing I wanted to do early on was to befriend Arun and/or Jesminder so I could snap a pic of their baby when it arrived. However, I had a funky glitch with this game file: every apartment I visited had no front door. This meant I couldn’t knock and couldn’t enter ANY apartment in San Myshuno. So, I had to come up with a different Baby picture plan that did NOT include a baby in my own household: Summer Holiday ended up having Caleb’s baby.
While Caleb was working on the Vampire Aspirations at the Library (needed him to get to Level 4 Vampire Lore so he could make plasma packs from fish & frogs), Prue and the rest of the household/club went fishing and it didn’t take long to purchase the Photography Club Booster and to max out the club size to include all eight of them. They spent the next couple of days fishing in different neighborhoods/areas so some dig spots could spawn - i.e. Magic Realm, BFF Neighborhood in Willow Creek, Sylvan Glade, the Park in Willow Creek, etc. Prue also continued working on various Aspirations to earn points. Tuesday morning, she bought the Savant Trait. Then they went to the BFF house so Caleb & Summer could have a quick romance. After that, it was time to go home and start taking pictures.
With the Natural Light lot trait, Photography club booster, Savant trait, and drinking an Inspired Potion, Prue was able to max out the Photography skill after taking 10 pictures of various collection items (furniture around the house, harvestables fished out of the water, metals/crystals/fossils dug up, etc.) with the Barely Better Digital Camera that she fished out of the water. Then she purchased the Photo Studio and, with maxed Photography, each commission was §53.
Now the clubs would be fully utilized. Grace started a Fishing/Collecting club for all household members, except for Caleb & Prue. There were four fishing spots that could be reached without traveling and several spots that spawned dig sites, so they kept busy fishing & digging. I had to keep an eye on the household fishing collection and when they came close to completing the collection (§500 ‘prize’), they had to stop fishing and adopt new non-money making hobbies, like reading and playing video games on their phones. Prue and Caleb had separate clubs that they filled with Sims that would cook meals and Prue could photograph as Ordinary Sims. Then Caleb would turn them into Vampires, so a few days later, they would be invited back over for an Occult picture after they fully turned into Vampires. My extra 10 photos were also taken of Sims for the commission. In all, 73 Sims were photographed in the Photo Studio for §3,869 in commissions. The baby (Caleb & Summer's love child) & toddler (Evie Delgato) pics were taken at their respective houses. I also needed all pictures in the Photo Studio to be completed before the electricity was shut off - I did not pay any bills.
Pictures of meals: the non-household club members did a pretty good job of making a variety of meals. I also spent an evening hanging out at Chez Llama to snap pics of meals ordered by others. Then, using fish and fruit/vegetable items harvested (or caught), I only had to make 12 meals for a total cost of §17.
All pictures were sold at Yard Sales with 300% markup. In all, I held 55 yard sales. Some were held at parks and the library. For the last few days, yard sales were held at home with all household members, except for Prue, locked in the house and left on their own to read, sleep, and play video games on their phones.
The only money spent: House (§13,019), In a Flash Photo Studio (§800), Selvadoradian Craft Sales Table (§300), Making Meals (§17), and Household Members Making Food or Ordering Drinks Without Permission 3 Times (§45).
Since I finished late yesterday afternoon and had to get to work early this morning, this is quite a rushed (and wordy) strategy post. So, please let me know if you have any questions or if you want the lists of photos taken.
