Completing an Immortal Dynasty Hints and Tips (Not Questions)

[aenito]

For Generation 2, I did sculpting as the supermax. She was very close to aging to adult and had not made very much progress in the skill challenges. So, I sent her to China. She got Pangu's Axe adventure series going and had a level 3 visa. She then bought a Vacation House. Every time she got a sleepy, hungry, dirty, lonely, or stir-crazy moodlet, she used the moodlet manager to cure it. So she spent the last ten days of her vacation sculpting.

Not bad, but you need to spend time to explore dungeons and get level 3 visa. How many extra traveling days you need to do that?

i would send her to university to get the Fine Arts degree. 2 terms of 12 credits (1 class) and you can spend 13 days sculpting. The class you can skip it as sculpting increase degree performance. You would need to repeat it 4 times to finish the degree, so that's 53 days sculpting, enough time to do it the normal way and making breaks to fullfill need (and even making friends).


edit: 53 days are 11 more days than full young plus full adult days.

[Trip]

Skilling up at university is actually a terrible idea. I've heard that the abilities that are usually unlocked with skilling up (such as, say, being able to tutor kids if you have the logic skill) don't work if they were acquired at university. I haven't experienced it, but I was paranoid enough to keep Screwtape from learning charisma until he was done with university, and I canceled any action that involved cooking or street art.

EDIT: Found Rica's post about it. Because my teachers told me that I always cite my sources. Anyways, it's fine if they don't max the skill at university, but there's nothing wrong with being cautious.

[aenito]

Skilling up at university is actually a terrible idea. I've heard that the abilities that are usually unlocked with skilling up (such as, say, being able to tutor kids if you have the logic skill) don't work if they were acquired at university.

Maybe that's the case with logic. I have supermaxed Sculpting, Painting, Street Art, Science, Alchemy, Handyness and Athlectics while at University... not with the same sim, usually i send them in pairs 

[Ricalynn]

You also get far fewer opportunities if you skill up and max before Young Adult or in a travel location (this includes University).   This also goes for Multi Tab and Brain Enhancing use. 

Travel locations are actually better than University because once you have one person get that level 3 visa (can be anyone not just immortals), you can buy a home.   You'll always have that home and there's no need to go to class at least once a day either. 

There are only three skills that require travel to supermax.   Martial Arts for the tournament.   Nectar Making for the grapes (which if you have the fruit stands you don't need to even travel for them).  Photography is easier to supermax if you travel but it doesn't actually require it come to think of it. 

It comes down to whatever floats your boat though.  If you want to take that risk, go ahead.  It's your dynasty.  If you prefer university, that's fine for you.  People have been doing dynasties without extra traits and degrees for several years now.    If you want to travel, go for it!  If you want to stay home and pretend that none of that stuff exists.  That's ok, too.   

Personally - I prefer to avoid a lot of things simply because my completed dynasty file was 3 GB.  It took almost an hour just to load some days.   Every time you go to China/Egypt/France/University - it all adds up and it's against the rules to tamper with these files in anyway to make them smaller.   For every museum piece, gravestone, gem, picture, painting, pattern, surface, item, flower, tile, toy, fish, fruit, elixir, potion, building, friend in another town, acquaintance it has to move in, the list goes on.. the game has to load that even if it's tucked away in a chest,hiding in a cabinet, in the inventory or on another world.  It's all a part of your save file.

Yeah it's nice to have pretty things but this is an 8 generation file that can't move, can't be reduced in anyway.   It's going to take a minimum of 40 weeks and can possibly take longer than that not including travel time.     Yeah the requirements are important but don't forget this is a long haul.

[aenito]

You also get far fewer opportunities if you skill up and max before Young Adult or in a travel location (this includes University).   This also goes for Multi Tab and Brain Enhancing use. 

Travel locations are actually better than University because once you have one person get that level 3 visa (can be anyone not just immortals), you can buy a home.   You'll always have that home and there's no need to go to class at least once a day either. 

Mostly i agree with you except these two points.

- I was not talking about skilling sculpting, i was talking about finish skill challenges 2 days before become elder. You lack 100 experiments? 100 jokes? don't worry, you can go Uni and spend 53 days there if you need to.

- The house you can rent at Uni is saved too in the file, so if you return and rent the same house you get all the stuff you left the first time. Technically is not your house but you can do and undo at will and the house will be always there for you to rent.

edit: and i always assume you go to university to get a degree but degrees are completelly useless in this scenario. So there is no need to go to class and/or pass exams.

[Snufflesxx]

I'd like a little advice. Is the One Sim Band LTW doable? But I also wanted to do cooking as a Supermax. Would it be possible to do both?

[Deklitch]

I've done one sim band before and in an immortal dynasty before.
.
I also believe I did it while supermaxing cooking with the same sim.

It was not my founder, but a latter sim. (It may have not even been a targeted immortal.) I gave him/her the Fast Learner LTR and also made use of the multitab so that while I was cooking I was picking up guitar.

I used the toddler instruments so that all four instruments would start at three, and I believe I also sent him/her to an instrument class to pick up an extra level.

I also used the subway. it was in Sunset Valley and I placed the subway on the park between the Landgraabs and Altos, having purchased it in an earlier generation.

Finally, I also believe that I used those skill potions in an attempt to get the skills to be raised quicker. That also made me think that it was a non-immortal that I got to complete that particular LTW, as they could raise any skill they liked.

Dek

[RainBeau]

I'd like a little advice. Is the One Sim Band LTW doable? But I also wanted to do cooking as a Supermax. Would it be possible to do both?

I think doing a Cooking SuperMax is much smarter than trying to SuperMax an instrument, because they're so difficult. Yeah, I'd say it's absolutely doable! As well as the xylophone and classes Dek mentioned, I'd say take advantage of the toy oven as well while the Sim is a child and can't work on instruments. Then you have all of the Teen, Young Adult, and Adult years to do your maxing and SuperMaxing! Just don't try it with your founder, as none of those tips work for them.

[Deklitch]

I did try an earlier attempt with the founder (One Sim Band) ... I got to elder, and was still trying to get the ops needed to supermax guitar (so couldn't get to any other of the instruments). I chose at that point to change my LTW to something that was easier to complete.

[RainBeau]

You can learn any of the instruments if you are trying to SuperMax one of them. While I admit it is better not to learn any skills other than music if you are trying to SuperMax an instrument, if you get an op in one instrument it applies to that skill challenge in all of them. In fact, it may be helpful to learn more than one instrument in that case.

[Deklitch]

oh, that's handy to know, thanks for sharing, Rosa. That contributed to me not going near the other instruments in my previous attempts at the 1 sim band and supermax instrument combo

[mald1983]

For anyone who has Supernatural, I have a huge tip that I discovered in my ID, especially when trying to store items not needed: buy an alchemy cabinet early on.  It's like a WA chest that you don't have to travel for.  Though it can't store everything the chest can store, Sims won't randomly open it to get anything.  Also, books can be stored in it, which means you can place skill books inside that you don't want a Sim to read.  I never realized how crucial and dead useful an Alchemy cabinet was until now, but I love having one!

Also, if you plan to have Nectar-Making supermax, I thought of a handy way to keep track of the grapes count: only allow the Nectar-Maker heir to harvest/plant grapes.  Nothing else but grapes.  Make a separate garden for grapes that only the Nectar-Maker can access, and never let them harvest/garden anything but the grapes.  The gardening skill has a handy tracker for number of items planted and harvested.  So, if the nectar maker is never allowed to harvest anything but grapes, then there's no math involved when trying to remember the number of grapes they've harvested for the Vizard of Vine challenge.  And, grapes are accessible at level one of gardening.

As for learning skills, the Multitab can be a blessing and a curse.  One thing I have noticed is that Sims will randomly decided to listen to a tabcast if they have no tasks in que, which can be a nuisance if there are too many Sims to keep track of.  I have one Multitab in my game, and I constantly pull it into a closed off room to prevent my Sims from skilling up in something that another heir is supposed to supermax (like Writing and Logic, which are often tabcast selections for idle Sims).  Though it is an easy way to get through skills, keep in mind that the Sim with a Multitab has to be watched all the time.  I'm on gen 2 (my Founder is immortal) and gen 2 recently completed her LTW of Renaissance Sim using the Multitab, but after she finished level 10 of cooking (her other two skills were fishing and gardening with fishing as her Supermax), the multitab was removed from her inventory and placed in an enclosed room of the basement so that no one could use it.  On the bright side, the Multitab can be passed down from generation to generation for use, and all spares (spouses, extra children, and moved-in townies) can be given the Multitab for whatever you need.  A spare fisher?  Use the multitab.  Need a gardener until a later generation?  Multitab.  Another plus is that you can multitask and children can still listen to tabcasts while in school for select skills.  So, have them start a tabcast before they head to school and they'll skill up while in school.  Very handy tidbit!

I hope some of these help others with their IDs.  I've found them dead useful just by testing the waters.

[RainBeau]

Also, if you plan to have Nectar-Making supermax, I thought of a handy way to keep track of the grapes count: only allow the Nectar-Maker heir to harvest/plant grapes.  Nothing else but grapes.  Make a separate garden for grapes that only the Nectar-Maker can access, and never let them harvest/garden anything but the grapes.  The gardening skill has a handy tracker for number of items planted and harvested.  So, if the nectar maker is never allowed to harvest anything but grapes, then there's no math involved when trying to remember the number of grapes they've harvested for the Vizard of Vine challenge.  And, grapes are accessible at level one of gardening.

It would seem that using Common grapes available at home is not the best idea. See this post by Rica on the Immortal Dynasty thread for tips on SuperMaxing Nectar-Making.

[Ricalynn]

Also remember that if a challenge doesn't register as complete.  You can't just say it's complete - you have to get permission first.  The challenge board team has to say it's ok to keep going without that darkened text. 

And yes all testing ever done by several members always pointed to using non france grapes can lead to the challenge never working.  It has to be the french grapes.

[aenito]

It would seem that using Common grapes available at home is not the best idea. See this post by Rica on the Immortal Dynasty thread for tips on SuperMaxing Nectar-Making.

I bet mald1983 means renoit and cherimola blan grapes that are Champs Les Sims common variety, so can be planted and harvested at level 1 gardening.

There are two common, two uncommon and two rare kind of grapes but you can supermax with only one variety.