Elder Scrolls: Race to Immortality

[december22]

Congrats ClayMask 

I realised that the fastest way to gain the gardening skill was to read, but didn't think about super green thumb. For the last three days of the file I was sat around waiting for the plants to grow. I found it very frustrating!

[ClayMask]

Thanks, MarianT and December22. 

I finished the additional testing I wanted to do an apple tree growth and harvest times.  I found that using fertilizer doesn't change growth or harvest time at all, like I had previously though.  Planting a tree in a pot or planter doesn't change the time it takes for a tree to reach adulthood, but does shave a very small amount off the time it takes from adulthood until harvest (0.76%, or a little under half an hour).  However, having the super green thumb trait cuts both the time to reach adulthood and the time from adulthood until harvest in half!  If the super green thumb trait is bought when the tree reaches adulthood, and then the Sim weeds it right away, it still cuts the time from adulthood until harvest in half.  I don't know what happens if the Sim buys the trait and doesn't interact with the tree right away.  I made a table showing this information in more detail.

[thekatie0409]

My strategy was a bit different than Claymask’s. I first gave Pomona the loner, loves the outdoors, and bookworm traits. This way she had an almost constant stream of whims related to reading that I was able to fulfill largely through the gardening books. Along with the points from the Botanist aspiration, this provided more than enough to purchase moodlet managers when she needed them, and later on to purchase the potion of youth.

After she got to level 5 gardening she also went to Sylvan Glade, but with the difference in growing time between pomegranate and orchid I decided it would be faster to catch the pomegranate than to grow it. When I tested, it never took longer than 30 hours to catch the pomegranate in Sylvan Glade, and mostly was caught faster than 15-20 hours. Since the guide says that there’s a 36 hour growth rate difference between the orchid and pomegranate, I thought that this would be the fastest way. Then I wouldn't have to wait around for the pomegranate to harvest and plant when my orchid plant was ready. So in Sylvan Glade I went fishing, which added the benefit of leveling that skill for catching the angelfish, and caught the pomegranate before the lily was even ready for cutting. That cut more than 30 hours from the total time needed to grow the plants.

At that point I messed up by not realizing you could catch angelfish at my Bargain Bend home lot. I only figured it out when I caught one by chance in another game. So I went to another lot to catch it which delayed my orchid growth by around 11 hours.  I also didn’t know what Green Thumb did so I didn’t try to get that at all. After I had the angelfish I just waited around for the death flower components to grow while my sim leveled cooking and gourmet cooking.
Thanks for the challenge, I never made ambrosia before. 

[ratchie]

I gave my sim the loner,loves the outdoors,bookworm and cheerful traits. I bought crick cabana demolished it and moved in. I bought some seeds and a gardening book then  went straight to sylvan glade. After fishing for a few hours I caught a pomegranate. It was around 2pm on day one. I went straight home and planted it. Luckily both lillies and snap dragons grow near the crick cabana lot so I read garden books until I could harvest the lilly plant
 That was planted and growing by the late evening of day one. I then alternated between reading gardening books and cooking for the next day. Once I got to level 5 gardening I grafted snapdragon to lilly to get orchid. Day 3 I spent near the calientes house as I always seem to get angel fish there. Early  on day four I grafted pomegranate to orchid to get the death flower. I then worked on gourmet cooking in between watching my plants grow.

Rachel

[ClayMask]

Thekatie0409 and Ratchie, you two did very well on this challenge.  Congratulations on your good scores.  It sounds like you also used a very similar strategy to each other.

@ratchie Sounds like the pomegranate fishing really worked out for you.  Was it not buying super green thumb that ended up setting you back a bit?

[ratchie]

If I had gotten super green thumb I probably would have got a quicker time. It took around 4 hours to get the pomegranate. In testing my best was 1.5 hours of fishing my worst 12 hours of fishing. Ironically in testing if I got the pomegranate quickly it took ages to get my angel fish. At one point I was level 7 fishing and still not getting one. I did the Nerd brain  aspiration but like Claymask said cooking might have lead to more whim points. But you lose the learn faster thing so it's swings and roundabouts.

Rachel

Rachel

[ClayMask]

I had heard that you could catch a pomegranate in Sylvan Glade, and considered it, but never had any luck caching one in practice or previous games I've played.  I just figured out why.  I had been fishing in the waterfall, but the pomegranates are caught in the pond.

[ratchie]

Yes I got the pomegranate in the pond. Occasionally I got angel fish in the waterfall but I seemed to capture them more regularly at the fishing spot near the Calientes house.

Rachel

[Nikitachi]

I used pretty much the same strategy as ClayMask, and even got more lucky with the pomegranate because I caught one in Sylvan Glade's pond instead of grafting cherries to apples. But I didn't know about the Super Green Thumb, so I lost a lot of time just waiting for the plants to harvest and doing nothing I could have won if I knew that. Oh well, now I know

[Rainbow Dash]

Rose Bloomers caught her pomegranate in the pond in Slyvan Glades and also grabbed her lily & snapdragon plants from there. I spent most of the time waiting for plants to grow & Rose maxed her gourmet cooking in the meantime. I had her take Morning Sim & Night Owl, I thought about going for Super Green Thumb but decided not to as I wasn't certain she could earn enough satisfaction for the Potion of Youth as well. She almost didn't make it, only eating ambrosia at age 59.

I was going to take the Renaissance aspiration for the Quick Learner trait but switched to Curator/Gardening at the last minute instead, fearing she would get all logic related whims. XD Her traits were, Loves the Outdoors, Cheerful and Foodie. I almost went with Loner but again changed my mind and went with something else.

Before this challenge, I'd never played in a tournament challenge before & had never used the gardening or fishing skills of Sims 4 so this was a really steep learning curve for me. I admit I played it safe and  made some mistakes but my granny got there in the end. (By the skin of her teeth).

[MarianT]

Good work, Rainbow Dash! But I have to warn you -- challenges are like potato chips, you can't stop with just one.

[Metropolis Man]

challenges are like potato chips, you can't stop with just one.

That was worth putting in bold. It may even deserve to be on a t-shirt.

[Gheez]

Hello everyone and an especial hello to anyone who remembers me,  I think it has been two years since I was last here.

I've finally got a new laptop and have been able to play again - I've had The Sims 4 for two weeks now - and decided to try this challenge.  It was a real learning curve, the brilliant guide on Ambrosia was a great help and I had fun, thank you.  However, I didn't enter a score because I didn't finish in time.

Congratulations to ClayMask, and to the rest of you who did (even if you DNQ'd).


I have two questions: if anyone would be kind enough to answer, please?

The first relates to life extension.  I read this:

Life extension methods are already banned in the general challenge rules.  The bodybuilder aspiration is normally an exception, since normally a challenge would end before it would matter, but I expect it would be counted as a life extension method for the purpose of this challenge.

And looked up the rules that said: "Life Extension - anything that lengthens pre-Elder life stages is prohibited. Completing the Bodybuilder Aspiration is fine since it only lengthens Elder."

So I used a potion because my sim (Elle Darr) was an elder and not a pre-elder.  Would that have actually been allowed?


Second question:  where did you keep your Angel Fish?

The reason I ask is because my sim ate her's!  I put it in the fridge (along with some other fish) because I thought it might go off in her inventory.  Then, at some stage, I had her cook a fishy meal.  D'oh.


Thanks in advance.... now to attempt the 'I Dream of Teeny' and hope to finish before the deadline...

[Ginj]

Welcome back, Gheez.  As for keeping the angelfish....One of the things that became clear to me in the practice rounds before this challenge was the futility of aquiring angelfish too early...They went foul in her inventory or got cooked into a gourmet meal...In the live round I had to grit my teeth and not let her fish and trust that an angelfish would come along when she was ready for one.

[ClayMask]

Thanks, Gheez.  I do remember you. and I'm glad you're back.

In some practices I just never made any meals with fish.  That way it wouldn't be cooked.  Even if the angelfish went bad, it could still be used in ambrosia.  In my actual, I did all my cooking before I caught my angelfish. I think if you had an angelfish and wanted to cook a dish with fish, it would probably work if you put the angelfish on the ground/floor.

The general rules were written saying life extension in the pre-elder stages, because challenges are normally only done in the pre-elder stages.  This is the first challenge that has involved elder Sims.  It was just written this way to show why bodybuilder was normally allowed.  I'm not on the challenge committee, but I would say that drinking a life extension potion would not have been allowed.  A good rule of thumb to follow is when in doubt, PM the challenge committee.