Thanks Metro, one job interview out of the way and one cancelled due to snow here so i have time to post my strategy
Well done to everyone who participated, especially those that were biting at my heels in the scoring. I have a feeling this will be an interesting year on the leaderboard!
My strategy:
Start on lowest cost lot- Pebble Burrow, Oasis Springs.
Start with Nerd Brain for (a) Quick Learner bonus (b) Handy – instant upgrade/ 24 hours.
Start with Happy boosting traits- I chose LTO, Good, Cheerful.
Want certain traits asap to ensure maximum worth from woodworking. I preferred in this order: Always Welcome (500), Morning Sim (1K), Night Owl (1K), Carefree (3K), Marketable (1.5K), Independant (2K), Frugal (2K).
Use rest of reward traits on instant hygiene and instant fun. Until last few days when use moodlet solvers.
To get reward points, would normally go for Soulmate strategy BUT for this challenge you want Nerd Brain finished as the Handy reward trait gives ALL upgrades on a particular object instantly and you can use it once every 24 hours. Saves a ton of time for getting those unique upgrades which you can spend on woodworking.
Nerd Brain gives you 5K. Can get the rest naturally through Leader of Pack aspiration up to talk about club to 5 members and Fabulously Wealthy up to $50k in household funds. Also whims- friendly interaction (25). earn $100 (25), earn $500 (50), earn $1k (75), make sculpture (25) and make camping mascot (50). I kept on F Wealthy until I had earned $190K to get those easy whims, then switched to L of P until I was safely over the earn more than $200K, then to Nerd Brain to get sculpture/mascot whims come up.
Also want to utilise clubs, with these perks especially: Rally the Troops. Focus lvl 1, Handiness Boost, Logic Boost, Happiness lvl 2 and 3 (also got Confidence lvl 3 and 4 as you will see later).
I started by placing Hogans Burger Bar and the Perfect Balance Spa in Newcrest for access to upgradable objects I could not get elsewhere.
I then started in Pebble Burrow with the Lot Traits: Private Dwelling and Science Lair (for R Sci and Logic for Nerd Brain) and the Satellite to prevent abductions.
I bought a computer and desk and purchased Logic Book 1 & 2 and Handiness Book 1. I called the Repair person over for an imaginary repair and whilst waiting for them to arrive created a “Handy” club with activities “Be Friendly” and “Play Chess”. When they arrived I invited them to join (to take advantage of the mentoring of Handiness).
During my testing I had learnt that Lily Feng had level 9 Logic, the pancake house had a woodworking table and a lot of upgradables and Behr and KaroakeLegends had upgradables I needed too (such as the talking toilet and microwave) so I immediately added Lily and Eliza P to the club and then visited Candy B and Miko O to ask them to join.
After that I went to Oasis Park to complete NB part 1 which I did by 1st Monday 9:13am. I did it in this order- Read Logic Book 1, Read Handy Book 1, Played Chess with Lily (to get her to level to 10 asap) to Logic 4 then Logic Book 2. Between Logic 4 and Book 2 I got the life saving RTT club perk.
I then stopped the club and briefly went to my house to get upgrade parts then went to the Pancake house to do part of NB part 2. Restarting the club with “Be Friendly” and “Watch TV” and “Play Video Games” to keep everyone out of the way. First I made a horse sculpture then I got mentored by Daichi the Handyman to upgrade Sink with Sturdy Faucets.
Stopped club again and moved it to my house where “Science Lair” was kicked in with a Chess table and 2 chairs added to my lot. Played chess with Lily until “Mentor” came up then played on my own with Lily mentoring me. NB part 2 completed at 8:29PM Monday evening. (Club Activities “Be Friendly and Play Video Games”)
Stayed on lot for NB part 3 where I got the club to help build a Rocket then I upgraded with Landing Stabilisers. During test run I found that launching missions was faster than upgrading so then did 4 missions. Used the guide from the SulSul challenged last year (I think GlazeyLady linked us to it) so I knew the paths that would lead to ending early and avoiding money gains. This was finished 1st Tuesday 10:56AM.
I then hopped back to Pancakes to complete level 5 Handiness and fix/upgrade 5 objects (got lvl 5 handiness part way through an upgrade so one upgrade counted in both NB part 2 and 3
). Completed by 7:14PM Tuesday.
For the final bit of NB part 4 I went back to my home with the Club and got Lily to mentor me to Level 10 Logic (Club Logic Boost + MS/NO + QL + Lily Mentoring= win!).
Completed Nerd Brain at 3:17AM Wednesday.
Went immediately to Vatore house to upgrade their dishwasher with Instant Upgrade – 4 upgrades in <10 mins).
I then did upgrades at Pancake and Feng house within club with Daichi mentoring until Level 10 Handiness (1st Wednesday 11:36AM).
Next came the woodworking strategy.
I immediately spent $111 for 1 day in the campgrounds at Granite Falls and learnt the schematic for the Camping Mascot then went home again. I switched to Homey and Home Studio from Science Lair.
After that it was Camping Mascots galore with intermittent Instant Upgrades and normal upgrades until becoming an Adult at 8pm 2nd Friday.
I did most of the upgrades via peoples houses or the Diner/Spa. Those things I needed to buy I waited until after the 10AM bill on the 2nd Monday.
My breakdown in funds accumulated was as follows:
At midnight:
Wednesday $35,950
Thursday $95,158
Friday $166,351
Saturday $231,251
Sunday $311,521
Monday $391,021
Tuesday $460, 309
Wednesday $528, 032
Thursday $605,122
Friday 8PM $664,407.
I averaged about $3K per camping mascot through keeping well buffed and high needs.
95% of the time after completing Nerd Brain and making my first camping mascot I had the following buffs:
+2 So Handy (focused moodlet, from lvl 10 handi and making woodwork item), +2 Fresh Air (LTO trait), + 1 Homey trait, +1 Good Vibes (from being near club members with Good trait), + 3 Comradery (+3 happy club), + 1 Decorated (from horse sculpture and c.mascot) with added +1 Feeling Happy (from Cheerful trait), +1 from MS/NO.
Note: to fully utilise the Instant Upgrades I chose the objects with as many upgrades as I could (some objects did not work with Instant Upgrade in my testing like The Talking Toilet).
I have a google link to all 79 unique upgrades I did and how:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fQAIevfSqRkG4cK7NiLpdXBvXlc21JIeFr6icT6BSss/edit?usp=sharingReally looking forward to see if i missed any upgrades and how christina managed $710K!