Hobos to Heroes: Teen Scene

[Teresa]

And @Vesper just blew my score out of the water.  Way to go!

@thefaeriesgirl @Deklitch  It is the same for me.  I tend to be story driven, so my scores stay on the low end.  I figure if I can learn one new thing from playing the challenge and/or reading how others played the challenge, then it was worth the time.  Then I post an update on my blog showing what I did, and how things worked out, so it also gives me at least one day of content.

[Metropolis Man]

And @Vesper just blew my score out of the water.  Way to go!

Wow! You're not kidding. Great score, Vesper. I was actually chatting with Glazey yesterday in my Discord channel that we probably should have added some variable to the Hero Status component because everyone will inevitably post a 300. But, maybe it's not a big deal. The multiplier will turn everyone's score into something slightly different. So, not a big deal I guess.

[Teresa]

I think the multiplier will be different for everyone as there are many ways to go about it and not really any cap to how high it can go.  The limit is really just time and energy

[Vesper]

thanks both. I was trying to take inspiration from Deklitch and chill out the last few days and let the teens enjoy themselves but there was a voice telling me that they should just get one more skill point etc. I think it might be Agnes Crumplebottom's. Still, I didn't grind too hard so others are bound to get better scores. And you're right @Teresa - there are many ways of going about getting the points so am looking forward to reading all the different strategies.

@Metropolis Man there's a typo in my total in the first post - it should be 1425

[Sarleenia]

Oh dear, that went very badly. First challenge I managed to start this year, and the teens got so miserable, they refused to complete their homework. Can that count as a DNF?! @thefaeriesgirl - I invariably do terribly in every challenge, but I just enjoy new ways to play that I wouldn't have thought of. It's a bonus to even complete the challenge! I often don't even post a score because I didn't get anywhere near the end, but still enjoy what I did do!

[Metropolis Man]

Vesper - I made the correction.

Sarleenia - great to see you again. We'll get ya on the leaderboard. Keep the participation up and dive in some more events. These are crazy times and this is one way for all of us to stay social.

EDIT: Sarleenia - it just occurred to me...if you still have your file, open it up and see if you might be able to claim some score - i.e. did you make any progress in the multiplier at all?

[Sarleenia]

Thanks Metro.     None of my teens got to hero stage, so I don't think the multiplier has anything to multiply!

[furbyqueen]

I have the same problem and feeling about it as you, @thefaeriesgirl.

I try my best to have fun with it, which is why I think I do silly things in the challenges like sit the family down to have a pancake meal together, and so forth.

I set myself the task of trying my best at the challenges and seeing if I can finish them. If not, I've tried my best with my limited understanding of the game and its mechanics and because I've tried, I can put myself down as DNF if need be.

I've stopped looking at the leadership board, apart from my position, which I know will be last, or almost last, and just focus on my individual score.

This was the most difficult challenge for me, after three practice runs I gave up and submitted my "best"

[thefaeriesgirl]

@Deklitch @Teresa @Sarleenia thanks for the encouragement. I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I consider myself a pretty good Sims 4 player, as far as one can be good at a sandbox game and I usually play challenges though not those with a time limit to this degree. I do extensive research, create spreadsheets and try to learn something new every challenge and hoping to do better with the next but it seems I do worse on every one. Had I even finished the Pancakes challenge I was into my THIRD winter.
This particular one I can't even get it going. I can't make money past day one, I can barely keep their moods up enough to get homework done and that's ONLY if I don't have them get part time jobs. I tried changing lots for particular needs, I tried finding a lot with everything I needed. I tried working on aspirations, I tried not working on aspirations, etc ,etc. After the 10th restart and not making any progress whatsoever I had a bit of a meltdown. I'm a pretty emotional person to begin with but I think when a game is making me break down in tears because I feel stupid that I can't figure something out (yes I realize no one else but me thinks I'm stupid and that it's a personal issue) I think I have to reevaluate whether I should keep participating or not. I'm still doing that.
Thank you.
-Faeyth
 

[Teresa]

@thefaeriesgirl

I gotcha girl. 

[GlazeyLady]

@Sarleenia @Deklitch @furbyqueen @Teresa @thefaeriesgirl
So now I'm feeling bad because this teen thing was my idea, and we combined it with Tom's Hobo to Hero idea, and we thought it would be really fun and different, but it's not turning out that way for everyone.

At this point, I just want to say that the Challenge Team hears you and we really want you to have fun with the challenges. We do want them to be, well, challenging, but we don't want them to be impossible for anyone.  And especially not for players who do play a lot and are good Sims 4 players. 

I've been thinking about what we can do, and I think part of this might be that our challenges are just really different to play than normal play or even Dynasty play.  I think there might be some Tips and Tricks that could be shared about how to approach different kinds of challenges to get a really good start.  I actually talked with @Metropolis Man about this over a year ago (before I was on the challenge team) and I just never figured out a good way to approach it.  But now that the idea has roamed around in my brain for all these months, I have some thoughts about that.  So give the team a little time to talk about what we can do, and please don't give up on the Challenges just yet!  We really want you here having fun.

That said, I don't want to get to the point that @Deklitch stops with all the fun stuff, because I really like reading about that. 

[Vesper]

GlazeyLady I really enjoyed this challenge so thanks for the great idea.

If tips and tricks can make the challenges more accessible and enable more people to participate that would be really good. In the meantime my advice is to always read the strategies of previous challenges, even those that don't seem particularly similar, as you can learn a great deal.

[Teresa]

Don't feel bad @GlazeyLady.  I think it was a great challenge.  Teens can be really tough, in my opinion, and I will gladly lock them in a dungeon somewhere on good days.

I wouldn't mind tips and tricks, but would suggest that it be a separate thread in the Challenge forum.  Getting started - quick ways to make money fast, suggestions on dealing with bad moods, making friends fast, things like that are applicable to a lot of challenges.  Sometimes it is tough to track down the information when it is embedded in each challenge and scattered towards the end of the threads.  My first question is always how to make money on the first day.  And when it comes to toddlers, I can provide a lot of tips and tricks, having completed 100-baby and 24-baby and 14-baby challenges.

[GlazeyLady]

Don't feel bad @GlazeyLady.  I think it was a great challenge.  Teens can be really tough, in my opinion, and I will gladly lock them in a dungeon somewhere on good days.

I wouldn't mind tips and tricks, but would suggest that it be a separate thread in the Challenge forum.  Getting started - quick ways to make money fast, suggestions on dealing with bad moods, making friends fast, things like that are applicable to a lot of challenges.  Sometimes it is tough to track down the information when it is embedded in each challenge and scattered towards the end of the threads.  My first question is always how to make money on the first day.  And when it comes to toddlers, I can provide a lot of tips and tricks, having completed 100-baby and 24-baby and 14-baby challenges.

Yes - I was thinking a separate (child) board under The Sims 4 - Challenges, along with "2020 Tournament Challenges", "Sims 4 Dynasties", and "Sims 4 - Challenges Graveyard".  That would make it easy to find. 

One of the things I have always really liked and depended on with these challenges is how willing everyone is to share what they know.  But you're right that it's hard to find what you're looking for to help with a particular challenge with so much out there.  Especially after 5 years of challenges and content!

We just need to make sure everyone remembers not to share strategy for a specific challenge while it's going on, even in a different thread.

[thefaeriesgirl]

@GlazeyLady Nonono, this is a ME thing not a you thing. I have some type of combination of atypical thinker issues, when it comes down to it I don't think or react like other people. I say that not for pity or anything but to help you understand why this isn't your fault. I think it's a solid idea, I generally love rags to riches type things, teen runaway, etc. There's already a good bunch of people that have figured it out and posted scores.

I don't want anyone at all to think that the way I feel is their fault or feel bad. It's no one's fault I have a weird brain with weird problems. Please understand I would never EVER post anything to make someone else here feel bad. I am open and honest to a fault, but often I forget to include I have this weird brain. Oops.

Tips and tricks sound like a nice idea but I don't want to ruin things for anyone who prefers to figure it out on their own either. And most definitely I do not want to spoil all the fun little postings and stories people like @Deklitch have.