3 Little Sims go to University

[Metropolis Man]

3 Little Sims go to University

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Goal

A 3 Little Sims challenge is one where you have 3 Sims in the household, but you can control only one per day, i.e., Sim 1 on the first day, Sim 2 on the 2nd, Sim 3 on the 3rd, then Sim 1 on the 4th, etc. In this challenge, your 3 Sims will all go to university and try to do well in their classes. You will be allowed to control all 3 Sims right at the beginning, when they apply to university and for scholarships until they have all received an acceptance letter and have enrolled. After that, you must stick to one Sim per day, and stick to the order and changeover time you've established. The challenge ends the 3rd time that they all get their grades.

General Challenge Rules
The General Challenge Rules always apply.

Specific Challenge Rules

• Using CAS stories, create a household of 3 YA Sims. Vampires and Spellcasters are not allowed, so if you get either, you may delete that Sim from the household. While creating each Sim, you may bypass as many as 3 questions. Story mode will give your Sim(s) an aspiration. You may change it to the Academic aspiration, but otherwise have to wait until your Sims have completed the aspiration before changing.
• No adding to the household.
• No moving.
• You are allowed to use the Buydebug cheat for the sole purpose of purchasing a satellite to prevent abductions.
• Move the household to the Honeydew lot in Britechester. You may choose either furnished or unfurnished. In other words, the footprint of the house may not be changed. Once the first term starts, you may not sell furniture from the house. If your Sims start with more than $20,000, subtract the overage before you go into build mode. Career rewards from Story Mode can be sold or used.
• You have until 6 pm Sunday to have your Sims apply for scholarships and apply to the university. Your Sims should all enroll as soon as possible once all 3 of them have been accepted. During the waiting period you may control all 3 Sims, but once they are enrolled, you may only control one at a time. Keep the same order and changeover at the same time each day.
• The only clubs your Sims can join are university organizations.
• This challenge ends when all 3 Sims have received their grades.

Scoring

Grades
At the end of each term, add up the grades of your 3 Sims as follows: A+ = 10pts. A = 9pts. A- = 8pts. B+ = 7pts. B = 6pts. B- = 5pts. C+ = 4pts. C = 3pts. C- = 2pts. D = 1pt. At the end of the 3rd term, add up the grades of all three of your Sims.

Student Loans
For each student loan used, count -10pts.

Start Time
To use as a tie breaker, please note the time that your 3rd Sim enrolls for the first term, e.g. Tuesday, 7:45 am.

Total — Subtract the Student Loan total (if any) from the Grades total.

Example -- Sim A received 4 A+s, 1 A, 2 A-s, 2 Bs, 2 C+s, and an F for 84 pts; Sim B received 7 A+s, 1 B-, 2 Ds, and 1 F for 82 pts; and Sim C received 5 A+s, 2 As, 1 A-, 2 Bs, 1 B-, and an F for 93 pts, for a total of 259 pts. Sim C took out one student loan for -10 pts. Total was 249 pts.

Here is a helpful Spreadsheet courtesy of Teresa. Thank you very much.

Ch-Ch-Changes
The team does not want to edit and make changes to the ruleset once this event goes live, but we may have to. If an exploit is brought to our attention or we discover something else we reserve the right to ask affected players to redo their effort.

Have Questions?
If you have questions and need clarifications, ask away — you can either post your questions in this thread or if you feel a question might reveal a particular strategy you are considering, then feel free to PM the team. Choose the My Messages tab > Send Message > Send to Group (show membergroups) > Check the Challenge Board Moderator group.

And the Winner is...
After this event has closed everyone is encouraged to discuss how they approached the event, but the winner especially is expected to do so in detail.

This Event Starts July 27
This Event Ends August 16

Player	Sims' Grades	Student Loans	Total	Start Time
Nikitachi	349	--	349	Wk1, D2, 9:00 a.m.
mismck	337	--	337	Wk1, D2, 11:56 p.m.
SueDenim	337	--	337	Wk1, D3, 1:00 p.m.
Nandarelle	328	--	328	??
LenaLJ	326	--	326	Wk1, D2, 10:20 a.m.
Elinoee	324	--	324	Wk1, D2, 11:28 a.m.
ratchie	314	--	314	Wk1, D2, 1:29 p.m.
Noyo	311	30	281	Wk1, D2, 3:00 p.m.
MarianT	279	--	279	Wk1, D2, 5:20 p.m.
rhi72	275	--	275	Wk1, D3, 8:31 a.m.
Metropolis Man	275	--	275	Wk1, D3, 9:05 a.m.
Teresa	265	--	265	Wk1, D2, 5:15 p.m.
techiechick	255	--	255	Wk1, D2, 10:50 a.m.
Mionax	247	--	247	Wk1, D2, 11:18 a.m.
Sruixan	236	--	236	Wk1, D2, 8:48 a.m.
celinegreen	169	--	169	Wk1, D2, 2:00 p.m.
junegem	161	--	161	Wk1, D2, 7:53 p.m.
furbyqueen	38	--	38	Wk1, D2, 12:00 p.m.

[Metropolis Man]

Rule Changes:

We've added a tie-breaker to Scoring:

Start Time
To use as a tie breaker, please note the time that your 3rd Sim enrolls for the first term, e.g. Tuesday, 7:45 am.

Hopefully, this will encourage people to enroll their Sims early.

Another addition:

If your Sims start with more than $20,000, subtract the overage before you go into build mode.

CAS stories may give your 3 Sims more than the basic $20,000. If so, then subtract the excess before you start buying or changing furniture.
Clarifications on Build mode:
The footprint of the Honeydew house may not be changed. You may sell or use career rewards that were awarded by Story Mode.

FAQs

Q:How do I get CAS Story mode for my 2nd and 3rd Sims?

A: When you click on the button to Add a Sim, a menu of icons appears. The book at the bottom is the icon for Story Mode.

Q:I saw that clubs are not allowed. What about groups?

A: Groups are okay.

Q: What if one of my Sims dies?

A: Continue with the others until their 3rd term is done. Your score can also include the grades of the Sim who died, if that Sim had earned any.

[ratchie]

I haven't had a Sim go to university since I bought the pack 6 months ago so this could be interesting.  I like the idea of using cas stories makes things interesting.

Rachel

[Sruixan]

Oh boy, this both excites and terrifies me! As Rachel's said, the CAS Stories idea puts a novel spin on things, and I have rather enjoyed the time I've spent with the university stuff in this game... but uncontrolled sims give me kittens! Almost immediately, certain questions spring to mind:

• Are the three sims that we generate for testing the three that we play our actual challenge run with (thus letting us get to know them) or do we generate three brand-new sims, thus forcing us to adapt?
  
• Can/must we quit the jobs that Story Mode gives our sims?
• When you say that we can switch out their initial aspiration, I presume that means we can do it right at the beginning of the game, since you can't change a Story Mode aspiration in CAS? Otherwise, there are no limits on what aspirations they can tackle, so long as they only work towards one at a time?
• What can we do the Honeydew Fields lot? Internal changes, sure, but structural ones? What about lot traits, or switching the lot type?
• Though we can have our sims complete their degrees within the three-term limit by having them each take four classes a term, is that actually obligatory or could we choose to have them take fewer? It's a quantity v. quality argument, and though I think I instinctively know what I'd do, I may as well ask...
• Finally, just to clarify that I'm understanding the initial situation correctly: we have full control over our trio until the moment all three have been accepted, at which point we enrol them all, starting the first term, and take note of that time as it'll be the switchover point each day. During the period of full control, anything within the rules goes, so long as all three sims get their applications in by 6pm that first Sunday. This would afford us some valuable setup time...

Thanks in advance, both for the answers and for the highly intriguing challenge!

[Nikitachi]

When exactly does each 'day' start/end? Usually we use 8 AM, but I think that this time may be different...

Also, I didn't quite understand the aspiration change rule. Do we have to complete the aspiration the Story mode gives us, and only then can switch to Academic? Can we also then jump from one aspiration to another, after completing that first one?

[MarianT]

Oh boy, this both excites and terrifies me! As Rachel's said, the CAS Stories idea puts a novel spin on things, and I have rather enjoyed the time I've spent with the university stuff in this game... but uncontrolled sims give me kittens! Almost immediately, certain questions spring to mind:

• Are the three sims that we generate for testing the three that we play our actual challenge run with (thus letting us get to know them) or do we generate three brand-new sims, thus forcing us to adapt?

When you start your challenge file, you have to do it with 3 newly created Sims. But you'll still learn some things from doing a test run.

[/li][li]Can/must we quit the jobs that Story Mode gives our sims?[/li][/list]

Quit, don't quit, it's up to you.

• When you say that we can switch out their initial aspiration, I presume that means we can do it right at the beginning of the game, since you can't change a Story Mode aspiration in CAS? Otherwise, there are no limits on what aspirations they can tackle, so long as they only work towards one at a time?

If you change to a different aspiration, it has to be the Academic one. Otherwise, you're stuck with what CAS gave you until you complete it.

• What can we do the Honeydew Fields lot? Internal changes, sure, but structural ones? What about lot traits, or switching the lot type?

No changes to the outward structure. No switching lot type, but lot traits are up to you.

• Though we can have our sims complete their degrees within the three-term limit by having them each take four classes a term, is that actually obligatory or could we choose to have them take fewer? It's a quantity v. quality argument, and though I think I instinctively know what I'd do, I may as well ask...

The number of classes your Sims take is up to you.

• Finally, just to clarify that I'm understanding the initial situation correctly: we have full control over our trio until the moment all three have been accepted, at which point we enrol them all, starting the first term, and take note of that time as it'll be the switchover point each day. During the period of full control, anything within the rules goes, so long as all three sims get their applications in by 6pm that first Sunday. This would afford us some valuable setup time...

And once they have all been accepted, they have to enroll immediately, so not that much set-up time.

[/list]
Thanks in advance, both for the answers and for the highly intriguing challenge!

Good questions, all

[MarianT]

When exactly does each 'day' start/end? Usually we use 8 AM, but I think that this time may be different...

If you're asking about changeover time, that's based on when your 3 Sims enroll. Your game will end when the 3 of them have received their 3rd set of grades -- which will all happen at the same time.

Also, I didn't quite understand the aspiration change rule. Do we have to complete the aspiration the Story mode gives us, and only then can switch to Academic? Can we also then jump from one aspiration to another, after completing that first one?

Your Sims can switch to Academic immediately. Once they have completed that aspiration or the one assigned in Story mode, they can jump around aspirations.
[/quote]

[SueDenim]

Yay!
(except only controlling only one/day.  But otherwise, yay!)

Question about loans:
if we pay back the loans, do the points added back on?  Or should we just as well keep the loans adding up if we already have them?

[Teresa]

...sounds interesting for sure. 

[Nikitachi]

Just practiced for one semester and my sims got mostly C-'s and D's Will surely be tough!!!

[Nikitachi]

Your Sims should enroll as soon as all 3 of them have been accepted

I am not quite sure about this part as well. I am not familiar with the University addon, so the question may be stupid, but still...
My sims don't seem to get any acceptance confirmation automatically. Is that even possible? If so, when should it happen?
Because if one has to check manually, then he/she can just postpone it as long as he/she wants, and since we're free to control all 3 sims until the acceptance, he/she can just keep earning money/raising skills/etc.
Maybe, if there is no automatic announcement, then it's better to set an acceptance check deadline, same for everyone?
Thank you!

[Teresa]

I know it isn't immediately, but my sims generally know they are accepted within a few hours.  I am trying to remember on the last one I played, last week, if I had to check or not.  Also, there is a letter they get in the mail the next day.  But I knew before the letter came that my sim had been accepted.  I don't have the game open where I can check at the moment, but I am sure someone will test it out.

[SoulGal7]

This sounds so good. I have never done a rotational play before and with university, too!

[MarianT]

@SueDenim, if you pay the loan back, then you might have to take a new loan out. I haven't really tested this.

@Nikitachi, Should I say that your Sims have to check the mailbox each day after they apply? I'm trying to prevent the exploit of delaying enrollment.

[SueDenim]

This is the first I've tried storymode, and it seems that it lets Sims start out with different amounts of money - do we have reset funds at the beginning?  Or if we get lucky - then, we get the benefit of starting out with more cash?

Also, when I've played with University, applying on Sunday afternoon means the acceptances show up on Tuesday and classes start on Wednesday.