2024 Challenge Tournament Finale: My Swan Song <<Live Challenge -- Jump In!>>

[Metropolis Man]

2024 Challenge Tournament Finale: My Swan Song

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I present this ruleset on the 15th anniversary of my first forum post. That post on September 22, 2009, was a stand-alone Sims 3 challenge, and I wrote a few more that year. Then, it all turned into a year-long tournament that began in 2010, where participants were ranked, and prizes were awarded at the end of the year. Wow. What an incredible ride it has been. But, my friends, I am finally ready to pass the baton. My three awesome team members, @sone, @mismck, and @LenaLJ, will remain in some capacity. So, I have no idea what their plans are for 2025, but I am excited to pop in and check it out now and then. I am sure they would appreciate help, so if you would like to be on the team or have your own challenge ideas, contact them.

OK, enough of that. What is this event all about? There are no plans for another Dynasty challenge, so I am incorporating many Dynasty elements into this Finale. Nearly all aspects of the game will test you. The scope of this challenge is such that you will need to create two separate files. Yep. It's a biggie, so here we go. Oh, and don't forget that this Finale carries triple the weight of a regular Tournament event, so there is real potential to move up the ranking and increase your chance of a solid finish -- if that sort of thing is important to you.


Speed Test and Museum (File 1)

• Remember, the General Rules apply to all Tournament challenges. Exceptions may be noted below.
• Do not start your file without first reading through the scoring spreadsheet (see Scoring section).
• Create two YA Sims in CAS - any life state.
• Move to any empty lot/empty house.
• House additions may only happen in Live mode. Household members may only be moved out if they contribute to at least one of the 15 Speed Test requirements (requirement #6 qualifies).
• Each minute of the Speed Test costs a simolean to be subtracted against your other two scores.

Speed Test Requirements
1.   One of your two starting Sims must be responsible for making Ambrosia. Both starting Sims must consume Ambrosia.
2.   One household member must obtain at least 15 total skill levels after joining the household (all skills qualify).
3.   One household member must obtain at least 15 total job levels after joining the household (all jobs qualify).
4.   The household must have points in 15 different skills.
5.   Complete at least 15 different Achievements.
6.   There must be at least 15 different household members (pets also count) spread over the entirety of file 1.
7.   One household member must have at least 15 different traits.
8.   Complete 15 unique Aspirations (Childhood Aspirations count too).
9.   Bring up the Household Collections window. The first number for Collections Found needs to be at least 15. The Collections Completed first number needs to be at least 1.
10. One household member must earn simoleans from 15 different sources.
11. One household member must be responsible for purchasing 15 unique perks. All perks qualify. And it must be called "perks."
12. One household member must experience 15 different emotions. Different degrees of the same emotion do count.
13. One household member must be Best Friends with 15 non-Human, non-household Sims.
14. One household member must perform 15 unique upgrades, each in a unique neighborhood--the clusters of areas in each world (i.e. Foundry Cove and Courtyard Lane in Willow Creek).
15. One household member must obtain 15 gold medals from hosting all available types of parties. You may only repeat a party type after hosting all available parties. The host must also serve a unique Excellent Gourmet meal at each party.

Museum
While your CAS household works through its 15 requirements above, you must also set aside 15 unique placeable objects (must have distinctive wording in the title) for your Museum (any object in the game qualifies).
When you finish the 15 Speed Test requirements above, the Museum closes, and you sell the 15 objects. Your score is the total simoleans received for those objects.
Please note your time for the Speed Test and your Museum value in the spreadsheet (see scoring section). You are now done with File 1.


Townies (File 2)

• Create one Sim and dump them anywhere. You will not be playing this Sim at all.
• Immediately pause your game going into Live mode. Go to Manage Worlds.
• You may play any Townie household as long as you wish, but...
• You cannot play more than 15 different Townie households.
• You cannot play the same household more than once.
• No household additions except for natural children, adoptions, or science babies are allowed.
• No moving allowed.
• You cannot play more than 15 Sim days (must stop file on Week 3, Day 2, 8 a.m.)

Each of the following 15 tasks is worth 1000 simoleans toward your score. You can earn a maximum of 15000 simoleans for each townie household you play. But remember, you can play at most 15 Townie households, and you can only play your file for 15 Sim days, which averages out to one day per household.

Townie Requirements
1.   Get a job or school activity promotion.
2.   All household members are Good Friends. If a given townie household only has one member, then you will not be given credit for this requirement.
3.   Have Lot Value at least 15k simoleans more than when you started.
4.   Have at least 15 skill levels across all household skills (starting skill levels do count).
5.   Complete one unique achievement (different than any other Townie family).
6.   Upgrade an item that comes with the Townie house.
7.   Have 15 traits between all household members (duplicates are OK).
8.   All household members must visit a community lot as a group for at least two hours.
9.   Each townie family contributes one unique item (must have distinctive wording in the title and not be purchased) to a Townie collection. These items are left at Willow Creek Park.
10. Fulfill 15 unique Whims.
11. Write a book.
12. Read a book.
13. One household member becomes Best Friends with a non-household member.
14. Everyone in the household sits down to one home-cooked meal. Halo-Halo not allowed.
15. Catch 15 different types of fish and plant 15 different types of seeds.


Scoring

The scoring is handled in the spreadsheet (thank you, @mismck). Please make a copy for yourself before plugging in your information. The spreadsheet adds your Museum simoleans and simoleans made from all your Townie family goals, with your Speed Test deducted at the end.

Ch-Ch-Changes
The team does not want to edit and change 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 may 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 it. The winner is expected to provide detailed information on their strategy. Keep notes as you play your file.

My Last Word (I Promise!)
My sincere thanks to all of you for letting me come into your lives these last 15 years. Suppose @Carl decides to put together a Sims Project Rene forum or a forum for another similar game, and I see an opportunity again for a community to come together and compete. In that case, you can bet I will do so in a heartbeat.  I will remain a forum Administrator to assist @MrsFlynn and help the challenge team if they need special Admin assistance (making a new team member a mod, changing the name of a board, etc).

Hugs to all of you - Tom (Metro).

This Event is Now Closed

Player	(Museum   +	Townies)  -	Speed Test   =	Total
Nandarelle	§148080	§192000	§10032	§330048
Elinoee	§131592	§193000	§22752	§301840
Rebelangel	§118426	§73000	§5817	§185609
kinseyam	§141182	§134000	§74923	§200259
Metropolis Man	§110529	§63000	§29528	§144001
Eighty8Keys	§--	§--	§--	DNF
mismck	§--	§--	§--	DNF
sone	§--	§--	§--	DNF
LenaLJ	§--	§--	§--	DNF

[Rebelangel]

@Metropolis Man, no questions yet, but wow, I can't believe that this is the fifteenth year for the sims challenges. I know I've been part of these tournaments for a shorter time than most of the folk here, but I want to say a BIG thank you. I have very much enjoyed your witty/punny write-ups for the instructions (do you come up with the titles for the challenges?), the sheer creativity of the rulesets, and your constant support and enthusiasm for this forum!

[Metropolis Man]

@Metropolis Man, no questions yet, but wow, I can't believe that this is the fifteenth year for the sims challenges. I know I've been part of these tournaments for a shorter time than most of the folk here, but I want to say a BIG thank you. I have very much enjoyed your witty/punny write-ups for the instructions (do you come up with the titles for the challenges?), the sheer creativity of the rulesets, and your constant support and enthusiasm for this forum!

@Rebelangel, thank you for the kind words.  Yes, I am to blame for most of the challenge titles. I have always been a fan of plays on words and puns.

[Elinoee]

15 years, wow ! And what a great and complete challenge for your "swan song"   
@Metropolis Man , I join @Rebelangel in thanking you very much for your investment, your kindness and your great ideas.

For my part, I have a few questions concerning the "Speed test":
1. One sim responsible for making ambrosia : may other sims help, for example to find ingredients ?
11. About "perks" :
    - please can you specify which of them are eligible? My game is in french so I'm not 100% sure.
    - does the sim responsible for them have to purchase the 15 perks after joining the household?
Museum:
  - are objects considered «placeable» if sims can drow/drop it from their personal inventory, or is it ok to "place" them via construction mode ?
  - is it ok to purchase these objects ?

And just one question for the "Townies" part:
8. All household members must visit a community lot as a group for at least two hours : may some other sims be part of this group, or only the household members ?

[Metropolis Man]

15 years, wow ! And what a great and complete challenge for your "swan song"   
@Metropolis Man , I join @Rebelangel in thanking you very much for your investment, your kindness and your great ideas.

Thank you, @Elinoee.

For my part, I have a few questions concerning the "Speed test":
1. One sim responsible for making ambrosia : may other sims help, for example to find ingredients ?

Yes, that's fine.

11. About "perks" :
    - please can you specify which of them are eligible? My game is in french so I'm not 100% sure.

Just make sure the word in-game is the French translation of "perk." I looked it up and believe it is "advantage." Vampire abilities are not called perks. They are called powers, or in French I am assuming they would be "pouvoirs." Those would not count. Only things called perks. 

    - does the sim responsible for them have to purchase the 15 perks after joining the household?

Yes, that was implied. First, they have to be a household member. Then, the requirement kicks in.

Museum:
  - are objects considered «placeable» if sims can drow/drop it from their personal inventory, or is it ok to "place" them via construction mode ?
  - is it ok to purchase these objects ?

Yes, to your part one questions above. And yes, you can purchase the objects.

And just one question for the "Townies" part:
8. All household members must visit a community lot as a group for at least two hours : may some other sims be part of this group, or only the household members ?

It does not matter if others are part of the group as long as all household members are in it.

[Elinoee]

OK, thank you for the clarifications !

[Metropolis Man]

There has only been one set of questions so far, so I am hopping in to remind everyone that this Finale goes live on Monday. Please do not wait until then to get your questions answered.

[Deklitch]

Sorry, assessment tasks for uni are trying to distract me from important things like trying not to have my sims die in cooking fires from this challenge.

If one of the first two from file 1 dies, that's challenge over?

Can we choose to do file 2 first?

[Deklitch]

And also, I wanted to thank Metro for all he's done over the years with the challenges, leading the challenge team, coming up with puns, responding to my questions without making me feel totally dumb, agreeing with me that Agnes Crumplebottom in Sims 3 Sunset Valley is the cutest and most goddess-like being in all of Sims history (with no hagness about her at all), expressing sympathy when my sims manage to cause and die in cooking fires in Sims 4, developing multiple challenges for us all to enjoy (and I'm determined to complete ONE of the Sims 3 challenges one day).

After all that time, you deserve a break.

Thank you Metro

Dek

[Metropolis Man]

Sorry, assessment tasks for uni are trying to distract me from important things like trying not to have my sims die in cooking fires from this challenge.

If one of the first two from file 1 dies, that's challenge over?

Unfortunately, after I reread the rules myself, it looks like it. One requirement is that both starting Sims must consume Ambrosia. Now, if one dies after that requirement, I think you could continue.

Can we choose to do file 2 first?

Yes. And thank you so much for the nice words.

[mismck]

Sorry, assessment tasks for uni are trying to distract me from important things like trying not to have my sims die in cooking fires from this challenge.

If one of the first two from file 1 dies, that's challenge over?

Unfortunately, after I reread the rules myself, it looks like it. One requirement is that both starting Sims must consume Ambrosia. Now, if one dies after that requirement, I think you could continue.

We had a team pow-wow and decided that if you could get your starting Sim ghost to eat Ambrosia, then you would fulfill that part of Requirement 1.

[mismck]

So glad I read the directions for the 10th time - I almost went into Manage Households in File #1 

[Metropolis Man]

It's hard to believe the final 2024 season event ends in two weeks, but I just wanted to pop in and say that in case you tourney participants need a good kick in the pants to get going.

[Nandarelle]

I have a question -  the rules set says:

Each second of the Speed Test costs a simolean to be subtracted against your other two scores.

But the spreadsheet counts minutes, not seconds. Which is right? I've been 'counting' on seconds.

[Metropolis Man]

I have a question -  the rules set says:

Each second of the Speed Test costs a simolean to be subtracted against your other two scores.

But the spreadsheet counts minutes, not seconds. Which is right? I've been 'counting' on seconds.

@mismck is on vacation. I messaged her. I suppose minutes is fine. It will just be less of a deduction to everyone than seconds. I'll change the wording in the rules.