Timed Quests

[MLBerry]

It appears that the game expects you to do the quests within a certain period of time.  Is there a quest timer or some way to monitor whether you are falling behind?  I did get one warning in one quest when my queen was pregnant and couldn't kill the evil wizard.  However she had the baby and was able to complete the quest without penalty, so far as I know.

So, absent the warning, is there anyway to tell if you are falling behind?

[TwinSpirit]

Well technically, at any time you are not doing quest objectives, you can consider that as falling behind =)
But I've been thinking about that myself, how much time exactly do you have until the first notice appears.
Nevertheless, the "falling behind on quest" notice is a great way to keep track, because you can safely mind your own business until that appears and then some more =P

[MLBerry]

As it is I tend to work on the quests at the expense of building up my hero.  I am just in the New Beginnings and I am doing ok with all the buildings in place and two quest points remaining, but I think I am not using all the opportunities I have to level up the heroes.

[SoftKitnz]

Might I offer a suggestion?

Yes you need to complete the quest but as long as you tackle one quest part a day and your focus stays up they don't give you that message.   So make it a goal everyday in game to do one quest thing and then get your responsibilities over with as quickly as possible then you can spend time with your character leveling them by doing stuff that is specific to their traits, flaws and Profession.  I use the extra time to fish, hunt, collect plants and then go to the store and sell stuff to make money.   Technically you don't have to buy any meat because (depending on your profession) you can fish or hunt.  When I have extra time with my Spy, as an example, I make him craft poisons and practice on his practice dummy.  By the way not watching your hunger and sleeping bar can cause major negative buffs so try to keep up with that and your quest meter should stay going up.

[Katluvr]

I've noticed that you get a gray buff/debuff icon if you are falling behind on quest objectives but at first it seems to have no effect on focus.  I've had that buff/debuff up for almost a full sim day and still maintained high focus and moved my quest meter towards/into platinum range, so the games seems to give you quite a lot of warning.  The other thing I've noticed, but not tested so don't know if it's true or not, is that this buff/debuff seems to appear quicker if the task is a simple one (like go talk to someone) while more complex tasks (like build 5 traps) seem to be allowed more time before you get the warning about falling behind.

My first handful of quests I played the way you say you've done - focusing on quest completion to the exclusion of hero development.  While I still enjoyed playing, the game felt very one dimensional when I played that way.  I found some very clear benefits to slowing down and balancing quest progression with hero development:

• It takes some time to get the quest meter to platinum so, particularly with short quests, you have to slow down or you won't get the maximum reward for your efforts.
• Your active hero(es) gain xp from everything they do, so you can easily gain a couple of levels during the quest just by having them do things besides quest objectives.
• Some quests require heroes to be a certain level before they are available.
• A lot of watcher achievements have little or nothing to do with questing.  To advance as a watcher you will need to spend time doing other things.
• There are random rewards for doing non-quest activities.  If you stroll in the forest or go on an adventure (requires adventurous trait) there is a good chance you will have a random encounter that could yield valuable items (like the mystical metal fragment which only seems to be available through random events).
• You can use your active hero to help out your other heroes.  When my blacksmith is active I make sure he crafts weapons and armor for my knight, monarch, and spy so they don't have to buy them when they are active.  When my knight is active I send him hunting to fill up the larders of my priests and bard.
• At the end of an ambition you have the option to make one of your heroes the monarch of your next kingdom.  It is definitely an advantage to start a new kingdom with a level 10 monarch.  It may be that this is necessary to complete the most complex ambitions at platinum level.

My suggestion is to take a little time to explore the game - especially if you have completed the ambition requirements and have a couple of QP left over.

[Kai Heilos]

This is my timeline of starting a new quest.

Wed - 3:35 pm

-100 to -99 mood = Very Unfocused, -3 arrows
-98 to -40 mood = Unfocused, -2 arrows
-39 to -1 mood = slightly Unfocused, -1 arrows
0 to +1 mood = no buff, No Arrows
+2 to +79 mood = Slightly Focused, +1 arrow
+80 to +197 mood = Focused, +2 arrow
+198 to +200 mood = Very Focused, +3 arrows

Thu - 3:35 pm (24 hours after starting)

Falling behind on quest - 8 hours (No Effect)

Thu - 11:35 pm

Behind on Quest - 16 hours

-100 to -99 mood = Very Unfocused, -3 arrows
-98 to -40 mood = Unfocused, -3 arrows
-39 to -1 mood = slightly Unfocused, -2 arrows
0 to +1 mood = no buff, -2 Arrows
+2 to +79 mood = Slightly Focused, -1 arrow
+80 to +197 mood = Focused, +1 arrow
+198 to +200 mood = Very Focused, +2 arrows

Will update shortly what happens after 16 hours. Will also see if the original 24 hour period changes between steps of the quest.

Edit:

Fri - 3:35 pm

Dangerously Behind on Quest (Permanent)

-100 to -99 mood = Very Unfocused, -3 arrows
-98 to -40 mood = Unfocused, -3 arrows
-39 to -1 mood = slightly Unfocused, -3 arrows
0 to +1 mood = no buff, -3 Arrows
+2 to +79 mood = Slightly Focused, -3 arrows
+80 to +197 mood = Focused, -2 arrows
+198 to +200 mood = Very Focused, -1 arrow

Completed one stage of quest (Legendary fountain quest, kissed someone)

Behind on quest - 12 Hours

Completed Another Step

Falling Behind on Quest - 6 Hours

Completed Another Step

Buff removed

First buff came back about 4 hours later.




Conclusion:

0 hours = Start of Quest
24 hours = Falling Behind
32 hours = Behind
48 hours = Dangerously Behind

Each action you do towards the quest reduces this progression by some hours, it seems to differ per action.

Kissing someone in the fountain quest restores 12 hours, talking to the queen only restored 8.

[Alaskasim]

So far this is all good and accurate information, I just want to add this.

The only down side to ignoring your quest is your focus meeter takes a hit for every increment of falling behind. You can tell how far behind you are by the number of "x" at the bottom of the chalice for the "falling behind" moodlit. I have not gone past 3 as those 3 fill the bottom and I am thinking it will fail the quest to go one step past that.

In order to "catch up" on the quest you need to do a quest step for each "x" at the bottom. With 3 "x" you need to do 3 steps to get back on track.

Ignoring quests impacts your focus and in turn reduces how quickly you gain or lose quest performance. I agree with Katluver in that just doing the quests is dull as heck and also found that a good progression is to do one quest step a Sim day and your gold. Spend the rest of the time working on your daily tasks and building the hero.

Short quests can prove to be hard to get platinum level on, mainly the one with the missing boy, I think that one has 3 steps.

[Kai Heilos]

I believe I read somewhere the quest will fail if your performance bottoms out. This means it's impossible to drag the quest out for an infinite amount of time as the third buff from falling behind makes it a permanent drop in performance, even with +200 mood.

Also, the buffs from ignoring the quest don't directly impact your focus, they just reduce in the increase in quest performance.

Edit:

When my quest performance hit Bronze, I was "Marked for Arrest". At the time I was relaxing on the bed in the Monarch Castle and now my character is stuck on the bed with the Constable standing beside her waiting to arrest her.

Edit 2:

When my performance bottomed out, I was "Marked for Death". No idea what it does yet because I'm still glitched on the bed.

Fixed the glitch, I was thrown in the pit and died.