Stay-at-Home Parent

[Metropolis Man]

Stay-at-Home Parent

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Goal
For whatever reason, your Sim is a single parent, having to raise a toddler while trying to make ends meet. Luckily, there's free-lancing. Your Sim can take care of the little one and make oodles of money without leaving the house.


General Challenge Rules

• The General Challenge Rules always apply. If applicable, exceptions will be listed below.

Specific Challenge Rules

• in CAS, create 1 Young Adult human or alien Sim and Toddler.
• No moving.
• No household additions.
• You are allowed to use the Buydebug cheat to purchase a satellite to prevent abductions.
• The YA Sim is the only one that can be controlled.
• The YA Sim can only make money from gigs, i.e. a freelance artist cannot sell paintings.
• The YA Sim must hire a nanny for toddlers or children before leaving the lot.
• This challenge concludes at Week 3, Day 1, 8 AM.

Scoring
When your toddler ages up to child, add up your toddler skill points. You'll get .01 for each point. When your child ages up to teen, add up child skill points. You'll get .02 for each point. (Note: a "point" is whatever the number at the far right of the line is.) At the end of the game, write down household income (HI). Your final score is HI x 1.00 + toddler points + child points.

Example: Your Sim has an HI of 100,000 simoleons. The child had 2 communication pts, 2 potty points, and 5 imagination points as a toddler for .09, and 7 creative points, 3 mental points, 5 social points, and 4 movement points as a child for .38.

Add the total skill points (SP) to your starting multiplier of 1.00 -- 1.00 + .47 = 1.47.

100,000 x 1.47 = 147,000.

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 may ask affected players to redo their effort.

Have Questions?
Please think hard before you ask in the challenge thread because it may be strategy. What you may consider an innocent question could cause another player to go — “oh, I did not think of doing that.” It’s always safer to PM everyone on the team (Metro, MarianT, sdhoey, and LenaLJ) for clarifications. Thanks.

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

This Event is Now Closed

Player	HI	SP	Total
Deveroux	328,326	1.98	633,669
Nikitachi	264,914	1.96	519,231
Rainbow Dash	188,788	2.02	381,351
LenaLJ	191,889	1.98	379,940
BallerinaHippo	172,418	1.97	339,663
Nandarelle	159,946	1.99	318,292
Eighty8Keys	167,027	1.66	277,264
reggikko	124,247	1.97	244,766
Whimsical Peanut	127,087	1.85	235,110
sone	110,176	1.91	210,436
Elinoee	105,262	1.96	206,313
sdhoey	102,707	1.94	199,251
Metropolis Man	101,692	1.95	198,299
Syrcen	104,079	1.64	170,689
furbyqueen	113,727	1.49	169,453
JocyMc	115,743	1.40	162,040
MarianT	112,128	1.42	159,221
kinseyam	99,103	1.31	129,824
SIMantics101	72,864	1.51	110,024
SoulGal7	50,113	1.76	88,198
littledove	52,421	1.65	86,494
mariposa1127	47,180	1.49	70,298
Abyshep	47,809	1.42	67,888
coolsim9999999	30,804	1.80	55,447
Deklitch	20,493	1.65	33,813
CynKuy	21,664	1.34	29,029

[Vesper]

ooh I haven't played with freelancing yet. This looks ace.

Though, sorry to be stupid, please can I check what household income refers to. Is it the amount that's shown bottom left of the screen? In which case I presume you can't boost this at the end by selling all your furniture etc. as that would be income not from freelancing.

[Metropolis Man]

ooh I haven't played with freelancing yet. This looks ace.

Though, sorry to be stupid, please can I check what household income refers to. Is it the amount that's shown bottom left of the screen? In which case I presume you can't boost this at the end by selling all your furniture etc. as that would be income not from freelancing.

Correct. Gig income is the only allowed way to increase household income, shown at the bottom left.

[Isabelalabe]

Hi, I have few questions, please. Are the adult skills, like fishing and violin, counted if the child has learned them?

[Metropolis Man]

Hi, I have few questions, please. Are the adult skills, like fishing and violin, counted if the child has learned them?

No, you're only interested in counting child and toddler skills.

[sone]

For clarification on ending date: week 3 day one would be the first day(Sunday) of the third week?  If so:

Sim has an HI of 110,176 simoleons. The child had 2 communication points, 2 potty points, 1 imagination point, 3 movement points and 3 thinking points as a toddler for .11, and 10 creative points, 10 mental points, 10 social points, and 10 movement points as a child for .8.

Score: 210,436.16

[Metropolis Man]

Thank you, sone, for breaking everything down so the team can double check your score. The scoring in this event is a bit complicated.

[Rainbow Dash]

Hi, I hope it's not too late to ask a question or two here and there, I kind of rushed through my practice round without giving much though to potential questions I may want to put towards the team. (I only just started practicing a few days ago)

The YA Sim must hire a nanny for toddlers or children before leaving the lot.

Does this mean we cannot take our toddler anywhere?  I'm guessing the rule down below means our Sim may not leave the house unless it is for work or am I wrong about this? (My practice Sim was practically a Hermit, lol)

Your Sim can take care of the little one and make oodles of money without leaving the house.

I'd also like to know if there a limit on how many gigs our Sim can take on per day? 

[MarianT]

As long as you take the toddler with you, you don't need a nanny.

No limit on gigs.

[Rainbow Dash]

I'm a little confused about something that I would like cleared up:

This challenge concludes at Week 3, Day 1, 8 AM.

We are playing on the short lifespan like we do with all challenges right? Because if so then the child will age up into a teen before this date. I'm assuming we just keep playing the Freelancer side of things until the challenge ends?

I know I should probably be asking these questions sooner but I didn't really get a lot of time to practice for this one. 

[MarianT]

I'm a little confused about something that I would like cleared up:

This challenge concludes at Week 3, Day 1, 8 AM.

We are playing on the short lifespan like we do with all challenges right? Because if so then the child will age up into a teen before this date. I'm assuming we just keep playing the Freelancer side of things until the challenge ends?

I know I should probably be asking these questions sooner but I didn't really get a lot of time to practice for this one. 

Yes, short lifespan. Make sure you write down the toddler and child skill totals before they age up.

[MarianT]

Finishing early this time. My Sim's total money was 112,128. Toddler skills were 12 and child skills were 15, for a multiplier of 1.42. Toddler skills (1, 3, 3, 2, 3  for .12) and child skills (9, 3, 2, 1 for 15 x .02 or .30).
The total was 159,221.

[furbyqueen]

Did way better than my practice run, although still feel like I could do better. Although Sims Social Services almost came about 4000 times, we did it!

HI of 113727, .65 in points from toddler and child points (5 4 4 2 2 as a toddler, 4 4 5 3 as a child)
Total score: 187,649.55

Correct score posted below. My logic skill is level 1.

[Metropolis Man]

Did way better than my practice run, although still feel like I could do better. Although Sims Social Services almost came about 4000 times, we did it!

HI of 113727, .65 in points from toddler and child points (5 4 4 2 2 as a toddler, 4 4 5 3 as a child)

Total score: 187,649.55

I come up with a different total.

17 toddler points X .01 = .17
16 child points X .02 = .32

Total multiplier = .49 (+1.00) = 1.49

113727 X 1.49 = 169453

[Metropolis Man]

@furbyqueen - the team needs confirmation from you if my score correction for you is correct so one of us can update the leaderboard.

It would be very helpful for other players to post their scores similar to how I broke things down above. It's easier to double check things when the multiplier is separated, etc.

[furbyqueen]

@furbyqueen - the team needs confirmation from you if my score correction for you is correct so one of us can update the leaderboard.

It would be very helpful for other players to post their scores similar to how I broke things down above. It's easier to double check things when the multiplier is separated, etc.

I counted toddler points as .2 instead of .1, the correction was correct, my initial answer was wrong.

[reggikko]

Household Income: 124,247

17 toddler points X .01 = .17
40 child points X .02 = .8

Total multiplier = 1.97

Final score: 124,247 X 1.97 = 244,766

[Deklitch]

Challenge Team: It looks as though you may have missed MarianT's score:

Finishing early this time. My Sim's total money was 112,128. Toddler skills were 12 and child skills were 15, for a multiplier of 1.42. Toddler skills (1, 3, 3, 2, 3  for .12) and child skills (9, 3, 2, 1 for 15 x .02 or .30).
The total was 159,221.

[Metropolis Man]

Thank you, Deklitch -- I sure did.

[Nikitachi]

Household Income: 264,914

16 toddler points X .01 = .16
40 child points X .02 = .8

Total multiplier = 1.96

Final score: 264,914 X 1.96 = 519,231

[sdhoey]

I got this one knocked out early this time.

Household Income: 102,707

14 toddler points X .01 = .14
40 child points X .02 = .8

Total multiplier = 1.94

Final score: 102,707 X 1.94 =199,251

[JocyMc]

This was my 1st time playing with free-lancing.  I had honestly missed it being added to the jobs, same with the addition of side jobs. 

Household Income: 115,743

16 toddler points X .01 = .16
12 child points X .02 = .24

Total multiplier = 1.40

Final score: 115,743 x 1.40 = 162,040

[Rainbow Dash]

This one was actually kind of interesting. 

Toddler points: 22 x .01 = .22
Child points: 40 x .02 = .40

Total multiplier: 1.62

Household income: $188,788

Final score: $188,788 x 1.62 = 305,836

I could have done better with the household income if I had remembered or thought of one or two things earlier but I'm happy with this score. 

[Nikitachi]

This one was actually kind of interesting. 

Toddler points: 22 x .01 = .22
Child points: 40 x .02 = .40

Total multiplier: 1.62

Household income: $188,788

Final score: $188,788 x 1.62 = 305,836

I could have done better with the household income if I had remembered or thought of one or two things earlier but I'm happy with this score. 

I guess your scoring is a bit off. This one: 'Child points: 40 x .02 = .40' should be 0.80,  shouldn't it?
Then your multiplier is 2.02, and the total score is $188,788 x 2.02 = 381,351

[Rainbow Dash]

I guess your scoring is a bit off. This one: 'Child points: 40 x .02 = .40' should be 0.80,  shouldn't it?
Then your multiplier is 2.02, and the total score is $188,788 x 2.02 = 381,351

@Nikitachi Oh, you're right, I forgot that the child multiplier is higher than the toddler one! I didn't get much sleep so I didn't notice and I'm not used to having more than one multiplier.  Thank you for pointing that out. 

@Metropolis Man Can you update my score please?

[Deklitch]

Zandramas and her little child of dark, Geran suffered through to Sunday of week 3 at 8am and achieved the following

Toddler Skills - 3, 3, 3, 3 and (for a bit of variety) 3 for 15 points x 0.01 = 0.15
Child Skills - 4, 10, 6 and 5 for 25 points x 0.02 = 0.5
Add them together and add 1 = 1.65

Household Income = 20,493

For a total of 33,813

At least the toddler animations amused and entertained me

[sdhoey]

Zandramas and her little child of dark, Geran suffered through to Sunday of week 3 at 8am and achieved the following

Toddler Skills - 3, 3, 3, 3 and (for a bit of variety) 3 for 15 points x 0.01 = 0.15
Child Skills - 4, 10, 6 and 5 for 25 points x 0.02 = 0.5
Add them together and add 1 = 1.65

Household Income = 20,493

For a total of 33,813

At least the toddler animations amused and entertained me

Congratulations Dek, you did it.

[Deklitch]

Congratulations Dek, you did it.

Thanks Shannon.

Toddlers weren't as scary as I was expecting.

[Eighty8Keys]

16 toddler points X .01 = .16
25 child points X .02 = .50

Total multiplier = .66 (+1.00) = 1.66

167027 X 1.66 = 277264

I never even noticed freelancing before this challenge. It was fun to try something new.

[coolsim9999999]

My HI was 30,804 Simoleons.

The child had 5 communication points, and 5 imagination points, 5 movement points, 4 thinking points and 3 potty points, as a toddler for a total of .22, and 6 social points, 7 creative points, and 7 motor points and 9 mental points, as a child for a total of .29.
1 + .22 +.58 =1.80
30,804 X 1.80
= 55,447 total

The math is right, finally.

Great challenge, team, as always !

Thanks a lot,
 
Coolsim

[MarianT]

Actually, @coolsim9999999, you got .02 for each child point, so your multiplier was 1 + .22 + .58, for a total of 1.8 x 30,804, with a final score of 65,447. Glad you enjoyed the challenge!

[coolsim9999999]

Oh awesome!  Thanks so much @MarianT.  Math is not my thing.

[coolsim9999999]

1 + .22 + .58, for a total of 1.8 x 30,804,

I just did that math and got a total of
55,447

[Abyshep]

Good Challenge and for once I practiced and it paid off. Still not the best score in the world but at least my sim lived to the end of the challenge this time!

Young Ben got Toddler points: Movement 2, Thinking 2, Imagination 4, Communication 4 and Potty 2
Child Points: Creativity 4, Mental 5, Motor 2, Social 3. By my maths that’s 1.42 for him.

His papa got them to 47,809 household income so I make that a final score of 67888.78.

Please someone check my maths as my dyslexic little brain can't cope sometimes!

Great challenge, many thanks for setting it.

[Metropolis Man]

1 + .22 + .58, for a total of 1.8 x 30,804,

I just did that math and got a total of
55,447

I'm not sure which score is correct @MarianT.

Marian has the "Power of 10" on her brain and added 10k to your score. Inside joke.

[coolsim9999999]

haha, Metro!  oh well, it was higher than I thought when I didn't realize that children got .02 for each skill point !

[Elinoee]

Thank you for this entertaining challenge!

My toddler got 2 potty points,3 thinking points,3 movement points,4 imagination points and 4 communication points for a total of 16 points.
As a child,she got 10 points of each skill,for a total of 40 points.

HI was $105 262
Multiplier: 1+(16x0.01+40x0.02)=1.96
Total: 105262x1.96= 206 313 points

[Vesper]

this looked like a really great challenge and am interested to hear people's strategies.

Unfortunately the constant crashes are back again on my game so my Sim hasn't lasted more than a few in game hours. Please can you mark me as DNF

[Metropolis Man]

this looked like a really great challenge and am interested to hear people's strategies.

Unfortunately the constant crashes are back again on my game so my Sim hasn't lasted more than a few in game hours. Please can you mark me as DNF

I'd rather not DNF you due to technical stuff out of your control. Feel free to try again. Maybe do a clean reinstall before creating another file?

[Metropolis Man]

This challenge ends Sunday night, so get those scores in soon. Good luck to everyone finishing up.

[kinseyam]

13 toddler points X .01 = .13
9 child points X .02 = .18

Total multiplier = 1.31

99103 X 1.31 = 129,824

Really interested in hearing how others approached this! I like many others had not done anything with the Freelancer career before. Love that these challenges push me to explore more.

[littledove]

Hi there! New around here but wanted to jump in on this as soon as I saw it! Hopefully I didn't mess up the math XD

15 toddler points X .01 = .15
25 child points X .02 = .5

Multiplier = 1.65

52,421 X 1.65 = 86,494.65

[MarianT]

Welcome to the forum, @littledove!

[Metropolis Man]

All done.

15 toddler skill points. 15 X .01 = .15
40 child skill points. 40 X .02 = .80

1.00 + .95 = 1.95

HI = 101,692

101,692 X 1.95 = 198,299

[Whimsical Peanut]

Household Income: 127,087

5 toddler points X .01 = .05
40 child points X .02 = .8

Total multiplier = 1.85

Final score: 1127,087 X 1.85 =235,110

Cheers!
WP

[Nandarelle]

Lorelai Gilmore worked hard and earned § 159 946.
Her daughter Rory gained 19 toddler and 40 child skill points.

159 946 * 1.99 = 318 292.

[mariposa1127]

Enjoyed playing this one! I learned things that I wish I had started from the beginning.

Household Income: 47,180

15 toddler points X .01 = .15
17 child points X .02 = .34

Total multiplier = 1.49

Final score: 47,180 x 1.49 = 70,298

[CynKuy]

I was really clueless about freelancing and it shows.  Right at the end I finally learned something that would have helped me a great deal.  Of course, I did learn a lot and played the game in a different way than I normally would so it's okay.

Toddler points: 12 x .01 = .12
Child points: 11 x .02 = .22

Multiplier: 1 + .12 + .22 = 1.34

HI: 21,664 x 1.34 = 29029

Thank you to the team for another imaginative challenge.

[SoulGal7]

This is the first time I have ever done freelancing.
Samantha Freelancer and her daughter Blanca earned the following:
Toddler Skills: Communication-4;Imagination-3;Movement-2;Potty-3;Thinking-2 = 14 x 0.01 = 0.14
Child Skills: Social-6; Motor-8; Mental-7; Creativity-10 = 31 x 0.02 = 0.62

0.14 + 0.62 + 1 = 1.76
Funds: $50,113 simoleons x 1.76 = 88,198.88

Done 

[LenaLJ]

Freelancing is not my favorite thing, but now I have tried it

Toddler skills = 18 = 18 * 0,01 = 0,18
Child skills = 40 = 40 * 0,02 = 0,80
Household income = $176.889

Total score = 191.889 * (1,00 + 0,18 + 0,80) = 379.940

[Deveroux]

Well, that was child neglect. Lucrative child neglect, but still child neglect.

I think I do better on micromanaging when it's just focusing on one thing, so I did far better than I did on the past few challenges  Also gave myself the time to do a couple of practice rounds where my toddler got taken away and determined the exact level of neglect I could get away with  I hadn't bothered with the freelancing career before and didn't realize it had gigs, so it was kinda fun to explore.

4 3 2 2 2 = 13 -> .13 toddler bonus
40 -> .80 child bonus
328,326 HI

.80 + .13 + 1 = 1.93 multiplier

328326 * 1.93 = 633,669 total

[BallerinaHippo]

Like many others, I had never tried the Freelance career.  I can see how it would be useful in certain situations.

Toddler skill points = 17
Child skill points = 40
Household income = $172,418

Total multiplier 1.00+.17+.80 = 1.97

172418 x 1.97 = 339663

[SIMantics101]

For this challenge, the Rory Gilmore earned 3 levels of each of the 5 skills as a toddler and 5 creative, 5 mental, 4 social, and 4 movement as a child.  Her mother Lorelai earned a total of $12,864 for the household income.

3 x 5 = 15, 15 x .01 = .15
(5 x 2) + (4 x 2) = 18, 18 x .02 = .36
.15 + .36 = .51
$12,864 x 1.51 = 110,024.64 final score

Thank you all for organizing another fun challenge, and congrats to the top scorers!

[Syrcen]

Did I actually finish in time to be scored?

Toddler skill points = 19 x .01  =.19
Child skill points = 32 x .02 = .66
Household income = $104,079

Total multiplier 1.00+.19+.66 = 1.85

1.85 x  $104,079 = 192,546.15

Really?  I was sure it would be lower.

If....5+4+4+3+3 is 19.....
And...10+10+8+4 is 32....
I think my math is right.

[Rainbow Dash]

Posted by: Syrcen« on: Today at 01:33:40 AM » Did I actually finish in time to be scored?

If it's before midnight in your time zone then yes. (Personally, I have no idea as my time zone is different to most other people in these challenges). 

Child skill points = 32 x .02 = .66

Maybe I'm not the best one to point this out, not being great at maths and all but shouldn't this be .64? 

Good luck to those still finishing up.

[Metropolis Man]

This event is now closed.
Grats to Deveroux with a fantastic score proving why she is currently at the top of the world ranking. SIMantics101 -- I adjusted your score total as 19,424. Syrcen -- your multiplier should have been 1.64. Anyways, everyone is now free to discuss strategy. Great job, guys! Wow...a really great turnout for this event. Nice long leaderboard for a change.

[Metropolis Man]

$12,864 x 1.51 = 110,024.64 final score

Ah...I think I know what you accidentally did. Let me know if I am right, SIMantics101 -- you posted $12,864, and it's supposed to be 72,864. Because that HI does come out to your total. I'll go ahead and correct the leaderboard assuming that's the case.

[Rainbow Dash]

What, I'm actually online when a challenge closes for once?! I'm used to this happening later, well now that I'm here.

If it wasn't already obvious, Angel Child spent her entire toddlerhood being trained by her father, she had the Clingy trait so learned faster with him. Whenever the Sunny Aspect lot trait made his daughter energized (Which happened about three times) Damien would play with her which maxed the Movement skill quickly. He read her to sleep every night, books in the daytime, showed her Flash Cards and played Dolls and Blocks with her, pretty much all day. Angel end up with Communication 5, Imagination 5, Movement 5, Thinking 4 and Potty 3 so she got the Happy Toddler trait. 

All this time with his daughter made Damien gain the Parenting skill quickly and was often used to give Angel a Second Wind for a quick energy boost to skill for longer or to influence her to eat, which gave her a positive moodlet. They had a Laser Light Show so Angel was always happy, she never threw a single tantrum and rarely got upset from all the training, I think this was because of the Clingy trait, not sure.

While Angel was a Toddler, Damien only did Freelance gigs at night, when she was asleep, once she aged to a child he had a few games of chess with her to max her Mental skill then just influenced her to do everything else.

During her toddler years Damien had a club constantly running, later kicking out the members when Angel became a child so it was just him and his daughter in the club. He got Rally The Troops, Networked, Painting, Inspired, Focused and all Child Skill boosts. Thanks to those perks he was able to work all night, then all day once Angel was a child.

Because Damien was a Freelance Artist, I made his traits Creative, Gloomy and Ambitious with the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration for the Muser boost. Lot Traits were Home Studio, Natural Light and Sunny Aspect which not only maxed his painting skill quicker to get better paying gigs sooner but it meant his painting were always excellent quality or higher. Rewards purchased were Entrepreneurial, Morning Sim, Night Owl, Creative Visionary and Antiseptic, with points mostly earned from the Family, Fortune and Creative aspirations. I kept him very inspired through Cloud gazing, browsing art, listening to music, inspired vibe (Club) and later from the inspiring decor he got as a work reward.

I simply had Damien take the highest paying gigs whenever he could but I forgot to buy the Networked Club Perk right away, if I had remembered I could have gotten it a couple of days earlier. I also realized way too late the gigs requiring you to Meet Client were not worth it for the six hours they took. Damien could have done at least 3-4 gigs in the time it took to do one of those darn things, sadly I didn't notice this until the final days. 

While my household income could have been higher, I rather enjoyed this challenge, looking after one toddler was fun and even though the career got repetitive after a while, it was still interesting because I hadn't done it before.

Enough of this post, it's too long already and I need to get my racing shoes on for the next challenge. (Just as soon as I get some sleep, I just realized it's nearly midnight here, lol).

[Nikitachi]

As usual, sorry for the inaccurate descriptions - my game's not in English, so I just have to guess how some things are called in English.

Before playing the score file, I tested the income of different freelancer branches, as well as different task types, for quite a while. Judging by the results, I chose the programmer branch because, although writer and artist seemed to give more per task, they often got declined, making the sim amend their work, sometimes even more than once, which resulted in a much lower 'simoleons per hour' rate. When you're programming, the only time when you may have to redo your effort is when you encrypt files, but this type of task is very inefficient in terms of time/payment, so I never took it (actually, only as the very first task because you can't do much more with Programming Level 1, but when I finished it, I was about level 5 and could take much better tasks from that time on). The very best task type was the 'DELETED' one, so I always took it when available. The next best was hacking Simstagram Servers and Landgraab company - quite quick and well-paid too. And the third best ones were the ones where you have to make 3 web pages - along with the good payment, you get you Fame level rising. When I could not choose any of the above mentioned tasks, I usually took making viruses. I never took making videogames/applications - they take insanely long to complete, so, despite the fact that the payment itself is the highest, the payment per hour rate is nowhere near that good.

Regarding the child - I took the Clingy trait so he could gain skills faster when helped by adult. I figured that it's not worth spending the time trying to maximize the toddler skills - this time is better to be spent on freelancing itself. So I ended up gaining only the quick ones. I maxed Imagination by reading a book to a toddler, maxed Movement by playing with a toddler on the adult's back, maxed Potty to lvl 3, and the rest of two skills (Communication and Thinking) only got me 3 points together (sorry, I don't remember exactly how much eash one was, and I can't open the game right now, but I don't think it's that significant). As for the toddler care - I didn't buy the high chair this time at all. Instead, I bought some vegetable seeds, opened them and then fed my toddler a couple of veggies every time he got hungry (not only is this fast, but also gives a +1 happiness). The rest of the needs aren't that important for the fear of get taken away by the social service, so I mostly ignored them and focused on my work instead.

Also, as usual, after the very start of the game, my adult joined The Good Timers club and made himself a leader so he could utilize the Rally The Troops feature and choose what activities the club members can do in order to earn club points and then spend them on speeding up the skill gains. And also, I tried to earn 3,000 satisfaction points as quick as possible to buy Careless so my sim never got the Tense moodlet from overusing programming and thus never had to make unnecessary breaks.

When the toddler grew up and became a child, I added him to the club and removed everyone else, so that there only were the parent and the child. I added the club activities in accordance to which the child must do to level up his skills. Then, I just used Parenting skill to tell the child what to do - eventually he did things by his own, but not much (which surprised me, because in my test run, the child did everything absolutely by his own will - I still don't know what was different in these two games). Anyway, it was very easy this time to get all skills to level 10 - thanks to the fact that you could indirectly control the child by the parent's commands, and the club skill boosts. So all I had to do left was to finish the challenge by freelancing all the way to the end.

I'd really like to know whether I missed something, or I just wasn't lucky enough with tasks/micromanagement.

[BallerinaHippo]

Congrats to Deveroux and Nikitachi!  Those are some great scores.

I just have a few things to add to Nikitachi's excellent comments.  I also stumbled into the programming branch, kind of by accident.  I didn't have time for test runs so I just picked programming because the start up cost seemed low (didn't have to buy the sketchpad).  The best gig by far was the [REDACTED] one, which I believe is what Nikitachi guessed was called [DELETED]. Very close guess on the English!  The other good ones were Social Network, Product Landing Pages, and Custom Merch Website.  As already stated, anything that required making a game was the worst.  The payout looks higher, but it takes forever for your sim to finish.  I did one of those and wasted about 2 days.

Another good thing about the programming branch is that after you fill the performance bar once, you get the ability to overclock your computer.  According to the game, this lets you complete programming tasks faster, and it did seem to help.

For my kid, I concentrated on skills while she was a toddler.  Once she was a child, the 'influence to...' command worked pretty well.  My sim played chess with her for mental skill, but later it occurred to me that I could make fishing a club activity and just go to the park. She got her last few mental points that way.  My sim was able to work at the park on the laptop, but be careful not to leave your laptop unattended because other sims will use it if you walk away for even a second.  And you can't get it back in your inventory until they are done.

[MarianT]

I think @Nikitachi's problem with the child not doing anything was due to a bug. I had the same one; it came after the patch for Island Living. My child would have to be influenced to pee, to eat, etc. I didn't think to put my two Sims in a club.

Congratulations to @Deveroux, and thanks to everyone who participated!

[Deklitch]

I tried a few different practice runs, one with each of the freelancer branches and found the programming one was less tricky/complicated/whatever.

I also tried with different toddler traits and think I settled on clingy.

I sent Zandy and Geran to the park and I had Zandy influence Geran to play on the playground equipment.

I then went back home and tried to do the programming. I created a club and I purchased multiple moodlet solvers for Zandy from her whim points.

I'd like to know how people managed to get so much money from the freelancer career.

[Nikitachi]

Another good thing about the programming branch is that after you fill the performance bar once, you get the ability to overclock your computer.  According to the game, this lets you complete programming tasks faster, and it did seem to help.

Oh yes, did that too! Forgot about it already, but it surely seemed to help.

I think @Nikitachi's problem with the child not doing anything was due to a bug. I had the same one; it came after the patch for Island Living. My child would have to be influenced to pee, to eat, etc.

Ouch. You're most likely right. Now knowing that the Baby Boomer challenge is coming, this may have a HUGE impact. I wonder what we should do in case they don't fix it in time.

[Metropolis Man]

I tried a few different practice runs....

Dek -- just wanted to give a shout out to you and say it's great to see you hopping in the challenges again. I know you took quite a break from Sims 4 events.

[Syrcen]

I went to bed right after I posted.  Math is not normally so hard. I was so tired. Thank you for fixing it.

Now I have a new question.
I don't have all/most of the expansions. I just get the ones that end up sounding super fun at release.  Specifically I only have spa day, outdoor retreat, and get to work. Usually I can figure out how I can do everything.

I could not use clubs or ....influence? (Is that the parenting game pack or part of get together?) without buying something. And maybe I should do that but I didn't.

My parent would Fish together with.... and then cancel out the action while her child leveled her mental skill.
My parent would Play Dolls with... and cancel out while her daughter ran to the doll house. Enjoy your creative skill.
And finally my parent would add her sweet girl to a group, and then Dance together or mostly just start dancing and invite the child before ditching. Movement.  I could have gotten to level ten motor if I had given up on social sooner.

Did anyone find any other ways to level the child social skill?

Just talking to the child was sort of inefficient.  She didn't seem to get points in her skill for me talking at her and she wasn't very chatty if I left the channel clear but my sim was happy to fill the void and slow her work.    I tried inviting street rando people to dance with us, or struck up a three person conversation before removed my adult from the conversation but the child would spend an hour and just listen to the strange adult talk.  No points. She would never talk to an adult just because mommy is ignoring her and the person was on our property for hours.  I thought it was going to be the easiest skill but I never figured it out.

[reggikko]

@Syrcen I'm not sure how you would get social without the Parenthood pack. What I did was influence my child to play with the teddy bear. She got the 10 social points quickly by doing that. I also made use of clubs and set the club activity to whatever skill I wanted the child working on. You did an awesome job without those two packs, though!

[Deveroux]

As for the toddler care - I didn't buy the high chair this time at all. Instead, I bought some vegetable seeds, opened them and then fed my toddler a couple of veggies every time he got hungry (not only is this fast, but also gives a +1 happiness).

Ohh that's smart, I wasted plenty of time putting ham sandwiches on the high chair then letting my toddler be trapped in there.

Alright, grand strategy: Ignore the poor kid.

I gave him the independent trait so he'd make better use of his alone time. Gave him some blocks and a car toy, and invited the club over so he could develop social.

Optimized lot traits, gave my toddler a room with a bed, gave myself a room with a reliable computer and a chess table. Traits were Genius, Cheerful, and Evil (my child was never happy, so it worked out). Had Good Timers all the way through to first increase the Programming skill speed then to max my Focused vibe. Decided on programming because that's my real-life job, and overclocking won my heart (+4 focused is a tad OP, don't you think?).

In the beginning while I was getting my Programming club perk, I did potty train my toddler once and did Teach Shapes with the blocks for a little, but after that, the only times I left my room were to feed the child and to Rally the Troops, and to cap off one of the skill levels right before his birthday.

I did the REDACTED gig when I could and otherwise aimed for the website page ones. I did do 2 apps and 1 game when those weren't available; hacking was okay too.

I had this weird bug where my gig list (only for programming) would reduce to like 3, which first happened after I overclocked my computer and occurred a couple times later, but doing all of those seemed to temporarily fix it. Idk, it was weird and a pain, the internet told me to just reset the sim but it didn't work, so *shrugs* I dealt.

I did the same thing as others having my kid in the club, (throwing in some monkey bars for movement, a toddler toy for creativity, a teddy bear for social, and a science table for mental) and he did it all himself. Even let him go to school if he was on track instead of locking him in a room like my practice run. He totally lit my monkey bars on fire after I left them in the science table blast radius.  Won't be doing that again lol.

I think the main reason my score was so high was because I didn't bother training my child at all and focused on maxing my career bar over and over to get bonuses and up my gig payments. It got me to a higher income level for a longer amount of time, so then I was making bank that well overrode the toddler multiplier bonus that I missed out on.

[coolsim9999999]

Congratulations on winning, @Deveroux and great strategy .

Great strategies, everyone!

[Rainbow Dash]

Grats @Deveroux , that score was amazing!

Posted by: Syrcen« on: July 15, 2019, 11:22:52 AM Did anyone find any other ways to level the child social skill?

Yes, taking away all toys except for the Unicorn plush so she had nothing else to do for fun but talk to it, hehe.

Lol, was I the only one that focused mostly on the toddler/child multiplier? I kind of just wanted to get that out of the way and she was so cute I couldn't help myself, probably should have put a bit more effort into the career but on well.

[Deklitch]

@Rainbow Dash you weren't the only one. I basically didn't do anything about the freelancer career until Geran reached childhood and went to school. Then I sent him to school each day and Zandramas spent her days doing freelancing and nights focusing on him. I didn't get enough freelance things done obviously to get the performance bar thing filled for her. But I did get her to parenting skill 10 and had her be the monster at the neighbourhood child fort thing.

[SoulGal7]

Congrats Deveroux and everyone else who did this challenge.

[Elinoee]

Congrats to everyone! 
It's the first time I try an independent career,I'm surprised to see that it brings so much money!
I found this challenge hard when the child was a toddler (I mostly focused on him) but then it was much easier.

To level up the social skill for the child you can make him use the puppet theatre. It works very well