Author Topic: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party  (Read 23138 times)

Offline titaniadioxide

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #120 on: September 15, 2019, 09:24:38 PM »
Oh, and my simself is in the gallery too - named Titania Dioxide, wearing purple (though the party outfit is a denim jacket, red shirt, and long skirt).

Offline Deveroux

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #121 on: September 16, 2019, 12:17:20 AM »
The t-rex arm was killing me, took almost 3 full days. I probably wasn't searching the most efficiently, but still. XP

Anyway, I finished Week 1 Thursday at 4:34pm, for a score of 6274.

Didn't upload my Simself to the gallery though, I've noticed my computer makes unfortunate noises when I try to upload things, and it was already pretty warm from Sims lol.



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Offline kinseyam

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #122 on: September 16, 2019, 01:28:07 AM »
Hopefully its not too late! Finished on Wednesday of Week 2 for a score of 14803. The angelfish gave me some trouble. Had fun getting acquainted with my neighbors and neighborhood!

Offline LenaLJ

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #123 on: September 16, 2019, 06:21:41 AM »
Why do I always have to play untill last minute?
I should know better right?
I stole and partied my way to a score of 2509!
I always aim to do it earlier though. But then there is always that thing called life that interfears ;)

If you did not post on the last Sunday I'd be asking what was wrong with you! Lol. ;) Great score as always, Lena.

Offline Metropolis Man

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #124 on: September 16, 2019, 07:09:49 AM »
This event is now closed.

Well, that's it, everyone. The big anniversary is all over. It's was lots of fun. I know parts of it (I'm looking at you, Angelfish!) were maddening and caused more than a handful of DNFs, but oh well. We'll chaulk this one up to a little more RNG than is typical in Tournament events.

30 total participants! That makes me happy. A big round of applause to all -- especially Rainbow Dash who ended up on top. Everyone is now free to discuss strategy.

Offline Trip

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #125 on: September 16, 2019, 08:17:27 AM »
The RNG was in my favor for angelfish and the T-Rex fossil. I think I got them by Day 4 or 5 just by fishing/digging while waiting for the stealing buff to run out.

Okay so how were y'all finding Gary Giraffe though? I didn't have a practice file of course, I don't run like that.
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Offline reggikko

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #126 on: September 16, 2019, 08:30:12 AM »
The RNG was in my favor for angelfish and the T-Rex fossil. I think I got them by Day 4 or 5 just by fishing/digging while waiting for the stealing buff to run out.

Okay so how were y'all finding Gary Giraffe though? I didn't have a practice file of course, I don't run like that.

Gary Giraffe is in the Caliente dining room.



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Offline Rainbow Dash

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #127 on: September 16, 2019, 08:30:29 AM »
Well now that @Metropolis Man is closing tournament challenges earlier these days, I can squeeze in a quick strategy post before bed. :)

During Practice I searched every household and community lot in every world so I could pick the best choice for those items that show up in more than one place. The reason for this is because I didn't want to swipe items in a crowded community lot if possible, as getting caught slows you down.

My Simself had the kleptomaniac, cheerful, outgoing and quick learner traits, I avoided geek and collector because they help you find rare collectibles and the Hilariously Tiny T-Rex Arms is common. She bought Morning Sim, Night Owl and Always Welcome rewards.

As soon I jumped into the game, my Simself formed a club, performed a mischief social on one of the members to unlock the skill and stole my first item. I always timed the moodlets that come from having swiped something and as soon it wore of I would go and steal something else. In between those cooldown periods I would perform mischief socials on my club members as doing the interactions is the fastest way to level the skill. I bought the Rally The Troops and Mischief skill boost as soon as I could. The reason for this is because you need high mischief skill to steal big items, higher skill lead to more success too, I maxed the mischief skill as fast as I could, that was my main strategy.

When it came to swiping items, I started out with the smallest and worked my up to the biggest because you have a high chance of failure if you try to steal large objects with a low mischief skill. I chose my victims carefully, preferring residential houses as there's less chance of getting caught, I always went for the least crowded places whenever possible. If I did have to steal from a community lot, I always did at a quiet time when I knew not many Sims would be around.

I have to admit I got incredibly lucky when it came to the fossil, I went to Desert Bloom Park to pick up the Pied Piper Acoustic Guitar there and decided to have a dig around, I got it in the second rock I dug up, much to my surprise. :o

The Angelfish was a little more difficult, I had to try four fishing spots before I found it outside the Caliente house, I'd heard it was more common there, I started fishing around midnight and didn't catch it until about 6:pm that day. My Sim was focused the whole time from potions as being in that mood makes your Sim better at fishing.

I threw a House Party, as that one was the easiest, at the BFF household as at least one of them was in my club, I knew they had a bar there so I hired a Mixologist and a Caterer. My poor Sim had to bake the cake that came up as a party goal, by herself as the caterer didn't seem to want to do their job, thankfully, she didn't burn the house down.

Here's a breakdown of where I got each item from and in which order, starting from the one my Simself stole first.

1: Royal Embrace Table Lamp (Pancake house, Bob was out and Eliza was on her computer, the lamp was in a different room)
2: Country Cockerel (Rattlesnake Bar, I went in the morning to avoid the busy happy hour, it was in the hallway)
3: Gnome Matter What I'm Still Your Baby (Spencer Lewis Kim household, in their garden, they were all scattered through the house)
4: The Slablet (Quad Manor in Windenburg because they have multiple, the library was empty which made it easy)
5: Gary Giraffe (Caliente household, thankfully nobody was in the room where it was kept)
6: Ode To Jazz 5 Ivory (Blue Velvet, arrived at a quiet time but had to wait for a couple of Sims to pass by before stealing it)
7: Pied Piper Acoustic Guitar (That room in Desert Bloom park, went at night when I knew it would be deserted)
8: Knight Of The Octagon Table (Willow Creek Museum, waited until the place was closed and my Sim was at level ten Mischief skill)
9: Hilariously Tiny T-Rex Arms (Desert Bloom Park, second rock I cracked open)
10: Angelfish (One of the fishing spots near the Caliente house)

To my Sim's credit she managed to steal every item flawlessly, didn't get caught once and swiped every item on the first try, so proud of her.

House Party (BFF Household)

Party goals:

1: Have three Sims listen to music at the same time (Formed a group, hijacked the stereo in Travis's room)
2: Tell jokes
3: Have X amount of Sims be playful at the same time (Bought and used a playful club vibe)
4: Have X amount of Sims be flirty at the same time (Bought and used a flirty club vibe)
5: Have drinks (Was done while socializing for the main goal, hired a mixologist who made drinks for everyone)
6: Eat cake (My Sim had to do this thanks to the useless caterer, thankfully managed to do so without starting a fire and called everyone to meal)

I think that's it, there was't a lot of strategy other than raising the mischief skill fast, stealing items according to my Sim's mischief level and choosing the right time and place. Oh and picking the party with the least annoying and most achievable goals. (I tried a few different parties and locations in my practice). Thanks for the congratulations @Metropolis Man but this was just mostly RNG being on my side ... for once .. wish I could say the same for some other games, lol. There was some frustration there but it was fun! :)







Offline HelenP

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #128 on: September 16, 2019, 10:07:03 AM »
My strategy went like this:  I joined 'Good Timers' club to get Rally the Troops, then I made my own club where the activities were being friendly, fishing and swiping objects.  You can swipe absolutely anything with no mischief skill when swiping is a club activity. Members of my club changed depending on who's house I was stealing from, and I chose the order in which to steal based on cooldown time.

I started with the Pancakes and sent them fishing while I swiped the lamp.  Then I went fossil hunting in their neighbourhood and got lucky in picking up t-rex arms in the first fossil I got, I think it was the 2nd item I dug up! 

Next up was the Caliente's where I swapped club members over and sent them all outside to chat while I took the giraffe.  Removed them from the club, went to the Spencer-Kim-Lewis house and added them to the club.  Sent them all to watch TV while I aquired the Gnome.  During these 2hr cooldowns I mostly rallied troops and tended other needs.  The S-K-L family stayed in my club til the end of the game, while I jumped between their house, Rattlesnake bar (for the cockerel) and various fishing spots.  I stole the slablet, guitar and painting from them. 

My last steal was the Suit of Armour from Willow Creek museum while I was only at mischief level 4, then I fished in most northerly fishing spot outside the museum where I could see the angelfish jumping.  Once I had the angelfish I went and dug up a MySim trophy and took the club to the Roomies House.  I dropped out one of the S-K-L's and added a Roomie (think it was Gavin) then started a dinner party at the Roomies house.  I bought Always Welcome and was able to complete the party easily as they have a kitchen, a bar, a coffee maker and a stereo and I got everybody playful from the MySim trophy.

The Angelfish was a real problem to my test sims, so I was super glad that I caught one fairly easily in my scoring file.

Offline Deklitch

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #129 on: September 16, 2019, 10:11:22 AM »
The only thing substantially different in my scoring file to practice and other files was that I lived in Forgotten Hollow, in Widowshild Townhome. It had a computer and I was able to research vampires and then purchase volume 1 for the points available in one of the vampire related aspirations that required researching and then reading volume 1 without having to go to the library. While trying to find the fossil I also visited Caleb's House and Count the IV, and picked up some points in pipe organ.

I tried every party in practice runs (even tried the weenie roast). The only one that I could get out of bronze was a birthday party - no other party worked for me. I also found I could only successfully throw it in the park in Oasis Springs. That I put down to my inability to do parties.

In various practice runs, I was able to get a gold birthday party there and as the bug issue with the digging up fossils didn't impact me in those practice runs, I was able to regularly get to it before he aged up normally to Adult.

I didn't get caught at all while stealing during the scoring run, I got caught once in a practice run, by Cassandra Goth walking downstairs.

The bug issue with the digging up fossils meant that the t-rex arms weren't found until evening of Friday of week 2, by Monday of week 2, all other items had been found. By that time he had aged up to Adult naturally. I baked the cake, took it there with the sim, he invited his guests to his birthday party, everything started going well until sims had to dance at the same time. The speaker was playing, clicking on the ground (as instructions seemed to say you had to do) did nothing, so I clicked on the speaker, the only option was to steal it. I clicked on his guests, there wasn't an option to dance with them.

He got to silver, not gold, no other parties worked, and he died a few days later.

Without fail every time I've started a game since and sent sims digging for things, the t-rex arms thing was one of the first found, regardless of traits. This has included geek.

Sorry, but the ridiculous of that bug wrecked the enjoyment I had in hunting for and finding the objects in and around the houses and businesses of Oasis Springs and Willow Creek.

Offline reggikko

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #130 on: September 16, 2019, 11:12:52 AM »
My strategy went like this:  I joined 'Good Timers' club to get Rally the Troops, then I made my own club where the activities were being friendly, fishing and swiping objects.  You can swipe absolutely anything with no mischief skill when swiping is a club activity. Members of my club changed depending on who's house I was stealing from, and I chose the order in which to steal based on cooldown time.

I started with the Pancakes and sent them fishing while I swiped the lamp.  Then I went fossil hunting in their neighbourhood and got lucky in picking up t-rex arms in the first fossil I got, I think it was the 2nd item I dug up! 

Next up was the Caliente's where I swapped club members over and sent them all outside to chat while I took the giraffe.  Removed them from the club, went to the Spencer-Kim-Lewis house and added them to the club.  Sent them all to watch TV while I aquired the Gnome.  During these 2hr cooldowns I mostly rallied troops and tended other needs.  The S-K-L family stayed in my club til the end of the game, while I jumped between their house, Rattlesnake bar (for the cockerel) and various fishing spots.  I stole the slablet, guitar and painting from them. 

My last steal was the Suit of Armour from Willow Creek museum while I was only at mischief level 4, then I fished in most northerly fishing spot outside the museum where I could see the angelfish jumping.  Once I had the angelfish I went and dug up a MySim trophy and took the club to the Roomies House.  I dropped out one of the S-K-L's and added a Roomie (think it was Gavin) then started a dinner party at the Roomies house.  I bought Always Welcome and was able to complete the party easily as they have a kitchen, a bar, a coffee maker and a stereo and I got everybody playful from the MySim trophy.

The Angelfish was a real problem to my test sims, so I was super glad that I caught one fairly easily in my scoring file.

@HelenP Making swiping a club activity is just genius!

I traveled around swiping things, levelling mischief in between. I think I caught the angelfish as my second fish, in the little stream at the front of Desert Bloom. I didn't add household members to a club, but I did form a group with them and sent them off to fish or used "go here together" to get them out of the room the object was in. I searched for the fossil between steals later in the file, when I had at least 4 hours of down time. it took about 12 hours after swiping my last item before I found it. I also threw my dinner party at the Roomies house since they have everything needed there. The last thing was "have 3 Sims listen to music at the same time." I added Sims to a club at that point, so that I could complete that goal. My dinner party took about 2 hours to achieve gold medal status.

Concerning the angelfish, I am interested in where players who failed to get it were fishing for it. Maybe previously playing an Immortal Dynasty was a help in this challenge since in the dynasty you kind of have to know which fishing spots have angelfish.

Offline titaniadioxide

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #131 on: September 16, 2019, 02:36:48 PM »
I had a strategy - and then screwed it up. My practice run was looking for all items and making a list of where I could find them, and what skill level I needed to steal them.

The mistake I made was parking my sim in a different house in my scoring round. The houses with townies were different. I was missing the Samuels household and the. . . Lansing? Something like that household. I didn’t have known access to the Slablet or the Cockerel. I only have Parenthood and base game, so I was stuck in the base game worlds.

Step 1 was meeting the BFFs and leveling up in mischief. I got up to level 3, and went to the Pancakes house to steal the lamp. I spent a couple hours fishing and digging stuff up, and then went to explore for the missing items. The Country Cockerel was at the bar and I swiped it, no problem.

Day 2, I visited the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family and stole *the wrong gnome*. Didn’t realize until way later. I went over to the BFF household to bring up my mischief skill, and discovered the slablet. I wasn’t good enough to steal it yet, but I kept mischiefing at them. . . Only to find one of the owners put it in her inventory. I couldn’t get her to put it down so I slunk away.

I visited a random other house in Willow Creek while I was looking around - I don’t remember whose, but somehow they had a slablet and by this point I was able to steal it. I spent a couple more hours fishing and trying to dig up the T-Rex while I waited for the moodlet to wear off. At 11:37 that night, I managed to steal Ode to Jazz from the Spencer-Kim-Lewis family. I lured them downstairs with “chat here”, then went up and stole it before they came back. I’d earned some rest and some good food.

And then any semblance of a plan went off the rails. I kept leveling up my mischief shill, but I got caught in the weeds of taking care of my sim’s needs - I’d go dig and all of a sudden she needed something else. I had level 5 mischief, but for some reason I didn’t bother to get Gary Giraffe until Thursday.

But Thursday and Friday - those were wonderful days. I picked up the acoustic guitar from the BFFs, and the suit of armor from the Goths by 4 AM. Shortly after I fished in the commercial district of Willow Creek and got the angelfish really quickly.

I spent most of Friday trying to dig. It was slow work, and my sim gave up when she had a bladder failure and decided to go home on her own. I got her needs back up and went out again to collect more fossils. On Saturday, I got two T-Rex arms in a row. It was glorious.

The party though. The stupid party. I underestimated the party.

I couldn’t just throw money at the problem. I threw 6 parties (1 birthday, two house, 3 dinner parties) some at my house, some at the BFFs, and one at the Goth house. Each time at least one (if not more) of the objectives was impossible - we didn’t have games to play, or didn’t have a bar. One time, I was hosting a dinner party at the BFF’s house, and it wanted me to make a dessert. The caterer wasn’t paying attention to that, so I tried to make my cake, and *I got kicked out of my own party* because I was being rUdE. At one point, I accidentally food poisoned everyone. Another party was thwarted by the “get 3 sims playful” objective, followed by the “get 3 sims flirty” objective. We only had 4 sims.

My successful party was a dinner party at the Spencer Kim Lewis household on Monday morning. The caterer actually made the dessert for the objective, and they had a bar, and there was a stereo.

It took me two full days in-game to get a gold on the party.

So yeah. If I did it again, I’d do a few things different. First, I’d actually steal the easy things first. I wouldn’t put off Gary Giraffe. Second, I would avoid the Geek trait - I didn’t know that it decreased the likelihood of getting common collectibles like the T-Rex arms. Third, I’d be more careful about keeping my mood up - I think the discomfort from near-constant hunger or bladder or energy depletion slowed down my mischief skill growth. And finally, I’d be more intentional with the party - I’d actually do a slightly larger party than I did this time, and I’d make sure it was in a house that had everything you needed for any given party like I eventually figured out.

I’m not really sure how else I’d raise my mischief skill in base game - that seemed to be my biggest fixable delay. It got tiring to continually have to socialize mischievously. Any suggestions?

Offline oshizu

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #132 on: September 16, 2019, 10:35:29 PM »
Regarding where to catch which fish, the Flynns and Playalot dedicated many an hour to putting together a PDF with screenshots of the various spots and their catch.
I believe it's been updated up to and including City Living. Extremely convenient, detailed information.
You can find the link on Carl's Guide within the last paragraph of the GUIDES/SKILLS/FISHING page.
The paragraph heading is Where to Catch All the Fish (Lists/Maps of All Fishing Spots.
Happy fishing!

Offline coolsim9999999

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #133 on: September 16, 2019, 10:50:29 PM »
Congratulations @Rainbow Dash

Awesome strategies, everyone 8).

I did similar stuff, just not as fast as the top scorers.

Offline SueDenim

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Re: 10th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt & Party
« Reply #134 on: September 16, 2019, 11:17:11 PM »
Concerning the angelfish, I am interested in where players who failed to get it were fishing for it. Maybe previously playing an Immortal Dynasty was a help in this challenge since in the dynasty you kind of have to know which fishing spots have angelfish.
My practice file was just me casing the houses & businesses in Willow Creek and Oasis Springs.  As I was certain I'd found angelfish before, I didn't put much thought into it.

I read one guide that said they could be found in the rivers of Willow Creek and one that said they were available in every fishing spot.  That is not guaranteed.

Here is where I failed to find an angelfish:

Starting with the rivers of willow creek:
I started in Foundry Cove (where I lived), but also fished in Courtyard Lane, when I was stealing from the Pancakes, Sage Estates, when I was stealing from the SKLs,  and the Park out of desperation.  I spent a lot of time in Pendula View because I found a couple of people online who said they had caught angelfish by the Goth house.  I did not.
I spent most of my times in various spots around Willow Creek because that was the best lead I had.

Oasis Springs:
I fished at the creeks in Desert Bloom.  I fished the commercial district.  I fished the sites in Bedrock Straight (got caught stealing from Johnny Zest and had to let it wear off.).  I fished Parched Prospect while stealing from the Roomies.  And I fished Skyward Palms while stealing from the Calientes.

Eventually, I moved on to Newcrest and fished the ponds there, thinking that as they were original areas, I might find angelfish there.

Late week 3, I started getting desperate and more than a little bit silly.  So I moved beyond the original three neighborhoods. So I fished Myshuno Park (pond and river? I guess?), I fished in Sylvan Glade.  I fished in Magnolia Promenade.  I fished in Forgotten Hollow.  I looked around Strangerville (but didn't find a place to fish there - so I left).  Same with Del Sol Valley.  I read that people had found angelfish in Sulani - so I fished both beaches there.  (I even set a fish trap there.  Didn't expect much and was not pleasantly surprised).  I fished in the Sable Square and Whiskerman's Wharf areas of Brindleton Bay.  I took a vacation to Granite falls and fished there & in the hermit area.  I died fishing back in Willow Creek.

Along the way, I used big, medium, and little fish as bait.  I also used fruits, vegetables, herbs, crystals, and minerals - because after a certain point, it couldn't be any worse.

I caught a ton of fish (finished the aspiration, etc.)  just not the one I was looking for.