The Challenge Challenge!

[Nepheris]

I'm going to try SaraMK's challenge. Sounds fun

[kutto]

Except the scoring is still based on First Born's financial gain upon graduation. Wouldn't it be less if you've got a house full of spawn when First Born leaves Paris's roost?

If not - I will change the challenge to avoid this loophole.

There are two options I can see that would fix the problem:

1. Remove the bonus for alien children; just make them exempt from the multiple spawn penalty.

2. Specify that each sim made into a supernatural is a 10 point penalty; the way I read it now is that it is a one time penalty. The ten point penalty would easily compensate for the alien bonus, thus making my strategy go into negative points rather than infinite.

[Hecubus]

Ah, good, Kutto. I think I meant to impose a penalty per instance of additional spawn, but didn't state it explicitly. I've edited the challenge to reflect this, plus that great "no love for Paris" option, suggested by Jelenedra.

You have earned your laurels today, Senator!

[J. M. Pescado]

Nothing if forbidden. The challenge ends 50 days from the challenge sim's birth, regardless of the sim's age or any other factors.

NOTHING is forbidden? For instance, does "trash" like "Met X" count, given that the Lot Debugger's clear-trash functionality automatically wipes this(Also, there are ways to get sims to meet that bypass the memory normally, anyway)? What about cheats? Are those forbidden? The time constraint is basically irrelevant. Other than that, it's trivial, because there's an easily calculated optimum path, which differs for any EP configuration, but can be readily assessed.

[J. M. Pescado]

Final scoring:
Add totals; anything in the positive is, well, a positive. Scores over 20 are terrific. Scores below 0 is mean but funny, especially if Poor Paris actually looks like Paris Hilton.

Oh, come on. You outlined the optimal path liine-by-line! How is this a challenge again?

[Khan of Wyrms]

The College Daze Challenge (University and Nightlife Required, Dude!)

The basic object here is to party your sim through college without going to class and graduating with perfect GPA.  Not so hard, you think, but since this is a challenge there are certain requirements.

Basic startup:

You need one teen sim with two parents and no skills.  Your student can be played as teen as long as you like, but no skilling until college.  This obviously means no skill scholarships, but any others are fine.  Both parents must be best friends of your student before moving him or her away to college. This challenge can be played on any livable University lot of your choosing:  Dorm, Private Residence, Greek House, or evolving combination of two or less moves.  The choice is yours. 


Major Prohibitions:

1.  No going to class except finals!  Your main concern in college life is parties and outings.  If your sim goes to class that is not a final, you fail!
2.  No romancing professors!  That is just wrong, dude.  Don't do it.  They may be invited to parties and outings, though.  Professors that are not in your major are exempt from this, you sicko.
3.  No day goes by without a party!  If at least one party is not completed per day then the challenge is failed.
4.  No doing homework, studying, or term papers during parties or outings!  Influence is okay, but if your student does his own work during a party or outing, you fail!
5.  No pause button!  The fast pace of college life goes on, no stopping the clock!  Okay, you can stop the clock if real world issues are pressing or to save game for later.  Also Build and Buy mode can be used for build and buy only.  No cheating!  In addition, stopping the clock by taking a trip off-campus is forbidden.  Time must march on!
6.  No changing majors!  Your major is not important, and since there is no 'Party' major, why would you change it?
7.  No moving in and out!  Only one move in allowed per University lot type:  Dorm, Private, and Greek.  If you move out of any type of lot, you must move into a different type.
 

Minor Prohibitions:

1.  No day goes by without an outing!  Home is only good for parties, everything else is about going out.  Qualified outings must be scored and go to University lots, to keep the time flowing.
2.  No lame parties!  Not all parties have to raise the roof, but none can leave a negative (red) memory.
3.  No lame outings!  All outings must be scored and must be enjoyable for the group.
4.  No skilling during outings or parties!  Well, coincidental skilling that keeps the theme, such as in playing guitar at a party or swimming on an outing, is acceptable, but just barely. 
5.  No sleeping!  Sleeping is for pencil-necked losers who go to class and do not party!  Passing out is normal, and can even earn some points, but your passed out student must be awakened as soon as possible.
6.  No cooking!  Pizza and Chinese take-out are the only appropriate foods for hard-partying college dudes and dudettes at home!  No eating that slop a Dorm Chef prepares either.  Influence and dining out at a restaurant during an outing is acceptable.
7.  No parents at required parties or outings!  That is not cool.  Graduation party is exception.
8.  No aspiration rewards!  This basically means no energizers and no skilling rewards.  Use sunglasses rack if you want, no one cares.


Basic Requirements:

1.  Minimum one party and one scored outing per calendar day.  Extra parties and outings get extra points but no carryover credit towards the next day.  Note:  Parties and outings count for the day in which they are initiated, if they happen to extend into the next day.
2.  Parties and Outings must include the maximum possible number of guests.  This should be eight by default, but if your system can not handle it, or if other unforeseen or unknown environmental factors restrict the number, you may scale the scoring accordingly.
3.  Big (so and so) on Campus by graduation should be a given, but it is a requirement nonetheless, unless you think you are a Party Ninja.
4.  Must keep up best friend status with both parents.  You need to keep up good relations with the parents since realistically you would constantly be calling home for money to keep up your high-flying lifestyle.


Primary Requirements:

1.  Graduate with a GPA 4.0.
2.  Move back to reality with a great graduation party and platinum aspiration.  This is the only required party that your parents can attend, in fact, both must be invited.
3.  Finish challenge with a score above zero.


Sub-Plots:

A.  Drink up dudes and dudettes!  Hard partying is all about hard drinking, and you must drink enough to float a small fleet of whaling vessels around!  A juice bar and/or a pineapple keg is required fixture at home.

Drinking rules: 

1.  Minimum one drink per party, one per outing, and one per day that is not during a party or outing.  None of these can be fulfilling any other drink requirement.
2.  One drink for every invited guest who fails or refuses to show up to a party or outing, and one for every open guest slot not filled during the invitation.
3.  Initiate a negative social interaction? (Rejection!)  You must immediately take a drink!
4.  Pass out from too much high life?  Proceed immediately to take a drink after regaining consciousness.
5.  Have an accident during a party or outing?  You need another drink!
6.  Feel like engaging in some romantic interactions?  Better take a drink first!  Just one beforehand, not between every separate action.  Doing anything else, including simple non-romantic interactions resets the drink requirement, though.  Similarly, you will need that drink before asking another sim on a date, whether in person or over the phone.
7.  Score woohoo with some lucky dude or dudette?  No sleep for you, you need a drink!  Proceed directly to take a drink.
8.  Want to get in a fight or just give someone some abusive treatment?  Better have that drink first!  Like romance, just one before will do.  Breaking the chain of abuse means another drink before resuming the punishment, however.
9.  Want to use influence on another sim?  Not without taking a drink first!
10.  Get caught slacking by the Coach?  You need a drink if he/she sets a workout action in your queue.
11.  Your professor stops by for a visit unannounced?  You definitely need a drink!  Also need a drink if you answer the phone and it is one of your professors calling.  Drink before and after deliberately calling any professor, because you need to.
12.  Calling the parents?  You will need a drink before and after.  Answering the phone and it is a parent calling means needing a drink immediately after hanging up.
13.  Going to finals?  You will need to cancel every automatic 'Go to final' action, take a drink, then go to finals.  Take another one as soon as you get back also.


B.  Get lucky!  Hard partying college life would be sort of pointless if you can not get some action!  All woohoo conquests during parties/outings worth points towards final score.  At minimum get some action every semester or suffer the penalty.  See scoring for details.



Scoring:

Challenge ends with move back to home neighborhood.

Breaking any Major Prohibition means failure;  Go directly to Fail!  Do not pass Go, do not collect $200!  All Primary Requirements must also be met to win.


-10 points for each instance of breaking any Minor Prohibition.
-5 points for every bladder accident at a party or outing.
-5 points for not getting lucky during a semester.
-1 point for canceling any drinking action from the queue.  Also, an aborted drink does not count as fulfilling any drink requirement.
-1 point for each rejected woohoo proposal during any party or outing.
-1 point for any rejected date proposal.
-1 point for losing best friend status with a parent, each infraction.
-1 point for losing friend status with a parent, each occurrence.
-1 point for every guest shortfall during any party or outing if you just don't invite them.  (i.e.  You could have invited more, but you did not.  If you just don't know enough people, that is still failure.)
-1 point for every guest absent to a party or outing that refuses or fails to attend.
-1 point for not drinking when required to do so, each infraction.
-1 point for answering any phone call and it is a parent or a professor.


+10 points for every extra party or University lot outing over the base requirement.  (Combined with the Minor prohibition penalty, this essentially means you can swap outings for parties freely, but you will need a third occurrence during any day to get the extra 10 points.)
+1 point for each new woohoo conquest during any party or outing.(First time memory)
+1 point for any other new woohoo memory icon acquired during any party or outing.
+1 point for every drink that does not fulfill any of the drinking guideline specifications.
+1 point for passing out to the ground, or taking a face plant in your food.  Maximum total points in this category equals the number of parties/outings you throw.   
+1 point for any party that is a roof raiser, or outing that is rockin'.
+1 point for every dream date.  Must not be during a party.

Special score:  -100 points for not achieving Big (so and so) on campus.  +100 points for not getting Big (so and so) memory, yet finishing challenge with Secret Society and no penalties to final score!  (You are Party Ninja!)


Use of cheats, hacks, and mods permitted, provided that they do not break the challenge or make it significantly easier.  Use your judgment, you know if you are cheating.

Currently in play testing mode.  Seems okay, but further tweaks may be required.


Extra-Super-Awesome College Daze Challenge:

You drink whenever your challenge sim must drink!


Super-Duper-Extra-Awesome-Mission-Impossible College Daze Challenge:

Drink when your challenge sim must drink and get lucky when your sim gets lucky!

[dizzy]

2.  No romancing professors!  That is just wrong, dude.  Don't do it.  They may be invited to parties and outings, though.  Professors that are not in your major are exempt from this, you sicko.

So, it's okay to Talk About Major?

[Jelenedra]

Would be fun with that hacked beer keg that makes your sim act crazy after drinking.

[Liveangel]

The College Daze Challenge (University and Nightlife Required, Dude!)

Drinking rules: 

2.  One drink for every invited guest who fails or refuses to show up to a party or outing, and one for every open guest slot not filled during the invitation.

This is not fair, as people with crappy computers have fewer slots than those folks with grunty machines. I say there should be a requirement to use the "intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims #" to set the amount of slots to a certain number such as nine or something, because 2 guests is not a party.

[SaraMK]

Nothing if forbidden. The challenge ends 50 days from the challenge sim's birth, regardless of the sim's age or any other factors.

NOTHING is forbidden? For instance, does "trash" like "Met X" count, given that the Lot Debugger's clear-trash functionality automatically wipes this(Also, there are ways to get sims to meet that bypass the memory normally, anyway)? What about cheats? Are those forbidden? The time constraint is basically irrelevant. Other than that, it's trivial, because there's an easily calculated optimum path, which differs for any EP configuration, but can be readily assessed.

Cheats won't actually make a huge difference as far as I can tell. The only thing I can think of is using weekday/time changing cheats to give yourself more than 50 days. However, doing that is a blatant violation of the rules, which state clearly that you have 50 sim days. You cannot go and re-live Monday ten times and still call it one sim day, without breaking the 50 day limit which is a core rule.

Can you give me an example of a cheat that will make a big difference to the score? They might save time, I guess, such as if you force an alien abduction instead of trying for it the natural way, but since you can't spam abduction memories, you still only get +1 for your effort.

The 50 day limit is not trivial when you consider the time lost to baby, tot, child, teen, etc. stages.

But, fine, I'll add a clarification that blatant cheats are not allowed and you can't age sims up using methods not normally possible in the game (sending a teen straight to college would still be allowed under this restriction, while using InSim is forbidden).

We don't care about "Met X" and other garbage. It makes no difference. You can meet 100 sims and get 100 green memories for meeting them, but because duplicate memories don't count, those 100 memories are still only worth -1.

Um... I think it's sort of assumed that if memories are the object of the challenge, it's not cool to wipe out memories using hacked objects. I'm not writing a challenge for retards, you know. I assume people have a teeny bit of common sense.

Of course the path to winning is easily assessed. It's the journey that matters. You have to pick and choose which memories you will go for, and how, to best use the time you have. I still don't believe the time limit is irrelevant.

[J. M. Pescado]

We don't care about "Met X" and other garbage. It makes no difference. You can meet 100 sims and get 100 green memories for meeting them, but because duplicate memories don't count, those 100 memories are still only worth -1.

Actually, it does. The -1 automatically makes your score suboptimal and therefore you lose.

[Khan of Wyrms]

So, it's okay to Talk About Major?

Well, this does bring up a potential exploit that I had not considered thoroughly.  I will say definitely yes, you can, but now I can see that I need to edit the challenge to prohibit changing majors.  Good eye.

Would be fun with that hacked beer keg that makes your sim act crazy after drinking.

Indeed, and it does not sound like that item would violate the challenge rules.

This is not fair, as people with crappy computers have fewer slots than those folks with grunty machines. I say there should be a requirement to use the "intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims #" to set the amount of slots to a certain number such as nine or something, because 2 guests is not a party.

Yes, this is a problem that I considered, but was unsure how to handle.  In the end, I left it to the player to scale the penalties associated with this problem.  Thus, for instance, if you can have only two guests, and you fail to invite one or one does not show, then you should lose 7 points, not just one.  Not an ideal solution, but I did not want to craft this challenge around the limits of a sub-standard system.  Your suggestion, while interesting, may not be practical.  If the game limits the visitors to two because of weak hardware capability or performance, and someone forces more visitors with a cheat, the game might not run properly.  (I don't know, my system allows eight normally)

[J. M. Pescado]

The College Daze Challenge (University and Nightlife Required, Dude!)

Infinite score loop: You receive points for outings, dream dates and drinking, but you have infinite time in which you can perform this with NL installed.

[SaraMK]

We don't care about "Met X" and other garbage. It makes no difference. You can meet 100 sims and get 100 green memories for meeting them, but because duplicate memories don't count, those 100 memories are still only worth -1.

Actually, it does. The -1 automatically makes your score suboptimal and therefore you lose.

But you can't play this challege and not get a single negative point. Everyone is going to lose a point for meeting another sim, therefore it does not make your score suboptimal.

[Khan of Wyrms]

The College Daze Challenge (University and Nightlife Required, Dude!)

Infinite score loop: You receive points for outings, dream dates and drinking, but you have infinite time in which you can perform this with NL installed.

I was certain I had stipulated somewhere that outings must go to University lots, to keep the time flowing.  I see that this will need to be made clearer.  I was not overly concerned about the date point issue, since you only get one per dream date, but it is better to just restrict them to University lots as well.  Good point. 

[J. M. Pescado]

But you can't play this challege and not get a single negative point. Everyone is going to lose a point for meeting another sim, therefore it does not make your score suboptimal.

Untrue. It's possible to meet sims without receiving a memory, as long the meeting occurs without social contact: You do not receive a memory for meeting a sim that is added by household merging.

[J. M. Pescado]

I was certain I had stipulated somewhere that outings must go to University lots, to keep the time flowing.  I see that this will need to be made clearer.

Okay, yeah, you did. Doesn't change anything, though:

Infinite time exploit: Using the "evolving combination" of residences, time is reset everytime you move, resulting in infinite time.

[Khan of Wyrms]

Infinite time exploit: Using the "evolving combination" of residences, time is reset everytime you move, resulting in infinite time.

Aargh!...Of course you are correct.  I certainly had no expectation or intention of people playing that way.  I was aware of this 'feature' and had included it as an emergency restart if someone realized it, but the 'evolving combination' was meant as a sort of one way street.  Going back to what was before or retuning to the same place is not really quite evolving.  Will amend to be clearer and squash this exploit.

[SaraMK]

But you can't play this challege and not get a single negative point. Everyone is going to lose a point for meeting another sim, therefore it does not make your score suboptimal.

Untrue. It's possible to meet sims without receiving a memory, as long the meeting occurs without social contact: You do not receive a memory for meeting a sim that is added by household merging.

Then what are you complaining about? A baby doesn't get memories of meeting its parents, does it? So it will start out with nothing, and if you can manage to not meet any sims, you'll keep your perfect score.

[sloppyhousewife]

Then what are you complaining about? A baby doesn't get memories of meeting its parents, does it? So it will start out with nothing, and if you can manage to not meet any sims, you'll keep your perfect score.

What about acquaintances that are forced on you - school friends for example, or the burglar? Perhaps you could bypass the latter by just not installing a security system, but bringing friends from school is a random event you cannot avoid unless you use hacks (which would be cheating). You would lose a point for something that's out of your control. Perhaps "Met X" could be regarded as a "neutral" memory?

[J. M. Pescado]

What about acquaintances that are forced on you - school friends for example, or the burglar? Perhaps you could bypass the latter by just not installing a security system, but bringing friends from school is a random event you cannot avoid unless you use hacks (which would be cheating). You would lose a point for something that's out of your control. Perhaps "Met X" could be regarded as a "neutral" memory?

Hmm, well, if you have the burglar, I think that this would be a net-zero, because you can't get Burglar without meeting him, AFAIK, but Burglar is red. However, if you meet anyone, then you NEED Burglar to cancel it out, as no other red memory I know of specifically requires Met X.

[sloppyhousewife]

Hmm, well, if you have the burglar, I think that this would be a net-zero, because you can't get Burglar without meeting him, AFAIK, but Burglar is red. However, if you meet anyone, then you NEED Burglar to cancel it out, as no other red memory I know of specifically requires Met X.

What about the repoman? I've never had one, but I've been wondering if he also triggers the Met X memory?

[J. M. Pescado]

No, the Repo Man is nonsociable and does not get met.

[Charamei]

The Genetic Legacy Challenge

Pick a book, TV show, etc - anything with characters who have clearly definable genetics. Even real people will work if you like, although then you're working with face structures as well. I'm doing this with Harry Potter at the moment, because the Black Family Tree provides a handy reference point.

Your aim is to breed the main characters (as Generation 10 or later) without genetic manipulation. Example: one of my win conditions is that Harry Potter must be born, as a Gen 11 Sim, with black hair, green eyes and pale skin. I'm not aiming for any great resemblance to Daniel Radcliffe, as I dislike the films intensely, but other people may want to try the 'breed Actor X' angle, so meh.

Setup:
1) Start a clean neighbourhood: you may use premade lots, but no Sims. In particular, make sure that the Pleasantview Townies will not show up, as they provide too much of a constant.
2) Create your Hood Controller Sim. This Sim may never be added to the gene pool: its sole function is to do neighbourhood maintenance. Move the Controller into a lot.
3) Using the EAxis Townie maker, randomly create your Townies.
4) Lay down a Legacy-sized lot, or several if you prefer (I'm using three).
5) Enter CAS and create your Founder(s) as normal. Choose every genetic trait at your leisure.
6) You have ten generations to achieve optimal genetics for your characters. The challenge ends when all your main characters have been born.

Rules/Restrictions:

• You may look at Sims' genetics in SimPE, for example to find out what their recessive genes are, but not edit them.
• If you run out of eligible Townies, new ones must be created at random.
• If for some reason it becomes necessary to introduce new CAS Sims, what CAS rolls when you enter it is what you get. You may change gender, fitness and personality, but no genetic traits: I'm discounting personality form the list because it's very easy to alter in-game.
• You may have more than one Genetic Legacy going at a time, and the spawn may interbreed. However, families may not interbreed with any family which is not living under the same rules as them.
• You may only breed with Townies and other Genetic Legacy Sims.
• If you're playing through something where history is known or important, and you want to get it right, you may create 'canon' Sims as Founders later in the challenge and thus 'reset' the gene pool a little. But see scoring.
• Using the Lot Debugger, the Sim Generator must be properly randomised for every birth. No clone Sims!
• For 'known' Sims (those who are the object of the challenge, i.e. Gen 10), you may reload births to get the correct gender/genetic combination. By this point, the genes should be available naturally, so repeatedly trying until the right combination comes up is fair. Same goes for forcetwins if your setup demands them.
• You may use default replacement face templates, as long as they are installed before you create your Townies and remain in the game until the challenge ends. No introducing new face templates just to sadorandomly generate some convenient-looking CAS Sims, then taking them out again.
• Aging must be on, and Elixir of Life or similar cheats may not be used on adult females to prolong their fertile period. Nor may it be used on teen females if you like to murder kittens. Elder females, who are no longer fertile, may prolong their lifespans as much as you wish.
• Similarly, you may not use InSIM etc to speed up pregnancies and thus pop out more babies.

Scoring:
-5 points every time you forget or fail to rerandomise the generator. Yes, even if the resulting Sims are genetically unsuitable.
-10 points every time a 'gene pool reset' occurs.
-5 points for each final Gen Sim who cannot be born naturally with the correct genetics.
-5 points for every set of non-geneticised custom content used.

+20 points for every Sim who is born with the correct genetic markers. Maximum score therefore varies depending on how many Sims you're trying to breed: mine would be quite high, as my win condition is 4 Marauders (Gen 10) + Harry + 7 Weasley children + Draco Malfoy (all Gen 11).

[J. M. Pescado]

The Genetic Legacy Challenge

Problem: Challenge is not deterministically scored, as scoring rules are undefined because your target is undefined.