TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: THE WINNERS, AND PRIZES!

Thank you to everyone that participated in the tournament this time; we had a lot of new players, some old friends, and a lot of fun. Thanks to Audrey we have a lot of prizes to offer this time around. For everyone who won a prize, let Audrey know either by PM on Facebook or on the Sims 3 forum (AudreyFld) and make sure you tag her so she sees it; let her know what you'd like from the Sims 3 store that adds up to the points you've won, and she'll arrange to gift you the items.

The adjudicators had some difficult choices to make this time around; we had a lot of perfect scores submitted. So good work everybody!

In 4th place is Janet Cone! Well done Janet, you win 1000 Store Points worth of whatever you like - let Audrey know.

In 3rd place we have one of our forum entrants - kethrydrake! Congratulations kethrydrake, you win 1500 Store Points worth of stuff. Be sure to contact Audrey (AudreyFld on the forums).

Coming in 2nd - and it was really close - we have Sara Tyler! Well done Sara, you win 2000 Store Points worth of fabulous prizes.

And now the drum roll. In 1st place, we have Magdaléna Endlová! Great effort there Magdalena, you managed to max out the Bonus Points category and did it in a very respectable time. You win 3000 Store Points worth of goodies.

We also have some other prizes to give out:

• The "Most sporting" prize goes to Katrina Calnan. Katrina won the last tournament and graciously decided not to compete for a place in this one - even though she had a great score and would certainly have been in contention. Have 300 Store Points, Katrina!
• The "So close, but so far" prize goes to Matilda Klevedal. Matilda was only two restrictions away from finishing, and would have had a perfect score had she done so. Have 500 Store Points, Matilda, and better luck next time!
• The "Speed demon" prize goes to Amanda Erwin. Amanda finished in a greased lighting time of just 203 days - almost 30 fewer days than anyone else who finished. Have 300 points worth of fabulous prizes, Amanda! We hope to see you next time up there in the placings!
• The "Doing it easy" prize goes to Emma Louise Middleton. Emma was the only finisher to use the Easy Uni Start option, willingly taking the handicap. Despite that she did very well, finishing the challenge with a score that is entirely respectable. Have 300 points, and next time we hope you'll graduate to the harder starting options!
• The "Rage against the machine" award goes to Linda Sheal. Poor Linda had lots of issues with her computer and crashing, thwarting her attempts to finish (though she still came very close). Have 250 points of stuff, and we hope next time your computer will behave itself.
• The "Oh, whoops" award goes to Rob Holly. Poor Rob didn't quite finish but managed to rack up 14 points of penalties, more than any of our other submitters. It happens to us all; thanks for being a good sport and have 250 points to commiserate with!
• The "Girl on fire" award goes to Delina Dreamcatcher. Poor Delina had a shock when her heir almost burned to death, never having had the pleasure of witnessing a burning Sim before. Now that you've been "blooded", we hope to see you next time with full on Sim murder in mind! Have 200 points worth of goodies.
• The "Resident mechanic" award goes to Rose Turley. The mob almost cleaned Rose out for reconstructing her fixer upper car into an extremely valuable luxury - and hence high bills. Cruise on down and pick up 200 points worth of stuff - it doesn't NECESSARILY have to be fuzzy dice, but...
• The "Clap your hands if you believe" award goes to Dana Lynn. Dana was the only submitter to use fairies, with all the problems they cause (thanks to the mayfly lives of humans and consequently large proportion of untouchable elders). Thanks for making the effort Dana, and with a little sprinkle of fairy dust we're sure you'll have more success next time. Have 200 points worth of goodies.

This brings the May-August tournament to a close. Congratulations to all our prize winners, and thank you all for playing; we hope you had as much fun as we did. To everyone that won a prize, if you get your wish list to Audrey by Friday she'll do her best to cover it, but otherwise she's going to unavailable for a week; she'll get back to you as soon as she can.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: NEXT TOURNAMENT, EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
We are considering perhaps changing the mix of adjudicators for the next tournament. There are no promises here, but if you're interested, let us know.

An adjudicator's job consists of:
- Rule changes. We have a number of things we're looking at for the next tournament, and the adjudicators will be deciding what happens and what doesn't, plus they will be expected to help test any changes.
- Rule disputes. It's impossible to catch everything, so you will occasionally be required (either individually or after a debate) to weigh in on a corner case and make rulings, usually fairly promptly.
- Answering questions. This is the biggest part of the job; you'll be expected to log in to Facebook fairly frequently (and also any forum threads) to clarify or answer any questions the players might have. This means you have to be fairly conversant with the rules yourself, and should look things up if you're unsure.

Overall it's a pretty rewarding job, but it does mean that you can't win any tournament you adjudicate (though we will certainly still record a score). If this sounds like something you might want to do, let us know, and we'll consider it further.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: POST YOUR SCORES
The tournament is officially closed now. If you finished in time (or you didn't finish, but want to submit a score anyway) but haven't given your scores in yet, you have until 7th September. Note that I will personally respond in any thread where I record a score; if you mention a score but don't get a reply from me, then get my attention because I've probably overlooked it.

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: GUITAR SKILL
You are permitted to learn the Guitar skill regardless of Entertainment and Symphonic - you just may not actually play guitar. For example, if you've lifted Education (and possibly Military) you can take a class in the skill. There are similar restrictions for other instruments (ie you can learn the skill, you can't play them).
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Entertainment
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Symphonic

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: SPARES WITHOUT HEIRS
It is legal to have a generation that doesn't contain an heir; the "spares" of this generation may still make lifts as normal. (The most common case for this would be a prestige occult where the babies are not born of the correct species).

Note that this will be your last generation. If that's sufficient to lift the last of the restrictions, all good - otherwise, your challenge will end as none of your spares can produce the next generation you'd need to continue.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: PRESTIGE GHOSTS AND DIVORCE

We've clarified the rules for spouses. In essence, your spouse is still your spouse for challenge purposes if you get divorced, or the marriage ends in some other way, if they are still part of your household. For example, if you are playing a prestige occult ghosts and kill your human spouse, and then bring them back as a ghost, for challenge purposes they are still your spouse.

Since prestige occult ghosts cannot marry anyone other than mundane humans, they are now not only not required to remarry their now-ethereal "former" spouse but in fact are forbidden from doing so - but it's all good, as they count as a spouse anyway for breeding purposes.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/The+Rules

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: SCORING

We're about half way through - you still have plenty of time - but since some players are getting close to the end, we felt it was best to talk about scoring.

To submit your score, we will need:
- Your total "Main Score", for lifted restrictions. (A maximum of 25 here, if you lifted Alien Technology).
- Your total Bonus Points. Give the total even if it exceeds 220.
- Your total Prestige Option Points. Give the total, even if it exceeds 75.
- Your total Penalty Points. Note that up to 10 bloopers is 0 penalty points.
- The total number of days you spent. Include time spent at University, World Adventures, or In The Future. If you send, say, 3 Sims to University simultaneously for a week, that's 7 days. If you send them separately, that's 21 days. (Because it's harder to control multiple Sims). If your founder went to University, that counts too.

A total score of 220 is "perfect". If there are ties, we will break them using the raw totals and compare them. Note, for example, that we DO care about how long in days the challenge took; it's probably not worth while to deliberately delay your progress to chase bonus points.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Tournaments

TOURNAMENT RULE CHANGE: ALIEN TECHNOLOGY, INTO THE FUTURE METHOD

We've decided that while lifting Alien Technology via Into the Future, you may ignore the 3 item inventory restriction in the future even if you haven't lifted Athletic. You must reduce down to 3 items or less before returning to the present unless you've lifted Athletic.

Basically, we don't see any point in needless tedium to assemble objects like the spaceship key.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Alien+Technology

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: PRESTIGE PLANTS

In order to be able to lift a restriction, a Sim must either be able to trace their family tree back through heirs to the founder, or be married to one of the heirs. With Plant Sims, whoever picks the plant becomes the parent, so it must be the heir that picks the children, and not the spouse or some other household member.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: PRESTIGE OCCULT CLARIFICATIONS

If you're playing a prestige occult, you can't cure your occult of their occult status by any means. More specifically see:
http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: ALIEN TECHNOLOGY BASE METHOD
It's come to our attention that the spreadsheet method (giant space rock + pink diamond + rainbow gem + palladium + plutonium) is different from the wiki (16 space rocks). The wiki version is considerably easier, but if you've already been pursuing the spreadsheet version, we're going to allow that too.

It also says you have to tour the medical centre. This is actually impossible; that option doesn't exist, and it has been removed.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Alien+Technology

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: AMAZING NATURALIST
The Into the Future crystals, nanites, and sprites count as collectibles for the purposes of Amazing Naturalist.
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/page/edit/Bonus+Points

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: JUNK PILES
You may not rummage through junk piles until Gamer is lifted.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Gamer

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: LATE FOR WORK
The rules for exactly what counts as being "late for work" have been clarified. You're late as soon as the carpool leaves while you're still at home. If you're worried, you can always leave for work manually as soon as you get the 2 hour warning; that should be sufficient to avoid many such situations.

We're also permitting an exception if you WOULD have made it, but your Sim then gets queue stomped to go scold all the teenagers for skipping school.

Finally, there are some clarifications about how this applies to the Promotion After Midnight bug.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Master+Thief

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: PERFECT SCORES
A quick calculation revealed that it would have been impossible for anyone that used an Easy Uni Start or Hard Uni Start to get a perfect score. Prestige options are supposed to be "bonuses" not "required"; we have therefore lowered the maximum perfect score to 220, so it is within the reach of all participants (not necessarily easy, but possible) regardless of starting conditions.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Tournaments

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: BONUS POINTS
It was pointed out that the bonus point maximum was only 160, not 220 as the tournament page assumed. As this meant that a perfect score would be very difficult to achieve (impossible for base game players), we have altered the bonus points so they do indeed have a 220 point maximum now. Remember that a perfect score is 255; we may take into account extra points for the purposes of tie breaking though.

TL;DR version: You now get 1 point per collectible to a maximum of 60 points (instead of 1 point per 3 to a maximum of 20), and you can now count as many as 40 skill challenges rather than only 20.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Bonus+Points

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: Athletic Equipment, Electric Boogaloo

We have decided that Business should be the determiner of "how many".

- NOTHING LIFTED: You can have a single radio AND/OR a single chin-up bar. (You may now have one of each. Go nuts).
- BUSINESS LIFTED ONLY: You can have as many radios AND/OR chin-up bars as you can eat. :)
- ATHLETICS LIFTED ONLY: You may add a single treadmill AND/OR a single bench press. (Again, both, if you want to - and you can keep your radio and chin-up bar as well).
- ATHLETICS AND BUSINESS LIFTED: You have no restrictions on how many or what athletic equipment you can have. (Barring price; Architect not being lifted still means it has to be $1000 or less).

We have also clarified Science. Until you have lifted Science, you can only have a single computer and a single phone, but Science does not restrict how many radios you can have. If you lift Science and not Business, you can have as many computers (and phones, if you're still buying those - WEIRDO!) as you want, but still only one radio.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Athletic
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Business
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Science

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: Athletic Equipment

There was an incorrect reference to Science being required to use treadmills or bench presses in Business. This has been corrected. The restrictions, summarised, are:
- NOTHING LIFTED: You can have a single radio or a single chin-up bar. (Note: chin-up bar builds Athletic faster. Radio can be used by multiple Sims at once and can be tuned to Kids channel for twins. Choose accordingly. If you don't have University, no choice will be required).
- BUSINESS LIFTED ONLY: You can have as many radios or chin-up bars as you like.
- ATHLETICS LIFTED ONLY: You may have, in addition to radio or chin-up bar, either a treadmill or a bench press.
- BOTH ATHLETICS AND BUSINESS LIFTED: You may have as much athletic equipment as you wish.

The point is that Science does not restrict any athletic equipment.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Athletic
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Business

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: Prestige Witch change

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: PRESTIGE WITCHES
The rule to marry or breed with only witches is changing to marry or breed with only humans. However, the heir must be a witch. When you are able to create or buy the Bottled Witches Brew you can use it on your spouse.
http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims

Note: If you are using a Story Progression mod that pushes witches into your game or causes the existing witch families to actually breed, then you can continue your challenge with the legacy rule that states you may only marry or breed with other witches.   The above rule applies if you are only using EA's Story Progression.  This will likely be tweaked again after the tournament.

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: LEAVING WORK/SCHOOL EARLY
Sometimes your Sim will leave work (or school) early for no reason within your control (most frequently, a werewolf transformation; can also happen with a birthday). If that happens, you just send them straight back to work or school. These are covered by Master Thief and Education.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Education
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Master+Thief

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: THE AMAZING NATURALIST
You are now counting PLANTS rather than SEEDS for Amazing Naturalist collectibles, and in addition can now count fish as well.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Bonus+Points

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: Into The Future Rules for Alien Technology Clarified

There are a couple of clarifications on the lift.
1. Occults do not have to have a DNA donor for the Engineered Baby of their same species. The donor can be a mundane sim.
2. You must edit Oasis Landing to provide an apoc legal bed and a refrigerator. The only Advanced Technology restricted items you may use are the All-In-One bathroom and elevator.
...

If you violated a rule, no problem, just correct it and move on. No bloopers are required.
http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Alien+Technology

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: WEIRD CHILDREN
The wiki has a brand new page that details what you can do with Sims that join your household through abnormal means. TL;DR version is "they can lift a restriction if they're the child of an heir, but cannot become the heir."

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/What+About+These+Weird+Kids%3F

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: PRESTIGE GHOSTS
The rules for prestige ghost occults are changed in response to feedback. The TL;DR version is that ghosts are now like a hybrid of vampires and werewolves; they may only marry mundane humans, but can breed with either their spouse or any ghost of a different colour. And they may (if they have Oh My Ghost access) kill their spouse and remarry them to guarantee ghost offspring.

This is definitely an area that will come under sharp focus in our post tournament analysis; we apologise for the inconvenience.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: CHILDREN AND TODDLER TOYS

Children and toddler toys are restricted by Entertainment. You may purchase a single teddy bear for your children and toddlers. Toddlers may read the toddler skill books by themselves.

Wiki has been updated.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Entertainment

If you had purchased any of these items, you are allowed to sell them back even if Business is not lifted and you do not have to take a blooper or lose points.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: NATURALIST TEENS

You can't start collecting seeds, harvesting plants, or buying fish holding gear until your Naturalist Sim has started the Science career. So you can't declare your teenager is GOING to be doing Naturalist and start collecting seeds early.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Naturalist

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: RANKED CHESS

Before Gamer is cleared, you may only invite players over for a ranked chess match if it is a Monday or Thursday, and you must send the invite between 0600 and 1900 unless Military is lifted. You have to play outside if the opponent is not a Friend and Espionage is not lifted.

If the opponent may be someone you could not normally interact with (for example, a paparazzi, a service Sim, or an elder for prestige occults), you are still permitted to challenge them - multiple times if necessary - but must immediately ask them to leave upon beating them.

https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Gamer

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: FIRST WEEK PROTECTION MONEY

There appears to be some confusion about whether or not the first Monday you have to zero your funds after paying bills. You DO have to do this; there is no first week exception anymore as it is unneeded with the new Criminal restriction.

If your founder is not using a rabbit hole lift, be careful to save enough from your building spree to pay the first lot of bills. Otherwise most of you will likely have almost no money left anyway after building your house.

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: MISSING BUILDINGS

If you have started the challenge and not realised that one or more rabbit hole buildings are missing, you can place them as soon as you realise it. It counts as one blooper per building you place.

TOURNAMENT CLARIFICATION: Hard/Prestige Uni Protection Fees

The protection money for Uni (Hard/Prestige) is $100 per controllable Sim per day, payable on the day you return home. This is consistent with https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Criminal but was previously inconsistent with https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/University+Life

TOURNAMENT RULE UPDATE: BUSINESS RULE REINSTATEMENT - UNREINSTATED

The following rule was accidentally removed from the Business page and was added back in:

• Due to broken supply chains, sims may only use the sculptor's bench or the inventor's work bench or the easel or the drafting table (the drafting table is also restricted by Architect) to make one item per sim day (only one of these objects may be used per day).

After much consideration we have decided to REMOVE it.  This is no longer a rule.

TOURNAMENT RULES UPDATE: PRESTIGE PLANTS

We've revisited the rules for Prestige Occult Plant challenges to be more in line with what is actually possible. The details are here:
http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Supernatural+Sims

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: ELEVATORS AGAIN

Tube Elevators are now restricted by Advanced Technology, Architect, and Science. Deco Elevators are restricted by Architect and Science.

http://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Architect
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Science

TOURNAMENT UPDATE: ELEVATORS

Elevators (use and building) are now restricted by Science.
https://ts3ac.wikispaces.com/Science

Welcome!

Welcome to the update blog for the Sims 3 Apocalypse Challenge. This will be used primarily to list rules updates - especially important for tournament players during tournaments, but also for casual players. From time to time we may make other announcements as well.

This is not intended as a replacement for the Facebook Group or the Forum Thread - in particular, we do not guarantee we will answer questions on the blog. (Though we might. Comment if you like). Instead, it is intended as something you can stick in your favourite RSS tool to just keep track of when rules change.

Who Are We?
We are Miki M Gain, Audrey Floor, Sarah J Davis, and Gary Sturgess. Miki is, of course, the creator of the challenge (based on Pinstar's original Sims 2 rules), while the other three of us are the adjudicators of the tournament.

Why Do You Make Changes Mid-Tournament Anyway?
We try not to, but the challenge is quite complex and despite our efforts at play testing beforehand, there are inevitably areas we didn't consider, or overlooked, or otherwise underestimated that can only really be discovered in play. We consider it fairer to patch these rules immediately as needed, though we are always generous in not punishing retroactive rules infractions.