University Life - Weeks 2-4.

One of the things I love about the Sims is that I'm always learning.

You may recall I mentioned off hand that there wasn't much use for Science skill, even though it helps my major to increase. Well, turns out that I'm wrong about that; if I have Science 10 then I get to start two levels higher in the Medicine or Science careers (source). No harm done of course; I have plenty of time to get that. In fact, it can be argued - and I will so argue - that it is more important to for me to get Science skill than even Logic skill, as the latter can (if necessary) be gained while in the Medicine career, while the former is best if it is already level 10 before starting.

Shortly after classes on Wednesday I got enough LTR points to purchase Hardly Hungry. While you can't purchase rewards on a Hard or Prestige start, you can on an Easy Start while at University, and it is well worth the effort to do so - they may be the last time you spend LTR points for a while.

It's worth getting a boyfriend or girlfriend at Uni, because Woo-Hoo is a quick way to maximise your Fun meter.

A quickie for luck before the exam! By this point I couldn't really fail to get an A. I spent the weekend making friends, only pausing to use the brain enhancer when available. The A (along with the appropriate locked wish) gave me enough LTR points to get Multitasker as well. I also managed to get to level 8 in the Nerd group; since I'm using Easy Start I can choose my trait, and I'll pick Bookworm as the Medicine career will require me to read quite a lot of journals.

Back home, I immediately re-enrol. We're going back for the last 24 credits. Again, this costs me only $300 after the financial aid.

This is probably a good point to take stock. Here's what I have:

• $7358. I have not been pushing for cash at all; with an Easy Start, there's not a lot of point since you can't keep it, and don't really need much. What I have earned has been from star gazing, and selling gifts (which again, you can only do in Easy Start).
• Charisma 10, Cooking 10, Gardening 1 (to get some seeds for the Science station), Science 4, Handiness 9, Logic 7. With the exception of Science and Logic that's all from the brain enhancer.
• The rewards Hardly Hungry and Multitasker, with about 3500 points left over.
• 14 friends, 13 more acquaintances; 3 of the friends are best friends.

This is by no means difficult to achieve; if you find yourself with significantly less skill points than this you need to use the brain enhancer more. Remember the trick with Charisma! It is probably worth getting Charisma to maximum with the brain enhancer for your founder regardless of what job or major you have, since the automatic friends alone are worth the price of admission.

Try and remember to go back to the same dormitory! It's likely you put all the cool stuff there. I admit I've often forgotten myself, but be better than me!

The instant I arrive back, I use the brain enhancer to get Handiness 10. That's my 3 skills for Renaissance Sim; with my 43000 odd points, I purchase Meditative Trance Sleep and Steel Bladder to maximise my "useful time". Fast Learner is a good alternative, of course - there are lots of useful Lifetime Rewards.

On Tuesday, I managed to get my 20th friend:

This is well worth shooting for. It means that "friendships never decay" which in turns means I can now concentrate pretty much entirely on skilling; even in an Apocalypse 20 friends is plenty.

As we start the last week, I have:

• $7861, from a couple of new galactic discoveries. Though I also have a Plasma Bug in my inventory from a successful radiation experiment.
• Charisma 10 (all challenges except Everyone's Best Friend, and that's 8/10), Cooking 10, Fishing 5, Gardening 10, Science 9, Logic 8, Social Networking 1 (from a few texts).
• Fast Learner, Hardly Hungry, Meditative Trance Sleep, Multitasker, Steel Bladder. I have about 9600 points, so there's a decent chance for Dirt Defiant or Born to Cook (though my chances of starting a fire are probably already low enough).

I already have the study bar at maximum, so I'll be concentrating on getting the last point of Science, 2 more best friends, and more Logic skill (in that order) plus whatever I pick up in Fishing from the brain enhancer.

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, I have achieved two of those goals and also have Fishing 10. So now I'm concentrating on Logic, plus I guess a few more skill points from the brain enhancer - Writing, perhaps. I've also picked up Dirt Defiant.

A little after 1730 on Saturday, I've also got my Logic skill at maximum (and Writing 5). There's not a lot of time left, but here's one little trick I can try. I mentioned early I had a plasma bug; if I clone a sample of that bug, I'll get another. It is possible to earn a fair bit of cash this way. More than 83 080? Let's find out.

There's an interruption for the graduation ceremony, where I pick up Over Emotional as my 7th trait. And unfortunately that ends the experiment - I manage to make all the samples I'd need, but I get the 1 hour warning before I can clone the rest. That's fair enough. A better use of my time would have been to attempt to lift Alien Technology, but I suspect I would have had to have started that a bit earlier too.

With the 1 hour warning, I now follow these steps:

1. Reduce my funds to $8308. I had $56031, and 10% of that is only $5603, so I get the $8308 start.
2. Pick the items to take back. I have to take the University diploma, and I can put my two graduation gnomes into Family Inventory (gnomes are one of the scoring criteria in tournaments, so it is best to get into the habit of keeping them). I get two more items, and I choose my bed (the Delicious Slumber XV) as one of them. Now I have a difficult choice: a car, or the Group Science Project.
• A car makes the friend requirements for visitors much easier, and it's tough to get a car for a while if you don't start with it.
• The Group Science Project on the other hand will take a very long time to duplicate, since the next visit to University is probably a long time in the future. On the other hand, it isn't even possible to place it until Politics is lifted. I decide - reluctantly! - to take the car (a Yomoshoto Evasion) and leave the science project at the dormitory. Perhaps I left something there that reacted with something else, causing the Apocalypse?
3. Head home.

The final "score" looks like this:

• $8308. Could have been higher if I've cloned some Plasma Bugs earlier, but for illustrative purposes I'd have lowered it to that anyway. $8308 is plenty, as we'll see.
• Charisma 10 (all challenges complete), Cooking 10, Fishing 10, Gardening 10, Science 10, Handiness 10, Logic 10, Social Networking 2. 6 skills at their maximum. But you don't have to match that (though I'm sure you can beat it easily if you try); really, the only important skills are Science and Logic, plus you want 1 point of Cooking so we can make Peanut Butter. Remember at this point your founder still has 23 days of young adulthood left; you have plenty of time to make up whatever you missed. Try to ensure you have at least 5 in any skills you're going to need immediately in your chosen career, but don't despair if you miss out. It's possible to lift any career restriction starting as a young adult with no university background - it's just harder.
• The traits Workaholic, Inappropriate, Ambitious, Friendly, Genius, and bonuses Bookworm and Over Emotional from high Nerd status and the degree respectively. Try to get both extra traits; you should easily manage to get level 8 in a social group at University.
• The rewards Dirt Defiant, Fast Learner, Hardly Hungry, Meditative Trance Sleep, Multitasker, No Bills Ever, and Steel Bladder.

And now the Apocalypse begins in earnest. I've given myself a pretty decent start. Can I follow through?