The Senior Quest - How to Complete it in 3 Days Without Using Lots of LP

The Senior Door

With the newest update, an Adulthood Quest and a Senior Quest were added. I've completed both of them.  I will write about the Adulthood Quest in a separate blog since the Senior Quest is my focus today.

The requirements for the Senior Quest are you need to be at level 21 and you will have to complete all quests that come prior to it.  If you reach level 21 and you haven't completed earlier quests, you will see it in the queue of your tasks pop-up.  Also, since this quest requires you to go to the swimming center and the snow park, you will want to make sure both are complete prior to starting the quest or you will waste valuable time building these items.

There is bad news and good news with the Senior Quest, but you need to follow the instructions in this blog to take advantage of the good news.

First, the bad news: the Senior Quest gives you 3 days to complete the quest to unlock exercise bikes.  You might be thinking, "this doesn't sound like bad news", but it is once you realize that the quest is impossible to complete within 3 days without using a lot of LP.  For those players low on LP, this can be a challenge. I don't think any quest should have a time limit less than the total time required for the tasks, but this one does - not good planning by EA. 

One other point worth mentioning is even you unlock the bikes, they cost $15,000 apiece, so you may decide rushing to finish the quest isn't worth it.

Now, it's time for the good news.  I have tracked each step on the Senior Quest, and based upon the tasks and if you plan ahead, there is a way to complete the quest by using minimal LP.

Let's take a look at each task, how to perform them, and the time needed for each one.

1. Send a Sim to the Swim Center (few seconds). Note: make sure you have your Swim Center built before you get to this quest. Visit the Swim Center from the town map and whistle for your Sim using your Sim Tracker.
2. Feed pigeons (2 seconds). At the Swim Center, you will see a park bench with pigeons, which is normally not there. Click on the bench and select the "feed pigeons" option.
3. Investigate the pigeons (7 minutes). Click on the bench and select the "investigate pigeons" option.
4. Wait for a senior on a park bench (3 minutes, 20 seconds). Go to the park, find a park bench, click on it and select the "wait for a senior" option.
5. Investigate the door in the park (10 seconds). A door will appear in the park to the right of the fishing pier.  Click on it and select the "investigate door" option.
6. Welcome future self (5 seconds).  An old lady will appear in the door, aka "future self". Click on the old lady and select the "welcome future self" option.
7. Talk to future self (1 minute). Click on the old lady and select the "be nice" option.
8. Stand on the X (4 seconds). An X will appear; click on the X to move your Sim to it.
9. Complain to a Senior (1 minute). Click on the old lady and select the "complain" option. At this point, you are probably thinking "so far, so good". The first 9 steps can be completed within 20 minutes, leaving you plenty of time to finish the quest within the time limit. Unfortunately, you will change your mind as you read on.
10. Warn Simanity on a soap box (1 day). Click on the soap box and select the "warn Simanity" option.
11. Complain to a Senior (1 minute). Click on the old lady and select the "complain" option.
12. Be nice to future self (1 minute).  Click on the old lady and select the "be nice" option.
13. Search garbage for cupcake (2 hours).  Go to any house and click on a garbage can, selecting "kick over (2 seconds). Then, click on the spilled garbage can and select the "search garbage for cupcake" option.
14. Search garbage for cupcake of doom (16 hours). Click on the spilled garbage can, and select the "search garbage for cupcake of doom" option.
15. Dispose of cupcake (25 seconds). Click on the garbage again, and select the "dispose of cupcake" option. BTW: You eat the cupcake to dispose of it. Yuck!
16. Send your Sim back to the park (few seconds). Using your town map, click on the park. Once you are in the park, whistle your Sim over.
17. Be nice to future self (1 minute). Yes again! Click on the old lady and select the "be nice" option.
18. Dance with future self (10 seconds). Click on the old lady and select the "dance" option.
19. Be nice to future self (1 minute). At this point you will be very tired of being nice. Click on the old lady and select the "be nice" option.
20. Go to the snow park (few seconds). Note: You will want to make sure you have the snow park built prior to this task. Go to the snow park via the town map, and whistle over your Sim.
21. Go ice skating (1 day). Yes, you have to do the long one! Click on the ice rink and select the "devoted dance" option. Note: you will want to ice skate at the skating rink and not at home or this task will not work.
22. Snowball fight (2 hours with 2 Sims). Snowballs magically appear right behind the ice rink. This is a snowball area that is in addition to the already existing one to the right of the rink.  Click on the cloud with the exclamation mark, which will above the new snowball fighting area, and select the "snowball fight' option. You will have to call a second Sim to the snow park to join in.
23. Talk to a Senior (1 minute). Go back to the park and click on the old lady, selecting the "be nice" option.
24. Build the Bingo Hall (36 hours and $100,000). Go to the Mysterious Island and select the Bingo Hall option, which is directly to the left of the volcano. Select the "build option". Once the Bingo Hall is complete, you will have to click on the icon to make it official. Are you starting to see why you can't complete this task within 3 days without using LP?
25. Have a 24-hour fish-a-thon (1 day). Go to the park and click on the water by the fishing pier. Select the "fish-a-thon" option. 
26. Complain to future self (1 minute). Click on the old lady and select the "complain" option.
27. Get 5 Sims together at a house (few seconds). Go to any house and whistle over Sims until you have 5. Toddlers and teens count too.
28. Wohoo with a Sim (5 minutes).  Pick one of your couples and select the "wohoo" option.
29. Be nice to future self (1 minute). Yes again! But, thankfully for the last time.

Once you finish step 29, the quest is complete and you see the following message: "Congratulations, you can now celebrate the birthdays of your adult Sims!"

Now, let's do the math.  To complete the longer tasks in this quest without using LP, it will take a total of 5 days and 8 hours. you can add another hour onto that total for all of the little tasks, bringing your approximate time to 5 days and 9 hours.  If you use LP to fast forward through all of the tasks that are 2 hours or longer, you will use 121 LP.  That's a lot of LPs to unlock the exercise bikes.

However, I believe that I have found a work-around for some of the longer tasks and I would like to share it with you.  I've noticed that when I am completing various tasks for quests, if I just happen to have someone already performing a task, such as growing garlic, baking caramel slice, or watching a movie marathon, I don't need to start the task over with another Sim if it is the next task up in the queue. The game will count the task once it is complete regardless of when it began.  So occasionally, you get lucky because you happen to be performing a task that is required next.

When completing special quests, there is a mix of "normal" tasks, which are ones that you can do any time, and "special" ones, which only appear for that particular quest (such as "investigating the pigeons" and "searching for the cupcakes" in the steps above).  You will notice that 3 of the tasks in the 29 steps are highlighted in red.  These tasks are "normal" tasks that you can do any time with your Sims.

My recommendation is simple.  Now that you know the order of the tasks, you can plan ahead and have Sims performing the longer "normal" tasks while you are completing the other tasks. So, if you know when your Senior Quest is coming up, already have a Sim in the park warning Simanity.  The first 9 tasks will take about 20 minutes to complete, so you will want to try to time it where you have a little less than a day before you start the quest. Note: I have read in a few places that starting the "warn Simanity" before the quest didn't work for some people, but you can still try it.  You will need to be careful, since you will need to go to the park prior to the "warn Simanity" step, you will want to make sure you don't finish the "warning", before completing the first steps, or it will not work. I suggest erring on the side of caution. Even if you have a few hours left to "warn Simanity" after completing the first steps, it is much better than 24 hours. 

The other 2 normal steps will be easier to plan. I would start Step 21 when you finish warning Simanity and I would start Step 25 when you have 23 hours or less left on the "build Bingo Hall" task.

I hope this guide helps.  I know it is long, but I wanted to make sure I explained it well. If you try my suggestions, let me know if they worked for you.