Question about 5 top businesses LTW...

[LordBanxter]

Is this cumulative or simultaneous?  Meaning, can I have 5 businessess in a row reach the top in order for it to trigger, or do I have to own all 5 at the same time?

[jsalemi]

Cumulative.  In fact, you could fill it with one business -- sometimes, the business bounces between level 9 & 10 before it stabilizes, and each bounce to 10 counts towards fulfilling the want.

[Gwill]

It's very easy to do with just one business.  Get to level 10 the usual way, then start arguing with your customers until you lose a star and bumps down to level 9 again, then turn the charm back on.  Rinse and repeat.
Basically, what you need is 5 memories of owning top level businesses.  You can buy them from another sim at level 9 and just do the last star yourself.  You can sell your stores once you reach level 10 and start another.
My neigbourhood has just one ownable business lot; my sims fulfill the want by buying it, running it to level 10, then selling it back to the community before buying it again and starting over.

[pixiejuice]

I'm also wondering, if anyone knows, if a parent hands over a top level business to a child, does that count?  Or will the child still need to knock it down to level 9 and then back up again?

[LordBanxter]

Cool, that makes it even easier than I was hoping it would be.  Information noted and appreciated.

[Gwill]

Inheriting a business that's already level 10 does not count.  You have to get the memory of the business becoming level 10.

[J. M. Pescado]

The 5 businesses LTW requires 5 "reached level 10" memories. Which is NOT gained by handing any business around, but CAN be gained, even if you don't attempt to abuse it, through normal fluctuation as businesses just reaching a new business level frequently wobble and lose a star only to regain it again a few times before finally staying there, but each time this happens at 9<->10, a new memory is created. Once 5 are accumulated, the LTW is satisfied even if you only had one business.

[cwykes]

a hair stylist with no skills can easily achieve the desired fluctuation by mutilating a few customers.

I thought businesses dropped a level when passed on to another sim?  So if you inherit a level 10 business, I thought it was instantly level 9 and you had to earn that last star yourself.

Did you know that it is possible to have a business with negative star rankings?  Sounds like challenge material!
Thanks to a lightening strike and a kitchen fire on the same dayusiness, Motoki's pink robot is now the proud owner of a level -1 home florist shop.

Business Rank -1
Customer Loyalty stars -7
Your business needs 3 customer Loyalty starts to reach the next level.

[professorbutters]

Businesses don't drop a level when passed on.  My legacy family has had five top level businesses for three generations.

Also, a word of caution about this LTW, if you choose to fulfill it by the drop-and-rebuild method:  there's no problem if it's a Popularity Sim.  Fortune Sims, though, will take huge aspirational hits with "business drops a level" and even "customer loses a star."  I had one go into aspirational failure this way, and my Sims simply don't go into aspirational failure.  I take very good care of them and I've only had four aspirational failures in six generations, two of which happened exactly this way.  So be careful.  Also be careful if your Fortune Sim is on the energizer trying to recharge. . .one customer giving one red star can plunge them into the green while they're on it and nearly kill them.

Still, fulfilling this LTW was one of the things I'm proudest of and I suppose my fond memories of this particular Sim are rooted in it.

PB

[cwykes]

Is that inheriting on death or transferring while the sim is alive that doesn't drop the level - or both? 
When you sell a business to another sim it drops a level -  right?
When a sim inherits a level 10 business, does that fill the want to own a level 10 business?  If not it might be pretty hard to drop it a level - after 3 generations it will have a galaxy of surplus business stars.

Yes, fortune sims take an aspiration hit because of the fear that drop the business a level, but they usually immediately roll the want to gain a level and get them back.  I think the want is worth more than the fear giving them a net gain. I guess I've been lucky not to have a sim go into aspiration failure in the interval!  Ouch for your poor sim on the Energiser at the time!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Use another means of gaining energy!!!  It's safer to macrocaffeinate.

[J. M. Pescado]

Is that inheriting on death or transferring while the sim is alive that doesn't drop the level - or both?

Inheriting or transferring a business has no effect on its business level.

When a sim inherits a level 10 business, does that fill the want to own a level 10 business?  If not it might be pretty hard to drop it a level - after 3 generations it will have a galaxy of surplus business stars.

No. You only satisfy the want when the business goes from level 9 to level 10, not if you acquire an already level 10 business.

[ZephyrZodiac]

20 dream dates is probably more easily achieved....

[Zazazu]

20 50 dream dates is probably more easily achieved....

Corrected, but yes. Easy to achieve and easy to time after elderhood kicks in. The easiest is Earn $100,000. Play the real estate game. By a lot, sell it back, all from your phone.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Apologies - I never let my sims keep that LTW so I forgot it was as high as that, and when I think about it, it's rather ridiculous that the pleasure alternative is 50 first dates, surely far easier to achieve as they don't have to go on for long, or be in any way memorable.

I actually find the woohoo with 20 different sims is easy enough to achieve, generally while still at Uni, and 20 simultaneous best friends can be achieved on the day they grow up to a teen....

[cwykes]

max all skills is pretty easy if the sim pretty starts working for them as a toddler.  Sitting a sim on a sofa with a book and a knowledge helmet is a lot less effort for you than organising dates and persuading stray sims to woohoo with your sim.

[ZephyrZodiac]

True enough, but for CAS sims in a new hood it's pretty hard unless you increase their life expectancy!

As to woohoo - seems you don't use ACR!

Organizing dates is a pain - we need an autonomous ask on date mod for that....and a way of sims stopping slowdancing without having to be told!

However, with autoyak installed, any young sim can have 20 best friends before they even go to college, especially if they start out as part of a largish family!  Some of these LTWs should have  been made a lot harder - even without autoyak most of my popularity sims (even Lilith!) would achieve that total easily.

[J. M. Pescado]

Apologies - I never let my sims keep that LTW so I forgot it was as high as that, and when I think about it, it's rather ridiculous that the pleasure alternative is 50 first dates, surely far easier to achieve as they don't have to go on for long, or be in any way memorable.

The pleasure sim "generic" LTWs all suck ass. The 50 first dates one isn't HARD, but it's basically impossible unless you're blatantly exploiting the system, because odds are, firstly, there aren't normally that many people to date in the neighborhood, and secondly, there's no way you'd bother with that many unless you were intentionally doing the crash/burn exploit on it.

50 dream dates, while not impossible, goes well past the range where it represents a challenge and simply goes into the "tedious" category.

[ZephyrZodiac]

JM, for once you and I are in complete agreement!  (Is this a first, she asks herself....)

I now use a mod from MTS2 by I forget who (I think it may be Mark Crumplebottom) which allows all sims to have any job aspiration going (unfortunately, they do tend to spin the Uni jobs even when they haven't been to Uni - and in this hood I'm being mean and not upgrading them..) but I do like to see very lazy pleasure sims wanting to be Chief of Staff or a General, etc., and although I accept it's non-awesome, it doesn't have any conflicts with awesome hacks.

The wierdest thing about pleasure sims is the way when they go to college they not only spin totally odd (for their aspiration) majors, but they always seem to spin two.  So, I usually lock one, allow the other, then change it later - so they probably then have to work harder than the rest to gain some skill points.

[Zazazu]

I use one that tweaks some of the crazy ones...I believe Squinge did it before he took his toys and went home. The first date/dreamdate/woohoo/simultaneous loves ones are all set to 10. Grilled cheese is set to either 50 or 100, I believe. Not sure. Grilled cheese is a punishment aspiration for my Romance townies. Of course, I rarely permaplat my sims anymore, even if they have the relatively simple career LTWs.

[J. M. Pescado]

Grilled Cheese isn't supposed to be a sane aspiration, though, so it doesn't matter that the LTW is ridiculous.

[ZephyrZodiac]

And as soon as they've eaten a couple or so and maybe served a platterful, they go platinum and you can, if you want, change them back.

[Zazazu]

And as soon as they've eaten a couple or so and maybe served a platterful, they go platinum and you can, if you want, change them back.

This removes the punishment. The Oversoul doesn't go back on punishments. They should be happy they just got turned into GCZ's for their insolence. Sometimes he pulls out the big guns.

'Sides, how can you possibly live in the House of Swiss or the House of Brie and not be obsessed with yummy cheesy goodness?

[ZephyrZodiac]

True, I used to punish my sims by sticking them up in the roof until they wet themselves - grilled cheese is so much better!

[professorbutters]

Yes, fortune sims take an aspiration hit because of the fear that drop the business a level, but they usually immediately roll the want to gain a level and get them back.  I think the want is worth more than the fear giving them a net gain. I guess I've been lucky not to have a sim go into aspiration failure in the interval!  Ouch for your poor sim on the Energiser at the time!

Annoyingly, mine was at four top level businesses with a level nine business that slipped to eight when he had two nervous breakdowns in a row. High maintenance idiot. We had to reopen the bakery and get one of my other Sims who had a gold sales badge to Dazzle someone quick.  Luckily my neighborhood contained at least one terribly gullible sim who was easy to sell, and he's the one who happened along. His inventory got all clogged with cake and pot plants and dollhouses.  Maybe it's not surprising that he's never seen on community lots anymore.

The really bad bit is that according to Pinstar, none of these businesses qualifies as the "family business," because only girls inherit and the businesses have been passed down father-in-law to son-in-law.  So I had to start a new business, and now we have six.

PB