Archive for the ‘technology’ Category

From EA: Your favorite lighthearted Sims universe is going old-school – back to the times of castles, kings, jesters and knights! Control your Sims and decide their fates in this new fantasy. From serf and squire to Lady and Lord, role-play and immerse yourself in a dramatic, story-driven adventure. Create your hero and determine your Sim’s destiny – the possibilities are endless. Long Live The Sims!

This is my walkthrough of Sims Medieval for iPhone. It will be a work in process until I finish replaying the game. This isn’t a review, although I had fun with the game. This is not a how to I buy furniture for my house type guide. I am assuming you know how the game works and how each of the buttons work. If you don’t know this, create a throw away Sim and push all the buttons until you know what they do.

Stop reading now if you don’t like spoilers and hints and cheats. I’m talking this paragraph now. The next paragraph starts the spoilers. Ok. You’ve been warned.

If you have any questions about how to do something I will try to the answer the question if you leave me a comment. http://www.supercheats.com/iphoneipad/thesimsmedievalquestions.php has a lot of answers. Actually that’s wereh I got all my answers before I decided to write this. Okay… here goes.

Do NOT EVER!
In the “Options” menu, do not ever, ever, ever tap “Reset Data” unless you want to start the game from scratch. Not only will it re-hide all your goals it will DELETE all your Sims. The good news is, if you tap it accidentally you do get the option to tap the red X and not reset.

The Objective:
Complete all 43 goals.

The Skills:
Strength
Agility
Spirituality
Charisma
Your skills are increased by doing quests. Each different quest raises your skills by different amounts and you get a different number of simoleons too. You can increase your Skills by doing various acitivites in between quests. In order to increase your strength you will need to purchase an armory (this is actually part of a goal so don’t buy one until you are prompted). In order to increase your agility you need to play darts. You can buy one or use the one at the Tavern. In order to increase your spirituality you will need to read books. Once you reach a certain level you can buy one or read the books at the Church or at the Wizards. In order to increase your charisma you will need to look in a mirror. You can go to the Herbalists or once you reach a certain level you can buy one for your house.

The Status (focus points):
Hunger – Eat
Energy – Sleep/Sit
Social – Talk to another Sim
Fun – play dice, fish, pull a sword from a stone, watch stars
Every 24 Sim hours you get 4 focus points to do quests to meet goals. Fortunately there are only 4 status’ that you must keep up. At the stroke of Midnight (00:00) your focus points will increase by 1 for each of the above 4 that are statisfied (in the green). If one is not fully satisified at midnight, you will receive the focus point once you do satisfy it.

The Bonus:
Faith – Pray
If you increase your faith and keep it 3/4 full (or higher) you will get an one focus point for faith and then an extra bonus point for being euphoric. In order to pray you will need to either go to the church or buy your own Prayer alter.

The Stories:
The Charitable Guy
Way of the Brave
Religious Commitment
Political Commitment

There are actually 55 total goals. However you have to have 4 different Sims to complete all 55. Each of the 4 Stories have 39 shared goals and 4 unique goals. Below are list the various goals with the focus points it takes to achieve the goal in parentheses and the townie who gives you the quest.

Shared Goals:
Hero’s lesson (1) Tariq the Brave
Fish Soup (3) Farmelin
Heroic Challenge n°1 (0) Quest Panel
The Drakhans (3) Tariq
Ugly Kid (3) Firmin
Heroic Challenge n°2 (0) Quest Panel
I’m Dabest (3) Will Dabest
A Mysterious Plant (3) Firmin
Plants amateur (3) Kamelia
The Fish Master (3) Innkeeper
Spread the Word (3) Brother Jules
Point of View (3) Kamelia
Chicken Wings (3) Farmelin
Heroic Challenge n°3 (0) Quest Panel
Return of Will Dabest (4) Will Dabest
Funny Haircut (4) Firmin
The Rootless Mushrooms (3) Innkeeper
Plants Collector (3) Kamila
Collect for Charity (3) Brother Jules
Sticky Bob (4) Sticky Bob
The Fish Master (4) Innkeeper

The Stories Goals:
Story: The Charitable Guy I (10) Mortemer
Story: The Charitable Guy II (10) Mortemer

http://taciej.com/blog/?page_id=2055 is a link to the page with the steps for each of the quests.

A girlfriend gave me a copy of her book in a PDF format and I wanted to put it in my Kindle for iPhone so I could take it with me. I looked around on the next and got part here, part there, and a lot of bad info along the way. Once I finally figured it out, it is so easy. It took me most of a day to research it, but once I realized how to do it I had a total “D’oh!!!” moment.  So since I couldn’t find the exact directions anywhere else … I’m making my own.  Follow the pink arrows on the pictures (which you can click on to make bigger).  They will show you where to go.

What you need.
1. PDF you want to convert into an Kindle for iPhone readable format.
2. Mobipocket Creator software (free download at http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/DownloadCreator.asp).

Assumptions:
1. You have a PC with iTunes installed.
2. You have Kindle for iPhone installed.
3. You know how to save files in directories and then find them again later.
4. You know how to find & open programs.
5. You can be a little patient. (This is VERY hard for me sometimes.)

What you do.
Make sure you are synced up with iTunes.  This is only just in case you have a problem you are all backed up (this is just the IT coming out).

Keep your iPhone connected to your PC.

Install Mobipocket Creator.  You must have the Creator.

Start Mobipocket Creator.  Open your PDF by clicking the “Adobe PDF” link under the “Import From Existing File” menu on the home page (see the pink arrow on the image below).

Click the “Browse” button and click on your file name and click “Open”.

 

Then click “Import”.  The status bar will show you your import.

Click the “Build” button along the top row.

Pause a moment.  If you are feeling adventurous, explore the options on the right hand side (Cover Image, Table of Contents, Book settings, Metadata, Guide).  I’m not going into them here, but would be happy to answer any questions.

Click the “Build” button.

You are now ready to import your file into you Kindle for iPhone.

Open iTunes
Click on your iPhone (mine is called iPhone but yours may have another name) on the left hand menu bar.
Click on “Apps” at the top. 

Scroll down.

Click on Kindle

Click on the “Add…” button.

Find your newly created “prc” file.  It should be in “My Documents” “My Publications” and then look for a subdirectory with the name of the PDF file. In this case the subdirectory is  “Love Unscripted”.
Click on the file name with the “prc” extension. Then click the “Open” button.

Your file will appear in the list box and your iPhone will automatically sync.

The next time you open your Kindle for iPhone an additional file (a “mbp” file) will be added to the list box.

DO NOT DELETE THESE FILES! If you delete them they will be removed from your Kindle as well and you will have to do this whole thing all over again.

Tah-Dah!!!

You now have your converted PDF in you Kindle for iPhone.

Stop reading now if you don’t like spoilers and hints and cheats. I’m talking this paragraph now. The next paragraph starts the spoilers. Ok. You’ve been warned.

For anyone living under a rock, The Sims 3 is a take off on the wildly popular SimCity games. It is about building the people rather than building the town. I got it for my iPhone because I was bored with the games that I was currently play and wanted a new challenge. Well, without the following, of which some is snarked directly, http://chadaustin.me/2010/01/the-completionists-guide-to-sims-3-iphone/ there is no way on God’s green earth I would be able to complete the game. Seriously, who knew the suprise at acheiving all 73 goals was to be able to open the pawn shop and who knew you needed to create 1 Sim with every personality to get there?? No me, not without Chad’s help. I’m not done yet, but at least I know HOW to finish now. He’s did an absolutely AWESOME job sorting out the game. If you have a question, you can leave a comment and I’ll respond. And, no, I can’t help on any other phone than the iPhone – which will be my stock answer. Sorry.

A strategy for completing all 73 goals and acquiring the best job: $600 per day at the Pawn Shop.

The Objective:
The objective is to open the pawn shop. You must complete the 73 goals in order to do this.

Meet the Sims:
There are six Sim classes and 13 Townie Sims. You must create one of each of the Sim in the Classes in order to complete the game. You can play a total of 7 Sims.

The Classes:
Jack of All Trades
Nice Guy
Jerk
Sleaze
Power Seeker
Maniac

The Townie Sims
Nina
Ruth
Johnny
Kia
Jake (in a relationship with Maggie)
Maggie (in a relationship with Jake)
Jack (in a relationship with Jill)
Jill (in a relationship with Jack)
Walter
Luke
Bernie
Marcell (in a relationship with Theresa)
Theresa (in a relationship with Marcell)

You will need to figure out the Townie Sims personality traits in order to better interact with them. Some things you do will annoy them (for example: Walter has no sense of humor so telling him jokes annoys him). If they shake their heads and wave their hands in a no more gesture you know you are doing something that bugs them.

Read the “Goals & Objectives” “Romancing the Sim” before you start befriending Sims. Once you have various skills (fishing, cooking, etc.) various Sims will ask you to do things for money. Various Sims don’t like each other and will ask you to smack, annoy or kick over the trash can of other Sims for money.
Johnny will pay you $200 for a tuna.
Ruth will pay you $xx for cheese.
Theresa will pay you $xx for beans.
Marcel will give you a salmon recipe for a salmon.
Bernie will pay you $30 to annoy Jack.
Jack will pay you $90 to slap Bernie.
Kia will pay you $90 to slap Ruth.

To delete Sim you have created tap the “Start Game” menu, tap the red icon in the lower left corner, tap the Sim you want to delete, tap the green check and that Sim is now removed from your choices. But any Goals accomplished by this Sim are still considered accomplished.

Do NOT EVER!
In the “Options” menu, do not ever, ever, ever tap “Reset Data” unless you want to start the game from scratch. Not only will it re-hide all your goals it will DELETE all your Sims. The good news is, if you tap it accidentally you do get the option to tap the red X and not reset.

The Goals:
There are 73 goals total. 55 of the goals are shared by all Sim classes. 18 goals are specific to a Sim classs. The goals are:

For all Sims (55)
Try fishing
Try cooking
Buy fishing kit
Buy watering can
Buy repair kit
Buy a stove
Buy a bath
Gain a skill point at cooking
Gain a skill point at fishing
Gain a skill point at repairing
Meet a new Sim
Befriend a Sim
Begin a romantic relationship
Make an enemy
Make a Sim laugh
Annoy a Sim
Insult a Sim
Creep-out another Sim
Slap a Sim
Get a job
Buy something
Catch a fish
Catch a trout
Catch a salmon
Catch a catfish
Repair something
Discover a new recipe
Cook something
Cook grilled cheese
Cook steak & veggies
Cook minestrone
Grow something
Grow carrots
Grow corn
Grow tomato
Watch TV
Kick over a Trash Can
Sleep in another Sim’s bed
Use another Sim’s shower
Use another Sim’s toilet
Get a better couch
Get a better TV
Accumulate $1,000
Catch 15 fish
Harvest 30 crops
Stay entertained for three days
Stay fed for three days
Stay rested for three days
Stay clean for three days
Meet all the Sims in town
Make a Sim jealous of you
Sleep in three other Sim’s beds
WooHoo with someone
Get a promotion
Reach the top of the career ladder

Maniac Personal Goals (4)
Use everyone’s toilet at least once
Use everyone’s shower at least once
Creep out five people
Watch three people sleeping

Sleaze Personal Goals (2)
Be romantically involved with three Sims
WooHoo eight times in one day

Power Seeker Personal Goals (3)
Accumulate $5,000
Own the best house
Own the best TV, stereo and stove

Nice Guy Personal Goals (2)
Get married
Be liked by all the Sims in town

Jerk Personal Goals (4)
Be disliked by all the Sims in town
Slap four people
Insult five people
Kick over all the trash cans in town

Jack of All Trades Personal Goals (3)
Achieve the highest fishing skill level
Achieve the highest repairing skill level
Achieve the highest cooking skill level

You should achieve the shared goals with your main Sim. This way they have the experience. But once a goal is accomplished it is accomplished for all Sims.

Play Order
Create six Sims, and designate one as your “main” Sim. Your main Sim is the one with which you most identify.

Jack of All Trades
The Jack of All Trades is a good main Sim (you’ll later need its Repair skill at the Pawn Shop). Play him or her first, building up skill levels as rapidly as possible. Once fishing, repairing, and cooking are level 5, you can save, quit and move to the next Sim.

Power Seeker
Your second Sim is your Power Seeker. Fish until you have $5000 and tool around town until you have the option to upgrade your house twice and buy the most expensive TV, stereo, and stove. Furniture and home upgrades simply take time. This is a good opportunity to accumulate general Goals.

At this point, you should have most of the 55 general Goals.

The Other Sim Types
Sleaze, Nice Guy, Jerk, and Maniac have fairly easy Personal Goals. The order in which you complete them does not matter. At this point, you should have almost all of the Personal Goals. If not, keep playing – they’ll eventually show up.

Wishes vs Goals
All Goals begin their lives as Wishes. You can choose to either leave a wish as a wish or turn it into a goal. Once it is a goal, you can’t change your mind. Be careful – wishes will appear when you are in the middle of doing something else and you can turn them into goals very easily. I’ve done that several times when I didn’t mean to. You can accomplish a goal when it is still just a wish and it counts as accomplishing a goal. But if you leave a wish as a wish (example: Catch 15 fish) and miss finishing it, you will have to start from scratch when it comes back around. If you’ve already caught 15 fish and this goal pops up, you must catch 15 more fish to accomplish it. If you get the goal “Get a better couch” and you already have the best couch, you will have to sell that couch (or if you have more than 1 sell them all), buy the crappy couch and then buy the better couch again. It’s a waste of money, but don’t worry there is a way to make $500 without doing anything. Keep reading.

Goal Tips
Do NOT lock in a goal if you are not ready to accomplish it! Once a wish has been locked in as a goal the only way to remove it from the goals list is to accomplish it. I’ve gotten myself into a situation where I had 4 goals locked in that I couldn’t accomplish right away and missed a couple of wishes that would have been easy to do but just take more time than is given for a wish. If you skip over a wish, it will come back around again and you can make it a goal then – or just accomplish it as a wish.

As previously mentioned, you will need to complete every Goal to unlock the Pawn Shop. Of the 73 total Goals, 55 randomly appear as Wishes, no matter which Sim class you choose, and they’re generally easy to complete. Once completed, they will re-appear as goals. You don’t have to do them again unless you want to. On the other hand, each Sim’s Personal Goals are relatively difficult. As previously mentioned, you’ll need to create at least six Sims, one of each type. For the optimal path through the game, you should complete their personal goals from hardest to easiest.

You don’t have to lock in a wish as a goal. You can just tap the red x and it will appear as a “Current Wish” as opposed to an “Active Goal” and it will eventually disappear. You may be prompted to “Catch a Salmon” before you “Buy a fishing kit”. Once you accomplish the 55 goals for all Sims they will continue to appear as Wishes. If you want to lock them in as Goals, go ahead but you don’t have to. If you aren’t sure if you’ve accomplished a goal, don’t lock it in and go to the main menu and check the “Goals Checklist” list to see if you’ve accomplished it. If you have accomplished it, you can ignore it or make it a goal by tapping the Wishes

Repairing: (you’ll later need its Repair skill at the Pawn Shop). As you accumulate electronics they will start to break. Wait until you get the “Buy repair kit”, if you can, to start repairing. That goal usually pops up before your electronics start breaking, but not always. As you accumulate money, buy as many of the cheapest stereos you can afford, filling your house. Each time you enter the house to eat or rest, turn them all on. Eventually, they will start breaking down, allowing you to practice repairing.

Cooking: Practicing cooking is easy – simply buy bread, cheese, and the Grilled Cheese recipe and make it over and over again. Or Ham & Eggs (3 ingredients – bread, ham, eggs). If you choose Grilled Cheese you will eventually have to sell your recipe in order to complete that goal.

Fishing: Learn to fish, because fishing is the best way to make money. But you either have to wait until you get the goal of “Buy fishing kit” or at some point sell your fishing kit to get this goal. If you don’t get the “Catch a catfish” goal early I found it is harder to catch them at the higher levels. You can either start a new Sim or be patient.

Gardening: You won’t be able to Garden until you upgrade to the 2nd level house. You get 4 plots. Then on the 3rd level house you get 6 plots. This is a good way to say money – by growing, tomatoes, peppers, corn, and carrots. Also, if you choose to work at the Laboratory you will need to advance in Gardening in order to get a promotion.

If you need the “Buy XXX” goal but you already have XXX, then try selling it. Eventually the Goal should appear as a Wish. Lock it in and repurchase the item.

If you need the “Gain a skill point at XXX” goal and you’re maxed out, switch to a Sim that is not maxed out. It is best to take it slow at first.

You will eventually need to meet every Sim in town to accomplish all of your goals. Wait until you get the “Meet a new Sim” goal to meet all the Townie Sims. This is not hard as Bernie is a bit of a recluse and you have to go to his house to meet him. Do NOT go past Friends if you are considering a Romance with a specific Townie Sim. Once you become Good Friends you can not have a Romance. Keep at least one Townie Sim as an Acquaintance until you get the “Befriend a Sim” goal.

If you’re having trouble Meeting all Sims, double-check all of the houses at different times of the day. I’ve noticed Bernie can be hard to find. Most Sims are sleeping in the middle of the night – try breaking into their houses, waking them up, and meeting them. If you hang out at the lake, eventually the Townie Sims will show up there. Even Bernie will make a rare appearance.

Romancing the Sim: In order to advance in the game you will eventually have to have a Romance. The Sims are equal opportunity lovers – they don’t care if you are male or female. If you have gone past Friend, you can’t start a Romance with that Sim. You must either choose a different Sim or annoy the Sim until they Dislike you, and them become their friend again and start a “Budding Romance.” You don’t have to live with a Sim to be a partner or be married to them. If you want to start a love affair with a Sim that has a partner (and not annoy that partner) you will have to do it outside of their house.

If you need to befriend a Sim but you’re already friends with all of the Sims, start a new Sim or insult a Sim until it becomes an enemy, then befriend him or her.

The best way to annoy, insult, and creep-out other Sims is to find a house with two Sims (e.g. Marcell and Theresa), barge in, and start flirting with one of them. Both will be creeped out and annoyed, and the flirting will insult the other and make him or her jealous. If that doesn’t work, start using their toilet, shower, and fridge.

Tips and Tricks
Fishing is the best way to make money. Each tuna sells at QuickMart for $100, and salmon for $65.

Besides the Pawn Shop, working at the Town Hall is the best. It’s easy to get promotions (both Ruth and the Town Hall are nearby) and you just need to be friends with everyone in town. As Vice President, you can make $300 per day.

Creating romantic relationships is easy. It sounds rude, but keep pestering the Sim with Flirt, Tender Embrace, Hot Smooch, and WooHoo. You should be able marry a Sim within two conversations.

Too many WooHoos and your Sim will die! Don’t overdo it in the bedroom!

If you get married, give your spouse a phone call and invite him or her over. Once your spouse arrives, you can invite him or her to move in. The advantage to having a Sim in the house with you is there is always some one with whom you can have a conversation.

Since the Town Hall is right by your house, it’s the best job until the Pawn Shop is open.

If you don’t mind cheating there is a quick way to get $500. When you are in your Sim that is short on cash tap the Menu Button in the lower left hand corner (the (…) button), tap on “Help & About”, tap on “Gardening Tips” and then give your iPhone a good shake. You can do this over and over and over. Just don’t over do on your Power Seeker Sim it until you’ve reached the $1,000 and $5,000 goals.

If you are Hungry or Tired or have to go to the bathroom and don’t think you can make it home there is a way around this problem. Just take a nap at someone else’s house or raid their fridge or use their bathroom. Or tap the Menu Button in the lower left hand corner (the (…) button), tap the “Save and Quit to menu” button, and then restart your Sim. This will automatically take you to your home where you sleep, eat, or do whatever it is you need to do.

The Jobs

Town Hall (boss: Ruth)
Campaign Intern ($100/day) M-F 8:30-18:00
City Council Member ($150/day) M-F 8:30-18:00
Local Representative ($200/day) M-F 9:00-18:00
Mayor ($250/day) M-F 10:00-18:00
Vice President ($300/day) M-F 10:00-17:00

Corsican Bistro (boss: Marcell)
Kitchen Scullion ($100/day) M-F 10:30-18:30
Ingredient Taster ($150/day) M-F 10:30-18:30
Line Chef ($200/day) Tue-Sat 11:00-17:00
Sous-Chef ($250/day) Tue-Sat 11:00-17:00
Chef de Cuisine ($300/day) Tue-Fri 11:00-17:00

Laboratory (boss: Kia)
Test Subject ($100/day) M-F 9:00-16:00
Lab Tech ($150/day) M-F 09:00-16:00
Fertilizer Analyst ($200/day) M-F 09:00-16:00
Carnivorous Plant Tender ($250/day) M-F 09:00-16:00
Genetic Resequencer ($300/day) M-F 10:00-16:00
A quick tip about being a lab worker – it is dangerous and you will almost certainly die at least once. Avoid working here.

Quickmart (boss: Bernie)
Filing Clerk ($100/day) M-F 08:30-18:30
Report Processor ($150/day) M-F 09:00-17:00
Corporate Drone ($200/day) M-F 09:30-16:30 and you get a car!
Division Manager ($250/day) M-F 8:30-18:30
It’s not worth getting promotions at Quickmart. Bernie is a pain and you have to work there FOREVER before he’ll promote you.

Pawn Shop (boss: Nina)
Con Artist ($300/day) M-F 16:30-23:55
Safecracker ($400/day) M-F 16:30-23:55
Cat Burglar ($500/day) M-F 17:00-23:55
Master Thief ($600/day) M-F 17:00-23:00

With the information given above, you should have no problem achieving 73 goals and as much money as you need to decorate your dream home.

Since I can’t figure out how to update the existing file here’s the new update for my MyTown spreadsheet.  If you have any changes or updates to it let me know and we’ll do this again.  Actually we’ll do it again when I level up and can update my properties to level 22.

myTownItems

Here are some of tips and tricks for playing MyTown. They are things I’ve found on the web, discovered myself or had friends tell me. I’ll be updating this from time to time.

Tips:

  1. Have 1 of every type of  property. Very Important!  Icons
  2. Buy tons of Chemical X. You will use it.
  3. Don’t squander you money too much. You will need it as you level up.
  4. Level up. (which is a d’uh.)
  5. Suck it up and spend the $5 for the Unlimited Collect All Rent.
  6. Put the Stamps that speed up rent properties that create Components first. It speeds up the creation too.

Tricks:

  1. After buying the Unlimited Collect All rent for $5 (seriously do it – now) collect rent just before you create you items.

myTownItems

I play a game on my iPhone called MyTown.  It’s fun, I’m somewhat obessed.  I’ve created a file to help those who are at lower knows know what, where and how to create items.  It’s a pdf file so everyone should be able to view it. This is obviously a work in process because I haven’t maxed out my levels yet.  So as I level up I will update the file.

I love my iPhone. And now I can write my random thoughts while I’m mobile. Which is kinda cool and fun. We will see if this encourages me to blog more.

Brooks’ Law:
“Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
 
Who said it: Frederick P Brooks, Jr. in The Mythical Man-Month 1975
 
What it means: Getting new team members up to speed delays development even more than just finishing the job with the existing team.
What too many people think it means: A crazy idea. If throwing more people at the problem doesn’t help how could it hurt?
Why the difference matters: Developing systems isn’t like picking sweet corn. Until we all understand that, we’ll keep wasting the time and people we throw at projects that slip their schedules.
 
From Computer World’s column Frankly Speaking by Frank Hayes (currently it’s hanging on my wall). Don’t ask me when. It’s old.

So, how DO astronauts go to the bathroom?
The following video explains it all.
Astronaut Potty

It took a modern astronomer using one of the world’s most powerful computers to prove that Stonehenge was/is a calendar. How it was constructed without the use of massive earth moving and lifting equipment remains a mystery. Now comes a retired construction worker with a simple and completely plausible answer. I think you will find this video fascinating. Click on the link below.

Stonehenge’s Possible Construction