[Spoilers] Finchwick Fair Hints and Tips

"pepperjax1230;c-17940010" wrote:

You don't need to wait for the to bring the egg hunt back if you have seasons you can make Easter and have them find eggs.

I updated the post. I was getting chicken eggs during my egg hunt, not the decór collectibles.

Annabel from Platinum Simmers discovered it's due to there being a Chicken Coop on the lot.

If you don't own a coop and want to get real eggs instead of decór ones during an Egg Hunt holiday then I suggest visiting a lot with a coop (residence or community lot with petting zoo) and doing an egg hunt there.

Another great reason to add a petting zoo to a park somewhere.

"katandmari;c-17940094" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-17940061" wrote:

"pepperjax1230;c-17940010" wrote:

You don't need to wait for the to bring the egg hunt back if you have seasons you can make Easter and have them find eggs.

I updated the post. I was getting chicken eggs during my egg hunt, not the decór collectibles.

Annabel from Platinum Simmers discovered it's due to there being a Chicken Coop on the lot.

If you don't own a coop and want to get real eggs instead of decór ones during an Egg Hunt holiday then I suggest visiting a lot with a coop (residence or community lot with petting zoo) and doing an egg hunt there.

Another great reason to add a petting zoo to a park somewhere.

Petting zoo? how does one make a petting zoo?

If you make the lot into a Park, National Park or Generic Lot directly then you can can make a petting zoo with rabbits (wild rabbit home), birds (wild bird tree/bird feeder), foxes (wild foxes lot trait), stray cats and dogs (cat hangout/dog hangout lot traits), interactive fish/sprites (water garden pond object), non-interactive wildlife (pond tool FX) and rodent cages/aquariums.

If you want to add cows, chickens or llamas then you have to convert the lot to Residential, move a sim in, buy the livestock then move the sim out again. You can then change the lot type to whatever you want. You would need to rebuy the lot if animals die off and need replacing, but otherwise they (and their sheds) have all the normal interactions except for trading them. I assume the purchasing sim retains ownership of the animals though.

Has anyone tried entering multiple played households in the same fair?

I.e., if I go to the fair with Household A, set up their entries, save and go to manage worlds, open Household B, take Household B to the fair, and enter Household B's items, will it reset Household A's entries, or will they both still be entered? If so, and if the winning entry is for a household other than the one I'm currently in, will they still receive the prizes? Or households, plural, I guess, since in theory you could have 3 or 4 households enter in this way, one receives first prize, one receives second prize, etc. If it works at all.

I'm hoping to eventually have all my farming households up and running so that all or most of the entries can be from played sims, and these darned townies can stop running away with all of the ribbons.

"Amapola76;c-17942171" wrote:
Has anyone tried entering multiple played households in the same fair?

I.e., if I go to the fair with Household A, set up their entries, save and go to manage worlds, open Household B, take Household B to the fair, and enter Household B's items, will it reset Household A's entries, or will they both still be entered? If so, and if the winning entry is for a household other than the one I'm currently in, will they still receive the prizes? Or households, plural, I guess, since in theory you could have 3 or 4 households enter in this way, one receives first prize, one receives second prize, etc. If it works at all.

I'm hoping to eventually have all my farming households up and running so that all or most of the entries can be from played sims, and these darned townies can stop running away with all of the ribbons.

In case anyone is interested, I did test this out. The answer is yes, you can have multiple households pop in and enter their items, and the entries will not reset. However, that being said, on my first attempt, the sim I really wanted to win went there first, with a perfect oversized pumpkin and chocolate pie. The other sims I subsequently entered only had excellent and normal items. I reopened my first sim's household just as the fair was ending, and she had been sent home and got pop-up notifications for participation awards. So I exited without saving and reopened it, and she had won first place for the pumpkin and second for the pie.

So I guess basically my advice is, you can have multiple households enter the fair at the same time, but I would try to leave plenty of time before the fair ends and enter the sim you most want to win last, so that you are on the lot with them before it ends.

The moral of this story may also be, save shortly before the fair ends, and if you aren't happy with the results, just exit without saving and try again. >:)

It does seem to be more luck than skill based at this point.

"Sha2520032003;c-17942104" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-17940575" wrote:

"Sha2520032003;c-17940548" wrote:
Thanks for this guide @EmmaVane. My Sim entered some blue wool, bribed the fair lady. & then the fair ended. How do you know who won or when will prizes show up in your Sims inventory? I'm assuming mine didn't win as it's been a Sim day later and nothing happened lol

You should get a TNS/notification letting you know what ribbon you won, but won't know who else got prizes unless they are in your household. The items you get as prizes seem to be randomly picked from a loot table so it's a lot of guesswork unless you keep your inventory tidy. Check household inventory too, as I'm not sure if anything ends up in there. The cash prizes are minimal (10s and 100s of simoleons).

Thank you @EmmaVane. Do you find out immediately after the fair is over? Also, how do you put an animal, like a chicken into your inventory to submit....is it just click on them and drag them? I'm still so lost lol

Yes, the TNS pops up as the fair ends.

To put animals in your inventory you click on them and the option is under "Actions" in the pie menu.

"EmmaVane;d-992144" wrote:
Thought I'd make a little place to share info about participating in and winning at the fair, what sort of things are in the prize loot table for each tier and anything else people feel is relevant. Hopefully we can figure out the best ways to win the good loot and ribbons.

BASICS

List of Contests

Spoiler

• Cows
  
• Llamas
  
• Chickens
  
• Milk
  
• Eggs
  
• Wool
  
• Oversize Crops (inc. small produce)
  
• Gardening (exc. crops)
  
• Pies (both Cooked and Baked variants, need to check if individual tarts etc from Cupcake Machine work)
  

Entering Contests

Spoiler

• Finchwick Fair is held every Saturday at 3.30 pm on the village green outside of the Gnomes Arms pub.
  
• You can see which contests will be at the upcoming fair via noticeboards found by the village green in Finchwick or community garden in Old New Henford. (Possibly one in the Bramblewood?). Alternatively, you can check the calendar which is now base game. Knowing what contests are upcoming gives you time to prepare for them.
  
• Each fair has two contests to enter, and they are normally related (cow and milk, chickens and eggs etc).
  
• You can have one entry for each contest per sim, so share out entries between household members for maximum prizes.
  
• Animals, and items, have to be in the sim inventory to be entered, so remember to pick them up before you leave home.
  
• Fairs can be entered by clicking on the podiums that appear on the village green outside of the pub.
  
• Sims can browse other entries for Notebook information, so this is a great way to learn about special eggs/milk/wool.
  
• You can attempt to bribe the Mayor which can help an inferior entry win. This costs Simoleons, however, and doesn't necessarily work. (Maybe you need a good relationship with the Mayor for her to accept? It could also be entirely random).
  
• Once you have placed you entries on the podiums and collected any info you want for your Notebook, you can either hangout out the village, go to the pub or go home.
  
• The contest completes and prizes are awarded whether you are there or not. Entries are returned to you. Cash goes into family funds, produce/fertiliser etc into sim inventory and livestock goes into household inventory.
  

Market Day

Spoiler

• The Grocery Stall and Gardening Stall have unique items for sale during fairs (rare eggs during chicken fair, for example).
  
• Stalls also have a 10% increase on buy prices if you want to sell your produce en masse. Don't forget to haggle for even better deals.
  
• Consider bringing a Sales Table or Gallery Wall to sell your wares during the fair. It'll make the place more lively and you can earn a much better percentage profit (up 300% mark up, which is 4x the base inventory sell value).
  
• If your sim has gained a musical skill while entertaining their animals then fair days are a great time and place to busk.
  

WINNING ENTRY TIPS (WIP)

Eggs

Spoiler

• {CoL + S} You can get regular, coloured, rainbow and chocolate eggs by using the "Hunt for Eggs" Holiday Tradition interaction. It currently seems to be bugged and doesn't satisfy/complete the tradition when doing so, but it's a nice easy way to get a lot of the rare eggs without even owning chickens. However, this means the only way to get the decór egg collection is via debug, unless the team brings the Egg Hunt back as a seasonal challenge.
  

Gardening

Spoiler

• {S} You can grow things in all seasons and increase quality faster by using a greenhouse or growing plants indoors. Having a bee box also helps pollinate plants and acting like a second round of fertiliser.
  

LOOT TIERS (WIP)

You don't need to wait for the to bring the egg hunt back if you have seasons you can make Easter and have them find eggs.

"EmmaVane;c-17940061" wrote:

"pepperjax1230;c-17940010" wrote:

You don't need to wait for the to bring the egg hunt back if you have seasons you can make Easter and have them find eggs.

I updated the post. I was getting chicken eggs during my egg hunt, not the decór collectibles.

Annabel from Platinum Simmers discovered it's due to there being a Chicken Coop on the lot.

If you don't own a coop and want to get real eggs instead of decór ones during an Egg Hunt holiday then I suggest visiting a lot with a coop (residence or community lot with petting zoo) and doing an egg hunt there.

Another great reason to add a petting zoo to a park somewhere.

Petting zoo? how does one make a petting zoo?

"katandmari;c-17940094" wrote:

"EmmaVane;c-17940061" wrote:

"pepperjax1230;c-17940010" wrote:

You don't need to wait for the to bring the egg hunt back if you have seasons you can make Easter and have them find eggs.

I updated the post. I was getting chicken eggs during my egg hunt, not the decór collectibles.

Annabel from Platinum Simmers discovered it's due to there being a Chicken Coop on the lot.

If you don't own a coop and want to get real eggs instead of decór ones during an Egg Hunt holiday then I suggest visiting a lot with a coop (residence or community lot with petting zoo) and doing an egg hunt there.

Another great reason to add a petting zoo to a park somewhere.

Petting zoo? how does one make a petting zoo?

Yes how do you do that?

Thanks for this guide @EmmaVane. My Sim entered some blue wool, bribed the fair lady. & then the fair ended. How do you know who won or when will prizes show up in your Sims inventory? I'm assuming mine didn't win as it's been a Sim day later and nothing happened lol