Hobbies for Harvesting LP
Before we get to the details of this mini guide and the strategies upon which they rely it is key for you to understand and accept that the foundation for this strategy and approach is the fact that the Top Prize for each of the Hobby Collections Changes to Life Points after the collection has been solved once*.
This is a change that is good news for players who want to prepare for upcoming Special and Holiday Events as well as create a Point Bank for the Objects and Items (particularly trigger items such as Birthday Cakes) as it makes the process oh-so-much more easy and convenient once you grok the particular details for the strategy for earning LP...
The Hobby Collection Rewards Table
Acquiring an LP Bank begins with the strategic use of Hobby Collections as your farming source for LP.
Once you have completed each of the collections in a given Hobby the first time - with the noted exception of Special Event prizes that can temporarily hijack a hobby / collection - the following rewards become the Top Prize for each Collection (listed in the order that they appear in the Hobbies Collection Status Page)::
Top Prize | Hobby Name | No. of Items | No. of Sims |
3 LP | Diving Collections | 12 | 4 |
5 LP | Ghost Hunting Collections | 18 | 4 |
3 LP | Fashion Design Collections | 12 | 2 |
5 LP | Fishing Collections | 18 | 1 |
3 LP | Skating Collections | 12 | 2 |
3 LP | Teen Idol Collections | 15 | 1 |
3 LP | Woodworking Collections | 12 | 2 |
The above list is the Hobbies recommended and in place at the time of writing this.
We fully expect that once the full set of evolution forms appear in the game there will be additional Hobby Collections added to it for each and will add those as they appear and apply to this strategy.
In addition to the recommended number of Sims being part of the hobbies listed above (which appear in the column whose heading is "No. of Sims" in the above table) the following additional methods also apply to this strategy for collecting and banking LP:
Pets and Treasure Hunting
Your Pet -- whatever that Pet is as long as it is a Cat or a Dog (obviously bunny rabbits do not apply) has the potential in addition to finding money and the rarer XP, of digging up the still rarer occasional Life Point(s) -- LP -- and the super rare social Point(s) -- SP as their Treasure.
The more expensive the Pet is in terms of its acquisition cost, the better its chances are of obtaining the desired treasure (LP or SP) as they dig, and that really should be taken into consideration when you choose the Pets to purchase for your Sims, bearing in mind that each Sim household can only have one digging pet assigned to it.
It is best not to view the potential Treasure finds of your Pets as an active part of preparing for Special and Holiday Events, but rather as a bonus to the process.
The reason for that is largely down to the total lack of predictability for the finds. If one of your Pets digs up a Life Point then good on you and good on them! But that is a special treat and bonus, not something you can or should rely upon as a predictable result.
That said, you should be aware that there are certain things you can do to increase the chances for a Pet finding Treasure, starting with the Pet itself.
The general rule for this is that the more expensive a Pet is, the more likely it is to find Life or social Points.
Another way to improve the odds is to be sure that you have one of your Sims praise the Pet each time it finds something -- as that will cause the Pet to find Treasure more often, and the rumor is that it also will find better Treasure as well.
The following Pets, sold at The Pet Shop in the Commercial Shopping District, are presently available in the game as of the time this was written:
The Cat Catalog
The Dog Catalog
As you will note from the prices above the desirable animals are sold for Life Points -- a good thing really when you consider that in the long-run Life Points are obtained as a trade-ff of time and effort for that special in-game currency!
When I discovered that the more desirable Pets could be had for Life Points I was at once pleased and chagrined -- the former at the realization that I could have had Pets for all of my Sim households, the latter because I did not have a Pet in each household!
The Sim Town Competition Center
While this is certainly not what you would call a rapid source for Life Points, it is a reliable and predictable one, because all you need to do is check the Competition Center daily to see what the Competition is, and then commit your most skilled Sim for that Job / Hobby / Ability in order to obtain it!
Each of the Competitions takes 24-hours, and should result in a Prize of 3 Life Points to you - below is the Prize List for the Spelling Bee Competition, which uses the Student Skill.
Example: Student Competition (24h Timer)
The different contests will utilize one of the many skills and abilities that are measured in percentage of skill and promotion, so basically all of the Careers and the Hobbies.
When you tap the "Continue" button on the main screen you will then be presented with a full list of all of the Sims in your town, with the ones that can actually participate in that day's Event being lit, while all of the others are dark.
The best method is to only submit Sims who have MASTERED the Hobby in question, as your chanced of obtaining first place are almost assured.
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The Math for LP Acquisition
If you follow a simple and conservative 24-hour plan that is predicated upon a commitment to complete each of the Hobby Collections at least one time per day and you participate in the passive elements -- you should see an LP Yield that looks something like this:
Minimum Hobby Commitment for Sims
To achieve the desired totals you will need to commit a specific minimum number of Sims per Hobby bearing in mind that the actual level of the Sim in a given hobby does not really matter, rather it is the highest level of any of the Sims who are participating in that Hobby that will dictate what the cap is on what gets "found" by all of the Sims that are participating.
The minimum number of Sims that you should have participating in each Hobby breaks down as follows:
There are reasons for the numbers of Sims above - reasons that have everything to do with the natural limits that are part of the game as follows:
The Diving Hobby is held at the Swimming Centre, which only has FOUR Diving Boards, which means that at any time only 4 Sims can participate in that hobby.
It makes no sense to have more than 4 Sims have the Diving Hobby then, as only 4 Sims can DO the hobby. Still having all four Diving Boards occupied at any time is really the most efficient way to complete the Diving Collection since it maximizes the chances of obtaining any of the Collection Items still outstanding.
The designated number of 2 Sims for this Hobby is a soft number that is based on the desire not to commit too many Sims to any of the flexible hobbies...
This Hobby uses a special table that the player must purchase from The Hobby Shop and then place in the desired Sim home (or in the Courtesy House). You can actually have as many Sims doing this Hobby and Collection as you like, bearing in mind that each will need a Fashion Design Table in order to practice it.
This one has a hard restriction of one (1) Sim because it can ONLY be practiced in the Town Park, on the Town Park Dock, which limits the practice to a single Sim.
Ideally you will have placed a large number of Haunted Items and Objects in your town Courtesy House - that being a house you have built in your town but that does not have a regular Sim occupant (no Sim actually lives there) and in which you have placed all of the relevant objects and items that a visitor from another town may need in order to complete the social Tasks required for unlocking SP from Social Quests.
The reason you should try to place as many Haunted Objects as you can in the Courtesy House is due to the unfortunate addition of recharge timers that was added to the Ghost Hunting Hobby. Basically each object that is used to trigger a Ghost Hunting Session must "recharge" its "Haunted Level" before it can be used to trigger another hunting session / action.
A Ghost Hunting Session / Action has a 3m 30s timer, but the recharge timer for the Haunted Object is longer - something like 15m. That means that for every Ghost Hunter you have active in the Courtesy House they are going to need at least 8 or 9 Haunted Objects (since they can do 16 actions / sessions in a typical hour).
Having the Courtesy House be your designated Haunted House offers several conveniences that would not be present otherwise!
First, as no Sim is in residence, the haunting will not interfere with their normal daily routines.
Second, the fact that it is a Courtesy House means that all of the regular Objects needed to maintain Stats for your Sims will be naturally present, which means that they can pursue the collections efforts without having to return home to recover stats.
The Skating Hobby and its collections are completed via the Ice Rink at the Snow Center - which only has TWO (2) Trigger Points that can be used for it - the two circles on the left-side of the rink - which naturally limits the participation to just two (2) Sims. Any more than that is wasted.
Please see the notes in the later section of this page for information about the limits for Teen Idol Mastery and participation.
For all practical purposes until the Teen Idol path is fully mastered by your Teen Idol Sim, this collection is limited to ONE (1) Sim.
The designated number of 2 Sims for this Hobby is a soft number that is based on the desire not to commit too many Sims to any of the flexible hobbies...
This Hobby uses a special table that can be found in The Community Center, where there are three (3) such tables on the second floor. The player ALSO has the option to purchase, from The Hobby Shop, additional Woodworking Tables that they can then place in the desired Sim home (or in the Courtesy House).
So in theory you could have x3 Sims working the Hobby for free at The Community Center, plus an additional however many you like working the Hobby on the respective Table at home. You can therefore have as many Sims doing this Hobby and Collection as you like.
There are some issues related to the different Hobbies that need to be observed -- as stated elsewhere it is the highest level of skill of all of the Sims collectively who are participating in the Hobby that dictates what the possible results will be per collection. Therefore at least one of the Sims who is participating in the Hobby should be a Master Level for that Hobby.
If for whatever reason you lack a Master Level for a Hobby considerable effort is justified in reaching the Master Level as soon as possible.
Haunted Object Trigger List
The following Haunted Objects can be placed in your Courtesy House and used for activating the Ghost Hunting Action:
Teen Idol Limitations
** You MUST limit participation in the Teen Idol Hobby to ONE Teen Sim until you have fully completed the contest portion of the Event and challenge because the game only allows ONE Teen Sim to obtain the various Hobby-related resources since having a second Sim working in the Hobby will result in the statistics being reset overall for the Hobby.
Once your primary Teen Idol Sim has fully mastered the Teen Idol Hobby / Sub-Career you can safely have a second Teen begin it as the mastery remains attached to any Teen who has in effect attained it. In theory that should mean that more than one Sim can use the instruments and contribute towards the collections.
Warning: You should bear in mind that allowing any Sim who has mastered Teen Idol to experience the Birthday Event and Evolve to the next stage - Adult - effectively REMOVES the Teen Idol Mastery Flag, and thus renders your efforts useless in that regard!
The Importance if Inspiration
We have found that when your Sims are in the Inspired state - that being when they sparkle and the Cupcake Purchase option is greyed out - they are much more likely to actually end up gaining one of the Hobby collection Items that they are seeking.
That being the case it is always a good idea to send them home and renew their Stats before sending them back to their Hobby should they fall below the Inspired State - that is to say, stop sparkling. Just saying.
LP Yield for A Typical Day of Play
The estimated totals below at the head of each line are the target number desired based upon an average daily play time of between one and two hours. Hoo-Ah!
The list above is based upon completing the various collections or Events a minimum of two (2) times in a day... This works out to around 55 LP per day, however the 5 from the last three Items are either based upon participation in the case of the Competition Center, and random luck in the case of Pets and Tasks.
You may find that some days you cannot do the Competition reliably due to lack of a Sim with the required Hobby mastery, and that luck sometimes eludes you in the case of the other two. That is OK though because the remaining active hobby collections total over 40 and as 40 is the target as long as you get there you do not have to worry about, for instance, not getting a completed collection on the lower-Sim populated ones like Woodworking or Fashion.
Ideally what you want to do here is determine what you feel is the best LP Bank amount to target, and then play with an eye towards achieving that...
For instance if you decide that you want to have and maintain a bank of 100 LP and your average daily play time works out to around an hour, simply adding an additional hour and focusing upon the hobbies that we recommend will easily see you manage that goal inside a week.
As you spend LP you should make an effort to replace it - and optimally if you do this on a regular basis and establish solid habits you should easily exceed your 100 LP Bank goal from Event to event.
The person who wrote this is WAY off. 55 LP per day is next to impossible. Think about it. If you don't have the community center, Ghost Hunting, Teen Idol, Pet Store, Promotions R Us store, or the Stables, you can't do any of these! Ghost Hunting doesn't even unlock until Level 18 or so! Come on! :([color=Orange][/color]
Another way to get LPs is to go for a drive in a car around town. When you burst the musical notes you get money or a lp. It is random but if done repeatedly averages out around one lp per drive.
You need to start a new collection and then often it is lp you are rewarded with.
Can you still use hobbies for LP? The only hobbies I have so far are fishing, cooking, and fashion, and I have sims maxed out at all of those, and still no LP. I have completed the collections. Did it change with the update or something?
Don't know if everyone knows this? The diving hobby can be done at home with diving boards. You get a pool with 10 diving boards, you can get 10 sims diving for medals at a time. Working for me
Well hello there! Happy New Year!
I am averaging 55 LP a day between hobbies, challenges, pets, and the party boat. Some days are less, some days are more, but 55 LP is the average. That is largely coming from a combination of the Ghost Hunters, Divers, and a Designers.
I have 4 Sims per for those three, and while the other hobbies might only collect every other day, I am still getting that result. Frankly I don't understand why you are not?
It is possible to gain LP's from doing hobbies, but you need to concentrate on one or two at a time to really make any headway. Like the cooking hobby and diving for example. Fishing is the worst one and fashion designer seems to be the second worse. There is no way with casual play you could complete these collections in only an hour of two of play a day. With the cooking one, you definitely could. But not 55 LP a day. The author seems to be really exaggerating what is possible. If you concentrate on the cooking hobby and diving hobby, you could expect to net at least 30 lp a day if you spend 2 to 4 hours a day on it.
Whoever wrote this article was not on the ball. What he writes isn't even possible. You can only have one person doing the fishing hobby at a time, and at the most do it every 10 minutes. This amounts to being able to collect at most 6 items in an hour, 12 in 2 hours. There are 18 items in the collection. So in 2 hours of play you couldn't even complete the collection once, let alone the two times he lists in the chart from only 1 to 2 hours of play a day. At best, you might be able to get one collection done in 3 hours, but this is only if you get no repeats, which is impossible. Repeats happen all the time. You would be lucky to complete one fishing collection every 3 to 4 days which is 5 LP. Same thing with fashion collection. Can only do it in 10 minute increments, only need 12 with this one, but the fashion hobby repeats a lot, so in 2 hours you will definitely not complete this collection unless you have 5 or more participating at a time.
Love the use of 'grok' - big RAH fan!
I noticed that there are actually FOUR trigger points on this ice rink for the skating hobby.
Whoever wrote this guide is brilliant and intelligent, and has way toomuch time on their hands! Switch to rocket science man!
While I am only now getting to the point where that is active in the game for me due to having to cover other elements, I think it is fair to say that like all of the other hobbies, it will be a good idea to have at least one or two Sims active in it if only because the weekly quests may require that.
I'm curious about recommendations for the equestrian hobby. Any insights?