non-retcon contest - completed

[Harry Dresden]

I'm planning to take a break from runs soon, so I figure this is a great time for a contest that goes deep into aftercore.

The premise: A race to level 50!
When it starts: run must begin after rollover of Feb 29th
Run requirements: Run can not end until you level up to 50. Once you hit level 50, you must complete the run (aka talk to Susan) so that the time stamp shows on your retcons list.
Restrictions: Some or No Pulls, the rest are open.
Prizes: 1st place - 5 stars, 2nd place - 100 of each Lost item, 3rd place - 100 of each Slouch item, 4th place - 100 subscription vouchers

I will be racing along with you all, so I have a chance to "win" the prizes as well. Trust me, I won't be using my full speed capabilities, so it isn't going to be unfair for anyone.

If you plan on participating, let me know here or via in game message. If there is a lot of interest (10+ people) I'm sure I can come up with a 4th and perhaps 5th place prize.

Entrants:
Cristhird prize
Harry
Zillow
Thorak
acidcatfourth prize
penguinPYROsecond prize
goshdarngood
bmara first prize
Kurg

[zillow]

Well I might as well participate since I haven't seemed to be able to retcon for the past couple weeks anyways...

[Patojonas]

I better raise the price of the discs in my alts to promote equity

[Harry Dresden]

I better raise the price of the discs in my alts to promote equity

Now I'm reminded why I should place restrictions......stay tuned for any changes by the end of the weekend.

[Cristiona]

Squids? Heh. Sure. Go ahead and spam squids. There isn't even a good supply of the most useful ones.

[Patojonas]

and which would those be?

Spoiler: show

just so I can have my alts farm them. Also, if you think the mall is missing an useful item at decent prices pm me and my alts might make it show up

[Cristiona]

Heh. For something like this? Humans in the Desert, no question.

[Patojonas]

Nice, I'll have an alt farm them (I was in need of items from that area anyway.... )

[acidcat]

Ooh, I'd like to play please.
Was dubious when it was open to all pulls because of squids, but with these rules and current number of entrants I'd have a chance of coming in the top 5

[Cristiona]

Level 50 with "some"? Ugh. That's gonna take most of March.

Run requirements: Run can not end until you level up to 50.

So we have to fight the Mick at 50? Or is he irrelevant?

[Harry Dresden]

It's a race. As soon as you hit level 50, complete the run and post in the thread. If multiple people claim it in the same day, I'll base it on the earliest run time finish.

[Cristiona]

Just because some of you may have missed it, Sneaky Harry edited the first post without mentioning. Y'all got another week to plan.

[Cristiona]

Also, question: Do we have to beat the Mick at 50 or can we do so earlier?

[Harry Dresden]

You can beat the Mick any time your heart desires. You just can't finish the run, aka go into the last room and talk to Susan, until you hit 50.

[Harry Dresden]

It is a requirement to complete the run, and jump into a new run so that I can see the time stamp of the completed run. If I don't require that, then there's nothing to stop someone from talking to Susan at level 11 to drop restrictions and speed past everyone else.

[Cristiona]

Actually, you don't have to jump into another run:

52 run not complete 2012-02-14 21:26:12 12 52h 10m 30s

The time stamp will still show even without hopping through the device.

[Harry Dresden]

Thanks Cris. I just wasn't wrapping my head around that display properly.

[Cristiona]

End of day 1:
Level 6
1,920XP to next level
bedtime: 6:55am

Completed Quests:
Like a Super Neighbor
A Dank and Rusty Mystery
Protests Aren't For Amateurs

Not terrible, I suppose.

[Kurg]

Haven't done runs in ages, and I'm getting bored so...count me in.

[acidcat]

DAY 1
Slotting neatly in between Cris and Thorak - level 7 at the end of day 1, 3028 xp to go, bedtime 0910

Am impressed that you managed to use so much cash Thorak, still had plenty of my blue chip until I blew it all on Mister Teas

Completed quests:
Like a Super Neighbor
Trouble in the Galleria
Protests Aren't for Amateurs
Go Fish

DAY 2
Based on mara's idea, didn't spend many turns today, saving for tomorrows Frayday. No new completed quests, level 8, 2670 xp to go, bedtime 627 am. Am hoping I remember right and you can carry over turns until 3pm...

DAY 3
Frayday so used all my turns. Levelled to 12, think bmara is going to be very hard or impossible to catch.

DAY 4
Gah. Took a wrong turn downtown. Was aiming at the criminology lab and accidentally went to the police station. Didn't mean to fight the Mick this early, wanted to keep my sidekick longer. Have hit level 15 now, with no turns saved.

DAY 5
Levelled to 17. Too weak to spend much time at the castle

DAY6
Levelled to 19. Can now fight at the castle. However, I'm now a full day behind a lot of the rest of the competitors. Fighting for the wooden spoon!

DAY 7
Didn't have time to play turns. Levelled to 20 to make sure I don't lose any to rollover. Running out of ideas for useful things to pull.

DAY8-9
Can't remember what I did day 8. End of day 9 I'm finally strong enough to adventure in the castle without getting beaten up much. Now level 25 with no rolled over turns so slow progresss. Halfway there by levels, waaaay under halfway there by XP.

DAY10
Level 28. Just grinding in castle.

DAY11
Level 29. Built the dreamers clock, back to grinding in castle. Quite a long way short of mara's impressive level 49.

DAY12
Level 31. Staying in castle as not strong enough to survive any of the dreamers clock destinations. Space is locked to me though as can't talk to Susan to open it. Sigh. Congratulations to mara!

DAY13
Level 33. Consistently managing two levels per day. If I maintain this pace, be done about a week after mara.

DAy14
Level 34. Slowing down. Don't know what I'm doing wrong, short of not being strong enough to do dreamers clock locations and not having the iotm like the bicycle shorts. Maybe I need to be using better caffeine and sugar than precoffee and stroops.

DAY15
level 36. Discovered the joy of yith - wish I'd pulled it long ago. Now strong enough for farthest reaches of insanity. Congratulations to penguinpyro and Cris!

Day 16
Lucky enough to have been given hammer by fickle hand of fate. It's fun, will be a pity to have to go back to cranky old bastard sword tomorrow. Level 38. Started pulling my limited number of exigenCs for more turns.

Day 17/18
Level 41. ExigenCs and summoning cones. Strong enough for underwater city now. Saved one day of turns as real life meant I was unable to play yesterday.

Day 19
Level 43. Just not quite strong enough for the crypt or occasionally winning the odd fight. Levelling routinely in underwater city. Aiming to be finished by the weekend.

Day 20
Level 46. Able to not always lose in the crypt, but not really worth adventuring there still as need to be fully buffed, fully healed for each combat and still get lucky (or at least not get unlucky - i.e. not have the other guy have critical hits). Mostly dabbling around underwater, space would be ideal but can't open it. Got 153 turns banked for Frayday, hoping to do some serious damage, and maybe finish within 2 days.

DAY 21
Finished! Hoorah! Thanks to mara, penguinpyro and Cris for the tips, I managed to finish with many turns to spare. I had been doing it tactically so wrong for so long. Never mind, I learned from the advice and my mistakes eventually and when I have more energy I will write how not to level to 50.

And I did it before mara could've lapped me!

Now to unlock the space station so I can finish levelling.

Thanks to Harry for the contest, it was nice to get me out of my speed-running to 11 rut. I may spend a while at this high level to remind myself what it's like.

[Cristiona]

I am actually out of chips even after pulling a blue chip...

Haven't pulled anything for money, heh. Sold 5 gold foil and then drops. Doing fine with cash. Even have 2k in my digitizer for when it unlocks colas.

[acidcat]

Status!

Day 1: Strategy today was to get to level 5 to use Mister Tea. No reason to play turns suboptimally (i.e. with trash equipment) when there's a frayday in 2 days.

D'oh! Genius mara. This is why I suck at contests like this. Don't think of these things ahead. <Sigh>.

[Kurg]

Wow, I suck at this. Really not used to 5 pulls. I didn't pull any IoTM on day 1 - even forgot I had a Jacket.
End of day 2, still doing the unborn base.

[Harry Dresden]

It's not all about old IOTM gear. I have it all, but I'll be shocked if I don't finish last or close to it on this contest.

[Cristiona]

Bleh. Not a good day, only two levels. Having a hard time finding the right balance of where to adventure, and FT is kind of running away from me. Ended up caving and went to do the lists (and getting disturbingly high XP there) for the free healing once a day. Juggling around equipment, once again; need the bike shorts for the PP regen. Which means I have more -time than I need, so I'll be swapping out my letter shirt tomorrow.

Skulls: 4
Claws: 10

So much trial and error

[penguinpyro]

End of day 2:
lvl 10: (7,398 to next level)
Quests completed: 1-9
Bedtime: 11:10 AM

I need to use my turns to get sugar from the criminology lab, crappy items or not. I saved my turns after I got the 6 needed IOU:s though...

I lack some of the IOTM:s that older players has though...

I don't have any IOTMs at all, save for my talisman. Maybe this was a mistake >.<

Have yet to do the levels 7, 8 (both) and level 11 quest