So is there anything I can do so that my level 10 martial art Sims are not defeated by level 3 Sims?

I've only recently been diving into the Martial arts aspect of Sims, I'd not given it much thought before because I never travel that often and it just wasn't a thing I ever paid much attention to. But I found that it's a really fun interaction to play out. However, it's absurd that anyone under a level 8 would beat a level 10. At least not in a logical world, which we all know the Sims world is not.
But perhaps someone can tell me a way to tweak Retuner or something so that it makes more sense? Frankly I'd say no one under a 10 would beat someone who's level 10, but I could see an 8 or 9 matching someone who's a 10 or possibly even beating a 10, if perhaps the 10 was having an off day.

I believe it also depends on traits . And not just levels
IRL sometimes a martial art newbie can win spar vs a mid class depends on various situations.
but in game if you spar and win more than 50 and 75 times and get highest tournament level then your sims have +90% chance to win spars.
these are in martial art skill challenges

I see the sims skill level as something "theoretical", i.e. how is it possible to get an ivel 10 nectar preparation skill without having ever prepared a nectar in the machine? I see it as that the sim has learned all the theoretical of the matter in question, then there is the practice, and in martial arts I think that with practice is when you get not even the mummies to defeat you, when you have achieved all the challenges of the skill and you have also developed the sports skill.
I like that a level 1 beats me when I'm level 10, it makes it more random and fun.

Sims 3 has a huge coding system for everything. And this is actually the reason for unexpected outcomes in all situations (which leads to more fun and chaos that we love sims 3 for it)
for example these are things you can do to always win against mummies
1.gain highest level in martial art tournament
2.have a soul peace gem in inventory
3. Use a potion (I forgot the potion name)
4. And perhaps other things that I don't know lol
I bet many of us still don't know that if you cursed by mummy you can cure your sim by praying the sphinx or praying the soul peace statue of SETH inside the sphinx

I skimmed through the Martial Arts tuning and couldn't see anything that seems obviously helpful. The only value I don't quite understand is
<kMartialArtsSkillLevelMultiplier value="10">
<!--Scaling Martial arts skill level to increase chances of winning a sparring round. Positive float. Initial GPE Default: 3f-->
Not knowing what it is scaling exactly makes this one kind of ambiguous- what direction the scales would tip if it's lowered and if values higher than 10 are valid, I don't know. You could experiment.
The path is Retuner > Settings > General > By Tunable XML > Sims3.Gameplay.Skills > MartialArts

Athletic skill does have an effect too, if that helps. Other sims may be winning on the merit of their athletic skill being higher than your sims. It also looks like a fake martial arts skill is assigned to the opponents of ranked spars to make sure they're in a range +/- your own, so it isn't necessarily calculating their real one.

Thanks, these are all interesting ideas and helps it all make more sense. It's not a big deal, but I thought if I could tweak something to help it make more sense for those Sims who should be very skilled it would be nice.
And I completely understand Jseg's point; you can read all the cookbooks in the world and that doesn't mean you are a good cook. ie: I took years of piano lessons and never quite got great at piano. And now that I haven't played in over a decade, I doubt I could easily read and play with any real skill. Plus my piano is so out of tune it's cringe-inducing. And piano tuners are truly had to find these days and there never really were a lot of them to begin with.

I was only annoyed because my elder sim lost to a newbie and he's been sparring at level 10 since he was a YA, my lifespans are long so he'd eared every skill on his own by the time he was halfway through his adulthood. So other than age, there should be no reason he lost. And he'd only just become an elder, so by real life standards he was barely into retirement. I know people in their late 50s who could spar against any average in-shape 20-something and beat them easily.
Of course not me, I last had defined abs in my early 40s...now that I've hit the half-century point I sorta let myself go. But I only sorta regret that...I never was too big on exercise, but did it out of vanity. Now I'm the invisible age, so I just don't care so much about looking fit, but do just enough to maintain my heath. I happily leave the ripped bods to the young and the celebrities who get paid to look good..

Well, what if the game takes into account the agility of the opponents or things like that? That is to say, that in all competitions there has to be a % probability of defeat, in the end, like everything, it would be very boring to say "I'm a martial arts genius, no one beats me because I'm a level 10 and I'm better than you". I see it like this, The Sims 3 I see it as a complex game but it's very easy, in fact, when you lose in the martial arts tournament you can try again instantly with the other Sim and if you don't get tired you can keep going until you win it.
In a game that I did with a sim with all the traits to be adventurous and a martial arts genius, and that I remember only one mummy won me, I lost a lot in the martial arts tournament against rivals of all kinds, and I would say well, I must have learned something, and I would call the other sim again the next day. I saw it funny and I will repeat it when I feel like it, having a sim very prepared for adventures is a process that I really liked.
This is my humble opinion on this topic.

Jseg wrote: ↑

March 23rd, 2024, 11:08 am

Well, what if the game takes into account the agility of the opponents or things like that? That is to say, that in all competitions there has to be a % probability of defeat, in the end, like everything, it would be very boring to say "I'm a martial arts genius, no one beats me because I'm a level 10 and I'm better than you". I see it like this, The Sims 3 I see it as a complex game but it's very easy, in fact, when you lose in the martial arts tournament you can try again instantly with the other Sim and if you don't get tired you can keep going until you win it.
In a game that I did with a sim with all the traits to be adventurous and a martial arts genius, and that I remember only one mummy won me, I lost a lot in the martial arts tournament against rivals of all kinds, and I would say well, I must have learned something, and I would call the other sim again the next day. I saw it funny and I will repeat it when I feel like it, having a sim very prepared for adventures is a process that I really liked.
This is my humble opinion on this topic.

You make very good points. That helps when things are frustrating me with a game I should have moved on from years ago. But let's just not delve too deeply into that, since this isn't a therapy session.

igazor wrote: ↑

March 23rd, 2024, 1:20 pm

(ducks down while the audience boos and throws rocks and rotten fruit at the stage) Hey, does anyone have any recipes that involve insanely overripe life fruit of Horrifying quality?

Mainly OT, but I always thought life fruit looked like a pear, which is about the only fruit that I've tried that I truly cannot stand. It's mainly a texture thing for me, I always felt like I was eating something that had fallen in the sand. BTW I don't think I've seen a life fruit that was any lower than normal quality. Is that really a thing? I ask because most of my Sims are often gardeners, with or without the trait, so I have seen my share of good and bad garden qualities.