At the moment, it’s anyone’s guess as to when Candywriter will be releasing a new expansion pack for BitLife, its still-popular iOS and Android life simulator game that is quickly closing in on its sixth year on the App Store.
But most longtime players know that there’s something out there driving the game’s replay value and whetting the appetite of those who are craving for new features and special careers. The weekly challenges are still very much a part of the BitLife experience, and they’re still live for four days in the week, though you can always go back to missed challenges if you pay the onetime fee for the Challenge Vault feature.
After the tricky and grind-intensive endeavor that was the Beyonce-inspired Urban Country Challenge from last week, this week’s challenge is thankfully much simpler for those who are hoping for a bit of a breather.
The Ex-SOLDIER Challenge requires you to do a number of things as part of your military service in Germany, though eventually, you’ll be leaving the service and settling down with an old friend from childhood. There isn’t that much grinding involved here and the requirements are mostly straightforward, but if you’re stuck at any point in this challenge, we suggest you keep on reading this BitLife mini-strategy guide so that you can get out of that tight spot.
What to Keep in Mind When Getting Started
As is often the case in these challenges, the first requirement in BitLife’s Ex-SOLDIER Challenge is the easiest, as you simply need to make sure you’re creating a male character from any city in Germany.
From that point on, you don’t really need to choose a Special Talent or create a specific character build based on their stats, though we would suggest prioritizing Looks and re-rolling until you get someone with 60 Looks or better. But just as long as Looks isn’t in orange or red territory, you should be fine — it’s just better to be at least decent-looking to increase your chances of getting a date later on in the challenge.
You’ll want to make a lot of friends early on, may they be male or female — regardless of your character’s sexuality, you’ll preferably need multiple options for the requirement that asks you to marry a childhood friend. Not all childhood friends will want to date you later on in the challenge, so it’s always good to have somebody in reserve in case Plan A doesn’t work out.
Lastly, you can opt to join the Army as soon as you graduate from high school, though you can also opt to attend college so that you can start out as an officer and earn more money. It’s all irrelevant, though, as the important thing here is that you join the Army regardless of rank, and you’ll be deserting anyway, so there’s no real need to chase any ranks as part of your military service.
Desert Your Post Before Playing the Minigame
It seems that the instructions for the next requirement in the Ex-SOLDIER Challenge are deliberately vague, as some players might interpret “Desert your station after a deployment” as deserting the Army after completing the deployment mission and playing the Minesweeper-style mini game. We made this mistake initially, but as it turns out, what you’ll need to do here is to accept the mission and choose the “Desert my post” action after you’re taken to the mini game — obviously, you do not need to complete it and put virtual life and limb at risk.
Choosing this option will result in you deserting the Army and going back home, thus freeing you up for the next part of the challenge — dating a biologist (if you haven’t done so yet) and marrying a childhood friend.
You May Have to Grind Before Finding a Biologist to Date
This is probably the toughest part of the Ex-SOLDIER Challenge, but only in the sense that there’s likely going to be a lot of repetition involved here before you find the right person to date. You can use the usual Date function or go on the dating app and pay $100 per use for more flexibility in terms of the person you’re looking for, but regardless which you choose, don’t expect to find a biologist — that being anyone in the field of biology, regardless of exact job title — within your first few tries. Just be patient and you’ll meet them, but take note you don’t have to stay long with them due to the nature of the final requirement.
Alternately, you can opt to attend college as a Biology major after deserting the Army, and work as some sort of biologist afterward. You can then try to date one of your coworkers — keep in mind that there is no gender requirement here — then break up with them once you’re ready for the final requirement.
Provided you’ve made several friends in childhood, you should have multiple fallbacks in case one of your friends doesn’t want to date you. From that point onward, there’s nothing to it — propose with or without a ring (the latter is naturally more effective), then tie the knot, with no specific preference when it comes to wedding planning. That should wrap up the Ex-SOLDIER Challenge and allow you to claim your usual prize of a new hat or new eyewear — par for the course for BitLife challenges!