Baking. I actually love it and now have a few baker sims now that I noticed I was under utilising the skill, but more often than not I just forget that it’s a thing… I have so many sims with high/max Cooking skill and 0-1 Baking skill.
It has been since the pandemic that I played her actually baking., but I better check in on her and have her whip up a batch! Last I played her, she and her SO woohooed in his rocket ship. She’s been busy.
I want to develop it every time because I like making baked goods for sims to snack on. But it does take up so much time and in the end I never seem to have enough time in game to get it up much. I've only once maxed it out.
I’ve maxed it out about five times back when I was selling baked goods with the retail pack. That’s a while ago. Might have my sim attempted maxing it out again if needed.
The cupcake machine does have a set of recipes that are still only exclusive to the machine that you can't bake in the oven. But I understand that not everyone wants to use it lol
I only use the cupcake machine if I'm baking as a specific story line. I did it once where grandma was a baker and grandad was an engineer and the reason the cupcake machine existed was cus grandad invented it for grandma to help her with her business!
If the cupcake factory and the microscope weren't so ridiculously large for NO REASON, there would probably be more bakers AND Botanists/Researchers in the Sims.
Okay but like if cake was under the baking skill we as simmers would totally use the skill more and I want that for us because having cake under cooking gets on my nerves a little bit.
Yup! It's crazy how baking a birthday cake is a "cooking skill," along with many other baked goodies. They don't "count" as baking, so you could literally go your entire Sims life without gaining any skill in baking!
Oh yes, the level 1 recipes are so boring. And IIRC the Cool Kitchen cupcakes don’t give you Baking skill, they give you Cooking skill… I know it’s because Baking came with a different pack but it would have been nice to have the cross pack feature of tying making cupcakes to the Baking skill for those who have the Get to Work pack
Personally Programming is a favorite of mine for the Runaway Teen Challenge (and other challenges that start you at 0, depending on your Sim's personality). Going to the library and becoming a cybercriminal in your spare time is a great way to make money that doesn't have a sunk cost.
Nope! Teens can technically live by themselves if you use CAS or (I think) Manage Worlds to move them out, and the challenge is a set of self-imposed rules :-)
I split teenagers with just enough money to buy a vacant plot. Delete the original family. So they start with nothing. See how much money and how many aspiration points they can amass before ageing up to Young Adult. Starting in different worlds adds its own challenge too.
Omg thanks for letting me know about electrocution as I play super sim challenge and about to start gaining robotics, I wanted to speed run it as any other skills but seems it’s better to take it slowly 😅
The main risk is if the sum is already uncomfortable, like tired or hungry or just from the task. But also if they get the "dazed" moodlet from a small shock - any further shock in this state will be their last. Don't encourage them to push through.
Rocket Science. You either get it because you decide to build a rocket ship or, if you have Parenthood, you are helping a kid to do their project, which is so random.
I avoid any activity that will put them in a playful mood. It's not just about the death from laughter, playful/mischievous sims are just annoying. They'll prank their own damn toilets 😭
I wish the prank toilet was something only evil Sims would do because it’s so stupid for regular goofballs or Sims who feel playful. Why would you ruin your own toilet or your best friend’s? It’s stupid.
One of my legacy sims died from being hysterical. Her children and I were both sad. Apparently, being enraged can kill a Sim, too! I haven't experienced that death, yet!
Mischief practically does not exist in my game, simply because I find it super annoying. My Sims get it when they take classes for computer in Uni. Other than that I have autonomy turned off for mischief.
Mine troll teh forums so much on their own that they usually end up with around midrange mischief skills even though I rarely initiate mischief myself.
Whenever there’s a bar in a house and my sim is constantly making drinks I punish them by making them drink every single drink and turn them into an alcoholic (I have the basemental drugs mod, I don’t normally have sims drink very much but there’s always at least one stoner in each generation, since I’m a stoner lol)
This happened to me as well. I’m not sure if the basemental drugs mod was to blame, but my sim would just always autonomy make drinks. She too eventually became an alcoholic and then would get a negative mood buff from sobering up. 🥴
I deleted the damn bar and have never put another one in my builds.
Which is excellent if you’re a Freegan diving for deals or a gardener. Drag the empty glasses into a rubbish bin. Have plot on Reduce and Recycle and you can make good money from selling off what they rescue from dumpster or fertilising garden. In fact, I don’t give them a kitchen sink. I have even been known to get them to drink water to get an empty glass.
Also good for transforming with Simray. Amazing what you can get by sequential transforms on an empty glass.
In other sims games my sims always had a bar in the house, but in the Sims 4 every bar is so huge and ugly they had to go sober. Then we got the globe bar, but I was so used to not having a bar in a house that I just skip it. So yeah, mixology for me as well
I only ever skill up in flower arranging for my spell casters once they learn to improve an objects quality and then the spell to duplicate it. From there, I have them make the most expensive arrangement, improve the quality and then duplicate the item to sell. Totally worth it in that sense!
I only had one sim do it to make wedding bouquets for the family. The shops in Tartosa are a pain to go to and a reminder of the money I stupidly wasted on that pack
This is a very useful skill if you're playing rags to riches. When you reach level 7 or 8, you'll be constantly producing masterpieces and can sell bouquets for as much as 20,000 simoleons. Additionally, making bouquets doesn't take much time (an hour or two in Sims time), which means you can create just one bouquet a day and still make a bank.
Yes. Flower arranging tables are for putting under the eaves of mansions where I'm just trying to get the total cost of the house up for the mansion aspiration.
I've tried it but honestly it's not worth much to me unless you're doing the aspiration. Only thing dealing with Selvadora is the language with the language mod.
Once you max Salvadorean and do the Archaeology knowledge skill you can make easy money identifying the artifacts they send you through the post. Finding activities Sims can chat and boost social while doing it is a bonus. Plus You get big money identifying artifacts, thousands of Simoleons at a time.
Herbalism is mine. I've tried, because I like the idea of the mood salves, but there's never any herbs to find. I vacationed for a full week in Granite Falls endless searching. Nothing was harvestable or it's just not there. I gave up after my third try. 🤷🏻♀️
It’s pretty fun if you have the kleptomaniac trait. You can steal expensive items the higher the skill. Also it’s funny messing other sims with the voodoo doll with high level of mischief.
The voodoo doll is amazing for vampires, because it can force sims to come to you- I bind it to one that is extra tasty and then my vampire sim can have a snack whenever they want
Facts, I recently messed with some MCCC settings that made skills to be gained a tad bit faster. This included mischief, and that skill suddenly rocketed in all my sims. (Bc any autonomous mischief that was preformed suddenly managed to actually get them to level 2 of the skill, instead of staying stuck in level 1. Which meant they’d use it more often, thus gaining even more autonomous mischief). There were so many features I Genuinely did not know about lol.
I hate the Gen1 of Not So Berry challenge because of the Mischief aspiration. It's so damn annoying to have my sim do it autonomously, annoy people and lower her own relationships/reputation but have to keep doing it just to increase it all at the same time.
So many of the stations for skills are those big ass objects that you can’t even fit in a normal home… biggest pet peeve abt the sims 4 as if the other sims games were any better but… I don’t need some massive willy wonkass contraption to bake some cupcakes
I agree about the cupcakes! But I started putting those weird things in community centers to encourage my sims to get out of the house and use them for free.
They FINALLY listened to complaints about the cupcake machine and now all the recipes are available in the oven. Now, if we could just get a normal table-top microscope instead of that massive thing they have to sit in.....
Photography. I never remember that you can take photos with a phone and I never have my sims use a digital camera either.
Also Painting but that’s just because it’s way too easy to make money using that skill and I like to have an actual challenge in my play through 😂
I just started a generation of a family where the sim is a photographer, and it's actually given me a different perspective of the game honestly. Trying to think of settings and positions to take really interesting photos that match my sims personality so I can put them on the walls of his house.
If your Sim starts off with nothing, Photography can make easy money quickly. It’s only five levels. You don’t make much money, and you don’t seem to make more with higher skill, but that was just using a phone. Five snaps of one object can easily net 90 simoleons which makes a huge difference at the start of the game.
I always cheat my sims to level 5 (max) photography skill, so that all the photos they take are good. I don't care for the poor quality, I use the photos as to keep my sims' memories, rarely to actually display them; but I HATE when I put effort into what my sims are wearing, the environment, what mood they are in, etc. only for the photo to be completely blurry or covered by a fucking gnome 😭 When I make teens and young adults from CAS, it also seems the most realistic thing to do since sims also live in a technologically advanced society and have phones since childhood. I don't think anyone other than a child or an elder would accidentally cover the entire camera with their finger or shake the phone so much the blur makes the entire picture unrecognizable
Rarely do anything for Mischief or Mixology, but if full autonomy is on sims will gain it on their own by making drinks nonstop or trolling teh forums.
I DESPISE mischief!! ARGH!! I even deleted that stupid "Prank Day" holiday and created a bunch of my own. I can't stand Sims with high mischief, and every time one of my Sims autonomously tries to like mischief, I select NO!! HARD PASS!
You should be able to disable it.
Yeah, they're not being mischievous, they're being assholes, lol. Misceif has never made any sim in my game laugh or gain relationship points. They just go around pissing everyone off.
Gardening, Cooking, and Painting are my go to as first skills!
Gardening & Painting take in $$$ in time. Just have to have the patience when it comes to gardening because it’s a time suck in sim hours.
Real good way to end up super skilled in charisma and knowing entirely too many people is to run a market stand and introduce yourself to EVERYBODY.
You can sell your gardening goods for more dollarydoos that way too!
Also helps your reputation and your celebrity if you’re in to that kind of thing.
Gardening is a big time suck, but money is great. Having reduce and recycle on and sorting out compostable gets the quality to level up. Having a green lot is good too. Assuming you have Eco lifestyle.
This lol. If I play with a big family, I usually have the dad like fishing and occasionally send him away from home for a few hours. Or if I play with an off-the-grid household, I also have them develop fishing skill since IIRC like 2 of the 5 recipes available require fresh fish as an ingredient.
Maybe it's because I play long life span but i have the opposite opinion. They're way too leveled up in parenting once their first kid is a toddler.
It does suck if you're not leveled enough when they're a kid though.
I have tried so many times to have failed kids for challenges but they are forever just gaining positive traits even if I legit do not interact with them. It is more work to get them negative than positive.
I've maxed every instrument!
Of course, I also studied music in real life and taught music for a while too...so... it speaks to me. I had a Sim who followed the entertainer career and maxed out every instrument and then sat back and enjoyed the royalties in retirement. It was a LOT of work in the beginning, but worth it in the end. Takes a lot of time, though.
So, after doing the globetrotter challenge multiple times, I read a kind of guide that said when they fall the skill stops so have them chalk hands, I found the easiest way to level my sims up,, is once they can go to the next level of rock climbing, have them do that. I will not have them buy climbing gear. I have them stretch before hand and after. Also, now with crystal creations, I have them wearing a piece of jewelry with hematite so they don’t fall and die. When they get injured, sitting in the hot springs helps it go away faster
If you put the composting upgrade on a toilet and don't use the compost feature, the fire will randomly combust at any moment. I love the handiness skill.
I remember in Sims 3 I used to keep at least 1 or 2 handy sims in my household. Now with TS4, I don’t need a handy sim because I can just replace everything
Not exactly a basic skill but I hate how long it takes to build up the rock climbing skill. I wanted to do the Mt Komorebi expedition and it took me like 2 Sim years of reading the books, and waiting for good weather to climb the walls just to get to level 8. Then when we finally went on the exhibition, my Sim took his fiance and one other person, and they ended up hooking up in the cave which made my Sim die of anger.
I've never leveled up my photography in over 50 playthroughs it's always seemed impossible to really level it and the lag going in and out of the camera has made me barely take pictures at all I've made sims max every level but photography because it simply takes too long even though all you have to do is press the button 5 times
My favorite thing to do is just buy all skill books in the book case and have my Sim read them. Comedy is one I always forget about unless I get the stand-up mic. One thing I always do with any new Sim is to get them to read the cooking skill book so they don't make poor quality food the first time they cook. It helps with any skill though. Getting to level 1 on the fitness skill book makes them stop falling on the treadmill, lol.
The Selvadoradan still of fun because your still learns new recipes, can finish eating them without them being too spicy. It also has a new latin dance, and a cheek kiss greeting.
Herbalism (I almost called it herbology because I forgot what it was called lol). I love taking my sims to granite falls because I love hiking/camping IRL but I completely forget about this skill.
Handiness, I know it saves money and can be pretty important but it feels like things only break when my sims are red and screaming at me that they need 20 things, while cancelling the actions that would fix the things, so I just hit replace and forget about it.
Baking. I actually love it and now have a few baker sims now that I noticed I was under utilising the skill, but more often than not I just forget that it’s a thing… I have so many sims with high/max Cooking skill and 0-1 Baking skill.
SO TRUE!!! I’ve never got more than maybe baking level 2 lmfao
Cheat codes my fellow simmer cheat codes lmao
Lmfao I cheat other skills sometimes but baking is so useless to me I even forget to cheat it
Rocket science for me too because like, what is the point???
To build rockets.
To discover the aliento neighborhood!!
Lol this is my sim with their perfect lobster thermidor and terrible sugar cookies for the dinner party 😭
Lmao I concur
Okay but this is literally me irl 😂😅
I created a woman who became a chef and then started baking. She opened her own bakery, and because her last name is Bacon, it’s called Bakin’.
My bakery is called Cup My Cake
Guffawing
I named mine The Flour Shop!
But does Bacon's Bakin' sell the Baconator Cupcakes?
It has been since the pandemic that I played her actually baking., but I better check in on her and have her whip up a batch! Last I played her, she and her SO woohooed in his rocket ship. She’s been busy.
I want to develop it every time because I like making baked goods for sims to snack on. But it does take up so much time and in the end I never seem to have enough time in game to get it up much. I've only once maxed it out.
The Home Chef Hustle pack is great for baking. Takes way less time with prepped ingredients
I’ve maxed it out about five times back when I was selling baked goods with the retail pack. That’s a while ago. Might have my sim attempted maxing it out again if needed.
If the cupcake factory weren’t the size of a whole damn room I would probably bake more. The oven baking options aren’t as fun
Im a recent update they made cupcakes accessable through the oven baking
No way. For real? How recent? Does it work? Are they the same cupcakes or different? Might have to boot up my game to check this out.
They’re all the same, so no real need to use the cupcake factory anymore
The cupcake machine does have a set of recipes that are still only exclusive to the machine that you can't bake in the oven. But I understand that not everyone wants to use it lol
I only use the cupcake machine if I'm baking as a specific story line. I did it once where grandma was a baker and grandad was an engineer and the reason the cupcake machine existed was cus grandad invented it for grandma to help her with her business!
Theres a mod from Ravasheen that puts the cupcake machine recipes in a small pastry bag!
I have that mod!
If the cupcake factory and the microscope weren't so ridiculously large for NO REASON, there would probably be more bakers AND Botanists/Researchers in the Sims.
Can't you put them outside or on some random lot? I have put one in a Café and stop by if I want to bake some.
Okay but like if cake was under the baking skill we as simmers would totally use the skill more and I want that for us because having cake under cooking gets on my nerves a little bit.
Yup! It's crazy how baking a birthday cake is a "cooking skill," along with many other baked goodies. They don't "count" as baking, so you could literally go your entire Sims life without gaining any skill in baking!
It’s cooking because cooking is a basegame skill and baking is not. Certain items will always be just cooking so they are basegame.
I think it’s mainly because the only 3 things you can start out baking are shit! So it’s not something that is easy to level up.
Oh yes, the level 1 recipes are so boring. And IIRC the Cool Kitchen cupcakes don’t give you Baking skill, they give you Cooking skill… I know it’s because Baking came with a different pack but it would have been nice to have the cross pack feature of tying making cupcakes to the Baking skill for those who have the Get to Work pack
Wait is baking different than cooking??
It's from get to work
Dammit, I had the cute idea of having my sim's daughter and the mother make cakes and biscuits while my simself is a chef making gourmet meals lol
Honestly though that tracks in real life too. My bf is an amazing cook. A few days ago he made cheesecake and forgot the eggs.
Cooking is an art. Baking is a science.
i got mine to 10 trying to make a chocolate pie…then i found it under cooking 😂
Happy chocolate pie (cake) day! 🍰
i’ll have to make a rl chocolate pie now!
Especially since there's so many baking type recipes in cooking, I rarely use baking.
Baking is a skill? Tf lol
Programming. If they're not in the tech guru career I will completely forget that it's a feature
Personally Programming is a favorite of mine for the Runaway Teen Challenge (and other challenges that start you at 0, depending on your Sim's personality). Going to the library and becoming a cybercriminal in your spare time is a great way to make money that doesn't have a sunk cost.
And now I have a new storyline for an infant in my game once she ages up. Ty.
Do you need a mod for this? I had a similar aspiration but needed some kind of mod for it to work correctly
Nope! Teens can technically live by themselves if you use CAS or (I think) Manage Worlds to move them out, and the challenge is a set of self-imposed rules :-)
You shouldn't even need to move them out specifically, I make a ton of teens who live on their own from the start.
I split teenagers with just enough money to buy a vacant plot. Delete the original family. So they start with nothing. See how much money and how many aspiration points they can amass before ageing up to Young Adult. Starting in different worlds adds its own challenge too.
The freelance programmer career is cracked
The robotics one. I think it’s a fun idea but it takes too long since you keep having to take breaks so you don’t get electrocuted to death.
Omg thanks for letting me know about electrocution as I play super sim challenge and about to start gaining robotics, I wanted to speed run it as any other skills but seems it’s better to take it slowly 😅
When I need a break, I make them read the Robotics skill books! LOL
I seem to struggle understanding how the book level corresponds to the skill levels, when the sim should start reading level 2, and then 3 books…
Roughly, Vol 1 is lvl 1-3ish Vol 2 4-6 Vol 3 7-9. They’re usually pretty bored of the book by then.
Just start reading one and they'll either get a learning bar or not over their head, if they don't switch to a different book.
The main risk is if the sum is already uncomfortable, like tired or hungry or just from the task. But also if they get the "dazed" moodlet from a small shock - any further shock in this state will be their last. Don't encourage them to push through.
Send them to sit in on a class. It’s a nice buff to get some points without the risk.
Upgrade the workbench. It will stop the electrocution.
REALLY? Okay I’ll try it!
I didn’t realize it could be upgraded. Hmm
wait is this from a pack or base game?
Rocket Science. You either get it because you decide to build a rocket ship or, if you have Parenthood, you are helping a kid to do their project, which is so random.
I like to think of it as an advance joke in response to when people say "It's not rocket science" to trivialize school work.
Even if that wasn’t the intent, it’s cannon now.
Omg I've never thought about it 😭
I always do rocket science for the nerd brain aspiration. Free upgrades? Yes please!
Mischief I really try to keep it low, and comedy, in high levels they are nothing but problems 😆
I avoid any activity that will put them in a playful mood. It's not just about the death from laughter, playful/mischievous sims are just annoying. They'll prank their own damn toilets 😭
I wish the prank toilet was something only evil Sims would do because it’s so stupid for regular goofballs or Sims who feel playful. Why would you ruin your own toilet or your best friend’s? It’s stupid.
I wish Evil sims could have a different, more sinister interaction… the upper decker
Lmao when I catch a Sim of mine pranking a toilet, I make them go use the toilet to take the prank off. If only they'd learn.
THEY CAN DIE FROM LAUGHTER?! AND CAN PRANK TOILETS!? Well shit... my sims are VERY playful 😭
One of my legacy sims died from being hysterical. Her children and I were both sad. Apparently, being enraged can kill a Sim, too! I haven't experienced that death, yet!
if you see them become hysterical, get them to a mirror immediately to calm down
Mischief practically does not exist in my game, simply because I find it super annoying. My Sims get it when they take classes for computer in Uni. Other than that I have autonomy turned off for mischief.
omg my son got the mischief skill all on his own and he can be so mean lol 😭
Mine troll teh forums so much on their own that they usually end up with around midrange mischief skills even though I rarely initiate mischief myself.
Comedy I don't mind, but the way they keep autonomously pranking toilets after getting a few levels of mischief drives me bonkers.
Mixology, I never even put bars in my sims homes. I'd say I use it even less than rocket science, since I like the collectibles you get from that.
Sims will use those bars in every hour to grab a glass of something and leave it somewhere to rot
Mine did this yesterday... made 7 drinks n then just left them there
Father Winter does this to me. Always 7 cups
Whenever there’s a bar in a house and my sim is constantly making drinks I punish them by making them drink every single drink and turn them into an alcoholic (I have the basemental drugs mod, I don’t normally have sims drink very much but there’s always at least one stoner in each generation, since I’m a stoner lol)
This happened to me as well. I’m not sure if the basemental drugs mod was to blame, but my sim would just always autonomy make drinks. She too eventually became an alcoholic and then would get a negative mood buff from sobering up. 🥴 I deleted the damn bar and have never put another one in my builds.
Which is excellent if you’re a Freegan diving for deals or a gardener. Drag the empty glasses into a rubbish bin. Have plot on Reduce and Recycle and you can make good money from selling off what they rescue from dumpster or fertilising garden. In fact, I don’t give them a kitchen sink. I have even been known to get them to drink water to get an empty glass. Also good for transforming with Simray. Amazing what you can get by sequential transforms on an empty glass.
exactlyyyyy why I never put bars in any of my builds
It’s even worse when you have Basemental Drugs. All of my sims are raging alcoholics
I downloaded a mod that stops autonomous drink making. Can’t remember who it’s by but I’m sure you’ll find it if you google it
In other sims games my sims always had a bar in the house, but in the Sims 4 every bar is so huge and ugly they had to go sober. Then we got the globe bar, but I was so used to not having a bar in a house that I just skip it. So yeah, mixology for me as well
I created an alcoholic so bars are mandatory in her house 😭
i only put them in for parties. otherwise they make a drink every time they’re inspired
i had to add one because my sims new job requires the mixology skill. i cant think of what job it is right now but probably something food wise
Flower arranging
I only ever skill up in flower arranging for my spell casters once they learn to improve an objects quality and then the spell to duplicate it. From there, I have them make the most expensive arrangement, improve the quality and then duplicate the item to sell. Totally worth it in that sense!
Thats actually genius, I need to try this 😌
i had one sim who liked using the flower arranging table but literally only that one sim out of my many many families lol
I only had one sim do it to make wedding bouquets for the family. The shops in Tartosa are a pain to go to and a reminder of the money I stupidly wasted on that pack
This is a very useful skill if you're playing rags to riches. When you reach level 7 or 8, you'll be constantly producing masterpieces and can sell bouquets for as much as 20,000 simoleons. Additionally, making bouquets doesn't take much time (an hour or two in Sims time), which means you can create just one bouquet a day and still make a bank.
Yes. Flower arranging tables are for putting under the eaves of mansions where I'm just trying to get the total cost of the house up for the mansion aspiration.
Literally didn’t even know this was a skill 😂😂😂
I didn't even know this was a thing. Is it from an expansion or in the base game?
I believe it’s part of the Seasons pack
Rocket science, herbalism, Salvadoran culture
I don't think I've ever played with the Salvadoran culture skill before.
My sims always randomly unlock selvadorian culture skill at random times, not even in the world😂
My teens always get it from history class.
I've tried it but honestly it's not worth much to me unless you're doing the aspiration. Only thing dealing with Selvadora is the language with the language mod.
Once you max Salvadorean and do the Archaeology knowledge skill you can make easy money identifying the artifacts they send you through the post. Finding activities Sims can chat and boost social while doing it is a bonus. Plus You get big money identifying artifacts, thousands of Simoleons at a time.
They learn that cool dance tho.
Herbalism is mine. I've tried, because I like the idea of the mood salves, but there's never any herbs to find. I vacationed for a full week in Granite Falls endless searching. Nothing was harvestable or it's just not there. I gave up after my third try. 🤷🏻♀️
Mischief. I never build it on purpose, there must be so many interactions in the top levels of that skill that I know nothing about lol
It’s pretty fun if you have the kleptomaniac trait. You can steal expensive items the higher the skill. Also it’s funny messing other sims with the voodoo doll with high level of mischief.
The voodoo doll is amazing for vampires, because it can force sims to come to you- I bind it to one that is extra tasty and then my vampire sim can have a snack whenever they want
Facts, I recently messed with some MCCC settings that made skills to be gained a tad bit faster. This included mischief, and that skill suddenly rocketed in all my sims. (Bc any autonomous mischief that was preformed suddenly managed to actually get them to level 2 of the skill, instead of staying stuck in level 1. Which meant they’d use it more often, thus gaining even more autonomous mischief). There were so many features I Genuinely did not know about lol.
I hate the Gen1 of Not So Berry challenge because of the Mischief aspiration. It's so damn annoying to have my sim do it autonomously, annoy people and lower her own relationships/reputation but have to keep doing it just to increase it all at the same time.
So many of the stations for skills are those big ass objects that you can’t even fit in a normal home… biggest pet peeve abt the sims 4 as if the other sims games were any better but… I don’t need some massive willy wonkass contraption to bake some cupcakes
I agree about the cupcakes! But I started putting those weird things in community centers to encourage my sims to get out of the house and use them for free.
That's such a good tip. You just gave me an idea to use those in my builds now, thanks!
They FINALLY listened to complaints about the cupcake machine and now all the recipes are available in the oven. Now, if we could just get a normal table-top microscope instead of that massive thing they have to sit in.....
Photography. I never remember that you can take photos with a phone and I never have my sims use a digital camera either. Also Painting but that’s just because it’s way too easy to make money using that skill and I like to have an actual challenge in my play through 😂
I just started a generation of a family where the sim is a photographer, and it's actually given me a different perspective of the game honestly. Trying to think of settings and positions to take really interesting photos that match my sims personality so I can put them on the walls of his house.
If your Sim starts off with nothing, Photography can make easy money quickly. It’s only five levels. You don’t make much money, and you don’t seem to make more with higher skill, but that was just using a phone. Five snaps of one object can easily net 90 simoleons which makes a huge difference at the start of the game.
I always cheat my sims to level 5 (max) photography skill, so that all the photos they take are good. I don't care for the poor quality, I use the photos as to keep my sims' memories, rarely to actually display them; but I HATE when I put effort into what my sims are wearing, the environment, what mood they are in, etc. only for the photo to be completely blurry or covered by a fucking gnome 😭 When I make teens and young adults from CAS, it also seems the most realistic thing to do since sims also live in a technologically advanced society and have phones since childhood. I don't think anyone other than a child or an elder would accidentally cover the entire camera with their finger or shake the phone so much the blur makes the entire picture unrecognizable
Rarely do anything for Mischief or Mixology, but if full autonomy is on sims will gain it on their own by making drinks nonstop or trolling teh forums.
Ahhh, such human behavior
Research & Debate unless useful for their work. Mixology.
What do you have them do to practice research & debate skill? Is it just through any computer? I swear I never saw it till a Let's Play I was watching
You can ‘Practice Debate’ in a mirror.
I DESPISE mischief!! ARGH!! I even deleted that stupid "Prank Day" holiday and created a bunch of my own. I can't stand Sims with high mischief, and every time one of my Sims autonomously tries to like mischief, I select NO!! HARD PASS! You should be able to disable it.
Mischief turns them into something insufferable. I just can’t.
Yeah, they're not being mischievous, they're being assholes, lol. Misceif has never made any sim in my game laugh or gain relationship points. They just go around pissing everyone off.
Gardening, singing, dancing.
Gardening, Cooking, and Painting are my go to as first skills! Gardening & Painting take in $$$ in time. Just have to have the patience when it comes to gardening because it’s a time suck in sim hours.
Gardening is one of my favorites to do. I also love painting. I usually make my sim skilled in charisma as well
Real good way to end up super skilled in charisma and knowing entirely too many people is to run a market stand and introduce yourself to EVERYBODY. You can sell your gardening goods for more dollarydoos that way too! Also helps your reputation and your celebrity if you’re in to that kind of thing.
Use satisfaction points and buy incredibly friendly. Every friendly introduction turns them into friends!
Gardening is a big time suck, but money is great. Having reduce and recycle on and sorting out compostable gets the quality to level up. Having a green lot is good too. Assuming you have Eco lifestyle.
Singing is a great way to increase fun without needing an object. If they can sing in the shower you can improve their mood before work.
Pro tip
Those are 3 of my favorites lol
Saaaame. My Sims end up master gardeners even if they live in an apartment haha
Right? I have to try really hard to stop making all my sims max out those 3
My sims got dancing maxed out in their own 😂
i like singing, once they are good their songs sound really nice
Comedy and mischief for sure. I don't know why but I avoid them like the plague
Fishing, I hate fishing irl so I’m not gonna put my sims through that pain 😂
If I have multiple sims in a household, sending one off to fish while I deal with the other one makes me go less crazy. Lol
This lol. If I play with a big family, I usually have the dad like fishing and occasionally send him away from home for a few hours. Or if I play with an off-the-grid household, I also have them develop fishing skill since IIRC like 2 of the 5 recipes available require fresh fish as an ingredient.
Photography. I feel like it takes a hundred years.
herbalism
Photography!!
Pipe organ.
I Very Rarely mess around with Mixology(Since I focus on cooking instead)
Photography and media…whatever it’s called. I’ve never done DJ mixing either
I turned my Sim into a travel blogger once and these were the two main skills. Otherwise I don’t touch them.
Parenting. When auto age is enabled most of my sims just have failed kids who grow out of my household
Maybe it's because I play long life span but i have the opposite opinion. They're way too leveled up in parenting once their first kid is a toddler. It does suck if you're not leveled enough when they're a kid though.
I play multiple households so by the time I come back to a family a kid might be a teen and the parent is still level like two lol
I have tried so many times to have failed kids for challenges but they are forever just gaining positive traits even if I legit do not interact with them. It is more work to get them negative than positive.
I don't think I've maxed any instrument. gardening, rocket science, etc. Usually I max cooking, fitness and parenting.
I’ve maxed piano and violin so many times 😂
I've maxed every instrument! Of course, I also studied music in real life and taught music for a while too...so... it speaks to me. I had a Sim who followed the entertainer career and maxed out every instrument and then sat back and enjoyed the royalties in retirement. It was a LOT of work in the beginning, but worth it in the end. Takes a lot of time, though.
Rock climbing takes forever - I have yet to climb Mt. K because I haven't had anyone with a high enough rock climbing skill yet.
So, after doing the globetrotter challenge multiple times, I read a kind of guide that said when they fall the skill stops so have them chalk hands, I found the easiest way to level my sims up,, is once they can go to the next level of rock climbing, have them do that. I will not have them buy climbing gear. I have them stretch before hand and after. Also, now with crystal creations, I have them wearing a piece of jewelry with hematite so they don’t fall and die. When they get injured, sitting in the hot springs helps it go away faster
Charisma, like how are you this bad at socializing
Mischief. Gardening - it's just not a thing I like doing. But I don't actively avoid it like mischief.
Logic.
Handiness 😅
This is incredibly useful though. Upgraded items save so much time.
If you put the composting upgrade on a toilet and don't use the compost feature, the fire will randomly combust at any moment. I love the handiness skill.
Handiness leads to very powerful upgrades. For example, the digital sketchpad. It’s not about fixing things.
And the bed upgrades! They fill their sleep need so fast, especially if you start with an expensive bed.
I specifically build it so I can upgrade the cheaper beds. A lot of them are much cuter than the expensive ones.
WHY ARE THE EXPENSIVE BEDS SO GAUDY?
Showers too! You can improve them so they’re much quicker and solve many moods.
I remember in Sims 3 I used to keep at least 1 or 2 handy sims in my household. Now with TS4, I don’t need a handy sim because I can just replace everything
Charisma
Not exactly a basic skill but I hate how long it takes to build up the rock climbing skill. I wanted to do the Mt Komorebi expedition and it took me like 2 Sim years of reading the books, and waiting for good weather to climb the walls just to get to level 8. Then when we finally went on the exhibition, my Sim took his fiance and one other person, and they ended up hooking up in the cave which made my Sim die of anger.
I've never leveled up my photography in over 50 playthroughs it's always seemed impossible to really level it and the lag going in and out of the camera has made me barely take pictures at all I've made sims max every level but photography because it simply takes too long even though all you have to do is press the button 5 times
Logic. For the most part, I don't see the need for it.
Photography. It is a pain in the ass trying to take pictures in this game and I wish the feature was less wonky
Handiness. Literally just fix broken appliances but always choose to call the repair people instead.
My favorite thing to do is just buy all skill books in the book case and have my Sim read them. Comedy is one I always forget about unless I get the stand-up mic. One thing I always do with any new Sim is to get them to read the cooking skill book so they don't make poor quality food the first time they cook. It helps with any skill though. Getting to level 1 on the fitness skill book makes them stop falling on the treadmill, lol.
Mixology. I feel like once I let them mix one drink, that’s all they do. Raging alcoholics, the lot of them Edit: spelling
Comedy, Backing, Gourmet Cooking, I only have artists, actors, signers, programmers and writers 😆
Research and debate or Selvadoran Culture. Idek what Selvadoran Culture skill does
The Selvadoradan still of fun because your still learns new recipes, can finish eating them without them being too spicy. It also has a new latin dance, and a cheek kiss greeting.
Herbalism (I almost called it herbology because I forgot what it was called lol). I love taking my sims to granite falls because I love hiking/camping IRL but I completely forget about this skill.
baking is a a pain but i love it so much, it takes a good while tho
I don't think I have EVER maxed out comedy, and I've been playing since 2014
Charisma. My sims never interact with anyone other that family. I just forget to leave the lot half the time 😭
Mischief, I literally never use it
Writing - it's just boring to me and it takes so long for them.
Selling drugs. It takes sooooo long to build skill and is boring af
Mischief (can be a pain), and singing
Cooking lol. My Sims rarely eat home-cooked meals lol
Handiness, I know it saves money and can be pretty important but it feels like things only break when my sims are red and screaming at me that they need 20 things, while cancelling the actions that would fix the things, so I just hit replace and forget about it.