Traits that matter

[fiberglassdolphin]

I have an evil sim who reached the top of the Criminal career, and he has an Aura of Evil (which must come from the career and not the trait, but maybe he rose faster because of the trait), and he scares the townies just by being near them. It can sometimes be annoying, because they all start running around like headless chickens.

I was rather disappointed when my "brave" sim ran away from the emperor of evil like a pussy.

[Gastfyr]

Bookworm can be useful if you skill from books, though the speed boost isn't always noticeable.

Does bookworm make writing books take less time too? Some of those longer books take forever.

I wish xP They write better, but not necessarily faster (I've not noticed a difference in speed, anyway).

I've noticed them write novels faster.  I can't believe it was just my immagination.  I had one Bookworm and one non-Bookworm in the same household and Bookworm could write an entire SciFi or Fantasy novel in one sim day and still take care of his motives (no cheating at all involved) while the other guy was lucky to finish 40% of a book in the same amount of time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that they write faster in the Library, though that certainly would be helpful even for Bookworms.

[Motoki]

I've noticed them write novels faster.  I can't believe it was just my immagination.  I had one Bookworm and one non-Bookworm in the same household and Bookworm could write an entire SciFi or Fantasy novel in one sim day and still take care of his motives (no cheating at all involved) while the other guy was lucky to finish 40% of a book in the same amount of time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that they write faster in the Library, though that certainly would be helpful even for Bookworms.

Doesn't the number of books they have read also effect how fast they write though? Did these two sims both read the same amount of books?

[pbox]

There is a fixed (but XML-tuneable) threshold for the amout of books read that makes a difference -- in my game it's currently 12 books, but I don't remember if that's what the default was. Once they have read more than that number, they get a small bonus on their writing speed.

More importantly though, not all books are the same length -- there is a min and max per genre, the actual page count will be a random number in between. So when one sim writes a kid's book (that can perhaps be max. 90 pages long) and the other one a drama that will be between 400 and 600, certainly the first sim will be finished much earlier.

Bookworm gets a separate bonus on writing speed, there are other factors too -- here's an excerpt (from my current file, these are not the actual defaults, but the keys are the same). PPM means "Pages Per Minute":

    <kRateBasePPM value=".05">
      <!--The base PPM a Sim will write with no other bonuses added -->
    </kRateBasePPM>
    <kRateMaxBooksReadPPM value=".03">
      <!--The amount added to the total PPM if the number of books a Sim has read is >= 'kMaxBooksRead' -->
    </kRateMaxBooksReadPPM>
    <kRateBookWormBonusPPM value=".02">
      <!--If a Sim is a book worm, this is added to their total PPM -->
    </kRateBookWormBonusPPM>
    <kRateMaxWritingSkillPPM value=".1">
      <!--A Sim with max writing skill will have this amount added to their total PPM -->
    </kRateMaxWritingSkillPPM>
    <kRateMaxBooksWrittenPPM value=".05">
      <!--The amount added to the total PPM if the number of books a Sim has written is >= 'kMaxBooksWritten' -->
    </kRateMaxBooksWrittenPPM>
    <kRateMaxBooksRead value="12">
      <!--The 'Books Read' bonus is cut off after the Sim has read this many books.-->
    </kRateMaxBooksRead>
    <kRateMaxBooksWritten value="6">
      <!--The 'Books Written' bonus is cut off after the Sim has written this many books.-->
    </kRateMaxBooksWritten>

    <kRateSpeedWriterMultiplier value="1.5">
      <!--The final PPM rate is multiplied by this if the Sim is a speed writer.-->
    </kRateSpeedWriterMultiplier>

[Mandapotpie]

Natural cook is a tiny bit more subtle but they will never burn food and can save you a bit of money when keeping your sims happy with food related moodlets with the "kick it up a notch" interaction they get with meals.  It makes it very easy to get "perfect" meals out of less than perfect ingredients.

I don't think that is entirely right - I had a natural cook sim and early on, before he developed too much in the way of cooking skill, he cooked and burnt a meal.  I made the error of putting the leftovers in the fridge and the couple were 'bleughing' out over it for ages after he actually cooked the meal - every time they got a plate of it.  I think the last serving of it is still in there.  He's gone on to rataouille and more exotic stuff now.

Natural cooks can also learn recipes without buying them through socialization with other sims. I also read (I think it was on here somewhere) that they can learn the recipe from eating the meal.

[IgnorantBliss]

Sims can also learn random recipes by watching the Cookin' Cable, but I don't know if this is related to the Natural Cook trait.

[DentedLemons]

Natural cooks can also learn recipes without buying them through socialization with other sims. I also read (I think it was on here somewhere) that they can learn the recipe from eating the meal.

My regular sim has been able to learn recipies from talking about cooking with Natural Cook sims, even though she was not one herself.

I like Good Sense of Humour. Unless you're socializing with someone grumpy / No sense of humour, all of those funny interactions seem to build up the relationship faster than plain ol chatting, telling stories, etc.

[cuthbert]

Natural cook is a tiny bit more subtle but they will never burn food and can save you a bit of money when keeping your sims happy with food related moodlets with the "kick it up a notch" interaction they get with meals.  It makes it very easy to get "perfect" meals out of less than perfect ingredients.

I don't think that is entirely right - I had a natural cook sim and early on, before he developed too much in the way of cooking skill, he cooked and burnt a meal.  I made the error of putting the leftovers in the fridge and the couple were 'bleughing' out over it for ages after he actually cooked the meal - every time they got a plate of it.  I think the last serving of it is still in there.  He's gone on to rataouille and more exotic stuff now.

Natural cooks can also learn recipes without buying them through socialization with other sims. I also read (I think it was on here somewhere) that they can learn the recipe from eating the meal.

I didn't know they can learn through socialization, my sim with Natural Cook trait learned all the recipes by eating 'in' the bistro. You can even learn how to cook ambrosia with this method (but not the rejuvenating effect). I know that eating out takes less time, but sometimes my sim just put the dish down without eating if there is a sim nearby the table she was about put the plate. And outside the bistro, dishes tend to disappear rather quickly if no one occupies it.

Recently I made my sim with Perfectionist trait to cook every dish known perfectly just for fun (not just perfect dish, but until they hit 'Perfect' stage in the journal). I quickly regret the decision but kept going anyway... It took all day in real life, and 100+ game days without any other activity. I really should have erased Perfectionist trait. I had to constantly cheat her mood up and delete the Stir Crazy moodlet occasionally. Anyway, she was already level 10 in Cooking when started with level 0 dish Mac and Cheese, and didn't burn a single helping - until Baked Angel Food Cake & Lobster Thermidor. She was rather short on flame fruits, so I quickly addtraited Natural Cook. After that I made her cook 30+ dishes of both, and not a single dish burned. If your sim cooks level 10 meals frequently, I think Natural Cook is very good trait to keep.

Sorry for babbling, and sorry for any gramatical errors. It's very hard to write in English.

[Gastfyr]

I've noticed them write novels faster.  I can't believe it was just my immagination.  I had one Bookworm and one non-Bookworm in the same household and Bookworm could write an entire SciFi or Fantasy novel in one sim day and still take care of his motives (no cheating at all involved) while the other guy was lucky to finish 40% of a book in the same amount of time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that they write faster in the Library, though that certainly would be helpful even for Bookworms.

Doesn't the number of books they have read also effect how fast they write though? Did these two sims both read the same amount of books?

I didn't know that books read also affected it; that's good to know!  The bookworm had naturally read a lot more books, since he's constantly rolling wishes to read them.  I gotta go make all my non-bookworm writers read moar books now.   

[J. M. Pescado]

I was rather disappointed when my "brave" sim ran away from the emperor of evil like a pussy.

The Aura of Evil has the following effects, in order, only one effect applies, in order.
Sims with <= 10 relationship and the "Coward", "Neurotic", "Loser", or "OverEmotional" trait will run away. No rel change.
Sims in Law Enforcement, or with the Good, Friendly, or Fambly-Oriented traits will boo and lose 3 relationship if they know each other.
Sims in Criminal, or with the Evil, Mean, or Insane traits will cheer and gaining 5 relationship if they know each other.

First rule applies, so a Cowardly Criminal who doesn't know the Emperor well will run away and not gain any rel, a Neurotic cop unknown will also run away, etc. The Emperor of Evil basically will be disliked by any "nice" sims.

[Doc Doofus]

I'll stick up for Daredevil and Evil.  It's nice to get a quick +15 moodlet before you leave for work.  Daredevil can do a quick "Watch This!" with the spouse before leaving. 

Evil sims have a trick I discovered.  Have them turn on the radio in sleeping Grandpa's room before they leave for work.  It wakes up grandpa (who is probably retired, but you could do the same with a toddler or anybody else who sleeps past 8am) with a negative moodlet, and gives the Evil sim a +15 moodlet.

Two genius sims have the Compliment Cleverness action they can do to each other before leaving for work.  That's a quick +15.

I also saw only one mention of Good Sense of Humor.  Sense of Humor sims are the only ones that can carry on a whole conversation of Funny actions because they have more than just the usual two options.  And telling jokes very quickly fills up the fun bar.  Very, very useful for friend-making.

Natural Cooks...  I won't swear to this, but I THINK they get fun from reading a cook book.  I think the Natural Cook I played last night filled up her fun bar while reading her way to her first cooking point.

Couch Potato...  They gain fun from learning skills while watching TV.  It's an effortless way to fill up the cooking, fishing, gardening skill bars and still have full bars.  And I think I got a game pop-up message informing me that they learn faster from TV.

Insane... I don't care to play Insane sims, because having lived with a schizophrenic, they hit too close to home for me.  But the "Talk to self" action fills up the fun bar very quickly without requiring any external objects or people.

Not very useful or interesting: Lucky, Never Naked, Commitment Issues.

[Sam]

Daredevil can do a quick "Watch This!" with the spouse before leaving. 

That wouldn't be the one to give them an adrenaline rush, would it? I sent mine to a guitar class, and when I found him chatting to someone outside he had that moodlet, but I couldn't for the life of me figure how he got it.

I also saw only one mention of Good Sense of Humor.  Sense of Humor sims are the only ones that can carry on a whole conversation of Funny actions because they have more than just the usual two options.  And telling jokes very quickly fills up the fun bar.  Very, very useful for friend-making.

I've always wondered if it was worth using GSOH for a sim. That's good to know, thanks

Couch Potato...  They gain fun from learning skills while watching TV.  It's an effortless way to fill up the cooking, fishing, gardening skill bars and still have full bars.  And I think I got a game pop-up message informing me that they learn faster from TV.

They won't learn anything from the TV unless they have at least one skill point to start with, that's the only thing. But yeah, they do it autonomously too, which is helpful. I have two who are always watching the cooking and gardening channels without my help

I've noticed them write novels faster.  I can't believe it was just my immagination.  I had one Bookworm and one non-Bookworm in the same household and Bookworm could write an entire SciFi or Fantasy novel in one sim day and still take care of his motives (no cheating at all involved) while the other guy was lucky to finish 40% of a book in the same amount of time.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that they write faster in the Library, though that certainly would be helpful even for Bookworms.

Doesn't the number of books they have read also effect how fast they write though? Did these two sims both read the same amount of books?

I didn't know that books read also affected it; that's good to know!  The bookworm had naturally read a lot more books, since he's constantly rolling wishes to read them.  I gotta go make all my non-bookworm writers read moar books now.   

I didn't think bookworm alone made much of a difference. Mine hadn't read that many, which is probably why she was taking so long - I think a combination of Awesomemod and absent-minded stops her reading as much as she'd like by herself - but I recently got every single fiction novel in, so she's no excuse now Well, apart from the absent-minded trait, of course - sometimes actions drop from her queue.

[Gus Smedstad]

Sense of Humor sims are the only ones that can carry on a whole conversation of Funny actions because they have more than just the usual two options.  And telling jokes very quickly fills up the fun bar.

All sims get a host of extra Funny options if the humor level of the conversation is high enough.  Just as there are levels to Romantic and Friendly, there are Funny actions that open up only if you've done enough Funny actions without doing anything else in between.

The issue is that most Sims can't get the Funny level up without boring their target until they get Amusing Greet from Charisma.

Absent-minded is single-handedly the worst trait in the game.

Yeah, I have no intention of ever creating a Sim with that trait.  Difficulty is all very well, but deliberate queue-stomping isn't challenging, it's bloody annoying.

 - Gus

[Motoki]

Absent-minded is single-handedly the worst trait in the game. It makes Sims virtually useless if not tightly controlled with queued-up actions (or kept total commanderized).

Really? I've had several absent minded sims and never even noticed. I guess I just kind of assume all sims are absent minded anyway. That and I am probably a control freak who makes sure they are doing things at all times and pauses a lot.

[J. M. Pescado]

I'm with Motoki. I haven't noticed anything unusual, other than that they occasionally halt and pause there briefly with a dumb look on their face. I can't really find any actual CODE that is queuedropping them, either, so it is distinctly possible they are just behaving like every other sim in that regard. All sims are kinda absent-minded.

[J. M. Pescado]

So, what's the problem? They stop doing incorrect things faster than other sims? This is bad because...?

[lmind]

I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning Charismatic.  It seems to operate similarly to Good Sense of Humor and Flirty.  Whereas GSOH opens up the "Funny" social branch, Charismatic opens up the "Friendly" branch.  You "Get to Know" traits more quickly, which then helps you tailor your social interactions more specifically to the target.  (Compliment sims that are Snobs, etc.)

I like Party Animal, too.  But, then again, I like parties.

The Leader of the Free World, in my game, is a Charismatic Party Animal with Legendary Host, etc.  Party every day.  It's a fun combo.

Heavy Sleeper and Light Sleeper seem truly useless.

[Motoki]

Will heavy sleeper sleep through the damned kids whose screams can be heard through multiple walls and floors? If so I need to start using it.

[Sam]

Will heavy sleeper sleep through the damned kids whose screams can be heard through multiple walls and floors? If so I need to start using it.

Might explain why, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Stiles McGraw sometimes wakes up before he's fully rested (he's married with three kids in my game) ¬_¬ Methinks light sleeper is more of an annoying trait on the same level as absent-minded.

Has no one mentioned Hopeless Romantic yet?! Works similar to this...

I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning Charismatic.  It seems to operate similarly to Good Sense of Humor and Flirty.  Whereas GSOH opens up the "Funny" social branch, Charismatic opens up the "Friendly" branch.  You "Get to Know" traits more quickly, which then helps you tailor your social interactions more specifically to the target.  (Compliment sims that are Snobs, etc.)

... in that it opens up the "Romantic" branch. Things like Confess Attraction that weren't there when I tried through the proper channels, but through "Special/HR/.." I could "confess attraction" - after several unsuccessful tries to get a love interest, that did it for me in one go ^_^

[HazelEyes]

Hopeless Romantics will also autonomously flirt and interact romantically, sometimes with total strangers. Good Sense of Humor is my favorite trait for efficient and amusing relationship-building.

[Aaroc]

No Sense of Humor is, oddly, a good trait to have on a sim, as their fun drains very slowly. With a full fun bar, NSoH sims will keep the "Having a Blast" Moodlet for 14 or 15 hours; twice as long as other sims.

[ForkInToaster]

If you have twins, "evil" is a good traid to have up until they are toddlers. I had a set of twins and one was evil. Everytime his twin brother started getting lonely, hungry or needed a diaper change, he'd get a positive moodlet from it. This was JUST enough to make him generate aspiration points as a baby while his non-evil brother didn't.  By the time he was a child, he had about 3k more points than his twin brother. 

[J. M. Pescado]

Evil is ALWAYS a good trait to have. Now you see, that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.

[daydreamer]

I was under the impression that Unflirty sims would be really hard to get in bed but they are still slutty whores once they build up a relationship with someone.

I like Schmoozer sims because of the interactions available to them early on and they become friends faster with their co-workers and boss faster.

Is Loves the Outdoors of any use besides getting a positive moodlet? My Outdoorsy sim did get a want to start gardening and she wasn't a Green Thumb.

[chaos]

Good sims get a positive moodlet for donating to charity, and also have the "brighten day" interaction, which gives a positive moodlet to those whose days they brighten. Otherwise, they're useless.

The problem I have with absent-minded sims is that they occasionally "forget" to go to work. I have to watch them like a hawk, or their work performance will plummet.