Career Profitability and Perks

[Heinel]

Did no one bother with the military career?

Astronauts only work on mondays but it goes from 7am to 1am.

lv 10 starts at 334/hr

Require: mood, athletic, handiness, boss relation.

Options: usual, work hard, goof off at the post exchange, hang out with fellow soldiers, suck up to superior

You can also demand a raise when you click on the military building, though I'm not sure if that is the same for all careers or if it's a trait thing.

[Fu]

Hi,

I hope I'm not restating to many things that have been posted elsewhere already, and when I do, please take them as corroboration of said info, so here goes.

Some things about gardening:

- money trees never die, sometimes a seed spawns next to them (I'm not sure if this can happen multiple times for the same tree)
- a perfect fruit of life nets 100$ when sold, and resets your sims lifetime by one day
- plant of death can only be harvested once and then dies (which is unfortunate because then you can never get more than one) unless you have the green thumb (don't know if thats the correct name, I have the german version) trait, then you can revive it (which only works once on the same plant, as far as I experienced) and harvest again

Some things about fishing:

- the deathfish (lure: angelfish) can be fished from the pond at the cemetery between 0.00 and 04.00
- deathfishs can net 600+$
- if you want a very heavy fish, go to the pond behind the science lab and fish robofish (I don't remember the lure, but there are books about it in the library) they can be 600+ kg (I'm not sure how the sims manage to pul those out of the water or carry them around :-) )

Something about cooking:

- ambrosia (recipe at the book store for 12k$) is cooked from deathfish and fruit of live - when eaten the complete life span of the current aging phase of your sims is reset and you get a moodlet with +75 for 7 days

Thats all I can think of at the top of my hat.

[edit]
I forgot something most important of course:
- plant of death is automatically used from your inventory and your sim is brought back to life if your sim dies from an accident, does not work for death from old age (but you know to work around that)
[/edit]

[edit2]
I think proper perks from careers should stay with the sim even when they quit, like career rewards from TS2. From what I've seen so far the only permanent perks are the one from top tier science (perform experiment) and top tier musician (some kind of awesome sound system). Can anyone confirm anything else?
[/edit2]

[BlueSoup]

I think proper perks from careers should stay with the sim even when they quit, like career rewards from TS2. From what I've seen so far the only permanent perks are the one from top tier science (perform experiment) and top tier musician (some kind of awesome sound system). Can anyone confirm anything else?

The fridge from the culinary career is way more awesome than the catalog fridges, and gives the Sims a positive moodlet from superior equipment.  And it lasts even beyond the Sim's lifetime.

[Stitches]

I would assume, then Vaudeville = 5 humor novels?

I wonder which sort of novel leads to masterpiece. Drama, perhaps?

My sim has written 6 humor novels without Vaudeville appearing. It doesn't seem to be based on the good sense of humor trait either.

[Faizah]

Some things about gardening:

- money trees never die, sometimes a seed spawns next to them (I'm not sure if this can happen multiple times for the same tree)
- plant of death can only be harvested once and then dies (which is unfortunate because then you can never get more than one) unless you have the green thumb (don't know if thats the correct name, I have the german version) trait, then you can revive it (which only works once on the same plant, as far as I experienced) and harvest again

I've had a Sim trotting over the countryside for unknown special seeds, and there does appear to be a small chance of them growing into death flowers. He has four perfect death flowers now. (Also, I think he brought one home from work once as a random thing. Science career.) Life and flame fruit plants are far more common.

Also, it seems that money trees drop their seeds once they reach perfect state, I noticed this sim's trees (he has six now, thanks to those unknown special seeds) slowly increasing in health over time, and no seeds dropped before they reached perfect. Haven't played long enough to see if they die or more seeds drop, though.

As for novels, he had written three of each (including satire - possibly unlocked by three humour - and fantasy - three sci-fi?) when I noticed Vaudeville was an option. It definitely wasn't when he had only written two of each type. I have no clue what unlocked it, though.

[BlueSoup]

Satire is not unlocked by any other genre.  It appears as a type when your Sim gets to a specific writing level.

[Tibbi]

I have a law enforcement family, the Dad is a Superspy and the mom is in Forensics.  The Superspy is a touch more difficult, because it really wants you to get a ton of athletic points, on top of all your logic points.  The Forensic path has you level up in painting on top of logic, but it doesn't have to be very many points to satisfy the game.  Right now I have three and am on neutral, and she's at level 9.

Basic Law Enforcement options start out with Business as Usual, Work Hard, Take it Easy, Sleep on Couch, Work Independent Case, and Talk to your Partner.  After spending one day talking to your partner, you barely have to socialize with them again.  On the Lieutenant level you start having the need to write reports, and the quality of your reports and therefore the happiness of you report level is absolutely dependent on your writing ability.  I eliminated every variable and saved that for last, and just having three little writing points made a world of difference.  To get info for the reports you either Question townies, or Rummage through their trashcans--my favorite part of this job.  You can find gems, space rocks, bubble bath, teddy bears and, of course, trash.  Your Sim will continue to be disgusted until you remember to remove the trash from their inventory and throw it in their own can.  No, you can't rummage your own can.

The Superspy has to carry a beeper, and is almost always called out the same night they work.  Forensics doesn't have to.  The Superspy options change to Business As Usual, Work Hard, Take it Easy, Work Independent Case, Chat with your Partner, Build Athletic Skill.  Forensics stays the same, unless I'm just not remembering properly.

I did get the Opportunity to build friendships to create a network of tipsters.  That was for the spy.  Once he reached level 10 he could raid the Criminal HQ, but that was rather meh.  Quite a bit of to-do, for not much return.

[tides]

Satire is not unlocked by any other genre.  It appears as a type when your Sim gets to a specific writing level.

i have level 10 in writing but i dont have satire :/
i got all the writing achievements as well..

[Czezechael]

Do money trees come from an opportunity?  I've wandered my sims through hill and dale and am always disappointed to find that a "special" or "rare" seed was another watermelon, garlic, or flame fruit.

On the subject of gardening-related opportunities, are the ones that grant meat plants, egg plants, and cheese plants rather full of it when they tell you to stop by the bistro for more opportunities once you reach level 10?  I suppose I could test this personally but it doesn't really seem that thrilling of an activity, and unless already having level 10 in gardening somehow ruins it (which, given the EAxian <i>m.o.</i>, seems plausible) the "full of it" option seems like a fine lazy default.

Interesting about the death flowers, it's nice to know they have a point, and I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning or not but Green Thumbed sims can revive death flowers to get two harvests from them.  Oh, and one <i>fun</i> thing to do is plant a life fruit orchard with some throwaway gardener sim and then harvest to your heart's content with a family you've actually got an interest in playing.  I'm not sure if this is actually the case, but harvesting from higher-leveled fruits did seem to raise gardening faster than tending and harvesting things in normal available level range, and all the life plants are still alive and kicking after harvesting a few hundred life fruits - I'm into the mid teens at the very least for number of harvests, and as far as I con it, they're supposed to kick the bucket after five at the most.

All in all I find the perks a little disappointing when juxtaposed against career rewards.  Since neighbourhoods don't really feel nearly as vibrant to me when they're not filled with leftovers from abandoned legacy challenges gone prosperity mode (ooh!  backstory!), the perks form journalism and law enforcement haven't really felt very worthwhile, assuming they stay "interview" and "question".  Ooh, great, my vinyl-skinned doll can find out things about some doughy-faced fat vinyl-skinned dolls whom I don't care about.

[Menchii]

No, you can't rummage your own can.

My sim gets the option to rummage from her garbage can.  I thought it was due to one of her traits.  She is insane evil mean spirited inappropriate and 1 other I forgot.

Also when my sim got taken to jail during work she lost all her inventory.  I got a message about taking my adventures of rymundo so other inmates don't get jealous.  I couldn't find the unknown seed I found either.  A different time on a different sim that wasn't a criminal I couldn't find the seed after a while.  Maybe they die and disappear from inventory. 

[Roflganger]

 A different time on a different sim that wasn't a criminal I couldn't find the seed after a while.  Maybe they die and disappear from inventory.  

Seeds don't die.  Well, if they do, they take an incredibly long time to do so, because my Sim picked up a special seed shortly after I created him in CAS and 17 weeks later, he finally got around to planting it.

[Menchii]

  A different time on a different sim that wasn't a criminal I couldn't find the seed after a while.  Maybe they die and disappear from inventory. 

Seeds don't die.  Well, if they do, they take an incredibly long time to do so, because my Sim picked up a special seed shortly after I created him in CAS and 17 weeks later, he finally got around to planting it.

Well that is good to know.  Well I am baffled as to where that seed went on the non criminal sim.  Maybe I accidentally dragged it out of the inventory or deleted it.  Who knows I could have planted the darn thing and forgot.

[literatebse]

According to the Prima guide -- so take this with several grains of salt -- satire appears when you've written three humor novels and vaudeville appears when you've written three each of drama, sci-fi, humor, mystery, and romance.

[WandersFar]

... vaudeville appears when you've written three each of drama, sci-fi, humor, mystery, and romance.

Yeah, not so much. As you can see from my sim's writing stats here, Vaudeville can show up with only 2 of drama, sci-fi, humor, and mystery. (But now I can't remember when my sim wrote that third romance novel -- it was either right before or right after I started working on Vaudevilles and Masterpieces, so it possibly could have been the trigger, I'm not sure.)

Thanks for the tip on 3 humor --> satire. I think I'll test that out.

[Zazazu]

It's how I got it. Three humor = satire. Three sci fi = fantasy. I was doing three of each type to see what happens, but then got the extremely lucrative painting deal. The heirs have been moving up every generation, so I want Charlene to have as much cash as possible.

TS3 ad on tv right now. So CGI and doesn't look much at all like the actual game, at least as far as the sims go. False advertising FTW.

[Lorelei]

Money trees CAN die, if neglected. Just FYI. I gave it a try, and, sure enough, dead tree.

[McCrea]

Couple of Painting Questions:
I have had a wish sitting in the queue for a while now "Paint something over $5,000", I have all the traits and lifetime rewards to help in the venture and all motives high, but for the life of me, cannot make anything over +/-$4,200 <$5,000. Also, the value seems to decrease if I paint one after another. (And this is the same with books) :S

Does anyone know of an easy way to do this, or is it just a matter of painting something 4,200+ and waiting for it to appreciate in value? (Would EA be this smart?)
Does the price of paintings increase when the artist dies?

You can just keep painting.  I may have had to do 3 or 4 masterpiece larges before I had one that happened to be >$5k.
I do not believe books nor paintings necessarily decrease for consecutive completions.  (If you're human, you may be the type of creature that is more likely to notice / remember negative results.)

I have no advise on appreciation.

[idtaminger]

Couple of Painting Questions:
I have had a wish sitting in the queue for a while now "Paint something over $5,000", I have all the traits and lifetime rewards to help in the venture and all motives high, but for the life of me, cannot make anything over +/-$4,200 <$5,000. Also, the value seems to decrease if I paint one after another. (And this is the same with books) :S

Does anyone know of an easy way to do this, or is it just a matter of painting something 4,200+ and waiting for it to appreciate in value? (Would EA be this smart?)
Does the price of paintings increase when the artist dies?

You can just keep painting.  I may have had to do 3 or 4 masterpiece larges before I had one that happened to be >$5k.
I do not believe books nor paintings necessarily decrease for consecutive completions.  (If you're human, you may be the type of creature that is more likely to notice / remember negative results.)

I have no advise on appreciation.

It also helps if you change up the painting size. There was a period where I needed money for my sim and I kept painting Large paintings one after the other. After a while, each consecutive painting started decreasing in value. Then, when I wasn't looking the game queued up my sim to paint a small painting. Lo and behold, that one actually jumped up in price and almost matched my highest previous haul for a painting. Since then I've been switching up the painting sizes and my paintings have just been increasing in value.

[redwards]

Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.

[BlueSoup]

Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.

Midnight to 5am.

[Kyna]

Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.

Midnight to 5am.

Build a pond on your sims' lot, have them stock it with deathfish.  Deathfish can then be caught at any time in that pond, you are no longer limited to midnight-5am fishing to catch them.

To stock a pond requires 10 of the type of fish in your sim's inventory.  You can stock a pond with more than than one type of fish - you can stock the pond with all 21 types of fish if you want.

Not sure what happens if you switch households, as I'm only partway through a rotation and haven't gotten back to the ponds I stocked yet.  Hopefully the ponds will still be stocked next time I play those lots.

[crunk]

On the subject of fishing, has anyone been playing Riverview with a fishing sim? I seem to be getting less varieties of fish than I did in Sunset Valley, mostly due to the fact that there isn't any salt water except for the Hatchery. Also, Robotfish in SV were found at the Science lot, but I haven't been able to catch one anywhere in Riverview. Any ideas?

[Kyna]

My Riverview angler was able to fully stock his pond with all varieties of fish.  I found robot fish in a fishing spot in the river near the science lot, so haven't had any problems with finding them, nor with finding deathfish (found in a fishing spot near the cemetery that appears at midnight).

I noticed that there are sometimes a couple of fishing spots near the mouth of the river that may be salt water, although I didn't check to if they were, as I found all the salt water fish at the hatchery.

[Faizah]

Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.

Midnight to 5am.

Build a pond on your sims' lot, have them stock it with deathfish.  Deathfish can then be caught at any time in that pond, you are no longer limited to midnight-5am fishing to catch them.

To stock a pond requires 10 of the type of fish in your sim's inventory.  You can stock a pond with more than than one type of fish - you can stock the pond with all 21 types of fish if you want.

Not sure what happens if you switch households, as I'm only partway through a rotation and haven't gotten back to the ponds I stocked yet.  Hopefully the ponds will still be stocked next time I play those lots.

I switched households after stocking one sim's pond with deathfish, and the new household was able to drop by and catch a few deathfish, in broad daylight.

[redwards]

Perfect quality deathfish look to sell for about $900-$1k. Fishing for deathfish looks like it could be pretty lucrative. Too bad they're only available from midnight to 2 am.

Midnight to 5am.

Build a pond on your sims' lot, have them stock it with deathfish.  Deathfish can then be caught at any time in that pond, you are no longer limited to midnight-5am fishing to catch them.

To stock a pond requires 10 of the type of fish in your sim's inventory.  You can stock a pond with more than than one type of fish - you can stock the pond with all 21 types of fish if you want.

Not sure what happens if you switch households, as I'm only partway through a rotation and haven't gotten back to the ponds I stocked yet.  Hopefully the ponds will still be stocked next time I play those lots.

This sounds like a short route to being filthy rich. My sim caught 6 deathfish between midnight and 3 the other night, and 3 were perfect, for a total of 4-5 grand for 3 hours fishing.