Factoids and Statistics on Skill Gaining

[Li'l Brudder]

But there are no military cook levels in the game.

Ergo, I generally don't build their body skills.

[J. M. Pescado]

But without body skills, you can't lure the terrorists that kidnap your daughter into the kitchen, chop them into bits, and declare that "No One Beats You In the Kitchen".

[Gwill]

This sounds very much like a Stephen Segal movie.

[Zazazu]

But there are no military cook levels in the game.

Ergo, I generally don't build their body skills.

Have you ever had to lift a pan full of eight stuffed lobsters? Those suckers are heavy.

But seriously, my non-body-point-needing sims only get enough to make them fit, if they desire fitness or someone who is attracted to fitness. Any past that are purely accidental from the dance sphere or the pool.

[RainbowTigress]

How do you get eight stuffed lobsters?  Mine only serve six unless I use a hack. 

[Zazazu]

*smacks self*
Six, not eight. I've only been playing this game from day one, but apparently I can't count. Still, they'd be heavy.

[DavidC]

I was reading some of the tool tips when I was playing yesterday and I noticed a few of them about skilling said that some personalities learn some skills faster than others. Like neat sims learning cleaning faster and Outgoing & Nice sims being better at learning charisma, now I know some of the tool tips are false like active sims needing more sleep.. but how true are the ones about skilling?

[Cyjon]

Yup, it's true.

Neat - Cleaning
Serious - Logic
Playful - Creativity
Outgoing - Charisma
Active - Body

Nothing helps mechanical or cooking.  For every point over 5 you earn the skill 10% faster, up to 50% faster if that personality trait is maxed.  That's reversed for serious, so +10% for every point of playful below 5.  There is no penalty for being at the opposite end, so sims of neat 0 learn cleaning just as fast as those with neat 5.

[Flamingo]

I thought it was always lazy Sims who learned logic faster.

[Soylent Sim]

Lazy sims are more prone to sedentary activities like chess, but have no direct bonus to their learn rate.  Still, as logic is one of the skills they'll autonomously work at, lazy sims will likely have higher logic scores if left alone due to aforementioned preference.

[J. M. Pescado]

The personality affinity to Chess is actually "Serious", not lazy. Unless these two personality traits are linked, you're just imagining things. Lazy sims learn ALL skills more slowly, because they have no endurance or speed: When they need to refuel, they can't move quickly enough to get it over with in a timely manner, so what WOULD have been a 30-minute run for an active sim becomes a 3 HOUR run for a lazy sim. Furthermore, lazy sims run out of gas very quickly, constantly whining for their pathetic sleep. There is nothing that lazy sims do that an active sim cannot do better.

[Li'l Brudder]

Sleep?

[J. M. Pescado]

Sleep?

No, active sims do that better also. Lazy sim are likely to pass out on the floor before making it to their bed.

[Chienne]

Neat - Cleaning
Serious - Logic
Playful - Creativity
Outgoing - Charisma
Active - Body

So if you need both Logic AND Creativity, you're screwed....

[BastDawn]

So if you need both Logic AND Creativity, you're screwed....

Well, good thing.  If not, thre would be a "perfect knowledge sim personality", and that would be boring.  It's already too boring!

[Invisigoth]

Neat - Cleaning
Serious - Logic
Playful - Creativity
Outgoing - Charisma
Active - Body

So if you need both Logic AND Creativity, you're screwed....

I don't think that the personalities usually make a noticable difference in skilling.  That is not to say that I don't believe that there is a difference, I do.  I just don't usually pay attention to them when they are skillinating because it frees me to do something more interesting with another sim.  I have never had any difficulty getting a sim to max all skills, but if I bother or not will depend on what their individual story is.

[DavidC]

Thinking back it does make sense, I remember when I got a Child with 10 Activity to max body skill in 2 days and I didn't use Smart milk much back then, Just the Punch bag and a Servo. But now most of my sims have very similar personalities so I guess I stopped noticing different learning rates between them. Now I don't use Smart milk at all after getting bored of Young Adults and Adults with max skills and nothing to do.. so now I know what Scholarships to concentrate on to reflect there personalities, which is better than going for 6-8 random ones

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, good thing.  If not, thre would be a "perfect knowledge sim personality", and that would be boring.  It's already too boring!

It changes nothing. There would STILL be a "perfect knowledge sim personality": One that optimizes the tradeoffs to produce the minimum learning time for all skills. The actual truth is more complicated than that, anyway: In addition to the raw learn rate benefits, there is also the tradeoff imposed by how personality affects motive decay rates, with Outgoing sims having markedly faster Social decay than Shy sims and Active sims losing energy MUCH more slowly than Lazy sims, and soforth. Also, the effects on locomotion: An active sim moves so much faster than a lazy sim, that combined with the slower energy decay, results in the active sim getting more than twice as much done in the same amount of time.

[Drakron]

This sounds very much like a Stephen Segal movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105690/

(Sorry about the necro)

[Frick]

This sounds very much like a Stephen Segal movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105690/

(Sorry about the necro)

Thanks, Drakron! I know everyone here has been spending the last seven months on pins and needles wondering which Steven Segal movie Gwill might have been thinking of. You have put everyone's mind at ease.

[Kattan]

Yup, it's true.

Neat - Cleaning
Serious - Logic
Playful - Creativity
Outgoing - Charisma
Active - Body

Nothing helps mechanical or cooking.  For every point over 5 you earn the skill 10% faster, up to 50% faster if that personality trait is maxed.  That's reversed for serious, so +10% for every point of playful below 5.  There is no penalty for being at the opposite end, so sims of neat 0 learn cleaning just as fast as those with neat 5.

O.o That... actually explains why my playful lazy slob quickly maxed creativity but whined like a little bitch when I was trying to get his body points up. And the idiot's LTW was to be Captain Hero. Hey, baby, you need body points for that, not the ability to rock out!

[cwykes]

I've just worked out a less obvious implication of that..... sims born in game will tend to learn faster than new bodyshop or CAS sims, because they have so many personality points they are bound to have more 5+ traits....  Add the stuck milk effect and born in game sims have it really easy compared to CAS sims!

[Karen]

Any information yet on how the new FT skilling objects compare to the existing ones?  (Not really impatient here, just curious....)

Karen

[J. M. Pescado]

Any information yet on how the new FT skilling objects compare to the existing ones?  (Not really impatient here, just curious....)

Toddler Activity bench is 150, so it is superior to other toddler skillers and grants Mech and Creativity. Nursery Rhymes are 100 and grant Cha, which outpaces the Rabbit Head. As a rule, for CTAE, none of the new skilling objects really are relevant, but for toddlers, all of the new actions are superior to their original counterparts. Only the Logic Pegbox withstands the test of time, but has lost its top-billing to the Activity Bench. All nurseries will likely need extensive restructuring, as the Activity table is quite large and demands 4x4 clearance room. The Xylophone is basically obsolete, although Enthusiasm concerns may enter into it: The Activity bench will build Art, while Xylophone should build music (unverified). However, it is insuperior as a skilling object, especially since the Activity Bench in Block mode also grants Mech and Tinker simultaneously.

[Karen]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's CTAE?

I love the activity table.  Especially the fact that it 1) builds more than one skill, and 2) can be used by both toddlers and kids.  Good to know that it beats the other toddler toys, which I had long since grown utterly sick of

Karen