Get to Work and Occults: Pack Integration Ideas
"Get to Work" is TS4's very first expansion pack. It comes with three active careers: Doctor, Detective, and Scientist. All three of these careers have so much potential for integration with occult sims, and yet no updates have been added to take advantage of the possibilities. So, here are a few ideas (which could be amazing for a pack refresh *hint* *hint*) that I think would work well to link "Get to Work" and the occult sims that have been released up to this point.
1.Detective: For the Detective career, I think that it would be fun if--if your rank and job performance are high enough and you have the proper packs--you occasionally get offered a "special assignment" from the chief to investigate a case involving possible paranormal activity. This can include things like werewolf vandalism, a string of vampire attacks, sinister spellcraft, or even mischievous merfolk. You would be able to turn the assignment down if you wanted, and these cases will have a chance of being closed as "Unsolvable." The chance of solving them would increase if your detective is an occult sim themself or has high Logic and/or Vampire Lore skills. When solved, they can have everything from an "all's well that ends well" comedy of errors happy ending to actually concluding with someone goin' to the slammer. These cases would really spice up investigations, and allow players to lean a little more into X Files and Grimm territory with their detectives' adventures if they wanted.
2.Doctor: Doctor is the dullest of the "Get to Work" active careers to play...but it doesn't have to be that way! Having occult sims come in with specialized ailments (Spellcasters with that oogie cursed face, landsick merfolk, etc.) to diagnose and treat on rare occasions would really spice things up. Maybe even a sim with werebies could show up and you'd have to synthesize them a cure! A key to properly treating occult patients could involve actually learning about their nature, making diagnosis and treatment easier and more effective. A high Charisma skill to convince tight-lipped patients to open up or a high Logic skill to deduce things on your own would be required, though.
3.Scientist: Scientist has the most potential for integration with occult sims. We can already build devices to contact aliens and travel to alien worlds, clone sims, and craft serums of all sorts...so adding more interaction with occults is a natural next step! First of all, adding new serums linked to occult sims would just plain make my day. Use ingredients like Plasma Fruit, Mermadic Kelp, Moon Petal Flower, etc. to craft serums that can transform a sim through SCIENCE or give them access to new abilities temporarily. At the highest levels of the career, you may even be able to study the scientific core of magic itself. After all, isn't magic only science we don't yet fully understand? This can unlock new spells if your scientist is also a spellcaster!
Secondly, being able to learn if a sim is a vampire, werewolf, mersim, etc. by analyzing a DNA sample would be a cool touch. In fact, being able to analyze and study occult DNA and inspect cell samples from occult sims under the microscope would also be amazing additions to the scientist career! Imagine a set of prints you can get only from a scientist sim examining cell samples from occults under the microscope! Or, and hear me out on this, even being able to use the analysis machine to analyze vampire concoctions and magic potions to learn new serum recipes!
Finally, what about having one of the glitches that can happen when cloning a sim be that they come out as an occult instead of a human, or a human instead of an occult, or a different kind of occult than the original sim? That could fuel so many fun storylines! Scientist clones herself, only for her clone to come out as werewolf! The ensuing chaos practically writes itself! How is it the most chaotic thing that can come from cloning is one of the original's traits being replaced with the Evil trait in the clone? One of the job titles in this track is literally "Mad Scientist." What's more mad science than an accidental werewolf/vampire/mermaid/whatever clone?
Those are just a few ideas I think would really fit for "Get to Work" when it comes to integrating occult sims more. Players would also be able to turn off occult clones or occult special patients or "special assignments" if they wanted, so no one would be forced to have those things in a more grounded save. This EP, however, could use a good dollop of love, and players are hungry for better pack integration.
1.Detective: For the Detective career, I think that it would be fun if--if your rank and job performance are high enough and you have the proper packs--you occasionally get offered a "special assignment" from the chief to investigate a case involving possible paranormal activity. This can include things like werewolf vandalism, a string of vampire attacks, sinister spellcraft, or even mischievous merfolk. You would be able to turn the assignment down if you wanted, and these cases will have a chance of being closed as "Unsolvable." The chance of solving them would increase if your detective is an occult sim themself or has high Logic and/or Vampire Lore skills. When solved, they can have everything from an "all's well that ends well" comedy of errors happy ending to actually concluding with someone goin' to the slammer. These cases would really spice up investigations, and allow players to lean a little more into X Files and Grimm territory with their detectives' adventures if they wanted.
2.Doctor: Doctor is the dullest of the "Get to Work" active careers to play...but it doesn't have to be that way! Having occult sims come in with specialized ailments (Spellcasters with that oogie cursed face, landsick merfolk, etc.) to diagnose and treat on rare occasions would really spice things up. Maybe even a sim with werebies could show up and you'd have to synthesize them a cure! A key to properly treating occult patients could involve actually learning about their nature, making diagnosis and treatment easier and more effective. A high Charisma skill to convince tight-lipped patients to open up or a high Logic skill to deduce things on your own would be required, though.
3.Scientist: Scientist has the most potential for integration with occult sims. We can already build devices to contact aliens and travel to alien worlds, clone sims, and craft serums of all sorts...so adding more interaction with occults is a natural next step! First of all, adding new serums linked to occult sims would just plain make my day. Use ingredients like Plasma Fruit, Mermadic Kelp, Moon Petal Flower, etc. to craft serums that can transform a sim through SCIENCE or give them access to new abilities temporarily. At the highest levels of the career, you may even be able to study the scientific core of magic itself. After all, isn't magic only science we don't yet fully understand? This can unlock new spells if your scientist is also a spellcaster!
Secondly, being able to learn if a sim is a vampire, werewolf, mersim, etc. by analyzing a DNA sample would be a cool touch. In fact, being able to analyze and study occult DNA and inspect cell samples from occult sims under the microscope would also be amazing additions to the scientist career! Imagine a set of prints you can get only from a scientist sim examining cell samples from occults under the microscope! Or, and hear me out on this, even being able to use the analysis machine to analyze vampire concoctions and magic potions to learn new serum recipes!
Finally, what about having one of the glitches that can happen when cloning a sim be that they come out as an occult instead of a human, or a human instead of an occult, or a different kind of occult than the original sim? That could fuel so many fun storylines! Scientist clones herself, only for her clone to come out as werewolf! The ensuing chaos practically writes itself! How is it the most chaotic thing that can come from cloning is one of the original's traits being replaced with the Evil trait in the clone? One of the job titles in this track is literally "Mad Scientist." What's more mad science than an accidental werewolf/vampire/mermaid/whatever clone?
Those are just a few ideas I think would really fit for "Get to Work" when it comes to integrating occult sims more. Players would also be able to turn off occult clones or occult special patients or "special assignments" if they wanted, so no one would be forced to have those things in a more grounded save. This EP, however, could use a good dollop of love, and players are hungry for better pack integration.
