I reported on the official bug forum (as I thought it was a bug) that my NPC employees at the hospital were not doing their jobs. All the exam beds would be filled, patients would line up waiting to be seen... but my sim, the one I was controlling, was the only one dealing with the patients in any way. I was told that the game is working as it should, and that the Sim I am controlling will be the only Sim actually caring for patients.I understand the idea behind this: The player needs to get to experience the career and have NPCS taking over.But, I feel that NPC employees could actually admit Sims to beds and actually care for patients to a degree. The NPC Employees could work on two patients and then have a cool-down period so I, the player, would not be out of work, as it where.As the game is now, it feels overwhelming and I don't want to be the only one working with patients. Have the Secretary call an orderly over to admit a patient once in awhile, have an NPC doctor care for a patient in bed one, while I'm controlling a sim and helping the patient in bed 5. How does everyone else feel about this? Should NPC Employees "GET TO WORK"?

They're useless as TS3's Ambitions. You'd think a sequel would improve upon it, but no.

I thought the same thing. Playing the hospital career I was like,"Hello, a little help here? Anybody?" Freaking swamped with patients, plus clean-up duties and tests and journals, and the coworkers are just twiddling their thumbs (so-to-speak). It felt very overwhelming.

Yeah. I guess it creates the sense of overwhelm in a typical American clinic pretty well. >.>At the very least, I think lowering the frequency of new patients coming in and having a cap. Having more come in than there are beds is kind of silly, especially when no one shows them to seats or anything. They just stand there and wait, while the front desk clerk sits on the phone or the computer. Thing is, I can look past unforgiving mechanics if they match the rest of the game, but the doctor career doesn't match the balance of the scientist and detective career. Neither of the other two have you losing work performance in the middle of an active day if you're too slow at completing something that isn't even technically the main displayed objective - fully curing patients en masse. It's a strange thing, considering how most of the game is structured. At some of the higher levels, you can complete work objectives at a strong pace and still lose work performance because patients leave.That's a pretty big oversight to me.

A billion times yes! I agree, there's no balance when the doctor has to run around and do practically everything. The nurse or orderly should check the patients into available exam beds. Perhaps even take the patients over to the exam equipment, and then the doctor has to "decipher results" on the computer before treating the patient. Having the orderlies & nurses stand there, and do nothing but socialize and take selfies ruined most of the enjoyment I had for the career.They really blew it when they came to implementing this career. It's ridiculous.

> @Cabelle1863 said:> A billion times yes! I agree, there's no balance when the doctor has to run around and do practically everything. The nurse or orderly should check the patients into available exam beds. Perhaps even take the patients over to the exam equipment, and then the doctor has to "decipher results" on the computer before treating the patient. Having the orderlies & nurses stand there, and do nothing but socialize and take selfies ruined most of the enjoyment I had for the career.> > They really blew it when they came to implementing this career. It's ridiculous.This! The only time I know I have functional help is when the orderly mops puddles. But some sort of NPC tasking would help. Nurses admit to bed, Orderlies mop and repair. There were functioning doctors when I was low and doing all the grunt work, why can't I get a little help when I'm running the place? At least allow the option to order co-workers like in the Science profession. I struggle to keep "good" relationships with my co-workers seeing as I'm regularly insulting their work ethic to get them out of my exam rooms instead of chatting up the patients or each other.And I think @MasonGamer has a valid point, no one has a degree, maybe it'll be something to EP someday?

NPC Employees at the Hospital Should actually GET TO WORK.

John_Zonbi
9 years ago
They're useless as TS3's Ambitions. You'd think a sequel would improve upon it, but no.
2001100
9 years ago
I thought the same thing. Playing the hospital career I was like,"Hello, a little help here? Anybody?" Freaking swamped with patients, plus clean-up duties and tests and journals, and the coworkers are just twiddling their thumbs (so-to-speak). It felt very overwhelming.
TriplisTrip
9 years ago
Yeah. I guess it creates the sense of overwhelm in a typical American clinic pretty well. >.>

At the very least, I think lowering the frequency of new patients coming in and having a cap. Having more come in than there are beds is kind of silly, especially when no one shows them to seats or anything. They just stand there and wait, while the front desk clerk sits on the phone or the computer.

Thing is, I can look past unforgiving mechanics if they match the rest of the game, but the doctor career doesn't match the balance of the scientist and detective career. Neither of the other two have you losing work performance in the middle of an active day if you're too slow at completing something that isn't even technically the main displayed objective - fully curing patients en masse. It's a strange thing, considering how most of the game is structured. At some of the higher levels, you can complete work objectives at a strong pace and still lose work performance because patients leave.

That's a pretty big oversight to me.
Cabelle1863
9 years ago
A billion times yes! I agree, there's no balance when the doctor has to run around and do practically everything. The nurse or orderly should check the patients into available exam beds. Perhaps even take the patients over to the exam equipment, and then the doctor has to "decipher results" on the computer before treating the patient. Having the orderlies & nurses stand there, and do nothing but socialize and take selfies ruined most of the enjoyment I had for the career.

They really blew it when they came to implementing this career. It's ridiculous.
ExtraAMinor
9 years ago
> @Cabelle1863 said:
> A billion times yes! I agree, there's no balance when the doctor has to run around and do practically everything. The nurse or orderly should check the patients into available exam beds. Perhaps even take the patients over to the exam equipment, and then the doctor has to "decipher results" on the computer before treating the patient. Having the orderlies & nurses stand there, and do nothing but socialize and take selfies ruined most of the enjoyment I had for the career.
>
> They really blew it when they came to implementing this career. It's ridiculous.

This! The only time I know I have functional help is when the orderly mops puddles. But some sort of NPC tasking would help. Nurses admit to bed, Orderlies mop and repair. There were functioning doctors when I was low and doing all the grunt work, why can't I get a little help when I'm running the place? At least allow the option to order co-workers like in the Science profession. I struggle to keep "good" relationships with my co-workers seeing as I'm regularly insulting their work ethic to get them out of my exam rooms instead of chatting up the patients or each other.

And I think @MasonGamer has a valid point, no one has a degree, maybe it'll be something to EP someday?
ChaosKitten666
9 years ago
This is why I have never played the doctor career again after the first time I tried it which really sucks because I would love to play as a doctor. I just don't want my Sim to be the only one doing anything work-related. Come on devs, you can surely improve this!
daleylife
8 years ago
Back to playing the game and this is still an issue. No response from Maxis. A modder looked at the core files and they believed Maxis intended to allow NPC Employees to work, but, scrapped that mechanic for some reason. I sure would like a response on this.
dg51829
8 years ago
I really wish someone would fix this. It's way to exhausting to play as a doctor. For some reason in my current game all of the hospital staff is vampires. Yeah, right, that sounds like a great idea. I don't know if it was luck of the draw, but it's kind of funny but annoying.
BlueMonkeyF
7 years ago
Yes! Or if they really can't make the other staff work, get them out of the way! My Sim struggles to treat some of the patients because other staff are just standing around their beds and talking to them. Seriously annoying! :D
MasonGamerBoi
9 years ago
I think It's accurate...

Has it occurred to anyone that they don't have a degree?