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33Rapture's avatar
33Rapture
3 years ago

Detective Career makes no sense

I recently got Get to Work and found the scientist career pretty good. I've been playing the detective career the last couple of days and I honestly don't understand how it works.

My sim goes to lots and can't complete the tasks because there are not enough (or no!) clues. APBs often result in arresting sims who don't fulfill the profile. If you get them back to the station it takes like 2 hours just to get them to interrogation because the sims just seem to stand around for ages before they'll do anything. If the day ends before you finish forget seeing the suspect again. If you interrogate them and they confess, you lock them up but the crime doesn't get solved. If you get a suspect back to the station, most of the time the tasks don't even ine up with what you're supposed to be doing, so you have to ignore them and get poorer work performance just to get through everything you have to do with the suspect.

Is there a trick to this career I'm not just getting or is it really as badly set up as it appears to be?

gameplay issue

7 Replies

  • Pheebs284's avatar
    Pheebs284
    Rising Rookie
    3 years ago
    @33Rapture It's really poorly written overall, like they did zero research and just slapped something together. The medical career is just as impossible because there are no clues to what the disease is, you just have to guess every time. Run all the tests you want (IF they actually do all the queued actions) but the illness seems random and the "cures" rarely work. Sims just stand there for 3+ game hours doing nothing before finally loading a queued action and by that point, half the patients left angry.
    It was a good idea in theory but like everything else EA pushes out, it's poorly executed.
  • simsplayer818's avatar
    simsplayer818
    Hero
    3 years ago
    @33Rapture I don't follow the task list too rigidly but just complete enough of the tasks to be satisfactory if I need to solve a case to be promoted. It helps if your Sim has the Observant Trait when looking for suspects. The guilty one is usually the one who says "I think they went that way" in my experience. When you are at a crime scene you can scan for clues by clicking on the floor and it will reveal something that was hidden. If you dust for fingerprints on all of the broken items that helps too, sometimes that's all there is. When I get an arrested suspect back to the station I ignore the task list and just interrogate them immediately. It's more important to get a solved case to get your promotion.
    When interrogating, I find it goes quicker if you go from Good Cop to Crazy Cop alternately and try and confuse them. I always extend the work day to fit as much in as possible.
    Another tip is to not follow them to work for a day or two and let them go alone and select Work Hard to boost performance, especially if you've had a poor work day or if performance is just average or below average.
    But I agree it needs work. In fact the whole pack needs an overhaul, especially the interactions with other staff and the tasks list. It's always a bit obscure and sometimes it's not possible to complete it. It also helps if you add the Professional Slacker and Entrepreneurial Traits. I start out with the Connections Trait to get a jump on the career ladder.
    I always carry fruit in the inventory because the extended work day really affects their hunger and I get annoyed enough without them complaining about hunger too. I'm usually yelling at them by 7pm lol.
  • thrawn1580's avatar
    thrawn1580
    3 years ago

    Just a small tip regarding APBs and arresting Sims. (You mentioned the scientist career, so I'll assume you have the SimRay).

    If you have multiple suspects, or you can only see one, use the SimRay on them. I used the 'change clothes' option and the suspect who DOESN'T change clothes is the guilty one.

    They'll hold their head as if they have been affected, but they won't change clothes.

    I'm guessing it's something to do with clues that relate to their attire.

  • simsplayer818's avatar
    simsplayer818
    Hero
    3 years ago

    @thrawn1580 what a great tip!

    I never use the Simray outside of the science lab as I play the careers with separate households. But, with Seasons you can buy a Simray (I'm assuming you need GTW to be able to do so) in Order Gifts. So the next time I play the Detective Career I'll have to try this out.

  • thrawn1580's avatar
    thrawn1580
    3 years ago

    You’re welcome. 

    I think you only need 1 clue to issue an APB, so if you are short on time that day, it could help out. Admittedly, not that immersive.

    I mainly use it at the police station to force detectives away from the computers as there never seems to be a spare one. 

  • shinjitenoyami's avatar
    shinjitenoyami
    3 years ago
    FWIW IME after issuing an APB, the first sim you see when loading the community lot is usually the guilty suspect.
  • xochiquetzl_xkvn's avatar
    xochiquetzl_xkvn
    Seasoned Ace
    3 years ago

    I recommend the Observant reward trait for the Detective career. It seems like the clues are often “suspect is an art lover.”

     I always wait to do an APB. The game encourages you to do it early, but…

    1. Gather as much evidence as you can.

    2. Don’t do the APB until the suspect description is like, “the suspect is a female teen, wearing jeans and a blouse, is mean and has blonde hair.” Like, very specific.

    3. The guilty party is very unhelpful if you ask if they’ve seen the suspect.

     Also, I love the doctor career. Again with doing a lot of tests, but also go to Carl’s Guide and watch the patient’s idle animations. I seldom need to guess even if the game offers me two or three possible diagnoses.

     I will say that I ran into an impasse with detective recently in a rotational save with an elder suspect. I think the suspect died. 

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