Career Skills (A tad bit disappointed)

I'm going to have to disagree about five sims in the same house having the same skills. Certain ones, such as cooking or Handiness, yes, because all sims need to eat and fix things. I can even see some validity in Video Games, because that's the default "fun" activity that most sims will gravitate towards.

But there are so many other skills in the game that it's entirely possible to differentiate sims by skills.

I had two elder, two adult, and two teenaged sims (as of last night, it's one elder, the other should go next time I play.) And I even play on Long Lifespan:

One elder capped out Archeology, Selvadoradan Culture and painting. Her husband didn't get higher than 6 in Archeology, because I never bothered to have him identify artifacts, he just helped her dig. She also capped off Painting earlier than her husband. However she never picked up snowboarding, or flower arranging, or juice fizzing, and her gardening is only at a six. She also conquered Knitting. (She also doesn't have Handiness maxed out, because she's a spell caster) She was a Teacher, for her profession.

Her husband, a Florist, maxed out Floral arranging and Gardening, as well as juice fizzing. He did a fair amount of painting, but never mastered it. Instead he focused on Writing. He did some candle making, but I never bought them a fabricator, so he never mastered that either, or learned to knit. He also didn't progress as far in Gourmet Cooking as she did, even though he did most of the cooking.

Their daughter got the Adventurous trait and so mastered Snowboarding before she hit College. She also climbed Mt. Komorebi. She's also mastered Logic and Guitar, as well as Rocket Science (because she's an Astronaut), Fitness and Handiness - despite being a spellcaster. She did learn Knitting from her mother, but I rarely have her knit, so it only improves when she does it autonomously.

Her husband is a Pro Gamer. He's mastered Programing and Video Gaming. He does some painting, some woodworking (handiness) but hardly ever cooks. His other "hobby" is Mischief, as he does a fair amount of hacking and trolling the forums. Never touched the Juice Fizzer, never looks at the garden.

They had twin daughters who are now teens. One has dabbled in many different skills, but focuses on Logic, Programing, and Video Gaming. The other works on Painting and music, and has dabbled in cooking more than her sister. She's also learned more knitting from her grandmother than her sister did, and I'm more likely to have her knit than her sister.

Six different sims. Six different focuses with their skills. Yes, there's some overlap, but not enough to make them feel "the same" to me.
Admittedly, I have Slice of Life installed, which helps a little with the Autonomy, but I'm still the one directing what skills they focus on most of the time.

Another example that could be used is ... for the Chef career and training. Have a recipe book limited to Chefs who earn a degree in Culinary Arts. Something like that would work well.

You have to be a spellcaster to get a spellbook. So why not a professionally trained Chef to get the professional cookbook? Then another sim can achieve level 10 in cooking all they want. Without a culinary degree they won't be cooking at the same level, or rather, with the same recipes, as a professionally trained Chef.

Overall, this is all i'm saying. Something that offers perks to sims with professional training that untrained sims don't have. Something that makes them different that other sims can't also freely achieve without that degree.

Then shouldn't the change be with the careers, not the skills? Give the master chef the cookbook with professional recipes that the lazy bum can't cook, like an example. Other than New Clothes! and objects which influence emotions, there really isn't much reward in ordinary employment.

I’m all for additional perks to be added for sims who have a career that goes with a high skill. I also think a maxed skill should have more benefits than it does now, depending on what it is, I often have them move onto other skills or hobbies rather than stick with what they maxed. I guess it feels like a waste of time to go jogging if they’ve maxed their athletic skill and their weight is already low, for example. They can never initiate mentoring another sim in fitness - I have to be controlling the other sim to have them start on the treadmill and then my sim can mentor in fitness. And forget about mentoring in cooking, where’s that option?! Never seen it. I guess what I’m saying is that maxing a skill is already not very satisfying in some ways, so it would be great to have more perks at the top, even without a corresponding career. I don’t want the career to dictate what they are capable of, that sounds like a step backwards.

> @babajayne said:
> I’m all for additional perks to be added for sims who have a career that goes with a high skill. I also think a maxed skill should have more benefits than it does now, depending on what it is, I often have them move onto other skills or hobbies rather than stick with what they maxed. I guess it feels like a waste of time to go jogging if they’ve maxed their athletic skill and their weight is already low, for example. They can never initiate mentoring another sim in fitness - I have to be controlling the other sim to have them start on the treadmill and then my sim can mentor in fitness. And forget about mentoring in cooking, where’s that option?! Never seen it. I guess what I’m saying is that maxing a skill is already not very satisfying in some ways, so it would be great to have more perks at the top, even without a corresponding career. I don’t want the career to dictate what they are capable of, that sounds like a step backwards.

Maybe a solution could be skills to decrease if you don´t do them actively?
I mean, It´s weird that a sim can max a skill at a young age, then not do the action for a very long time and still have a maxed skill when time has passed. In a normal life you will “forget” things If you don´t do them for a longer period of time. (like playing an instrument).

I think it would be a fun challenge if your sim lose some skill levels if they do not perform the skill/hobby for a long period of time.

I think it's possible to be great at skills regardless of whether you use them for work or not, but I wish there was some kind of... scaling system, maybe? I often play on the long lifespan and yeah, it's a problem that eventually most of my sims will master a bunch of skills, even if they don't use them seemingly all that often. For example, many of my Sims have a very high or even maxed out gaming skill, even though they aren't particularly nerdy, they just play games sometimes when their Fun meter is low.

(IMO) This is yet another area of the game that contributes to it being less interesting.

You can have 5 adult sims in the household, and there's basically very little difference between any of them (outside of gender, and the title you give to their income habits)

They have the same personalities, the same whims, the same habits, and if you play them long enough, they'll also end up with pretty much the same skills.

For me, that's what makes the occult packs so important to the game. They create individuality. I can have one of my sims be a spellcaster and be encouraged to play that sim knowing fair well my other sims in the household will never achieve those spells. They'll never be able to teleport, or fix the sink with the wave of a wand......

...... I know many simmers don't like the occult packs, and that's fair enough of course, but IMO without the occult packs the sims take a major step backwards to being just a carbon copy of each other.

I think what is happening here for me is that I am constantly looking for ways to make each of my sims in my household seem different than my other sims. I gave up on personalities, and whims.... and pretty much fell prey to locked doors to keep particular sims away from achieving particular skills. Keeping the musical instruments locked in a room that only my musician can get into is .... well...... the best resolve I came up with so far.

.... then there's the locked knitting room. The locked painting room. The locked photography room, etc.

Yep, things are getting crazy in my sim house. lol. Soon they may have their own apartments built on the family lot. I may have to give them each their own floor.... lol. They're going to be individuals whether they like it or not lol.

I think you may be missing the point just a tad.

Whether or not they have all achieved the same skills (as of yet) doesn't really offer an argument against the fact that a couch patato sim that does as little as possible each day can eventually become as skilled as a sim with a degree who focuses heavy on hands-on career experience..... thus, after doing so... you'll have carbon copy sims.... despite one being professionally trained vs the other being just a sim that doesn't work towards becoming a professional at all.

The point of my post is simply to highlight that (IMO) professionally trained sims should have some perks that non-trained sims don't have.

I wish I didn't use the leveling system as an open idea for an example... because i've noticed a couple replies that took that a bit too serious.... but.... moreover... my opening post was for the purpose of just suggesting that I wish there was some differentation from one sim skill set to another.... other than the..... "well... they haven't done that yet"...... so... they're different.

The example with my spellcaster comes to mind. I don't have to worry about my normal sims trailing off when i'm busy looking after another sim, and learning to brew potions. I don't have to worry about my spellcaster disappearing (again when i'm busy) to talk to dolphins.

Even the fame perks being turned on or off creates some differences that would be worth noting.

But to suggest that sims are different because one is on level 10 while the other only achieved level 6 (so far). Sorry, not the resolve I was looking for.

Hi there! A quick heads-up: I moved this thread to the Game Feedback section. :)