Mixology + Juice fizzing + Nectar making

"Simmerville;c-18285497" wrote:
Lol, fine, I'm alone :) I realize these skills are also about lifestyle and that nectar making might even be a bit more classy than the other two. I just find it very detailed with 3 skills regarding related subjects, while say Fitness skill is common whether you swim, run, play basketball, football, kickboxing or whatever we can do with that skill. I'd say that swimming and kickboxing is way less related than mixology and nectar making :)

Tbh I think fitness needs to get the same treatment, too. Maybe my sim is a good fighter/boxer, but not a good runner, swimmer or weightlifter.

Well mixology is more of a base so if people dont expand to eco living and horse ranch they have a variety. People often think things should be a certain way but it does come down to the same things. Not everyone is going to like the decisions. We wouldn't all make the same choices if we made the sims instead, but the team we have has to try to include as many of these ideas as possible.

Not to mention, even if they could be connected in real life ;this is a game it isnt always going to be end all be all of what is real. Some things will not be connected if they didn't come into existence in the game at the same time in the same pack.

In short, meh, it is what it is dont worry about it so much.

"Gordy;c-18285596" wrote:

"Simmerville;c-18285497" wrote:
Lol, fine, I'm alone :) I realize these skills are also about lifestyle and that nectar making might even be a bit more classy than the other two. I just find it very detailed with 3 skills regarding related subjects, while say Fitness skill is common whether you swim, run, play basketball, football, kickboxing or whatever we can do with that skill. I'd say that swimming and kickboxing is way less related than mixology and nectar making :)

Tbh I think fitness needs to get the same treatment, too. Maybe my sim is a good fighter/boxer, but not a good runner, swimmer or weightlifter.

Agreed. Although... I think fitness just needs a revamp in general. Like, it's not a two-way street, if that makes sense. General fitness skill should give you a boost to any specialized skill... just as in real life, if you are generally in good shape, it will make it easier for you to become skilled at swimming or basketball or boxing or soccer or yoga. But being good at soccer does not necessarily mean you are or ever will be good at swimming.

t the same time... and I don't know whether it's even possible to separate out lifestyles from skill progression in this way... while gaining experience with soccer doesn't make you a better swimmer, any of those activities should make you more fit in terms of appearance, and also should raise your affinity for a fit lifestyle.

In thinking this through some more, and viewing it very much as someone who does not code, so take it with that grain of salt, I would personally organize skills into skill trees. (Not an exhaustive list, just examples.)

E.g.:

Fitness
Swimming
Yoga
Soccer
Football
Basketball
Jogging
Weights

Culinary
Cooking
Mixology
Juice Fizzing
Nectar-making

Music
Violin
Piano
Guitar

Art
Painting
Sculpting (if we ever get it)
Glassblowing (if we ever get it)

The bolded items would be the main branches of the tree. Activity in any of the non-bolded subcategories would add to skill in the bolded main branch, and lead to increases in the lifestyles and preferences for that activity. But increasing your skill in a subcategory would not increase your skill in the other related subcategories.

Or for those of us who love Venn diagrams, each of the non-bolded subcategories would be a non-contiguous circle within the larger circle of the bolded category.

So let's say for example, you have a sim who is on the Copperdale football team. They lift weights during their free time. This does not directly impact the football skill. However, it affects their general fitness level and affinity, which puts them in a better mood while working on the football skill, which makes it easier to raise that skill. So, more of a feedback loop, rather than a simple "If weightlifting is 3, football is also 3" correlation.

"Amapola76;c-18285672" wrote:

The bolded items would be the main branches of the tree. Activity in any of the non-bolded subcategories would add to skill in the bolded main branch, and lead to increases in the lifestyles and preferences for that activity. But increasing your skill in a subcategory would not increase your skill in the other related subcategories.

I like how you sorted them out, and it makes sense.

Fitness could affect also how easily sims become tired from doing physical activities. If they have high fitness then they could maybe practice for longer without getting tired. It would give a little boost to the other skills and activities.

Music skill makes sense, everybody who studies an instrument also studies music, so all musicians know how to read a music chart for example and have a good ear for music, but they need to study each instrument separately.

Same with art, all artists study colour theory and maybe anatomy and composition, and the previous masters at some point, and then they specialize in their chosen medium to create their art.

"crocobaura;c-18285684" wrote:

"Amapola76;c-18285672" wrote:

The bolded items would be the main branches of the tree. Activity in any of the non-bolded subcategories would add to skill in the bolded main branch, and lead to increases in the lifestyles and preferences for that activity. But increasing your skill in a subcategory would not increase your skill in the other related subcategories.

I like how you sorted them out, and it makes sense.

Fitness could affect also how easily sims become tired from doing physical activities. If they have high fitness then they could maybe practice for longer without getting tired. It would give a little boost to the other skills and activities.

Music skill makes sense, everybody who studies an instrument also studies music, so all musicians know how to read a music chart for example and have a good ear for music, but they need to study each instrument separately.

Same with art, all artists study colour theory and maybe anatomy and composition, and the previous masters at some point, and then they specialize in their chosen medium to create their art.

Yes, this! Also, I was thinking, now that we have hidden traits/the ability to change traits, with Growing Together, development of the skills could be a reason to get one of those prompts. For example, you start with a sim who is Clumsy, but they are determined to become great at yoga, or a team sport. After working hard for a while, and raising their skill in one of the subcategories, they could reach a high enough skill to get a prompt to change the trait from Clumsy to Athletic, since any of the athletic skills would enhance coordination. Or if you don't start off with Music Lover, but then master the guitar, you could get a prompt to add that trait (maybe this happens already, I just haven't seen it yet).

Apologies, @Simmerville, I went off on a tangent here. But to bring it back to your original post, I could see something like an expert in mixology or fizzing getting a prompt for the Foodie trait, which could then boost the skill for nectar-making.

Tl; dr: I do see these skills as related, and I think there could be ways to enhance the connections between them, I just wouldn't want to see them entirely conflated.

I'm all for many many skills, skills help building unique personalities. I really like your tree where some skills will have some affect on the main skill of that group. It would make sense. I think EA might have started to think a bit like this when they introduced a few careers with branches, and a some point I think those careers became a bit more complex to build than what we were used to from the 2014 release. It might be too late for major adjustments of the skill system, but hopefully they might use the skill tree concept for TS5?

I understand the point but they are entirely different things. Similar to not all chefs knowing how to bake and not all bakers being great or even good chefs. I’m a pretty good mixologist in real life but know nothing about nectar making or juice fizzing and would probably create some kinda noxious gas that requires hazmat suits if I tried either. Also not all juice fizzers can make nectar. Similar yet vastly different. Also as I’m a nurse in RL, not all nurses have the skill to work every specialty. Basic knowledge, yes, but I would be in the corner crying on an adult cardiac unit since my specialty is children.

Fitness is already a separate skill from dancing and climbing, at least :)

What I like is the way they handled the Medium skill from Paranormal and being a Spellcaster-- if you're a Spellcaster you learn the Medium skill faster.
Or the bonuses to physical skills from completing the physical child aspiration.
I feel like if your fitness is at a certain level then you should be able to learn dancing and climbing faster. Or if your fitness is 0 or 1 it should slow down your ability to learn to dance or climb.
And perhaps if you have Cooking or Mixology at a certain level, then it would make sense to learn Juice Fizzing and Nectar Making faster, or penalties if you have 0 or 1 cooking or mixology.