Skill Opportunities

[Rainbow Dash]

I'm aware that some skills have very few opportunities (Such as Alchemy that only has the one) and I think some have none at all. Is this true? Could someone give me a list of skills that have no opportunities, if there are any? Because I might need some back up plans for a future dynasty if that is the case.

[RainBeau]

I don't know of any that have none at all (at least none that I can think of at the moment) but I do know a couple more that have very few. Martial Arts and Nectar Making are two that have only a couple of opportunities that are very rare and you only get them from being in certain jobs. On the other hand, there are a tonne of opportunities for Cooking and quite a few for Handiness as well. Fishing has several...hmmm. Inventing doesn't have many, I don't think. And it could be just because I play so many gardeners but it seems like Gardening has the most of all.

[Rainbow Dash]

Okay thanks. So what certain jobs are you referring to with Martial Arts and Nectar Making? Does Mixology have any opportunities? What about Riding, Charisma, Writing and Inventing?

[RainBeau]

Mmm, I think Criminal and Military both offer the opportunity to learn Martial Arts. It only fires if you haven't already learned the skill and I think it's random. Also it's just the one opportunity. I have never personally had the Nectar Making opportunity but I've heard it comes from Business. Don't quote me on that, though! You will need confirmation.
Mixology has opportunities, yes. To tend bar in this bar or that. Not sure if it has others, I don't remember but I did get that one a lot.
Riding has at least two: one where you meet other horse-lovers at the Horse Ranch and one where you receive "training" from an expert in the Equestrian Centre rabbithole. You must have the relevant lots for those to fire.
Charisma has several opportunities. One where you use the interaction "Get to Know", one where you use "Charming Introduction" on a stranger. Those are the two I remember now but I think there are others.
Writing has several opportunities, a few of which involve travel. You may have an opportunity to deliver a book to any one of the three travel locations. For this reason I would not recommend Writing for first generation, although it has been done (and well) before. There are also opportunities such as writing a biography of someone.
Inventing does have the SimBot chain but I can't remember if the different steps have different names. If not, they only count as one opportunity. There may be others but I don't remember what they are.

I hope this was helpful! Sorry there is so much I don't remember.

Edit: The following pages on the Skills section of Carl's guide include opportunity information.
Athletic
Cooking
Fishing
Gardening (Note: There are many more opportunities than the ones mentioned here)
Handiness
Painting (Also includes which opportunity to avoid)
Writing

Although not listed, Logic has a lot of opportunities, including simply raising the skill, tutoring someone, convincing someone that logic is good, going to the bookstore for various events, etc. Logic is a gold mine of opportunities.

[hazelnut]

SimsWiki has a list of skill opportunities, although it doesn't have every skill listed.
All of the base game skills have loads of opportunities, although most writing opportunities come from other Sims, so stay-at-home writers without contacts won't get them.
The SimBot chain does have the same name throughout, unfortunately, although I can think of 5 or 6 other inventing opportunities offhand, mostly involving taking inventions to rabbitholes.

[Ricalynn]

There are several opportunities for Martial Arts to train townies that I remember.

Riding is the only skill that doesn't have opportunities.   The ones Rosa mentioned are special opportunities for a placed horse ranch and equestrian center but there are no normal opportunities for Riding for just walking around like there are for all the other skills.  You only get these opportunities when you're on the lot as it's running like the amateur olympics or chest tournament.

Nectar Making only has the ones associated with certain careers.  In fact, Prima guide doesn't even show a single opportunity for Nectar Making that doesn't involve other careers.


Also don't forget that jobs give a lot of opportunities.   So a Nectar Maker who finishes the Business Career can get all 6 from their job. 

[Rainbow Dash]

What kind of careers give out Nectar making opportunities? Does Mixology have a lot of ops? So do stay at home writers need to get out and make friends to get ops? I just need to make sure I pick skills with enough ops, for those I want to do that don't have many ops I can have a back up skill. Plus as Rica said, there's always career ops, child/teen ones too.

[folcon]

A stay at home writer can just meet and chat with people online.  I think that will allow the opertunites to fire.

[Rainbow Dash]

@Hazelnut: Thanks for the SimWiki link but it only list some of the skills not all, I still need to know if Nectarmaking and Mixology have a decent amount of Opportunities though. If there's not enough then I need a plan. Does the Simbot chain of ops for Inventing count as one op or more?

[Seabody]

Does the Simbot chain of ops for Inventing count as one op or more?

For any Dynasty, one. It's all called "Master Invention" - and if two opportunities share the same name, they are to be treated as the same opportunity.

[hazelnut]

@Hazelnut: Thanks for the SimWiki link but it only list some of the skills not all, I still need to know if Nectarmaking and Mixology have a decent amount of Opportunities though. If there's not enough then I need a plan.

I don't have Late Night, so have no idea about mixology opps.  The police and military careers each have a nectar-making opp. but there's no guarantee it will fire for a particular Sim.  The business career is a useful one to leave free in a dynasty.  It has loads of opps. and doesn't require any skills.  I've put Sims into it after finishing unique careers, just for the opportunities.

[Sarabi]

For writing, I'd like to point out that there are some writing skill opportunities that will not trigger unless you have unlocked the associated genre.  I have seen writing opps for Fantasy and Vaudeville books with those genres unlocked.

[cndneh]

Mixology has five opportunities. Some of these are repeatable (you can get them more than once) and some you need to be higher up in skill levels.

Nectar Making seems not to have any, even if you are level 10 in the (Nectar Making) career.

Riding doesn't seem to have any, even if you are level 10 in the career.

Inventing has six opportunities including the Master Invention (Simbot) one. Some of these are repeatable.

Writing (skill) has eight opportunities (including several travel ones). Some of these are repeatable.

Charisma has three opportunities. Some of them are repeatable.

As pointed out opportunities for careers might fire off in other careers other than the ones associated with the skill itself (Military wishing for people to learn Martial Arts for example).  Hope this helps a bit.

[Magz from Oz]

Mixology has five opportunities. Some of these are repeatable (you can get them more than once) and some you need to be higher up in skill levels.

Nectar Making seems not to have any, even if you are level 10 in the (Nectar Making) career.

Riding doesn't seem to have any, even if you are level 10 in the career.

Inventing has six opportunities including the Master Invention (Simbot) one. Some of these are repeatable.

Writing (skill) has eight opportunities (including several travel ones). Some of these are repeatable.

Charisma has three opportunities. Some of them are repeatable.

As pointed out opportunities for careers might fire off in other careers other than the ones associated with the skill itself (Military wishing for people to learn Martial Arts for example).  Hope this helps a bit.

Actually my personal notes (yes I'm that anal) show there are more than that.  So far I've had:
Athletics: 16
Charisma: 11
Cooking: 16
Fishing: 14
Gardening: 19
Guitar: 14
Handiness: 10
Invention: 17
Logic: 10
Martial Arts: 10
Mixology: 10
Painting: 14
Photography: 8
Sculpting: 13
Writing: 7
Alchemy: 1

This list is only those that I've actually had and been able to complete.  I have a MSWord file on each skill opportunity, so if you're looking for a specific one, PM me for details.