Skilling Up Young Adult Sims

[Dellena]

I was curious if other people do this in their game.  Because I use Twallan’s MasterController, I’m able to give my new YA sims that I create in CAS skills that they should have (in my opinion) had they been raised from birth to YA in the game.  Here’s my list:

From Toddler:

Logic: +4
Painting: +3
Writing: +3

Note: They will also gain +3 in one of the four instruments (I have Late Night) but dependent on what they want to be when they grow up.  If they are going into a music career, they’ll earn +3 in all four instruments.  If it’s just something they were obligated to learn as a child (we’ve all been there), then it’s generally piano or guitar to +3.

From Child:

Handiness: +3
Cooking: +3

Now I decide, were they likely to have gone to ballet or scouts as their after school activity?  If Ballet, I unlock the hidden ballet skill.  If Scouts, they get Fishing +4.

From Teenager:

Here’s where I decide which after school club(s) they would have participated based on what they want to be when they grow up:

Art Club (M, Th): +3 Painting
Drama Club (T, F): +3 Charisma
Music Club (M, W): +3 in the instrument(s) determined from above.
School Newspaper (W, F): +3 Writing, +3 Photography (and they get a camera from buydebug)
Shop Club (T, W): +3 Handiness
Sports Club (Th, F): +3 Athletic

Based on my own experiences growing up, I also give them another skill point in Cooking.

[sunnydays]

Interesting idea. I've never actually done this myself, but it does sometimes bother me that young adult sims start out with no skills or history at all.

[Zyffyr]

The total lack of skills for a brand new Sim does bother me at times as well. I've never actually thought about giving them some before. I may well do so in the future.

[Korva]

It does feel wrong that anyone made in CAS has zero skills, yes. I don't think I'd give them _all_ available skills from the earlier ages, but at least one or two plus some of the hidden "fun" skills would be much more realistic. It'd be good if any potential sequels had a "skill budget" for starting characters.

[Dellena]

Sometimes I'll write up a little background for my starting sim which can also influence their traits and skills.  A newly created EA YA or Adult sim is like someone with amnesia - they don't know anything - which I find unrealistic.  The number of skills your YA's might have if you'd raised them from infants will also depend on your lifespan.  I play with a rather long one so my YA's will often have quite high skills by the time they age up from teens.  So I've used that experience to guild my skill selections.  Think about your own educations.  How well rounded were they?  I wish parents were given the option to "Tutor child/teen in cooking".  I still remember my dad taking a whole summer to teach me to cook when I was a teen.  I was born very late in life for my dad, he was retired by the time I was a teen and he decided it was time I learned to cook.   However, I didn't go into a cooking profession but I knew how to make a fair number of dishes.  So that's what I look at as real life experience that I put into my sims.