Hi everyone, been reading here for a while and got a lot of great tips when I first started playing Sims 3 just a few months ago. First time playing any Sims game. And the walk-throughs, forum posts were all really helpful in getting started. Thanks all for the wealth of info here.
Ambitions first impression:
The town seems darker, grimmer than previous towns. The townies are sometimes grittier and sometimes wackier looking, with eccentric clothes or unkempt looks. The bad things are some of the names, like Able Bodie, Molly Coddle, and some others. Personally I think those clichés are a bit lame, but it’s about the game play.
I ran a few quick games, just to test inventing, ghost hunting, see the town, and get an idea of the new buildings, place, etc. Also tested the laundry system.
Then I made a new Sim and picked up the Davinci LTW (I think this is an awesome concept, and just an awesome wish) and registered as self-employed inventor.
I didn’t focus on job progression so much as I did on leveling the inventing skill. But the progression is based on how much you sell apparently so I need to check later to see where I stand.
Inventing raises the inventing skill and handiness at the same time. Nice to have an activity that hones 2 skills. Collecting junk and blowing things up is fun, be warned – detonating something will give you the nice and sexy singed look, and the negative moodlet; but it’s still great fun. This job definitely makes socializing tougher and has a rough start much like other self-employment previously. Then again, meeting sims in the junk yard just screams high potential for romance.
The sight of rubbish, dead cars, and maybe some rabid guard dogs would make any girl swoon for you.
Inventing things takes you through a chain of inventions based on skill level (not really random, the inventions have a linear progression). The highest I got so far was building the miner, not sure what it does yet, since I logged off right after. I also got 5750 lifetime points for making one (very nice bonus), and made the miner 2 levels of inventing after getting the wish. The wish point payouts seem better, more about that later in the post.
The consignment shop was a pain, as the saleswoman was not there a lot, so I started making friends with her first chance I got and invited her over a few times. She just had to ‘go now’ at random times, so I am guessing that the shop has odd hours and she has a ‘bad work ethic’. She also dresses like a cross between a pop star/grunge rock queen on her way to a rave.
The born salesperson trait definitely helped items sell for more, tried it with the first Sim and skipped it on the second Sim, and forgot the exact numbers but the price differences were pretty good, even at low levels. And the shop netted more cash than selling form inventory.
I did one painting that my Sim started on his own. With all the traits I had – eccentric, artistic, and the sculptor trait- my Sim made the first small painting starting at painting 1 and it was valued at 63 Simoleons, which I am pretty sure was the best priced first painting I’ve had in the game so far. Maybe value increases based on traits, or the expansion pack/
Sculpting has supporting traits you can pick, but I did not see any place for sculpting classes. Maybe I missed it, but my sim only wished to learn the skill, not take a class. But I couldn’t find classes anywhere. I was focusing on inventing but when my sim chose to sculpt on his own, I let him. This happened twice and 2 sculptures later and I had 2 chairs, lol, which I sold right then and there, “Hi, I’m a sculptor.” ‘Oh wow! What kind of sculptures do you make???’ “Why, chairs of course.” - Awkward silence).
I am interested to see where this will go and haven’t explored the different media you can choose from yet.
Not sure about the laundry system, but the good thing is it takes less time than cleaning objects. It’s click and forget. You click wash clothes and leave it. Then one click to move clothes to dryer. Even though it’s another chore, at least it’s what the others should have been- this one is quick, simple and doesn’t burn too much time. Plus the moodlets are great.
I also had over emotional, and decorated bedroom, but no Vista and focusing on inventing I got more reward points than pre-expansion. Maybe because there are more life time rewards, the points have been bumped up?
