Sims 3 - Gameplay Tips

[Aspen]

You can add snack bowls / desk lamps to bars
You can add desklamps to hot tubs
You can mount cut gems onto pillow beds or stands for display
Can mount various items on the mantles of fireplaces
Can add Shampoo, a moodlite and a rubber ducky to your tubs/showers to take bubblebaths
Ambrosia can be replicated if you place it onto the replicator in its unfinished form
Can tell the gender of your baby if you go to the hospital when pregnant
Handy people can change the tone of their doorbells
Gardneners with the LTR can revive dead plants, giving you two death plants off one
Giving children firefruit will give them +5 warm moodlet
Ghosts who eat Ambrosia are restored to life/ Amrosia also resets your current age cycle
Inventors can create time machines and potentially bring back their child from the future when they return
You can read kids to sleep / toddlers can read books on their own
Kids can make their own food from bake ovens / checking the prices before setting up for a bake sale in the newspaper can rake in a lot of money (for a kid selling brownies)
kids can interact with each other on fun tables and block tables
You can invite up to 3 others to play video games with you
Teddy Bear in the cradle gives positive sleeping moodlet to toddlers/ you can play with toddlers when they use the xylophone or the (other one)
Kids can ask for help with homework from adults or do their homework with other kids
Meteor Strikes cause lots of splash damage and requires you to replace items to get rid of the 'vile surroundings' moodlet
Placing sprinklers in your garden = no more watering ever
Lobsters are the (imo) best and infinite supply of fertilizer from the grocery store
With high enough gardening you will get the opportunity to  plant cheese, meat and egg plants
Authors will get the ability to write Romance novels earlier in their career if they are hopelessly romantic
Singers can hold Autograph sessions at lev 10 branch of Music.
Sculptors can make unmeltable ice sculptures as a perk reward
Butterflies can be collected and put into their own glass containers for display (maybe bugs too)
Mixologists with the better mixologist LTR can make drinks with up to 4hr mood boost
Mixing high powered skill gain drinks then taking on a new skill is a really good idea
The fruits and veg in your inventory will end up in your cooking- pnacackes will become grape/ or apple or even Lifefruit pncakes.
If you have pets, buy a pet toybox, take the toys out and place where you want- destroy box: Maids cant put them away and will leave items as is.
With the Workaholic trait, you can chat up your boss- once your are of high enough status you can ask for a raise or even a promotion
Brave sims rarely pee themselves when they see sharks and usually win their fights against them, they are also the BEST at tomb exploration.
People who live with sims in the Athletic field get to go to all Sunday games for free.
Sims in the Criminal profession never get robbed.
The reward for lev 10 chef is a Kelvinator fridge that never lets food spoil
Stuff that kids get from field trips are mountable (lighted mirrors, badges, plaques, etc)
You can place windows onto pool walls, essentially looking right into the pool (from the basement)
Collecting different types of gems unlocks the types of cuts you get access to when mailing them out.
Caught fish can be placed into bowls added to your home (they must be fed like all other pets)
Not all maids have the neat trait- but all butlers have handy and neat
The 'salute' option for Military people is guaranteed positive response. You can make your hated enemies your best friend with this one emote.
Using the drill invention (for getting gems) after dark in a neighborhood: really bad idea

[zachlot7]

I was adding some lights to a new room to my house and I realized that if you place a light on a wall and hold down on clicking and move down/up you can move the lights up or down the wall. Same with any other wall items.

[simlover16]

I absolutely love this thread! So much stuff I didn't know! And then things I knew, but I'm surprised other people didn't know!
-In-Game Tips-
(1) I recommend getting your toddlers on a schedule. Put them to bed at decent hour every night & remember with Generations you can read them a toddler book and they can learn something while they fall asleep. But they MUST have the sleepy moodlet or somewhat low energy. Great way to skill and get more out of their day! Feed them, change them, and/ or dress them first thing in the morning. Do whatever during the day. Go for a stroll, learn their toddler skills, play, ect. Then before bed feed, change, or dress them then put them to bed. That's how I get the most out my toddlers day.
(2) Have your sims talk/meet coworkers/ friends (at school or work) to make friends. Within a couple work or school days you'll have best friends! Helpful for dynasties! Suck up or do your boss's paperwork to gain relationship with them. If your sims energy is low, they might can sleep for the cost of losing job/ school performance. If your kids didn't complete their homework they can finish it during school. Check out the ways to work at your career or school!
(3) Keeping your sim on a schedule is key to a successful life. Go to sleep at a decent hour, eat when you get up, shower, pee and if you eat a family meal, that will gain social and boom! Your needs are taken care of!
(4) With Showtime, you get the genie lamp LTR. Each time you wish for fortune, you get a 100,000 simoleans! Much better than that lousy inheritance LTR! You get 30,000 with the inheritance, whereas you can get up to 300,000 with the genie! 10x more! Get rich fast!! And without cheating...*wink, wink*
(5) Pay attention to the stats of a buy object before buying it! Investigate other items and make sure you're getting the most out of your hard earned simoleans!  And if it doesn't really match the vibe of the room, don't fear!, create a style is here!
I could go on..... More next time!

[Snufflesxx]

I just found out that two toddlers can use the doll's house together. It doesn't raise the relationship between the two toddler, but it's very cute 

[Chimark]

Can tell the gender of your baby if you go to the hospital when pregnant

Just so you know, if you do this, it will set the sex of the baby. You can use cheats like eat apples for a boy, watermelon for a girl, but as soon as you go to the hospital and find out the baby's sex, it's set and you can't change it.

Also if you go to Uni just before you leave you can sell everything in the dorm and then go to build mode and destroy the dorm and collect all the money. (When you delete an object you get money.). Then buy real expensive cars, put them in your family inventory and your graduate Sim starts life off well. Just sell the cars when you get back home.

I like that all maids have the klepto trait, but my favourite is fireman can steal things when they go to put out fires, if you are in the firefighter career.

[Pam]

Just so you know, if you do this, it will set the sex of the baby. You can use cheats like eat apples for a boy, watermelon for a girl, but as soon as you go to the hospital and find out the baby's sex, it's set and you can't change it.

Is this something new?  Because I've never known you can find out the baby's gender at the hospital.

[Jamie]

I don't think you go to hospital to find out but you can ask a doctor who's at at least level 7 in the medical career.

[Pam]

I don't think you go to hospital to find out but you can ask a doctor who's at at least level 7 in the medical career.

Yeah, that's what I've always known.  And you don't even find a doctor at the hospital, so I don't know where this stuff about determining the gender at the hospital is coming from.

[Jamie]

I tried and nothing came up about checking the gender at the hospital.

[Pam]

Thanks, Jamie.  We'll chalk this one up to misinformation.

[paskapytty]

Continued from Gulliver the cat!'s post.
- Did you know that you don't ever have to pay the bills yourself. Just wait for the last day's (day 3?) notice about due bills and you can pay them with one click. It saves you those few valuable seconds of your Sim's life. Just make sure your penniless has the money.

[Angélique]

I just noticed that if you take your bills out of the mail box they turn colors each day.
Day 1: White
Day 2: Yellow/Orange
Day 3: Red
On the fourth day they disappear and the repoman comes. I usually pay my bills from the mailbox and never noticed this!

That's exactly how it was in The Sims 1 too, if anyone can remember that long back in time...?

[smaurine82]

Sims in the ghost hunter career can click on tombstones and have the interaction to "subdue spirits." A little ghost comes out and your Sim will talk to it for a little while, then it will fly back into the ground. Then the interaction disappears.

On the window of the spaceship, there is a Garfield toy that used to be so popular to put in car windows.

Bonehilda wears a garter!

[_Annika_]

Sims with the hidden pyromaniac trait gain energy from eating flame fruit!

[sawadaWiz]

Rant about death will kill your sim. The ghost will be in yellow color. I did this and suddenly the music changed, my sim died from this. Another way to die.