Mentoring

[Tigerskin]

Yeah you're right Dellena. I could've sworn I'd seen that your sim could mentor somehow without reaching level 10 somewhere. Oh well, must be going mad! 

[Nutella]

I've tested mentoring with and without the mentor reward, the speed seems to look the same (from eyeballing the percentage bar).  Oh well, doesn't look like a powerful reward.

[DeviousKiwi]

I just tested this, and you do need to be level ten in order to mentor in a skill, but you don't need the mentor reward trait. The mentor reward trait increases the rate at which the person being mentored gains the skill level. I used four brand new Sims and cheated to get them the right skills and traits. It looks to be about 60% faster, but that's not exact and I only did one test. I can confirm that the trait does increase the speed though.

[Ciosa]

You can also mentor in logic.   Challenge someone to a chess game, and mid game hit mentor.  Cancel your current interaction and you'll mentor them instead.

[Playalot]

If you are L10 in logic you can mentor any sim that is playing chess by themselves if you want to. So have your 'learning sim' start to play chess and then either get the learner sim to "ask to be mentored" or have your L10 sim click on the playing sim and choose 'mentor'.
You don't both need to be playing to be able to mentor. You can even mentor random townies in the park if they are already playing chess.

[Ciosa]

Oh, yes.  Much easier if you're controlling two sims.  I tend to play single sims households, and I was using it as a way to build up friendships quickly.  Has anyone noticed that mentoring seems to build friendships to a certain cap and then stop improving relationship?  It seems to stop about ten points above 'good friend.'

[Stormi71]

My teen was doing the musical genius aspiration, and had to mentor another sim in an instrument for 15 hours. Luckily his mum was learning violin, so he could mentor her.
Are there limits on mentoring? Like do they have to be at a certain skill level? I know they have to be less than 10, but I was doing the bodybuilder aspiration and my sim could mentor some sims at the gym but not others. I know some of these sims were definitely not level 10 fitness, as they are from households I play. Do traits affect if a sim can be mentored? Or mood?

[DeviousKiwi]

I just tried to do mentoring in all the skill activities I could think off. It looks like you can't use any of the books to mentor, and logic only works at the chess table. I couldn't mentor in gardening, but I only tried to so so with the book and while the mentored was watering the plants so maybe it needs to be weeding or harvesting? I couldn't find any that you could mentor in that hadn't been mentioned.

[Playalot]

Oh, yes.  Much easier if you're controlling two sims.  I tend to play single sims households, and I was using it as a way to build up friendships quickly.  Has anyone noticed that mentoring seems to build friendships to a certain cap and then stop improving relationship?  It seems to stop about ten points above 'good friend.'

I always use mentoring to make good friends. By the end of one day at the gym, for example,  my sims has learnt quite a few levels of cooking (from watching TV while working out), a few levels of fitness (from being mentored), at least two good friends (the ones who mentored my sim) and a few levels of charisma (from chatting while working out). Makes for a very easy first day in a new game or a easy way in a dynasty/legacy for the new heir to start making friends and skilling up.

I haven't been able to get past 'good friends' either, unless both sims were in my household. Then mentoring can completely fill the friendship bar. However if you hover over it with your mouse it is still described as so-and-so 'good friend'. I guess that's because you need to ask to be BFF?

[CuriousSim]

It may be possible, that if you have enough of an activity item around your house, and have the person over, that they will eventually use it. I started out my game with an empty lot, and I built a small house. I keep most of my activities outside, since I have a lot of land. A friend was hanging out at my house, and as she was wandering the yard, she saw one of my easels & started painting. I had maxed my painting skill, and I suddenly saw my opportunity. I was able to click on her & mentor her.

It's possible that the same could happen for other activity items. I live next door to a guy, that is apparently the community gardener. That's his career. Sometimes, when he visits my house, he tends my garden. I know another Sim picked up one of my violins & started playing it. It was obvious he was a beginner. I know Sims sometimes raid my fridge. Maybe, with an empty fridge, a Sim might decide to cook something spontaneously.

It's a thought.

[Playalot]

Hi CuriousSim, welcome to the forum. Of course now that Get Together is out we can make clubs too that have the activity we need to mentor as a club activity. Quite a lot has changed in the game since the last post was made on the thread so mentoring other sims has become a lot easier.
That's pretty cool that your neighboring Community Gardener does your gardening for you. lol I'd be inviting him over all the time! 

[oshizu]

For the Successful Lineage aspiration, as part of phase 4, you have to mentor a child.

First, you'll need to purchase the Mentoring reward from the Satisfaction rewards.  I'm not in game at the moment but I think it was 1000 points.

My child was already a teen at that point so I couldn't use the creativity table so I'll have to edit this post the next time I have a child and tell how that works.

To mentor a child after they've 'grown up', there is a limited number of skills that you can mentor in once you've maxed the skills out.  The skills are:

Fitness
Gardening
Guitar
Handiness
Painting
Piano
Violin
Writing

None of the other skills can be mentored.

I'm a huuuuge fan of gardening and never realized it could be mentored. Thanks!

[CuriousSim]

I am relatively new to the game, though it has been out for a while. I used to have Sims 3, but took a break & never got back in. EA's game-time sucked me in, and I got the full version, before the trial expired. So far, I am enjoying it a lot. My painter friend has actually been stopping by more, and actually started 3 or so paintings in one visit, so I could mentor her. I actually have a good group of friends now, and I was able to try out a card table.

I am wondering what determines the frequency of visits, though. Johnny Zest will often want to hang out, about as soon as I wake up. Sometimes, he catches me in the middle of trying to eat something. Then, I have to put it in the fridge & entertain. I don't have a job, for this Sim. If I did, I wouldn't have time to get anything done, with my garden & all the entertaining to do. When I was in another neighborhood, Travis used to visit me, and would often stay until I was halfway through my job at work. He would leave late afternoon. Painting freelance seems to be serving me the best, as far as keeping up with bills & maintaining the friendships.

[Playalot]

The visitors are sort of related to where your sim lives. Some neighborhoods have way more walk-bys than others. Also you can just let them in then carry on eating, showering etc etc as the visitors are quite happy doing their own thing in your sims house. Or you can just leave them at the door as it will not have a negative impact on your friendship levels with them.
Gardening is very time consuming and quite tricky to manage in a single sim household with a career. Paining is a really good way of making money and quite often I play 'unemployed sims' that become far wealthier than my employed sims due to painting, writing or woodworking.
Remember to take advantage of multi-tasking. Your sim can paint, listen to the stereo and chat to the visitors or eat, watch TV with the visitors and chat getting food, social and fun all at once. You can't multi-task with gardening or fishing though.

[CuriousSim]

I made two Sims, one on my laptop, and one on my main computer. One lives in Willow Creek, and gets regularly visited by Travis. I tried having a Space Career, and Travis often stays, while I'm at work. Sometimes, he arrives late, and plays games while I'm asleep. The other lives in Oasis Springs, and is regularly visited by Johnny Zest, the computer generated gardener, that took the house next door, when I had the option turned on to occupy unused houses. Also Bella stopped by one day, and she shows up to dance. On both, the mail carrier sometimes stops by too.

My daily routine is usually:

1. Getting up,
2. Fixing a group meal, then putting it in the fridge.
3. Eating about four tomatoes,
4. Playing the piano, then
5. Starting a painting, until someone arrives.

If someone arrives, I start a nice long story, while I drag a meal from the fridge to the table.
I then call to a meal, so we can get our eating & chatting out of the way. I also turn on the comedy channel. I then paint & take care of needs, once the conversation subsides. If a Sim arrives in the evening, then once the conversation subsides, I will sleep for the rest of the visit. When the sleep bar is close to 80%, I will then tend the garden. This usually means I will be rested enough to rise early & get more stuff done, before the visitors arrive. If my needs are still good, when I wake up, I might visit the museum, for a change. I lengthened the second floor of the museum & filled the front window, with the fancy easels.