Building up those important life skills…

If your Sim wants to get ahead in their career while they are still young, they will need to build up skill points in mechanical, cleaning, charisma, logic, body, creativity and cooking areas. All Sim jobs call for various skill points, sometimes changing as they are promoted.

There are various ways to build up these skills, but the best way for a Sim who is just starting out will only have the basic tools, such as their home, a bookshelf and a T.V. Whenever I build a starter home, I always make sure they have whatever is necessary for them to get at least a couple of promotions.

Mechanical, cleaning and cooking skills can be earned by studying books on the subject, so always make sure your Sim’s starter home has at least a cheap bookshelf. However, there are other ways that are not as efficient.

Mechanical: Can be gained by repairs around the home, such as fixing faulty plumbing, unblocking toilets and mending televisions.

Cleaning: Can be gained by cleaning the cooker, kitchen worktops and bathroom. If you leave these, they end up very, very dirty! On the other hand, if you don’t like to waste time doing this, you can hire a maid. :002_sbiggrin:

Cooking: Can be gained, obviously by cooking, and also by watching cooking shows on the television.

Charisma: You can build up your charisma by practicing your speech in a mirror.

Logic: The poor man’s way to build up logic skill points is to do the crossword in the daily paper. If you can afford it, though, purchase a chess board and a couple of chairs as practicing on it builds up your logic skills quite quickly. You can also use a telescope, but these are pricey.

Body: Body skills are very important for your physically challenging jobs such as in the police force or army. You can work out in front of the television or purchase a training bench, or even go swimming if you are lucky enough to own a pool.

Creativity: Can be earned by painting, playing an instrument and writing novels on the computer.

Sometimes, if you do really well at work, you can earn extra skill points by impressing your boss! :53:

You can see what skill points are required and/or earned by your Sim by looking at the ‘Skill & Career’ icon at the bottom of your screen:

As you can see, James Chambers has worked his way up from a simple records clerk to a junior executive. He needed skills in charisma and logic to get this far, as you can see by the skill levels that have a blue ring around them. These will be blank inside if he hasn’t enough skill points to earn a promotion.