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Skills |
Introduction | Skill Descriptions & Uses | Skill Speed | Skill Decay | Skill Locks | Skill Locks Chart | |
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Introduction To earn your keep in the game your Sim is going to need skills. Skills allow your Sim to make more money, earn new interactions, craft special objects, and even repair objects at lower costs. There are six different skills in the game to choose from, and you are not limited to just studying one skill. Each skill will give you different interactions and abilities and are earned through the use of several different objects. Available below are listings of each skill and all the information you need to begin earning skill points, find money objects and job lots that use the specific skill. To see which interactions can be earned through skills, and which objects can be crafted, visit our detailed interactions and crafting guides. Skill Descriptions & Uses
Skill Speed The speed at which your Sim gains skill depends on a few factors: the number of skill objects present that raise a particular skill, the number of Sims working on the same skill, and the property category of the lot you're on. A combination of these factors can produce a minimum skill speed of 10% and an optimum skill speed of 118%. Having more objects on a lot that increase a particular skill will raise your skill speed. For example, you will build creativity skill faster if you have several pianos on your property, rather than just one. It should be noted, though, that the skill objects do not need to be identical; they only have to raise the same skill. Thus, having a workout bench, a mechanical bull, and a dance cage on your property will give you a faster skill speed than having just one of those objects because all three of them raise body skill. Multiple objects raise skill speed only up to a particular cap. Maximum speed is reached with six objects. Any objects in addition to that will not further increase skill speed. ![]() Skill Speed If you raise a certain skill with other Sims, skill speed will increase even further. Sims do not have to be using a particular object to boost skill speed; they only need to be raising the same skill. Thus, three Sims using telescopes and three Sims using chess tables have the same skill speed as six Sims using one or the other. The objects do not matter because all the Sims are studying logic. Multiple Sims skilling also increases skill speed only up to a cap. Maximum speed is reached with six Sims studying a particular skill. Any Sims that join in after that do not further boost skill speed.
Lastly, you will raise skill faster if you use objects on a property in the Skills category. At properties in any other category, you can achieve a maximum skill speed of 72% by having six skill objects of a particular type and six Sims using them. On a Skills property, however, this same combination will give you a speed of 118%. The following table provides you with the approximate real-life time it takes to complete one skill point at full speed. Thanks goes to Naz for providing the information.
Skill Decay Your skills will start decaying once you have reached 10.00 points total in all skills combined. The rate at which your skills decay is affected by a few main factors. If your Sim is dead, the rate of decay is almost doubled. The rate of decay also increases with the total number of skill points you have earned. Someone with 20 points in both logic and cooking will see faster decay than someone with just 20 points in cooking. There is also a slight bit of randomness involved in the rate of decay, so it may not be at a consistant speed. Skill decay is paused when you are actively learning a skill so it is not working against the points you are earning. Any skills you are not actively learning are still subject to decay. Skills will also not decay while you are offline. Skill Locks In a world of skilling, motive deterioration, and skill decay, it is often difficult to keep your skills in tip-top order. Thanks to the variable skill lock system, however, you no longer have to worry about having to skill every five minutes just to keep your tango, headspin, or break dance. Instead, you can be spending your time red and having a blast, and not have to worry about your skills decaying. When you first create your Sim, you start off with twenty skill locks. You are allotted additional skill locks approximately every 7 days (See the chart at the bottom of this page), which can be used to lock additional skill points which you may obtain. When you lock a skill, it will prevent decay from the base of the skill point locked. For example, if you locked charisma at 5.00 in your Sim Page, it will not decay below that level. Any skill points earned before the next full skill point (5.01 - 5.99) are suspectable to decay and cannot be locked until you reach the next full point (6.00 in this case). ![]() Sim Page Showing Skill Locks Locked skills appear in red, whereas unlocked skills appear in blue. Because the skill locks are variable, you don't necessarily have to lock an entire skill. You can choose to lock so many of one, so many of another, or whatever your preference may be. Something which should be noted, however, is that you must lock in an ascending order. For example, you can't just lock at 7.00 of a skill, but you must lock everything before it, so 6.00, 5.00, and so on. Clicking up to a certain skill in the indicator bars, will lock the skill up to the point you click. By clicking the skill bar at a lower point than what is already locked, you can unlock the skill. Approximately every 7 days, you receive a new skill lock with which you can lock another skill point. Whether you use them all or only lock what you need is up to you. Below is a chart of what age your Sim has to be in order to receive another skill lock point. Skill Locks Chart
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