Skills - The Basics

The Sims 3 Guide - Life Guide

Skills - The Basics

Below is a list of every skill with a basic description of each.

Athletic:

Athletic Sims want to keep fit. They are proactive, desiring lots of jogging, visits to the gym and both firm muscles and a lean physique. Once you learn the skill your Sim can jog around Sunset Valley. Experienced Athletic Sims can also Train others in their discipline. The Law Enforcement, Military and Professional Sports career all need fit Sims, albeit in different measures.

The gym can be intimidating for those new to the world of fitness.

Charisma:

A charismatic Sim will love the sound of their voice and have great confidence in public-speaking. The main avenues of reward, should you follow this skill and improve it for your Sims, are new dialogue options and social interactions. A career in Politics is the chief aim for most charismatic Sims, though it is useful in all walks of life as higher profile jobs get more demanding on a Sim's personality. Maintaining relationships and friends is crucial as a set number of these are required to move up the Charisma levels.

Cooking:

Not only do Sims with the Cooking skill enjoy preparing food, they are also good at it. Just experimenting in the kitchen will help develop your Sim's skills in this department, though you have to actually prepare the meal, rather than just eating a microwave dinner and calling it cooking. Sims can learn new recipes from books, or as they develop their skills. The more a Sim practices a particular dish, the nicer it will get each time.
 
Fishing:

Fish-mad Sims have plenty of options in Sunset Valley; fishing is an easy hobby to support, and one that allows you to experience nature and all the glory of the game world. Just practicing your art will develop the Fishing skill, while experimenting with different bait, locations and times of day will allow better, bigger and more valuable (or beautiful, depending on your mindset) fish to be caught.

Gardening:

Every Sim has a garden, so get planting once you have some seeds. Constant care and attention are required to nurture a perfect plant, but doing so repeatedly will improve your Sim's skills and set them on the road to green-fingered heaven. Rarer plants can be grown as the Gardening skill improves, until finally your garden will be the envy of all your neighbours. Of course, you can also grow ingredients for use in cooking, or indeed sell the produce for cash!

Gardens don't have to be this big to be enjoyed.

Guitar:

Some Sims will be naturally musical, but others can still pick up an instrument and learn to play. Eventually, once continual practice begins to make perfect, your Sim can play for cash in public areas – wowing other Sims with their impressive performances. The better a Sim gets, the more songs they can play and the more accurately they play them. Your guitar, once purchased, can be stored in the inventory and whipped out in public places for a quick song.

Handiness:

Handy Sims are arguably the most useful around the home. Cheap items break very regularly, so it is also the easiest to naturally develop as your Sims tinker and meddle, trying to repair broken appliances. As the Handiness skill improves, a Sim can also upgrade items to improve their performance or increase their reliability. Neighbours will also request help in fixing their problems, for money of course! Be careful though, handy Sims are frequently exposed to dangers such as electrocution, which can be a one way ticket to a visit with the Grim Reaper.

Logic:

Logical Sims not only enjoy chess and astronomy, but they love intelligent conversation and testing their skills against others. Once the Logic skill reaches a particular level, they can even teach other Sims and pass on their knowledge.

Chess is the best way to improve Logic.

Painting:

Painting is a very rewarding skill for Sims to learn. Not only can you sell your paintings for cash, but they can be hung up around your house to beautify the environment. It takes a heck of a lot of patience to become good at, and the best paintings take a long time to craft, but the end results cannot be argued with.

Writing:

Writers in The Sims 3 are very similar to the painters. With the Writing skill a Sim can, after much time spent on the Computer, produce a novel of saleable quality. More genres are unearthed as a Sim practices and moves through the Writing ranks, while getting regular royalties is the eventual reward for a successful writer.

Use a Computer to get going with Writing.