Creating Industry and Business

Creating Industry and Business

The next major stage in the development of your town is your creation of industry so that your Sims have someplace to work in order to earn a living -- but to do that you will need to sock away some Simoleons.  Now if you already placed your third Sim -- which you must do to trigger the goal to build a business and have that slot show up in your town -- you should try to save $500 so that you can build your industry.

Adding the first Industry and Job

When you go to the city map you will see the industrial building locations that you can build on, with the options of:

Fire Station (Job = Firefighter / Salary = $120 400 XP)
Fire Station (Job = Firefighter Instructor / Salary = $160 500 XP)
Fire Station (Job = Fire Captain / Salary = $250 650 XP)
Fire Station (Job = Fire Chief / Salary = $420 900 XP)
Fire Station (Job = Capped / Salary = $540 1150 XP)

Gallery (Job = Art Student / Salary = $135 375 XP)
Gallery (Job = Painting Restorer / Salary = $180 500 XP)
Gallery (Job = Art Critic / Salary = $225 625 XP)
Gallery (Job = Art Dealer / Salary = $315 875 XP)
Gallery (Job = Capped / Salary = $630 1125 XP)

Stadium (Job = Athlete / Salary = $75 400 XP)
Stadium (Job = Personal Trainer / Salary = $120 500 XP)
Stadium (Job = Athlete / Salary = $175 650 XP)
Stadium (Job = Olympian / Salary = $385 900 XP)
Stadium (Job = Capped / Salary = $675 1150 XP)

Town Hall (Job = Intern / Salary = $150 400 XP)
Town Hall (Job = Campaign Manager / Salary = $200 500 XP)
Town Hall (Job = City Council Member / Salary = $250 650 XP)
Town Hall (Job = Mayor / Salary = $350 900 XP)
Town Hall (Job = Capped / Salary = $450 1150 XP)

Science Lab (Job = Intern / Salary = $250 800 XP)
Science Lab (Job = Science Teacher / Salary = $350 800 XP)
Science Lab (Job = Inventor / Salary = $450 800 XP)
Science Lab (Job = Mad Scientist / Salary = $600 800 XP)
Science Lab (Job = Capped / Salary = $1000 1,150 XP)

Bear in mind that the system that is used for building industry in the game is a tiered system -- the game requirements to make your first choice from the above is two Sims in your town, and $500, but when you go to make your second choice, it will require 4 Sims and $1000 and so on with the requirements and build times increasing with each choice. 

Once you have your second industry in place, and you complete a target number of goals you are given the opportunity to open a business -- the difference between an industry and a business should be fairly obvious in that save for government services, industry tends to be higher-end in the money side, while business tends to be lower-end and service-oriented.

Once you have decided upon the industry you want for your first commercial addition to your town -- and thus the first job for a Sim -- you will need to pay for its construction and then wait for the hour that it takes for that to complete before you can have a Sim take the job it makes available.  Bear in mind that you can choose to use a Life Point to rush the construction to completion -- which will cost you one LP but also gain you an LP, so it is an even trade.

Choosing the industry you want to build first lets you give your current Sims jobs but that should not be the end of your building -- when you have the necessary funds you should be making an effort to build the rest of the industry and government buildings that you can, since that adds to the value of your town as well as gives your Sims options for the jobs that they can choose. 

Adding a Business to your Town

When you reach the point in goals and town value that you are offered the goal to create a business, the cost for building the first business is $1000 and two hours time, and you can choose from the following:

Car Dealer: adds daily revenue and allows your Sim to buy a car.
Hobby Shop: adds hobby items and skill building options for your Sims.
Pet Store: allows your Sims to buy pets.
Supermarket: adds daily revenue to the town and allows you to buy discounted goods.
The Park: provides Sims a place to meet and enjoy outdoor recreation.

When you compare the two types of commercial presence in the game you will note that industry provides jobs and income, while businesses provide opportunities and goods, it is as simple as that.

-- Your Sim and their Career --

The career system in FreePlay is very simplified -- basically you start them off by choosing where they will work (their career path) and then they just need to go to work twice in order to trigger the goals that will help them to advance in their job, and guide you to making that happen.  Well that, and they need to keep going to work of course.

The entry level job requires your Sim to go to work for two days, and then they are promoted to the next level.  The next promotion comes after going to work for three days, and so on, with each new position at the company offering different work hours, as well as higher pay and XP.  Failing to send your Sim to work can result in their being demoted and thus losing their hard-won promotions, and even in losing their job regardless of progress, and becoming Unemployed again -- which will require them to start from scratch -- so try to avoid that...

Climbing the Career Ladder

As your game progresses and you level up you will start to get goals that are primarily industry based, and that require you to have specific numbers of Sims working in specific industries.  If you do not have enough unemployed Sims you have two basic choices: make more Sims, which means spending more of your money, or having your existing Sims quit their jobs and start the new profession in order to fulfill the new goal.

Building the Hobby Shop Business early on is a very good idea, as it allows your Sims to purchase items that can be used to improve their career level -- note that I did not say skill, but rather level -- because this is not the same system used in the previous series where each of the Sims has a set of skills that can be improved by using items, as in this case the use of the items directly increases the job level thus offering you gains in advancement and promotion (and so more money and XP) a lot faster.

The Hobby Shop offers the following items for sale:

Artist: Painting Easel ($1000)
Athlete: Football ($1000)
Firefighter: Fire Hydrant ($1000)
Musician: Guitar ($1000)
Politician: Mirror ($1000)
Scientist: Telescope ($1000)
R.C. Boat: Fun in the Park (50 Life Points)

Training Career Levels with Hobby Shop Items

Once you purchase the item appropriate for your Sim based upon their job, you will find it in your backpack storage in the build menu and you can place it from there in your yard or house, and then use it to increase your career level.  Each use takes an hour, earns your Sim XP with each use, and adds a small amount to your career level.   The amount of XP your Sims will earn from using each device varies, depending upon the job.

One last point that needs to be made about the level-improving items above: they can be used to increase the level but can NOT be used to obtain a promotion -- in order to do that your Sim must attend at least ONE day of work per level of job to be promoted.   But you can use them in between the at-work days to max-out the level or at least skip some of the work days in progress, which means that having and using these items is a good idea.   Also you do not have to buy an item for each Sim -- they can use the item when visiting the Sim who owns it and still gain levels and XP.

It bears emphasis that your Sims should NEVER be going to work unless their level is 100%, which means that you will want to be diligent in using the training items from the Hobby Shop to level their career after each promotion so that going to work the following day will lead to yet another promotion.  If you play this way, you will be able to reach the maximum job level (the No Title Level) in less than a real life week for each Sim -- which means you will be pulling in the maximum in money and XP as quickly as you can, and that makes going to work a pleasure!