The Sims 3: World Adventures Mini Guide

The Sims 3: World Adventures Mini Guide

This short introduction to the Sims 3 World Adventures has now been exapanded upon with it's own guide to this expansion pack.

To goto our full guide to The Sims 3: World Adventures, click here.

Introduction:

EA's first expansion pack for The Sims 3 is called 'World Adventures'. The premise behind it is to allow Sims to visit far flung parts of the planet, similar to The Sims: Vacation, and take part in certain activities for bonuses that can be carried back to your home town.

The areas your Sims can visit are France, China and Egypt. Each of these locations has their own feel and their own specific activities for Sims to participate in. France has nectar making, China has martial arts and fireworks, while Egypt has the pyramids and snake charming.

New Locations:

China: China's location has been named Shang Simla. It is the environment to pick up the Martial Arts skill. Popular landmarks include the Terracotta Army and a Dragon Cave to explore.

Egypt: In Egypt, the specific destination is called Al Simhara. Here there are pyramids, tombs and mummies! You can also buy high level cameras for the new Photography skill from the shops here.

France: Upon arrival in France you will find yourself at Champs Les Sims. It is here that the new Nectar Making skill can be learned and improved. Nectar can be sold or drunk for a mood boost. There are also dungeons in Champs Les Sims to explore with your characters.

Visas:

As with travelling in real life, Sims need a visa to be able to travel abroad. The length that you can stay in each location increases as you become a more experienced traveller, completing more activities and adventures. This is done through Visa Points. Having Visa Points and 'Certificates of Partnership' with the target destination will allow you to stay for much longer. Initially you can only stay for three days, but soon you will be able to reach the maximum of 18.

It is possible to take your family with you when going abroad, and their Visa Points contribute to your total stay time.

Adventures:

As the name suggests, The Sims 3: Adventures focuses on your Sims taking part in various activities around the world. In Egypt, for example, they can explore ancient tombs. Upon arrival in the new location, you can venture outside the initial camp to find a board with adventures posted on it that you can take. Adventures involve a series of objectives that function like 'Opportunities' from the main game - you are given three new opportunities slots to facilitate the new areas.

Completing objectives, which vary in their level of complexity, reward you with historical coins, Simoleons and Visa points which can be used to level up your Visa and extend your maximum stay time in each location.

On adventures you will also be given the chance to find hidden artefacts. These tend to be of a historical nature, and while some are complete objects, others are mere fragments where you have to find each part and assemble the whole item once back at home. It can then be used like any other object in The Sims 3.

Dungeons:

Tombs and Dungeons are one of the major additions from The Sims 3: Adventures. Sims can explore them, solving puzzles and dodging obstacles to unlock the whole area. In these areas there will be enemies (mummies!) as well as traps and puzzles. The key is to unlock new rooms, which often have rewards in. Be on the lookout for traps in the floor to avoid getting caught out.

While in the dungeons you will be able to pick up coins, collectibles and historical artefacts which you can then sell on for some major cash. You can use adventuring as a major money-making tool in The Sims 3: World Adventures.

The main thing to worry about while tomb-raiding is the Mummies Curse. This seems to be the only way to die while exploring tombs. It can only occur in Egypt, but if it does, you need to head to the Sphinx and go to the Soulpeace statue. If you learn snake charming and buy a King Cobra you can kiss it after being cursed and you should be saved.

There is also a tomb-building element to the expansion pack.

Tomb Building:

To be able to build your own tombs, you have to activate a few cheats first.

Open up the cheat box using CTRL SHIFT C, then enter 'testingcheatsenabled true' without the quotes. Follow this with 'buydebug'. You are then given access to Buy Mode which include the tomb objects. This is a good way to learn the intricacies of the game's tombs, though the ones thrown at you by EA tend to be fairly straightforward, but still fun.

New Skills:

There are three new skills as part of the World Adventures expansion pack.

Martial Arts: The first, from China, is the Martial Arts skill. Initially you must practice on a training target to level up, but soon you can break certain objects and fight in tournaments with other Sims. As you level up, your belt changes color as with real martial arts. It is not only useful for competitions, but helps when dealing with those tricky mummies. You can also meditate using this skill, which activates a new moodlet, which increases skill gains and generally increases your Sims efficiency in whatever they are doing. Once you have mastery in meditation, you can teleport (!) without needing the personal teleporter, and won't have to worry about the mummies anymore.

Nectar Making: Secondly, you have Nectar Making, which originates in France. You can earn some money from selling on the nectar, which increases in value depending on how long you store it for in a nectar cellar. Nectar can be collected from the garden, so having a good Gardening skill level is important. In France there are specific grapes which help with the growing process too. From your other adventures you will also be able to find 10 new plants to add to your collection.

Photography: Lastly is Photography, which is something that will no doubt appeal to a lot of gamers. To begin the skill, you must take photos using a camera. The basic camera is called the Snaptastic Flimsy Cam, which you can purchase in any of the new locations. Egypt boasts the best camera models, however. This switches the game into first-person mode, and you will be set objectives of what to take pictures of. You can use various photographic effects such as Panorama and Sepia to make your photos perfect.

Stores:

Each of the three new locations has its own store with some unique items to assist you in your world journeys. Obviously when you are away from home, factors such as Hygiene and Hunger are pretty hard to maintain over a number of days. The stores can provide you with tents to sleep in, dried food to maintain your strength and keep Hunger down, and 'shower in a can' to take care of your Hygiene requirements.

All of these items come in particularly handy if you are off adventuring in a dungeon for a prolonged period of time. Generally, you will be able to find the store for your particular area in the central market area.

As you level up your Sims Visa, additional items become available.

In the Egypt store, you can buy a Snake Charming Basket, which is a side-skill available in World Adventures.

Basements:

World Adventures adds the ability to construct basements more easily, as opposed to having to dig out the terrain. You can go four layers deep into the ground, which potentially makes for some massive houses!

New Lifetime Rewards:

EA have generously provided 11 new Lifetime Rewards to enjoy in The Sims 3. There is a new Jetsetter Lifetime Reward which gives you a saving of 20 percent for your trips around the world. You can also stay longer in each location and get rid of your bills with some of the other new Lifetime Rewards.

New Lifetime Wishes:

The Sims 3: World Adventures comes packed with 8 all-new Lifetime Wishes. They can be to reach the maximum-level Visas or hit mastery in the new skills, for example.

New Traits:

The new traits include the Adventurous Trait. This allows you to travel more frequently, without having to wait so long between adventures. There is also Photographer's Eye, which makes the new Photography skill easier to learn and results in better, more valuable pictures. Finally, you can assign the Disciplined trait, which is primarily for Martial Arts. It makes mastery of this skill easier.

Other Additions:

There are new fish to catch in the various locations added to the game world. You can catch Dragon Fish, Koi, Mummy Fish, Frogs, Crawfish and Crocodiles! There are new recipes and new gems, metals and rocks.