| The Sims 3 Ambitions | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professions | Bake Sales | Consignment Shop | Simbot | Inventing | Sculpting | |
Carl's Sims 3 Ambitions Guide
Architectural Design Profession - Be an Architect
Architectural Design is a new profession in The Sims 3 Ambitions. If Sims take this up, they will earn a living through improving homes in the neighborhood by completing a variety of job types for clients. The career does require some home building skill on your part. In this guide to Architecture, I'll provide some helpful tips to improving your job scores and getting better reviews.
Good Traits for Architects
The two traits I'd recommend most are artistic and charismatic. Raising the Painting Skill is a good way to gain career levels as an architect, and the artistic trait will help you do that faster. Savvy sculptor could help secondarily, as decorating clients' homes with custom art such as sculptures gives a boost to your final score. Photographer's Eye ( could be the best yet, as it will boost the photography skill which provides nearly instant materials for placing custom art (even photographs of clients) in the home. Socializing with clients is also important, so making your Sim charismatic or friendly will help. Take a class in Charisma to get started with that skill and it will rise somewhat automatically as you progress.
The Home Design Hotshot Lifetime Wish is one of the longest in the Sims 3. It is decidedly bugged as 100 good reviews will likely take longer than a Sim lifetime on normal. Each design is only worth one! Nope, there's no trick to it. I just felt it necessary to get that out in the open should this not be changed.
Taking the Job
Architectural Designer is joined by heading to city hall. I'd never bother looking in the newspaper when you can send the Sim there directly. I also suggest taking a class in charisma and painting. The charisma class will get the skill unlocked so your Sim will start gaining levels through everyday socialization.
Architects have a choice between an easel or drafting table to raise their job level through the painting skill when not working. The easel can lead to more money by allowing the sale of paintings, but the sketching table will raise your Sim's career experience much faster. This experience stops for the easel once painting is maximized, but the drafting table will always provide it, although its returns become less significant as your level rises.
| Architectural Designer Profession Levels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Job Name | Stipend | Unlocked Perks |
| Fabric Fetcher | $272 | |
| Pattern Spotter | $336 | Freelance Soliciting during Work Hours |
| Placement Planner | $400 | |
| Feng Shui Fiend | $560 | |
| Decor Debutant | $584 | Measure Property |
| Furniture Fashionista | $800 | |
| Regent of Rugs | $1120 | +Homemade Object Review Value |
| Aesthetic Architect | $1440 | Discuss Renovation |
| Sultan of Style | $1520 | |
| Dictator of Design | $2480 | |
Sim's First Design Projects
Your Sim can only take up a job during the specified work hours of 8AM to 6PM Monday through Friday. Until level 3, you'll have to rely on watching for jobs to pop up on the map. Take those with bigger budgets, as it's usually easier to score big on them. You can always talk to the client, then decline the job for the moment to have a peek at the job details. You'll generally get only two jobs done per day if you take the time to try to talk to the client, and later measure the property.
Getting Good Reviews
There are several factors that come into play for determining if your Sim is going to get a good review for their efforts in architecture. First, the most simple: their level in the profession. Even if you fill all the requirements of a job, the design may get a bad review early on. That said, the rest of it is cumulative. You can earn up to a $5,000 bonus if your Sim accumulates enough positive feedback.
They generally like it when you spend the budget on extra little decorations, like flowers, rugs, curtains, trees, even toilet paper rolls. It's these little touches that really fill a room out and improve the decorated moodlet without too much clutter.
There are three things you can do religiously that will always have a positive impact on a renovation. Once unlocked, always take measurements at the property and discuss the renovation with the client. These offer a passive boost to the review. Another thing is to use sculptures or paintings to decorate the place. Even Sims who can't stand art can be pleased -- custom chair or toilet anyone? It's worth noting the sketches made from researching architectural design on the drafting table make great custom art to decorate a house and achieve this bonus to the review.
Perhaps better than sculptures and paintings are Photographs and relics from World Adventures. These two options give you something unique with which to decorate the home, but it can be created, or found, quickly. Photographs are awesome in that you can get a snapshot of the client and get an even better boost to the final review.
You can load up tons of custom art and furniture to improve the review, but keep in mind that when your paintings grow more valuable it may not be worth putting $4,000 worth of them on the wall to get a $5,000 bonus. After all, those paintings would sell for much more at the consignment shop. It's better to seek all these bonuses and get them to stack together, save tons of money and get by with putting just one piece of free art for them.
Traits' Impact on Reviews
The last big way to impact a review in a good way is to tailor the design to a Sim's traits. If you learn they have any of these through discussing the renovation or using the get to know social interaction, keep this in mind for what to do with left over money in the budget. It's not always possible to do this depending on what a Sim wants and whether they have one of these traits. You'll know it worked as often the Sim will mention how much they like it. It's worth mentioning that a Sim's opinion may also be altered if you really please their spouse.
| Architectural Designer Trait Considerations | |
|---|---|
| Artistic | Loves decorations, easy to please |
| Bookworm | Bookshelves |
| Can't Stand Art | Find another way to boost environment than art. |
| Computer Whiz | Computers! |
| Couch Potato | Seating with high comfort |
| Easily Impressed | Love most everything |
| Evil | Reduce window Count |
| Frugal | Use less of budget, save maybe 15-20%. |
| Hates the Outdoors | Reduce Window Count |
| Loves the Outdoors | Increase Window Count |
| Natural Cook | Kitchen Appliances, Counters |
| Party Animal | Bars |
| Snob | Use all of budget, high quality items |
| Technophobe | Hates electronics |
| Virtuoso | Music items - Guitar, Stereo |
| Workaholic | Desks |
Try to add to the total number of windows and other things they like. Sure, you can sell an object and give them a better one, but maybe give them an additional one to really see a big effect and pick up the bonus.
Avoid Negative Impacts
Don't clutter up the Sim's home. They need not only basic access to all the items you place, but all their old ones as well. They like to have room to walk about. Imagine how annoying it could be when Sims are blocking each other in a very narrow walkway and you'll understand why. It's hard to get the max bonus if you over do it. Don't go crazy taking away their existing furniture either. It's good to make some room and get rid of old stuff, but they must always have the essentials.
You may have to work to burn through a rich snob's budget. It can be hard to spend 50,000. Keep in mind that you not only need do the checklist, but have plenty of other things to improve the client's home. They generally want to spend all the money! Non-frugal Sims will be annoyed if you don't come close enough to the budget.
The Inappropriate But in a Good Way Reward May be Useful
This LTR can allow your Sim to use other Sims' objects without being rude, such as showers and beds. If you take the reward, you can leave buy mode and test out the placement of objects to ensure that Sims can reach them. This is especially helpful in cramped bathrooms and bedrooms. At only 5,000 Lifetime Happiness, it's cheap.
Going Over Budget
You can go over budget generally without penalty (save for maybe frugal Sims). This can be a way to improve the house just that little bit more to get the max bonus. Anything you spend over their budget will come out of your funds though, so try not to spend too much.
The Client isn't Home!
As their Architecture career level rises, Architects unlock the ability to discuss the renovation with a client. It's also good practice to get to know them a little at the early stages as they'll be more receptive to the changes you make. The trouble is, a lot of the time Sims aren't home when you're working! To ease this problem, you can do the bare minimum of the redesign, tell them it's complete, then cancel the action when they get home. This will give your Sim a chance to talk with them. Discussing the renovation with the Sim has a huge effect on whether you'll get a bonus in the end or not.
Freelancing
At the third level, your Sim can start showing off their portfolio. The portfolio is built by completing unique jobs, getting a good review, and taking a photograph (with the cell phone, no camera required). A bigger portfolio will lead to a better success rate when soliciting design services.
One big perk to soliciting services is your Sim has the client there on the spot. They can get friendly with them, and discuss the renovation. They can then head to the property, take a measurement, and proceed to the renovation knowing the traits of the Sim they're working for. If no big-budget renovations come on a given day, or you have all those types in your Sim's portfolio already, head to the park and start chatting up Sims. You can also target specific Sims, like the Landgraabs or Agnes Crumplebottom.
Making Over the Top Money
There's a lot of Simoleons to be made once you've mastered this profession. Take the Profession Simoleon Booster award, and max the career experience to start routinely making $6,000 for excellent reviews (with bonus). It goes up and up with more job experience, so fill that bar! Naturally, the Entrepreneurial Mindset Lifetime Reward will come in handy for accomplishing that goal.
