Whoo... well, Hi.
I've been very busy making guides as there's
a lot of little things in this pack but I
wanted to come back to the channel.
We went over the University system with roommates
and dorms in my last video, but we didn't
really look at any of the other things in
Discover University.
I'm gonna give a rundown of what these other
gameplay features do and check out their pros
and cons.
#Robotics Skill
The Robotics skill is the first thing I want
to look at, and it really deserves its own
video.
It's actually a pretty cool skill in the utility
bots and servos area but it has a few issues.
Because it's nice but not everything's peachy,
OK.
I'd say it's one of the only things I found
annoying out of the side features.
The ones that exist, anyway... unlike, traits.
With robotics you can craft toys and make
a little money, but the bigger bots seem to
be such a big parts sink that it's really
not worth making this your main funding source.
Now, the bigger bots are cool.
Your Sim can turn them on with a remote and
they'll hover about like worker bees and take
care of what they're supposed to take care
of.
If something breaks down, fixer bot can handle
it for you, or the gardening bot can flutter
about the garden tending things.
They're a great help, and I would say a good
reward for the time sink.
See you need to craft computer chips and mechanisms
to craft things at the Robotics Workstation,
and will need to do a lot of THIS on the computer
to order other parts.
By the dozens and I'm not exaggerating here.
It really shows how outdated some of our menus
are, with a need to let a player just punch
in a number or have some way to add 10 at
a time.
Because to order 99 parts, you really must
click plus 99 times.
I really did burn through 99 parts in record
time working on this skill.
Here's a little tip by the way.
If you have testingcheats on and shift click
the robotics workstation, you can actually
get a load of parts into the active Sim's
inventory.
It's a big help if you're far into this and
don't want to keep grinding out parts.
It includes stuff like plumbing parts too!
God I wish you could just order a box of parts
and pay some bulk rate to get them legitimately.
You eventually get the ability to craft a
cybernetic enhancement, a robot arm that is
connected to your spine.
It's very sweet looking.
This gives you a +1 higher robotic skill while
wearing it and increases the speed you gain
robotics skill by 25%, but it also speeds
up the crafting process by 20% for like..
everything physically crafted, as far as I'm
able to tell.
That's just awesome.
As for making money, I made an attempt to
sell a bot I'd made because I heard you could
make money with this skill and selling bots.
I'd put $1500 and tons of parts into it, and
it sold for like $800.
It sort of reminds me of Realm of Magic shipping
without potion prices set.
Anyway...
I lost way over a grand on this sell.
I noticed that when upgraded the price got
a bit better, but the way parts are, it's
just too much of a hassle to keep upgrading
these guys if I don't want to keep them.
There are better ways to make money in The
Sims.
Another thing about robotics is that it can
be a shockingly time consuming skill to level,
as you'll get zapped regularly.
And this is going to lock you out for a few
hours unless you want to risk death.
Because getting shocked twice will kill you.
In case someone asked, I did check to see
if handiness might help with the random zaps
but it's not involved.
So you might start a session, even focused,
because that doesn't help prevent it, and
get shocked and have to do something else
while dazed.
And dazed is basically the worst moodlet in
the game, for everything.
I guess it's the price you pay, but why is
my Sim so careless.
I got zapped over 20x while on the way to
the top.
I know because after about the 4th time I
started counting (laughs).
The Regular bots you can make all have a function
and will seek work while they're on.
They can be upgraded a whopping 10 times,
each.
Getting a perk to either durability or the
duration of battery, or maybe how rapidly
it charges.
So if you really like one type, you can keep
sinking parts into it to make it better.
And I'm all for that, that's awesome, just
not the way it's carried out making and buying
one part at a time.
At level 8 Servo unlocks, and it can be programmed
with a gender and you can choose the look.
When activated they join your household and
take up one of the slots, while the regular
bots do not.
Servo can be upgraded with a few things and
you can program them with a number of the
same traits regular Sims can have.
They need fun and social but otherwise just
have charge and durability.
Don't let them run to 0 in durability or your
servo can essentially die if you take too
long to repair it.
They should be kept out of water in any form,
so don't woohoo in the shower with them as
apparently that's a bad idea.
Servo's upgrades are kind of neat, and you
can even put in a nanny module that'll make
Servo take care of babies and toddlers.
All these upgrades will need you to queue
up tons of the computer chips and mechanisms
I talked about.
I wish we could make several at once, I think
it'd alleviate that complaint.
The other new skill in this pack is Research
and Debate, and I just love it.
It's a skill that teaches your Sim to learn
and has a strong synergy with the core education
system.
Overall my student's experience would've been
very different had I started with a few levels
in this, because it increases the rate you
do homework by a big chunk, and stacks with
the study spot lot trait to further improve
that.
As you level you'll also speed up the rate
your Sim completes presentations and term
papers.
This skill has a side money maker in the ability
to contribute knowledge with the $12,000 Simoleon
research archive machines.
It has another side to it, in the ability
to convince other Sims to do things for you
like... asking them to do homework.
This has a 4 hour global cooldown whether
you succeed or not, so try to be in a good
mood as it may improve your odds when you
ask.
It's just as useful for Foxbury students,
but it is used as part of the Debate Guild
organization for Britechester University students.
There are, I think, 3 organizations on each
campus that you can join to get a little more
incentive to raise the new skills and attend
events.
Head to the information kiosk on your Sim's
campus and look at the event schedule.
This will tell you when they're meeting, and
it's a simple matter of asking to join for
all but one of them.
Once you're in, you have access to the organizations
panel - the same place they put clubs - and
can now see the upcoming events much easier.
You'll have a list of tasks to complete here
as well.
Foxbury has an honor society, prank guild,
and robotics society.
Britechester has debate, art, and a school
spirit organization.
This will let you unlock some new abilities,
as you can rank up in these a couple times.
Being in one of these organizations isn't
super time consuming.
You'll have at most one or two events per
week, but completing tasks for them and being
friendly with other members will gradually
increase your rank and you do get some nice
rewards for doing this.
There is one more organization you can join
from either school, the Order of Enchantment,
which is the Secret Society.
I'll get into those last so that anyone who
wants to dodge spoilers can do so.
There are actually a total of five new careers
in this pack, though 2 of them require you
to be enrolled in University and don't offer
pay.
They're kind of like part-time jobs.
They're soccer team and E-sports.
Getting high rank in these can actually lead
to an offer to quit and join a professional
team immediately.
Like, leave school, pack up!
We're done.
Other than CAS stuff you might unlock, I think
this is the main goal.
The other 3 are law, engineering, and education.
Each of them are work from home style careers,
and you won't find many rewards in these.
Like, teacher's special interactions on the
computer were not in particular very useful.
However the Mechanical engineer unlocks a
special exo suit that pairs well with the
robotics skill and computer engineers get
a helmet.
There are a couple of new objects with unique
abilities in this pack, namely the new bikes
which can be used as your main transportation
for long distances.
They're much better on the Britechester campus
as it has less stairs.
The other new object that's pretty cool is
the ICYA chest.
Each one you put down can be named, and has
its own unique inventory.
So you can label these by collectible type
or whatever you like, and organize your Sim's
home.
Since there are multiple colors, you can easily
identify which chest is which.
I'm sure at least some of you saw my video
on objects with new gameplay, and I'm sad
to say I haven't found any yet in this pack.
I mean, there's kegs but that's mostly for
your Sim to have fun and goof around and not
really adding anything to your play in a way
that's meaningful in the way the celestial
crystal crown might.
On top of all these little things is the education
system in the pack.
It's the main attraction here, to be able
to go to school, live in a dorm or off campus.
Overall I did like the systems just felt there
could've been improvements in presentation.
The lack of info on grades in the careers
panel where your classes are scheduled is
made a little better by using the phone's
version of check for grades, as it does them
all at once.
All in all, going to college brings out the
best of Sims as a time management game as
it can be fairly hectic with four classes
and especially if you attempt to participate
in the university organizations, or, maybe
even worse, one of those and e-sports or soccer.
This would keep you constantly on your toes,
but research and debate and a good routine
with the study spot lot trait can fix that
up.
Coming from Sims 3, I'm pretty bitter - and
I think we all should be - that it appears
we've given up on new traits and aspirations
as a feature in every pack.
It's just like clothes and build items, they
should be expected.
We got one new aspiration and it's essentially
a walkthrough of the research skill and getting
a diploma.
Ok, so on to the Secret Society.
I won't talk about their lore, which is doable
with the new research machine once you're
in the group.
You can learn a bit about them.
You'll find them meeting in the woods near
Pepper's Pub on Wednesday and Friday nights
after 10pm.
These guys scatter if you show up, but they'll
openly welcome you if you make a good offering.
Making an offering to academic success can
be done at your University's main statue,
ya know, the one that the students are always
defacing?
We know that rare crystals and metals work
but they also appear to like baked goods but
they have to be excellent quality.
Here's the thing about that.
I don't see how you get the baked goods if
you live on campus because you're not allowed
to have a stove, so this option seems easiest
for Sims who either live off campus, have
a family in town or are close friends with
someone with an oven.
Remember that Sims will stop you from cooking
in their homes, so you have to come up with
a way to bake for them in the first place..
and I think it means things like cakes that
count as desserts, not just the baking skill
from Get to Work.
Once you make an offering to them, they'll
actually show up at night to pay you a visit
and invite you to join.
There's a bunch of great things about being
in this group, in that you get really powerful
moodlets from the sprites.
These don't just impact mood, oh no.
They also give you a big boost to career performance
and this does include class.
That's the focused one, but the inspired also
boosts the chances of masterpiece quality
works or excellent quality cooking.
It's really good stuff.
So yes, you can rank up in the Secret Society
just as you would rank up in the debate guild.
Just complete tasks and be friendly with other
members.
I think the...
I think that you need to show up at meetings
in order to benefit from being friendly, but
there's always new things to learn and I haven't
gone that deep into it yet.
I've been at it for several days now, trying
to make as many pages as I can about this
pack.
I may do some in-depth stuff about a couple
of the topics in this video but that'll have
to wait.
I've probably still got about 10 pages to
make!
It paid off, the site had a record-setting
day and so did the channel just recently.
Thanks a lot for all your support people who
stay to the end, it's really been a fun coverage
even if it can be hectic.
Thanks for watching and have a great week.
