Episode 1: Top 10 Tips For Getting Started - The Sims FreePlay

My first Sim's Town

Hello, Simmers.  You may have read some of my other blogs about "The Sims Freeplay" or this one may be your first.  Just to give you a little background about me, I am hooked on Sims and I started blogging about the game in January, after I have been playing the game for 4 months.  I am now on Level 53 (the highest level) and I have completed all of the quests.

Since I started playing the game, it has changed a lot with multiple updates.  Also, I didn't keep a log about the game early on, making it difficult to answer questions from a new player about old quests.  So, I decided to start a second game from the beginning.  I want to be able to help new players as they move from level to level and I can't think of a better way to give advice than to go through the game a second time, but with my current knowledge, documenting my adventures in blogs.  I don't claim to be an expert on the game, but I have discovered little things that have helped me along the way.  And, I'm a firm believer that knowledge is power.  If you know what is coming up next, you can be better prepared for it.

This blog will give you some general tips about getting started and, hopefully, will help you avoid some rookie mistakes along the way.

Tip One:  Don't model your Sims after your family and friends

In March 2014, EA added the biggest update to the game with the "Life Dreams and Legacies" quest, available at level 24.  This update has been very controversial, because now your Sims will die unless you continuously rewind the aging process by using LP or unless you earn and give platinum orbs to your Sims to make them immortal.  Earning platinum orbs is a long process and I will not be going into further detail about it yet, especially since the process may change by the time you reach that quest.  But, what I have noticed is that the players who have a personal connection with their Sims are the ones that don't want to lose them. In fact, my first batch of Sims was modeled after my family, and I found it difficult to let them move on to the afterlife.  Ideally, if you want your Sims to be representative of your family and friends, I recommend waiting to add them to the game until you earn some platinum orbs to make them immortal.  If you want to add them now you can, just keep in mind, if you need to move them on to the afterlife, you can always add them back into the game at a later time.

Tip Two:  Early in the game, be conservative with your money and LP (lifestyle points)

When you first start playing, it is very tempting to start buying items from the home store and decorate your house with the nicest things you can find.  But, don't do it!  Early on, money is hard to come by and a lot of the tasks require you to buy items for the house, such as a bed, a couch, a chair, a TV, a stove, a coffee machine, etc.  In addition, you will be asked to add flooring and wallpaper and resize rooms, all of which cost money or LP.  If you use up your money buying things before you are prompted to do so, you will have to wait until you earn more money and LP to complete tasks, slowing your progress.  Also, in most cases, it is best to buy the cheapest items available  at first, and then upgrade them later (unless you are prompted to buy a higher-rated item).  Future blogs will give you advice on what kind of item to buy and when.

Tip Three:  Garden, garden, garden...

You've guessed it, this tip is about gardening.  One of the best ways to earn money is to garden as much as you can.  Once the game prompts you, add a garden plot, but as you add more Sims to the game, buy more plots.  The plots are a deal for only 20 simoleons apiece.  Initially, you can only plant bell peppers for 30 seconds, but as you level up in the game, new plants will be added with different times and more earning value.  Also, you will gain experience points (XP) as well as simoleons by gardening and the faster you earn XP, the faster you will level up.  You can earn money and XP from baking as well, but in general, I find gardening to be more lucrative.

Tip Four:  Keep all of your Sims busy as much as possible

An idle Sim cannot complete tasks for you and cannot earn money, XP, SP (social points) and LP.  In addition, an idle Sim's needs (bladder, hunger, social, fun, hygiene and energy) drain faster than a busy Sim's needs. So, keep them busy.  Always have a Sim doing the special tasks from your quests or visiting a neighbor's town to earn SP (once you reach level 9).  For the Sims that are not performing special tasks, have them gardening, baking, doing hobbies (as you unlock them) and going to work (as you add workplaces).

Tip Five:  Choose the length of activities for your Sim based upon your schedule

As a continuation to tip 3, to earn the most from your Sims quickly, you need to plan how you manage them.  For instance, if you plan on actively playing the game for a few hours, keep putting your Sims on shorter tasks and have them repeat them over and over.  For instance, if you plant carrots for 5 minutes, 4 times in a row (for a total of 20 minutes), you will earn $192, which is more than what you earn for planting corn ($148) once for 20 minutes.  And, if you plant carrots 12 times for a total of an hour, you will earn $576 versus $256 for planting watermelon once for an hour.  The same logic applies to baking and hobbies.

When you will be away from the game for a while, try to choose activities that corresponds to the timeframe that you will be away.  For instance, planting onions for 7 hours is a good task while you are sleeping and doing so will earn you $1,200 while your are in dream land.  By the way, even though you need to sleep, your Sims don't.  You can keep them busy around the clock with activities, just give them a cup of coffee from time to time.  I know it is mean, but we need those simoleons!

Tip Six:  Keep your Sims inspired, but don't use cupcakes

Inspired Sims are happier Sims and happier Sims earn more money for doing tasks like gardening.  The money figures for gardening that are mentioned in tip 4, are only the amounts you earn if your Sim is inspired.  If your Sim isn't inspired, you will cut your earnings by a third.  A smaller income can make a huge difference in the long run.

The best way to keep your Sims inspired is when you see their needs start to dip, get a turbo snack from the frig for hunger, have an expresso from a coffee machine for energy, wash hands (quick wash) for hygiene, be funny with a friend (in person) or make a quick call (on a phone) for social, use the toilet for bladder, and plant bell peppers or check email on a computer for fun.  There are many other ways to fulfill your Sims needs, but these are the quickest ones. Typically, if  you keep your Sim busy, doing these quick activities once a day is enough.  Usually, I will have several Sims at one house, refilling their needs at the same time and I will rotate them from the coffee machine, to the sink, to the refrigerator, etc.  This way is faster than filling the Sims' needs one at a time at different houses; it takes only a few minutes.

It is tempting at times, but don't instantly inspire your Sims with cupcakes.  The game encourages you to use this option and it shows you how to do it as a task in the tutorial, giving you 5 LPs to try it out.  But, outside of the task in the tutorial, it costs 5 LP to inspire your Sim and, you will learn quickly, you can never have enough LP.

Tip Seven:  Pick jobs for your Sims that correspond to your personal schedule

When building your workplaces, pay close attention to the start and end time of the Sims workday.  Tapping on the workplace plot on the town map, gives you a summary of the job, the work hours and how much your starting wage and XP earnings are.  As your Sim gets promoted, your earnings will increase, the highest level being level 5.  As, you review the start times, keep in mind that you can send your Sim to work up to 1 hour before their scheduled start time and up to 2 hours after their start time.  For instance, the athlete's schedule is from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., so you can send an athlete to work as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 7:59 a.m., making the athlete career ideal for early risers.  Note: Regardless, of what time you send them to work, your Sims will work their full shifts, so if you send your athlete to work at 7 a.m., they will work until noon instead of 11 a.m.

Tip Eight:  Join Facebook or setup a second Facebook account just for your Sims' game and other games

You cannot get the full experience of the game without linking your game to a Facebook account (and/or GameCenter account for IOS devices).  First, you can share pictures and experiences from your game on Facebook and you can talk about the game with your Facebook friends.  Also, you can visit the towns of your friends where you can earn SP to buy more items for your town, including different house designs, the night club and houseboats.  The game gives you one town to visit called "Another Sim Town" (very creative name), but this town is missing a lot of the items you will need to complete SP goals, making you skip them for 5 LP a pop.  This is not a good way to use your hard-earned LP.

However, I recommend having an account on Facebook dedicated to just gaming.  Your Sims' friends don't necessarily want to see your personal posts, and your personal friends and family may not want to see your Sim posts.

Tip Nine:  Find Sim players on Facebook and become friends with them to have more neighbors

Your goal should be to have a minimum of 15 neighbors.  Why 15?  Because, the more neighbors you have (up to 15), the more daily gifts you will earn from the party boat (up to 5 per day).  Try to get these neighbors as soon as possible in the game even if you have not reached level 9, which is when you can start visiting neighbors' towns.  Very early in the game, you can start collecting your party boat gifts, which consists of money and LP, and as I mentioned, you can never have too much of either one.

To reach your neighbor goal quickly, if any of your family and/or friends play "The Sims Freeplay", become their Facebook friend on your second account.  Once you have exhausted this option, the best way to find more neighbors is to join one or more "The Sims Freeplay" groups on Facebook.  There are several groups to choose from.  After reviewing a group and joining it, you can go fishing for friends.  You can post on the group page that you need neighbors and you will receive responses from multiple people that will give you permission to add them.  Just be careful and only add people that you feel comfortable with adding.  I don't recommend sending out blind requests to people, because you might end up in "Facebook jail", where you will be blocked from sending friend requests.  And, if you can find neighbors who have created goal houses and/or pet farms, it is an added bonus and pet farms will help you replenish your money and LP quickly.

Another advantage to joining groups, is that most members of the "The Sims Freeplay" community are willing to help you with questions and issues you may be having with the game and they are always available to talk about the Sims.  I have found the groups a lot more helpful and responsive when I have a question than the customer support at EA.

Tip Ten:  Save your game to the cloud regularly

"The Sims Freeplay" gives you the ability to upload your data to the cloud on your device where it will save for 7 days.  In addition, every time you visit the party boat, your game will automatically upload.  So, if you want to play your current game on a different device, you can upload your game and then download it onto your second device.  Or if you will be away from the game for a few days, its a good idea to save it in the cloud. And, if you want to experiment with the game and try something risky, like a glitch that you learned about, upload your game to the cloud and then you can download your old game if you make a mistake.  To get to the cloud, tap on the green ... icon to get to the main menu, and select the blue cloud icon. Then, click on the "upload data" option (or download if you are pulling your data from the cloud).

I hope these tips help.  Just as a side note, before the last two updates, I would have strongly recommended doing hobbies as a way to earn LP and money, but EA has changed several things with the hobbies, such as the time it takes for tasks, when you can start doing certain hobbies, and the amount of money and LP you can earn, which has affected the lucrativeness of them.  Currently, I am experimenting with the hobbies to determine whether or not you should actively do these as a way to earn income.  Once I've made a decision about the hobbies, I will add a blog with advice.

These are my top 10 tips?  Am I missing something from the list?  If so, let me know.  Thanks for reading and happy simming!