Get Better at Sims 4: Tips and Tricks

You might be wondering if you can you get better at the Sims. This is a trick question in some way because it is pretty subjective. Unlike other games that have a clear cut game play with a point system, there is not necessarily one way to measure your performance in the Sims. However, each player tends to have a certain way they play and you can become better at Sims by expanding your horizons in the game and mastering the way you like to play.

There are multiple ways to get better at the Sims 4 no matter your type of game play by challenging yourself and playing outside of your comfort zone. As someone who grew up playing the Sims, I have learned a couple of tips and tricks along the way. Here are some tips and tricks that can help you get better at Sims 4.

Learn different building styles

Building is a huge part of the Sims 4 and it is easy to get in a rut when it comes to building. I have found that I tend to build the same types and styles of build each time. If you want to improve your building skills you need to learn to build different styles of buildings.

You can try looking up images of different types of houses to get inspiration. In addition, you can try to build different types of houses, such as townhouses, multifamily houses, tiny houses, and huge mansions. To be a great builder in the Sims 4, you should try and get out of your comfort zone and build different types and styles of buildings.

Use the terrain tools

Unlike the Sims 3 that had a variety of terrain including in the worlds, the Sims 4 is almost completely flat. This makes it very easy to ignore the terrain tools. Often it can look weird to have a large mountain in the Sims 4 world because everything else is flat around it.

However, understanding how to successfully incorporate terrain tools in Sims 4 can make builds better and open up different types of builds that you can't do without using terrain tools. Some simmers have created amazing landscapes that they incorporate into their builds, such as waterfalls, creating bridges, and much more.

Manage a large household

Whenever you just have one or two sims, it is pretty easy to keep their needs up, get them to advance in their careers, and meet all their aspiration's goals. On the other hand when you have about four or five sims in a single household things start to get tricky.

If you are used to only dealing with a few sims at a time, try creating a larger household by either having more adults sims in the house or having more children. Once you get up to just four sims, you will notice that it gets harder to achieve certain milestones in each sim's life.

Once you learn how to manage large households you will find that you can accomplish a lot more in sims than you previously were.

Get used to not cheating

Relying on cheats when you find your sims in a pinch can start to become a habit. Whether your sims start to get low on money and you use motherlode to give you a quick fifty grand to keep going, or you take care of your sims needs with cheats, going through the game without cheating will make you more resourceful.

It can be difficult when you have no money and your sims can't get their needs up, but learning how to force your sims to earn some quick cash and make it through a hard time can be rewarding way to play. Many people find the Sims 4 to be boring after awhile, and part of that is they make the game too easy on themselves by relying on cheats.

If you find that you are getting bored playing the Sims 4, I wrote an article that shares some ideas that can make you enjoy the Sims 4 as much as when you first started playing. You can check that article out here.

Explore the worlds

After enjoying the open world of the Sims 3, the amount of loading screens in Sims 4 is a bit disappointing. However, the semi-open neighborhoods in Sims 4 are full of activities and surprises. It is easy in the Sims 4 to get in the habit of staying on your own lot to avoid annoying loading screens, but if you make it a point to go and explore every part of the worlds in the Sims 4 you'd be surprised by how much there is to do.

You can find fishing spots where you can catch ultra rare items, you can explore secret places, and much more. If you haven't taken the time to explore everything the worlds in the Sims 4 have to offer you should try and make a point to see what you can discover. For an extra challenge try to avoid looking online to find new things you haven't explored yet.

Master more than one skill

Rather than focusing on one skill that may coincide with your sim's job, mastering more than one skill will level up your game play. Mastering skills can allow your sims to earn money in a variety of ways, for instance if your sim publishes books or creates apps you can earn royalties each day.

Mastering skills can also allow sims to create objects that can change their mood or other sim's in the same area as them. This allows you to manipulate certain social interactions.

You also can also improve different areas of your sim's life, for instance mastering the handiness skill allows you to upgrade kitchen objects in half the time you normally could and you have access to all the upgrades available to you to make objects work better and give your sims additional benefits.

There is a lot to explore with skills in the Sims 4, your sim not only improves in that area of the sims but they open their world up to new possibilities. For example, gardening allows a sim to grow cowplants and become a plant sim. I wrote an article covering everything relating to gardening here.

Play the scenarios

One of the last updates in 2021 introduced scenarios to the game. These change from time to time, but they are fun challenges that you can try and accomplish before those scenarios go away and new ones come up. These challenges vary from building a large family, becoming a millionaire, and navigating rocky relationships.

Create your own challenge

If you enjoy the scenarios or you like the idea of a challenge, try and create your own. See if you can start out with absolutely nothing and get your sim to open a successful business and start a family. You can also try building challenges where you build a tiny house, or do a shell challenge. There are endless possibilities to what you can come up with to challenge your game play or building skills.

Select less desirable traits

A great way to learn how to enhance your sims 4 skills is to select the traits that are less desirable. Some traits tend to get in the way more than they help. Traits such as gloomy, erratic, lactose intolerant, and paranoid will put your sim in a variety of moods that keep them from performing certain actions to help satisfy their needs.

For instance, paranoid sims tend to get scared fairly often and it keeps them from being able to sleep. Learning how to deal with these inconveniences and still meeting goals you set for your sims is a great accomplishment.

Achieve multiple aspirations

When you first create a sim you can choose an aspiration for them. This is a goal that your sim wants to achieve in their life. These can help guide your game in a certain direction and give you something to continue to work for while playing the game.

Unlike past sims games where you could only have one aspiration, the Sims 4 gives you the ability to choose another aspiration once you achieve the first one. You can also switch aspirations at any point in the game.

Achieving aspirations will unlock different traits and abilities for your sims. Achieving multiple aspirations can be challenging but it can help you learn how to manage multiple goals at once. You will also get the opportunity to enjoy unlocking multiple traits.