Tips for early blacksmith?

[ripple]

I haven't played through all of the professions yet, but Blacksmith seems to be one of the hardest professions for making money and leveling? Aside from the fact that forging cannot really be queued, no one has bought anything from my blacksmith's stall because I've had little time to fraternize. I have exactly 10 simoleons in my blacksmith's pocket right now, and I dread the prospect of getting the "pay taxes" daily responsibility. I mean, either you need a sword or you don't. How much coaxing does one need? It seems I have to liquidate my wares at the village shop (oh, that damn trip....).

It was insanely easy to level as a physician. I went from level 1 to 9 in a few hours. You can literally queue 'diagnose' while folding laundry (it shouldn't be this easy, I am sure this will be fixed in a future patch). But blacksmiths...any tips? How can I survive the grind in the early stages of the blacksmith career?

- how do I make money as a journeyman blacksmith? Which forged items are the best 'bang for the buck' for minimal resources and maximum returns?
- what cheap and setting appropriate decor items are good to raise the moodlet of the forge?
- what are some good traits for blacksmiths? Currently, I have 'earthy' (since the blacksmith spends so much time collecting ores), 'adventurous' (don't know why I decided on this.....), and 'licentious' as a fatal flaw (damn it's hard to get laid in this game....).

Additional, non-blacksmith related questions:
- how many quests are there, in total, in the native game and the expansion? I found nothing on this through Google.
- are quests 'repeatable'? I've noted a number of quests that allow for different heroes to individually complete. Do some of these quests ever repeat so I can finish them with a different hero?
- if you remove the original fireplace from your monarch's castle, will the servant start to go to the reception hall to make meals when you 'call for food'? There's not enough rooms in the castle and I want to re-purpose that room...
- for that matter, is there a 'hotkey' to swtich the camera to the reception hall? For a room that is supposed to be another part of the castle, moving my camera to that room is almost as aggravating as moving the camera to another part of the kingdom.

[ladyskye]

If you don't want to use Grim's Core to set your level at 10, then try this. Open your cheat bar. Type in 'showallquests'. You should see one labeled 'Free Time No Responsibilities'. Pick that one. Choose your blacksmith. You can use your mouse to slide up his hunger and energy levels up constantly. The spawners renew once a day. Use the unlimited time available in this quest to collect minerals, forge something, collect minerals, forge something, collect minerals, forge something, repeat. You can put whatever you forge in his market stall or sell it to the village market. He can level up that way. I also do this with all the collectors, ergo the wizard, the merchant, the doctor, and the spy. Or use Grim's Core Mod and set his level at 10. Either way, up to you.

You can also use Grim's Core Mod to do something else. Bring up the cheat bar and type in 'buydebug on'. This will give you access to all sorts of things, like spawners. Each of the spawners is labeled as a spawner so as not to be confused with the graphic of the mineral or herb. Don't confuse the two. Use the 'moveobjects on' cheat and you can put these spawners anyplace that your hero has some spare yard. Also, as long as you leave one practice dummy on the practice grounds you can add all kinds of spawners in the empty space. This gives your collectors a place to go to get stuff they need without wandering all over your Kingdom day and night.

Nope, there's no way to get to the reception hall short of either sending your active hero there, or going into kingdom mode and opening it in furnish mode. It's a pain in the butt, but that's the only way that I know of. (Anybody got a better way because I want to know too.)

I believe it's Shimrod that has a mod that makes it much, MUCH easier to get laid. Go here to check out the Mods Shimrod has. I highly recommend them. http://gnautylilgnomes.com/forum/index.php?board=427.0

Check out the picture thread and see what other people have done with the cook pot in the castle. It will give you some ideas. No the servant won't go to the reception hall to cook. http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=456282

Just use the 'showallquests' cheat and it will bring up all the quests and you can play them to your hearts content. :)

[ripple]

Yeah....no, I appreciate your response but I am not asking for cheats. I am looking for strategies, mostly asking about other players' experiences, similar to the kind of stuff you might find here: http://www.carls-sims-medieval-guide.com/heroes/

It turns out that it's not so hard to level the blacksmith. I've got mine up to level 7 now, and I am almost finished the apprentice quest. If I leave the blacksmith for a while she should make enough money to refurnish the forge. The one thing I've noticed is that while countless players have complained about how the apprentice tends to get in the way of your blacksmith while forging, I haven't seen any of that (and I even bought a second forge in anticipation of this). In fact, my apprentice hasn't used the forge(s) at all. What he has done, and virtually the only thing he's done, is to go upstairs and stand in front of the mirror gussying himself up all day and night. This is completely annoying. He's doing it now, even as my blacksmith is trying to sleep. I've set the privacy setting for that level of the building for owners only, but he still goes up there! What's worse, when other NPCs come in now, they go up the stairs to chat with him when they normally stay downstairs! I think might kill him off once the quest is over....

Thanks for confirming that the camera for TSM is horrid. Is anyone else annoyed by the merchant building in particular, where if you click 'go home', the merchant goes to one of the stalls rather than inside the building? I only learned yesterday that you can right click on a building to open up its interior....

I still need answers for most of my questions though:

- what cheap and setting appropriate decor items are good to raise the environment value of the forge--or anything other buildings, for that matter? I am trying to figure out how to consistently produce the "well decorated" moodlet.
- what are some good traits for blacksmiths? The guide I linked was not helpful. Everyone knows that 'earthy' is good if your sim spends a lot of time outdoor collecting stuff, but beyond that his advice about "adventurous" was not that useful. His merchant guide is also sort of problematic, but I won't get into that here.
- how many quests are there, in total, in the native game and the expansion? I found nothing on this through Google. I guess EA hasn't released this information yet. But for those who have played through most of the ambitions?
- are quests 'repeatable'? I've noted a number of quests that allow for different heroes to individually complete. Do some of these quests ever repeat so I can finish them with a different hero?
- if you remove the original fireplace completely from your monarch's castle, will the servant start to go to the reception hall to make meals when you 'call for food'? I can probably just test this myself but I've been busy with the other professions :)

[ladyskye]

Yeah....no, I appreciate your response but I am not asking for cheats. I am looking for strategies, mostly asking about other players' experiences, similar to the kind of stuff you might find here: http://www.carls-sims-medieval-guide.com/heroes/

It turns out that it's not so hard to level the blacksmith. I've got mine up to level 7 now, and I am almost finished the apprentice quest. If I leave the blacksmith for a while she should make enough money to refurnish the forge. The one thing I've noticed is that while countless players have complained about how the apprentice tends to get in the way of your blacksmith while forging, I haven't seen any of that (and I even bought a second forge in anticipation of this). In fact, my apprentice hasn't used the forge(s) at all. What he has done, and virtually the only thing he's done, is to go upstairs and stand in front of the mirror gussying himself up all day and night. This is completely annoying. He's doing it now, even as my blacksmith is trying to sleep. I've set the privacy setting for that level of the building for owners only, but he still goes up there! What's worse, when other NPCs come in now, they go up the stairs to chat with him when they normally stay downstairs! I think might kill him off once the quest is over....

Thanks for confirming that the camera for TSM is horrid. Is anyone else annoyed by the merchant building in particular, where if you click 'go home', the merchant goes to one of the stalls rather than inside the building? I only learned yesterday that you can right click on a building to open up its interior....

I still need answers for most of my questions though:

- what cheap and setting appropriate decor items are good to raise the environment value of the forge--or anything other buildings, for that matter? I am trying to figure out how to consistently produce the "well decorated" moodlet.
- what are some good traits for blacksmiths? The guide I linked was not helpful. Everyone knows that 'earthy' is good if your sim spends a lot of time outdoor collecting stuff, but beyond that his advice about "adventurous" was not that useful. His merchant guide is also sort of problematic, but I won't get into that here.
- how many quests are there, in total, in the native game and the expansion? I found nothing on this through Google. I guess EA hasn't released this information yet. But for those who have played through most of the ambitions?
- are quests 'repeatable'? I've noted a number of quests that allow for different heroes to individually complete. Do some of these quests ever repeat so I can finish them with a different hero?
- if you remove the original fireplace completely from your monarch's castle, will the servant start to go to the reception hall to make meals when you 'call for food'? I can probably just test this myself but I've been busy with the other professions :)

Again, no the servant will not go to the reception hall to make a meal. The adventurous trait is handy for the blacksmith because everyonce in a while you will get a mysterious metal fragment during an adventure, or blacksmithing books, or other things during an adventure. These are necessary for some of the advanced armor.

I think that the last time I went through the book I counted 66 quests in the base game. I'm not sure how many P&N added. Somewhere between 12 and 15 I think.

Tapestries and rugs work well, so does art on the walls. Any art. It doesn't seem to matter what kind, just look at your environment number on your object. The smaller sculptures will also help. Keep it above a 1 hopefully above a 2. I use the urns quite a bit. I use the smaller bookcases, and comfortable chairs in the downstairs room of the forge up against the stairs so they're out of the way, add a rug and you will have a small reading room that the general public will flock to and still be out of the way of your forge at the back of the room. Add a rug any time you get a chance. Mirrors are pretty cheap and bring up the environmental value. These Sims seem to have the same fascination with looking at themselves that Sims in the other games have. You may have to experiment a little to see what will bring it up. Earthy heroes do seem to like browns and greens in their rooms. Other than that, Colors do not seem to be as much an issue as in S3. Again, go to the pictures thread and it will give you some ideas.

Since I use show all quests, I haven't a clue as to your other questions. I do know I was able to repeat the lost child quest with another hero.

[Outfit_Planner]

My blacksmith has the earthy and adventurous traits. Outside the blacksmith shop next to the stall, I added a firepit with table and chairs. He seems to prefer eating out there and gets the positive buff from it.
I am trying for one of the peepmonger armor things so I have him make a crude platemail whenever I can. This also helps level him up.

[ripple]

@ladyskye

Thanks for that. I've just now realized why you were suggesting the cheat codes. I've been playing the 'Eternal Kingdom' campaign and didn't have any issues with QP, but I didn't know until now was that you don't get achievements in the EK campaign....sheesh. Guess I have to find that achievement unlocker I saw a couple of days ago.

[cari4003]

If you don't want to use Grim's Core to set your level at 10, then try this. Open your cheat bar. Type in 'showallquests'. You should see one labeled 'Free Time No Responsibilities'. Pick that one. Choose your blacksmith. You can use your mouse to slide up his hunger and energy levels up constantly. The spawners renew once a day. Use the unlimited time available in this quest to collect minerals, forge something, collect minerals, forge something, collect minerals, forge something, repeat. You can put whatever you forge in his market stall or sell it to the village market. He can level up that way. I also do this with all the collectors, ergo the wizard, the merchant, the doctor, and the spy.

I tried using the "showallquests" cheat. It didn't work.

Do I need to be in a certain area before I can use this cheat....for example already in a quest with a blacksmith? I was at the menu where you pick a new quest after already completing one.

Thanks for any help!

[Outfit_Planner]

First you need to have testing cheats enabled.
Then you type Ctrl+Shift+C
then type in showallquests and hit enter. You should be able to do that at any time except when actually in quest selection.

[cari4003]

Thank you!

[delonariel]

This may be a bit late but I thought I'd offer some advice. In my opinion the Blacksmith is one of the easiest character to make money with and he levels up relatively fast while he's smithing.

Just take the first day to walk around the kingdom and gather some ore and then start forging items. I find it much more worthwhile to just sell the items in his inventory and not bother with the stall.

You get the most simoleans for your trouble by making hammers, especially at the start when ferrous hammers sell for 240§ and take no time at all to craft at all :)
I no time at all you'll be making several thousand per item, and with a good hammer at a high level it's very fast.

After you level up a bit and get new recipes I'm sure you'll find your own favourites to work with.

[ripple]

.....

Yeah, it turned out that the blacksmith was rather easy to level up after you get through the early level grinding. The easiest are still the physician and the merchant, but the blacksmith has turned out to be one of my favourite professions. I just forged my first suit of doomplate and angelsguard. It was...satisfying :)

I've finally played all of the professions. I feel 1) the wizard is underpowered...those 'offensive' spells don't do much 2) both priest professions are probably the hardest to level by comparison with the others, and decidedly 'un-fun' to play....