If your Sim loves pranks and doesn’t mind breaking the law, they should definitely consider joining the criminal career branch! Jump in to learn what’s expected from one criminal in Sims 4, and how you can excel in this job!
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Criminal Career In Sims 4: Turn Misdemeanor Into Profit!
Let’s get mischievous, and get paid for it! The Criminal Career is a rabbit hole job from the base game and features two cool branches. Your Sim can become the ultimate crime lord and join the Boss branch, or become the internet baddie and join the Oracle branch to do some cybercrime and hacking. Sims who choose this career will need to work on mastering their mischief skills, so get ready to pull pranks before work to ensure steady career success! As they progress and choose their branch after level 5, they will also have to build the handiness skill for the Boss branch and programming for the Oracle branch. Here is all you need to know if you want your Sim to excel in the criminal career!
More on SNOOTYSIMS: All Sims 4 careers compiled, a complete guide!
Ideal Mood And Traits
The ideal mood for advancing in the criminal career, especially on early levels, is playful. To make your Sim feel playful before work, just instruct them to make silly faces, or take bubble baths. Once they pass level 5, your Sim will benefit from being focused, as it will boost skill gains for programming and handiness skills. Make them browse Simpedia, use a telescope, or drink pitch-black tea before they head to work!
Any Sim can become a criminal, no matter their traits. However, mean Sims enjoy being mischievous, so having this trait can help them feel happy and stay in a good mood when doing mischievous interactions. Sims with the goofball trait are likely to feel playful randomly, which can help get them in the right mood, too. The genius trait can get your Sim randomly focused, which can be especially useful after level 5. Although the kleptomaniac trait won’t help them advance per se, it surely matches the theme of this career, and lets them steal stuff!
Lot traits can boost skill gains too. Convivial lot trait can help them gain the Mischief skill faster. If you join the Boss branch, the Homey lot trait will help with handiness, while the Fast Internet lot trait will aid them in learning programming skills.
Compatible Aspirations
While you are totally free to choose any aspiration, you can benefit a lot from choosing either the Chief of Mischief or the Public Enemy aspiration. The Chief of Mischief ties well with the career as it heavily focuses on improving mischief skill, while the Public Enemy aspiration actually requires joining a criminal career. Plus, both give Sims the Dastardly bonus trait, which makes their negative socials more successful by default!
What To Expect From The Criminal Career?
To start working as a criminal, just look for a job in the job section on your Sim’s phone or the career panel. While pay at the beginning of a career is pretty low, if your Sim is diligent, you can expect them to earn a decent sum later on. This is especially true if they choose the Boss branch, which is one of the highest-paying careers in Sims 4! Since this is a rabbit hole kind of a job, you will be controlling your Sim at work by clicking on their image while they are at work. Your Sim is a criminal, so expect to work night shifts from the start till the end of their career journey.
Early Levels
In the beginning stages of their new job, your Sim will need to perform some mischief socials before work. This is both a promotion task and a way to improve the mischief skill, which is another requirement for advancing to higher levels.
Once they reach level 3 in the criminal career, they will get the ability to pickpocket others to get some extra simoleons if their sly action goes unnoticed! However, this cool interaction has a cooldown of 8 hours and isn’t always successful. Most rewards they will earn at early levels have playful auras, so you’ll want to have those displayed at home to help your Sim get in the right mood before work.
| CAREER LEVEL | SALARY (HOUR/DAY) | SCHEDULE | PROMOTION TASKS | REWARDS |
| 1. Tough Guy/Gal | $9/hour $63/day | Every Day, 5PM – 12AM | Perform Mischief Interactions | / |
| 2. Petty Thief | $13/hour $91/day | Mon-Sat, 8PM – 3AM | Perform Mischief Interactions. Reach Level 2 Mischief | – $465 – Emblems of Espionage |
| 3. Ring Leader | $17/hour $136/day | Tue-Sat, 8PM – 4AM | Perform Mischief Interactions. Reach Level 3 Mischief Skill | – $558 – Duffle o’ Cash, Pick Pocket Interaction |
| 4. Felonious Monk | $23/hour $161/day | Tue-Sat, 7PM – 2AM | Perform Mischief Interactions. Reach Level 5 Mischief Skill | – $670 – Vintage Baseball Bat Sculpture |
| 5. Minor Crimelord | $32/hour $192/day | Tue-Sat, 8PM – 2AM | Perform Mischief Interactions. Reach Level 6 Mischief Skill | – $804 – New CAS Parts |
Boss Branch
Welcome to the Boss branch! Besides building the mischief skill and performing mean actions, your Sim will have to start working on the handiness skill from level 7. As they progress, they will unlock some cool interactions, such as ‘Search Bank Blueprints’ that can help them get inspired for a while. Plus, this branch unlocks a unique ability to threaten others to feel more powerful and confident like a real criminal!
| CAREER LEVEL | SALARY (HOUR/DAY) | SCHEDULE | PROMOTION TASKS | REWARDS |
| 6. The Muscle | $106/hour $636/day | Wed, Fri-Sat, 10PM – 4AM | Perform Mean Interactions. Reach Level 7 Mischief | – $1148 – Stolen ATM – Threaten interaction |
| 7. Getaway Driver | $273/hour $1911/day | Wed, Sat, 8PM – 3AM | Perform Mean Interactions. Reach Level 8 Mischief, Level 2 Handiness | – $2201 – Bars of Gold |
| 8. Safe Cracker | $319/hour $2233/day | Sat-Sun, Wed, 6PM – 1AM | Upgrade Objects, Reach level 9 Mischief, Level 4 Handiness | – $4211 – Stolen Necklace of the Late Duchess Pinky |
| 9. The Brains | $383/hour $2681/day | Sun-Mon, Thu, 6PM – 1AM | Upgrade Objects. Max Mischief (Level 10), Level 6 Handiness | – $6699 – Search for Bank Blueprints interaction on computer |
| 10. The Boss | $445/hour $3115/day | Sun-Mon, Wed-Thu, 5PM – 12AM | Perform Mean Interactions. Go to Work! | – $8039 – Fisticuffs Punching Bag – New CAS Parts |
Oracle Branch
Although not as equally lucrative as the other criminal career branches, the Orcle branch isn’t any less fun. Your Sim will be required to learn the programming skill right away. Your main daily task will be to either make viruses or hack, both of which can be done on the computer. At level 7 they will unlock a special ‘Hack Mainframe’ interaction that can help them get focused for 8 hours. You can use this long-lasting moodlet to improve Sims’ programming abilities, and maybe get some more simoleons from hacking!
| CAREER LEVEL | SALARY (HOUR/DAY) | SCHEDULE | PROMOTION TASKS | REWARDS |
| 6. DigiThief | $43/hour $344/day | Sun-Thu, 1AM – 9AM | Hack or Make Viruses. Reach Level 7 Mischief Skill, Level 2 Programming | – $1148 – Spy Satellite |
| 7. Elite Hacker | $73/hour $584/day | Sun -Thu, 2AM – 10AM | Hack or Make Viruses. Reach Level 8 Mischief, Level 4 Programming | – $1723 – Hot & Cold Tech Spec Poster – Hack Mainframe (Computer interaction) |
| 8. An0nymous Ghost | $130/hour $1170/day | Sun-Tue, Thu, 1AM – 10AM | Hack or Make Viruses. Reach Level 9 Mischief, Level 6 Programming | – $2929 – The Indispensable |
| 9. Net Demon | $234/hour $1638/day | Sun-Tue, Thu, 1AM – 8AM | Hack or Make Viruses. Max Mischief (Level 10), Reach Level 8 Programming | – $4686 |
| 10. The Oracle | $316/hour $2212/day | Sun-Tue, Fri, 12AM – 7AM | Hack or Make Viruses. Go to Work! | – $6560 – Mayhem Portable Computer – New CAS Parts |
Conclusion
So, this was your criminal career guide! If your Sim chooses to go down this path, expect to make some enemies along the way, as you’ll be performing a lot of mischief and mean interactions daily. Surely not a job for the soft-hearted! Happy simming!