Ready for some astonishing discoveries? Join the Scientist Career and become a scientist to be reckoned with. Read on to learn how to start, what your promotion tasks will be, and how to rank up!
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Join The Scientist Career And Make Groundbreaking Inventions!
The Sims 4: Get To Work features three amazing active careers, and Scientist Career is one of them! It’s time to brainstorm, make some groundbreaking discoveries, and be inventive. Being an active career, this one demands your full involvement, as you will have to work on completing daily tasks with your Sim, instead of just sending them off to work. There are 10 levels for you to conquer, and if you do everything well and rank up, you may even get a chance to encounter aliens and travel to Sixam. Sounds fun? Here is all you need to know about this career!
Ideal Mood, Compatible Traits, and Aspirations
The most useful mood you can have as a scientist in Sims 4 will be focused. No specific traits give notable boosts, but probably the most compatible ones are Genius, Cheerful, and Geek. The Genius trait is great for getting randomly focused. Cheerful Sims are more likely to feel happy, which can help battle negative moodlets they can get when using serums and inventions, and help them perform better. The Geek personality trait ties well with the career theme but won’t give you any special extra advantages. The Curator aspiration is probably the most useful and compatible since your Sim will need to do a lot of collecting as they progress in their Scientist career.
What It’s Like To Work At The Lab?
As a scientist, your Sim will work with fellow scientists at the Science Lab. All your daily tasks will be listed in the career menu, and shown in the upper left corner of your screen, where you can track your progress. This will change every workday once you arrive at the lab. Besides creating key inventions and serums required for promotion (listed in the table below), this can also include simple activities, such as practicing analysis, socializing with coworkers, upgrading the Sim-Ray, or even watering plants in your lab! Some take just minutes, while others, such as making serums, take more time to accomplish.
When you arrive at work, the game will notify you about the main theme of your work day. You may have aliens infiltrate the lab, have daily experimentation days, or collect days, when you can focus on digging for collectibles needed for making serums and inventions.
More on SNOOTYSIMS: Are you thinking of joining Education Career in Sims 4? Read on to find out more about how to get this job, what to expect from it, and how to climb the ladder to success!
Scientist Career Levels
Your Sim will be working Monday to Friday, from 10 AM to 7 PM. If you find that there is not enough time to complete all daily tasks, you can choose to stay 2 more hours at work. You can also leave work early, but this will negatively impact your career progress. In both cases, just click on the timer next to the progress bar, and choose the option you want.
| CAREER LEVEL | SALARY (HOUR/DAY) | SCHEDULE | PROMOTION TASKS | REWARDS |
| 1. Lab Technician | $24/hour $216/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 2 Breakthroughs (Synthetic Food Serum + Momentum Conserver) | / |
| 2. Apprentice Inventor | $32/hour $288/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 4 Breakthroughs (Red Hot Serum + SimRay) | – $192 – Journey to the Stars – New Clothes |
| 3. Junior Tinkerer | $39/hour $351/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 6 Breakthroughs (Rose Perfume Serum + Hover Lamp) | – $256 – Flying Saucer Table Lamp – New Clothes |
| 4. Serum Sequencer | $48/hour $432/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 8 Breakthroughs (Snake Oil Serum + Satellite Dish) | – $312 – Chemistry Lab |
| 5. Technological Innovator | $72/hour $648/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 10 Breakthroughs (Slimify Serum + Cloning Machine) | – $384 – SIM5-4 Test Tube Pedestal – New Clothes |
| 6. Ufologist | $102/hour $918/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 12 Breakthroughs (Ghost Goo Serum + Electroflux Wormhole Generator) | – $576 – Cautionary Tale Door – X-180 Shatterproof Window |
| 7. Laboratory Leader | $142/hour $1278/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 14 Breakthroughs (Need Fixer Serum + Embiggen Serum) | – $816 – Hygienic Decontamination Pod |
| 8. Pioneer of New Technologies | $187/hour $1683/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 16 Breakthroughs (Spark Drive Serum + Ox Strength Serum) | – $1136 – New Clothes |
| 9. Mad Scientist | $215/hour $1935/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Have 18 Breakthroughs (Smart Serum + Fixer’s Luck Serum) | – $1496 – New Clothes |
| 10. Extraterrestrial Explorer | $247/hour $2223/day | Mon-Fri 10AM-7PM | Go to Work! Can discover Reaper’s Friend Serum, Alien Aura Serum, and Age-Away Serum | – $1720 – Out of this World Desktop – New Clothes – Mystery Science Laboratory styled room. |
How To Have Scientific Breakthroughs?
Having breakthroughs is essential for promotion on all levels. Look at these as random eureka moments. Your Sim can get them while browsing Simpedia, running on a treadmill, using a microscope, experimenting at the chemistry lab, having a thoughtful shower, pondering chess moves, or reading a book – just to name some. Scientists will need 2 extra breakthroughs every time they level up. Every interaction with an object that can provide a breakthrough will show with a lightbulb symbol. And, if your Sim gets a breakthrough, they will also get a light bulb above their head.
Serums And Inventions
Besides breakthroughs, to level up your Sim will also need to make serums and inventions. We will list the ingredients needed for all serums and inventions below, but if in doubt, you can check the ingredients in your Sim’s notebook. While you will need to create both serums and inventions at the first 6 levels, your focus will be entirely on making serums on the next levels.
Once your Sim becomes the Laboratory Leader at level 7, they will unlock the ability to give orders to coworkers in the lab, which is a great time-saver. You can order them to analyze crystals, experiment, invent, work on the rocket, or even visit aliens! Now, onto making serums and inventions!
Serums
To reach the top of the career, your Sim will need to make 15 different serums, and most of those have a decent value. You’ll need plants to make them, so buy seed packets and plant plants at the lab or at home as early as you can. Once you have all the ingredients just use the chemistry lab.
Your Sim will need to test serums, though. They can do this themselves, or give serums to coworkers to try via Test Serum social interaction, which is a better option since they can give some negative moodlets if tainted. Once you make a serum, if you are past level 5, you can also use the cloning machine to duplicate them, which requires zero materials.
| SERUM | INGREDIENTS | VALUE | EFFECT |
| Synthetic Food (Level 1) | Any plant x2 | $100 | Satisfies Hunger |
| Red Hot (Level 2) | Basil | $200 | Makes Sim Angry |
| Rose Perfume (Level 3) | Rose | $300 | Makes Sim Flirty |
| Snake Oil (Level 4) | Daisy | $400 | Cures ill Sims |
| Slimify (Level 5) | Parsley x2 Carrot x2 | $500 | Makes Sim slim |
| Ghost Goo (Level 6) | Mushroom x3 | $600 | Turns Sim into a ghost temporarily |
| Need Fixer (Level 7) | Spinach Any Common Metal x2 | $650 | Meets all Sim’s needs |
| Embiggen (Level 7) | Plantain x2 Apple x2 | $700 | Makes Sim fat |
| Spark Drive (Level 8) | Strawberry Common Crystal (any) | $750 | Makes Sim Energized |
| Ox Strength (Level 8) | Spinach x2 Common Crystal (any) | $800 | Makes Sim more muscular |
| Smart (Level 9) | Chrysanthemum x2 Apple x2 | $850 | Gives Sim 6h Moodlet (various) |
| Fixer’s Luck (Level 9) | Any Upgrade Parts x2 | $900 | Repairing broken objects is faster, tinkering and salvaging give extra Upgrade Parts (8h) |
| Reaper’s Friend (Level 10) | Death Flower Alien Crystal | $950 | Helps Sim avoid death |
| Alien Aura (Level 10) | Alien Metal Alien Crystal Alien Plant | $1000 | Gives Sim alien powers for a while. |
| Age-Away (Level 10) | Quill Fruit Xenopetrium Alien Crystal x2 | $1050 | Resets current Sim’s age to day 1 |
Inventions
All inventions are made with the Invention Constructor at the lab. There are 6 of them, and they all have a special effect. SimRay, Satelite Dish, Cloning Machine, and the Electroflux Wormhole Generator can also be upgraded on higher levels to unlock additional functions. To upgrade them, just drag them to Invention Constructor!
You will need to collect metals and crystals to construct some of these devices, and you can dig for them near your lab, or ask your coworkers if they have some. To get elements, follow this guide. Here are all of the inventions listed, along with the materials needed for their construction and the effect they have on Sims:
| INVENTION | MATERIALS NEEDED | EFFECT |
| Momentum Conserver (Level 1) | / | Knockout – Puts everyone to sleep. Balder Epidemic – Makes everyone want to use the bathroom. Happy Town – Makes everyone happy for 2h. Angry Town – Makes everyone angry for 3h. Dance Party – Makes everyone dance. When upgraded at level 8, it can be used to contact aliens every 24h. |
| SimRay (Level 2) | Common Metal Common Crystal | Level 2 – Freezes a Sim in an iceblock. Level 3 – Transforms an object to another object. Level 4 – Changes clothes for Sims. Level 5 – Encourages targeted Sim to clean. Level 6 – Encourages targeted Sim to sit. Level 7 – Encourages targeted Sim to cook/eat. Level 8 – Encourages targeted Sim to sleep. Level 9 – Gives targeted Sim a panic tense moodlet for 2h. Level 10 – Changes targeted Sim’s hair and skin, giving them a happy mood for 2 days. |
| Hoover Lamp (Level 3) | / | Gives a Focused mood randomly when turned on. |
| Satellite Dish (Level 4) | common metal 3x common crystal 3x | Knockout – Puts everyone to sleep. Balder Epidemic – Makes everyone want to use bathroom. Happy Town – Makes everyone happy for 2h. Angry Town – Makes everyone angry for 3h. Dance Party – Makes everyone dance. When upgraded at level 8, it can be used to contact aliens every 24h. |
| Cloning Machine (Level 5) | common metal 2x common crystal 2x | Can be used to clone objects. At level 8, when upgraded, you can also use it to clone Sims, and create a twin clone of your Sim. |
| Electroflux Wormhole Generator (Level 6) | uncommon metal 2x uncommon crystal 2x any element 2x | Can be used to attempt alien contact, test an alien environment, or calibrate. When upgraded at level 10, it can be used for traveling to Sixam. |
Wrapping It Up!
The Scientist Career is one of the game’s most fun and lucrative careers. Besides the salary, Sims can also earn decent amounts from transforming objects with Sim-Ray, copying objects, or even selling collectibles they don’t need. Besides completing daily tasks, they will also get to interact with aliens, especially on higher levels, which adds extra sauce to this career!