Top

Thinking Skill

Level the new Thinking Skill, choose the new Philosopher Trait, and pursue two new Thinking-based aspirations!

Screenshot collage showing different aspects of thinking skill Screenshot of Overthinker aspiration in CAS Screenshot of Philosopher Trait in CAS

Latest: v2.2.1b, released after EA Patch, May 23, 2022

Patch Notes

Features

Thinking Skill

You start with access to the Skill Level 1 interactions under the new menu Think when you click on your Sim. To begin progressing in Thinking Skill, you can use any of the following Level 1 skills. Note that some of these will be autonomous if your Sim has the new Philosopher Trait, but otherwise, it is meant to be closed off unless you choose to pursue it, so that not every one of your Sims becomes obsessed with Thinking. You can assume that every interaction gives some Thinking Skill for using it, unless it's a special type like a brief social interaction between two Sims.

Skill Level 1

  • Practice Thinking: Standard "practice" interaction. Your Sim can sit or stand while doing it. It increases Thinking Skill over time. If you activate it manually, it won't stop unless there are special circumstances, such as needs being very low. If it is activated autonomously, it will stop after 20-25 seconds.
  • Space Out: Very short duration, lowers Tense moodlets a little and is Fun for Sims who have the Philosopher Trait. Naturally multi-tasks with other interactions.
  • Soul Search > Search for Answers, found under the menu Think > Soul Search. Takes 2 hours to complete unless it fails in embarrassment before completing. If it completes successfully, your Sims gets a +2, 1-day duration moodlet randomly out of the 7 possible positive moodlets. Unlike most Thinking Skill interactions, Soul Search will have your Sim walking around whatever area/neighborhood they're in. They may end the interaction far away from where the main home/building is in the particular neighborhood you're in, so you may need to find them and send them home, so they don't hang out in the middle of nowhere, doing nothing.
  • Frenzied Thoughts: Hidden/Autonomous/Passive. This is a hidden interaction that will trigger once in a while if your Sim has the embarrassed moodlet from social awkwardness/rejection. It will cause your Sim to get an Angry moodlet, from ruminating on the rejection. Gloomy Sims will get a Sad moodlet instead. It can't trigger anymore after your Sim reaches Thinking Skill Level 7 or higher.

Skill Level 2

  • Ponder for Inspiration: Basically a clone of Plunk for Inspiration, but without the Piano.
  • Discuss Philosophy: Friendly social interaction with other Sims. Similar to "Discuss Logical Puzzles."
  • Soul Search > Search for Happiness: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Happy moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 3

  • Brainstorm: Target another Sim and pick Sims to Brainstorm with. Takes 2 hours to complete. At the end, every Sim involved gets an Inspired moodlet. Social Need, Fun Need, Thinking Skill, and Logic Skill are increased throughout.
  • Soul Search > Search for Inspiration: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets an Inspired moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 4

  • Use Imagination: Powerful Fun-giving interaction. Sims have a higher likelihood to do it autonomously than most Thinking interactions that allow autonomy. The idea is for it to balance out somewhat the obsession with things like TV and Computer, and give your Thinking Sim a way to replenish Fun at a similar level of speed, enabling you to more effectively play a household without the need for something like a TV or Computer.
  • Soul Search > Search for Focus: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Focused moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 5

  • Attempt to Rationalize Feelings (Flirty must be dominant mood): Takes 30 seconds to complete. At the end, there is a chance of all Flirty moodlets being removed and getting a Focused moodlet, or getting another Flirty moodlet stacked on top of any existing ones. This chance is unaffected by anything and is completely random. If you've ever attempted to rationalize away romantic feelings in real life, you can probably imagine why this interaction is totally random. Don't take it too seriously.
  • Soul Search > Search for Love: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Flirty moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 6

  • Ask About Areas of Expertise: Friendly social interaction with other Sims. If the target has a skill of Level 6 or higher and your level for that skill is 4 or lower, you will get a small amount of XP for that skill. If more than one skill passes the test, it will pick one at random. If no skill passes the test, nothing notable will happen.
  • Soul Search > Search for Confidence: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Confident moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 7

  • Calm Distracting Thoughts: Takes 30 seconds to complete, gives a Focused moodlet at the end, +4, 4-hour duration.
  • Soul Search > Search for Humor: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Playful moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 8

  • Calm Distracting Thoughts: Friendly social interaction with other Sims. Gives the target the same moodlet you get from using Calm Distracting Thoughts on yourself. Can only use it on the same target once every 6 hours.
  • Soul Search > Search for Motivation: Takes twice as long as Search for Answers, but instead of a random result if it doesn't fail in embarrassment, your Sim gets a Energized moodlet, +2, 1-day duration.

Skill Level 9

  • Age Is a Number: This was meant to be an interaction that decreases your age progress by 1 day. However, I'm not sure the tuning works as it's supposed to. It may reset your age progress instead. Either way, it has a 48-hour cooldown after each use.
  • Soul Search > Search for Comfort: Uncomfortable and Sad moodlets are steadily drained.

Skill Level 10

  • Evaluate Learning Techniques: Skill gain is increased by 1.5 for 8 hours, along with a +1 Happy moodlet of that same duration. 24-hour cooldown after each use.
  • Soul Search > Search for Calm: Angry and Tense moodlets are steadily drained.

Aspirations

The Thinking Skill mod comes with two new Aspirations under the new category Thought. They are called Overthinker and Visionary.

Overthinker

Overthinker Aspiration is focused on pure mastery of Thinking. Completing it will give you the Overthinker reward trait. With the reward trait, Soul Search duration is halved (this is in addition to the halving that happens from reaching Level 10 Thinking Skill), Soul Search is more Fun (it gives more Fun to Philosopher Trait Sims and some Fun where it didn't before to other Sims), and your Sim has a few new Soul Search interactions unlocked. 7 of them in total, one for each negative mood. These 7 allow you to Soul Search for any negative mood, of the same strength as the moods for positive mood Soul Search.

Visionary

Visionary Aspiration is focused on a combination of Thinking, Logic, and Writing. The general idea is to aim for the kind of skills and accomplishments that someone worthy of the title "Visionary" in real life might do. Completing it will give you the Visionary reward trait. With the reward trait, you get a new interaction under the Think menu called Inhabit Imaginary World. As a constrast to the Overthinker's ability to Soul Search into any type of mood, Visionary's Inhabit Imaginary World is about finding equilibrium in the nothingness of no mood at all. While running the interaction, all moodlets you had when you started the interaction quickly decrease in duration over time. Thinking, Logic, and Writing Skill increases, Fun increases, and needs decay is paused. Upon exiting the interaction, a Fine moodlet is added, +4, 4-hour duration.

Philosopher Trait

The primary purpose of the Philosopher Trait is to have a trait that complements the Thinking Skill specifically. Sims who have the Philospher Trait will gain Thinking and Logic skill faster. They will also get more Fun out of Thinking-based interactions and will (at least for some interactions) be more likely to perform them autonomously.

Cheats

If for some reason you want to manually set Thinking Skill level, you can use cheats, where "10" in the following is the skill level you want:

  • stats.set_skill_level Triplis_Skill_AdultMajor_Thinking 10

Translations

Right now, the way I'm doing translations is you can post them in the translations channel in my discord server and I will try to add them at some point. This way they are publicly available, even if it takes me a while to add them.

Current Translations

  • German by Ezryana
  • French by Kimikosoma
  • Japanese by halapeco

Credits

I'd like to thank Scumbumbo and his Sims Log Enabler tool. It came in very handy for spotting errors in tunings.