The Sims 2 - Open for Business _____ _ ____ _ ____ |_ _| |__ ___ / ___|(_)_ __ ___ ___ |___ | | | '_ / _ ___ | | '_ ` _ / __| __) | _____ | | | | | | __/ ___) | | | | | | __ / __/ |_____| |_| |_| |_|___| |____/|_|_| |_| |_|___/ |_____| ___ _____ / _ _ __ ___ _ __ | ___|__ _ __ | | | | '_ / _ '_ | |_ / _ | '__| | |_| | |_) | __/ | | | | _| (_) | | ___/| .__/ ___|_| |_| |_| ___/|_| |_| ____ _ | __ ) _ _ ___(_)_ __ ___ ___ ___ | _ | | | / __| | '_ / _ / __/ __| | |_) | |_| __ | | | | __/__ __ |____/ __,_|___/_|_| |_|___||___/___/ Contents [0.05] Intro [0.06] First Thing's First [0.07] Pricing And Selling YOur Items [0.08] Your Loyal Customers [0.09] Now That You've Got The Basics... [1.03] Business Perks [1.04] Cash Perks [1.05] Cash Perk 1 - LeTourneau Prize [1.06] Cash Perk 2 - Valued Client Rebate [1.07] Cash Perk 3 - Chamber of Commerce Prize [1.08] Cash Perk 4 - Owners Association Reward [1.09] Cash Perk 5 - Will Wright Grant [1.10] Wholesale Perks [1.11] Wholesale Perk 1 - Wholesale Discount [1.12] Wholesale Perk 2 - Supplier Partnership [1.13] Wholesale Perk 3 - Bargain Hunter [1.14] Wholesale Perk 4 - Serious Negotiator [1.15] Wholesale Perk 5 - Shark of Sharks [1.16] Perception Perks [1.17] Perception Perk 1 - Assess Mood [1.18] Perception Perk 2 - Assess Desire [1.19] Perception Perk 3 - Look For Mark [1.20] Perception Perk 4 - Convincing Personality [1.21] Perception Perk 5 - Manipulation [1.22] Motivation Perks [1.23] Motivation Perk 1 - Simply Influential [1.24] Motivation Perk 2 - Perk Up [1.25] Motivation Perk 3 - Motivational Speech [1.26] Motivation Perk 4 - Boundless Influence [1.27] Motivation Perk 5 - Rally Forth! [1.28] Connection Perks [1.29] Connection Perk 1 - Notable Reputation [1.30] Connection Perk 2 - Sterling Reputation [1.31] Connection Perk 3 - Network [1.32] Connection Perk 4 - Head for Numbers [1.33] Connection Perk 5 - Power Network [2.04] Types of Businesses [2.05] Talent Badges [2.06] Sales Talent Badges [2.07] Cash Register Talent Badges [2.08] Restocking Talent Badges [2.09] Robotics Talent Badges [2.10] Toy Making Talent Badges [2.11] Cosmetology Talent Badges [2.12] Flower Arranging Talent Badges [2.13] Flower Prices [3.05] Robots [3.06] Toy Robot [3.07] HydroBot [3.08] CleanBot [3.09] SentryBot [3.10] MunchieBot [3.11] Servo [4.05] Awards [4.06] First Simoleon Award [4.07] Good Review [4.08] Bad Review [4.09] Best of the Best [5.05] Running a Community Lot Business [A1] Contact Me [A2] Credits [A3] Pages allowed to have this FAQ on [A4] Copyright [0.05] Intro This is my first ever FAQ so don't blame me if I mess up big style. Also e-mail jld.123@hotmail.com if you see anything wrong with it, ok? Plus this has got a lot of my kind of humour in it so you'll either chuckle a few times during this or you just won't get it at all. You have been warned. Let's get started. [0.06] First Thing's First (always hated that prase, first thing's first, well duh, it isn't going to be second is it?) Right I'm going to assume you know how to play the Sims 2 already and just need some tips on Open For Business. So if you want to start your business from home right away, build your house with anything from a few hundred to a few thousand simoleans to spare. Then pick up the phone, click on business then click start home business. Buy an open and closed sign from the category and place it outside your front door. It starts out green, which means your business is open, but you should immediately close it, because you don't want pesky customers distracting you while you set up shop do you? Then you need a display case, you will find it under surfaces then under shelves. Then place these shelves in either a special room you've built for your items or in the garden, which is cheaper, but if you're a person who likes everything to be all neat and perfect (like me) you will probably go for dedicating a room or two to selling items. Now for buying the items you are going to sell. At first I would suggest buying lots of cheap items rather than a few expensive ones, but hey, you're the boss, experiment for a while if you want, but in the end you'll come crawling back for help. Hehehe. [0.07] Pricing And Selling Your Items Are you all stocked up? If you aren't then you've scrolled too far down the page silly, go back up and buy your items. If you are, then you need to set your items for sale, and decide how much you want to sell them for. Do this by clicking the price tag symbol in the top right of the screen. Now it's time for another decision, this one's completely up to you, you need to make a profit so don't go for ridiculously cheap or very cheap. It's going to be harder for you to sell the items the more expensive they are but needless to say you get a lot more profit. When you have made your decision click on the amount you want to sell for then click on all the items you want to sell to price them. Just a couple more things before you open up shop, Click on the walls up view and set all the doors to Lock... Allow Houshold only, except for your front door the bathroom and any rooms which have got items for sale in them. Next buy a cheap counter and place it somewhere so a queue can form behind it, then put a till (found in the electronics section) on the counter. Finally, click your open/close sign and open your business. [0.08] Your Loyal Customers Are the customers pouring in? (By that I mean have two or three customers come in) Thought so. Most of them should go to an item and look at it pretty much right away. Occasionally a customer will stand there looking around on the spot with an item in a thought bubble above their head. Go up to any customers doing this and say May I help you? This will earn a lot of customer loyalty for that customer. For the normal customers that look at an item, a bar will appear above their heads, like when you are trying for a skill point, and the closer to the top it gets, the nearer the customer is to buying that item. To boost that meter, you can interact with the customer by clicking on them, clicking on Sales... then on basic sell. After having a brief conversation with that customer, most of the time you will see a star with a green + above their head, this means their customer loyalty has improved, and the closer they are to getting a customer loyalty star. These can be exchanged for business perks, but I will explain about these later on. Every so often though, you will get a grumpy customer, who won't appreciate your efforts, and after the brief conversation a star will appear with a red - above their heads. This means their customer loyalty has gone down. Don't bother them again, as it will only cause them to dislike you more, but who needs them anyway? If you manage to get a customers meter full (you can use basic sell on them as many times as it takes) it will do a nice little effect like a little firework going off. They will grab the item and will either go to another item (lucky you!) or they will go to your till to buy the item. When they are on their way to the till, or when they are stood behind it, click on the till and press ring up these customers. Your sim will struggle with the cash register the first few times they use it, kind of like my dad trying to work a mobile phone, but eventually you will recieve the money and hooray you've earnt your first simoleans, put this award in a room where you have lots of items for sale, and your customers will be more likely to buy your items. [0.09] Now that you've got the basics... Keep repeating that process with all of your customersand make sure your sim is always in a relatively good mood (close the shop while eating, sleeping etc.) When you've made a bit of money, either treat yourself, or buy some new items to sell. These will make you more money, with which you can buy some more new items, and so on. Eventually you should become a multi-multi trillionaire, but that's if things all go well. Now I think I should give some more detail on some other stuff, to help you in your task of becoming a multi-multi trillionaire. [1.03] Business Perks To earn business perks you need customer loyalty stars, click on the cash register icon to see how many more you need to get your next perk. To obtain your well earned business perk, click on the star with the treasure chest icon in the top right and you will be presented with a menu. There are five different categories of perks: Cash Perks Wholesale Perks Perception Perks Motivation Perks Connection Perks [1.04] Cash Perks These give you a one off boost of money. In my humble opinion, it isn't much use, but try saying that when your business is going down the pan. It can be useful if you are in serious need of some funds, but I think there better things to use your well deserved points on. [1.05] Cash Perk 1 - LeTourneau Prize Quote - "Nice job! On the recommendation of some of your customers, you've won the LeTourneau Prize for new business owners!" Quite frankly I don't think announcing that you have won 1,000 measley simoleons deserves those exclamation marks. [1.06] Cash Perk 2 - Valued Client Rebate Quote - "Well Done! The rising fame of your establishment has earned you this rebate from your suppliers!" Really! 2,500? Once again I can't muster up enough sarcasm to deal with this prize. I don't really think it is worth spending your points on. [1.07] Cash Perk 3 - Chamber of Commerce Prize Quote - "Superb! Your business acumen has earned this cash award from the local Chamber of Commerce!" This is actually quite good. You don't turn your nose up at 10,000 simoleons do you? Now that you have got this 10,000 do you realise my sarcasm at the 1,000 and the 2,500? [1.08] Cash Perk 4 - Owners Association Reward Quote - "Congratulations! Your reputation as a mogul is spreading, and has earned you this cash prize from the Sim Business Owners Association!" This time the exclamation marks are justified, you get 20,000 simoleons for your business. Still I don't thinking using up four points to get up to this is worth it, seem as this is the first good prize. [1.09] Cash Perk 5 - Will Wright Grant Quote - "Outstanding! Your business is becoming a household name, and has won you this grant from the Will Wright Foundation for Economic Advancement." A very good boost of 50,000 simoleons. That's all I can say really, seem as I have already said about not liking these prizes. And by the way, Will Wright is the creator of the sim, clever guy eh! [1.10] Wholesale Perks These are the most useful perks for beginners, as these let you buy your stock for less, but sell it at the same price. Needless to say these are extremely useful, helping you to make money faster and easier, and after getting a few of these perks, it is possible to lower your prices to the next level downwards and still make a healthy profit. Why would I do this, you might ask. Because, I would say, it makes it easier to sell your items, and you can get customer loyalty stars easier. [1.11] Wholesale Perk 1 - Wholesale Discount Quote - "Ka-ching! Your growing fame as a business owner has motivated your suppliers to offer you a discount on future purchases!" This gives you 12% all your items, woohoo! That means whenever you sell something, not only do you get the percentage that you have set your items to, you also get an extra 12%! If you don't get that, it basically means you are getting more money every time you sell something. [1.12] Wholesale Perk 2 - Supplier Partnership Quote - "Your suppliers love to brag about having you as a customer! Enjoy this additional discount on your wholesale costs." It's another percentage thing! (*groans*) Oh be quiet, all you need to know is that you're getting more money (*cheers*) Thought so! This gives you an extra 3% on top of your 12% you earned before! Doesn't sound like much but it all adds up. [1.13] Wholesale Perk 3 - Bargain Hunter Quote - "Your business' rising popularity has really given you an edge with your wholesalers! You can buy at much lower prices now." More fractions, this time an extra 4% on top of your already handsome 15%. Thinking about it carfully, if you are selling at 15% over the price, with your 19% discount, you can make 340 off a 1,000 item! And 170 off a 500 item, you're really bringing the money home now. [1.14] Wholesale Perk 4 - Serious Negotiator Quote - "Profit is great! Your business skill has given you the ability to negotiate even lower wholesale costs!" Now you're really raking it in, an extra 5%, now its 24%! Now you may think that they have been too kind to you already with the 24%, but this is only perk number 4, there is still one more to go! [1.15] Wholesale Perk 5 - Shark of Sharks Quote - "You've become the Shark of Sharks. Your ability to get the best wholesale deals is legendary!" What could be better than 24% you might be thinking, try 30%! That's over a quarter, nearly a third! Now think of this, imagine you are selling your items at 20% above the original wholesale price, that means you are getting half your money back, plus what you spent on the priduct in the first place! Good times. [1.16] Perception Perks Perception perks help you sell your items. They give you extra abilities which you can use to seek out the person that is ready to buy, how they are feeling and what they want. Sound good? Look below to find out just how good. [1.17] Perception Perk 1 - Assess Mood Quote - "You've gotten a pretty good idea of what a happy customer looks like. Now you can use "Assess...Mood" to evaluate how perky or peeved another sim is, and that makes you a happy Sim, yourself!" This first perception perk can be pretty useful no matter how successful you are. Like it says, you can find out what kind of mood a customer is in, which is pretty essential in the way you go about selling to them. If they are in a bad mood it is probably best to just leave them alone, but if they are in a great mood, go in for the kill with your most powerful sales technique. [1.18] Perception Perk 2 - Assess Desire Quote - "You've learned that some Sims yearn secretly to possess something new - a leather armchair? A Remote Controlled Car? Your Sim has learned how to tap into the hidden signals of their customers give off and can use "Assess...Desire" to find out just what they want. This is also a very useful technique. Use it on someone in your shop and then show them the item which they desire. They will start with a boosted sales bar if they are shown the correct item, and it also gets that customer a substantial boost to their loyalty. [1.19] Perception Perk 3 - Look for Mark Quote - "You've learned that it can be hard to sell something to a grump who hates your store. Now, activating "Look for Mark" on yourself will let you detect the perfect sales target!" This perk has it's uses, it makes your sim look around the room and detect the person who wants to shop the most so you can concentrate on persuading them to buy all the items they look at. Used with Assess Desire it can be very useful. [1.20] Perception Perk 4 - Convincing Personality Quote - "You've seen a lot of sales by now, and you know the secrets of getting people to cough up their cash. You will now enjoy a boost to the effectiveness of all your Sales interactions with customers!" I'm pretty sure you don't need an explanation but here goes anyway, this perk makes all your sales interaction more powerful. It is very useful although once you have it you might not notice it, but it does help you a lot, hard sell is probably the best to use with this perk, as it is almost always successful and will nearly fill the sales bar in one go. [1.21] Perception Perk 5 - Manipulation Quote - "Huzzah! You have attained a nigh-magical level of sales prowess! You can now use "Sales...Manipulate" to get customers to buy like they've never bought before." Hmmm. I'm not too sure about this one. It can help you make a lot of money, but it can get your customer loyalty plummeting, like a persons turd when the flush the toilet in a plane. More often than not, the customer will buy the item, but it will get you a double minus on their customer loyalty. [1.22] Motivation Perks These perks help you get the customer in a better mood, making them more likely to buy your items. But it comes at a price. Most of these perks cause you to sacrifice your own needs for you employees and customers. So you have to make a choice. This information should help. [1.23] Motivation Perk 1 - Simply Influential Quote - "While most people need a boatload of friends to be really influential, you just need to be yourself! With this perk, your capacity for influence will take a nice swing upward." This is an influence boost that remains with your sim all their life. Now their ifluence meter can't drop below stage 2! Also it boosts your current level to the next one up. It is quite useful for if you need influence desperately. [1.24] Motivation Perk 2 - Perk Up Quote - "You've learned that goods and services won't sell without a smile. Bad mood? No problem! You've learned to put a smile on anybody's face by using "Talk...Perk Up."" The Talk...Perk Up interaction gives a boost to whoever you use it on's needs. This makes the customer stay for longer, giving them the oppertunity to buy more of your items. [1.25] Motivation Perk 3 - Motivational Speech Quote - "You've learned to bring out the best in people with nothing more than a rousing speech! Using "Talk...Motivational Speech" will give other Sims the power to have increased talent for a period of time. "Let's do this, people!"" Useful one this one, this upgrades your employees talent badges by 1 e.g. bronze restocking badge>silver restocking badge, simple and effective. This will last for around three hours, but after using it some of your sim's needs will drop. This perk isn't any use if you haven't got any employees. [1.26] Motivation Perk 4 - Boundless Influence Quote - "Your ability to amass influence is uncanny! You're a born leader, and now when you gain influence by fulfilling wants, you'll get more than ever. Start giving orders, chief!" Well I can safely say I will never run out of influence again after getting this perk. This perk doesn't only double, or triple, or even quadruple your influence earnings. No, it does whatever five times as much is in uple words! So let's say there is something that gets you 100 influence points, not really much to shout about is it? But with this perk it makes it 500! Mega shock! In a good way! [1.27] Motivation Perk 5 - Rally Forth! Quote - "You are the master of getting people psyched up! Now, activating "Rally Forth!" on yourself will cause you to give all onlookers a call to arms, sacrificing your own needs to boost theirs! Be careful with this powerful ability." It isn't joking when it says powerful. Death is possible, no not for you personally, for your sim. All of your needs will go down, quick style. Now we've got that bit out of the way, when you start shouting down that microphone you're customers will go crazy, they will shop till they drop, almost literally. Think to yourself, what would you do if some random guy started down a microphone right next to you? Yeah, I think I would do that too. [1.28] Connection Perks These perks get you in contact with a whole lot of other people, and they make making friends a lot easier as well. They are extremely useful when your sim needs more friends to get a promotion, but are also very annoying at the same time, as people are ceaselessly phoning you. [1.29] Connection Perk 1 - Notable Reputation "People are getting to know who you are...and they like what they hear! You'll now enjoy a starting boost to all of your new relationships." Whenever you meet a new sim you will get a small friendship boost in the both frienship bars. It is very small and not really that noticable but this perk gets more effective as you get more connection perks. [1.30] Connection Perk 2 - Sterling Reputation "The work is spreading about your growing business abilities! You'll now get a bigger jumpstart to all new relationships!" This is a better version of the notable reputation perk and it boosts the lifetime frienship more, to about 10/11. Once again the bonus is activated when you meet a new sim, but it cancels out the notable reputation perk. [1.31] Connection Perk 3 - Network Quote - "You've learned the importance of knowing the people that other people know! You can now use "Talk...Network" to instantaneously meet all the aquaintances of another Sim...and you get a starting bonus to those relationships too!" A useful skill that pretty much speaks for itself. Use the Talk...Network interaction on a sim and you instantly know all the people that the sim knows, and of course you can call those people on the phone now. The starting bonus mentioned is about five for each relationship bar. [1.32] Connection Perk 4 - Head For Numbers Quote - "Spending so much time pleasing customers has given you an incredible memory. You now can call anyone in town on the phone now, whether you know them or not!" This is a special perk. Very special. when you want to call somebody you get pages and pages of people that you are able to call. When it says everybody it means everybody. Don't get the impression that they are your friends though, you only know them, they don't especially like you. [1.33] Connection Perk 5 - Power Network Quote - "Your networking skills have become stupendous! You can now use "Talk...Power Network" to instantaneously meet all the acquaintances of another Sim...and you'll get a powerful starting bonus to those relationships too!" This perk makes the network perk look like something that you found stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Use Power Network on another sim and watch glorious relationships blossom with all of their acquaintances, about 15 for each bar I think (could somebody please e-mail me to confirm jld.123@hotmail.com) [2.04] Types of Businesses Here's a list of different businesses you can run (idea by Justin) Normal Home Business - Sells anything you want it to. As the name suggests you run this at home. Restaurant (Nightlife required) - This is a community business that you will have difficulty running on your own. You need some waiters, one as a minimum, a chef, preferably with high cooking skill, and somebody to stand on the restaurant podium. You need lots of tables and seating for all your hungry customers. Restaurants are difficult to run. and difficult to make a profit out of, it isn't advisable to just have a family of one sim owning a restaurant, you can save money if you have a big family who all help out. Gym - Have lots of workout equipment, and a pay on the gate scheme using an Electrono-Ticket Machine. Any more suggestions and I will be happy to include them and list your name on credits. [2.05] Talent Badges These are mentioned a few times above so here is where to find out all about them. You can have a bronze badge, a silver badge, or a gold badge. Now that I think about it you could have no badge at all, but we don't want to think about that. You can earn sales badges, restocking badges and cash register badges in just about any shop, but you can also earn badges for robotics, cosmetology, flower arranging and toy making with the use of special equipment. To earn a talent badge, simply do the thing that you want to earn the badge for repeatedly. For example if you wanted to get a talent badge for the cash register, just keep ringing up the customers when they get to the register. After doing this for a while you will earn the badge. Talent badges are vital when making decisions about employees, which reminds me that they can earn badges too, by doing exactly the same as what you need to do to earn a talent badge. Keep doing the same action again and again to rise through bronze and silver and to finally get to gold. [2.06] Sales Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high charisma skill. They also give you new sales interactions to use on your customers, which are more powerful than basic sell. Bronze - You learn the ability to "Offer at ---" --- being the next lowest pricing to the one you already have e.g. If the item the customer was looking at was set at very cheap, the interaction available would be "Offer at ridiculously cheap" but if the item was set at ridiculously expensive, the interaction would be "Offer at very expensive" This isn't a very powerful sales technique and it doesn't often make you any money, I'm not really a big fan of it Silver - You learn the ability "Hard Sell" This is the interaction I use most when trying to sell something, as it get the sales meter quite high, and if it fails, the sale can still be salvaged with a few basic sells. Gold - You learn the ability Dazzle. I rarely use this as if it fails the sales meter usually disappears. The only times I use it is when I have used Look for Mark, Assess Mood and Assess Desire and they are all positive. [2.07] Cash Register Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high logic skill, and also serious sims seem to get the badges quicker than other types of sims. These badges basically show how good you are at using the cash register. The less you have, the slower you are. Bronze - You can use the cash register slightly quicker than before. You get this after serving about 6-9 customers at the register. However the sim still seems to recieve quite a shock when they manage to open the register. Silver - You can now serve the customers more quickly and keep the line moving, and less people get angry at you for being so frustratingly slow. Gold - Now you are a technololgy whizz. You can bang open the till, put the money in and wish the customer a happy day with ease. Hardly anyone will get minus loyalty stars while waiting in line now. [2.08] Restocking Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high bosy skill, and also active sims can get the badges easier. You can get these badges by restocking regularly and it makes it quicker to restock when you have better badges. Bronze - You are picking up the pace a little bit, but it isn't really noticable just yet. Silver - Once again slightly quicker, but it could still be better. As you can probably tell I'm just trying to fill up the gaps so it looks like I've done something. Gold - Now you've got it! Stocking like Superman, whizzing round the shop, and you should consider putting your underpants outside your pants. Really. [2.09] Robotics Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high mechanical skill. This is probably the next most useful skill after the three main ones listed above, you might have a different opinion, but this is my FAQ so ha. Also the mechanical skills you have for this will come in useful for if you mess up and one of the robots breaks down. I will go into detail about the robots later on in the guide so keep your eyes peeled. You need a robot crafting bench to earn the badges and make robots. Bronze - You can make the toy robots faster and have also found out how to make RoverBot, CleanBot and HydroBot. Clever you. Silver - You can make all of the above robots faster than before, and have also learnt how to make HoverBot, SentryBot and MunchieBot. Pretty self explanatory names there but like I said I will go into detail later. Gold - You are now speedy gonzalez in the Toy Robot department, and you can also make all of the above robots even quicker. But here's the clincher. Now you can make... Servo. You don't know who that is? You'll just have to wait until later to find out. [2.10] Toy Making Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high mechanical skill, and in my opinion, in order of usefulness these come below the other four that I have already mentioned. The toys you make can provide lots of fun for children, but like I said nothing that you can make is really very useful. You need a toy making bench to earn the badges and make toys. Bronze - You speed up when you are making Sir-Bricks-a-lot and you have figured out how to fire truck and clown in a box. Like before, I will go into detail a little bit later in the guide Silver - You can make the above three faster than before and can now craft kites and twirl, spin and wobble! Lucky you. Gold - Now you can churn out Sir-Bricks-a-lot easily, but why would you want to when you can make the other four very fast as well? Also now you can make a water wiggler if you really want to. [2.11] Cosmetology Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high cleaning skill, and also a neat personality. In my opinion, I think that this ranks below the other five badges mentioned so far. If you run a salon it can be very useful, but apart from that the only other useful time would be if you desperately needed to change somebody's appearance. You need an Ug-No-More Makeover Station. This allows you to change people's face and hair, but can sometimes go wrong. Badly wrong. Bronze - You quite often fail when trying to fix people up, but you are better at it than when you had no badge. Silver - Still a small chance of failing, but you are getting better, still room for improvement though. Gold - Now you rarely fail, and if you do, you can put it right in a jiffy. [2.12] Flower Arranging Talent Badges These badges are easier to get when your sim has a high creativity skill, and also a playful personality. It isn't really a worthwhile skill, unless you have a house with a low environment rating, in which case the flowers you make can increase that rating. You need a flower arranging station to earn the badges and arrange flowers. Bronze - You can make Daisy Bouquets fater than before (see below for prices) and have gained the ability to make Wildflower bouquets and Tulip bouquets. You make these two pretty slowly though. Silver - Increase the speed of the three mentioned above, and get the ability to make Mixed Flower bouquets and Rose bouquets. There's only one more step to go, work hard. Gold - You can make Daisy Bouquets at the drop of a hat now, and you can also make the other four above much quicker. Plus you can make Snapdragon bouquets. [2.13] Flower Prices Daisy Bouquet - 36 Wildflower Bouquet - 47 Tulip Bouquet - 61 Mixed Flower Bouquet - 68 Rose Bouquet - 96 Snapdragon Bouquet - 240 [3.05] Robots Just like I promised you, here is a list of the robots you can make, what badge you need to make them, what they do and how much they cost, and what they do when they are broken and somebody decides to use them anyway. To fix a broken robot, turn it off then click on it and repair it. It is quicker to reapair when being repaired by somebody with high mechanical skill. [3.06] Toy Robot These cost 108 to make, and sell at 120 default price. These are the least interesting robots around, they don't do much. They basically just provide fun for all ages. You don't need any talent badges to make it, when it is broken it can scare all children and some very shy adults. [3.07] HydroBot These cost 320 to make, and sell at 600 default price. These are not extremely useful. They can climb stairs, so if you've got a fire upstairs and the robot is downstairs, wave byebye to your sim. You need a bronze talent badge to make these and when it is broken it will spray puddles everywhere. An upside to this is that it will water your plants for you. I don't know if this has changed little gem of information has changed your mind though. [3.08] CleanBot These cost 560 to make, and sell at 800 default price. These robots are in no way as good as a maid. The only things they can clean is rubbish dumped on the floor, or ash. When it is broken it will eject trash all over the place. And if there was ever a reason not to buy a robot this is it: when it has thrown trash all over the place you could die by flies. So unless you want to risk that, I don't suggest buying it. You need a bronze talent badge if you want to make it. [3.09] SentryBot These cost 720 to make, and sell at 1200 default price. This robot will stun people who are trying to steal from your shop, and also any burglars. Plus, you know those pesky joggers who pick up your paper, read it and then run off with it? Well SentryBot will zap those as well. And anybody who even thinks of taking your gnomes, or anyone who tries to kick over your trash can. When broken it will stun random people, and you need a silver talent badge to make it. One thing though, After it has stunned someone, you may think, "Shouldn't they have been un-stunned by now," and then maybe "Wow, who's that guy in the cloak? Wow, it's the Grim Reaper, what's he doing here?" He is there to take the body of the person your SentryBot just killed. Because sometimes he kills people instead of stunning them. Does he do it by accident? Nobody knows. [3.10] MunchieBot These cost 1200 to make, and sell for 2000 default price. This robot brings to anybody that has their hunger fall below a certain level while they are on your lot. However, you pay for this food, and it is the price for which you would normally pay, even for food that you would usually prepare yourself. When the robot senses somebody that is hungry on your lot, it leaves the lot and comes back with food for them. If this robot is broken it will bring back burnt food, but you will still have to pay full price. This robot is very useful if you have lots of money, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who don't. You need a silver talent badge to make this robot. [3.11] Servo These cost 3000 to make, and sell at 6000 default price. You need a gold talent badge to make this guy. This robot is the pinnacle of sim technology. Before you activate him you need to decide who is going to do it, because Servo get his aspiration and his personality from the sim who activates him, and also the skill points, except for cooking, cleaning and mechanical, all of which Servo has automatically got 10 of. When you have activated him, you need to choose if it is male or female. Servo has only four needs: power, fun, social and environment. Power is like energy, but instead of going to bed Servo needs to stand out in the sunlight. Keep him away from water (hot tubs, pools, showers) as this will drain his power quickly. When he is completely out of power, he will go crazy and run around doing random things. Only when he stops will you be able to repair him. Servo doesn't age, but can be killed in all the other ways a normal sim can. He can do anything any normal sim can except try for baby, but he can make other Servos anyway if he has a gold talent badge in robotics. He can get a job and gets promotions very easily as he only has a few needs. NOTE: His carpool will not arrive if he is powered down before the message 'The carpool for - will arrive in about an hour' NOTE: He can also replenish his power by sleeping like normal sims. [4.05] Awards Awards are things you get that are usually placed in your inventory, and you can place them in your house for all to see and admire. Most of the awards are given out by reviewers. These are only noticable because every so often they will write in a notebook. Impress these to get good awards and depress them to get bad ones. [4.06] First Simoleon Award I think this is your First Simoleon put in a frame and mounted on a plaque. But I'm not sure. It is given to you the first time a customer goes to the till and you serve them. Place this near so items that you have for sale and customers viewing those items will get a small but helpful boost to their sales bar. These are not awarded by reviewers. [4.07] Good Review This award can't be seen or put up on a wall, but the effects can be seen. It is given out by a reviewer if you impress them, but don't totally blow them away with your sales technique. When this award is given the effect is as if your business is about two ranks better than it actually is, which makes more people visit your business. Plus the sales bar starts at a higher level than it would usually. The effects last for about 2-3 days. [4.08] Bad Review Another award that can't be seen. It's probably a good thing though, but the bad thing is it's effects can be seen. You 'win' this award by making the reviewer lose some loyalty stars. This acts as the opposite of the good review, it makes your business act as if it is about two ranks worse than it actually is. This means less people come and the peole that do come arrive slower. Luckily, this 'award' only last about 2-3 days, but during that time the sales bar of each customer will start lower than usual. [4.09] Best of the Best This award is thankfully permanent. It is like the first simoleon award but better, a lot better. Place it in the middle of lots of for sale items and the customers will be much more inclined to buy it. You can earn it by getting three or more stars with the secret reviewer. Sound hard? Yes I know but I find that reviewers gain stars a lot easier than normal customers. [5.05] Running a Community Lot Business I really do not know how to make money out of a business if you don't go in there every day. If anyone does please e-mail me at jld.123@hotmail.com You will be hugely noticed and will get your name in capital letters at the start and end of this FAQ. [A1] Contact Me Ask me anything to do with the game and I will almost always reply, e-mail jld.123@hotmail.com [A2] Credits E-mail me a Frequently Asked Question or any information that I haven't already got in my site and you will be put on here. Daniel Morris for saying my guide was good Justin (no second name) for the idea of making a list of business types http://www.rootsecure.net/index.php?p=ascii_generator for the title thing [A3] Pages allowed to have this FAQ on www.gamefaqs.com www.supercheats.com www.neoseeker.com [A4] Copyright This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright 2007 Jack Dawber