Working hard isn’t the only way to make a living in The Sims 3. Actually, you can pull in a pretty solid income without punching a time clock. You can collect many valuable things in each town in addition to the bounty pulled out of the water or from your personal garden.
Collect butterflies and beetles to sell to the Science Facility (or keep for yourself). Locate precious gems and metals and refine them into brilliant treasures. Space rocks have hurtled down from the skies and smashed into the ground, too. Seek out these collectibles to both make money and beautify your lot.
To make it easier for the serious collector, we’ve provided complete lists of all the fish, insects, and minerals you can collect if you have all the expansions. The collectible maps for each town show the spawning points of the various types of collectible.
While the legends portray the collectibles that came with the town at release, you’ll see other collectibles at those spawn points depending on which expansion packs you have installed. So look at the spawn maps and cross check them with the complete charts to discover what collectibles you are likely to find.
Spawn points on the map indicate where a collectible might be found. Sometimes nothing is there. Other times a rare collectible might spawn where previously you’ve collected common ones. Dedicated collectors keep checking back, or better yet, invest in the Collection Helper Lifetime Reward.
We’ve covered the basic of collecting in The Sims 3 portion of this set, so check there for more details. These maps and charts are for quick reference.
Fishing
Fishing is a great way to relax, plus you can earn some money on the side. Reeling in a big catch and selling it to the supermarket is a fun way to line your pockets with Simoleons. Fishing spots in each town are loaded with fish.
On rare occasions, you will reel in something other than a fish. Litterbugs in each town have discarded belongings in the lakes and ponds, but at least their refuse is another Sim’s treasure.
When you do manage to reel in a crate, there is a good chance it will contain a valuable item, such as World’s Brew Bubble Bath or Death Flower. If you’re really lucky, the crate will contain a magic gnome!
Insects
Butterflies
When you collect a butterfly, your Sim closes in on a single insect from the bunch and gently takes it in his hands. Then, the rest of the butterflies vanish until the next day. Once collected, the butterfly goes into your personal inventory.
You can now either take it to the Science Facility and collect your bounty or take it home and place it in a terrarium.
Beetles
Is the ground moving? Or is there something alive down there? You may have to squint, but there are tiny bugs and beetles squirming around the ground that can be picked up and collected just like butterflies. Beetles are another excellent source of income, but they can also be kept on a lot to boost the environmental bonus of a room.
Minerals
Gems
Keep an eye open for rocks on the ground—there are treasures inside them. When you swipe a rock from the ground, you are immediately told what you have found. Having a gem cut increases its value, but this comes at a cost.
You must pay to have a gem cut, which occurs when you send it away via the mailbox out front of your lot. Now, when you fi rst start collecting gems, there is only one cut available: Emerald. The next available cut is Oval, but to unlock this cut, you need to send off four previously collected gems to be cut by the professional jeweller.
After that fourth cut, you get a note saying the Oval cut is now available. So, while it does cost to get these gems cut, the more you do it, better cuts you get—and the more money you can make from selling.
Metals
Precious metals are yours for the taking—but first you have to find them. And once they are in your personal inventory, you must send them away to have a professional process them. Once they’re processed, you can either sell metals for profit or place them on your lot for environmental bonuses.
To have ore processed, you must send it off via your mailbox. (Left-click on the ore or rock in your personal inventory to send it off, or click on the mailbox.) It costs Simoleons to get them processed, but when the ingot comes back, the value has improved by up to 75 percent. That’s quite a boost for the §50 smelting fee.
Meteorites
Space rocks streak through the atmosphere all the time. Some of them actually crash down and can be recovered by Sims. There are three sizes: small, large, and huge.
Meteorites can be worth quite a bit of money, but there is a degree of risk when you analyze a meteorite to find out exactly what it is.
Sometimes the raw value of a meteorite is greater than its worth once it has been identified. For example, if analysis reveals your meteorite is Ordinary Chondrite, the meteorite is now only worth half of its previous value.