Professions: Is it actually beneficial to upgrade the workstations?

[soybb]

When you upgrade workstations it only costs resources and it doesn't yield extra resources when accomplishing tasks at upgraded workstations, right?
And apparently you need a LOT of resources to unlock new workstations... (800 and 140 of them each etc.)
With that said, is it better to save up resources until lv.6?
Or is it still better to keep upgrading the workstations for the sake of earning extra coins and exchanging resources with those coins?

[penlopej]

Personally, I find the Professions only useful in so far as they are needed for the marketplace events. Every time you upgrade a workstation you are using resources that might be needed for the marketplace events. I did complete all work stations and upgraded them to the max on my main game but with my two other games I am taking it slow. I have 2 specialists in each of the professions and several non specialists. When a specialist reaches a higher level I start using the non specialist to build up the resources I lost when I built a new work station.it took me a long time to realise that the Professions are not intended to be the same as the events that we do where there is a time limit.

[soybb]

it took me a long time to realise that the Professions are not intended to be the same as the events that we do where there is a time limit.

Thanks for the response. I see what you mean by that....
I accidentally sent a sim to work off-site and it reached lv.6 before I figured out how professions work. But even with working on-site, it seems leveling up to lv.6 is much easier than upgrading corresponding workstations.. which is a real pain since I keep seeing visitors with tasks that require unbuilt workstations. That's why I wanted to hurry up and build workstations
Anyways I think I'll wait until I have enough resources to build other lv.6 workstations before I specialize my next sim. But I can imagine same thing happening with lv.7 workstation tho So I'll definitely try what you did for lv.7 workstations! Or I could layoff a sim and reemploy to reset it to lv.1 and keep it unspecialized that way because I can't afford a third sim in each professions

[copperwood]

it took me a long time to realise that the Professions are not intended to be the same as the events that we do where there is a time limit.

Thanks for the response. I see what you mean by that....
I accidentally sent a sim to work off-site and it reached lv.6 before I figured out how professions work. But even with working on-site, it seems leveling up to lv.6 is much easier than upgrading corresponding workstations.. which is a real pain since I keep seeing visitors with tasks that require unbuilt workstations. That's why I wanted to hurry up and build workstations
Anyways I think I'll wait until I have enough resources to build other lv.6 workstations before I specialize my next sim. But I can imagine same thing happening with lv.7 workstation tho So I'll definitely try what you did for lv.7 workstations! Or I could layoff a sim and reemploy to reset it to lv.1 and keep it unspecialized that way because I can't afford a third sim in each professions

Use 4 sims for each profession place. Only 2 will level up past 6. Use the ones that stay at level 6 to get resources.

If possible only build a new work station when the resource from it is required for a badge. You only use the sims that will level up to 10 for badges. Don't use them to get resources once they're level 7 and up. Level them up off-site or for the movie studio use the camera 'practice making films' option.

[soybb]

it took me a long time to realise that the Professions are not intended to be the same as the events that we do where there is a time limit.

Thanks for the response. I see what you mean by that....
I accidentally sent a sim to work off-site and it reached lv.6 before I figured out how professions work. But even with working on-site, it seems leveling up to lv.6 is much easier than upgrading corresponding workstations.. which is a real pain since I keep seeing visitors with tasks that require unbuilt workstations. That's why I wanted to hurry up and build workstations
Anyways I think I'll wait until I have enough resources to build other lv.6 workstations before I specialize my next sim. But I can imagine same thing happening with lv.7 workstation tho So I'll definitely try what you did for lv.7 workstations! Or I could layoff a sim and reemploy to reset it to lv.1 and keep it unspecialized that way because I can't afford a third sim in each professions

Use 4 sims for each profession place. Only 2 will level up past 6. Use the ones that stay at level 6 to get resources.

If possible only build a new work station when the resource from it is required for a badge. You only use the sims that will level up to 10 for badges. Don't use them to get resources once they're level 7 and up. Level them up off-site or for the movie studio use the camera 'practice making films' option.

Thanks! Much appreciated. I realized leveling up as fast as possible is not quite the right approach for this whole professions thing!

[CarrieMae]

I learned the hard way that leveling up fast means that you'll be well behind in building the workstations. I took it slower with the Police Station and the Hospital, but I still only use two specialized Sims. Basically, hold off on completing the badges to slow down progress to the next level. If you need to help 2 special Sims, just don't help them, etc.

This makes it slower than having 2 non-specialized Sims to gather resources, since there are badges you can't help completing (earn X number of coins, e.g.). And, with specialized Sims, you get the longer tasks. Still, for some reason I don't like the idea of having Sims in a profession where they are stuck at level 5 and can't advance in their career and are basically just for getting resources, but that's just a personal preference.

Also, it does make a difference with the marketplace events how advanced your profession workplace is. If it's at 100%, it definitely goes faster than if it's only at 50%, because it takes the number of resources and gives a bonus based on workplace completion. So, your resources go further - 100 popcorn, e.g. would give an extra 100 for a total of 200 if your workplace is at 100%. So, you end up using less resources. Plus, the market tokens are worth 6,000 if you have a fully-upgraded workplace. That said, I think the biggest help in the marketplace events is having all 6 shipping boxes unlocked.

[soybb]

Also, it does make a difference with the marketplace events how advanced your profession workplace is. If it's at 100%, it definitely goes faster than if it's only at 50%, because it takes the number of resources and gives a bonus based on workplace completion. So, your resources go further - 100 popcorn, e.g. would give an extra 100 for a total of 200 if your workplace is at 100%. So, you end up using less resources. Plus, the market tokens are worth 6,000 if you have a fully-upgraded workplace. That said, I think the biggest help in the marketplace events is having all 6 shipping boxes unlocked.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't think about the marketplace bonus part.
And at the moment, I don't have that many sims to assign extra unspecialized sims to each profession. So I'll just keep two sims per profession for now like you said, at least until they reach lv.7 and get tasks that are too long.

[CarrieMae]

Also, it does make a difference with the marketplace events how advanced your profession workplace is. If it's at 100%, it definitely goes faster than if it's only at 50%, because it takes the number of resources and gives a bonus based on workplace completion. So, your resources go further - 100 popcorn, e.g. would give an extra 100 for a total of 200 if your workplace is at 100%. So, you end up using less resources. Plus, the market tokens are worth 6,000 if you have a fully-upgraded workplace. That said, I think the biggest help in the marketplace events is having all 6 shipping boxes unlocked.

Thanks for the tip! I didn't think about the marketplace bonus part.
And at the moment, I don't have that many sims to assign extra unspecialized sims to each profession. So I'll just keep two sims per profession for now like you said, at least until they reach lv.7 and get tasks that are too long.

It's definitely a balancing act - you don't want to advance too far so that you start getting tasks you can't complete because you don't yet have enough resources to build the workstations that you've unlocked. But, if you wait to level up and don't upgrade the workstations, then you don't earn as many coins/XP so progress overall can be slower. But, it's maddening to have a Sim that hangs around FOREVER that you can't help because they have a task for a workstation that you don't yet have the resources to build.

I've managed with only the two specialists for each profession, but I can see why people use additional unspecialized Sims to help acquire the resources and keep new stations from being unlocked until they can actually be built.

Also, once you get longer tasks, you will have to use LP to finish those early if you want to help the 15 Sims in order to get the end-of-shift bonus.

[bouges]

I have a question about the workplace... in the hospital, I had 22 minutes remaining and two tasks left to complete the shift. One sim took the 16 minute task the other sim took the 19 minute one and I went to bed. I woke up to find that I missed out on the bonus of completing the shift. Why would that happen, did something change? I have done that before, assigning the last tasks and got the bonus when I logged back in the next day. I don't get it, as long as the tasks are done within the time frame, shouldn't you get the bonus without having to set an alarm to log in when they finish??

[atreya]

I have a question about the workplace... in the hospital, I had 22 minutes remaining and two tasks left to complete the shift. One sim took the 16 minute task the other sim took the 19 minute one and I went to bed. I woke up to find that I missed out on the bonus of completing the shift. Why would that happen, did something change? I have done that before, assigning the last tasks and got the bonus when I logged back in the next day. I don't get it, as long as the tasks are done within the time frame, shouldn't you get the bonus without having to set an alarm to log in when they finish??

The same thing happened in my game. I was disappointed because I thought I would get the bonus.