I'm a simmer and I like to share...
I’ve mentioned before that the gem cutter shouldn’t be used in a household where sims are trying to sleep because it will wake them up. I’ve also noted that zombies think it’s too loud. Well, this week I found that imaginary friends also think that the machine is too loud.
I don’t think there’s any type of character in the game that can tolerate the noise from the gem cutter, except for the sim who is using it.
Whenever I have my sim cut more than one gem at a time with the gem cutting machine, the pile that she drops into the hopper just doesn’t quite look right.
It doesn’t matter what kind of gem it is or what cut she chooses, the gem pile always looks like this jumbled mess. The only time that the gem looks right when she’s adding it to the hopper is when she’s only cutting one gem. So this bonk is definitely a bug, but unfortunately it isn’t a bug that I can sell at the science lab for extra cash.
I always wonder about the gem cutter and its noise level. The noise never seems to bother the sim that is using the gem cutter, but everyone else on the lot complains (as I noted in a previous post); even the zombies complain. It’s a good thing there isn’t an OSHA rep in the game or he’d make everyone wear ear protection.
So if you want your sim to use the gem cutter late at night but you don’t want to wake everyone on your home lot, load the uncut gems into your sim’s inventory and send your sim to Aleister's Elixirs and Sundries to use the gem cutter there. Don’t worry, the shop is always open and Aleister won’t charge any usage fees.
The Supernatural expansion pack added a machine that would let sims cut gems at no cost – the gem cutting machine. While it did take the sim through the progression of different cuts from the most basic emerald cut through the moon cut (even the expensive heart cut is there, but it seems to be available right from the beginning of a sim’s use of the machine), the gem cutting machine did not impose any simoleon charge to cut the gems, unlike sending gems away to the gem cutter via the mailbox.
If your sim can’t afford to purchase one outright, head over to the elixir consignment store. There’s a gem cutting machine there that your sim can use for free. The machine is quite loud and will wake other sims in the house, even if they are separated from the machine by several floors. Sims with the heavy sleeper trait may be able to sleep through the noise, but everyone else, including Bonehilda, will be awakened by its noise, and you may see one or more of your sim’s family members come down to complain about the noise.
One other thing I noticed with the machine has to do with a sim’s want list. When you see this want appear in a sim’s list:
Your first thought might be that as long as you get a gem cut with the machine, it should satisfy this want, right? Well, it isn’t quite that simple. You see, in order to satisfy this want, you have to click on the gem cutting machine and select “Cut a stack of gems…” then follow the dialogs to select a gem type and cut. If you click on a gem in your sim’s inventory and select “Cut [all] with machine…”, your sim will still use the machine and cut the gems, but it won’t satisfy this want. Starting the interaction from the gem cutting machine is the only way that I’ve seen so far to satisfy the want.
But if this want does appear, it’s an especially quick and simple way to add 200 lifetime happiness points to your sim’s balance. It’s not a lot, but it adds points faster than just letting your sim be happy.
