Since the release of The Sims 4 Crystal Creations, I’ve been having a marvellous time decking my Sims out in opulent gems and extravagant pieces that both accents their outfits, and gives benefits in the form of buffs and moodlets.
In my seven or so hours of playtime thus far, I’ve developed a family business – one sibling crafts gems, one makes the jewellery, one sells the goods at market, and the last one keeps the rest of them fed and happy. It’s an excellent little system, and I’ve had a lot of fun working it all out.
In doing so, I’ve narrowed down my top five tips for maximising your time with the pack, from moon-watching to fast crystal charging.
Table of Contents
1. Pay attention to the lunar cycle
The lunar cycle isn’t a new part of Crystal Creations (it came as an update in June 2022 ahead of the Werewolves pack), but it’s an important feature that goes a long way. After all, it goes without saying that in order to charge your crystals under the moon, there needs to be a moon. Who knew!
But did you know that on Full Moon nights your Sims crystals will actually charge way faster? It cuts the time down significantly, which is particularly useful if you’re stocking up for a vendor table and need to charge multiple gems in one night. You will, however, need a night owl Sim to keep swapping them over every few hours.
2. Maximise the gemology table space
Unlike many other Sims 4 crafting objects, the gemology table actually allows two Sims to participate at the same time – kind of. There are two slots: one for crafting jewellery and one for refining gems. As someone who’s setting up a family jewellery empire, this was a great way to have my Sims work together in a more collaborative way.
Not only is this effective for gameplay, it’s also a huge space saver. Gone are the days of having two Sims with the same hobby taking up all the available real estate in your home with duplicate objects. Just get them to take turns!
Read: The Sims 4 gets crystals and jewellery crafting in new Stuff Pack
3. Switch up the effects with different outfits
One of the best things about the new jewellery is that you can elect to wear it on all outfits, without having to delve into Create-A-Sim and painstakingly add it to each. But with that being said, the function to set jewellery to individual outfits during regular gameplay is a smart addition.
Not only do you not need to bother finding a mirror to Plan Outfit, you can elect to switch up the effects of your gems based on looks (as long as they’re charged). For example, if you get your Sim to rock an Amethyst piece with their sleepwear they’ll gain energy faster when sleeping. Bit of a waste to put that on a formal outfit, no?
4. Take advantage of Plopsy and vendor tables
As with all Sims 4 crafts, the selling price for your items will increase depending on factors like the Sim’s skill level, the item’s difficulty rating, and which materials you’ve used. Once you hit a certain point, though, these can hit a bit of a ceiling – unless you start selling via different means.
Plopsy is surprisingly effective for jewellery, so long as you don’t mind a full inventory while you wait for them to sell. Price mark-ups are decent, and your chances of selling are pretty reasonable. The vendor table is also a solid option, especially given how much you can mark-up your prices there, but it’s best to make sure your Entrepreneur skill is maxed out to make a real go of it.
5. Charge your crystals regularly
From avoiding death to increasing skills faster, crystals can have a huge impact when charged. There’s only one problem: the charge doesn’t last forever. You’ll have to keep recharging your jewellery every couple of days to make sure the effects are still, well, in effect.
It can be reasonably easy to forget about it, but an easy hack is to set a new event in the calendar as a reminder. While there isn’t an activity around charging on the Holiday Event menu, labelling it as “Charge Day” and selecting a general clean-up manages to hit two birds with one stone. Not only will your gems be charged, but your house will be clean. Win-win!