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Nectar Making skill is a new mini skill that has been added to The Sims 4 franchise with the Horse Ranch Expansion pack. Previously available with The Sims: Makin' Magic and The Sims 3: World Adventures, players finally get to enjoy this feature in The Sims 4. The way making nectar works highly resembles making wine in real life, with mechanics that involve crushing fruits and other materials in a large bucket, as well as storing them to age them and increase their value. Additionally, consuming these can give certain moodlets to the Sims, however child and younger Sims cannot consume them.
Nectar Making skill comes with 5 levels in total and can unlock additional benefits and recipes along the way as Sims level up this skill. Furthermore, this skill provides a way of creating passive income, while also aligning well with other skills like gardening. However, when wanting to make money with this skill, there are many factors players have to pay attention to. Otherwise, for those who do not mind the monetary aspects of making nectar, just enjoying a fine glass of it with other Sims can be a realistic and different activity.
How To Increase Nectar Making Skill
The only way to increase Nectar Making Skill is by consistently making nectar, as consuming it or otherwise reading a skill book doesn't work in this case as no book for it is available. Luckily, however, making nectar is not expensive at all, as essentially all players will need is to purchase a Nectar Maker for 350 Simoleons and have the right ingredients to be able to do so. Sims that enjoy gardening may have some advantage over this if they are willing to grow fruits such as strawberries. However, players can also purchase basic ingredients such as apples, strawberries, potatoes, grapes, and lemons straight from the Nectar Maker. After that, all players will need to do is keep making nectar until they can max out this skill. As with other skill learnings, certain bonus traits or character traits can help speed up this process, but otherwise, players are going to be looking over 50 bottles to maximize this skill.
How To Make Money With Nectar Making Skill
As far as making money with it goes, it is a rather long investment as a lot of factors are to be considered on how much money can be made with it. Firstly, one factor players should consider is the quality of the nectar, which ranges from Poor, Normal, and Excellent, as well as how aged the nectar is, being not-aged, lightly aged, moderately aged, and finely aged.
The quality of the nectar depends on additional factors such as the ingredient quality as well as the players' nectar-making skill level. Additionally, Sims with certain characteristics such as Perfectionist may end up creating higher-quality nectar right away. It's important to note that with a high enough skill level, players can create excellent quality nectar with basic ingredients, and vice versa, with perfect quality ingredients, they will also be able to do so with a lower level in this skill.
As for the aging process goes, players do not need to do anything but simply wait for an extended amount of time. While the nectar can age in the inventory, as well as be stacked on the ground (only indoors), players are recommended to purchase a few Stackable Nectar Racks, since it significantly helps with organizing them since one rack can store 13 bottles, and also keeping an eye on how aged the nectar is and collecting them easier when they are finely aged. Furthermore, placing a Nectar Rack in a basement can speed up the aging process. Otherwise, the aging duration is as follows:
- Lightly Aged - 2 Sim Days
- Moderately Aged - 5 Sim Days
- Finely Aged - 7-8 Sim Days
There is no difference in these durations based on the type of Nectar. However, the type of nectar does matter when it comes to the amount of Simoleons players can make from it. As a rule of thumb, a nectar type unlocked with a higher level of skill requirement is generally worth more than an Apple Nectar of the same age and quality, with the Vitality Nectar being worth the highest. As such, those who are planning to make money from it should simply focus on the higher level nectar. If they wish to do so, they can still use apples but this time to make fruit nectar. It is also highly recommended that players only sell the nectar when it is finely aged, as it increases its value nearly 10 times.
Specifically for making money purposes, it's also recommended that players pick the Rancher trait and focus on the Expert Nectar Maker Aspiration, as it can help produce more bottles with fewer ingredients while also shortening the aging process. Additionally, selling the nectar to one of the newly introduced pre-made Sims, Roberto Crinkletop can also be more profitable since he purchases them at a higher price. Players can also actively harvest Prairie Grass since this may not only give other basic ingredients but occasionally a whole nectar, which can be aged.
Nectar Recipes
There are, in total, 13 nectar recipes, with 10 of them being available to all Sims, while the other 3 are only available to certain occult life-states, namely Vampires, Spellcasters, and Werewolves. Except for the respective packs for these occults, other packs except Horse Ranch don't unlock any other recipes.
Level | Nectar Type | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
1 | Apple Nectar | 3 Apple |
1 | Grape Nectar | 3 Grape |
2 | Strawberry Nectar | 3 Strawberry |
2 | Potato Nectar | 3 Potato |
3 | Prairie Grass Nectar | 3 Prairie Grass Hay |
3 | Trash Nectar | 3 Trash Fruit |
4 | Energy Nectar | 2 Lemon, 1 Any Herb |
4 | Plasma Nectar (Vampires Only) | 3 Plasma Fruit |
4 | Valerian Nectar (Spellcasters Only) | 3 Valerian Root |
4 | Moonpetal Nectar (Werewolves Only) | 3 Moonpetal |
5 | Vitality Nectar | 1 Death Flower, 2 Spinach |
5 | Berry Nectar | 3 Any Berry |
5 | Fruit Nectar | 3 Any Fruit |
The Sims 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.