Private eye

One of the most interesting careers in Ambitions is the private investigator. To get this job you can use the newspaper or your computer and - with a system like World Adventure's - you can decide which cases you want to follow (one per time) and when to go out and investigate.
Private eyes can collaborate with the police for some cases or work autonomously when someone hires them (for example, BlackGarden@TSR described one of the cases she followed during the Hands-on event in London. Her private investigator was asked to find who kicked over the garden gnome in her client's garden. By rummaging in the trashcan, he found a shoe whose sole matched the footprint left on the gnome!). There are several things you can do while investigating, and not all of them are...politically correct. Private eyes can rummage through someone's garbage or mailbox, search among bushes or break into someone's house when nobody's there and..take things for evidence! (Just try to imagine what could happen with a kleptomaniac investigator...). They have to pay attention, however, not to be seen or not to start alarms, otherwise they'll have to run away very quickly! They'll be provided with several new interactions as well as a new burglar kit and a fingerprints powder. But that's not all. When a private eye has an enemy or bad neighborhood issues, s/he can also decide to get him/her in troubles by searching for compromising information in his/her garbage and blackmail him/her!
Grant showed us the night scene of a private investigator hiding near a suspected Sim's house: the city was covered with an eerie fog and looked really mysterious. All around the house a series of light blue magnifying glasses appeared, highlighting the "hot spots" where you can search for evidence. Of course all the cases have that humorous and comic feeling, typical of the Sims games..so, laughs are guaranteed! Also, there is a fun interaction that allows private eyes not to be seen while following someone: Grant told us a very funny story about a guy who hangs out in San Francisco and loves hiding among the greenery, then quickly comes out scaring people...well, like he does, private investigators can hide behind the bushes and spy on other Sims with very weird and funny gestures. Incredibly, nobody notices him! We have also asked the producer if when playing with a household we can hire a private eye, ghost hunter or architect, but clearly the answer was no.

Briefly:

• private eyes can work autonomously or collaborate with the police;
• there are several tools available, such as fingerprint powder and a burglar kit;
• investigations are based on a system like World Adventure's and hot spots are highlighted by a magnifying glass;
• private investigators can rummaging through someone's garbage or mailbox, break into someone's house and take things for evidence, blackmail Sims, follow someones and fight, if necessary
• you cannot hire a private investigator or any other "playable" career worker.

Stylist

The stylist career allows you to work on other Sims' appearance and give them a new look. Just like any other new career, you will be hired by Sims who feel like changing something about their look, so it may be a good idea to know their traits and tastes. The stylist's working place is the local salon, where you'll have to go everyday to meet your customers. Once there, you can decide whether you want to hang out with your co-workers or meet your customers. Keep in mind that during your working hours you'll receive requests through pop-up windows, just like opportunities (and the interiors designer career).
Stylists can only edit a Sims' clothes, makeup and hairstyle, choosing from a wider range of possibilities: those who want to work in this career, in fact, are provided with an exclusive set of hairdos and clothing, which are not shown in the traditional CAS. Just like the interior designer, you will get a list of wishes, such as 3 new formal dresses, 3 everyday clothes and so on. These, of course, are the minimum requirements. When you work on a Sim's look, s/he is autonomously taken into a lighter version of the Create a Sim screen, and there you can make the choices you want. Even in this case you can play tricks on your enemies: there are several weird options like bad hairstyles, smeared make up and so on. Obviously, the more you meet you customer's requests, the more you'll earn.
There may also be a connection with The Sims 2 Open for Business, that is, a mix between experience and your final result. Tidus on the official UK forum said that his sylist was at his first job and had poor artistic skills, so he transformed his customer in some kind of clown.
Also, a few lines ago we have mentioned a "lighter" version of the CAS, and there's a reason for that. Stylists cannot edit a Sim's facial features, so s/he doesn't have the same abilities of The Sims 2 University's plastic surgeon, for example. We have asked Grant Rodiek if we'll ever have this option again (since genetics isn's always mercyful with townies) and he answered with a sly face:

maybe

so we're very hopeful for the future (let's say it again: there is NO plastic surgeon in Ambitions, maybe we'll get it in some future EP).

Briefly:

• the stylist's working place is the salon;
• stylists can modify the look of other Sims, changing the hairstyle, clothing and makeup;
• stylists have a wider range of options to choose from because they have exclusive hairdos and clothes;
• you cannot edit your customer's facial features.

Doctor

The new medical career is a hybrid between innovation and traditional careers. The hospital is still the working place and remains inaccessible. In addition to the traditional working hours, doctors may be asked to help Sims about to choke while having dinner at the bistro, give free vaccine or test new drugs on other Sims – beware from the side effects!
We cannot tell you more about this career because Grant spoke very briefly about it and was not part of the presentation. There aren't news not even on the web, but thanks to the official screenshots and some videos, we can guess that doctos can make radiographies. However, when not in the hospital, the career should develop like the others, that is, from the map and through the opportunities-like pop ups.

Ghost hunter

Another interesting career of Ambitions is the ghost hunter, which unfortunately has been only overviewed during the fan event. For the sake of clarity, we’re reporting a few pieces of information taken from BlackGarden@TSR .
As for many other "playable" career, working means that you have to visit your customer’s houses, as they call you if they have supernatural issues. From the map view you can see which houses are haunted and decide whether to go to lend a hand or not. Despite the official screenshots, also, the ghosts you can hunt are not persons but floating and colored swirls (which color depends on how they died). They can also take furnishing, acting like poltergeists. When you enter a haunted place, you will be surrounded by a mysterious fog and have to look for clues of supernatural beings.

Ghost hunters have a special gun, which vaguely resembles a vacuum cleaner, that can suck the spirit and free the house. In this way, the ghost is placed in your inventory and you can display it at home into bowls. By mastering this career you will be able to ask ghosts to leave instead of sucking them in. While trying the game ourselves, we have played with a ghost hunter and looked at his inventory, which was full of colored bowls. If you hover your mouse on them, you can see the ghost's age and its nature [edn: if we don't go wrong there was a "young ghost" or something like that]. Like fishes, bugs and butterflies, you can name your ghost, set it free or sell it at the Science facility.

Blackgarden said that ghost hunters can also be called to work in one of the town's rabbit holes. The fun thing is that while your Sim is there, funny effects surround the building.


Briefly:

• ghosts are swirls of colored light and not normal ghosts of Sims;
• ghosts are sucked into a special gun;
• ghost hunters can display the captured spirit at home, name it, set it free or sell it.

Inventing

 Inventing is not a new career but, as we said before, a new interesting ability that allows your Sims to assemble several materials and build something special. Being an ability (not a career) it is made of 10 points, each of which unlocks objects and functions.

Inventors can create many different items using the new workbench. Obviously, we didn’t have the chance to see them all, but we learned that you can start with very simple widgets, create toys and end up with high-tech objects like the Sim Bot or the time machine. You can also find materials to work with by visiting the local junkyard (Twinbrook should have two of them) or the consignment shop, so that your Sims are always provided with fertile ground to experiment with. In the junkyard, for example, you will be guided by sparkling little symbols, highlighting the items you may need [ information taken from BlackGarden@TSR]. Once you collected all you need, you can get back home and start working. It is strongly recommendable to keep a fire alarm in your lab: while playing around with objects or working hard on something, everything may go on fire! When you reach your first level in inventing, you can go to the City Hall and register as an independent. The objects you create can be more or less useful. During the presentation, Grant showed us a Floor Hygienator: when Sims walk by, they are surrounded by bubbles.
As you gain skills in inventing, you can create very useful items. A very interesting invention Grant showed us was the driller, which allows you to create tunnels throughout the city, and you can decide the start point and end. Of course, Sims can use them to reach various places. In particular, if the tunnel ends under the police station you can help the prisoners to escape!

Another thing many players will enjoy is the time machine. With this tool, Sims can travel in the past and the future. On their return, they can bring with them rare items such as cave gnomes, money, gems and many other things or they can come with different outfits like medieval armor or futuristic dresses! Sims can also woohoo in the time machine...which can turn out to be quite weird if they try for a baby, as you may get a child of the past or the future! Grant has also explained that Sims can get particular outfits, inspired to other EA games, and objects. Although we weren't allowed to take pictures and our Sims didn't get anything special from time travelling, we have taken a few screenshots from the videos/images published so far.

Please note: you won't be able to follow your Sim while travelling in time, as shown in the "Need You Now" video. You will only watch the time machine moving around and the Sim will quickly get out of it with new outfits and object in his inventory.

Here below you can find samples of caveman and medieval outfits.

Sculpting

Becoming skilled sculptors is useful and entertaining: they can carve and sculpt many different materials to create fun and functional objects. With their workbench, they can sculpt metal, wood, clay and ice, and the  bravest may choose to shape topiaries in various forms. You can create statues, furnishing (Grant’s Sim created a clay chair) or portrait your friends in various poses.

As for inventors, once you get the first level you can register as independent at the City Hall. Also, you can go to the junkyard/consignment shop and get useful items for your words. By purchasing the “Artisan crafter” reward, you will be able to avoid melting and have a permanent collection of icy items.

Note: by using the buydebug cheat you will be able to purchase many sculptures your Sims can create!

Tattooing

Unconventional Sims will enjoy the wide range of tattoos introduced by Ambitions, which offers many different opportunities for the body art lovers. You can get a tattoo in two ways: in the CAS, if you are creating a Sim, or in the local salon through the appropriate tattoo chair.

Grant showed us how to do it in the Create a Sim screen. The tattoo tab is in the Head section and it’s placed below the makeup tab. After clicking on this button, you will get a window similar to the makeup or accessories’, which shows all the available designs (there are many tribal shapes, skulls, wings, the little purple Woohoo heart from the Sims 2 and many other designs). On the top of this window, you will find all the various parts of the body you can use (there should be about a dozen of them: four on the arm, two on the chest, the back and legs); besides there is a vertical box with five slots, representing the several levels you can overlay tattoos on. Once you have chosen the design you want and the body part you want to use, just click on the tattoo and it will be automatically placed on the Sim, appearing at level 5 (the lowest).

Like the Create a style tool, you can change the channels of the design; Grant, for example, created a red and yellow skull and placed it on his Sim’s navel. Then he took a tribal rounded design and enlarged it using the two sliders for size and opacity available in the design box. Eventually, he placed two wings in order to complete the work. There are many designs and combinations available, all you have to do is try and enjoy yourselves! As usual, you can share your designs on the Exchange or save them to your Favorites folder.

Unlike the other two abilities, however, tattoo makers cannot register as independent workers. Grant explained that it could be considered as an “extra” activity and not a proper career, so you cannot make a living out of it. Also, you cannot make tattoos to teenagers. 

If you're not interested in Ambitions or don't plan to buy it ... tattoos will be available for the base game too. There will be an update that allows you to get a limited amount of tattoos, but in the CAS only.

 

Education

By clicking on the school you can start working in the Education field, a career that develops in the “traditional way” of the base game. This means that the school is still a rabbit hole, and you cannot see what is happening inside. As usual, the Education career is made of ten levels, as follows:

1. Playground Monitor
2. Teacher's Aide
3. Substitute Teacher
4. Elementary School Teacher
5. Middle School Teacher
6. High School Teacher
7. Department Head
8. Assistant Principal
9. Principal
10. District superintendent

Registering as an independent worker

Finally, Sims can register as independent workers! Unlike the past, when your character does not embrace a standard working career (whether it is "playable" as those of Ambitions or traditional as those of the base game) and makes a living out of writing books or painting pictures, for example, it won’t appear as an unemployed anymore. You can go to the City Hall and register as an independent. This affects several abilities, for a total amount of eight:

• Writing;
• Gardening;
• Fishing;
• Painting;
• Nectar making(requires Travel Adventures);
• Photography (requires Travel Adventures);
• Sculpting (requires Ambitions);
• Inventing (requires Ambitions).

All the remaining abilities are not affected by this option (cooking, athletic, handiness, etc...). In this way, you can sell your works and earn by developing your favorite abilities and won't show up as lazy unemployed! Moreover, you can also receive special bonuses from the City Hall!

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The first part of our coverage is now officially complete! Part two is coming soon - we'll be talking about new traits and lifetime rewards, the laundry system, Sim Bots, Twinbrook (the new neighborhood), updates to Sunset Valley and Riverview, news from the Buy/Build modes and CAS, the new neighborhood editing tools and the new graphic interface/notify system.