So I'm one of those fortunate Simmy players who has all of the EPs and all of the SP's. And right now, one of my (presently incomplete) personal projects is building a Sim State University dorm for each of the ten hobbies, stocked with objects which cater to that hobby. Thus far, I have a Cuisine dorm (featuring eight Cryofresh fridges in the largest kitchen that I have ever built), a Nature dorm, a Tinkering dorm, a Fitness dorm, an Arts and Crafts dorm and a Sports dorm (complete with a log rolling pit for any Canadian-esque Sims, I guess). And in the doing, I have discovered that, as far as entertaining Sims, helping them earn money or fulfilling their lives in various ways, some hobbies rock the hands off a clock, while other hobbies suck the paint off a battleship. And so, the way I see it:

The Hobby: Nature
The Good Stuff: Goes hand-in-hand with fishing and gardening, both of which provide cheap (or free) food that's twice as nourishing as regular food; fruits, veggies and fishies can also be sold at privately owned shops (with Open for Business installed), which leads to Perks, customer loyalty (and whatever friends come with that) and Networking for free stuff. Sell any caught Golden Trout for a fat profit, or hang it on the wall for a while for even more profit; anything you catch from fishing--from Golden Trouts down to Boots--will appreciate in value if you hang it on a wall for long enough. A boot right out of the pond sells for $15, but I've sold appreciated boot plaques for almost twice that much. Good gardeners can gain Wishing Wells and repeated cash awards from the Garden Club, and Wishing Wells are wonderful for picking up cash, friends and lovers. Studying Cleaning also builds Nature enthusiasm, and, conversely, raking leaves (a Nature activity) also builds Cleaning. Composting leaves, trash and newspapers means free fertilizer for your veggie gardens, so you'll be wishing for someone to kick over your trash cans. Nature and Tinkering can work well together; a malfunctioning CleanBot is an excellent source of compost, if you can compost the steady stream of trash quickly enough to avoid death by flies. Planting flowerbeds, bushes or hedges improves Environment, and caring for those plants builds Nature enthusiasm while keeping Environment strong. Talking to a caged bird builds Charisma and raises Nature enthusiasm, while playing with the bird raises Fun and Nature. Tending the HydroPonic Garden builds Creativity and gives Sims a bouquet of flowers to sell (to the tune of $350) every few days. The Cowplant is a handy way of keeping Sims young while disposing of their enemies (including enemies gained by bad wishes from the Wishing Well) if you're not too nice to kill off a Sim every five days. Hiking is a nice Social activity for multiple Sims, and hiking can also yield new friends or free stuff.
The Bad Stuff: Hiking can also lead to catching poison ivy rashes, leading a skunk to your house or getting attacked by bees. The skunk's not much of a problem, but babysitting an itchy Sim is a hassle, and oh man...those damned bees. The Koi Pond is good for a fast Fun boost, but it doesn't really do anything else. Getting hit by a falling moneybag (courtesy of the Wishing Well) can kill a Sim, but it's pretty rare, I myself have never seen death by falling moneybag, and racking up three more enemies (and having to fight one of them) or getting purse-whipped by Mrs. Crumplebottom isn't nearly as bad as getting hit by that moneybag (and you still get $50 out of that moneybag as a consolation prize).
My Verdict: Rocks. In fact, I think that Nature's one of the best hobbies to master, if not the best.

The Hobby: Arts and Crafts
The Good Stuff: Painting on the easel builds Creativity (more so for Shy Sims, it seems) and can lead to profit (if you sell the paintings via Delete key or via private business), Environment and Fun (if you hang the paintings and look at them now and then) or all of the above (if you paint a masterpiece, hang it, wait to see if its value appreciates and sell it after that happens). The same thing goes for blueprints drafted with the SIM Series drafting table. Arts and Crafts also goes hand-in-hand with Flower Arranging, Toy Making, Pottery and Sewing, all of which make nice things for Buy Mode cash, private business wares or affordable relationship-building gifts. Viewing art with multiple Sims makes for a good Social activity, particularly on lots where artwork abounds (so you can get the most out of the View Many action). Viewing photos taken with the photo booth or the Antique Camera can also feed Fun, Arts and Crafts enthusiasm and (when multiple Sims are involved) Social. Painting another Sim's portrait is also a nice Social activity, even if it's limited to two Sims at a time (the artist and the subject). The products of Toy Making are all good for Fun, but Water Wigglers can also be used to clean dogs and raise their Hygiene (and its funny to watch the dogs and the Water Wiggler go at it). Toy Making can also make evil Water Wigglers, which spawn puddles and weeds, which build Cleaning and raise Nature enthusiasm, thus giving you another reason to have Nature Sims and Arts and Crafts Sims living in the same house.
The Bad Stuff: Pottery sometimes makes flawed goods which you're forced to sell at a loss. Sewing sometimes makes flawed goods, but at least those goods never seem to sell for less than it cost to make them. Flower Arranging with a Gold badge sometimes yields evil Snapdragon Bouquets, which are astonishing at wrecking the moods of any Sims hanging around nearby. Toy Making sometimes makes evil toys which can harm, annoy or inconvenience Sims in various ways (but oh, watching a Sim wet his pants after cranking on that evil Clown-in-a-box can be so hilarious!). Curiously enough, flawed goods sell for less, but evil goods sell for just as much as their normal versions.
My Verdict: Rocks. It's another strong contender for Best Hobby Overall, simply because there's so much to do with it (and because its "Bad Stuff" really isn't all that bad, rare deaths by evil-kite-induced lightning strikes notwithstanding).

The Hobby: Tinkering
The Good Stuff: The Mechanical skill and Tinkering enthusiasm are joined at the hip; building Mechanical will raise Tinkering, and several Tinkering activities (such as restoring Junk Cars or repairing broken appliances) build Mechanical as well. Tinkering with random household objects and appliances is a fair way to raise Fun (even if it doesn't accomplish much else, aside from making faucets and showers leak if your Sim screws up). The train set is a strong way to raise Fun, even if it doesn't do much else. And let us not forget the wondrous Robot Crafting Station and all of the delightful robots that come with it, including the almighty Servo. Both Junk Cars and Robot Crafting Stations yield goods which can then be sold at profit (either in Buy Mode or at private businesses), or kept by the household (for cheap, good cars, fun toys and useful robot servants). A well-maintained HydroBot can save you money in the long run; one HydroBot in the kitchen will eliminate all need for smoke detectors, sprinklers and hasty calls to the Fire Department (but study Fire Safety just in case the HydroBot goes on the fritz), and if the kitchen's on the ground floor of a house without a foundation, the HydroBot can roll outside and water your flowers (and spare you the cost of replacing them frequently) as well. Let's see your smoke detector do that! SentryBots will chase off anyone from cow mascots (if you're in a college dorm) to newspaper thieves to trash can kickers to garden gnome thieves to burglars, saving you plenty of cost and hassle. Like Arts and Crafts, Tinkering sometimes churns out faulty goods (namely, those robots), but unlike Arts and Crafts, faulty robots can be repaired to restore them to their full market values. Selling off old roverbots and hoverbots--and replacing them with fresh robots--seems to reduce the frequency at which they malfunction (just from what I've seen, anyway). And being In the Zone does seem to help you build robots and restore junk cars more quickly, and it also seems to lessen the Junk Car's impact on your Sim's Hygiene (as having multiple mechanics restoring multiple Junk Cars at that Tinkering dorm suggested).
The Bad Stuff: The Junk Car drastically reduces your Hygiene, and robots occasionally malfunction and run rampant. Malfunctioning SentryBots will chase off your guests, and I've had a Sim die by flies after a malfunctioning CleanBot filled his entire yard with rotting trash while he slept and he woke up and went outside to clean it all up (but, to be fair, that only happened once). Tinkering with stuff never actually improves it, even though common sense would dictate otherwise. That's about it for the bad news.
My Verdict: Rocks. And oh, does it rock.

The Hobby: Cuisine
The Good Stuff: Food, food and more food! Cooking and Cuisine also seem to be joined at the hip, just like the Mechanical/Tinkering and Cleaning/Nature combos. If hearsay is true, then high Cuisine enthusiasm also affects your Sim's chances of winning a food contest; I've made a community lot which is little more than a big kitchen, twelve food judge tables and a large dining area (so all that contest food doesn't have to go to waste), I have a married couple of natural Cuisine enthusiasts and as long as they pace themselves and don't enter the same contests together, they usually come out of that place about three- or four-thousand Simoleons richer. And I've had them cook piddly stuff like chili con carne and beat chefs serving high-end munchies like lobster thermidor and baked alaska, so bank on your Cuisine ratings. Cooking and Cuisine are also good if your Sims want to run their own restaurants or food shops. Filling a room with racks of china plates and/or salt and pepper grinders--then choosing View Many on them--is a good way to raise both Fun and Cuisine enthusiasm. Along with a food judge, the Cuisine hobby lot (Sue's Secret Kitchen) also features a Shokolade 890 chocolate maker, which gives you money while it builds Cooking and raises Cuisine. Drinking from a bar or a wine rack is good for Fun, Hunger, Cuisine and, if multiple Sims are drinking together, Social. If your Cuisine's high, then chances are that your Cooking is high enough to keep you from burning your kitchen down every time you try to cook something and satisfy your Cuisine-related urges. Nature and Cuisine also work well together, especially if the Sim who catches or grows the food is the same Sim who cooks it.
The Bad Stuff: Losing a cooking contest can fulfill a Fear which pops up quite frequently on lots with food judges, and you may need to shop for groceries frequently if you prefer to develop Cooking and Cuisine through hands-on experience (but then, refrigerating the leftovers will ensure that your Sims will always have food on hand for unexpected visitors). Other than that, nothing sucks about Cuisine! Isn't it great?
My Verdict: Rocks. Its selling points might not be as good as those of Nature and Tinkering, but its weaknesses are practically non-existent, making this hobby a safe choice.

The Hobby: Music and Dance
The Good Stuff: Creativity skill is connected with Music and Dance enthusiasm, as long as you learn that Creativity from music instruments. Dancing in all its forms is a great way to work on Fun, Social and M&D; this includes the hula dances and slap dances that your Sims can learn from their vacations. Freestyling for tips is useful for picking up some quick cash on community lots, but breakdancing and fire dancing are even better, so learn those forms of dance if you can. Unlike freestyling, breakdancing and fire dancing can also be used to challenge other Sims who know the same dances to dance-offs, raising Social and awarding the winner with a shot of Simoleons. DJ booths can also host dance contests, which high M&D enthusiasts can win quite frequently, which makes for a good secondary source of income; just try to avoid entering dance contests at the My Muse hobby lot, as the lot's hobby instructor has a good chance of entering the contest and kicking your butt. M&D Sims can also rake in some cash by using music instruments to Perform music for tips, particularly on community lots. Sims can Join each other at playing multiple music instruments in the same location (with the exception of the violin), which gives gains to Fun, Social and Creativity; since they're probably all playing for tips if they're playing in unison (and not merely practicing), then there's money to be had as well...at least, as long as their Creativity doesn't suck. Karaoke machines are good for Fun and Social, and the Social boosts and relationships get even better if you can find a Sim who's willing to sing a duet with you. Sims can also run a DJ booth for Creativity, M&D, Fun, Social and monetary goodness. Composing music on the synthesizer doesn't allow you to collect tips or get other Sims in your act, so it's a bit inferior to music instruments; on the other hand, it just feels so gosh-daggitty good to play back one of your Sim's personal synth tracks--especially if you have a friend or a roommate hovering over your shoulder in the real world--and saying, "Hear that? I made that."
If you would rather build up Body along with your M&D enthusiasm, there's the Ballet Barre (and its bigger, better career reward brother, the Better Barre). Singing on the microphone can also be good for Fun, Social and M&D as well. Wth enough experience in dancing, teens can also earn a college scholarship, and there's bound to be some hobby enthusiasm to go with that.
The Bad Stuff: Playing music instruments when your Creativity is low is a good way to get booed and suffer Social ouchies, no matter how high your Music and Dance enthusiasm is. Fortunately, it's virtually impossible to get high M&D enthusiasm without also picking up a few points of Creativity along the way, so getting booed isn't all that much of a threat to Music and Dance enthusiasts.
My Verdict: Rocks, of course.

The Hobby: Film and Literature
The Good Stuff: Holy smokin' Zeus, the novels! Those novels that your Sims can write on computers can earn your Sims thousands of Simoleons a pop! It's also a way to raise Creativity if your house has a computer (like, say, the free one that Rod Humble drops off) but no music intruments, synthesizers or easels. Get enough F&L enthusiasm and your Sims unlock that infamous and mysterious Book Club, which is a fancy way of saying that your Sims can grab novels from the nearest bookshelf (including novels which that Sim himself wrote) and sit down with other Sims to discuss the novels for some easy Fun, Social and relationship boosts. If your Sims like to sit on the couch together and watch a lot of movies, F&L enthusiasm won't be far behind. Sims can also use the microphone to recite poetry rather than singing; this raises Film and Lit enthusiasm rather than Music and Dance enthusiasm, and any Sims listening to the performance will mean Social gains for your aspiring poet as well. Writing in a diary will also raise Film and Lit (but really, don't your Sims have anything better than that to do?). Sims sometimes roll up a massive Want to write a best-selling novel, and a high Film and Lit enthusiasm can help with that.
The Bad Stuff: Not much, really. But then, aside from the novel-writing (and cranking novels out faster when you're In the Zone), Film and Lit doesn't really have all that much going for it. Sims sometimes roll up a hefty Fear of writing a pulp novel, but that never happens unless your Creativity is awful.
My Verdict: Rocks. Even one of my Servos has gotten into writing novels...in binary. I type nothing but strings of 1's and 0's. They're by far the easiest novels that I've ever had to come up with titles and descriptions for, let me tell you....

The Hobby: Games
The Good Stuff: Sims can earn some nice profits by playing poker or mahjong for cash, and their takes seem to improve with both Logic skill and Game enthusiasm. Mrs. Crumplebottom also likes to play poker and bowling, so if your Sims ever want to beat that old hag at anything, here's their chance. Multiple computers on a residential lot can also be good for Fun, Social and Games via an online competition; if those multiple computers are on a community lot, then there's a cash reward for the winner as well. Games such as Don't Wake the Llama are good for Fun and Social. Chess is always good for building Logic along with Games enthusiasm (and, if you can find an opponent, Social and relationship gains can be had too). Teenagers can get a college scholarship for mastering billiards (or pool, if you're on this side of the Atlantic). Darts, bowling and Marco Polo are also good for Fun and Social. Pinball games have maxed Fun gains, and up to two Sims can play a pinball game for Social and relationship as well. The game console is great for parties and other get-togethers, with two Sims playing and everyone else in the room standing behind them, watching.
The Bad Stuff: There doesn't seem to be any Skill connected with Games enthusiasm. You can safely ignore the arcade-style video games; aside from their smaller footprint and lower costs, pinball games are superior to them in every other way (which isn't exactly like real life, I know). You're bound to lose if you play poker against the Unsavory Charlatan (since he's a cheating buzzard). Unlike Cuisine's food contests and Music and Dance's dancing contests, gaming contests don't attract townie participants, so your poor, lonely little Sim can be sitting at his computer for hours, waiting for some townie to happen along and join the game. There's no Ask to Join option if you click on those townies, either.
My Verdict: Rocks, but not by much, and not nearly as much as Music and Dance or Film and Literature do.

The Hobby: Fitness
The Good Stuff: If it's anything that raises Body (with the possible exceptions of that Books First for Learning bookshelf and those two Barres mentioned above), it raises Fitness enthusiasm too. Raising Fitness allows your Sims to go jogging, which also raises Body while allowing them to bring other Sims along for some Social interaction. Rack up Fitness 5 and your Sim learns how to fetch the almighty Protein Shake from the fridge (which, being a snack, demands no preparation and no seating space yet fills your Hunger up about as well as a regular meal does). Build up to Body 3 or higher and your Sims can do yoga, which works on Body and Fitness without crimping Hygiene or temperature. A Sim who learns Tai Chi from a Far East vacation can actually use Tai Chi to raise Comfort and Energy (yes, Energy) while working on Body and Fitness. The ElectroDance Sphere gives tremendous gains to Fun along with Body and Fitness (and if not for the occasional UFO abduction, it would be the perfect addition to any gym). Fitness also comes along for the ride if you want your Sims to go from fat to fit, or if you want to build them up so they can win more fights.
The Bad Stuff: Fitness isn't really all that useful, aside from the protein shakes and jogging. It doesn't have much of an endgame; once your Body's maxed, your fitness gauge is maxed and your Fitness enthusiasm is maxed with it, what do you do next? Fitness isn't associated with any objects that actually produce anything, making its cash-reaping and business-aiding abilities pretty meager, if not outright nonexistent.
My Verdict: It's...okay. It's right there in that gray twilight betwixt Rockville and Suckville. And things can only go downhill from here....

The Hobby: Sports
The Good Stuff: Well, it's all a bunch of sports. If your Active and Grouchy Sim wants to build Body and raise Fun (with the option for having a friend join in the fun), Sports is the way to go. For a change of pace, you can use the Execuputter to raise Charisma instead of Body, or haul out the Exerto Punching Bag for even bigger gains in Body. Playing Kicky Bag is pretty much the only way to raise Sports enthusiasm with more than one other Sim at the same time. Filling a room with sports trophies and team banners, then doing View Many with several other Sims is a nice way to raise Fun, Social and Sports (rather than Arts and Crafts). The Sports hobby may be a one-trick hobby, but the trick's a hell of a trick.
The Bad Stuff: ...then again, it's still a one-trick hobby. Whether you and another Sim are kicking a ball into a net, throwing a ball through a hoop, putting a ball into a hole, tossing a football back and forth or maybe throwing axes at a chunk of wood after you've stripped down to your swimwear and walked barefoot on a floating log, the things that you can do with Sports kind of have a "same-ish" feeling to them after a while. Anything which Sports can do, Fitness can do (while letting your Sims go jogging and fetch protein shakes from the fridge, too). And, as it is with Fitness, Sports doesn't really have anything in the way of production or profiteering (unless you set up a community lot with an ElectroTicket Machine and a mess of basketball hoops, soccer nets and logrolling pits, perhaps).
My Verdict: Sucks. But not nearly as much as the next hobby does....

The Hobby: Science
The Good Stuff: Not much, really. The TraumaTime surgical training station's good for learning Mechanical with your Science; you can also use it to teach a lesser Sim with a lesser Mechanical skill (and get some Fun and Social gains), but you still don't get any relationship gains. The large telescope can earn your Sims some cash for discovering stars and planets. Sims with max Knowledge aspiration and benefits can also use the large telescope to summon aliens at night (which gives a fair boost to Science if your SIm gets abducted, and it's also the single men's version of Try for Baby). The Weathernaught 57x raises your Science enthusiasm while changing the climate and weather to something more to your liking.
The Bad Stuff: Good mercy, let me count the ways.
First off, let me say that the SimSanto Biotech Station is the heaviest albatross around the Science hobby's neck. The machine's footprint is huge; good luck finding a place for it in your theorist's apartment. You have to constantly babysit the Sim using the Biotech Station so that you can click-click-click on it the very moment that the dome pops off the centrifuge. For all the work you do babysitting the blasted thing, the Simoleon gains are pitiful (both amount-wise and amount-over-time-wise); there are far too many duds fit only for disposal, and the rest of the medicine rarely sells for over 100 Simoleons, even for a Sim with max Logic and max Science enthusiasm, and even then it's just pennies over 100. And then there's always the risk of accidentally contracting a potentially fatal disease while you're concocting medicine; as if you weren't having enough trouble making a secondary income with this stupid gizmo, now you have to spend time and effort trying to cure the disease that the Biotech Station just inflicted on you! And even then, you're running the risk of getting infected again, bumbling through the inconvenience of brewing medicinal duds, and when you do successfully concoct medicine, it usually takes three or four medicine dosages--conconted from three or four uses of the Biotech Station, mind you--to make your Sim healthy again. You know what works a whole heap better than that? Good witchcraft, Grandma's Comfort Soup, orange juice from oranges (compliments of that mighty, mighty Nature hobby again)...pick one. On top of that, even when you do deliberately concoct a virus, it's worthless! You can't sell it, you can't throw it at your Sim's enemies, you can't trick anyone into drinking it, you can't feed it to your Cowplant to give it radioactive breath...all you can do is Dispose of it, making virus-brewing a complete waste of time. And guess what? You're still running the same tired old risk of infecting yourself when you're making that virus, too! And this is a Career Reward! My SimGod, who's responsible for this horrible device?
So then we have the ant farm. It just plain sucks. It only costs $185, but other hobbies (yes, Arts & Crafts, Tinkering, Nature and Film & Literature, I'm looking at all of you) have items which give you better Fun boosts and/or other benefits for comparable prices. And those items don't carry any risk of escaping ants making your Sims itchy, either. Moving along....
Being able to get money from telescopes is great...while it lasts. But a single Sim only gets to discover new stars (for $500 each) two or three times in his lifetime, and that includes both stars discovered while Stargazing and stars discovered while Searching for Constellations. The same goes for planets, and I have never seen any rewards come out of Searching for UFO's. So then what? After your Sim has discovered his two stars and his two planets, that telescope's only good for Fun, Logic building, annoying the neighborhood patriarch and (for Knowledge Sims) summoning aliens. Your Sim will never get another Simoleon out of that telescope--or any other telescope--for as long as he lives. And once his Logic's maxed, there goes another telescope benefit.
Admittedly, making an enemy out of Mortimer Goth so that a second Sim in that same family (one who's friendly with old Mort) can call him up and lure him over for a sound thrashing is good fun. But summoning aliens really isn't all it's cracked up to be. The cutscenes are cute, sure. But you gain Science enthusiasm faster if you skip the abduction and just use the telescope to look at stars. Your Sim goes missing for several hours and may miss phone calls or visitors, lose out on good social interaction, run the risk of being late for work and/or miss the vacation shuttle. And if the abductee is either a Simmy woman, a Servo, a Bigfoot or a Simmy man who has no interest in getting pregnant, then the whole prospect of hatching a new alien hybrid is a bit pointless. Your Sim may be enough of a glutton for punishment to roll up an easily fulfillable Want for further alien abductions, but that's probably the best thing about the Summon Alien action (and saints help you if you roll up that Want but lack the power to summon UFOs on a whim)...unless you want your favorite Sim family to have their own a half-alien kid, that is.
The Weathernaught's fun, but at only five uses--no matter how you put those uses to work--it doesn't feel like the Weathernaught's worth the Aspiration points which you invest in it. And why would any Sim want to deliberately summon a freakin' hailstorm, anyway? The power to delay the arrival of winter long enough for your eggplants to ripen on the vine could certainly have its uses, though.
My Verdict: Sucks, sucks, suckitty-sickitty-sucks. There's just no way to sufficiently express my neverending disappointment with the Science hobby, sorry. No matter how it skates, Science sucks on ice.

So what do you think? Am I perfectly right on such-and-such? Am I grievously wrong on such-and-such? Should I take a long walk off a short pier for babbling such heresy? Have you actually found a perfectly sound, non-masochistic reason to pick Science? I'm all ears.

I am a science nut and I agree that there is not enough for my guys to play with. I love the biotech station, its detailed and looks the part but the babysitting really does suck the paint off a battle ship! lol I am sure that my guys have discovered loads of planets while on the scope? At uni its a great way for them to top up their cash. Maybe its because a lot of them are in the zone while watching. I have a bunch of mods to cancel out the annoying bits you mention above, bees, crumplebottom, no alien preggie etc so for me its all about the performance. I do wish there was more across all the hobbies, the clubs/lots all seem to have major errors which for me makes them unplayable (the kitchen has no bloody windows?, the science place has a toilet door that can't be accessed). Like you I am attempting to build some labs for my Uni students, would be great to get the biotech station and that medicine reward down there, still thinking though how, as the buyable rewards mod doesn't work for me.

I didn't know about some of the interactions, so thanks for the info.

I want more from the Science hobby, damn it! It had the potential to be such a good hobby for my nerdy sims. I don't really care about money making, but come on. A few more objects that build Science enthusiasm would have been nice. What about a microscope that they can use? There is a mod for the Biotech Station that makes the medicine etc. more useful, but although I have it I haven't even tried using the thing yet lol. Bug collecting should build Science enthusiasm too. Ever heard of Entomology?

Heh, you poked a sore spot. But Science could have been so much better.

The mod does make the medicine on the Biotech station work, I've tried it with success many times, I think its an Awesome one? I have a microscope from PC Sims (I think, sorry been playing for 10 years and have 60GBs of downloads so I can be a bit vague on where I got this stuff), it acts like the telescope but there is no fun rating and the sims don't gain any science enthusiasm. Come to think of it I should do something about that or maybe nicely ask the creator if they are still around.

Chess creates game enthusiasm, too, Pizza, and that, of course, increases logic. Chess is the great friendship builder for shy sims; and it's very satisfying when your shy little chess nerd husbles videogames when dragged to a party. "Oh, what does this button do?...Beginner's luck. Best two out of three? You'll beat me this time." And they triumph again.

Er, Pizza?

Oh and I'd really like to see that microscope if you can remember where you got it from.

Some things to help science be not be suckish.

Building robots builds science not tinkering http://modthesims.info/d/476334
Chess builds science not games http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=527048
Term paper for science http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=278734
Homework for science http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=278733

This is a different microscope and I don't think it builds enthusiasm, but here's one (and some nice science clutter) http://taylors-simblr.tumblr.com/po...eatherplayssims
Scroll down to the part where the person says they uploaded it to Box.

PC sims has a scope, it would be on the graveyard and there are recolours on here. i have it and I think it builds logic.

Without Katy 76's modded microscope, I think science would indeed be a suckfest. That microscope also builds logic skills somewhat quickly. It's an essential feature in my Science building on Uni lots. The game's hobby lot is "meh" as well.

"There's a mod for that" re sports ...Axe-throwing builds body skill, fitness and sports. Thank you, Sophie-David. http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=435442
Re Fitness: Log-rolling builds fitness: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=446789. Again, thanks to Sophie-David because really, these two make sense. According to the description of this mod, log-rolling also builds Sports enthusiasm. Admittedly, though, many lots can't exactly stick a log-rolling pit on the premises.

I subscribed to this thread. Very useful info. Thanks!

It is from PC Sims- see pic

Oh I have to have this, but its asking for a username and password? Can't see a way to register...

(Ok I think I have it, being very very blonde today, It was probably the shock of finding out EA are giving stuff away)

Found both microscopes. Thanks! Do either of them build Science enthusiasm?



Someone reblogged it here. http://taylors-simblr.tumblr.com/

Got it! Thank you very much
Edit, my PC Sims one doesn't and there is no fun either but there must be a way around that

Pizza, that was a very good read--Entertaining, thorough, and informative.

I have a few contributions:

An additional good thing about Cuisine is that everyone eats, so most sims have some enthusiasm in it. It's the hobby I most often have my sims talk about to other sims to get that want out of the panel.
An additional bad thing about Cuisine is that my sims who really get into it sooner or later find themselves fat. They usually want to serve a meal, instead of making one plate of food for themselves, and the food they make is often of such high quality that it has way more food points than needed to fulfill the occasional peckish feeling. I don't think I'd want this changed, because it makes sense that sims who really liked food would be on the heavy side, but I do consider it a negative because sims themselves often don't want to be fat and will roll wants to get fit or fears of being fat. (Silly little pixels should enjoy it when it doesn't entail the health risks that it does in real life!)
A very important benefit of science that you forgot (or maybe didn't know about? It seems to be an accidentally well-kept secret) is that the "Watch for UFOs" interaction on the big telescope actually increases a sim's chance of being abducted. I do not know what it's increased to, but under normal circumstances, the chance is 0.5%, or so I've read. That's incredibly slim odds for a non-knowledge, non-Curious, non-Strangetown male sim who you want to have a baby, so I'll take whatever increase I can get. In fact, I just did this ingame with a girl called Sonja--she grew into a teen and before I'd even rolled her aspiration, she rolled the want to get the Extraterrestrial Reparations Grant. I locked that post-haste, and she rolled Fortune. I guess she was willing to do whatever it took to get that hunk of cash! Anyway, when her science was high enough to Watch for UFOs, she got abducted the same night. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I kind doubt it.

But regarding Science--
I just discovered how frustrating the hobby is for myself ingame yesterday. I was looking into alternatives to continue the Mann family line, (since Candy is holding onto her newborn ball of blackmail tighter than a life preserver in a sea of middle-class morality) and the thought occurred to me that Junior might unfortunately find himself a father to a little someone from the Great Green Beyond. I wanted to use "Watch for UFOs", since this was Widespot and Junior is Fortune, but his science wasn't high enough to get there. After one night of stargazing, he was at three points--still not high enough to browse the web. I started looking at alternatives for him to use during the day to get his hobby enthusiasm up, only to find that there were none! Just the ant farm. So now I have a collection of pictures of Junior Mann pretending to be an ant over and over all day because he has nothing better to do with his life.

Interesting stuff. I did the same thing you did and had hobby dorms at my uni! I was playing all the premades in the megahood and aged down all the single, childless adults so I could send them to uni too. It was fun.

As for the hobbies themselves, A&C and nature are by far my faves. I love nature because all my lots have huge gardens anyway (because I love the juices, esp. pepper punch for pregnant sims - it's a godsend for non-cheaters like me) so any sims with nature as their OTH become in charge of the garden. I love A&C because those sims will be earning a gold sewing badge and have the ability to make outfits for everyone in their families/dorms/hoods/whatever.

I don't like the sports hobby very much because without the career rewards, you're left with the energy-sucking big objects that build body. I won't max a sim's sports hobby enthusiasm unless I can get one of those two rewards. For short quick fixes of fun, I let them watch sports on TV.

I don't understand your hatred of science! But maybe it's because I'm not trying to earn money from hobbies. To max my sim's science hobby I adjust their schedules (or dose them with espresso or pepper punch) and let them stargaze all night. My science dorm sims did this all the time. For quick fixes of fun (just like sports) I let them watch the weather channel on TV since that builds science enthusiasm as well. The biotech station is a pain; I never use it unless I need logic reaaally fast or my sim's logic skill is high enough that the chance is low that they'll make themselves sick.

I don't like having my gamer sim's play chess. Yes, it's a game and it builds their logic skill, but they always complain before they trudge off to do it. This is because gaming sims have playful personalities and chess is geared towards more serious sims.

Science is one of my favorite hobbies. My sims easily average $1000 a night from the telescope. For non-knowledge sims who want an alien baby (yeah, yeah, but they're family sims with locked baby wants so close enough for me) there's search for UFO's. I know I've heard that sometimes the UFO doesn't impregnate them, but I haven't had that happen yet.
I don't like film and literature--that should be two separate things and I wish my bookworm sims would stop rolling watch movie wants and vice versa. Likewise with music and dance. I feel that it would have made more sense to combine sports and fitness, which at least are closely related activities, than film and literature and music and dance.

EmeraldFalcon, have him watch the weather channel and check the weather report in the newspaper until he can read the relevant newspaper section--if someone hasn't stolen the newspaper. This is Widespot, after all, though at least Junior lives with the worst newspaper thief! (Too bad the stolen papers don't show up in Rich's inventory, huh?)

I think you got it pretty much right about the hobbies. I have always been disappointed with the science hobby, science is everywhere! Yet it seems like there's not nearly enough things for our science Sims to do. I think I'm more fond of the fitness hobby than you are, no particular reason why. But yes again I agree that the sports hobby sucks just as much as science. Those hobbies just seem to be incomplete and neglected.

As mentioned above, I have this mod to give my science Sims something else to do, rather than just watch planets. Seriously, EA may as well just call Science "Telescope enthusiast" and be done with it. I do have a lot of my Sims engaged in Fitness and Sports, though for Fitness - I wish there was a decorative object that boosts Fitness enthusiasm when viewed. I just have thoughts of grabbing a weight or something and sticking it onto my wall so my Fitness Sims don't need to go through the ridiculous hassle of changing into their athleticwear to use the treadmill, or clear out everything and everyone in their small apartments just so they can jump rope.

This is definitely very interesting, but all of the hobbies are good to me because I don't play strategically, I play more for a storyline/to see what happens.

I think my favourites are Arts & Crafts, Fitness, Nature and Tinkering. I wish they hadn't merged Music & Dance (but understand why they did) Film & Lit, Cuisine and gaming are quite boring to play IMO, I like Science and Sports for personality/story purposes but in real life I hate sports so that's meh, and there are not nearly enough science objects - though I tend to let my science and tinkering sims be the only ones who get aspiration rewards.

Don't forget for sports and fitness, you can earn money on community lots by coaching other sims.

And gamers can make money hustling pool and playing poker!

The chief benefit of fitness, for me, is eye candy. Fit male sims - oh, my! Plus some of the animations - yoga on coffee tables, those spectacular dives, the self-assured elegance of a fit sim bowling, the stunts fit sims can pull in the electrodance sphere - are aesthetically pleasing.

Ah, thanks for that mod. I might have to snag the robot and toy stations ones as I usually ignore them. Makes more sense.

I'd love if they came out with another hobby-themed EP for TS4, though I'm not holding out hope that anything in that game to be on par with anything from TS2. Besides, I doubt they'd do any sort of hobby EP since most of the hobby subjects are now kind of included in traits, which I think is one of the main problems with the trait system in general.

The hatred comes from them having nothing fun to do, especially kids. There are no contests that they can enter, nothing they can make. You don't find it really fun to watch them as they watch stars all night do you? That's what they are talking about, which is why I suggested those mods. I use both the chess and robot station ones as that way the kids can play chess and gain science enthusiasm and the older ones can make robots. What would have been cool was if science types could have had a chemistry kit like in Sims 3 or built some kind of models like a solar system mobile for their rooms or an atom stand or a microscope that worked. EA fell short on this hobby.

Yeah, I don't understand why there's no chemistry set in Freetime! They had one in Sims1 that made potions that did random things, and you had to learn which colors had which results, and figure out if you wanted to sell the potion, or influence someone else to drink it, or drink it yourself. All my scientist sims had it; and I had a custom version that the kids could get fun and logic off of, but not the potions. Because of course the kid version was non-toxic.

I would download the hell out of that if someone made it...Just saying.

Thank you! I downloaded the one for all three of them, cause I think it makes sense the robot station goes for science since it's more like inventing advanced complicated things while the toy station should be for tinkering since it's more building and crafting. At first I wasn't going to get the one for the flower machine to be for nature, but there are so many things already for arts & crafts I figured why not.