Revision as of 21:34, 12 December 2009

Rocks, Gems, and Metals

In The Sims 3, there are a lot of collectible items found around town. These items can be fun to collect, and valuable too. A full guide to these gems (including how to make the best profits) is below.

Collecting Rocks, Gems, and Metals

You can find these collectibles in various ways:

• Regular Collecting: Space rocks, metal ores, and raw gems will appear or "spawn" on the ground. They tend to spawn around landmarks like mines, clusters of trees, or boulders, though they may be out in the open too (especially space rocks). Particular rocks, metals, and gems will spawn in particular locations and will not spawn everywhere. Each location can have several items that can spawn there at different rates. Which items spawn for your sims is random - you are just as likely to find a rare one on your first day collecting as your hundredth. This can be a quick way of collecting lots of rocks, gems, and metals, but can be time consuming with your sim running all over.

• Exploring Catacombs: The mausoleum in each of the graveyards can be explored to find rocks, gems, and metals as well as other collectibles like books, seeds, and gnomes.

• Rummaging in Trash: The "rummage" option on trashcans of inhabited homes can result in a mixture of items ranging from rubber duckies and bubble bath to high-value rare gems, metals, and rocks - but it also tends to fill your sim's inventory with Trash, which will give them a Disgusted moodlet and make them stink. Rich sims tend to have higher value items in their trash than middle class or poor sims.

• Breaking Space Rocks: In EP1: World Adventures, when your sims get high enough in Martial Arts skill, they can break Space Rock blocks instead of wood or stone blocks. There is a 70% chance when breaking a Space Rock Block that your sim will get at least one gem (though you can get up to three gems from one block). This means a 30% chance of getting nothing, 49% chance of getting a low value gem, 19.6% chance of a medium value gem, and about a 1% chance of getting a high value gem. This can be the most profitable and easiest method of collecting gems, since your sim can stay at home and do it in their living room and just pick up the goods afterward.

• Tomb Adventuring: In EP1: World Adventures, you can locate items laying around in tombs, hidden in holes, and in treasure chests. For more information on tomb adventuring, see: Tomb Adventuring.

Gems

Many precious and semi-precious stones (some real, some simaginary) can be collected for fun and profit. Some are more rare and valuable than others, and you can get them cut to enhance their beauty, and depending on the cut, their value too. Gems look lovely on display in your sims' homes.

Gem Spawn Locations

Some of the rarest gems, Rainbow Gem and Pink Diamond, can be an almighty pain to find due to their extremely low spawn rates. Below are the spawn locations for those two rarest gems in Sunset Valley. You may have to wait quite a while for the gems to spawn there, but at least you know where to go to look. These may not be complete spawn locations - they may spawn in more locations than these.

Rainbow Gem Spawn Locations

Near the beach, across the road from the three vacant lots on Redwood Pkwy, between a large pine tree and a big rock.	On a small hill to the right of the path leading up to the mine on Pinochle Point.	Right behind Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corp, near the dumpster and pink tree. May spawn outside the fence, or inside it.

Pink Diamond Spawn Locations

Near the beach, on the hill below Wagner's Repose on Redwood Pkwy.	On a little rise just off the path leading up to Pinochle Pond, near Goth Manor.	About halfway down the path behind Llama Memorial Stadium, leading to Crystal Springs, behind/under/around a bush at the bend in the path.

Regular Gem Values

The chart below is for the regular gems only. Numbers indicated are the minimum and maximum values per cut. Average profit is listed in parentheses, and the cut with the best average profit per type is in bold. Average profit is: (Minimum uncut cost x Cut multiplier) + (Maximum uncut cost x Cut multiplier) / 2 - Cut cost

If you just want to know the best cut to use per gem, just look at which one is bolded. Using that cut will, on average, give you the highest profit, though this may vary from one particular gem to another.

Name	Icon	Expansion	Uncut	Emerald Cut	Oval Cut	Pear Cut	Plumbbob Cut	Marquis Cut	Crystal Ball Cut	Brilliant Cut	Heart Cut
Blue Topaz		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§9-21 (15)	§11-26 (9)	§14-32 (3)	§16-37 (-9)	§18-42 (-20)	§21-48 (-41)	§23-55 (-61)	§32-74 (-198)	§45-105 (-925)
Smoky Quartz		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§15-25 (20)	§19-31 (15)	§23-38 (10)	§26-44 (0)	§30-50 (-10)	§35-58 (-29)	§39-65 (-48)	§53-88 (-180)	§75-125 (-900)
Emerald		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§20-30 (25)	§25-38 (21)	§30-45 (18)	§35-53 (9)	§40-60 (0)	§46-69 (-18)	§52-78 (-35)	§70-105 (-163)	§100-150 (-875)
Ruby		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§25-35 (30)	§31-44 (28)	§38-53 (25)	§44-61 (18)	§50-70 (10)	§58-81 (-6)	§65-91 (-22)	§88-123 (-145)	§125-175 (-850)
Yellow Sapphire		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§35-60 (48)	§44-75 (49)	§53-90 (51)	§61-105 (48)	§70-120 (45)	§81-138 (34)	§91-156 (24)	§123-210 (-84)	§175-300 (-763)
Tanzanite		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§65-95 (80)	§81-119 (90)	§98-143 (100)	§114-166 (105)	§130-190 (110)	§150-219 (109)	§169-247 (108)	§228-333 (30)	§325-475 (-600)
Diamond		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§100-200 (150)	§125-250 (178)	§150-300 (205)	§175-350 (228)	§200-400 (250)	§230-460 (270)	§260-520 (290)	§350-700 (275)	§500-1000 (-250)
Luminorious Gem		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§150-350 (250)	§188-438 (303)	§225-525 (355)	§263-613 (403)	§300-700 (450)	§345-805 (500)	§390-910 (550)	§525-1225 (625)	§750-1750 (250)
Rainbow Gem		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§450-700 (575)	§563-875 (709)	§675-1050 (843)	§788-1225 (971)	§900-1400 (1100)	§1035-1610 (1248)	§1170-1820 (1395)	§1575-2450 (1763)	§2250-3500 (1875)
Pink Diamond		File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg	§1200-1650 (1425)	§1500-2063 (1771)	§1800-2475 (2118)	§2100-2888 (2459)	§2400-3300 (2800)	§2760-3795 (3203)	§3120-4290 (3605)	§4200-5775 (4738)	§6000-8250 (6125)
Opal		(France)	§350-520 (435)	§438-650 (534)	§525-780 (633)	§613-910 (726)	§700-1040 (820)	§805-1196 (926)	§910-1352 (1031)	§1225-1820 (1273)	§1750-2600 (1175)
Citrine		(France)	§35-53 (44)	§44-66 (45)	§53-80 (46)	§61-93 (42)	§70-106 (38)	§81-122 (26)	§91-138 (14)	§123-186 (-96)	§175-265 (-780)
Turquoise		(Egypt)	§60-70 (65)	§75-88 (71)	§90-105 (78)	§105-123 (79)	§120-140 (80)	§138-161 (75)	§156-182 (69)	§210-245 (-23)	§300-350 (-675)
Alabaster		(Egypt)	§9-55 (32)	§11-69 (30)	§14-83 (28)	§16-96 (21)	§18-110 (14)	§21-127 (-1)	§23-143 (-17)	§32-193 (-138)	§45-275 (-840)
Jade		(China)	§120-240 (180)	§150-300 (215)	§18-360 (250)	§210-420 (280)	§240-480 (310)	§276-552 (339)	§312-624 (368)	§420-840 (380)	§600-1200 (-100)
Lapis Lazuli		(China)	§12-30 (21)	§15-38 (16)	§18-45 (12)	§21-53 (2)	§24-60 (-8)	§28-69 (-27)	§31-78 (-45)	§42-105 (-177)	§60-150 (-895)
Amethyst		(France)	§18-24 (21)	§23-30 (16)	§27-36 (12)	§32-42 (2)	§36-48 (-8)	§41-55 (-27)	§47-62 (-45)	§63-84 (-177)	§90-120 (-895)
Quartz			§10-18 (14)	§13-23 (8)	§15-27 (1)	§18-32 (-11)	§20-36 (-22)	§23-41 (-43)	§26-47 (-64)	§35-63 (-201)	§50-90 (-930)

Other Gems

In addition to those listed above, there are several special types of gems:

Septarian Nodule and Geode

Name	Icon	Expansion	Uncut	Polished Split Cut	Heart Cut
Geode			§15-120 (68)	§36-288 (117)	§75-600 (-663)
Septarian Nodule			§50-350 (195)	§120-840 (435)	§240-1750 (0)

Tiberium

Tiberium is a special gem. As an uncut gem, it is worth §75-125. After the uncut gem has been kept in your sim's inventory for some time, the sim will become nauseous. After that, you can take the uncut Tiberium out of the sim's inventory. After that, the ore will change into a Large Spire Cut which glows green.

You can also get it cut yourself into either a Spire or Heart cut, but the outcome will not be near as valuable and it should grow to a Large Spire Cut eventually anyway. In both uncut and spire form, it periodically puts off a glowing green "splash" and has a soft "ping" sort of noise that goes off at the same time. In Large Spire Cut form it is incredibly valuable - upwards of 40,000 simoleons.

Soulpeace

§1450-2100

Gem Cut Information

Regular Gem Cuts

Icon	Name	Unlocked After X Cuts	Cut Multiplier	Cut Cost
	Emerald	0 (Always Available)	1.25x	§10
	Oval	4	1.5x	§20
	Pear	8	1.75x	§35
	Plumbbob	16	2x	§50
	Marquis	30	2.3x	§75
	Crystal Ball	45	2.6x	§100
	Brilliant	60	3.5x	§250
	Heart	(After Sim finds 10 types of gems)	5x	§1000

Geode and Septarian Nodule Cut

Geodes and Septarian Nodules only have two cuts: Polished Split Cut and Heart Cut. The info for Polished Split Cut is below. Heart Cut information is above in the Regular Gem Cuts table.

Icon	Name	Unlocked After X Cuts	Cut Multiplier	Cut Cost
	Polished Split	0 (Always Available)	2.4x	§45

Gem Related Challenges

Metals

Your sims can also locate various rocks and ores scattered around your neighbourhood to collect and sell. These ores can be smelted by sending them off by mail. The next time the mail comes, your sims can check the mail and retrieve the ingots, which can then be sold or displayed. Ingots will stack on top of each other.

Ores/Metals

A stack of all five types of metals (from the base game) as ingots.

Name	Ore Icon	Smelted Icon	Weight	Value	Expansion
Iron			1-52	§7-20	File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg
Silver			1-52	§25-35	File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg
Gold			1-52	§40-120	File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg
Palladium			80-300	§300-500	File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg
Plutonium			0.1-5	§1000-1800	File:TS3-base-game-icon.jpg
Mummitomium			150-450	§750-1200	(Egypt)
Copper			1-52	§15-31	(Egypt)
Iridium			1-11	§75-155	(France)
Titanium			75-105	§450-700	(France)
Platinum			1-52	§250-336	(China)
Mercury *			1-52	§100-400	(China)
Compendium			1100-5500	Input metals +25% (See below)
Supernovium			35000-55000	§3500-5500

Mercury

Though Mercury starts as an ore, when smelted it returns to you as a liquid in a vial rather than an ingot. Solid mercury is available through Transfiguration.

Compendium

Compendium may be collected as a regular ore, or is available via Transfiguration. It cannot be purchased.

Supernovium

Supernovium may rarely be available for purchase at the relic merchant or collected as ore, but is usually obtained via Transfiguration. Placing at least 5 different types of metals for Transfiguration results in Supernovium ore.

Metal Related Challenges

Rocks

Various space rocks in different sizes can be collected by your sims. These are assigned a base value, which may change or stay the same when your sim Analyzes the rocks. You can "Analyze All" to get the true value of all the rocks in a whole stack. Rocks can be placed on display or sold. They're the most boring of rocks, gems, and metals.

Rock Names

Values of the rocks found are calculated by the (weight of rock) x (multiplier), unsure of exact formula and price.

Rock Related Challenges

Related Pages

• Game Help:Sims 3 Transfiguration