If flying in a rocket and traveling to space sounds like something that might catch your interest in The Sims 4, then you’ll probably want to check out the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario. This one isn’t labelled as easy, per se, but it’s not the most challenging scenario to complete. However, it’s made much easier when you go in prepared and knowing what you’re doing and what you need to look out for. This guide ensures that you get the best out of the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario and complete it efficiently.
We also have a guide to completing the Plant-A-Sim Scenario, if you’d like to check that out.
How to Start the Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario
Getting going with the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario is very easy. You just need to do the following:
- From the start menu, select Play Scenario.
- Scroll down until you find Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario. It should be found under Challenge Scenarios.
- Select Play Now.
You can find the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario under Challenge Scenarios.
You will next get a choice of 3 options, which are:
- Create a new household in a current save.
- Play an existing household in a current save.
- Create a new household in a new save.
Create any household you like, whether it be a single Sim or a full house. Just make sure at least one Sim is a Young Adult or older.
Pick whichever option suits you best, but before you choose, you might want to read our “Tips Before You Begin” section to make sure you’re properly prepared.
- If you choose to create a new household, you will be taken into Create-A-Sim. You can create any household of Sims you like, but one of them must be a Young Adult or older. You then need to move them into a Lot in any world of your choosing.
- If you choose to play with an existing household, one of the Sims must be at least a Young Adult or older.
- Once you have created or chosen your household and they have loaded up, you’ll see the scenario introduction pop-up screen and you’ll begin!
Tips Before You Begin the Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario
The Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario is listed as being Intermediate, meaning it is neither really easy or really difficult. However, there are some things to help you be prepared, to make completing the scenario a little easier:
- Have a Sim with the Genius Trait: Genius Sims tend to lean towards logic-based tasks such as Logic, Programming, Video Gaming, and Rocket Science. Sims with this trait also more easily become Focused, which builds Rocket Science faster.
- Have Your Sim Join the Astronaut Career: Naturally, as your Sim will be working on their rocket and going into space, this seems like an ideal career to be in. Your Sim will also earn money, which they’ll need a lot of to build and upgrade their rocket. Also, whichever branch they choose, at the highest level, your Sim will unlock a new rocket they can build.
- Move Into a Lot With Plenty of Space for a Rocket: You don’t need to move into an expensive property, but you do need a lot of space to place a rocket. Rocket ships take up 5 x 6 squares, so make sure you have the room for it.
- Have at least §6,000 Simoleons: This is a lot of money, but you’ll need at least this much to buy a rocket, as well as build it. If you don’t have these funds, you can use the “kaching” or “motherlode” cheats to give you either §1,000 or §50,000. Otherwise, go out into the world and dig up some collectibles to make some quick money.
- Have Your Sim “Like” Rocket Science: You can assign Likes and Dislikes to your Sim. Ideally, you want your Sim to “Like” Rocket Science, as they’ll be spending a lot of time with rockets. This will put them in a good mood and boost their Fun Need.
Being in the Astronaut career isn’t a requirement, but you’ll get paid good money and your Rocket Science skill can be put to use.
Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario Walkthrough
Now we can begin with the scenario. We’ll take you step-by-step the best way to complete this scenario, beginning with buying and building a rocket ship.
The ultimate goal for the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario is to bring back 5 aliens from space. We’ll show you exactly how you can do that.
Additionally, at the start of this scenario, your Sim may get a jump start in the Rocket Science skill, bumping them up to level 3. This will give them a good head start for when they build their rocket and want to do advanced upgrades later, since you need to max the skill out to access every one.
Once you load your household, you’ll get a message introducing you to the scenario, reminding you of the ultimate goal and the rewards you can get.
Buy a Rocket Ship
You can’t exactly go to space without a rocket ship, so your first step is to buy one. Unless you’re at the top of the Astronaut career, you’ll most likely only have access to one rocket. You can get this from the Buy Catalog.
Finding the Rocket in the Buy Catalog
What you’re looking for is a rocket called the Steampunk Flyamajig. You can find it under Outdoor Activities, Knowledge, and Misc (Activities & Skills) – or you can just type the name into the search bar. It will cost you §5,000. It’s not cheap to fly into space!
Only one rocket ship is available unless you’re at the very top of the Astronaut career. It’s available from the Buy Catalog.
A Space to Put the Rocket
Even if you can afford it, you still need somewhere to place the rocket. You need a space of 5 x 6 squares. However, the rocket doesn’t come pre-built. Your Sim needs to put it all together! This leads to our next step.
If you’re playing a new starter household, there are plenty of affordable starter homes where you’ll have money left over to buy a rocket, as well as enough space to put it. Otherwise, move into an empty plot of land, build a small basic home, and then you’ll have space for the rocket.
You don’t need an enormous amount of space to put a rocket, but make sure your Sim’s home has enough room.
Build a Rocket Ship
You’ve bought the rocket, but now you need to assemble it. This can take some time, and patience! It could take a day or so, even more, to construct the rocket.
Getting Started
Before you begin, you need an additional §1,000 to actually construct the rocket ship. If you have these funds, go right ahead and start building. It’s going to take a while!
You don’t need any experience in Rocket Science to start building a rocket. This is actually a great way of building the skill before you head into space.
Even after spending a small fortune on a rocket ship, you need an extra 1000 Simoleons to build it.
Get Into a Focused Mood
When working on the rocket, make sure that your Sim is in a Focused Mood. This builds the Rocket Science skill faster, and you’ll need to take great advantage of this if you want to have more success. There are lots of ways to get Focused, including:
- Drinking a Focused potion
- Playing chess
- Using a telescope
- Browsing Simpedia on a computer
- Having the Genius trait
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- Building the rocket, stage 1.
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- Building the rocket, stage 2.
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- Building the rocket, stage 3.
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- A fully-built rocket ship.
Have Other Sims Help to Build
If you have other Sims on your Lot, you can get them to join in with your Sim building the rocket. Even if they’re not going to use the rocket, having extra hands means the rocket gets built faster.
Eventually, the rocket ship will be built and it will finally be ready to take off into space!
Have Adventures in Space!
Now you’ve got a rocket, you can attend to the matter in hand: bringing back some aliens from space. At this stage, your Rocket Science skill should be about midway up (4 – 6).
Explore Space
To get you started, send your Sim into space via the rocket using the Explore option. You can visit space as many times as you like. Adventures don’t tend to last too long, a few hours each time, so you can go on several adventures in one day.
To send your Sim into space on a new adventure, select Explore.
Make Choices Carefully to Bring a Souvenir Back
In typical fashion of The Sims, you cannot follow your Sim into space during these outings. However, the pop-up messages you get while your Sim is away in their rocket gives you a good idea of what’s going on. In fact, you are prompted to make the next call on what your Sim does.
There are lots of different adventures your Sim can have in space, but the key is to try and bring something back – especially an alien. Also, it’s ideal to come back in one piece and not have a nasty crash landing, which can sometimes happen! (If you do crash, you’ll need §1,000 to rebuild the rocket, but the process is very quick.)
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- Whoops! I knew I should have installed those landing stabilizers!
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- If you crash your rocket, you can rebuild it, but it will cost 1000 Simoleons.
You’ll usually be presented with two options, which may lead onto further options. Choose wisely, as these can have serious consequences. Your Sim might bring something back from their adventure, or they may run into trouble. This is where having upgrades for your rocket can be helpful.
However, with or without upgrades, you might get lucky and bring a souvenir back in the form of an alien!
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- You’ll be given some important decisions that will impact the success of the trip.
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- Hopefully, your Sim will bring something back from their trip.
Bringing Aliens Back From Space
Traveling to and from space, your Sim will inevitably bring back some souvenirs with them. There are a few out-of-this-world collectibles they can obtain, including:
- Space rocks. There are 4 types: common, uncommon, large, and unnaturally large.
- Dead aliens. There are 5 of these: red coral, space porcupine, pink whale, blue slug, and space squid.
- Living specimen. You can also bring back living versions of the dead aliens.
- You may also acquire a Fossilized Ancient Skull, which is rare.
All these items are desirable, but the ones you want to bring back are either dead or living aliens. Although the goal description requests “living” aliens, the dead aliens do in fact count towards this task.
Altogether, you need 5 aliens to complete the scenario.
What you want to find most is an alien.
Rocket Upgrades
To improve your chances of more successful trips into space, you should upgrade your rocket. If you’re not having a lot of luck with a basic rocket, it might be time to consider doing so. Upgrades can be expensive, but they’re well worth doing.
Here’s the full list of upgrades you can give to your rocket:
| Rocket Science Skill Level | Rocket Ship Upgrade | Upgrade Cost |
| Level 1 | Landing Stabilizers | §500 |
| Level 3 | Expand Fuel Storage Tank | §700 |
| Level 5 | Improve Maneuvering Thrusters | §1,000 |
| Level 6 | Expand Cargo Bay | §1,300 |
| Level 7 | Install Ion Cannon Defense System | §1,750 |
| Level 9 | Install Landing Computer | §2,500 |
| Level 10 | Install Wormhole Generator (Get to Work Only) | §1,000 |
Altogether, it costs a total of §8,750 to fully upgrade your rocket.
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- There are several upgrades available. They each contribute to making space trips more successful.
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- Upgrades can take time, but they build the Rocket Science skill.
You don’t necessarily need to upgrade your rocket to complete this scenario. However, it does have many advantages, such as:
- You’ll be able to bring back more collectibles, increasing your chances of bringing back an alien, if not multiple aliens.
- You’ll unlock new adventures, giving you more opportunities to find collectibles.
- If your rocket is ambushed during an adventure, you can defend yourself, improving the chance of a successful trip and landing.
- The chances of you crashing the rocket (which costs money), decreases dramatically.
Traveling to Sixam (Get to Work Expansion)
If you have The Sims 4 Get to Work Expansion Pack, you have an extra advantage. In fact, this is a big bonus, and gives you a better chance of completing the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario quicker. Once you max out the Rocket Science skill, you can upgrade your rocket ship so you can travel to the alien planet Sixam. There, you can find all kinds of cool extraterrestrial collectibles, including alien specimen!
Reach Level 10 Rocket Science
To get to Sixam, you first need to get to level 10 of the Rocket Science skill. This is done by:
- Exploring space with the rocket ship
- Upgrading the rocket
- Reading Rocket Science skill books
Remember to have your Sim Focused while learning Rocket Science so they’ll advance their skill faster.
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- By spending a lot of time working on your rocket and visiting space, you can quickly reach level 10.
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- You can read skill books on Rocket Science, but it is better exploring space and upgrading your rocket.
Wormhole Generator Upgrade
Once they max out their skill, use the Install Wormhole Generator upgrade on your rocket. This upgrade will allow you to travel to Sixam.
When the upgrade has been finished, you can travel to Sixam any time you like with the Travel Through Wormhole interaction on the rocket.
The Wormhole Generator upgrade grants you access to Sixam.
Exploring Sixam
You will arrive at Sixam, an incredible alien world with lots to explore. You can also meet aliens here. In Sixam, you can gather unique collectibles not found anywhere else, including crystals, rocks, geodes, harvestables, and alien specimen.
When you visit Sixam, make the most of your trip by exploring the world and gathering as many unique collectibles as you can find. It can be easy to lose track of time in Sixam, and it’s a big place to traverse across. There isn’t access to facilities like toilets and beds and food stands, so keep an eye on your Sim’s Needs. If they get low, you might need to consider heading back home. It’s best to visit Sixam when all your Needs are full and in the green.
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- Sixam is an amazing one-of-a-kind world.
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- You can find unusual plant life at Sixam.
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- Once you collect these rocks, you need to Polish them to reveal the geode.
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- Crystals can be found at Sixam.
Finding Alien Collectibles
To find alien specimen, you need to look in a specific place. You should come across a rock like a miniature volcano, with a green glowing light coming from the top. Send your Sim to check it out. If you’re lucky, you should come up with an alien!
Sometimes, these rocks may have been searched, leaving you with nothing to find. If that happens, look for another similar rock. You can come back to Sixam another time and that rock will have something to collect.
You can visit Sixam as many times as you like. There’s no limit, and every time you visit, there will be collectibles to gather.
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- Look out for these unusual-shaped rocks with a glowing green light. They may contain an alien!
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- Get your Sim to search the green glowing rock to find the alien.
Quick Summary on How to Complete the Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario
Completing the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario is more-or-less straightforward once you know what you need to do. In summary, the basic steps are:
- Buy a rocket
- Build the rocket
- Upgrade the rocket
- Explore space and have adventures, making choices so you’re likely to bring something back
- (With Get to Work) Upgrade the rocket with Wormhole Generator
- Travel to Sixam and find alien specimen in special rocks
Once the fifth alien has been collected, the scenario will be declared as completed.
Reward for Completing Extraterrestrial Researcher
Once you have collected 5 alien specimen (alive or dead), the scenario will officially be completed. Once the fifth alien has been collected, you’ll get a notification and receive your reward. This reward comes in the form of Satisfaction Points, and a lot of them. These points can then be used to buy reward items in the Reward Store, making playing The Sims 4 easier for you and your Sim.
You’ll get a message at end telling you how many days you spent on the scenario. You’ll also receive your reward.
Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario Conclusion
By the time you finish the Extraterrestrial Researcher scenario, your Sim should be a master of Rocket Science and traveling to space and back in their upgraded rocket. Your Sim will be able to travel to space to find unique collectibles that can be sold for a tidy profit.
At this point, if your Sim isn’t signed up in the Astronaut career, you might want to consider doing so. Your Sim will make a lot of money, plus be able to unlock new rockets to build.
