What is the fastest way to get popularity level up?

[xBenlander]

I was doing fine until I hit 60% on level 6 and I've just stalled right there ever since. Not sure what I am doing wrong as I keep my shelves stocked and I don't let customers wait too long. Also all my buildings are fully upgraded. I've bought all decorations and features and i've hired all the staff I can get. 

[Shipyroni]

The only way to gain popularity is to serve customers (yourself; the ones served by your staff don’t count; toilers count, though) and make them leave happy. It’s as simple as that. You serve one customer and if you do everything right, they’ll give you one point. I can’t remember how many you need during level 6, but it’s 1000 during level 7, 3000 during level 8, and 5000 to go from level 9 to level 10 and pop the last trophy. I’m sorry to say you’re not even half way through the game. You can open the computer and you’ll see how many clients you have left to level up on that screen. Since it’s totally dependent on the flux of costumers that come to your store, it’s a very slow process. I’m gaining like 4% of popularity per *1 played hour* during level 9.  To boost a little bit, always do those challenges that pop up from time to time (they’re the same as serving 10 costumers) and make sure the party bus is turned on. Never close your shop or reset traffic unless your orders are stuck and there’s nothing you can do to solve it (always save before ordering a deliver, sometimes if you load your save again and reorder the truck will arrive) - doing this will cost you popularity, and you may have to serve up to 50-100 costumers again to compensate. 

Keep your shop and toilet clean: hire all 5 workers and always place one or two in cleaning. Leave one or two employees to the workshop because there are too many mini-games and they take you much longer for just one point (or do them yourself if you enjoy, of course!). Always work the register and fuel cars yourself. Walls, decorations, etc. don’t matter, you just need clean garbage bins and some products to sell. You also don’t need to have that many categories for sale, they’ll buy whatever you have - pick a couple categories with small items so you don’t mess up the scan and some shelves and restock from time to time using big orders. Waiting times are also indifferent. So, it’s really 1 served customer = 1 point.

Good luck, and don’t forget to have patience! 

[xBenlander]

Oh dang I didn't know all that. I guess I'm in for a grind. Thank you! 

[Skurkitty]

1 hour ago, HeyaBen said:

Oh dang I didn't know all that. I guess I'm in for a grind. Thank you! 

Alternatively, take a break and wait for the couple of DLCs on PC to make their way to the console editions. That's not to say they'll cut down any of the requirements for rep, but it'll add more content to the game instead of scanning and fueling yourself to death. This is what I've ended up deciding to do after seeing the slowest crawl in the world after Rep 8. To each their own, but just a thought.

[Toxicmatic-]

Best way to gain popularity points is to doing everything yourself, screw the employees, fire them all. To the cashier, gas & repairs yourself. If you don't feel like doing repairs cause they take too long, but don't want to avoid them & lose popularity. Just hit the bottom on both lifts with vehicles on them & don't repair them, they stay there forever until you quit then you have to do it again. Also, it doesn't make a difference if a customer buys 30 products or 1 product from your station, you'll still only get one popularity point each time. Just have one shelve with drinks (pop, soda) & another with snacks (Chips, cookies etc). Keep the station & washroom area clean. if you dont, you'll get neg popularity. I would turn off sandstorms cuz sand piles will form causing traffic & also Dennis cuz he's annoying unless you want him to tag your station up then all to yaa lol
this is the fastest way I found to gain popularity. You probably already know by now but there will points in the game where vehicles get stuck wayyy up/down the road places you can't get to or delivery not showing up. saving & going to main menu helps sometimes. If it doesn't hit the reset but before you do, Make sure you close the station & everyone/vehicle is off the property or you'll get neg popularity, losing a few % of progress you just grinded a hr or so for. Yes the last two levels are a grind & there's no short glitchy exploit way like the pc version. So just listen to podcast or watch yt & you'll get the plat in no time.

***I also doubt we'll ever see the DLC's come to console, Idk about these devs but others have history with not. If a game is mainly a pc release they focus more on that. I'm still waiting for "thief Simulator" DLC for console which was over 2 years ago now.. Gas station sim just got a christmas dlc too on pc you'd think they would of at least put one of the dlc's on the console. They haven't even updated this game yet with patches that are needed.. I wouldn't hold my breath, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Toxicmatic-

[Rowbokop]

On 4/01/2023 at 8:47 PM, Toxicmatic- said:

If you don't feel like doing repairs cause they take too long, but don't want to avoid them & lose popularity. Just hit the bottom on both lifts with vehicles on them & don't repair them, they stay there forever until you quit then you have to do it again.

Hi there, can you just clarify what you mean by this? As in raise the lifts with vehicles on them until you can go back and repair them and they won’t get frustrated and leave? They’ll stay there forever until you go back and repair them?

 

Thanks

[Rowbokop]

Also, can anyone confirm if doing the repairs yourself is indeed faster? I would’ve thought having them do the repairs for you means you get through more customers? Or does the increase in popularity you get by doing them yourself outweigh the quantity they get through?

[Sylvanticore]

I'm currently going from Rank 9 to 10 and I only now just realised how to make things a little big easier for yourself, I'll admit I never bothered doing the repairs since they can take some time but after looking at the last post I'll try it. But since hitting rank 9 I closed the store, took out everything and only put up shelves for food, drinks, alcohol and cigarettes. It has made scanning a lot easier now since the items are small so if the customer has loads of items it no longer causes them to stack high and not enter the basket. So now I just have 2 people I switch between cleaning and doing the garage while I focus fuel and scanning, been easier and faster I feel since then since I make less mess ups now.

[Rowbokop]

Yea I ended up doing the repairs myself as well so you’re basically just running around between till, pumps and garage and let your employees do the cleaning. If you lift the cars up on the hoist, you do indeed get as much time as you need to go back to them (answering my own question from the previous post) without the customers leaving in a huff.

 

Not sure if doing the repairs myself was actually quicker or not but within a few days I got from level 8 to 10 and the platinum. You don’t even need the ciggies and the booze. Literally just 1 shelf of food and 1 shelf of drink. It doesn’t matter how many items the customer buys - 1 customer is 1 popularity. I had zero issues scanning with just these two.

[Sylvanticore]

3 hours ago, Rowbokop said:

Yea I ended up doing the repairs myself as well so you’re basically just running around between till, pumps and garage and let your employees do the cleaning. If you lift the cars up on the hoist, you do indeed get as much time as you need to go back to them (answering my own question from the previous post) without the customers leaving in a huff.

 

Not sure if doing the repairs myself was actually quicker or not but within a few days I got from level 8 to 10 and the platinum. You don’t even need the ciggies and the booze. Literally just 1 shelf of food and 1 shelf of drink. It doesn’t matter how many items the customer buys - 1 customer is 1 popularity. I had zero issues scanning with just these two.

That will make my life easier then, i'll just have food and drinks

Edited September 9, 2023 by Sylvanticore

[Unfathomable]

There is now a free DLC available on Playstation - the 'Party' DLC.

Get this and you will be able to add a Party Spot.  Keep the party vending machines stocked and you will get a major boost to popularity each time one finishes.

Now I am finding the Party's a bit strange, sometimes they seem to run for ever.  Save the game, quit the game and reload and the party should then end.

I'm seeing upwards of +300 popularity from each one.  There is a cooldown timer, but if you are like me and were just grinding out those last few popularity levels, then this is a far quicker method.

There are other benifits to the free DLC, like upgraded textures, car wash, ice cream kiosk, and the ability to shut individual elements of the station.  E.g. close Garage and pump 3.

Great game, but would have been nicer to get to max popularity in a less grindy way.  Maybe by leveling up your staff and having them provide better service and increase the popularity that way.  Staff members don't seem to increase popularity even at max skills.

Edited February 15 by Unfathomable

[The_Last_DJ]

On 2/15/2024 at 11:36 AM, Unfathomable said:

There is now a free DLC available on Playstation - the 'Party' DLC.

Get this and you will be able to add a Party Spot.  Keep the party vending machines stocked and you will get a major boost to popularity each time one finishes.

Now I am finding the Party's a bit strange, sometimes they seem to run for ever.  Save the game, quit the game and reload and the party should then end.

I'm seeing upwards of +300 popularity from each one.  There is a cooldown timer, but if you are like me and were just grinding out those last few popularity levels, then this is a far quicker method.

There are other benifits to the free DLC, like upgraded textures, car wash, ice cream kiosk, and the ability to shut individual elements of the station.  E.g. close Garage and pump 3.

Great game, but would have been nicer to get to max popularity in a less grindy way.  Maybe by leveling up your staff and having them provide better service and increase the popularity that way.  Staff members don't seem to increase popularity even at max skills.

Thank you for this, I have been chugging away at this just to get the platinum and this sounds like a fantastic way to get those last few levels.  Tonight I shall give it a whirl.  

 

Edit:  Just to follow up on this, I downloaded it and did my first party.  At level 8 jumped from 2% to 14% so I am really happy with this.

Edited February 20 by The_Last_DJ

[Sup-Andy]

Is the popularity grind a lot quicker/tolerable since the DLC's have landed? I've been wanting to platinum this one for a long time but the thought of 100h mindlessly grinding Popularity level 10 kind of puts me off. 

[xBenlander]

On 3/8/2024 at 4:15 AM, Sup-Andy said:

Is the popularity grind a lot quicker/tolerable since the DLC's have landed? I've been wanting to platinum this one for a long time but the thought of 100h mindlessly grinding Popularity level 10 kind of puts me off. 

I ended up just grinding the original game and getting the plat, but I have heard multiple times that the new DLC does speed up the grind quite a bit.