Do You Keep a Utility Sim? ("mule")

[samoht04]

I don't use any Mules unless old Elderly Heirs of my Legacy count?

I will use them in Challenges if I am allowed because it can speed things up a bit. Like in the Nectar Challenge the Nectar maker would get the nectar going then help in the Garden until it was time for more nectar.

[Joria]

Lol!  That is exactly what I do with my Grandma!  At the moment she's got the finder thingie that helps you find gems, bugs, etc., so she does the search, I set all the others out gathering the goodies and while they are doing that she is either cooking for their return or doing nectar or such.  I can gather up a lot of gems/minerals that way.

[LlamaMama]

Isn't Pause a wondrous thing!

[samoht04]

A lot of the time I think Triple Speed is, especially when your Sim is taking forever to wash/eat etc. I see why you would want a Utility Sim now, they have made cooking time more realistic I think? So that might be a benefit to a Utility Sim if their own needs don't matter, my problem is I am too nice to my sims! 

[Forge84]

Sometimes, I keep a second sim to handle all the housework and whatnot. Like when I started Ambitions, I knew I wanted to spend most of my time worrying about inventing, so I made the brother of my inventor the mule.

Most of the time, I prefer to have my sims be self-reliant and handle everything themselves whenever they can, though when things get way out of hand they don't have time to clean, I might use a maid for a couple days.

[ik]

I do not have any fixed plan of which sim does which job, but just chose spontaneously whenever something comes up. Usually my sims all end up with a decent amount of handiness (from unclogging toilets ), cooking and gardening skills no matter what I had planned for them to be/do in the beginning. I could never limit one sim to one area of activities and the other sim to another area, that would make me very nervous .

[Tweetybird100]

I have gotten Ambitions & my inventor sim made a mule for him & his founder wife: A SIMBOT SLAVE MUAHAHA!!!!!    I recommend simbots 4 mules as they don't get dirty from gardening, they come with some handiness skill & when they get lonely they don't have to bother my legacy family: they can hug the microwave. 

[LlamaMama]

Just yesterday I started playing my simbot as a utility sim. She had shorted out because she'd accidentally broken the stereo, and was overwhelmed with regret about it. Isn't that sad?

I reprogrammed her to enjoy household tasks and since then she's been a huge help to my inventor. Only now, he doesn't know what to do with all his time when he gets sick of making widgets. I don't know how many times he's read The Adventures of Raymundo!

[sydney511]

I had a live-in nanny before who also did the cleaning and cooking. Whenever the house was a mess and guests were coming, I just clicked the floor and selected "Clean House". Another sim to help out is cheaper than those worthless babysitters who just stare at the plasma all day. (It's tempting for them for some reason.) I'd rather pay by the hour than pay $75 for a teen to watch the tv or read a book. Oh well, better than those Sims 2 elderly nannies. Anyways, my live in sim didn't cost much, being a green thumb she just gardened things such as apples to pay for a bed and food. It's actually much cheaper, and you can control the sims to take care of the babies. She would just carry around the babies, and watch some tv in a sparkling house and amazing food in the fridge, and care for the baby when it needed something. Mules work like a charm!

[simone23]

I frequently have a one-income family, but I don't consider the homemaker spouse to be a utility sim any more than I consider a homemaker IRL to be a utility person.  I play their LTW just as much as I play my employed sim's LTW.

[LlamaMama]

Cheers, Simone!

[Joria]

I frequently have a one-income family, but I don't consider the homemaker spouse to be a utility sim any more than I consider a homemaker IRL to be a utility person.  I play their LTW just as much as I play my employed sim's LTW.

Way to go Simone!  It's about time someone recognized that stay at home wife or husband is as much a career choice as CEO of a major corporation is!  More work, more challenging, life time career and the benefits can't be beat!

[Metropolis Man]

Oh, I couldn't agree more. As a stay-at-home dad I know full well how many hours is needed to take care of a house of five, cook all the meals, do all the laundry, etc. I guess in the challenges I set up that involve a single Sim, if a Utility Sim is also allowed it is not meant to be derogatory at all. It's just that for scoring purposes the main Sim is the only focus, whereas the Utility Sim is in the background making things easier.

[Saltypaws]

Now I know why you don't have the family oriented trait on the game, lol.   I think alot of people play total opposite of their own life, to get away from the normalcy of it all.  Stay at home moms or dads do not have an easy job, by all means.  Back to subject, I am like Metro, I use one sometimes because it is easier for the sim that is doing the skilling not to have to worry about food and to keep their happiness bar at its highest, hmm, maybe mule is too heavy a word, lol.  Most of the time, mine are equal opportunity sims. haha

[Pam]

I think alot of people play total opposite of their own life, to get away from the normalcy of it all. 

I completely agree with you!  You know how I am with families and toddlers in the game.  In real life, I don't have any kids.