Do Sims Auto-Repair Things? Thoughts on Car Maintenance in The Sims 4
Handiness is a skill in The Sims 4 that allows sims to repair objects. This is a necessary skill for Sims to autonomously repair objects. That said, even at high skills the game doesn’t have sims repair items on their own without players telling them to.
Understanding Handiness Skill
Skill Training: Handiness (needed to fix broken objects, duh) As Sims gain levels in this skill they will be increasingly able to fix items autonomously, but not completely circumvent player direction.repair (ad)
You: Sim-created robots do not take actions autonomously. This design decision also encourages more active combat and strategy in gameplay.
Improvements and Changes
Mod Options: Players may enhance the repair mechanics with mod options, an example provided is a “Allways_repair” mod that allows sims to start repairing broken objects upon being discovered without needing manual selection13.
Community Contributions: Various modders have created tuning mods to enhance the repair functionalities of this game, which means more autonomy for Sims and even self-cleaning up messes without needing critical authoring instructions38.
Gameplay Implications
Player Engagement: Not allowing Sims to repair objects on their own promotes more engagement with the player, as they have to get up and actually direct their less skilled sims to work.
Forethought: Players will have to think about devoting some playtime toward building up their Sims’ handiness skill and choose how often they let things break while playing.
TL;DR: Sims can learn how to repair things with the handiness skill, but tend not do repairs on their own unless being directly controlled by a player. For this specific type of gameplay, there are mods to give you a more hands-off experience.
