In the Apartment Life expansion pack is a new NPC character, the Butler. He does many domestic chores, much like the Servo or Robot does for a family. So the question is: Which is best? Hiring a butler for a base fee of $20 and $25 per hour, or getting a Servo (Open for Business) to join the family? First of all, it is more difficult to get a Servo. You can build up the Robotics badge and build one yourself, you can become friends with an existing one and invite him/her to move in, or you can go to another Sims’ store to buy one that they have built (and pay the specified price). The butler can just be hired over the phone. One disadvantage to the Butler is that he seems to arrive around 10 am and leave sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, while the Servo is a part of the family and is there all the time. The Servo is controllable, so you can tell him which chores to do, and he doesn’t need to sleep much. He also has fun and social needs, so he will not do chores all the time. But he may play with the kids or pets. The Butler will cook and serve food, while Servo will make food but not serve it. This means children won’t be able to eat until another family member serves it. The Butler can also order groceries or hire repairmen/exterminators when needed, which is very useful. I read that he will also greet guests that arrive. I believe both will clean and do the gardening. What are your thoughts as to which is better in which circumstances?
Category: Open For Business
Pass Along Business Rewards Fails
I just realized that the Pass Along… rewards option is only available to other members of the household, and will only work successfully if the relationship score is high enough. The business rewards are originally acquired by achieving each rank of your business. There are several categories to choose from. They include Connecions, Wholesale, and Perception rewards. I have two elder sims, Karen and Marion, who have several rewards, and I wanted them to pass their rewards on to someone before they die. Marion invited her friend Stacy to move in, and I had Karen start to Pass Along a reward to her.  At first it looked like Stacy was hesitant to learn, and then Karen did some sort of manipulation with swirly colors going towards Stacy. Since they don’t have a high enough relationship score, the pass along rewards didn’t work. It actually decreased their relationship score a little. When Marion tries to teach Stacy some business rewards, a skill meter appears above her head and it takes a while, but still works.
OFB Underpaid Employee won’t come in to Work – How to Fire or Change Wage?
I have just one employee in my hair salon business (Open For Business expansion), and she won’t come in to work because she’s underpaid. She says something about not coming in if she’s not paid enough. I have a feeling she’ll stay in the list of employees until I either increase her pay or fire her. But I think the only way to do that would be to increase the relationship with her and invite her over, then maybe the options to fire or manage wage will be available. I went back to the business a few times and I think it happened each time. But suddenly one of the times I went back to the business and called her in, she came in to work! So I immediately changed her wage and I think we’re good now.
Trouble getting 5 Top Level Businesses by Transferring
I just found something out today about the Own 5 Top Level Businesses want. The Sim must have owned the business as it became level 10!! Only then will it count towards the 5. You can’t transfer a business that is already level 10 from a different owner and have it count towards the 5. So I spent all that time building 5 top level businesses in my neighborhood and transfered them to Katrina. But only one of them she actually owned at the time it became level 10. I saw a post that said it actually counts the number of ‘Achieved a top-level business’ memory. So if your business goes back down to 9 and the back up to 10 four more times, you achieve the want. I did this in only a few minutes since her husband, Cleve, has the Sales–Manipulate power which always results in a lost star. Gaining the star back was pretty easy too. I think this is a fair way to achieve the want, because I really think that transferring an existing business should have counted!
Transfer Lot Ownership to another Sim
Today I’m finally trying to transfer a top-level business owned by a Servo to one of my sims (Katrina Loner) whose lifetime want is to own 5 top-level businesses. As soon as they became best friends I assumed it would be possible to click on the deed hanging on the wall and transfer it to Katrina. But the option wasn’t there. So I invited her to move in and then IÂ could transfer it. Next time I’ll try making sure the relationship is higher than 100/52. Because now I’ll have to move her husband out and back in again so that Katrina is the owner of their home business.
Tips:
- If you can’t find the deed to your business, use the Real Estate\Order deed option on the phone to order one for 15 simoleans. It will then appear in your inventory, and you can hang it on the wall.
- You can’t order a deed or transfer ownership of a home business. You’ll have to have the owner move out to transfer it to another family member. Then the old owner can move back in.
Sales – Manipulate Business Perk
Recently one of my Sims achieved the top of the Perception Business Perks: Manipulation. This can be activated by the Sales … Manipulate action. The sim has a gold sales badge too; I’m not sure if that affects the outcome of the action. I tried it a few times, and it was successful in making the customer buy the product, but they would immediately lose a star. It seems like they get very angry for being manipulated. So I don’t think I’ll be using the manipulation much, even though the same customers have gained the star back later. Do you think the Sales – manipulate is worth losing a star?
Robots or Servos Can Become Vampires!
When I visited one of my households of servos, I noticed one was smoking when she went outside. I thought she was malfunctioning or getting too hot in the sun, but it was winter. Then I saw her do a vampire move where they cower in the sun, and realized she had become a vampire. I never thought about it before, but servos can become vampires! She would stop smoking when she went in the house, even though they have windows. It only looked like her Fun need was going down, but robots only have a few needs anyway. Is the Fun need the only one affected in Robot Vampirism? I will check it out for a few more days, but then I’ll have her drink the Vamprocillin-D to get rid of the affliction. I think any advantages of Vampires over normal Sims are lost on a servo.
Do Home Businesses count towards “Own 5 Top-Level Businesses”
I did a quick search on whether home businesses count towards this lifetime want, and couldn’t find many answers. I found a pretty good discussion at http://forums.thesimsresource.com/archive/index.php/t-327985.html about making successful businesses, and they believe home businesses count. Has anyone confirmed this? My only top-level (level 10) business so far has been a home business, but it doesn’t belong to a Sim who has the “Own 5 top-level businesses” lifetime want. But his fiancee who lives with him does have that want. I’m pretty sure home businesses can’t be transfered or sold to other Sims. I will try moving the him out and moving back in, and see if the home business transfers to his fiancee.
Warning – Defective Snapdragons in Sims Open for Business
Just found this out– Make sure you test your crafts before putting them out for sale. Defective snapdragons can be very hazardous to your health! Almost all of the stat bars will go down, for you, your employees, and customers! For me, my customers started wetting their pants, and I knew something was wrong. I think defective Snapdragons give off a foul-smelling green odor, while the correct Snapdragons give off a pink odor and cause a little trail of pink flowers to appear by the Sims that are near.