Skills are the building blocks of gameplay in any game in The Sims series, with the mechanical skill being no exception. Levelling your Sim’s skills can help unlock fun new interactions and avenues of gameplay. In some cases, it even helps to keep them safe.
Related
The Sims 1: How To Build Body Skill
Body is the old fitness. Build your skill with this handy guide.
The Mechanical skill is one of the handiest skills a Sim can build. Not only does it help to keep handy-person bills down, but it can also help them get promotions, avoid electrocution, and decorate their homes with gorgeous gargoyles and gnarly gnomes.
What Is The Mechanical Skill?
The mechanical skill mostly accounts for how well a Sim can repair or build things. It’s similar to the handiness skill from later Sims games. When things break around their home, Sims can call repair people for help or get their hands dirty and fix things themselves. Sims with a higher mechanical skill will have more success and simply put, less death.
Although your Sim’s risk of death decreases as their skill increases, the chance of them meeting an untimely demise while fixing the radio is unfortunately never zero.
The mechanical skill is also really useful if you plan on heading to Magic Town and taking up witchcraft, so you might want to make sure your magic Sims are practical, too.
Items Needed To Build Mechanical Skill
Strictly speaking, the only items your Sim needs to build their mechanical skill are anything that can break: toilets, TVs, fridges, speakers, and anything else they use frequently is a good rule of thumb for finding breakable items. Considering the propensity cheap items have to break, most starter homes are ideal for helping your Sim to level their skills.
However, Sims with low mechanical skills are likely to be electrocuted while fixing broken electronics.
Try getting your Sims to fix their plumbing, but hire a professional to fix electricals. Broken tubs, toilets, sinks, or showers should all be fair game.
Waiting around for things to break also takes a long time, even with the most destructive of Sims, so it isn’t convenient if you’re in a rush to get the next promotion or craft higher-quality items. For that reason, it’s sensible to buy Sims items that help to build their mechanical skills instead of giving them a baptism of fire (or electricity).
Bookshelves
Bookshelves come pre-loaded with Mechanical skill books, so they’re the ideal starting point for increasing your Sim’s Mechanical skill. They also come with cooking skill books, making them a real staple of any build.
Bookshelves can also be used by children to keep their grades up, and by Sims of all ages to fill their fun need. You might be surprised by how challenging it can normally be to keep Sims educated and entertained, so having items that help is invaluable.
As The Sims: Legacy Edition comes with all DLC, your Sim has seven different bookshelves to choose from, ranging in price from 250 to 2,339 Simoleons.
All bookshelves can be found in Buy Mode under the Misc category. They’re in the Knowledge section, which is illustrated with a bookshelf.
KraftMatic Woodworking Table
Another handy household item is the KraftMatic Woodworking Table. Sims can use it to craft gnomes, raising their Mechanical skill in the process. You might be wondering, but what should I do with all the excess gnomes? Well, your Sim can actually sell them for a fairly hefty sum of Simoleons once they’ve levelled their Mechanical skill.
You should eventually be able to sell them for up to 100 Simoleons per gnome. But, it’ll take some time to get there. Given that the table itself costs 720 Simoleons, it might take a while to break even, particularly at a low skill level.
You can find the KraftMatic Woodworking Table in the Misc section on Buy Mode. It’s under Creativity.
Craft-A-Gargoyle
The Sims: Makin’ Magic, which is included in the Legacy Edition of the game, makes regular use of the mechanical skill. One way it uses it is by allowing Sims to level the skill while making gargoyles. The gargoyle crafting mechanic works similarly to how gnomes are made, where a workbench is used to craft the creatures and develop your Sim’s mechanical skill, but the outcome is a little more gothic.
Gargoyles can also be sold, but with the bench costing 1,120 Simoleons, it’ll take even longer to break even than it does with the gnomes. Alternatively, you can give them out to other Sims as gifts. Or just fill your home with them.
The Craft-A-Gargoyle is next to the KraftMatic Woodworking Table in Buy Mode. Go to Misc, then select Creativity.
Prick-Me-Not Spinning Wheel
Sims can use the Prick-Me-Not Spinning Wheel to make magical charms and golden thread, building their Mechanical skill at the same time. Even if you aren’t planning on making much use of the occult aspects of The Sims by making charms with it, a spinning wheel can still be a handy home addition as golden thread can sell for over 150 Simoleons a go.
To buy a spinning wheel, go to the Magic part of the Misc menu in Buy Mode.
Ways To Use The Mechanical Skill
As mentioned, the Mechanical skill is invaluable for keeping things running smoothly at home with no premature visits from Grim. Some careers also call for the quick progression of the Mechanical skill to perform well and get promoted.
Careers that need the Mechanical skill include:
- Animal Care
- Athlete
- Business
- Circus
- Criminal
- Culinary Arts
- Entertainment
- Fashion
- Hacker
- Law Enforcement
- Medicine
- Military
- Musician
- Paranormal
- Science
- Slacker
- X-treme
If you get crafty with skill items, you can also use the mechanical skill to jump off the career ladder altogether. Using a workbench to craft either gnomes or gargoyles and selling them allows your Sim to make a pretty Simoleon from home.
Once your Sim maxes out their mechanical skill, making gnomes or gargoyles quickly becomes more profitable than many careers, particularly in their early stages. The mechanical skill is also important for making magic charms and earning MagiCoins; Magic Town’s special currency reserved for buying mystical items from the local vendors.
One of the many ways to earn MagiCoins includes performing tricks on the Even More Magic Than Before stage. Sims with a higher mechanical skill are more likely to perform magic tricks successfully, in turn earning more MagiCoins.
