How many sims can you handle at once in a household?

4 is the most comfortable, but I play with 8 for a challenge (be it finances, no grim reaper, no social worker, etc). Though I don't do that as often after Sims 1 (before I had cheats or mods).

I think after 4, I start to slack. Someone doesn't get the most optimal skill building or is just a painting slave, etc. And of course babies and toddlers make everyone else take a back burner for a bit. Children can grab leftovers (which are always available), put themselves to bed, shower on their own, etc. But the little people wake up everyone at the drop of a hat haha.

I can handle eight. It tends to be frustrating, but I can do it. I like to start my first generation with lots of kids, so that the second gen has a lot of extended family.

I can handle eight, but I often try to keep it at no more than 6. For me, 8 sims can be a real great way to make time go faster because you're so focused on the day-to-day activities, that time just flies and before you know it the kiddies have all grown up. Most households with 8 sims I run like a military operation. I figure out everyone's schedules, and I keep them in a routine. Obviously I take breaks from this once in a while. I've found that when I come down from playing an 8 sim household, I temporarily feel a little lost because there's less grind in smaller households. Lol.

I can handle 8 person families, but the way I play changes slightly.

With smaller households, I can flit between sims and que up the interactions I need easily. They get more time dedicated to each sim individually because there is simply more time to work with.

With larger households, I do a lot more pausing. I have to plan more carefully which sim is taking care of what, and what they need to do to address their needs. Each sim gets a day where they are the focus, like where I plan out and execute what I need to for their storyline. Their days just come less often as the time spent has to be spread around more.

Over 4??? That's too much!!!

Four. Although I think it would depend on their age group.

I would find it much easier to control 5 adults than say, 2 adults and 3 toddlers :lol:

six is my absolute maximum. (not including having one pet)
if I have a couple, anymore than four kids makes me go insane. four does as well sometimes, so I usually like to stick to 1-3 kids.

The way I look at it is like this. I keep autonomy on high all the time. I mean, individual people are autonomous. But even in a real life household, a family of six, plus one butler and a pet, not everyone’s needs are going to be met all the time. People are going to fall asleep in odd places and be late to work. This is quite realistic. It can also add some drama to your game. If you are always perfectly meeting all their needs and nothing ever goes wrong, it gets boring real fast.

8 with liberal use of the divine pause button.

5 is my absolute max limit. But for the most part I play 4. That would be a dad, mom, two kids.