The importance (or not) of intermediate events for Simulation

Will Simulation work without using Intermediate Events?

I have a client who is saying that Simulation works for them by naming gateways and connections.  They admit to not being able to link multiple connections from one gateway to another gateway so they put in a bogus task to allow this to work.  

My argument is, if you're putting in additional steps to get around the standard process logic, why not use Intermediate Events to stay 'true' to the depiction of what the business process actually is? Also, don't you need intermediate steps to date/time stamp the completion of steps?

Your views on this would be most valuable.