Upper Etching massive difficulty spike?

[snuggleform]

I can't figure out how to to get positive cash flow on this level (musical/counterculture level), due to lack of rent/tuition. The money you get from leveling students doesn't cover costs. In year 2 I spiralled to -180,000 without being able to afford the necessary staff/buildings for progressing students so the problems only get worse as time goes on.

Any hints on this one? It seems like part of the solution involves knowing ahead of time which buildings/staff you need and hiring them before you go into debt, which means failing once or twice.

[Bongo]

I'm Currently on that one and i'm not having any issues but i did take a 200k loan out straight away and got a high level music room, gym, dorms, lecture hall, library, ect. And i did pause the game and built everything before i started letting students in. Also, i did not hire many staff at first, like 2 teachers for each course. Also, i leveled up the music class for more students before the first year started.

[snuggleform]

How'd you take that big of a loan straightaway I can only take 50k loan, the rest are locked behind high campus requirements. And what do you consider "high level" for rooms.

[Bongo]

Originally posted by snuggleform:

How'd you take that big of a loan straightaway I can only take 50k loan, the rest are locked behind high campus requirements

Whats the requirement for the 200k one? it's not much. Just level up your campus and then take the loan out. i actually think i took the 100k loan first, then when i could take the 200 out, i payed the 100 back. Also you earn money on the fly, like 2k every time a student levels up, so don't be worried if you go slightly in to the red as you will start earning a lot in no time.

[Grumble]

Build campus to lv 4 before year start so can expand the largest class. You cant change tuition settings for more students so upgrade is only way to get more students. Orb club as only club asap. I might do a run without orb club to see the difference but it felt like it helped. The happy hit is a little annoying with orb club but with so many social events I don't remember students leaving. Set up an open mic event yearly. Eventually you make alot of money on this map from xp/orb and mainly the sponsor money bungie (? iirc). Every year you get a warning, then you make 50k profit a month. Be careful early, build only what you need with minimum size. It's easy to grow when needed and safe a little more money.

[Miki_yo]

I actually didn't struggle as much on this map as I thought I would and managed fine first try!
I also didn't need to take any loans.

Though, I'm not entirely confident that how I handled everything is the way to go. But I'm gonna list a few things I did differently specifically for Upper Etching!

- I scheduled as many open mic events as possible.
At first every 2 months due to your ''lower'' starting budget and later even every month - literally nonstop open mic lol

- I tried to save money in the beginning by putting mostly only essentials into each room and focusing on prestige much later.
The only exception: I filled the Lecture theatres and classrooms with items that boost Learning Power.

- I kept the number of employed staff at the absolute possible minimum in the beginning to cut costs. (only one janitor, one librarian, one student union assistant, two teachers: one for each course)

- I let my students suffer and didn't offer any pastoral support nor medical services lol. I basically let the unhappy dropouts be and focused on pushing the ones who already excelled in their studies.

- I let my entire staff suffer by not putting up any staff room for 3 years (oops)

- Didn't need to open a student lounge early on or invest in too many entertainment objects, because the open mic events were enough entertainment.

- As already mentioned, I also opened the Orb Club as soon as it got unlocked and prioritized recruitment.

- I also tried to get a staff training room and tuition room early to skill up my teachers and librarian, since you get paid whenever students level up and do well in their studies.

- I tried to fulfill every student's item requests, when they needed a certain object for their assignments.

- I actually invested as little as possible in the student dorms, since we can't take any rent anyways.

But let me know if anyone has any corrections or further suggestions :)

[Dominian]

I had to restart and took on a bunch of general knowledge students. It's a one year course, so they blast through the levels like crazy, then leave the campus for the next load to come in and do the same.

[jamesrg84]

would money wrangling help? they seem to throw money about when in class. also only a 2 year course so they should level up quite fast.

[snuggleform]

I think Dominian hit the nail on the head, taking on general knowledge students in the first year makes a night and day difference due to how quickly they level up.

I did also take some points from cloudyskies advice, namely keep expenses to a minimum. Don't bother with private tuition, medics, pastoral room, or kiosks because the additional staff just doesn't pay for itself with this level's restrictions. I'm not sold on the constant open mics since I don't think you get the money you sink into it back.

Right now I'm easily on track to the first star with a hundred grand in reserves whereas in my first playthrough I was -180k in the second year.

[wicked lester]

Originally posted by Dominian:

I had to restart and took on a bunch of general knowledge students. It's a one year course, so they blast through the levels like crazy, then leave the campus for the next load to come in and do the same.

How do you get General Knowledge course available? I researched it in another hospital but I can't start the course anywhere but Sandbox mode.

[Prometheus]

I found this level to be easy. The reason people think Gen Studies students level fast isn't because they level faster but because its cheaper than usual to make high prestige Lecture Theaters. That is the key. Get high quality classrooms and train your teachers to have high skill. Aim for Prestige 10 across the board. You can go higher but it seems the prestige leveling rate starts to DR hard after that point.

If you are really having trouble with money then Money Wangling is THE most profitable course by far.

[Platonov]

Do the spiffing brit exploit. Get archeologist and the biggest dig site you can with a loan = gg you are wealthy.

[wicked lester]

Originally posted by Promethian:

I found this level to be easy. The reason people think Gen Studies students level fast isn't because they level faster but because its cheaper than usual to make high prestige Lecture Theaters. That is the key. Get high quality classrooms and train your teachers to have high skill. Aim for Prestige 10 across the board. You can go higher but it seems the prestige leveling rate starts to DR hard after that point.

If you are really having trouble with money then Money Wangling is THE most profitable course by far.

I never said I was finding the level difficult. I want to know why I can't add Gen Knowledge to any of my campuses.

I would like to know why Wrangling is so lucrative. Is it because it attracts students who occasionally give you money? Or is there more to it?

[Prometheus]

Occasionally gives you money? That you say such an absurdity about Poshos tells me you've never even tried them. Its not occasionally.

[Paladin]

I had the least financial problems ever on Upper Etching. I found it much easier than normal levels. Part of the key is not to over-build. Don't buy things until you need them. Keep your intakes to 8 a class until you're ready to expand. And start upgrading your teachers and library assistant as soon as you can afford the training room. Better levels in teaching and library means the students gain more XP. Throw the Open Mike event on both of the 3-section gaps on the yearly schedule.

It's not particularly hard, but if you don't do those things, you can fall behind pretty easy. Thinking you need large intakes to get more students to give more XP to is probably the worst mistake you can make on this level. Remember, XP generated per student goes UP when you decrease class size.