FAQ/Strategy Guide
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For PC
Version 1.0
By Chris Zawada
User: antseezee
E-mail: antseezee@epix.net
Website: www.antseezee.com
Created: 11/19/05
Last Update: 11/25/05
Copyright 2005 Chris Zawada
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Author's Note
----------------------------
The "Tycoon" series of games has gone from nothing, to an overwhelming swarm of
strategized PC games ranging from managing fast food restaurants to even zoos.
Out of the blue, it's not surprising that yet another game called School Tycoon
is produced for the PC gaming market. School Tycoon practically places you in
the role of the principal of a local school in fairly new neighborhoods. By
building fit classrooms, hiring the correct staff, and managing a budget, the
ultimate goal is to have the best school in your neighborhood without
compensating the learning of your eager students. While the graphics may be
fairly outdated, the game has the same basic elements of any Tycoon series
game, basing itself off of micro-management skills. Will you lead your students
to the highest test score ratings in the district, or will you alter their
education due to your own management mistakes?
Contributing/Feedback
----------------------------
If you have any contributions, feedback, or strategies you'd like to have
added to the guide, contact me via e-mail or on GameFAQs. I'll be more than
content to add your segment of information, and will also provide credit. If
you have any questions you'd like added to the Common Questions section, ask.
I simply don't have the time to sit around thinking of questions. Provide me
with what you want to know!
Updates
----------------------------
=11/25/05= v1.0
Finished the FAQ. The game was decent given the budget restraints and lack of
production time. Still, the title doesn't blow me away in terms of tycoon
games.
=11/19/05= v1.0
Started the FAQ. Seems like a fairly good game, even if it's another drab
"Tycoon" type. This title is a tad less detailed compared to the other Tycoon
games, which is a plus in my book.
- I've now added a Quick Search function to the guide. Press CTRL + F, and
type in the designated (#.#) to be quickly forwarded to that specific section
of the guide.
============================
- 1) Introduction -
============================
Have you ever seeked the urge to go out and manage a school? Personally, I
haven't. The pure frustration of dealing with daily students, managing paycuts
or raises for teachers, maintaining a safe environment, and getting appropriate
satisfaction from the community all relate to the job of directing a school.
School Tycoon allows you to get tossed into the role of the head honcho of a
school. Every element from the base building plans, staff hirings, and budget
must be managed by you. Financial aspects must be monitored while your school
performs at its peak potential in teaching knowledge to students. Practically
every Tycoon game on the PC is based off of an isometric-3D engine. The same
can be said about School Tycoon. For the most part, you'll be managing
everything from a perspective where you can witness the overall makings of your
educational institution.
School Tycoon has no precise storyline, except the fact that you're tossed into
the role of principal. The game is solely based around single-player, where you
must face & complete a set amount of challenges in order to become the best
school tycoon. An expandable sandbox mode allows you to customize your own
school without single-player restrictions, but for the most part, School Tycoon
is a simple strategy game with markings of a resembling trend of Tycooness.
----------------------------
_____________________
##### GAME INFO #####
//////////|\\\\\
Player(s): 1
Developer: Global Star Software
Released: 2004
Rarity: uncommon
Special Features: online updates
ESRB: Everybody
Cover Art on box:
- Shows several kids in poses with a schoolbus & school in the background
Requirements:
> Windows 98 or better
> Pentium III - 500mhz
> 128MB RAM +
> CD-ROM drive
> 300MB+ free HD space
> DirectX 9.0
> 16MB Video Card or better
(The developers are not too keen on a superior video
card. As long as the computer has decent RAM,
processor, and modern operating system, you should be
fine.)
============================
- 2) Game Basics -
============================
Many Tycoon games fit perfectly to the PC theme, as the mouse is the best way
to control the action. The point-n-click interface is perfect for choosing
options on screen, and does not require heavy use of the keyboard to any
extent. This is also why many Tycoon games barely get ported over to the
console system.
- The mouse is practically used for every function of this game. It is
essential to own one, and NOT rely on the keyboard for this game. Left click to
confirm your choice, selection, option, or if transferring items.
=================================
- 3) Challenge Mode Walkthrough -
=================================
As with many Tycoon titles out there, there is often an enduring single-player
mode that must be completed to become the ultimate strategist from a gamer's
perspective. This section will guide you through the 24 challenges presented in
Challenge Mode.
__________
__________________________________| BEGINNER |_________________________________
- The Beginner challenges are practically tutorial-like challenges. They
consist of completing the basic School Tycoon actions in order to become a
better player. Most of them practically stack on skills from the previous one,
but you shouldn't have too much trouble completing them.
____________________________
/Relaxing 1st Day on the Job/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Acquire 10 students, Reputation of 1/5 stars
- This first challenge will get you into the swing of things. Start off by
building two classrooms, a Math & English building. Hire two teachers, and
their salaries really doesn't matter as this challenge will end quickly. Click
to build some paths via the upper left menu, and hold down the pencil tool from
your entrance to the doorway of each building. If everything appears too small,
zoom in with the mousewheel. Once the first busload of students arrives, they
should empty out into the class. When it says you passed the challenge, click
the quit button to head back to the challenge menu.
_____________________
/Hire your Teachers!!/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Acquire 20 students, Hire teachers for each building
- This challenge will toss you into the mix of things. Your initial school will
already have a few portable classrooms built, along with a tennis court & cafe.
The landscape is scaled quite beautifully. Hire teachers for each of the
classrooms (including the Deluxe Chemistry Lab). Make sure to get a coach for
the tennis court, and a cook for the main cafe. Afterwards, just wait till the
entire area fills up with students and you should be on your way for a steady
pass.
___________________
/Handyman Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Hire maintenance workers & earn a 90% building upkeep rate
- This challenge certainly increases the difficulty a bit. Go to the buildings
button, find the administrative button, then construct a maintenance building.
Hire 2-3 maintenance men ASAP, and place them on the pathways. They should
automatically repair each building, especially the ones with the wrenches
rotating on them. Simply wait until a majority of the buildings are repaired,
and the challenge should end. Don't worry about the fires, as you may lose a
building or two.
_____________________
/Cheapskate Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Make $10,000 in 14 days by staff management
- This one is fairly tough right near the beginning, as you literally have a
crudload of overpaid teachers beyond reality. Nearly every teacher is pumping
out $1500, along with overpaid maintenance staff & too many. Fire enough
janitors & maintenance so that there are only two per category. Fire all of the
teachers, and rehire cheaper ones in the $300-$600 range. Do not worry about
your overall grades in the lower right, as this is not part of the
prerequisites. Select game speed x4 once you have accomplished your staff
revamping, and let time fly till you make a positive $10,000. You'll have 14
days, so don't take too long to manage the staffs. To make it easy, use the
staff observation button in the upper right corner.
____________
/What a Mess/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Repair/Fix the dying landscape
- This task isn't so bad. You'll basically spawn inside a completed school area
with filth all throughout the pathways that interlink each building. I
recommend hiring cheap teachers for each building for to enroll some students
for a profit. Build a Maintenance, Janitor, and Landscaping Office. Hire 4
Landscapers, 2 Janitors, & 2 Maintenance men. Get a Coach for your soccer field
as well. Hire a cook, then set it to game speed x4 to allow things to progress.
Your trees should get healed, along with the pathways cleared out. The success
screen should pop up once the objectives are sufficient.
- This task is very easy. Start off by checking the hire teachers menu, and
look for teachers with a skill rating of 6 or higher. Hire one, then check the
menu again, and do it for all 5 classrooms in your school area. Once this is
accomplished, build a Generic Gym, and hire a highly skilled coach. This should
give you enough for a high athletic rating & academic rating.
___________________
/Brainiac Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Attain academic rating of 70%
- Yet another easy task to complete. Go to the hire teachers menu and look for
3 highly skilled teachers. A 6 or better rating should do. Place them in the 3
classrooms, and just draw a path from your entrance to the rooms for ease of
access. Set the game speed to x2 till your academic rating is high enough.
_____________
/Moral Crisis/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Get student morale to 75%
- The flu has hit the local region you're controlling. This challenge takes
some patience, as morale takes time to essentially build up to the sufficient
rating required for this challenge. Build a Landscaping office, and place it
where the other maintenance buildings are. Build a Nurse's Office near the
entrance to the school, and an Arcade close to the far end. Hire the highest-
rated fun coach you can find. Fire two teachers and rehire ones with a high
fun rating. Now, all you need to do is place shrubbery & trees around the
central area surrounding the generic gym. Increase the game speed, and your
morale rating should hit 75% eventually. Don't forget to hire a landscaper to
keep care of things.
- The Intermediate Challenges start to spice things up by placing a smaller
time limit on your necessary tasks. While the limits aren't excruciatingly bad,
they do make it difficult to succeed at the highest rate.
______________________
/Teach Them Discipline/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Get student discipline to 85% in 21 days
- Your base establishment will have several portable classrooms, with a few
labor buildings, and center soccer field. Build a classic cafe, fire all
teachers, and rehire with strict/skilled teachers with a rating above 5. Try to
get a Medium Detention building, and build your income up. Get a Generic Gym to
boost athletics, and start to build all portable classrooms including biology.
If you can, try to find a stud teacher with a discipline rating of 10, and
replace one of your older teachers without tripping the finance meter. I found
this one difficult since I could only peak discipline to 82 or 83. Try
purchasing a teacher conference tab from the school newspaper.
____________
/Spread Thin/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Bring athletics, academics, and morale to 80% in 21 days
- You'll basically be given a large campus that is spread out. You'll have to
do some moving around on this one, so prepare to be clicking and snatching.
Start off by recognizing that some of your buildings are outside the school
perimeter. Move each of these buildings to the interior of your school,
however, don't place them next to the center buildings. Instead, move your
medium buildings towards the center so students can tune up on their academics.
Place the ones from the outside level along the perimeter. Try to bunch all 3
groups of classrooms that are sectioned off to the center. Build a Generic Gym
in the middle. Most of your teachers have good skill ratings, but if you do not
place the buildings correctly, then your academic ratings will never increase
sharply. Don't forget to build a medium janitors office, and hire more janitors
to take care of the excess pathways. Destroy the old routes using the
bulldozer, and you should be set.
_________________
/2 Star Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Enroll 40 students with reputation rating of 2 out of 5
- This is one of the easiest intermediate challenges you'll face. Head to the
very center of the empty plot of land and place a $500 fountain. Extend four 2-
tile wide pathways out a bit from the four openings around the fountain. Place
some benches around the exterior with trees. Place some lawn terrain under the
trees. Now, build a Janitors Office, Maintenance, and Landscape as needed near
the far edge of the map isolated. From one row of your fountain, build ALL
portable classrooms. Go in order from English to Biology. Hire mediocre
teachers with skills above 5, and the rest slightly average. You should be able
to make a slight profit while having capable teachers in the classrooms. Make
sure to build one Generic Gym next to the fountain. Place a few soda can &
candy bar machines. You should be set. You may have to build a chemistry lab
near the end to peak the rating to 2 stars.
______________________
/Entertainment Fanatic/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Acquire a mini-golf course, arcade, and large half-pipe in 50 days
- This one is an enduring challenge that can be accomplished, but sounds easier
than it is. You'll start off with a gym surrounded by portable classrooms. You
need to earn a ton of income on this one to afford the expensive entertainment
buildings. You will need a Classic Cafe, which I recommend placing slightly
right of the center gym. With this in place, put some of the entertainment
buildings near the cafe to attract more students from school subjects. Save up
for landscaping and get several janitors to manage cleanup along the heavily-
traveled routes. Simply save up money as you proceed along for a Pizzeria,
which should provide access for the 3 entertainment buildings you need. Speed
things up, buy the golf-course, arcade, and large half-pipe after building the
appropriate prerequisites.
____________________
/Gotta Get the Grant/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Acquire an athletic and academic rating of 90% in 35 days
- For this task at hand, you'll be given an amazing school to start with. Most
of the athletic and several deluxe buildings are already compiled for
academics. All you have to do is rehire 2-3 teachers (look for a new coach at
the football field, and 2 new teachers at the deluxe areas). Then, continue
building down the established road with more deluxe buildings. Make sure you
get another athletic building, such as a tennis court. For the deluxe
buildings, hire teachers with high skill ratings, preferably above $600 salary.
Your institution needs landscapers, so hire them right away. Build more
bathrooms and machines, although a classic cafe is always an option for the
lack of food. If there are any academic buildings that are restricted, try to
build them to get the full hierarchy of academic learning for that 90 rating.
If athletics come close to 90, you may need a bigger version such as a large
tennis court to top it off. If you run out of room along the main pathway,
stack the appropriate buildings behind the other ones. Students will still find
them.
_______________
/Tornado Season/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Maintain building conditions at 90% while retaining 60 students
- Supposedly, you're suppose to get hit by hundreds of tornadoes, but I found
this mission to be mildly disappointing. Start off by building a janitors
office, small & large maintenance, then hire 4 maintenance men. Hire a janitor
as well. Build landscaping; hire one landscaper. Now, hire a cook, and teachers
for the remaining buildings that do not have teachers. Their ratings should not
matter too much, and look for cheap alternatives. If you do this quick enough,
the game will assume you managed 90% maintenance on all buildings, and end
ASAP. You won't even receive the first tornado.
- You'll begin with a blank plot of land for this one. It can be fairly
difficult to get off to a profitable start. I simply created one long row of
portable classrooms, with a classic cafe near the middle of the campus, and a
generic gym next to it. Build a wide pathway for the students to walk along.
Get some skill portables in there, such as the workshop and computer lab. Build
another athletic building, such as the soccer field, and place some bathrooms
around the campus. It would help to get maintenance, janitors, and landscapers.
The toughest part is getting past the $30000 hump in saved money. You'll make a
nice early profit, but it declines greatly once the money stays accumulated in
your bank. Keep spending until you're about 6 days out, then set it to game
speed x4, and just accumulate till you reach $50000. If you cannot seem to do
this, try building as much as possible, accumulating, then selling as much as
you can right before the 21st day deadline. The money from the sales of the
buildings may be enough to put you over the hump.
_________________
/3 Star Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Earn 3 star rating in 28 days
- Again, you'll be given a blank plot of land to start off with. This challenge
has some mediocre challenges, but the 28 day deadline is attainable. Focus on
your usual building techniques, but focus for reputation as opposed to profit.
Build a center fountain with 4 extending walkways. Build portable classrooms
all along one walkway, and portable lab classrooms on the other road. Get your
usual labor buildings isolated, but close to the action. Build a Classic Cafe
near the central building, and hire mediocre teachers for the portables. Once
the profit starts reaping in, start using landscape to spruce up the
atmosphere. Place flowerbeds along pathways, trees near isolated buildings, and
bushes in couplings. Make sure to place your bathrooms throughout the campus as
facilities are the #1 priority. You will need a few Medium classrooms to
acquire the 3-star rating. Also, I'd recommend getting a Generic Gym, Soccer
Field, and at least one "major" athletic stadium-like building. This should be
enough, but make sure to toss some entertainment buildings to keep the unhappy
students from rebelling.
- The Difficult challenges are just as described - difficult. Some of them can
be fairly easy, but the given conditions often make the task a headache to deal
with.
_________________
/Tennis Champions/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Get 3 large tennis courts in 28 days with other ratings above 75%
- You're going to start off with a base school, that as space in the middle for
3 large tennis courts. The problem is that you'll be receiving negative debt
immediately. To compensate, try selling some of the academic buildings and
firing some teachers. Build your school up just as you would if aiming for an
A+ facility. Do this to help negate, and start making a positive profit. Make
sure to get a Classic Cafe, the upgraded maintenance, janitors, and landscaping
office. Get some food machines, a medium bathroom, then start working on
getting better academics. Once this is accomplished, money should start to pour
through. The time deadline is plenty, just make sure to place the 3 tennis
courts on the interior.
____________________
/Fast Cash Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Earn $100,000 within 28 days
- This challenge is a pain in the butt because you cannot overbuild your
facilities, but must simply earn enough money, and do a mass sale at the end to
reach the designated capacity. Start off by building only 4-5 portables at the
very far end of the school. Place a center fountain with some landscape. Place
an arcade, classic cafe, and generic gym next to the fountain. Place some
garbage cans to reduce trash. Build up the campus moderately, such as getting a
detention center, big bathroom, and $300-$400 teachers. Don't forget to buy
your typical labor buildings to upkeep the campus condition. Once you hit day
12 or 13, and have those basic buildings, STOP building. Set game speed to x4
and let your money stockpile. You should get close to $75,000 by day 27 if
performed correctly. Now, sell all buildings you have, and fire all staff.
Speed the game up, and day 28 should be a full profit day with no finances.
Don't worry about student comments while you zoom by each day. Many will leave
due to low morale. The mass sale on the last day keeps a large portion of your
students still enrolled, and with no staff, the profits are nearly double
(which should be enough to hop over the $100K hump).
________________
/The Elite Fleet/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Achieve 95% athletic, academic, and maintenance ratings in 21 days
- The initial build you're assigned is quite beautiful. Nearly every academic
institution is unlocked, with an extremely high discipline rating. First off,
get both maintenance buildings, and hire 4-5 maintenance workers. Many of your
buildings will rapidly deteriorate, and we do not want to waste any more of our
invested income. Get landscaping, and perhaps a few more janitors. Place a
couple bathrooms around the campus as well. Build the remaining academic
instituions not built, such as the workshop. Build another athletic stadium,
preferably the football field for an inherited boost. This campus lacks
entertainment buildings. Try building a mini-golf course or a few half-pipes to
compensate. Most of your staff and teachers are fine, although you may need
some better coaches to peak the athletic department.
_________________
/4 Star Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Earn a 4 star rating in 28 days
- This challenge is quite easy, as long as you continue to build and keep the
campus upkeep in excellent condition. You'll start off with a few base
classrooms, a soccer field, gym, and some labor buildings. Simply build up like
your normally would. Make sure to get landscapers to keep care of the center
location. A janitor & maintenance would also help to keep your initial build in
place. Continue to expand in an outward spiral. Hire cheap teachers for the
portables, then upgrade them a tad with medium buildings. You will need a "few"
deluxe-style buildings for the 4-star rating. Make sure to get 2 athletic
buildings, either a large tennis court, or baseball/football stadium. A classic
cafe and pizzeria are given-musts on this task.
_____________________
/Fault Line Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Enroll 60 students with a 2 star rating in 28 days
- This challenge can be frustrating and annoying. The first task to complete is
building a small & large maintenance building. Then, hire 4-5 maintenance men.
Start to hire teachers, cooks, and coaches to the vacant buildings. Janitors
and landscapers will also be necessary additions. You will lose a couple of
buildings due to fires, which is why I recommend you spread the maintenance men
around to your most important buildings first upon hiring them. 6 maintenance
men is more than enough to keep care of everything, even with the earthquakes.
Replace the lost buildings, ensure you have a steady food supply, and the 2-
star rating will come with ease.
______________________
/100 Student Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Enroll 100 students in 42 days
- Another task extremely similar to the 4-star challenge. Work on the same base
idea of building several portables, a central area with nice landscaping, and a
cafe/gym nearby this central area. Get the correct labor buildings in place, a
nurses office, a detention center, and eventually upgraded versions of the
classrooms. You will need to invest a lot of time into this challenge to earn
the higher tier stadiums and entertainment buildings. Continue to do this until
you reach the 100-student enrollment mark.
_______________________
/Roller Coaster Madness/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Build a Roller Coaster in 28 days
- The reason why this challenge can be difficult is the fact that you have to
stockpile $40,000 with a flawed initial build in place. Get some janitors, and
place trashcans near the HEAVILY garbage infested pathway near the center of
your campus. You will have to balance a majority of your campus out with more
athletics, and a few upgraded detention centers. Most of the lab deluxe
buildings are built, so this saves some invested money. You will need to get a
ton of prerequisite ubildings, so expand as if this was a normal school. Keep
checking on the rollercoaster building to see what you have to build next. Once
the building is unlocked, stockpile your money until you reach $40,000. If
you're having financial troubles, cut back on teacher salaries. You need the
prerequisite buildings, so mass selling is not an option to get the $40,000.
_________________
/5 Star Challenge/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
GOAL: Earn a 5 star rating in 35 days
- The same build from the 4 star challenge is used here. You're given an extra
week to attain the extra star. Do exactly what you did for the 4 star
challenge, except work on getting the elite-of-elite buildings. A football
field, burger joint, and rollercoaster (possibly) are some of the few
essentials necessary for a 5-star rating. Try to manually place key landscaping
around the campus, as this actually places a hidden bonus for your reputation
meter. Hiring excellent teachers for your best buildings will also peak your
appropriate ratings. If you're fairly low in one category (morale or
discipline), try purchasing the teacher's conference from the school newspaper
to compensate.
=========================
- 4) Strategies -
=========================
Strategy games often involve tactics that go beyond the call of duty. Tycoon
games tend to overgeneralize many aspects crammed all into one title. School
Tycoon is no different. This section will provide small strategies to maximize
your school's efficiency.
- To build the ultimate campus, the center should be setup in a manner that
represents the core of the school. A solid idea is to do the following:
\ [ATHLETIC] / P = Paths
\________________ /
| P | - Start out by building a commemorative or core area
| P | with a fountain, some trees, and shrubbery. Now,
| P | place an athletic field on one side, and a food
|PPP[FOUNTAIN]PPP| building (classic cafe is perfect) on the other
| P | side. This basically sets the core of your school.
| P | From there, spiral outward with portable classrooms
| P | in one layer, medium in the next, and deluxe
|________________| (if income permits) on the outer layer. Make sure
/ [FOOD] \ to place Medium bathrooms near this center core,
/ \ preferably up to two.
- Isolate your maintenance, janitor, and landscaping buildings near the outer
perimeter of your campus. This may make it difficult for your workers, but
keeps the noisy facilities away from the classrooms.
- Detention centers are fairly tricky. I tend to isolate them away from the
heavily populated areas where lots of students traverse in and out.
- Nurses office and lounges should be placed fairly close to the athletic
centers or entertainment buildings.
- The best tip I've learned about walkways is to try and reduce them into
single aisles. Avoid stacking your buildings with four walkways surrounding
them. This causes more space for your janitors to clean up, and is often
unnecessary as students never walk the rear or side paths of these buildings.
Better yet, build your layers into long 3-tile wide pathways. Place trash bin
objects at the center tile spaced out every so often so garbage gets reduced.
Again, this saves money on hiring more janitors in your salary budget.
- If you have any spare or empty tiles in between buildings, landscaping is the
best solution. Place the huge trees near the lab facilities or deluxe buildings
to increase the reputation. Make them accessible close to the path for
landscaping though. The terrain tool works great, especially when you lay down
the cheap $5 tile flowerbeds on 1-tile thick lots. Bushes are fairly useless in
my book as their effect is minimal. They only work best when bunched together
or placed at entrances to the classrooms.
- The picnic table object is perfect to place next to the food cafe. Believe it
or not, each table will almost always be filled as students hate sitting inside
the stuffy cafe. The Pizzeria automatically has these emplacements inside the
perimeter.
- I hardly use fences except on the main & exit pathways that lead into the
school. Place the sign object near your best athletic buildings. Place the
statues near your best academic buildings.
- The biggest factor to be concerned with when dealing with your staff members
are their ratings, and the salary. Generally, the higher the member's ratings,
the more excessive cost. Here's a definition of the three skill ratings that
comes with some of the staff members with exception to labor workers:
&|] Fun [|&
===========
> Higher rating improves student morale (Increases Morale bar)
> Students become happy during class
> Need for entertainment buildings decreases
Importance: Least
- Fun is really the least most important trait of teachers. While it
prevents the classroom from turning into a stack of boredom, it yields
no boost to discipline or skills. This becomes a problem since
undisciplined students get expelled more often, and are tougher to solve
via the detention centers. In my opinion, it's a better investment to
spend money on entertainment buildings as they are one-time costs.
Paying a teacher with a higher salary per month just because of a high
fun rating can do more damage financially to your school.
&|] Discipline [|&
==================
> Higher rating improves student discipline (Increases Discipline bar)
> Students become obedient during class
> Need for detention centers decreases
Importance: Moderate
- In my opinion, this is the toughest trait to maximize, simply because
it takes time and maximum expansion on your campus to reach full
potential. Discipline measures the obedience of your students. A higher
rating causes less expulsions, and a lesser need for detention centers.
I found the best investment to be hiring teachers with a rating of 5 or
more discipline. Build a few detention centers, however, do not go
overboard with them. Detention centers are only used on students with
low discipline levels where your teaching system can do nothing about
it. They basically act "after" the problem has occurred, which is why
getting a high initial discipline rating can prevent the problem in the
first place.
&|] Skill [|&
=============
> Higher rating improves academics/athletics (Increases bar for either)
> Students become skilled during class
> Increases reputation, maintains more students
Importance: Utmost
- This is the key factor to aim for with all of your teachers. Get skill
ratings of 6 or higher if possible, with a mix-n-match of discipline as
well. Your highest skilled teachers should be placed in the medium or
deluxe-style buildings to maximize the academic/athletic ratings. Skill
really is the best way to keep students at your school. Get a high
rating close to B or better, and your enrollment rate will be
phenominal. You NEED a lot of varied classrooms though, especially the
computer/workshop/chemistry labs to enforce hands-on techniques.
- There are actually several options in School Tycoon that few players utilize
to beat some of these tough challenges. This tab will briefly go through some
of those key choices.
..> Checking your Finances
- If you check the button next to the floppy disk in the upper right corner,
there is a charts button. This is useful for primarily checking your
finances. You'll notice that teachers are generally the biggest profit-
cutters on your budget, compensate by firing a few expensive ones.
..> Trash Problems
- Check the Objects menu and pick Other. Place either the blue or green
trash bins around your campus, specifically at the trouble areas. Hold
down SHIFT while placing them to make multiple copies. Trash bins tell
your janitors to clean up at these locations more often, but also gives an
outlet for students to throw their trash in.
..> Staff Listing
- Check the leftmost button in the upper right corner to see what staff
members are currently hired on payroll. I almost always check this to see
whether or not I have the appropriate labor workers to maintain the
campus's condition.
..> School Newspaper
- There are coupons you can buy in the newspaper which help boost category
ratings. The best one is the Teachers Conference which permanently boosts
all teacher's ratings, however, it is expensive. There is also a science
fair, and pep rally amongst other items. The costs are exponential though.
The larger your campus grows, the more expensive the items become.
..> Moving/Selling
- These are probably the most underused functions in the game. Manually move
janitors, maintenance, and landscapers when you need a task done right
away. If you don't like the placement of a building, click on it, then hit
move and replace it free of cost. Selling is useful if a building is about
to catch on fire, and you want to salvage something out of it. Selling
yields half the initial cost back. If you move or sell a building, make
sure to manually move or fire the teacher/instructor assigned to the
building.
============================
- 5) Directory -
============================
The Directory is practically a database including all buildings, staff members,
and items that you can obtain in School Tycoon. I'll scan through them briefly,
but also try to provide tips on what to use, and how to maximize their use.
= Academic buildings are responsible for the learning portion of your school.
It provides knowledge to young souls looking to get advanced careers. The first
subsection of academic subjects covers the basics or advanced majors that
students study in. The second subsection involves labs which enhance their
skills with applied techniques.
-> Portable English/Math/Social Studies/Library/Biology
................
Cost: $1500
- These are the base classrooms every school needs to start with. They
offer basic, undiversed learning. Remember to build the different
types. Multiple buildings of the same type do not increase their effect
on your school's rating.
-> Portable Chemistry/Computer/Workshop/Art/Music
................
Cost: $2000
- These have a slight boost in cost mainly because they provide a better
academic experience for your students. The diversity of the labs
permits for a better educational experience. Still, the size of the
labs are very limited.
-> Medium English/Math/Social Studies/Library/Biology/Chemistry
................
Cost: $6000
- These upgraded academic areas are perfect for educational standards.
size standards are increased, and your skill ratings should rise
accordingly.
-> Medium Computer/Workshop/Art/Music
................
Cost: $9000
- You'll notice a huge upgrade to your academic rating if you can build a
few of these. Medium-sized labs are considered a luxury, even if they
do not warrant the most elite learning experience.
-> Deluxe English/Math/Social Studies/Library/Biology
................
Cost: $13000
- By far the best base for theory learning, get one of these if you are
seeking a 5-star rating.
-> Deluxe Chemistry/Computer/Workshop/Art/Music
................
Cost: $16000
- One of these buildings is necessary to acquire the five star rating.
These labs are the elite of the elite, and also the most expensive
educational building. Spend the money wisely according to your academic
ratings.
= Administrative Buildings make it easier to control, or maintain the status of
your school aside from the academic & athletic standards. Believe it or not,
the Administrative buildings are essentially the most important type you can
build as they control Morale, Discipline, and Neatness to a large degree.
-> Small Janitors Office/Nurses Office
................
Cost: $1500
- The Small Janitors Office & Nurses Office are two necessary buildings
for any school. Janitor Offices allow housing limits of 2 Janitors, and
these men clean up the campus to the utmost extent. The Nurses Office
is an unstaffed facility that takes care of illness/injuries. Both of
these buildings boost reputation & morale.
-> Portable Detention
................
Cost: $1500
- While this is not a necessary institution on your campus, it is highly
recommended if you want to maximize the discipline rating of a school.
If there are no detention centers at a school, students will
automatically be expelled. If the detention center cannot cure their
discipline problem, then a better detention center is needed. This one
has a small effect on boosting discipline.
-> Small Maintenance
................
Cost: $2000
- Maintenance is a necessary building to allow the upkeep of your
buildings. You really only need one, unless your school area expands
beyond belief with a huge ladder of systematic buildings.
-> Landscaping/Medium Teachers Lounge
................
Cost: $3000
- Landscaping only has one office, which can hold up to 4 Landscapers.
Build more if you need to hire more landscapers to take care of objects
at your school. It's a solid investment, and you'll rarely need more
than one built. The Medium Teachers Lounge is another effective tool
that I recommend you establish once your teacher quota rises above 15
teachers. It prevents teachers from demanding higher salary rates.
-> Medium Janitors Office
................
Cost: $5000
- This is an enlarged version of the portable office, except it houses
more Janitors. Janitors play an important part in morale upkeep and
cleanliness, so I recommend building this once your campus expands
above a 3-star rating.
-> Medium Detention/Nurses Office
................
Cost: $6000
- Medium Detention is perfect for attaining above average discipline.
Ensure that its location is secluded. It also prevents student
expulsions to a much heightened degree. The larger version of the
Nurses Office can hold more injured students, and should be built once
the student quota rises above 80-100.
-> Large Maintenance
................
Cost: $6000
- A larger version of their base office, except it can hold more
Maintenance workers. I rarely build this one.
-> Large Teachers Lounge
................
Cost: $10000
- Necessary once your campus reaches utmost capacity. This allows for
maximum comfort with your staff, and is also perfect for keeping well-
rounded teachers who will NOT demand paycuts. Try building it once the
quota reaches above 30 teachers. Necessary for a 5-star rating as well.
-> Deluxe Janitors Office
................
Cost: $12000
- The best version of the cleaner-uppers that you can acquire. Still,
this costy investment should be a game-ending decision on your part,
and only if you really need an enhancement to cleaning operations.
-> Deluxe Detention/Nurses Office
................
Cost: $20000
- Both of these buildings cause a huge internal bonus to discipline and
student morale. The only fault is the excessive cost often is not worth
it until the money is racking in via excessive amounts. Wait till the
end game, or before a deadline before constructing one of these.
Remember that morale and discipline take some time to rise once these
buildings are established in place.
= Athletic buildings are responsible for controlling the athletic department of
your school. There are about half as many athletic buildings, and their costs
are fairly steep since the capacity can be quite extensive. Treat athletics
like a secondary objective, but they're about 2/3 as important as academics, so
make sure to get the rating above a C. Quite the hefty amount of students will
leave your school if the athletics department is not skilled enough, or you do
not have enough varying buildings.
-> Generic Gym
................
Cost: $2000
- The cheapest athletic building you can get that actually yields
moderate results. This is for the students who have a low popularity
rating, or enjoy independence. I recommend building one of these on
each campus and hiring a strict coach to it.
-> Generic Field
................
Cost: $4000
- Pretty much a soccer field. This one focuses more on team-orientated
skills. Again, hire a coach with a higher fun rating, and skill as
well. This does not have as much of an effect as the gym does when it
comes to boosting the athletic rating.
-> Small Tennis Court
................
Cost: $6000
- This is a specialist athletic building which raves in a higher rating.
The court can only fit a few students though, which is why the larger
version is a MUCH better investment.
-> Baseball Field
................
Cost: $10000
- A decent byproduct if you're looking to boost athletics. Remember to
place the field in an accessible location with bathrooms nearby and a
food stand/machine.
-> Basketball Gym
................
Cost: $12000
- Another mediocre booster to the athletic rating. Still, the larger
tennis court and football field top the scale. This one allows you to
peak your athletic rating as it helps motivate those with higher
athletic ratings.
-> Large Tennis Court
................
Cost: $14000
- The best bang for the buck you can by. This one takes a bit to unlock,
but once you do unlock it, make sure to build it. It motivates students
both female & male, plus allows for the maximum capacity.
-> Football Field
................
Cost: $20000
- This brings the highest approval rating for your athletic squad and
also permits a small morale boost due to the reputation of a school
team. The high investment is worth the price if you're looking for the
4 or 5-star rating.
= Entertainment buildings improve the morale bar in the lower right corner.
These establishments do not have to be staffed, and the capacity is fairly
large for each building. These are fairly expensive, however, they allow you to
higher staff members with little to no fun meter. This saves money, while these
buildings compensate by making students happy.
-> Arcade
................
Cost: $3500
- An easy building to acquire that gives a solid boost to student morale.
Other than that, it does not serve the entire student population well
enough, especially those with high athletic ratings.
-> Small Half-Pipe
................
Cost: $4000
- A solid entertainment building that bodes well for the athletically
gifted, but not the entire student body.
-> Half-Pipe/Mini Golf Course
................
Cost: $10000
- A morale booster that holds a lot of students at once. However, it
does not possess the same effects as the racetrack or rollercoaster.
-> Go-Cart Racetrack
................
Cost: $20000
- This entertainment building greatly boosts morale close to the 90s.
Can hold a fair amount of students at once.
-> Roller Coaster
................
Cost: $40000
- By far the best entertainment building, the Roller Coaster allows
for maximized morale rating. The rides can host a large amount of
people, but the cost is rarely attained by most players. Get this
building for the 5-star challenge if possible.
= Food buildings are a necessity once you reach above 40 students. Get a
classic cafe to supply the general food need for each student. The smaller food
buildings should be placed at isolated positions to satisfy hunger urges. The
more advanced food institutions are designed to increase the reputation meter.
The only effect of food buildings is giving one less reason for a student to
leave.
-> Candy Machine A or B/Soda Machine A or B
................
Cost: $800
- These provide hunger satisfactions to students with low hunger
meters. However, you will find most students do not recognize these
vendors as food. Build these at isolated locations on your campus along
common walkways. These are unstaffed machines, maintained by
maintenance like any other building.
-> Classic Cafe
................
Cost: $4000
- This is a necessary building in my opinion for your campus. Build one,
and hire a good cook if you want to satisfy the hunger problem on your
campus. Also, make sure to place this building at a popular location,
near a sports building, or near the middle where all students can enjoy
it.
-> Pizzeria
................
Cost: $8000
- This is an enhanced version of the classic cafe, except the food
quality is superb. Try building one of these in conjunction with a food
cafe to maximize the hunger meters to a minimum.
-> Burger Joint
................
Cost: $20000
- The best type of food building that also provides a morale bonus due to
quality food. It also hosts a lot more students than the pizzeria. Make
sure to get this once the student population breaches the 120 mark.
= Restrooms are another necessary building to have on your campus. These work
much like food buildings, as they allow students to relieve their need to
whiz. Medium Bathrooms become a necessity as port-o-potties will almost always
be occupied above 50 students. Build the larger segments where your athletic or
food placements are.
-> Port-O-Potty
................
Cost: $500
- To be an effective building, you need four or more of these built
around the four corners of your campus. It helps to pop a few of them
up near the sports stations as well. Unfortunately, they can only house
one and restroom-seeking students rarely notice them.
-> Medium Bathroom
................
Cost: $1000
- In my opinion, this is a necessary building every 5-10 buildings. Try
to divide them to cover up subsections. They can only house two people
at a time though, so again, their effects are minimal.
-> Large Bathroom
................
Cost: $2000
- An almost-necessary building once you breach the 100 student mark,
place these next to large sports, academic, and food stations. This
building prevents students from leaving with a "bathroom" problem.
= Staff Members are the people who operate your buildings, and also manifest to
the students. There are several types of staff members. They're generally
categorized into educators, upkeep workers, and accessory workers. Educators
teach the students, aka coaches & teachers. Upkeep workers manage control of
the campus, such as maintenance, janitors, and landscaping. The accessory
workers, or the cooks, have the same attributes as teachers/coaches, except
they only manage food buildings. Maintenance, Janitors, and Landscapers do not
have any ratings. Since their work is strictly labor duty, you hire them at low
salary rates (~= $300).
~: Teachers
--------
Salary: High
Importance: High
- These are the primary staff members that assemble the base academics
for your school. Teachers are also the highest paid employees aside
from the coaches, so hiring skill teachers for the right price is key.
A better skill rating on your teachers yields the best academic rating
for your school. A higher fun rating boosts morale, while a higher
discipline rating boosts the according rating. Teachers with one
extremely high category (8+) generally average around $500 in salary.
Ones skilled in two to three categories of 8+ range all the way up to
$1500. Hire teachers according to the objective at hands, and cut the
expensive ones when you are not making a profit. Place the teachers
each in a classroom.
~: Coaches
-------
Salary: High
Importance: High
- These are the second most important staff member capable of
representing the athletic department of your school. Since athletics
are sort of a secondary objective with most schools, you will not have
as many coaches as teachers. The salaries are generally the same. If
you're having trouble increasing your athletics rating, hire a highly
skilled coach.
~: Cooks
-----
Salary: Medium
Importance: Medium
- You may only need one or two cooks on your campus to manage the cafes
or pizzerias you build. I generally pick the highest skilled cook as
this guarantees no problems in the food area. Their ratings work
exactly the same as teachers, except the boost to morale is much
higher.
~: Maintenance
-----------
Salary: Low
Importance: Low
- The least important staff type in School Tycoon, the Maintenance worker
is responsible for upkeeping buildings, and ensuring nothing breaks
down. They will do routine checkups on buildings, soda machines, and
anything mechanical. Repairs will automatically be dealth to replenish
the bar on each building. However, the biggest duty for maintenance
occurs during random disasters where all structures take damage, and
the risk of fire breaks out. Hence, they're not all that important
during the game, until a major event occurs.
~: Janitors
--------
Salary: Low
Importance: High
- Janitors in my opinion are huge morale boosters. These are the only
employees capable of picking up waste. You may notice your tiles
getting increasingly dirty or clogged. Fix this by hiring more
janitors. You may need several offices to increase the maximum amount
of janitors at your school. To make their jobs easier, create less path
or intertwining walkways. Place more trash can objects to help
compensate for this problem.
~: Landscapers
-----------
Salary: Low
Importance: Medium
- Landscapers share a huge portion when it comes to the reputation meter
and morale. The only purpose of landscapers is to take care of any
landscape objects, or cutting grass. Placing more shrubbery or trees
will increase the beauty of your school. This in effect yields a higher
reputation meter rating, and also boosts student morale. Make sure to
have 2-3 landscapers for most of the game, as they will sufficiently
handle the situation at hand. Mildly important.
= Objects probably have the biggest effect on morale aside from buildings and
staff members. Objects also decrease trash (placing trash bins), permit seating
for students (tables, benches), and offer attractive artificial displays. While
they do not make the campus beautiful, they make it more convenient which
increases your reputation meter. Trees and bushes increase the beauty of the
campus, but must be maintained by landscape workers (else they die). Terrain
tiles change the color of the ground. They work exactly like implement
pathways, except they must be maintained to an extent.
+- Fences
::::::
Effect: Provides guided rails to important pathways. Useful for keeping
students in line, or from others getting stranded. Mainly used
for obtaining peak reputation rating.
+- Fountains
:::::::::
Effect: These items spurt out water to increase the appearance or
reputation of your park. It works best to place one of these
commemorative objects near the center of your campus near an
important location.
+- Statues
:::::::
Effect: These items should be used to designate important buildings.
Work very well when established next to Deluxe-style buildings.
+- Other
:::::
Effect: In my opinion, these are the most important of the objects in
School Tycoon. The Other category includes trash bins, picnic
tables, chairs, benches, and a few miscellaneous items. Trash
bins are the most important as they reduce littering on the
walkways, and also make it easier for janitors to work. This in
effect saves money as you do not need as many janitors to
maintain the school. Picnic tables should be placed near the food
cafes for an outside breeze. These boost student morale. Benches
should be placed along important walkways for tired students to
rest.
+- Signs
:::::
Effect: These serve no purpose other than for preventing students from
getting lost. It works best to place these near Deluxe-style
buildings, or near the best athletic stadiums your school has to
offer.
+- Trees
::::::
Effect: Trees have the biggest effect when it comes to landscaping as
they greatly boost student morale. Trees work best in a forest-
meshed fashion. Try combining a row of them with varying colors
or a consistent pattern to maximize the reputation meter. The
biggest problems is that they're mildly expensive, require
several blocks to fit into place, and take more invested time to
maintain compared to bushes. You will need more landscapers to
keep the trees from dying out.
+- Bushes
::::::
Effect: I prefer bushes as my landscaping tool. Bushes work in a similar
fashion to the trees, except are smaller and cheaper. While their
effect diminishes, the morale booster can be maximized by
stacking them in bunched groups. Some of the flower bed tools can
be laid out much like road paths where you click and drag. Bushes
work great for filling in 1-2 block spaces where you cannot fit a
tree, but want to increase the appearance of the campus. Much
easier to maintain for the landscapers as well.
+- Paths
:::::
Effect: To put it into simple terms, these are the inner walkways on your
school grounds. Paths guide students where to go. A given rule is
to build a double-wide path leading from the twin-entrance to the
base roads of your school. I also recommend linking paths to
secluded buildings like some of the maintenance/landscaping areas
where the employee buildings are.
+- Terrain
:::::::
Effect: This is a useful tool if you want to place down flower beds, or
change the texture of the ground. I hardly notice an effect on
the meters besides appearance with this one. I'd recommend using
this tool if you just want to make items look fancy and have the
funds to spare.
+- Clear Area
::::::::::
Effect: This is simply the bulldozer tool in the game. Eliminates trees
and terrain objects with no cost. Remember that buildings must be
sold to get rid of.
============================
- 6) Codes -
============================
Codes are often a commonplace in tycoon games where money is often lacking, and
prosperity is always on the horizon. This section will briefly go through
School Tycoon codes to expand the gameplay a tad more than the mere challenges
provided in the package. I'd like to thank:
http://www.gamewinners.com/
- for providing these cheat codes.
)+) CHEAT MODE (+(
------------------
Before inputting any of these codes, type this during the gameplay:
iamacheater
- Once this is typed in, you can now use the following five codes to
affect the in-game engine:
CTRL + Left ALT + C | Increases money
CTRL + Left Shift + C | Decreases money
- There are also codes that involve editing the .ini files inside the game
directory, however, I am excluding these due to the fact that you can damage
the game doing so. There is also a trainer program that can be downloaded on
the internet which will automatically increment the money without inputting
these codes. However, there's no point doing that if you can just press the
keyboard commands above after typing in the cheat mode code.
============================
- 7) Common Questions -
============================
)) Gameplay ((
----------------------------
<< What would you rate School Tycoon? >>
- I'd probably rate it a [6/10]. The game is your prototypical formula of a
"Tycoon" game, featuring an isometric 3D engine with buildings, staff members,
and landscape issues to deal with. I was quite surprised by the amount of
buildings for this title, since the game sounded quite generalized from the
previews. However, upon further review, the game does incorporate some neat
features. The zooming in feature really makes the game feel like a Sim-title,
although none of the complex micro-management is included in this game. There's
no finance or interest rates to worry about. You'll notice a large variation in
teachers, students, and staff members. Sadly enough though, while there is
customization via the terrain and appearance of the school, there are only 3
base landscapes you can build from. The updates hardly added anything
exciting to the game, besides a few new sprites. Granted, School Tycoon plays
like a strategy game, but it's a tad too "kiddish" to an extent. It lacks the
humor that a game such as Theme Hospital might have, but lacks the complex
elements of a Sims game. Nonetheless, it's still a nice cheap game that you
could pick up for $3 or less.
<< Any common tips I should use during every game? >>
- Do not overhire on your labor workers. This reduces overall profit, and often
you'll blame the teachers for the staff costs. I always place trash bins near
the populated areas, regardless of the challenge or map I'm playing on. Having
a centralized location (with landscaping & seating) on the campus boosts nearly
+10 in the morale department. Hire cheap teachers in portable, mediocre
teachers in mediums, and high-priced teachers in deluxes.
<< Are there any other versions of School Tycoon? >>
- No. Just this version for the PC is all that exists. However, Global Star
Software produced a few other tycoon games, such as Vegas Tycoon and Mall
Tycoon 3. I've personally never played them, although I'm sure they're based
off of the same engine.
=====================================================
- 8) Copyright/Distribution/Reproduction Guidelines -
=====================================================
This FAQ/Strategy Guide/Walkthrough is my own published work, and copyrighted
by Christopher Zawada. Whatever you do, DO NOT edit this FAQ in any way. DO
NOT steal anything from this FAQ. If you want to use some information in your
own guide, simply ask me. If you want to place this guide on your website,
either link to the GameFAQs game page, or download the file and place it on
your own web server. Basically, you can post this on your website as long as
it's in ORIGINAL form, and not linking directly to GameFAQs. Aside from that,
all proper credit is due when necessary. Also, don't even think about selling
FAQs. Trying to prosper off of other people's work will get you in big time
trouble (coming from an eBay seller myself).
Any site out there has permission to host my FAQs (following the above terms),
however, these are a list of current sites that host my FAQs officially:
============================
- 9) Proper Credit -
============================
I'd like to thank the following people for their help in making this FAQ
possible:
)) CJayC (( for constantly updating GameFAQs, and dedicating his entire life
to it. Takes a lot of effort to keep a site going this long.
)) Rootsecure.net (( for letting me use an excellent ASCII generator, which
composed this typical-style art. Excellent.
)) Global Star Software (( for creating a decent tycoon game that entertained
for at least a week.
)) Gamewinners.com (( for providing several cheat codes that help expand the
experience of a strategy-based game.
"Some people make sacrifices to make other people happy." - Chris Zawada
"Freeeeeeddooommmmmmmmm!" - William Wallace (Braveheart)
