Education Strategies

[PaulMClem]

What are people's thought on educating Mars i.e. when/how you start dropping playgrounds, nurseries, schools. Universities into your colony? When you only have small domes, and the onus early game (for me) is getting started with metal mines, machine part factories, rare metals, research, farming etc etc where do you find space to put educational buildings - and when? This is probably the area I haven't yet really thought too much about yet, and as such I keep forgetting to plan for it.

 

[Promethian]

It was decided for me by the fact that they cost electronics maintenance. As a rule I avoid raising electronics maintenance until I am well established for polymers and machine parts. After that I work towards getting an electronics factory established which is no small thing. They take A TON of workers. If you are still on small domes you'll need to set up a small dome that does little else but provide services and run the factory (2 shifts).

After that, bring on the education domes. Make them hyper specialized. Make your university dome just that with nothing else. Set it to attract unskilled and reject skilled of every kind. Unskilled can work the services there, including the security and infirmary. As they graduate they will move out to the other domes and become useful. Unskilled from the other domes will then move into the spots they vacate. The uni's won't draw unskilled from service jobs if there is no demand for skilled workers. So you'll have a set of people working the dome at all times ready to take in people when the need for educated workers pops up.

You can do something similar for kiddy domes. Look at how many kids you have. Set up the kiddy dome with services. Make as many Nursery wedges as you need to house the number of kids in your colony plus a bit more. 3 fit per wedge, provide the same amount of living space as an apartments, same concrete maintenance and less power cost. The main advantage is you can ensure kids move into those spots, never adults. Try to match your normal living space to exactly the right number of non-kids needed to work the service buildings. Provide enough schools to educate all of the kids living there at once. As the kids grow up they will leave the dome to avoid being homeless. Likely into a university dome.

 

[PaulMClem]

Is there no restriction on how far domes can be apart i.e. can young children happily migrate across a few map squares to reach an education dome?

 

[Promethian]

Is there no restriction on how far domes can be apart i.e. can young children happily migrate across a few map squares to reach an education dome?

If they can make the walk they will walk. Otherwise that is what shuttle hubs are for.

 

[PaulMClem]

If they can make the walk they will walk. Otherwise that is what shuttle hubs are for.

Yes, but Shuttle Hubs come from a tech. As techs are shuffled you can't guarantee when it will appear. In general, how far does the game let people walk?

 

[zenstrive]

I usually build them after I can make medium domes, because my basic domes are basically high tech sweatshops of machine parts, polymers, and farms that are not comfortable to have sex in.

 

[Promethian]

Yes, but Shuttle Hubs come from a tech. As techs are shuffled you can't guarantee when it will appear. In general, how far does the game let people walk?

You are overestimating the variance of the shuffle.

 

[PaulMClem]

You are overestimating the variance of the shuffle.

Fair enough. As such I'll wait until shuttles appear before having things too far apart. In the meantime I'll keep migration distances relatively short.

 

[Bronzewing]

One reason I like playing Oligarch commander. Arcology small dome is about the only way to get an early electronics factory and still have a dome full of content people. Well, apart from that one playthrough I got super lucky and popped service robots as my first breakthrough!