Theme Hospital

- In the build phase, you can get a headstart on your competition and first dibs on the staff pool by reducing the game speed to minimum.

- The default "tiredness % before allowed to rest" setting is too high. If left as is, your doctors and nurses will eventually get mad and demand insane wages before resigning. Reduce it to 25-30 percent from policy menu and they won't make a peep.

- Research all machines first.

- Leave room for more GP's offices for when the hospital gets busy.

- The effectiveness of specialist training is divided between all students present. 1-on-1 instruction with lots of bookshelves is the fastest method.

- Avoid casualties; don't botch emergencies or guess with the diagnosis. If you go the whole year without any patient deaths, you get a fat $10,000 bonus.

- Putting consultants in the GP's office will solve 90% of cases, or get you 90% of a full diagnosis. It's great for weeding out the cheap and easy diseases.

- At the beginning of every level, press 1 to slow the game speed down, plonk a reception desk & receptionist down. You only need 1 very good receptionist usually in a level. Then click on the hand above the timer to get your hospital going straight away. Continue in the slow speed till you have a GP office and you have hired every competent doctor possible. Note always hire 2 surgeons when you can even if they are rubbish. Sometimes I find it take months till another pops in the hire pool for some reason. 3 returns to normal game speed.

- Layout is very, very important. Clicking on the map button at the bottom of the screen shows other areas on the ground you can buy (as well as change heating level for radiators btw) Look and plan areas to use for specific needs. Like one area just for diagnostic areas, another for GP offices, treatments, cures. Build your pharmacy close to your GP office. Build a ward next to operating theatre. And don't make the smallest sized rooms possible, open them up a bit on each axis with windows everywhere as it makes doctors happier and always plonk an extinguisher, radiator, plant and bin in a room. Have 2-4 GP offices after level 3/4 and keep the area outside spacious but with a good amount of benches. This is the busiest area and it’s easy to get a vomiting epidemic going if it is messy or too cluttered for patients.

- Don't do emergencies where there are more than 6 people, generally very hard to cure that many in time. Especially as your helipad could be a long way from the treatment room. Send them home if need be, if you cure enough you get some of the cash reward. Just don't let them die in your hospital!

- You won't need more than 2-3 nurses in the game. Always have one in the pharmacy and ward.

- If you want staff out of the staff room quickly. Just build sofas, no pool tables etc. Check their moral regularly and give them a bonus as there wage increases can be huge.

- If someone is dying in the hospital (skull icon above their head) and you can't cure them in time click on the door of wherever they are queuing, find them in the queue and left or right click on them and you can send them to another hospital! I do think it hurts your competition. If that’s difficult to understand just send them home.

- Having no one die in a year nets you an extra $10K, the game boos you when someone dies, find who it is quickly (usually pharmacy) note the game date and maybe reload an earlier save (it does autosave now and then) and send them home near that date.

- You can't do much about rats but placing a corridor item over the hole removes it for a while. If there is a hole under a corridor item already then pick it up and put it back to get the same result.

- Earthquakes come up after level 6 or 7 so keep the machines repaired or they blow. Every time it is repaired it loses one off its maximum health so replace them now and then completely. A large, large earthquake takes about 5/6 units of health off all machines so watch out for the cure machines they generally start off with low maximum health. The research department gives them a better maximum health level but you need to replace the machine to get it.

- Training rooms (from level 5) are great but slow, only a consultant can teach and one with a skill teaches it to other doctors. Try to aim teaching one useless doctor in all the skills for being a consultant psych/surgeon/researcher and then fill it with more rubbish doctors. They will learn all 3 skills before becoming consultants so you can remove them at that time as consultants are expensive to employ.