Theme Hospital Hints and Tips
-----------------------------

edit cheat:
Use a hex editor to open your Theme Hospital saved game and you can
change your money. Go to
offset 61A95, and change it to FFFFFFF-Gives you a ton of money 

some tips:

Below, I have complied a list of hints and tips contributed from myself
and various sources, which
we feel should help anyone in the journey through Theme Hospital. 


Contents 

   1.In The Beginning. 
   2.Hiring Staff In The Future. 
   3.Tired Staff Are Bad Staff. 
   4.How To Handle Emergencies. 
   5.How To Cope With An Epidemic. 
   6.How To Maintain Machines. 
   7.What Should I Do About Rats? 
   8.Famous People Keep On Wanting To Visit, Should I Except? 






In The Beginning 

     The first and most important thing to do at the beginning of every
level, when you have a
     period of time to build your hospital is to set the speed to
slowest, just press 1. This will give
     you as much time as you want to get the layout right, without
rushing you. You will then
     generally open at about the half way stage, giving you a jump start
against the opposition. 
     The first thing you want to do it hire 2 receptionists with desks.
This is not essential for the
     beginning, but as the queue of people builds up, it gets harder to
cope with one receptionist,
     and you often find there is not room near the beginning for another
desk. 
     It is always good to have 2 GP's office, because as the volume of
people increases, you will
     find you will want another GP near the entrance, and if you only
started with one, you will find
     that you have not left space for another one when needed. 
     Immediately take all the 20% of research out of specialization, and
put it in diagnosis, as you
     only need specialization when you have found a disease, and you do
not know how to cure it.
     However, at the start you will not be able to find out many
diseases which are hard to find the
     cure for, if the diagnosis equipment is not good enough, as you can
not detect the disease in
     the first place. 
     Build as many rooms as possible in the beginning, as it allows for
you to get the best
     positioning, as you do not always think straight with a full
hospital. You may need a loan, but
     do not worry, as long as you do not go too far into debt, you will
survive. 
     You want to hire, a lot of doctors and nurses at the beginning, so
that you can cope with the
     patient increase. It would be generally better to increase staff at
the same percentage rate as
     the patients. However, this is quite hard, as you have to be
particularly wary of increases,
     which when happening slowly can deceive you into thinking that
there is no trouble. By hiring
     plenty of staff in the first place, means that you will starts
losing money at the beginning, but in
     my experience, by the time you are wildly in debt, the hospital
starts making money, and it
     pulls you out just in the nick of time. However, I doubt this
method will be applicable in the
     later levels. 
     Have 1 of each accessory in each room, except maybe plants, because
they take extra time
     to look after. For example, a computer in a research room, and a
skeleton and bookcase in a
     training room, so that everything goes faster, so you can get more
patients through in a set
     time. 
     Build a training room and train doctors early while the hospital is
quiet. It's important to have
     enough surgeons, probably four if you have one operating theatre.
Trained doctors are
     cheaper than bought in ones at the same skill level. Use a good
consultant for the training, he
     will pass on any skills he has to his pupils but only if they learn
them before becoming
     consultants, it's not possible to train consultants in new skills. 
     Build a research room early with enough space for later additions.
A computer and atomic
     analyzer become available later on. At the start heavily bias
research to cure and diagnosis
     equipment. Watch for when these are 100% researched and move into
drug and
     improvement research. 
     Have plenty of benches and drinks machines in busy areas. A drinks
machine pays for itself
     when it's used twenty five times. 





Hiring Staff In The Future 

     Always be on the look out for better staff. Replace existing staff
by hiring newer better ones
     and sacking the existing ones. The staff do not hold a grudge, and
if you get someone who is
     better in a certain area, don't think twice about sacking the other
one. 





Tired Staff Are Bad Staff 

You want staff to be tired as little as possible, so there are a number
of things you can do to reduce
this these are:- 

     Have large rooms with all the accessories. This will stop the staff
getting demoralized, and
     they will not get as tired as quickly 
     Block off unused parts of buildings with benches to prevent
handymen wandering around
     them and becoming cold, they will become demoralized and want pay
rises. Consider
     blocking an area with a facility like a staff room or toilet if you
aren't allowed to block it off
     with benches. 
     Have large staff rooms, and maybe a couple at either ends of the
hospital. This will mean that
     they spend the shortest time tires. Have a Pool table, TV, and a
Video game, when they are
     available, as they help increase the speed of recuperation 
     Take Staff out of rooms, where they are doing nothing, because this
this will mean that they
     do not get tired, and will immediately go to any room where they
are needed. 
     You might want to send staff to the stff room when theu reach 40%
tiredness. This make 





How To Handle Emergencies 

     The first thing you want to do when you have an emergency is seen
how many people there
     are and what treatment would be needed. If you have one of each
treatment, then you will be
     able to cure 6-8 people at the pharmacy, or at a basic place like
the slack tongue clinic, 6
     people at the psychiatrist, and up to about 4 at the operating
theatre. If the number exceeds
     this, you have 2 options, firstly you can refuse, or you can send x
number of patients home.
     You will still get credit for the ones you treated, but will not
have anyone die, so you will be
     still on for the £10,000 reward for not killing anyone in one year.
If the treatment room is
     close to the helipad, you can increase the number, but if it is
farther away, you should reduce
     it. Also the better your doctor/nurse is, the quicker he will be.
After a while, you should be a
     good judge of what you can or can not handle, so this is just a
help for when you are starting
     out. 





How To Cope With An Epidemic 

     There are two main ways to handle an epidemic, and this is to put
the speed of the game on 1
     as soon as the word epidemic is mentioned. You then see what it is,
and, click to try a cover
     up. You then do a scan of all the hospital, and send home anyone
who has the contagious
     disease. Then all you can do is pray. This does not always work,
but it normally does for me.
     If you do have bucket loads of money, then you may prefer the fine,
and reputation hit, as it
     can be a pain to do, and if it goes wrong, can have worse effects.
Killing rats also seems to
     decrease the number of epidemics you get. 
     Secondly, you could try to cure them. If you have the available
machines to do this, then it can
     be quite handy, but you must have an efficiently run hospital, an
available staff. 
     There is a handy tip. This is to find out what the disease is when
you have an epidemic, and
     then reload a saved game just before it and kick everyone with it
out. Because the
     emergencies which arise are set into the level files, you will gett
he same disease, but becasue
     there is no one in your hospital with it, you will not have to cure
anyone, and you will receive
     compensation. A nice way to earn a bit of cash. 





How to maintain Machines 

     Regularly page handymen to maintain your machines. You want to
leave a gap of 5 or 6
     between strength and times it can before you have the machine
maintained. Whenever there is
     an earthquake warning, check all machines are not close to the end,
as an earthquake can add
     up to 6 uses onto a machine, which may destroy it. In an emergency,
you may want to replace
     the machine, just to be safe. 





What Should I Do About Rats 

     There are two ways to look at rats. 
     Firstly, you can simply ignore them, and let them go about there
business. They should have
     little effect on your reputation. 
     Secondly, you can try to kill as many, which will give you a chance
at winning the rat prize,
     and going to the secret level. If you do, you should press one as
soon as you see a rat, so that
     they are easy to hit. You should then kill them , and if you have
killed them indoors, put a
     handy man over their dead body, so people do not throw up when they
see their dead
     bodies. Killing rats also seems to reduce the number of epidemics
you get. 





Famous People Keep On Wanting To Visit, Should I Except? 

     Whenever someone famous wants to visit, always let them, as it is
very hard not to get their
     approval, so you will normally always be given a cash grant. If
your place is in a total
     disorder, you may want to turn them down, but by continuing to
refuse, will increase the
     chance of them coming on a surprise visit. 

--Solsk