Education Woes

[mknote 1]

Two years ago, I posted a thread about how certain buildings have poor health and don't seem to improve, regardless of my actions. I later noted that this extended to education as well.

Well, now it appears that I'm watching it happen. Several buildings in my city don't seem to improve their EQ even after a decade in-game. Here are the pertinent facts, so that no time is wasted on what the problem isn't:

-the buildings in question are under the influence of every possible facility (elementary, high school, college, museum, main library)

-all educational buildings in the entire city are fully funded and have five apples

-there is no Opera House in the city (and I have the patched Opera House, regardless)

-some buildings are affected while nearby buildings are normal

-the effect is independent of wealth

-the buildings in question are relatively new (though as I said I've let the simulator go for a decade with no effect) and the average age is young

Keep in mind that I'm not a newbie: while I don't have many posts to my name, I've played the game since it came out and I know my way around it. This problem is confounding and I have no idea how to fix it. Ideas would be appreciated.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Two years ago, I posted a thread about how certain buildings have poor health and don't seem to improve, regardless of my actions. I later noted that this extended to education as well.

Well, now it appears that I'm watching it happen. Several buildings in my city don't seem to improve their EQ even after a decade in-game. Here are the pertinent facts, so that no time is wasted on what the problem isn't:

-the buildings in question are under the influence of every possible facility (elementary, high school, college, museum, main library)

-all educational buildings in the entire city are fully funded and have five apples

-there is no Opera House in the city (and I have the patched Opera House, regardless)

-some buildings are affected while nearby buildings are normal

-the effect is independent of wealth

-the buildings in question are relatively new (though as I said I've let the simulator go for a decade with no effect) and the average age is young

Keep in mind that I'm not a newbie: while I don't have many posts to my name, I've played the game since it came out and I know my way around it. This problem is confounding and I have no idea how to fix it. Ideas would be appreciated.

Very odd, indeed. I've never seen this happen in nearly 10 years of playing. What does the desirability display show?

One more thing, the buildings are not educated, the Sims are. Are you getting a lot of young Sims moving into those buildings?

  Edited June 17, 2011 by A Nonny Moose  

[mknote 1]

Interesting. I just ran the simulator for another ten years and the results were... interesting.

Education did increase. Slowly. Agonizingly slowly. Much more slowly than normal. And their health did not increase, at least that I could tell. Furthermore, and the damnedest thing, is that the average age didn't seem to change nearly as much as it should, at least I thought. I could have missed the changes, and perhaps I just didn't run it long enough, but other buildings built after the two buildings I looked at had higher education, health, and average age. Is this connected to the abnormally slow increase in education? And why isn't health increasing as well?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

All in good time. It takes Sims to age 18 to get out of high school, so 12 Sim-years n school. Then another four for post secondary, when they will then be R$$ in all likelihood. The rest is experience. Meanwhile, your new grad should get married and have kids.

Keep an eye on your population by age and education by age graphs. The life expectancy display will tell you if your health system is working.

Everything is interrelated. You need to understand how to juggle all the variables at once. There are about a hundred of them or more.

So slow the game down, and enjoy the animation. If you really want to see what's going on on your streets, drop into Turtle and zoom in on a playground or park. Watch what happens when a fire is being put out. Amazing animation given the scale. Nothing nearly so gross as an FPS.

Don't forget that you need balance. If everyone is R$$$, who collects the garbage?

[urmomology72 0]

Interesting. I just ran the simulator for another ten years and the results were... interesting.

Education did increase. Slowly. Agonizingly slowly. Much more slowly than normal. And their health did not increase, at least that I could tell. Furthermore, and the damnedest thing, is that the average age didn't seem to change nearly as much as it should, at least I thought. I could have missed the changes, and perhaps I just didn't run it long enough, but other buildings built after the two buildings I looked at had higher education, health, and average age. Is this connected to the abnormally slow increase in education? And why isn't health increasing as well?

One thing I find very interesting about education is that in my most recent city, I had a small residential area, with 3 elementary schools, 2 high schools, a college, one library, and one museam. Education started off well, and I kept up the funding. Suddenly and without any apparent reason, the EQ of my sims severely dropped. I did almost nothing to my education systems, besides making sure they were funded, because my city was in the red and that was the more pressing issue. After about 10 more years, the EQ rose sharply and now sits just above the 160 line. It was very confusing to me because I hadn't done anything to enhance my education, so, theoretically, it should have stayed the same. The sitution was almost a complete contrast to yours. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, I guess.

  Edited June 20, 2011 by urmomology72  

[z1 566]

If you have sudden population growth, even in neighborhoods covered by education, the new Sims will start out uneducated and drag down your EQ. This goes away with time as the Sims become educated.

[urmomology72 0]

If you have sudden population growth, even in neighborhoods covered by education, the new Sims will start out uneducated and drag down your EQ. This goes away with time as the Sims become educated.

This makes sense, because while I wasn't zoning for anything, I did notice a large number of high-rises that came to being. That could have considerably increased my population.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

That's right. Population is cyclic, and as it ages out and is replaced by new Sims (children of the Sims couples), their education will drop off. If you have a baby boom, your education levels will take a dive for about 18 Sim years. Check your population by age graph occasionally.