As usual I've set up a room with training, research and a staff room, and this usually works well. But in this mission people in training keep going into the research room after rest instead of back to training. Very annoying. Any idea why that is happening?

Maybe they are going in there to use the computers or the filing cabnets...

Also, why do you have fire extinguishers and a radiator in the middle of the room?

Not sure if the fire extinguishers really do much, perhaps they make workers a little happier, but I usually add them, especially in rooms with machinery.

The radiator in the middle of the room is for spreading the heat a bit better. I sometimes do this in big rooms, as otherwise there will be space in the middle of the room that isn't heated. I use the default settings for the heat, so it doesn't spread out as much as with higher settings.

I've seen this problem in later missions too btw. I'm not sure why it occurs, but if I put researchers for training, they have a nasty habit of going into the research room after their break in the staff room. In the picture above I had just removed 2 guys. There were four researchers in the room, and there are only 3 desks.

Fire extinguishers only make inspectors/VIPs think better of your safety measures, though many people keep spreading the rumour that they also make machines less prone to break down.

I don't know why your doctors keep going into R&D. One theory I could propose is that maybe you have a very specific combination of differently skilled doctors that confuses the AI, perhaps especially if the teacher goes on a break. It could also be a strange AI pathing problem because of how you laid out the rooms. In which direction is the nearest break room? Would the students have preferred to go through the area which the R&D room now occupies?

I'm just guessing with no similar experience, just giving you some ideas where to investigate.

Really, so fire extinguishers have zero impact on machinery survival of some sort? No point putting 1-4 in rooms then, as I tend to do if there is space for them.

I'm really not sure why he does it either. In the screenshot you can see the staff room to the left. It's a little shorter from the staff room to the training room, than research, so if it's pathing deal then I would think he should go back to training. It has happened in a later level as well, where the research room was yet farther away, so perhaps it's a bug in that the game simply doesn't treat researchers in training all that well. They don't always go wrong, but too often for pleasure, that's for sure, and it's not like I keep checking up on them every 10 minutes, so lots of time will be 'lost' (although at least in this case you get some actual research back, so it's not a total loss).

I don't know whether skills and breaks can cause this, as I don't recall the details, and mostly see this well after it has happened anyway, so can't know whether the teacher was on break. Will try to keep my eyes peeled for it on later levels though. Am up to 9 now I think.

I'm attaching another screenshot where it happened. As you can see the training room is closer to the staff room than the research room.

Is the teacher a researcher too? At which point did you start training them, i.e., where they novices or more experienced? In one mission I needed an extra surgeon, but there were no novices left to hire. So I put an experienced doctor in the training room who had not obtained a degree or the adviser level. He did follow the courses, but just stopped and left at some point without becoming an adviser or a surgeon (his training level was at around 90% for the latter). I think the game intentionally stops training sessions at some point, even if the training is in progress.

Just one observation, not sure whether that relates to your issue.

In this case, I think the teacher didn't have any extra skills, or possibly stabby-stab. Took a very long time to get students with research specialisation, but that's what I got, at junior level. Quite a few times I found them in the research room and had to lift them back into training.

If I recall correctly from the various levels, this has happened when the teacher was just a plain consultant, and when he had surgery specialty. Don't think I've had a research teacher, as I much prefer surgeons, or at a push psychiatrists.

I've seen quite a few times that the researchers that get diverted to the research room are doctors (middle level), but I think juniors have done this too.

Haven't been able to play more the last few days, but will try to keep a closer eye on this when I play again, and hopefully find out what might trigger it.

Maybe it happens if a researcher comes out of the staff room and there are no researchers in the research room due to having breaks? It doesn't happen every time a researcher ends his break, so the trigger must be somewhat unusual.

Ugh, this is even worse. Had several guys in the research room and several students in the training room. The teacher then comes out from the staff room after a break -- and walks into the research room, thus leaving the students without a teacher.

I can only assume it's a bug that keeps cropping up every so often for some reason. People need to be aware of it and check the research and training rooms now and again to make sure people are in the right rooms.

Some machines can't break down thus fire extinguishers in their rooms are pointless, e.g. in research room or cardio room :)

Maybe it's just the AI. I've had plenty of times where people never went where I wanted them to go and such. Especially when you are dealing with multiple buildings...

Could be; though it should be easier to handle here as people in training/research work a bit differently than the rest. The AI itself isn't fantastic though. Typical scenario, a doctor is needed somewhere, but instead of taking a guy wandering the hallway close by, or a room close by, a bloke from the other side of the hospital is chosen. Same with machine repair. It's an ancient game, though, so we just have to deal with these minor issues. The game itself is great after all.

Hey! There is a slider or checkbox you can fiddle with that sets the policy for how/when a doctor should leave his current room to man an understaffed room. You would be doing us a favor if you could try and run your problematic saves for a while when staff are only allowed to leave their rooms for lunch breaks but never for work priority. That way we can know if it has something to do with taking breaks or a bug related to which order the AI fills up rooms in demand.

I do love the game