Unused Student Meta
I had a bunch of different ideas for the metas of the Student Puzzle Hunts I ran in college. Most of what remains of that is some theming, like a new problem/solution for the MedSci Student ("Should they pursue dentistry and paediatrics?" "Don't cross the streams"1) and a possible answer for why the Engineering Student has been underperforming ("TERMINAL ILLNESS").
The only complete puzzle amongst these scraps was an unused metapuzzle for The Engineering Student, which I shall present in full here.
The Engineering Student (meta)
The engineering student has been working non-stop on something that is taking weeks to complete. His work is heavily research-based but has allowed him to utilise incredibly advanced technology and create truly unique wonders. He may be a great engineer, but he’s not sure what he should build to finally end this massive undertaking.
_ _ _ _ _ _ O _ O _
_ _ _ O _ O O _ - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ O _ _ _ _
_ O _ _ _ _
_ _ O _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - O O _ _ _
_ O _ _ O _ _ _ - _ _ _ O _
Answers to round puzzles (alphabetically ordered by an on-theme name of their puzzle):
A Miserable Mistake - MISGUIDED
Bliss - IGNORANCE
Broken Down - SMALL JOBS
Purgatory - RAISE HELL
That Sounds Right - AUDACITY
The Children Yearn - MINERAL RIGHTS
Feel free to reveal them all or see how few answers you need to reveal to solve the meta.
The solution is SPACESHIP PARTS which you get by realising every answer is within a Civ V technology's accompanying quote (the Civ V connection is repeatedly hinted at in the flavourtext), inserting the names of these technologies into the blanks, then reading the circled letters in order. This answer is a reference to how you win a Science Victory in Civ V.
This is a Ghostbusters pun based on the fact many medicine students at my college spent very little time socialising, and such students were referred to as "ghosts". In case it isn't clear, dentistry and paediatrics would be considered different "streams" of medicine↩