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Tropico | Tropico 4 Plans a Bloodless Coup in 2011

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Posts

  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Can I focus on making mountians of cash by exploting workers, spend all that cash purley on an awesome palace and put citizens in prison if they so much as sneeze near me?
    Well... you start out with an awesome palace and you can't really upgrade it, but other than that, yeah... you can.

    Mind you, nobody will be happy with you (except maybe the Militarists, because you'll need a well-equiped, well-funded army and the Capitalists, because they approve of exploiting the working classes) and you'll probably have to deal with a rebel army hiding out in the jungle.

    WotanAnubis on
  • Hotlead JunkieHotlead Junkie Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    As long as my palace and daily parades have plenty of armed guards along for the ride I'm happy :)

    Hotlead Junkie on
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  • Steel AngelSteel Angel Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Can I focus on making mountians of cash by exploting workers, spend all that cash purley on an awesome palace and put citizens in prison if they so much as sneeze near me?
    Well... you start out with an awesome palace and you can't really upgrade it, but other than that, yeah... you can.

    Mind you, nobody will be happy with you (except maybe the Militarists, because you'll need a well-equiped, well-funded army and the Capitalists, because they approve of exploiting the working classes) and you'll probably have to deal with a rebel army hiding out in the jungle.

    Speaking of this, how do you keep people happy when starting out anyway? I picked this up on sale and have played through a number of the campaigns but I always wind up with a few protests and rebels due to not getting tenements up quickly enough to replace shacks.

    You whiny construction workers would have the better housing you want IF YOU GOT TO WORK ON THEM INSTEAD OF PROTESTING!

    Steel Angel on
    Big Dookie wrote: »
    I found that tilting it doesn't work very well, and once I started jerking it, I got much better results.

    Steam Profile
    3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
  • AyulinAyulin Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Picked this up thanks to the sale and had fun just stumbling around trying to figure out what to do. Think I've got the general idea, though.

    Is there a guideline as to how many farms a single teamster office can service? Would having more than one help? Similarly, could having more than one dock improve export amounts?

    Ayulin on
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  • CorehealerCorehealer The Apothecary The softer edge of the universe.Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Ayulin wrote: »
    Picked this up thanks to the sale and had fun just stumbling around trying to figure out what to do. Think I've got the general idea, though.

    Is there a guideline as to how many farms a single teamster office can service? Would having more than one help? Similarly, could having more than one dock improve export amounts?

    I just got this yesterday in a similar fashion and would also like to know the answer to this question. Thanks for saving me some typing Ayulin. :)

    Corehealer on
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  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Mind if I get a general concencus on Tropico 3? Ive been in the mood for a good sim-city ish game revcentley and while it's on steam for £5 im tempted.
    Can't really go wrong for just five bucks.

    It really is basically kind of like Sim City. Except that you're a tinpot dictator who actually has to worry about the elections. Though, in fairness, 'worry about the elections' can be translated into 'commit widespread voter fraud and assassinate dissenters'.

    Five pounds is different from five US dollars--or is "bucks" a nickname for pound sterling as well?

    Either case, it's well worth it. I picked it up for full price $40, and don't regret it in the least.

    Synthesis on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Ayulin wrote: »
    Picked this up thanks to the sale and had fun just stumbling around trying to figure out what to do. Think I've got the general idea, though.

    Is there a guideline as to how many farms a single teamster office can service? Would having more than one help? Similarly, could having more than one dock improve export amounts?

    It's not just number of teamster offices, but locations. In general, one office worth of teamsters can service quite a few farms (like, 7+) but the problem will be location. However, if you build garages those give you extra teamsters and the ability for the teamsters to drive back from (instead of just to) the farms.

    More than one dock will not improve export amounts in most circumstances. The only time I've used it to any effect is when I had two substantial cities on either end of my island, both producing goods for export, and too much traffic between them to move goods efficiently cross-island...building a second dock helped there. In general, though, it's a waste.

    mcdermott on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Streltsy wrote: »
    Bio student at UofT. :/
    Never rebelled, my family isa' bunch of godless communists (grew up in the USSR).

    Wait too late to be asking, but Streltsy, in what republic did you parents grow up?

    (That's my inner history grad student talking.)

    Synthesis on
  • StreltsyStreltsy Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Ukraine and Russia, my father's way from the east in Vladivostok.

    Blue-dot caught my eye, even though I don't have have this game installed and haven't played since that last post.

    Streltsy on
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  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Ah, okay, Ukraine SSR and Russian SFSR, as it was at the time.

    Again, it's (part of) my field of study. I always ask people who emigrated from that country which republic they come from. In March, I ran into a guy in Atlanta from Turkmenistan.

    Synthesis on
  • harvestharvest By birthright, a stupendous badass.Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    This game needs more numbers. How much food do my people eat? How much does a farm produce? How much is the extra worth, if any?

    Also, why do people starve when I'm at ~300 population, 65% happiness and full of cash in the treasury? Nobody's unemployed and nobody's homeless. Food for the people edict active. The marketplaces all say they haven't served a meal, ever.

    harvest on
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  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    harvest wrote: »
    This game needs more numbers. How much food do my people eat? How much does a farm produce? How much is the extra worth, if any?

    Also, why do people starve when I'm at ~300 population, 65% happiness and full of cash in the treasury? Nobody's unemployed and nobody's homeless. Food for the people edict active. The marketplaces all say they haven't served a meal, ever.

    You aren't producing enough food for your population. You have enough to feed them all once over, but not twice over. Food for the People is funny, in that it "raises the standard" for starving; you'd think that they'd only be counted as "starving" if they fell below the non-edict food level, but no...once they start falling below the doubled level they'll be counted as starving.

    Silly, I suppose. Then again, our common definition of "starvation" in the U.S. is probably different from the definition somewhere like Somalia. You've made your people fat, dumb, and happy and they expect to stay that way.

    Your marketplaces aren't serving food because your people are so hungry they're wandering out to the farms to get it themselves. If, at the time they decide to go pick up "groceries," there's nothing in the marketplace (likely if you're under-producing), they'll wander to the nearest farm that has food.

    Either cancel the edict (and prepare for the backlash) or up your production. Also ensure that you have enough teamsters (and roads) to get the food to your marketplaces.


    Also if you wander over to the Tropico forums (I think from the publisher's website) there are some handy beginner's guides that cover a lot of your questions. To find out what your people eat, look at "Meals Consumed" in the almanac towards the end of the year...divide by population, that should give you an idea. For a farm's production, go to the farm at the end of the year and look at current-year units produced (I believe each unit is a meal). As for the value, that's tougher to calculate but it's not much...none of the edible crops are worth much of anything unless you can them at a Cannery (and not all can be canned). The money earned from selling excess food is basically enough to "get you started" at the beginning of the game so you can build some actual profit activities (tobacco/coffee/sugar farms, mines, logging camps, etc).

    mcdermott on
  • JintorJintor Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    A sim city that allows me to assassinate my voters? I've been missing out.

    Jintor on
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    harvest wrote: »
    This game needs more numbers. How much food do my people eat? How much does a farm produce? How much is the extra worth, if any?

    Also, why do people starve when I'm at ~300 population, 65% happiness and full of cash in the treasury? Nobody's unemployed and nobody's homeless. Food for the people edict active. The marketplaces all say they haven't served a meal, ever.

    None of that means anything. Food is free, and unrelated to housing.

    Food for the people doubles your food consumption. People eat more often or eat twice as much, not sure.

    For 300 people I'd have 5-6 food farms (anything but tobacco and sugar) plus fishermen and probably a ranch too.

    Also remember that it takes farms 2-3 years before they produce anything, when you first build them.

    captaink on
  • EndomaticEndomatic Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    So I'm trying to do the first mission, build a couple farms, some houses... and then I don't know what to do.

    The tutorial is really really short, and not extremely in depth.

    Should I build a tenement first? A logging camp? how many houses? Do I need police right away? How about a garage? They are expensive. How close/centralized does it have to be? How much space does a farm actually need? Is more better?

    There are so many questions I don't know the answer to in order to make the process a smooth one.

    I tried a tenement but no one moved in.
    I seem to run out of money way before my farms even do anything.

    EDIT: Money just seems to trickle away, and farms are no good for like 3 years? What do I do to stop this?

    Endomatic on
  • RoyceSraphimRoyceSraphim Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Farms take time to work and people won't move into Tenaments if you have a lot of shacks, shantys and long houses up.

    RoyceSraphim on
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I usually build a tenement first. Most scenarios start with a great deal of your populace in shacks, so that makes them a lot happier.

    Farms are not instant income. 2-3 years like I said. For instant income: mines if you have some ore, logging if you don't. Ranches are also quicker I guess. If you have a pretty beach away from your dock, a small tourist area will generate a steady income.

    Police can wait a long while. The first needs you'll be running up against will be quality housing, religion, and healthcare, in that order.

    I like to build garages early so I have them in the best spots. A well-made road system helps everything go faster, and you make more money.

    captaink on
  • jedijzjedijz Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Personally housing is a low priority since I feel that my construction crews and money can be better spent someplace else. Only when I have zero unemployment do I bother with houses, mainly apartments and later condos.

    jedijz on
    Goomba wrote: »
    It is no easy task winning a 1v3. You must jump many a hurdle, bettering three armies, the smallest.

    Aye, no mere man may win an uphill battle against thrice your men, it takes a courageous heart and will that makes steel look like copper. When you are that, then, and only then, may you win a 1v3.

    http://steamcommunity.com/id/BlindProphet
  • TheGerbilTheGerbil Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I picked up the expansion, and its pretty great so far. You can even add upgrades to the palace. Also gives you the option to shoot Juanito.

    Overall its way fun and the 10 new campaigns are just plain ridiculous.

    TheGerbil on
  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    TheGerbil wrote: »
    Also gives you the option to shoot Juanito.
    What? Why would you do that? The dude provides some excellent [strike]propaganda[/strike] fair and balanced news to the citizens of Tropico.

    WotanAnubis on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Speaking of this, how do you keep people happy when starting out anyway? I picked this up on sale and have played through a number of the campaigns but I always wind up with a few protests and rebels due to not getting tenements up quickly enough to replace shacks.

    You whiny construction workers would have the better housing you want IF YOU GOT TO WORK ON THEM INSTEAD OF PROTESTING!

    Do not try and build more than about two things at any one time. For every construction yard you build after the start, you can double this. You can queue things by importance, but only do this when you have plenty of cash to afford the expenses.

    The happiness rating will always dip in the early years. Always. You can't stop it. But the key is to provide decent housing. Bunkhouses are better than shacks. Turn a profit when full without meddling, and are cheap and quick to build. Speed up construction by sending your avatar to the building. The faster it goes up, the quicker people will occupy it and raise their happiness. Tenements seem to take forever to build, and if your construction workers don't live near enough to the yard, it can take forever for them to get back to work. They're also slow in the beginning due to being untrained. Speeding up construction early on becomes critical.

    Set tenements to $1 rent and Roach Patrol Maintenance. The key to all housing is to never run at a loss. Everything else is already going to cost you money so housing should at least break even. Make sure you're not charging too much for rents. Tropicans will spend up to 2/3 of their income on rent. Since pay usually starts at a minimum of $5, they won't pay more than $1 for rent. (This is based on being unmarried. When part of a family, both incomes are combined. So a couple each earning $5 will spend up to $3 in rent.)

    So long as you're generating income from exports (usually after the first two or three years), enact Social Security. This will pay 2/3 of your island's average wage to the unemployed, students, and seniors. Without this, they will not be able to afford rent and will build shacks.
    Also, do not be afraid to go into debt to build necessary structures, but try not to operate too close to -$10000. The US will invade if you do not begin generating some kind of income.

    Visit all farms to boost production ASAP. A few hundred here and there isn't anything to sneeze at early on. The quickest way to make money, as somebody suggested, was to build a mine, any mine, if you can.

    Now, when building away from your 'city centre', you generally want to build a garage first so that whatever is in the area can travel quickly about the city. Usually this is most important for teamsters. But you can control where people live by providing the ability for citizens to travel to work from home and to home from wherever else they might go. But, strictly speaking, if the building can attach to roads, it doesn't need a nearby garage. It will provide appropriate transport for whomever is leaving the building.

    Gold mines seem like a good early idea, and if you don't particularly care about maximising profits, it's amongst the fastest way to make money. But you really are better off by having at least a jewelry factory to double the amount gold can bring. It's already in limited supply, might as well make as much as possible from 'go'. Oil wells are also good for making money quickly, but the downside is it requires a college educated female. So the extra costs may not be worth it early on.

    (Always check to see the education level of your starting population. You'll always have two to four high school educated males at the palace. But you'd optimally like to start with a high school female and two college males, also. The woman to staff the high school you'll want to build, and one male to be a doctor and the other to staff the college you'll probably want to build later.

    Also, check the ages of your 'educated' citizens. It does you no good if the only college educated male is 59 and 'retires' long before you can build a clinic or college.)

    Take your time early one to ensure that you provide both enough food and housing without going into too much debt. Building a diplomatic ministry, even without available staff, will still allow you to enact the edict with the Soviets that halves the base costs of tenements and apartments. The sooner you get this, the cheaper it will be to provide the housing which will affect the happiness score more than anything in the game.

    You can also control immigration by building an immigration office and setting it to Tropico First! even without staff. The first two to three years will be at a major loss until your farms start producing in earnest, so take your time in making sure you're prepared for later on. And exploit any currently available resources ASAP.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • ButtcleftButtcleft Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    the only problem with mines is they run out fast :(

    Buttcleft on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    They're not meant to be a long term source of income. The only time they should be 'important' revenue providers is early in the game. After that, they're for steady, if limited, streams. Or, in the case of gold (w/factory), periodic punches of an assload of cash. If you do it right, some islands don't even need them.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Yeah Iron and Aluminum are great to exploit early on, they never become any more valuable. Gold is a tossup. It will make more money than the other two, but if you wait and make jewelry, it makes the aforementioned assloads of cash.

    captaink on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    You can improve efficiency, or at least production, by building a power plant and buying the various add-ons. But that's in the situation where you need the plant for other uses and just want to maximise the mine's potential.

    Keep in mind that only two of the three upgrades are of any real use. One is for +40% iron production and the other is whichever one increases gold production. Upgrading a bauxite mine isn't worth the costs unless you're lucky enough to be able to place the mine over both bauxite and whatever deposits (and in that case, you want to limit the miners to only one mineral at a time anyway then switch once the first ore is depleted). Bauxite already pays more than iron and the cost for the increase in production isn't really more valuable than just sending your avatar there every six months for a six month boost.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • TheGerbilTheGerbil Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    The first campaign of the expansion is hit 60 happiness, you can't build mines, oils rigs, or logging camps and can only have 1 industry building. It wasn't too difficult though.

    Also wind generators are rad.

    TheGerbil on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    So...is the verdict on the expansion a "buy?"

    I mean, it's $20.

    But then again, it's only $20.

    EDIT: Fuck it, it's only $20. Downloading as I type this.

    mcdermott on
  • TheGerbilTheGerbil Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Its good, at least I enjoy it. I wanted more campaigns having beaten the original 15 and the new buildings are fun too. The garbage pile is great for helping you clear up some pollution and new megalomania edicts and buildings are great fun. Build a giant statute of yourself right next to the giant Christ statue!

    TheGerbil on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    TheGerbil wrote: »
    Its good, at least I enjoy it. I wanted more campaigns having beaten the original 15 and the new buildings are fun too. The garbage pile is great for helping you clear up some pollution and new megalomania edicts and buildings are great fun. Build a giant statute of yourself right next to the giant Christ statue!

    Oh, definitely was worth it.

    Even right off the bat, when I noticed the addition of dirt roads (all roads far from the "city" are automatically rendered as dirt roads), I was pretty much satisfied. Makes the island look SO much nicer.

    And obviously there was much more that I dug. Also, it seems like some of the UI (and menus) got rearranged? Am I just imagining that?

    mcdermott on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I need to buy it, though I'm sure it still doesn't have a decent leveling tool....

    EDIT: At the sign of being an out-of-date dinosaur, any word when/if the expansion will be coming to retail? The download link on Tropico 3 website seems to be down right now, and I'd actually rather own a disk, simply because my downloads are on the slower side.

    Synthesis on
  • mcdermottmcdermott Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I need to buy it, though I'm sure it still doesn't have a decent leveling tool....

    EDIT: At the sign of being an out-of-date dinosaur, any word when/if the expansion will be coming to retail? The download link on Tropico 3 website seems to be down right now, and I'd actually rather own a disk, simply because my downloads are on the slower side.

    Well, it's described as "DLC" and not a proper expansion, and there's not even a listing for it on Amazon, so my guess is either "not soon" or possibly "never."

    mcdermott on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Why didn't I see this thread earlier.

    Almost done with my first sandbox and did a few campaign missions in the base game. Totally buying the expansion pack. This is a great game.

    Jasconius on
  • ScooterScooter Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    What's the best way to fight economic disparity? Is it just giving everyone similar wages, or do I need to be trying to split my city into lower and upper class sections so they don't see each other?

    Scooter on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    It's a percentage in your economy almanac tab.

    It's all about wages. How much does your poorest person make versus your highest person.

    Economic disparity can explode simply by having a high volume of college workers, even if they aren't paid excessively.

    I think that anything over 100%ish is considered high. So if your uneducated folk make 10, and your college folk make 25, that's considered high, or pretty close.

    The important thing to know is that it's also population based. If you've got 100 peasants on and only 15 college workers, then the percentage won't shoot up as much. The more college workers you have, the more you have to reign in their salaries (or raise uneducated workers salaries).

    Jasconius on
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited May 2010
    mcdermott wrote: »
    Synthesis wrote: »
    I need to buy it, though I'm sure it still doesn't have a decent leveling tool....

    EDIT: At the sign of being an out-of-date dinosaur, any word when/if the expansion will be coming to retail? The download link on Tropico 3 website seems to be down right now, and I'd actually rather own a disk, simply because my downloads are on the slower side.

    Well, it's described as "DLC" and not a proper expansion, and there's not even a listing for it on Amazon, so my guess is either "not soon" or possibly "never."

    Guess I'll need to wait for the home site to get its shit back together. No rush, I'd actually likely to see more descriptions/reviews of the expansion material elsewhere.

    Synthesis on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Jasconius wrote: »
    It's a percentage in your economy almanac tab.

    It's all about wages. How much does your poorest person make versus your highest person.

    Economic disparity can explode simply by having a high volume of college workers, even if they aren't paid excessively.

    I think that anything over 100%ish is considered high. So if your uneducated folk make 10, and your college folk make 25, that's considered high, or pretty close.

    The important thing to know is that it's also population based. If you've got 100 peasants on and only 15 college workers, then the percentage won't shoot up as much. The more college workers you have, the more you have to reign in their salaries (or raise uneducated workers salaries).

    There is a certain point where it doesn't matter. If you do it right, you can have all the factions at 95-100% approval even if there is something they don't like. The church tends to hold a grudge against same-sex marriages (I can't imagine why...) and building a cabaret makes you lack moral virtue. So with a cabaret, the religious never get above 90.

    The nationalists usually take a hit if you have open borders, but it's still never enough to cause you worry at election time. At some point, practically all the factions have a gripe, but they're still fully behind El Presidente.

    Anyway, if it matters, I usually have a pay scale that's basically single/double/triple. High school gets double what uneducated gets and college gets triple what uneducated gets. The more educated the population gets, the more unbalanced this becomes, but nobody really cares.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    Yeah that's pretty much where I am at now in sandbox.

    Except I do single/double/quadruple because I'm a filthy capitalist.

    I think 5 or 6 factions are at 100 with my and the lowest wavers between 60 and 70, which I think are the Enviros or the Religious, I can't remember.

    Jasconius on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    It doesn't matter anyway. 60-70 at the lowest isn't enough to cause worry during elections.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
  • JasconiusJasconius sword criminal mad onlineRegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    I think in my last year I am going to just wipe out the religious.

    What this game is missing that Sim City 3 had is major disasters at will to cause chaos for fun.

    Jasconius on
  • Santa ClaustrophobiaSanta Claustrophobia Ho Ho Ho Disconnecting from Xbox LIVERegistered User regular
    edited May 2010
    The problem with the lists of supporters is that they cross boundaries. Most citizens support multiple factions to some degree. Eliminating the religious might see you kill off half of your population. Just sayin'.

    Santa Claustrophobia on
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