[CITY BUILDING MEGATHREAD] Tropico 3 Demo Out!

13

Posts

  • UEAKCrashUEAKCrash heh Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Kris_xK wrote: »
    UEAKCrash wrote: »
    where you go inside the kids body. Yeaah. Memories.
    1184367762037.jpg

    :winky:

    UEAKCrash on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Cities XL seems to have a demo released for it right now. Gonna try it!

    Edit: Also the release date for NA is also Oct 9

    webguy20 on
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  • wobblyheadedbobwobblyheadedbob Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Tropico 3 has a demo. It's pretty much an enhanced version of Tropico 1. It's well-optimized and super awesome.

    wobblyheadedbob on
  • RamiRami Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    How much new stuff is added in? Even if it's just a special edition of the original I'd probably get it though.

    Rami on
  • FatsFats Corvallis, ORRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Rami wrote: »
    How much new stuff is added in? Even if it's just a special edition of the original I'd probably get it though.

    So far, it's Tropico 1 with pretty graphics. The road/car system is a nice addition, your builders and teamsters actually get things done now. Try the demo, it's fun.

    Fats on
  • wobblyheadedbobwobblyheadedbob Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Fats wrote: »
    Rami wrote: »
    How much new stuff is added in? Even if it's just a special edition of the original I'd probably get it though.

    So far, it's Tropico 1 with pretty graphics. The road/car system is a nice addition, your builders and teamsters actually get things done now. Try the demo, it's fun.

    Also, now you can move your actual dictator around and even give speeches in which you put together.

    wobblyheadedbob on
  • KanamitKanamit Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So what I'm hearing that, against all odds, someone actually managed to make a good sequel to a game they didn't make originally? Wow.

    Damn my slow internet connection.

    Kanamit on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So after playing the cities XL demo I think it'll be something I pick up. The game is beautiful but the interface could leave something to be desired. Seems to be fun though and it'll help me get my city building fix tell a true Sim City 5 comes out.

    webguy20 on
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  • MindstormMindstorm Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Ahh, you mention outpost, but not outpost 2? I think the sequel is worthy of a mention in the OP. For one, it wasn't buggy as hell and was a game you could play violently or peacefully, though it had plenty of flaws (like in the scenario missions outside of the campaign, where researching weapons tech would instantly get you raped).

    Mindstorm on
  • Mr RayMr Ray Sarcasm sphereRegistered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Wait... Tropico 3 isn't out until October 16th? But I want it noooooow!

    So is there any chance that steam's "out September" is still going to be accurate or am I grasping at straws here?

    Mr Ray on
  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I strongly like the sound of these Impressions games (Caeser, Pharoah etc) but the shear amount of games in the series is a tad overwhelming. Which game would a pro recommend as the best jumping off point for a newbie?

    Jam Warrior on
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  • KanamitKanamit Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Mr Ray wrote: »
    Wait... Tropico 3 isn't out until October 16th? But I want it noooooow!

    So is there any chance that steam's "out September" is still going to be accurate or am I grasping at straws here?
    Unless you're German you're grasping at straws.

    Kanamit on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    So some fun news:

    Tropico 3 is apparently stunningly bad-ass. It surpasses normal levels of bad-assedness. It plays almost the same as Tropico 1 except now there are cars, the tropican AI works very well, and it has gorgeous 3d graphics.

    The demo is out and works very well. Some minor bugs but no biggie.
    http://www.tropico3.com/?p=downloads

    Anno 1404 aka Dawn of Discovery is probably the best city building game I have played since I got NAM fan addon for Simcity 4. It is so pretty. It is far more flexible that previous Anno games (although more restrictive than SimCity or Tropico). I gotta recommend this. It is the best of the Anno series. Also exploration feels more rewarding. Also, you can make some damn pretty cities.

    http://dawnofdiscoverygame.us.ubi.com/pc/downloads.php#demos

    Sadly, not all is bright and merry in Who-ville.
    Cities XL has not been sounding as great as people hoped.
    I don't know exactly what the problem is. Lots and lots of people got into the beta. Ever since then, the hype has just plummeted. Either too many people have the beta and are under NDA or it just sucks. A few words have slipped and it doesn't sound good. It seems like people WANT it to play like SimCity but it wants to play like a simplified version of CityLife with better graphics and curved roads.
    Also, last I heard, there was no mass transit.
    So, too bad. Maybe an add on will fix it up? Also, how strange. A Euro developer doesn't think to include mass transit into a modern city builder. Irony!

    Machismo on
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  • jclastjclast Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Any talk of when/if there will be a 360 demo? My wife loves Civ: Rev on the 360 so I figure this could make a nice present for her.

    jclast on
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  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    jclast wrote: »
    Any talk of when/if there will be a 360 demo? My wife loves Civ: Rev on the 360 so I figure this could make a nice present for her.

    Are you referring to Tropico 3?
    February 10th, 2010 is the present release date for the 360 version. You may want to get it on the PC though. Already fan mods are being discussed. Besides, Tropico with a controller? We all know a mouse if a more effective tool for imprisoning political opponents.

    Machismo on
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  • jclastjclast Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Yeah I thought this was just the Tropico 3 thread, but now that I've actually read the thread title I guess I should have specified.

    And that's why I asked about a demo. Like I said my wife loves Civ: Rev on 360, and neither of us has ever played a Tropico game before so if nothing else we won't know what we're missing by being dirty console heathens control-wise. Once it comes out though I can steal her laptop and pull up System Requirements Lab to see if it'd run it.

    jclast on
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  • LockeColeLockeCole Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Machismo wrote: »
    jclast wrote: »
    Any talk of when/if there will be a 360 demo? My wife loves Civ: Rev on the 360 so I figure this could make a nice present for her.

    Are you referring to Tropico 3?
    February 10th, 2010 is the present release date for the 360 version. You may want to get it on the PC though. Already fan mods are being discussed. Besides, Tropico with a controller? We all know a mouse if a more effective tool for imprisoning political opponents.

    El Presidente shall imprison the capitalist pig-dogs who attempt to play building sims with an inferior input device!

    LockeCole on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Ok, I gotta plug this....
    Dawn of Discovery is simply amazing. (Or Anno 1404 for everyone outside of the US).

    First it is too pretty to not love. Beautiful water. Sweet islands. Nice architecture. Buildings have a very nice and pleasant style. Color is used to indicate their quality so that they can have some varied forms for each 'rank' of home. So peasants seem to have about 4 or 6 different styles, but all are a very dirty tan color. Citizens get a bit lighter with cleaner tan colors. Buildings get cleaner and lighter until the highest ones are white with clean verticle contours.

    Second, the trade system is a snap to use. Setting up trade routes is a breeze since you can choose the name or just click on the warehouse or ship on the massively blowup minimap. It is stunningly easy to get your colonies to transport most of their produced goods to your central island.
    On a related note, you can build oriental-style colonies by trading or acting to get fame or respect with the oriental leaders. So you can have a Bedouin-style colony making dates, spices, and such for use in your main city.

    The economic model is also a little more forgiving. Previously, the economy seemed so tight, that you HAD to have a city of the wealthy to support a large empire. You need to milk them for as much taxes as possible so that you could have a military to protect yourself and afford the ships and buildings. Now it is a bit easier. A city of citizens can support all the basic resource productions quite handily. You can eaily have some small island settlements for more resources with some trade ships moving goods and maintain a solid hundred or so gold per tick (real time tick, like 1 minute?). Consequently, you can have a spread out empire or a highly centralized one. You can afford to spend more time on the layout and such.

    Exploration is quite fun. I want to try a skirmish on their largest map. So far, campaign games have been on maps that are just too small. Exploration is fun for a time on it, but eventually, the mysteries of the land are discovered.

    Building is, of course, awesome. Farms are smarter in finding space for fields. I can't seem to hand place fields, but it is pretty easy to predict their size and lay out roads to force their position. It tends to be best to layout roads first and then buildings, but it might be because I don't know about more advanced placement tools.

    The campaign is a mixed bag. I was hoping for a more historically accurate experience. It definitely is not. That doesn't mean it isn't fun. It has a good narrative to support it and keep my interest in it. It does an excellent job of leading your through a tutorial as well. The best part, though, is the point system in the quests. Your quest might be to supply the Crusader army involving numerous smaller quest-lets. You can do things on the side though. The crusaders need iron? Well, you can send a bit of spare iron to the emperor's city for construction of the cathedral. Also, just exploring the map (both with ships and clicking on structures) can pay off in added narrative. A pirate advising you to stay away from his fortress. A mine manager saying he only answers to so-and-so and he knows nothing' of what you seek. A mysterious set of AI ships or a hidden settlement.
    All of it is pretty bad ass.

    I like this game. I can't believe it took me this long to buy it. Give them some love folks.

    Machismo on
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  • OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Machismo wrote: »
    Anno 1404 aka Dawn of Discovery is probably the best city building game I have played since I got NAM fan addon for Simcity 4. It is so pretty. It is far more flexible that previous Anno games (although more restrictive than SimCity or Tropico). I gotta recommend this. It is the best of the Anno series. Also exploration feels more rewarding. Also, you can make some damn pretty cities.

    http://dawnofdiscoverygame.us.ubi.com/pc/downloads.php#demos
    I picked this up for the Wii and it's excellent.

    It's not terribly in depth, but it has enough going on that it is incredibly engrossing.

    OptimusZed on
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  • Quake MattQuake Matt Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I've played the demo of Anno 1404 - it looks gorgeous and has all the hallmarks of being great. I got as far as Amazon's checkout before I discovered it's been gimped with a three install limit...

    Urgh...

    So, I've poked around a bit, to figure out my options, and found the previous game in the series: Anno 1701. Has anybody played it? Will it scratch my city-building itch, or should I just pick up Settlers 2 and call it a day?

    Quake Matt on
  • FiatilFiatil Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I'm pretty sure Anno 1701 has terrible copy protection too if you're against that stuff. I recall it asking me like 4 times if I was SURE I wanted to uninstall the copy protection when I uninstalled the game.

    Fiatil on
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  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I strongly like the sound of these Impressions games (Caeser, Pharoah etc) but the shear amount of games in the series is a tad overwhelming. Which game would a pro recommend as the best jumping off point for a newbie?

    Zeus if you want a more humorous / mythologicial setting. Caesar 4 or Emperor for more realistic.

    The reason: Pharoah and previous games (especially Caesar 3 given its map layouts) require that a building requiring labor to actually be near by some form of housing (a "walker" has to get from the building needing workers to a house). Also, Caesar 3 and previous did not have roadblocks. These two make for some really convoluted and unnatural city layout decisions.

    They are great games (especially Pharoah) but much harder than the later ones and much harder than they needed to be. Caesar 3 in particular is brutal hard on some maps.

    RiemannLives on
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  • Quake MattQuake Matt Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Fiatil wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure Anno 1701 has terrible copy protection too if you're against that stuff. I recall it asking me like 4 times if I was SURE I wanted to uninstall the copy protection when I uninstalled the game.

    Damn, you're right - it's Tages all the way with these guys...

    Oh, well. Settlers it is, then.

    Quake Matt on
  • TekDragonTekDragon __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    Apparently you can build almost every building in Tropico 3 Demo by going into options, attaching the building to a key-bind, then pushing that key. Some of the buildings (especially the airport) don't have complete textures but the power plant stuff and all the factories are fully functional.

    TekDragon on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Quake Matt wrote: »
    I've played the demo of Anno 1404 - it looks gorgeous and has all the hallmarks of being great. I got as far as Amazon's checkout before I discovered it's been gimped with a three install limit...

    Urgh...

    So, I've poked around a bit, to figure out my options, and found the previous game in the series: Anno 1701. Has anybody played it? Will it scratch my city-building itch, or should I just pick up Settlers 2 and call it a day?

    That is why you should buy it on Steam. Well, I assume it is different. I didn't really read.

    Machismo on
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  • Quake MattQuake Matt Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Machismo wrote: »
    Quake Matt wrote: »
    I've played the demo of Anno 1404 - it looks gorgeous and has all the hallmarks of being great. I got as far as Amazon's checkout before I discovered it's been gimped with a three install limit...

    Urgh...

    So, I've poked around a bit, to figure out my options, and found the previous game in the series: Anno 1701. Has anybody played it? Will it scratch my city-building itch, or should I just pick up Settlers 2 and call it a day?

    That is why you should buy it on Steam. Well, I assume it is different. I didn't really read.

    'fraid not. From Steam's product page: "3rd-party DRM: TAGES™ 3 machine activation limit". Someone really doesn't want me to buy this game.

    After having a read of the Let's Play that's going on, I may have to give one of the Impressions games a whirl. Zeus sounds like a good place to begin, I think.

    Quake Matt on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Quake Matt wrote: »
    Machismo wrote: »
    Quake Matt wrote: »
    I've played the demo of Anno 1404 - it looks gorgeous and has all the hallmarks of being great. I got as far as Amazon's checkout before I discovered it's been gimped with a three install limit...

    Urgh...

    So, I've poked around a bit, to figure out my options, and found the previous game in the series: Anno 1701. Has anybody played it? Will it scratch my city-building itch, or should I just pick up Settlers 2 and call it a day?

    That is why you should buy it on Steam. Well, I assume it is different. I didn't really read.

    'fraid not. From Steam's product page: "3rd-party DRM: TAGES™ 3 machine activation limit". Someone really doesn't want me to buy this game.

    After having a read of the Let's Play that's going on, I may have to give one of the Impressions games a whirl. Zeus sounds like a good place to begin, I think.
    Found more info out from a coworker. All you need to do is to email the devs and they fix you right up. He had the problem because he installed it on his machine, his wife's machine, and his travel laptop. He rebuilt the home machine and needed to email them. They got back with him in a couple of hours.
    IMO, it sounds like things are ok for most buyers.

    Machismo on
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  • Quake MattQuake Matt Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Yeah, I understand that they can (and probably will) grant you more activations, but I don't really want to encourage the limitation in the first place. It's three installs today, but what about tomorrow?

    Sorry, I appear to be derailing the thread somewhat. I'll be quiet now.

    Quake Matt on
  • mwoodymwoody Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Machismo wrote: »
    Found more info out from a coworker. All you need to do is to email the devs and they fix you right up. He had the problem because he installed it on his machine, his wife's machine, and his travel laptop. He rebuilt the home machine and needed to email them. They got back with him in a couple of hours.
    IMO, it sounds like things are ok for most buyers.

    So when the company isn't around any more, though? Or the German devs decide not to support the US market? Or they just realize that when they're not selling any new copies - only used - there's no reason to keep up the authentication servers? Each of these and many other possible scenarios have one thing in common: your CD is now a coaster.

    Steam should disallow non-Steam copy protection. They're big enough now that they have the clout to do so and not disappear.

    mwoody on
    Steam: mwoody450
  • Pete0rPete0r Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    Let's Talk about The Settlers 7

    logo.png

    I used to love Settlers one and two with a passion. Settlers was the game that intoduced me to city building games and with its inclusion of split screen co-op play made it a timesink for me way back on the Amiga. Settlers 2 brought a whole lot of polish to the game and refined a few of its ideas. I never played this in multiplayer as I was never able to get two mice plugged in and working happily when it came out.

    Then came the dark times.

    The 10th anniversary edition is almost the greatest modern builder game, but it lacks a freebuild/not-campaign mode for single player. The graphics are top notch and the resource management is back to the heights it scaled back in the good old days.

    Now Settlers 7 has come out and I'm in two minds as to whether or not I should buy it.

    I own Anno 1404 and while that is certainly one of the better economy builder games I've played I find myself longing for the smaller scale of the Settlers, where you can see each little man going to gather the wood planks he need to complete his coal mine.
    128830-LumberCarriers.jpg

    Now I live out in wildest Britain, and broadband is a dirty word around here. The demo is fairly hefty for me to download so I'd rather hear about peoples' opinions if anybody has played it. Also with it being a UBIsoft title, and we're NOT having that agrument here please, how much of a connection does this require? If it needs to be sending a lot of data back and forth all the time then I think it will negatively impact on the download speed for other people living here. If however it only send a few packets now and agai just to say i'm not a sinkin'pirate then I could probably live with it.


    Also appropriate to this thread is this bargain Anno 1404 - Venice £7.98 from Gameplay.com
    I don't know if this will work with the Steam version, but the Steam addon will NOT work with the disc main game.

    Pete0r on
  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    i've played a bit of settlers 7 demo, personally its not striking the same vein as it used to, in settlers 7 they took over a more 'estate' system from stronghold 2 if you ever played that. you are confined to a small area of the map and have to conquer neighboring areas before you can build there. If the game drops down to $10-$20 I may pick it up but overall it left a very meh taste in my mouth

    TheKoolEagle on
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  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I didn't bother with the demo after I saw just the demo required me to make an Ubisoft DRM account. No thanks.

    However, if you are interested, I'm sure the amount of data it sends is pretty minimal. Even dialup (ugh!) should be able to handle it.

    captaink on
  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I strongly like the sound of these Impressions games (Caeser, Pharoah etc) but the shear amount of games in the series is a tad overwhelming. Which game would a pro recommend as the best jumping off point for a newbie?

    Zeus if you want a more humorous / mythologicial setting. Caesar 4 or Emperor for more realistic.

    The reason: Pharoah and previous games (especially Caesar 3 given its map layouts) require that a building requiring labor to actually be near by some form of housing (a "walker" has to get from the building needing workers to a house). Also, Caesar 3 and previous did not have roadblocks. These two make for some really convoluted and unnatural city layout decisions.

    They are great games (especially Pharoah) but much harder than the later ones and much harder than they needed to be. Caesar 3 in particular is brutal hard on some maps.

    IIRC the labor thing wasn't really that hard in pharoah, it just required one token house next to your business. What did was that the housing blocks were a bit more complex and it was harder to just make a one size fits all block and just repeat it over and over (which was possible in Zeus).

    I do remember Zeus and Poseidon as being great fun, though.

    Jealous Deva on
  • PolloDiabloPolloDiablo Registered User regular
    edited March 2010
    It looks really interesting but it's Ubisoft so fuck that.

    PolloDiablo on
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    edited March 2010
    I really liked both 1701 and 1404. The latter is more complex, but they're both great. The whole DRM thing is awful though.

    Stormwatcher on
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  • bamjobamjo Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Resurrecting this thread to ask about Cities XL 2011. This thing looks gorgeous, but a metacritic score of 71 and the lack of people talking about it makes me doubt it is a Sim City beater. There isn't a demo for this or the original Cities XL, so that's another thing that's giving me pause.

    Anyone play it or heard if it's good?

    bamjo on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I heard it is basically Cities XL except no multiplayer. So all the extra content you had as a subscriber is now available with no subscription. You build multiple cities to help them have what they need.

    I haven't played it, but the guys on Giant Bomb described it as something that did things better.



    Returned to Grand Ages: Rome the other day. God, I love that game! I wish it let me 'paint' brickwork down, though. I hate having little gaps of dirt and greenery in the middle of my city.
    Working through the campaign. The experience is made so much better after listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series of the Fall of the Roman Republic since his latest episode was about Sula, who just left before the campaign.

    Anyone play the Augustus add-on? I can't tell just what is in it.

    Machismo on
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  • neophilusneophilus Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I played the first Cities XL and as a long time SimCity fan it just didn't stand up. My city did not feel organic, just a bunch of plots I threw together that had very little affect on each other. The thing that bothered me the most was the scale was way off. Single Family houses were just about as big as large apartment buildings, most building plots were the same size. I tend to go for realism in my cities and in Cities XL I could never get that feeling.

    neophilus on
  • MachismoMachismo Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    I am resurrecting this simply because I've been playing Grand Ages Rome.

    They added a lot of awesome stuff in the Augustus addon pack.

    A delete tool to remove decorations and platforms.
    Odium as a new entertainment building
    Tax office
    some new mechanics
    Roads
    gardens
    some other buildings
    LOTS of new talents
    Also a whole new campaign.

    Considering both packs can be bought for $20 on Steam, this is the best deal in city sims, IMO.


    Anyway, I started my free-build city. I have covered half the map with this amazing walled city. I have built up a VAST trading empire to fund it and have built 3 different monuments. I got in the swing of building platforms to create some elevation. The new areas looked so good, I decided I need to start over.

    I have almost finished the base campaign. I may wrap that up before jumping back into free build again.

    Machismo on
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  • TheKoolEagleTheKoolEagle Registered User regular
    edited March 2011
    hrmmmm grand ages rome does look pretty sweet, might have to pick it up

    TheKoolEagle on
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