Tropico 3

[pontifex]

Ok, so I bought Tropico 3 during the steam sale even though I didn't really like the demo. I thought it was too complex, but everyone said i was wrong, so I am giving it another chance.

So I started playing it and I still feel that it is complex. I don't understand wtf I am supposed to do. I'm on the 1st campaign mission. I'm not making money, just losing it. my people are unhappy. the only income I seem to get is from the USA every so often and some world aid group gave me some money because everyone is living in shacks.

the tutorial was kind of worthless and didn't explain much. The game suggests building stuff but when you don't have money, wtf do you do?

The game is super slow, even when speeding up time.

 

[zerogear]

This game is pretty easy. You need to balance exports with your citizens. You also need a Garage to transport goods to the ports for export.

Building farms with corn/grain etc will provide food for your people and keep them happy (relatively), but it will have a lower export value. While building tabacco/sugar cane farms will give you higher income, but it doesn't feed the people. After you get enough money you should start upgrading living conditions, build clinics/hospitals. After a certain level, your citizen will start demanding entertainment.

Edit: you can sometimes get contract agreement to trade to a certain company for 10 years. it's up to you, but if you develop fast, it generally isn't worth it.

 

[datalink7]

I know that this isn't going to be much help, but the game is incredibly easy once you figure out the build pattern. I did pretty much the same thing every mission which is why I stopped playing. But this was a while ago so I forgot what I did

Do build a garage quick though. I remember that.

 

[Gothgar]

I actually resisted buying it... thank god, my backlog of games it so fucknig huge

 

[BeauJangles]

I know that this isn't going to be much help, but the game is incredibly easy once you figure out the build pattern. I did pretty much the same thing every mission which is why I stopped playing. But this was a while ago so I forgot what I did

Do build a garage quick though. I remember that.

Yup. If the island had anything beautiful, you developed tourism, otherwise you just went straight for industry. Place your factories, mines, farms, and other polluting things away from your houses and build garages near both so that people can commute easily. When you build your house area leave room for improvements and stuff.

Once you get the hang of it the game becomes pretty simple and boring.

 

[Kreon]

I enjoyed it.

I liked the original more though.

It's not to hard once you figure it out. Before you play the campaign missions, just do some random maps to get the hang of it.

Your first tactic is to get things exporting. You'll run close to bankruptcy for a while at first.

Easiest thing (if you trees that is) is logging camps. After you have a bit of cash build up, build a lumber mill. Easiest way to make cash (but no the best when you get more capital). iirc, Tropico 3 also has furniture factories.

mining gold/bauxite is also a pretty good initial way. Then the jewelry factory.

After you've hacked your forests down, turn them into farms. Plant just enough food for your people with some growth. The rest should be cash crops like tobacco or coffee.

Then build a factory pertaining to your cash crop (cigar factory, cannery).

 

[JoshGuru7]

Your build strategy will vary a lot based on the mission, but there are a couple of constants.

1) Have a strategy before you start and always create a custom character tailored for that strategy. Here's an example if you're playing the Bananas mission. Form a strategy to build your economy based on agricultural exports (mission requirement). Farmer background (+50% farms production), Communist Rebellion (+10% farmers production), Hardworking (+10% production), Diplomatic (free DM), then two traits that won't hurt your strategy (cheapskates, womanizer in this case).

2) Build the two farms that the starting screen recommends (both corn), then build your free Diplomatic ministry and issue the USSR Development Aid Edict for -50% apartment cost. Build an apartment complex, then an immigration office and set the immigration policy to Open Doors. Turn on the Food for the People edict.

3) From here on, keep building additional farms as soon as you have the population to work them. I'd recommend three coffee on the hill with a garage in between all three, then two tobacco with a garage in the fertile area near your headquarters.

The key to Tropico 3 is the almanac. It will show you the current export prices so you can decide what the most profitable farms are to build, and it will show you your unemployment so you know when to put down an additional farm.

4) Once you start getting plenty of profit you can look to the welfare of your island. Finish building apartments for the population, a church, a marketplace, and a clinic. Activate the social security edict and they'll be happy enough for you to build some more farms.

 

[paperfist]

The game is agonizing slow that's for sure.

I start off slow building a couple of farms that will later feed an industry. Like 2 tobacco or 2 sugar cane farms. After those are built I send el presidente to them until the sun icon pops up over them which increases production. After they start outputting I wait a year or two till I can afford to build either a cigar factory or rum factory depending on the crop. Keep sending el presidente to the farms to get the sun icon and then to the factories to do the same.

When you place your farms you want to build them on red land with the greenest land surrounding it near by. The greener the better as that's where your crops will actually go.

As said logging is also good, place them near dense forests. I always build 2 which will later feed a lumber mill and then a furniture factory. When you click on the logging building you'll be able to set a few policies which will let your forests regrow faster so you don't end up with no more trees to chop.

You also want to build industries close to their feeder farms/logging camps if possible since in this game transportation from place to place takes time. It's helpful to have teamster buildings as those grunts are moving the goods from place to place and ultimately the dock.

Up to this point you really don't have any money to make your people happy. It's no big deal, but after you have a few industries up like above then you can switch over to building some tennaments or apartments, some restaurants, clinics and maybe a church. Don't do it all at once, phase it in as you get the money, but remember those buildings are going to suck your income away so you need to think about what other farms or industry you are going to build to get back to profit.

Also, remember that your citizens will spend 1/3 of their income on housing. So if you have some doctors making $24 then set some buildings to $8 rent and they will move in. This is a great way to separate the poor, middle class and upper class. Build tennaments and set the rent to $3 for your farmers making $9.

 

[Skott]

Some good advice in this thread. I played some campaigns and then I played a sandlot game. I set everything to 50% difficulty basically and just started doing things. I made a easy map that was basically flat with good and plentiful resources and I did really well. This easy type game allowed me to try things and learn more in detail on how to set up a city and an economy. I would suggest trying this after the tutorial and a campaign or two. As you get better just keep increasing the difficulty levels of your games to make it more interesting. I find the sandlot games of my own making much more enjoyable than the included campaigns but that's just me.

 

[9mak9]

What everyone is saying is true.

Just make sure you check your almanac frequently to see what factions are happy or unhappy. If they are unhappy try to determine what is causing it and then counter the problem. Same goes for the happiness of the people. See what is low and focus on helping that number.

The things that stay constant throughout each mission/and the length of the game are to build housing constantly and to see what the major money provider is per each mission (tourist, tobacco/cigars, gold/jewelery, etc.)

 

[ZzZGuy]

-Not all land is equal, almost all crops grow better in different locations which can be shown in a menu tab.
-Farmland becomes less productive over time.
-Workers need to get to and from their workplace, if you find they take too long to get there then build a garage near their homes for speedy transport.
-That garbage bag symbol means you need more teamsters, which transports good produced to where they need to go.
-In more advance games do not focus on a single income source as it will likely dry up.
-Processed goods like cigars give you better income.
-Keep the military happy at all times and build guard posts in the event you have a revolt.
-Enough housing, bars, clinics and a church should keep your people happy.

 

[mmntech]

I pretty much agree with Gamespot's review of it. It's good if you know about city building/business games but it doesn't give much of a tutorial. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it though.

 

[paperfist]

-Not all land is equal, almost all crops grow better in different locations which can be shown in a menu tab.
-Farmland becomes less productive over time.
-Workers need to get to and from their workplace, if you find they take too long to get there then build a garage near their homes for speedy transport.
-That garbage bag symbol means you need more teamsters, which transports good produced to where they need to go.
-In more advance games do not focus on a single income source as it will likely dry up.
-Processed goods like cigars give you better income.
-Keep the military happy at all times and build guard posts in the event you have a revolt.
-Enough housing, bars, clinics and a church should keep your people happy.

Have you tried crop rotation or switching a farm to corn production for a few years? I've read that 'rejuvenates' that soil. Haven't tried it yet though.

The garbage bag symbol also means that building isn't producing anything which could mean it's not getting anything to process or has no workers.

 

[minmaster]

i bought it during the sale too but haven't played it yet. i did play the demo, and from what i recall, cattle farming was very overpowered and was a great source of income.

 

[Skott]

Another tip is when you have an election come up go ahead and set your immigration to Tropico First. This stops allowing people in except those you hired to come. This will boost the nationalists approval of you and your ratings in the polls. Then after the election set it back to open to all or wherever you want it. Also, I found shutting off immigration helpful in controlling population at times when I started to get too much squalor or unemployed people. The game is all about balancing the people and resources basically.

 

[pontifex]

I finished the 1st mission but i still have no fucking clue what I am doing...

I've had half the population turn to rebels and start attacking me. The military got pissed, the farmers went on strike. Takes forever to build buildings.

Do you need roads to reach to every building? how many garages, construction buildings, and union buildings do i need? I don't understand how to read the almanac to find out what to do.

I actually did start making money but then towards the end it really almost stopped.

We must be playing different games if you guys think this game isn't complex.

 

[Born2bwire]

I just did my play through of the first two islands. No, you do not need roads, but roads and garages can help people go from place to place faster. So if people need to travel for their daily job then it can help in that respect. Starting out, in the little I have played at least, still is the same with any typical city-sim. That is, start very small and work your way slowly up. The long building times are annoying, they force you to plan ahead in response to future situations. On the first map, I just built two farms and one garage in the first year and waited until the second year to build the second garage. Taking things slowly made sure that I never had to loan money. Also, it helped to build another construction building to increase the number of available construction workers.

 

[Skott]

Roads don't have to be run to every place but I have found its best to do so simply because your workers and construction people can get there faster. I always build at least two construction buildings and as many garages as needed. The game will tell you when you don't have enough garages.

To say the game is not complex is not true. Its a matter of how complex it is. To some its very complex, to others it is not, and some find it somewhere in the middle. I, myself, fall into the middle of it. I find the campaigns harder than the sandlot games.

Also, tobacco, sugar, and coffee make for the best export products when it comes to farming.

Ponti, you may find it easier to learn by doing the sandlot and making a really easy island with lots of resources to learn the mechanics. Thats the way I ended up going because I found the campaigns hard. Even the easy ones.
























*SPOLIER WARNING!*

CHEAT METHOD MENTIONED BELOW















*LAST WARNING!*












I'm not going to argue whether cheating is good or bad. If you dont want to hear about it then you shouldn't be reading this part. So don't start whining about cheaters!

















Okay, lets say you are still having a hard time with this game. Money is probably the biggest problem in this game. Never can get enough or get it fast enough. Here's how you can get the money cheat to work. While in game just type 'muchopesos' on the keyboard. You won't see the text on the screen when you do it so just type it out. As soon as you do your balance jumps up $100,000. You want another 100k just type 'muchopesos' again and each time you do that it will add 100k to your balance.

Now the reason I mention the money cheat here is if you want a easier time of learning the game you can make a sandlot game. Make the largest island, make it flat, and with lots of resources. Choose whatever avatar you want. Fidel is a good ready made one I have found for most any game but there are others you can try. Now do the money cheat once the game starts and get yourself a couple hundred thousand pesos in your balance and then start expanding the already started city. Add buildings, roads, farms, mines, etc., You can pause the game first while laying out the grid work and then when done unpause the game. When you lay down the building just set it not to build. As you need the buildings just set it to build. Its best to just go one building at a time so your construction workers are not spread too thin. This is one way to learn the game from a very controlled method of cheating. Experiment as you go. Make some save games of your progress.

This is a quick and dirty way to learn how things work in Tropico 3. Once you think you got a handle on how things work go and start a regular game without the cheat.

 

[JoshGuru7]

More tips:

- The complexity in tropico3 is a little more nuanced than in Anno 1404 (my opinion) because you don't automatically know how many of each buildings to build since it depends on resource quality.

- Garages are really good because they let your population travel very quickly (between other garages) plus they employ two teamsters. Teamsters are required to move goods around and so garages fulfill double duty there.

- The game gives you plenty of information about this if you know where to look. Click on one of your production/industry buildings and look at the second tab. At the bottom you will see Input Storage, Output Storage, and remaining Resources for the applicable buildings.

- Having a lot of output stored at a farm means you probably need more teamsters to take your goods to the dock, an industry building, or market. The solution is usually to build another garage.

- Having a bunch of input at a factory and no output means that your factory isn't processing the good as quickly as the raw materials are being delivered. Either build a second factory of the same time, or research a production upgrade at your current factory.

- Having a bunch of output stuck at your factory means that you need more teamsters (Garage).

- Keep track of the remaining resources on your oil wells and mines. When they run out destroy the buildings. You don't want to employ a bunch of miners who aren't mining anything.

- When you see a bag with a line through it over one of your buildings, it means that there is a problem that will be easy to identify on this tab.

- I wouldn't recommend a second set of construction workers for most of the easy islands where your goals are fairly small. A second set is a good idea though when you're trying to build up a large infrastructure for some of the later missions.

- Click around in the almanac a lot to get a picture of what is there. The Economy tab is very useful. Unemployment is listed here, as are your Top Exports (click on the name), and you can see the Export Prices (click on the name). Before you build 5 papaya farms, you may want to look up how much Papayas are selling for here. The Politics tab is also good for keeping an eye on respect levels and will tell you which citizens to pander at in your next election speech and/or possibly build something they will appreciate.

 

[Skott]

Another tip:

To speed up your buildings under construction highlight your presidente and then right click on the construction site you want to speed up. The presidente adds a speed modifier to the construction when he goes to the site. Once the construction is done he'll go back to the palace or wherever he feels he needs to be.

 

[pontifex]

I started a sandbox game on one of the easy pre-made islands. Did pretty well.

One thing I can't seem to figure out is how to increase military units. I built a base and a armory, but they are still unhappy, and raised the pay to the highest and they are still unhappy. I even did the modern army edict,

I'm also not sure how to deal with unemployment. I keep building stuff but unemployment still seems to be a big issue.

Religion is another problem. I have 2 Cathedrals and close to 10 churches but people are still crying that there is no where to go to pray or whatever.

I keep getting messages that garages are full and to build a garage close by but it doesn't seem to change even if I do build another garage.

 

[heat901]

Make sure you build an immigration office to choose what kind of people you want coming in(educated, not educated, people that love tropico) and highschool to education people to fill the churches and military buildings.

 

[JoshGuru7]

One thing I can't seem to figure out is how to increase military units. I built a base and a armory, but they are still unhappy, and raised the pay to the highest and they are still unhappy. I even did the modern army edict

The purpose of the armory is to house generals (they require college eduction). For each general you have, you can place one guard post. Your total military is your 4 palace guards plus the number of guards at your guard posts. Personally, I prefer to go with a fairly small military and brainwash my tropicans with proganda TV instead (for missions where you'll be building the power plant).

I'm also not sure how to deal with unemployment. I keep building stuff but unemployment still seems to be a big issue.

If your almanac tells you that you have 12 unemployed people then you could build two farms that would employ 8 each and have four unfilled jobs... provided your population has remained the same. If more people have come to the island while you were building, you may need to build a third farm.

Religion is another problem. I have 2 Cathedrals and close to 10 churches but people are still crying that there is no where to go to pray or whatever.

Look at your cathedrals and churches and see whether they are full or not. If people can't attend because they are all full then you'll need to build more, but that sounds unlikely. I think it's more likely that you have a transportation issue, and the people unhappy about the religious situation are simply unable to get to a church easily. You can use your almanac to locate the citizens unhappy about religion and then click on their thought bubbles to see what their problems are.

I keep getting messages that garages are full and to build a garage close by but it doesn't seem to change even if I do build another garage.

The garage is full message means that one of your garages is oversaturated with tropicans and you can figure out which one if you look at the entrances to each. You'll see a line forming at the entrance of the full one. Placing another garage across the street can help, but you may also want to look into re-routing traffic patterns.

Also, look at why so many citizens want to use that garage. Is it next to the only entertainment on the island? In that case you can alleviate matters by decentralizing a bit. Spread a couple of residential areas around with their own garages and give them each a bit of self-sufficiency with a marketplace, restaurant and church.

 

[paperfist]

'garage is full' is a bit of a misnomer, what it means and relates to is the most complex part of the game to deal with: traffic.

The problem usually is traffic can't get in or out of the garage due to the surrounding traffic jams. When you build roads you want to try and stay away from a lot of off shoot roads that make intersections as they slow everything down. Nice road loops seem to work well to tie traffic together.

Seems like you have a lot of churches, I don't think I've had more then 3 and 2 cathedrals with 400 population. Are yours full staffed with priests? Try to build religious buildings near your population centers.

Military bases, do you also have guard towers and an armory? Click on the people at your base and they'll tell you why they aren't happy. Maybe they need a strip (pub) club near by to entertain them.

If you want to share your saved game I'd be happy to look at it.

 

[Skott]

I started a sandbox game on one of the easy pre-made islands. Did pretty well.

One thing I can't seem to figure out is how to increase military units. I built a base and a armory, but they are still unhappy, and raised the pay to the highest and they are still unhappy. I even did the modern army edict,

I'm also not sure how to deal with unemployment. I keep building stuff but unemployment still seems to be a big issue.

Religion is another problem. I have 2 Cathedrals and close to 10 churches but people are still crying that there is no where to go to pray or whatever.

I keep getting messages that garages are full and to build a garage close by but it doesn't seem to change even if I do build another garage.

Highest I ever pay my generals has been 30 in wages. My I put the soldiers pay at 25. That keeps them happy and their bunks filled. These are my highest paid people. The only time they complain is when housing runs short. If and when that happens I build another army base at the opposite end from where I built my first base. These pay settings ensure I always have generals and troops to repel riots and rebels. I havent had an invasion yet so not sure how they do against the USA or USSR. I do the Modernize Military as soon as my base is built though. That definitely helps fighting baddies.

It sounds like you have too many people and too few jobs. Build a Immigration office and set it Tropico First. This will stop people immigrating into your country except when you hire someone to come run a place. That should stop population growth. Now start building business, farms, mines, etc., Whatever you need. Farms hire many employees and they are good. If you have enough food set them to coffee, sugar, or tobacco for exporting. This will bring in more money into your treasury. Once you do that build a Cigar Factory and a Cannery for even more export products. If you add more Logging Camps and Saw Mills you can build a furniture factory to add another product for export. Raw export products bring in money but a finished manufactured product exported brings in a higher price.

Not sure whats wrong with your religion. Most I have ever built is one Church and one Cathedral. Are you sure you have priests in them? People won't attend if there are no priests. Also be sure to set to have the Pope visit that will boost the religious faction and make people happier as will banning contraceptive use.

Also don't forget to build a school and a college as soon as you can and hire a teacher and a professor. Once you have the college up and get a professor in there you'll start having students learning to do those higher educated jobs. You won't need to hire trained immigrants then thus saving you money. Remember though, you'll need to keep a teacher in the high school and a professor in the college at all times for the school system to work.