Tropico Demo released

[Modelworks]

Up for download on fileplanet.com
Not played it yet, size is 1.2GB.
Fingers crossed, really wanting this one to be good.

 

[minmaster]

getting great speeds here: http://www.atomicgamer.com/file.php?id=80946

btw, i heard this game uses the grand ages: rome engine.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Nice, gonna have to grab this up.

 

[minmaster]

so far so good, looks pretty, but does tax the hardware some.

if you click news, it actually says welcome to the closed beta test of tropico 3, lol.

 

[ViviTheMage]

wooohoo

 

[Modelworks]

I like it. It stays true to tropico unlike a lot of the sequels we have seen lately. The graphics are great. I really wish someone would do a simcity with this engine. It is a very well done demo. Offering a lot of play time. I think tropico fans will be happy.

 

[datalink7]

Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

Now, some of the above might be rectified by me actually playing the game enough to figure it out. I might just be ignorant of certain functions but they weren't obvious to me on my first play through.

But overall, it was an enjoyable demo. Might pick it up.

 

[Modelworks]

Originally posted by: datalink7


And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why?

Tropico is game that has always taken time for things to start effecting the game, that is actually one of its strengths. If your people have poor health then you can't just plop down a clinic and have it instantly effect the population. It can take years of games time before it does. That forces you to plan ahead. Just like farms that can take 3-4 years before they start shipping crops.

I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

I would like to have better control over what is happening with various things like exports.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Agree

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

The soldiers pretty much control themselves. Make sure yo have police as well to control the population and lock up people before they can become rebels .

 

[paperfist]

Couldn't you just reconfigure the road to meet up with the driveway? You could demo some of the road and curve it into the driveway I would think. I haven't had to try it yet.

Anyone know what the garbage bag looking icon with the slash through it means? It sometimes hovers over your building...

 

[Modelworks]

For the roads hold down shift and you can go to a freeform mode that allows better placement.

 

[slightlyhuman]

is this something that would be fun if i've never played this genre of games?

 

[wanderer27]

Originally posted by: datalink7
Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

If this is like the earlier Tropico (haven't done this Demo), then these issues may be because you don't have any Teamster offices close enough, or you don't have enough Teamsters.
These are the guys that move your goods around the Island and it will take them a little time to adjust to new buildings in their routes.

If your Teamster office(s) are too far away, then they may reach their "quitting time" before getting to the building/goods.
Eventually, if enough goods start stacking up, the workers themselves will start moving their buildings goods.
This is bad though as it reduces the number of workers (they're packing goods) and they only move one unit, whereas Teamsters move five units at a time.

I still play the original once in a while. Nice game.

 

[datalink7]

Yeah I'm sure some of my problems are because I don't fully realize how to play the game yet.

Does anyone know if there is a way to unlock the other two levels in the demo?

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: DeePee
is this something that would be fun if i've never played this genre of games?

I would say yes as the game doesn't take itself seriously and is quite entertaining with its communist shtick.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: datalink7
Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

Now, some of the above might be rectified by me actually playing the game enough to figure it out. I might just be ignorant of certain functions but they weren't obvious to me on my first play through.

But overall, it was an enjoyable demo. Might pick it up.

someone didn't do the tutorial...

So I played the demo for a little bit and I see nothing exciting about this game.

 

[minmaster]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: datalink7
Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

Now, some of the above might be rectified by me actually playing the game enough to figure it out. I might just be ignorant of certain functions but they weren't obvious to me on my first play through.

But overall, it was an enjoyable demo. Might pick it up.

someone didn't do the tutorial...

So I played the demo for a little bit and I see nothing exciting about this game.

wtf? the tutorial doesn't explain those things very well either. stop being a smartass.

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: minmaster

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: datalink7
Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

Now, some of the above might be rectified by me actually playing the game enough to figure it out. I might just be ignorant of certain functions but they weren't obvious to me on my first play through.

But overall, it was an enjoyable demo. Might pick it up.

someone didn't do the tutorial...

So I played the demo for a little bit and I see nothing exciting about this game.

wtf? the tutorial doesn't explain those things very well either. stop being a smartass.

Seriously. I did play the tutorial. It failed to explain certain parts of the game in very good detail.

 

[minmaster]

actually it didn't explain them at all. also this is the only demo i've seen without a readme file.

certain things that could be useful:

ALT key is the camera modifier key, you can hold this to zoom in/out while in building mode. it acts like the middle mouse button (scroll button).

select a person on the island and hit space bar to follow the camera from behind them. however, it doesn't work on the el presidente.

anybody know what the sun icon over buildings means? i'm guessing it has to do with the el prisidente visiting the particular place and increasing productivity?

not sure if this was disabled in the demo, but mining overlay is broken and therefore you can't build any mines.

 

[paperfist]

Originally posted by: minmaster
actually it didn't explain them at all. also this is the only demo i've seen without a readme file.

certain things that could be useful:

ALT key is the camera modifier key, you can hold this to zoom in/out while in building mode. it acts like the middle mouse button (scroll button).

select a person on the island and hit space bar to follow the camera from behind them. however, it doesn't work on the el presidente.

anybody know what the sun icon over buildings means? i'm guessing it has to do with the el prisidente visiting the particular place and increasing productivity?

not sure if this was disabled in the demo, but mining overlay is broken and therefore you can't build any mines.

Yepp the sun colored icon means El Presidente visited the building and 'blessed it'. You select him and then right click a building to send him there. If you keep him selected when he arrives say at a farm a status bar will show up saying 'production increasing' which means you're gonna make more money

He has similar effects on churches, military bases, fisheries, and almost anything else. I use it so much I wish they had a damn way-point function.

---

The fishery feeds your population first, cannery second. There might be a way to change that but I don't see it.

---

You can also number and 'bookmark' people by using: Ctrl + #. Then you can just hit the corresponding number to follow them around.

---

So no one knows what the icon that looks like a trash back with a slash though hovering over a building means?

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: minmaster

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: datalink7
Demo was fun, but there were a few things that annoyed me. For instance, the flow of goods wasn't very well explained. I build a fishery (two actually) and a cannery right near by. Workers in both, but it takes forever before fish get to the cannery. It is getting exported but not to the cannery.

And I build a market in the middle of my apartments so citizens don't need to go to farms to get their food. But I bet it took 15 minutes of game time before it finally started to get numbers in the "meals distributed" area. Why? I couldn't find a way to control getting food the market for them to distribute, or fish to the cannery to start canning. Just had to kind of wait for it to magically decide to start happening.

When building buildings that need a driveway, another thing that is annoying is that if you build the building at the wrong distance you can't connect it. There is a minimum build distance to build roads. So if you build within this minimum distance, but still too far away for the "driveway" to connect to the road, you can't ever connect the building to the road. The driveway juts out and then stops a few inches from it. Have to demolish the building and build it back a little bit, or forward a little bit. Should be able to extend the driveway.

Couldn't figure out how to control my Soldiers either. So three rebels almost took me down even though I had 7 Soldiers and a General (with the upgraded military edict) just because they kept going at the rebels one at a time.

Now, some of the above might be rectified by me actually playing the game enough to figure it out. I might just be ignorant of certain functions but they weren't obvious to me on my first play through.

But overall, it was an enjoyable demo. Might pick it up.

someone didn't do the tutorial...

So I played the demo for a little bit and I see nothing exciting about this game.

wtf? the tutorial doesn't explain those things very well either. stop being a smartass.

it mentioned that it takes time to build things and that it takes time for them to get workers and transport to the docks to sell, etc.

 

[Riverhound777]

I tried playing the demo for a few minutes until it crashed my computer as I've never seen before. It was the weirdest thing. I went to build a farm and my computer basically shut off. The screen turned off like the power was gone but it was still running. Had to hold down the power button. Never had an issue before with this computer for over two years.

 

[ViviTheMage]

interesting game, but I couldn't play it any longer then the tutorial...got bored of it.

 

[paperfist]

If you want to keep playing the demo then right after you see the win/fail screen save the game. Then reload it and take it out of pause mode.

 

[Via]

I tried the demo last night but there's an annoying hitch every couple of seconds that makes it unplayable for me.

I messed with some of the video settings but couldn't get rid of it.

Has anybody else had this?