Hello Guys, i hope you are all doing great !
Today is a sad day in this gamer life, i came to my last mission on Tropico Series. after more then 15 years playing this game, it comes to an end. I enjoyed aside my girlfriend every mission and every feature this game provided, so many challenges were beaten, so many missions were failed and so much joy was sparkled. Probably many of you have played this game and know exaclty what i am talking about, for players who love strategy and simulation games, i will tell a little bit of what i think of it !
TROPICO 4
Tropico is basically a Simulation and strategy game, where you administrate a whole island.
The 1 one if tis series was launched in 2001, and by that time its graphics were amazing, one of the best you could find.
I already played games like simcity, theme hospital, theme park and when i found abount Tropico, i couldnt't wait to start playing it. i bought its first version on a game magazine, lol.. they were awesome =D.
The game will challange you in many forms, and many stratergies can be used to beat any of its missions.
You can create a full comunist island, or maybe an amazing tourism island, who knows ???? you.
the game is currently available in STEAM STORE for R$ 29.00 about USD $ 5.50
MISSION START
This is the start of my last mission in tropico series, somehow i skipped tropico 4 and went from tropico 3 straight to 5 and 6, and now im back to finish it ! Luckly this game have a lot of expansions and DLC, which gave me some extra time to enjoy it while it last.
This how it all start. they will give you the basics so you can start your economy.
a teamster, a garage, a construction office, 2 farms (corn) a dock, 1 tenement (housing) and your PALACE, your main construction, if you loose it, you lost the game, so you must take good care of it.
I always start my mission focusing on my economy, so i will right away pick my strategy for the current map. This time i started with some pineapple plantations, it will feed my population and i can use the pineapple to make Canned pineapple, wich is made by the Cannery, the first industry i usualy build.
After my bank balance is stable, and im making a good profit, i will start taking care of my population with its basic needs. So i will give them a church, a clinic, a market and something so they can have fun, like a pub !
THE BUILDING MENU
The game will provide you an enormous building menu, it might be scarry at first, but you will quickly understand how to use it and when to use it !!!
it goes from Housing options to luxury attractions !
i will talk a little about the main options :
Enternainment :
These buildings will give your population happiness, its not your main goal, but you definitely need these. More people will come to you island if you have good enternainment buildings, the Cabaret and the movie teather are the best ones in my opinnion !
Housing :
Here you will be able to select from a list of different buildings, from small shanties to big mansions, i usually start with tenements who can hold more then 25 citizens and then when things get good, i will start placing apartments, Housing is one of the main needs for your population, don't let them become homeless, it will bring you problems !
Welfare and Economy :
Here are some of the most important buildings so you can start the game. The Church and clinic are a must have if you want a good start. most of your population is religious at the start of each map, people will always claim for health support, and you must give them.
Food and Resources :
This is where your economy starts. You will be able to choose from many different options, from farms, ranches mining camps etc... I always check around the map for mining camps, and which plant is better for that island. the climate will tell how good your crops will produce and whats the best one for that spot.
Education and Media :
Many of your industries and buildings will require citizen with high school or even college !
If you dont set a good education plan, you will end with a lot of open job's and many citizenz without jobs. this can easly colapse your economy. I always build a high school before reaching 100 population.
Industry :
Your best money source !
pick one of your favorite industries, and make it profit !! you will need some raw material so you can run an industriy, for example, you will need iron mines to produce Weapons, or maybe you can gather some logs, and build a furniture factory, its always up to you !
as a smoker i always go with Cigar factory which make my girlfriend go crazy =[. She can't argue agains't its profit Muahahah.
these are the main constructions you will use, you have much more things, like decorations buildings, energy buildings, shopping malls, eather stations and much more.. you can even have smugglers in your island !
click on image so you can see read it well, they were to many menus, so i decides to put them together in a single picture
NATURAL DISASTERS
Yeah... like pretty much all simulation games, the disasters.
This will make you want to cry sometimes. From tornados, Vulcano eruptions and Tsunamis. You can't predict when it's comming to happen, but when it does..... its always in the worst times.
The tornado in the picture below happened while i was playing the last mission, and destroyed all my current farms. As i was already in debt i was forced to restart the mission, yeah it ain't easy...
Nuclear test incomming !!! trying to save my economy i let some foreign country run some nuclear tests in my island. I Received $ 10.000,00 for it =D... population did not liked and it wasn't enough money either way =[.
THE FACTIONS AND THE REBELS ATTACK
Your populaiton is ran by several different factions, each one with its special requests and needs.
if you dont give them enough attention, their citizens will start to become rebel, and sooner you can expect they will launch an attack against your forces. if your relation is extremely low with them, they might attack your palace, and if you fail to defend, well its game over. i Try my best to attend their demmands, but sometimes its just impossible. You get 5 requests at the same times sometimes. I always phreack out and end up attendind the captalist and the religous factions, but you must try to keep all your factions relations above 60%
The third picture shows an example of a faction demand and the rewards for acomplishing it.
the second picture it's just a rebel attack warning. im f****
click on image so you can read, again i compiled the pictures
THE EDICTS
You can run a series of edicts in this game in order to help you with factions, money, security, education and much more.
they all have a coast and a consequence. For example the Nuclear test edict.
It will give you $ 10.000,00 but will permanetly decrease the respect of the Environmentalis'ts faction.
so you must pick wisely each of them. i Always go with the Literacy Program which speed's up the training time for educated citizens formation and the food edict, which consume 50% more food, but will higly increase the respect of all factions.
Some edicts i have never even used. I might use them on sandbox mode after finishing this mission.
don't use the contraception ban !!! it will turn your population into rabbits !!
EL PRESIDENTE
You will be able to choose from a list of characters, or maybe you can create your own if you wish !
I've veen playing with Fidel Castro since the 1 mission. I love him but he is an alcoholic, and the religous people dont like it. So i must gift them a Cathedral on pretty much every mission so they can stop crying and make me rage with my whisky.
The characters in this game are pretty fun and sometimes they will say things that make you crack in laughter. All characters in this game seem corrupt as f*** !!
MISSIONS AND SIDE MISSIONS
On campaing all levels will have their main mission and side missions.
You will need to complete all the main missions in order to win that level.
you can identify main mission for its tinny red flag on top of its description :
I recommend you to check all the side missions. sometimes they will give you amazing rewards upon completion of the task which will help a lot on finishing the level.
Sometimes they will be just a enormous setback to your economy. You can always skip side missions, you will recieve new ones everytime, and they are always random ! you can get missions for different factions, countrys and maybe some building or producing tasks.
THE POPULATION AND ITS NEEDS.
Your citizens will demand a lot of things in order to be happy, from food variety to job quality demands.
You must give them all !!!! sometimes i ended up broken trying to provide everything they are asking.
Now i prioeize food quality, housing quality, religion quality and Healthcare quality. The other factors will be put in 2 place until i get my economy on track !
THE ELECTIONS
Every 4 years elections will happen. All your work and battle to give your citizens what they want have come to a proof point. Losing elections will make you also lose the game.
There is an Edict that cancel the election, but you will lose a lot of respect with your population and you can start getiing ready for inifite rebel attacks. it just don't worth it.
Before any election you can always make a speech. During the speech you can make promises to your population, this might help you get some extra votes, but if you fail to delivery your promises after ellection, you will be doomed. I usually don't make a speech, but every time elections come i start panicking =[.
GAME GRAPHICS
By 2011 you could say the graphics were pretty good.
FINAL THOUGHTS :
Well i ended failing the mission twice. Which is good cause i will be able to play a little more last weekend lol.
Tropico series is definitely one of my favorite games, and tropico 4 is just perfect like all the others.
i recommend you to play this game if you are a strategy and simulation game lover !
Beside the campaign the game provide you with the Sandbox option, where you can creater your own island and your own rules. I will definitely make a big ass island before uninstalling. You can spend a lot of time on it and it never get boring !!!
i still didn't see any news about Tropico 7, but i wish so bad for it to happen..
Are you playing any strategy simulation game right now ?
got an amazing game in this style to share with me ? i would love to see it.
Thanks you for reading and i wish you all the best !!
PEACE AND LOVE ALL !
All pictures in this post were taken by me from the original game using my steam account.